I see alot of people make this thread for their MCAT date. I was unable to find one for this date so I took the liberty to make one. Please share what you have found works or does not work for you?
So... I'm getting owned by TBR Buffers and Titrations chapter. It's not that I think it's a particularly hard chapter - I think Equilibrium was harder than this - but I just can't seem to wrap my head around any of the major concepts. Maybe I'm getting burned out?
I wanted to skip it, move on to other subjects, and come back to it when I feel more confident but every time I look at a new subject - like chapter 4 in Organic or some Biology, I keep feeling crippled and I can't really focus on it.
What should I do? I had a panic attack last night from it. =/
So... I'm getting owned by TBR Buffers and Titrations chapter. It's not that I think it's a particularly hard chapter - I think Equilibrium was harder than this - but I just can't seem to wrap my head around any of the major concepts. Maybe I'm getting burned out?
I wanted to skip it, move on to other subjects, and come back to it when I feel more confident but every time I look at a new subject - like chapter 4 in Organic or some Biology, I keep feeling crippled and I can't really focus on it.
What should I do? I had a panic attack last night from it. =/
Thanks Johnny! 😀Yeah that's pretty solid for a diagnostic. I'm pretty sure the free TPR practice test is harder than AAMCs too, so I think you'd probably do a little better on AAMC 3.
Alrighty.......Yeah, make that list and share it with us! 🙂
Here's the list.
Physical Sciences
Centripetal/circular motion
Radioactive Decay, Half lives
Lenses
Strong Acid/Bases
Biological Sciences
Amino Acids, Zwitterions
Esterification
Monosaccharides
Genetics, Hardy Weinberg
Blood, Antigens
Hormones
Citric Acid Cycle
Reproductive system, Menstrual Cycle, Renal System, Central Nervous System
SN1/SN2/E1/E2
Mitosis, Meiosis
Can someone please tell me they saw their score right away or it took some time for it to come up. I really want to know because I just wasted 5 hours doing the TPR diagonstic exam
Thanks
try using khanacademy.org. he has videos on all the sciences and is great at explaining the fundamentals/intuition of each concept
Can't seem to break a 10 in BS. What to do?
Anyway, I played the FLs in TPR a little bit and I found out that 2 mistakes in PS will give you a 14 (which means that 1 mistake and a perfect score are 15), 2 mistakes in VR will give you a 13 (which means 1 mistake is a 14 and perfect is a 15. Horrible! There's no room for error.), and 2 mistakes in BS will give you a 15 (which doesn't make any sense coz BS is the easiest of them all). I think they should have more leeway in PS and VR, but not in BS. What do you guys think?
Well, you cant change how they grade it so I woudln't focus on it as it may demotivate you. Interesting you feel biology will be the easiest section because I feel it will be my most difficult 🙂
As far as improvement, is your weakest part the orgo or the actual biology? My impression is that it is the orgo. if so, then it is not so bad because you can just drill drill drill practice problems. if it is biology, let me know if you figure out anything, right now I am just reading and trying to memorize the way things work from the TBR books.
Reread the acid-base chapter and it should help. Try another source such as mcat-review to attack it from a different angle? Or say screw it, since it will probably be 1 question at most on the test lol.
A lot of times when I get stuck I go to youtube and look up the subject. There are a lot of different videos that can help. Sometimes it helps to see a picture (especially for Biology).
Here's a video for Buffers and Titrations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyzBGWNVhKI
Keep on looking around if this doesn't help.
Forgot to mention, freelanceteach on youtube is an excellent source for tons of different chem and ochem topics. He is really great.
Thanks you guys! I actually wound up taking a break instead of going back into it. I know since there's very little time to begin with that I probably shouldn't have taken a break but I know the feeling I get when I'm burnt out and this was exactly that - burn-out. I think I'll reread the chapter now and look at the videos if rereading still doesn't help.
Regardless...I think I'll be doing my first full-length tomorrow *scared*
Good luck! let us know how you do.Regardless...I think I'll be doing my first full-length tomorrow *scared*
Is anyone else tripping out about what everyone on this forum is calling the "new BS" section that is supposedly way different from any AAMC? I feel like a lot of these people just didn't have the strongest grasp of MCAT bio material and that's why they think it is so hard, but since everyone seems to say it's different, I'm confused. MDschoolorbust, I saw you post something similar on a different thread so I
guess you share my confusion lol.
Good luck! let us know how you do.
Is anyone else tripping out about what everyone on this forum is calling the "new BS" section that is supposedly way different from any AAMC? I feel like a lot of these people just didn't have the strongest grasp of MCAT bio material and that's why they think it is so hard, but since everyone seems to say it's different, I'm confused. MDschoolorbust, I saw you post something similar on a different thread so I
guess you share my confusion lol.
Yeah, I think it hasn't changed much. If you look at some of the newer full-lengths it should be close to that. Or TBR passages really. I think people were just over reacting at a certain test date and everyone commiserated.
Good luck! let us know how you do.
Good work breeniee! I don't think I can imagine taking 77 questions worth of PS. My brain would be fried before the end of it!
Sometimes I feel like that too, where I have no idea what that section is asking.
Instead of looking at scaled scores since they can't be accurate unless released by AAMC, what was your percent correct? Work off of that.
Keep up the good work!
Hehehe....like I said, the scaled score is inflated and thinking about the percent correct just makes me wanna postpone my exam! I hope it doesn't come to that. I think by friday, I NEED to finish content. I've been saying that for the past 3 weeks. Let's make it happen, brain!
I'm setting the 31st as my day to finish all content and start doing practice tests every 2-3 days. Hopefully we can make the deadline and don't have to postpone!
My studying has been going so poorly it's not even funny.
It's Finals this week, so will be busy for school and not with MCAT. After that, will be on full force once June kicks in. What's your sched like come June?
Not sure if your talking to me or not, but I've been done with finals since May second, and I've been trying to put in 4 hours a day mon-sat with thursdays being practice test days. It'd say I probably only put in about 1 hour a day.... :/
Not sure if your talking to me or not, but I've been done with finals since May second, and I've been trying to put in 4 hours a day mon-sat with thursdays being practice test days. It'd say I probably only put in about 1 hour a day.... :/
If y'all need a little laughter-break, watch dis =P
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcn1Q9fWahM&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQuR8LVKhUE[/YOUTUBE]
I LIK DIS BECAUSE I CRY EVRY TIME!
I'm setting the 31st as my day to finish all content and start doing practice tests every 2-3 days. Hopefully we can make the deadline and don't have to postpone!
Breen: that's the problem.... I have no reason... I didn't get a job this summer so that I could study, but I am just not very motivated.
Brown: I use the FL to assess where i'm at. I've only taken two so far. My time would be better spent studying and reviewing material, but at least during the FL I know I'm not going to get distracted or lose interest or whatnot.
I think I'm struggling to stay motivated because both my FLs had scores higher than pod school averages (not that high), so for admissions I don't need to shoot for the moon, but for scholarships and personal satisfaction I probably should be... But that's not a real great motivator, ya know?
You guys are probably all hoping for a 30+ to be competitive whereas I need ~25 to be extremely competitive. See my point? Hopefully I realize test day is LITERALLY a month away soon and I buckle down hard...
I know exactly how you feel - why? Because I was in a 7 year BS/DO program where all I needed was a 26 and my spot in DO school would be guaranteed. Needless to say - I wasn't motivated at all. In fact, I just studied for 3 weeks - 2 weeks content (barely - it was mostly reading the EK books a few times) and 1 week of 5 practice exams and made a sheet with all the physics formulas I needed to memorize and committed it to memory. I thought a 26 would be a piece of cake but I didn't anticipate nerves getting in the way and not being good on timing. I faltered in the PS - had 2 passages and a set of discretes that I had to completely guess on and put C's. I missed my 26-cutoff and it hurt so much because all throughout undergrad I worked my butt off to get good grades and stay in the program and I couldn't make it to med school just because of 2 points? It felt like the world ended. The worst part was that I took it in the last day that the MCAT was offered for my year. The next time I was able to take it was January of the next year but by then it was too late.
So yeah, it may seem like you don't need to study much at all compared to other people who are trying to get more than 30s and are studying for 2-4 months. But you can't let that false sense of security hold you back from studying more or being more motivated. You may have an amazing day and get on par with your practice diagnostic exams or you can have a bad day - get tripped up on timing or get passages that you are unfamiliar with because your content review was too broad.
So what you really need to do, is realize that just because your goal is a lower score than others, doesn't mean you can afford to not study hard. If your review of content has gaps and the MCAT has passages on material you skipped or skimmed over - you will falter and it can mean a difference between low 20's and the mid-high 20's that you need.
I'm not saying that you'll have my bad luck but you have to be prepared for the worst. You owe it to yourself.
Breen: that's the problem.... I have no reason... I didn't get a job this summer so that I could study, but I am just not very motivated.
Brown: I use the FL to assess where i'm at. I've only taken two so far. My time would be better spent studying and reviewing material, but at least during the FL I know I'm not going to get distracted or lose interest or whatnot.
I think I'm struggling to stay motivated because both my FLs had scores higher than pod school averages (not that high), so for admissions I don't need to shoot for the moon, but for scholarships and personal satisfaction I probably should be... But that's not a real great motivator, ya know?
You guys are probably all hoping for a 30+ to be competitive whereas I need ~25 to be extremely competitive. See my point? Hopefully I realize test day is LITERALLY a month away soon and I buckle down hard...
GET TO WORK JUNE 21st-ERS!! STOP SLACKING AND LETS KNOCK THIS STUFF OUT!!!!!
😀
Are most people here applying this cycle? Just curious...I plan on applying next cycle. I can't believe this test is in a month lol...it's freaking me out even though I feel good about where I'm at.
Are most people here applying this cycle? Just curious...I plan on applying next cycle. I can't believe this test is in a month lol...it's freaking me out even though I feel good about where I'm at.
GET TO WORK JUNE 21st-ERS!! STOP SLACKING AND LETS KNOCK THIS STUFF OUT!!!!!
😀
I'm applying this cycle. Pretty much everything is riding on a good MCAT score (32+) because I'm trying to apply MD/PhD.![]()