*The Official MCAT April 2018 Thread*

What is the triage method?!?

 

In a nutshell it's previewing each passage for several seconds giving it a rating of do it 1st, middle, or later. I use a :/ and a face on my note sheet
P1
P2
P3 :/ etc.

Basically I just briefly skim for subject matter and whether the passage seems complex or not for example I do passages on culture/sociology first and save philosophy and ethics for last.

I also triage questions too, but in my head instead. Main idea and passage detail questions first that are quick and I save anything that requires reasoning/critical thinking for last. Then I move on to the next one. I just feel less miserable like this.

 

Do you this only with CARS or with other sections too?! I'm definitely going to try this, seems like it would help with timing too by not wasting time doing a tough passage in the middle so you don't have time for an easier passage that was later

 

I do it for all of them But I only triage the CARS questions. Improved greatly with B/B timing with this and I have time left over now and I always have at least 15-20 mins left on P/S. Take my CARS suggestions with a grain of salt since my scores suck, but I definitely think overall it helps mentally. The key is keeping it a very brief, instinctual process.

 

Thank you!!!! I needed new techniques for timing with C/P and B/B, I run out of time every time and I have to guess got about 6 days to improve my time

 

Hey does anyone actually know where to get this "100 pg KA guide" xP

 

thank you!

 

We can do this!! I'm pumped to see what we can accomplish on test day. Guess I'm going to do the q-packs now and the reddit anki flashcard deck that everyone uses. After all this work I'd hate to end up painfully average, but *shrug*

Grrr.... I've got to fix my critical thinking issue with B/B stat.

 

Yes we can!! I'm hoping on test day all the adrenaline will kick in and that fight or flight will help us kick this test in the butt!!!

 

Ayyy I got a 509 today on FL3.

 

These section banks are so brutal....lol

 

DNO!! That is so awesome!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!! Rock on. You're doing something right.

Agreed...the SB's were soooooooo out there. Even the P/S ones. Maybe it can teach us how to keep going when times are tough
Can't get much worse than that I hope.

 

Thanks!!

Yeah I’m gonna review all the SBs and hopefully review the FLs this week again. Then Friday will be here before we know it!

 

Yes that's what I'm hoping too!!! Lol. But from what I keep reading/hearing is that the SB's are good prep for those few inevitable tough passages on the real thing

 

awesome!! any strategies that you could share that are working for you? I totally messed up cars on that one and P/S!

 

Cool little CARS tip that I learned from reddit: at the bottom of the AAMC passages they give you the title of the article and where it's from! Very helpful to read 1st to find out what the passage will be about and helps w/ the main idea !

 

Oh yes love this one!! Another strategy I have been using are super quickly skimming the questions for each passage for keywords before reading the passage (Names, quotes, words) and that really helps me when I'm reading the passage to highlight the words I recognized from the questions so I don't have to search for them later. And also it kind of primes your brain to really perk up when you catch those words and really comprehend what is being said about them. I tried this out with some passages on the QB's and gave myself 10 minutes for each passage and it really helped a lot. On the real exam I always give myself 10 minutes per passage as well (9 passages/90 minutes), I usually don't use the full 10 minutes for every passage so I always end up with a little bit of time left over. Then I did this for FL2 this past week and I ended up with a 128 in CARS!!

 

Hell yeah! I'm gonna try this on tuesday and on my next CARS practice tonight !

 

Yes!!! Sending you good vibes and good luck!!

 

For PS I did a lot of practice questions this week using uworld. I felt like just reading the definitions wasn’t doing it for me. Practice helps solidify it!

 

is anyone else taking a full class load while studying? this past week i had an advanced biochem exam so basically all my time was spent studying that. i had to keep reminding myself its ok to only do biochem considering its one of the mcat topics. test was on nucleic acids/dna and that was one of my weaker topics on practice questions/exams so hopefully when i jump back into mcat this week, those questions go smoothly lol

 

Got a 513 on FL2 today with a 125 on P/S

Down 3 points from FL1 where apparently 52/59 is a 128...holy cow the curve for P/S on these things are brutal

 

Hey Physiogirl, I feel ya! I'm a PharmD student, I work, have 2 volunteer positions I go to weekly, and am working on a research project that I'm presenting the weekend after the MCAT. I began studying in October and have been very consistent since. I have taken 8 full length exams and averaged a 508. I am okay with this as my goal is >505 (primarily aiming for DO schools). I know your pain. I was in medical physiology last semester and had to sacrifice time studying for MCAT, but told myself that it would help me on the Bio/Biochem section. Low and behold I scored a 129 on AAMC FL1 (51/59). Keep your head up! In these last few weeks try to really focus on section banks and the AAMC full lengths. Really any AAMC material!! I keep telling myself I've worked extremely hard and whatever is supposed to happen on test day will happen. It keeps me calm. I hope your MCAT goes well!

 

Lol. I understand your pain! I got the same score on FL 1 P/S. Thought I killed it (like 130 at least). Was very underwhelmed with my 128. I'm sure if you get a 52/59 on test day you'll easily pull a 130. Have you checked out the document with AAMC FL scored vs real MCAT score? Most people jump a few points, I've even seen 7-10 point jumps.

 

This is probably the most true thing I've seen. I studied units (and a few other things) and instantly had a 2 point increase in C/P. ALWAYS look at the answer choices. If you know your units, find the relevant information in the passage or question stem and get the correct answer. Although, those are the units for Joules. A Newton is Kg * m/s^2.

 

you pass...

 

What's everyone's game plan for test week? I'm off school and work this whole week.

 

Going to take my last FL tomorrow and then just review all my QB's SB's and FL's again Tuesday/Wednesday and not touch anything MCAT related Thursday lol. Trying to take it easy now because honestly if I don't know it at this point I won't know it by Friday so no need to stress about it, just going to try and relax, stay calm and make it through the next 5 days!!! I SEE THE LIGHT

 

So my test is on 4/20, do any of you guys have recommendations for me on what I should focus on these last few weeks? My test scores are as follows:

Kaplan 1: 499
Kaplan 2: 499
Kaplan 3: 506
Next Step 1: 509
AAMC FL 1: 507

CARS has consistently been my weak spot, but I’ll try doing those tips some of you guys recommended

I’m starting the section bank and I’m also planning on taking AAMC 2 and 3. However, would you guys recommend I do more practice tests from Next Step as well?


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Just to be clear, do you read EVERY question for a passage before reading the passage? Or do you just read the first question before reading? Thank you!


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I *skim* EVERY question for each passage before reading the passage. Key word here is SKIM, no need to try to analyze or memorize the questions, I use it more so I can recognize the key words, names, or quotes that are being pulled from the passage that I will be asked about so that I can highlight them and that way I don't have to go back and search for those names or quotes in the passage later. And it's helpful because it actually really helps me focus better when reading the passage because I'm looking for those words/quotes/names and making sure I comprehend what's going on the first time I read it.

 

CARS is one of my stronger sections, scoring ~130. My personal strategy is just to read the passage straight through while highlighting sentences that convey main ideas. I also try to summarize to myself after reading each paragraph what I just read (just in my head, I don't do any of that mapping the passage stuff). Personally it doesn't help me to read the questions beforehand because I forget them, but if you can keep them in mind while reading I imagine it is also helpful.

On the other hand I suck at P/C and P/S so any tips on upping my scores on that would be gr8. Did the AAMC physics section bank which was kindof a disaster. There were so many weird conceptual questions x.x

 

I agree with this. I almost feel like it didn't help me learn much of anything except some extra grit, keep on keeping on type attitude

Just took FL 3! I increased a point! I'm so happy.

AAMC FL 1: 500 124/123/126/127
NS1: 502 125/125/125/127
NS2: 503 124/126/126/127
AAMC FL 2: 501 126/124/126/125
NS3: 503 125/124/126/128
****AAMC FL 3: 504 126/126/127/125

On a mission to find out how I totally blew it in psych/soc. I remember thinking to myself how horribly boring those passages were...
I tried my new CARS method. Basically threw Kaplan strategies out the window for this whole exam except for the triage method and for the sciences where you read the answer choices before the question.

 

I honestly don't remember who sent this to me or where they got it from (if you know, let me know so I can credit them!) but here's a list of potential words that might pop in PS, good to look over and make sure you have some understanding/familiarization with all these words!! It's really helped me so far so thought I'd share Psychology ultimate topics

EDIT: the list was made by Kaur Beauty on YouTube who got a 519 on her MCAT! Thank you @br2pi5 for crediting the source

 

thank ya! going through this right now and filling it out and getting in some last minute definitions haha!

 

oh yeah I have that list too! it's from Kaur Beauty (youtube), I believe she got a 519 on her MCAT! and I spent the entire day yesterday flying to the US haha so i've got today to review and lightly go over notes tomorrow eeeeek!

 

Oh good to know!!! I should check out her YouTube...and good to know that her list was effective!!

 

SAME! Caught some words I wasn't familiar with/hadn't come across, thank god I know them now!! lol

 

Well just finished practice exam....490 on AAMC FL 1...exam on 4/20. SOS. how can i improve on C/P? advice for physics, formulas, concepts etc. Im good at memorization but I have not been trying to memorize physics formulas whatsoever. I will be practicing day in and day out on comprehension and doing a lot more practice problems/passage.

give me all the tips you can to fix C/P!!! and anything else that has helped you.

*rescheduling not an option. I have test anxiety so I have to be in testing environment to actually over come this.

 

what helped me with C/P (my weakest section) was to learn the units. if you know, for example, joules are kg x m^2/s^2, then you can use that to deduce which values to use to calculate your final answer. for power, a watt is joules/time, so you automatically know to divide energy by time. just knowing these things REALLY helps with calculations. equations are annoying to memorize, but knowing units make it a lot easier.

 

Good luck to all of you testing this Friday! I believe in you!

 

redid both B/B and C/P section banks these past couple days (completed B/B over a month ago, C/P a month ago).

first time around i got 53% on B/B and 56% on C/P. this time around (didn't remember answers/passages except maybe like 5 questions max), 81% on B/B and 79% on C/P.

i've been doing a lot more content review with my practice these past couple weeks. initially, my studying was mainly practice (thought i was good on content :/) and i realized after taking tests that i was getting easy questions wrong that could've been correct if i had just read a book!!! taking AAMC FL 2 this sat, so hopefully i see some improvement with my new strategy (reading on content i need help with, making ANKI cards as i go along/reviewing them). test is 4/20 so let's hope i finally got my act together lol, for now it feels like the practice questions i've been doing (aside from SB) are much easier.

 

watch videos on how to do molarity, ph, and all that business. So many questions on that and the formulas are interchangable between many problems. Physics I focused on work, energy, waves, and optics that helped. Once you begin using the formulas you won't have to straight up memorize them, they'll just come to mind. Just always remember when you're lost in the sauce think back to what you know!!! Build from it. You'd be surprised how much you can pull out your butt by thinking of similar problems and situations practice practice!!

I also find it helpful to brush up on gen chem. Thermodynamics and stuff.

 

Anyone here low key getting really excited for this to be over?! The studying and practice tests have completely taken over my life for the last six months and I am exhausted! That being said, this is probably really good practice for Medical school.

C/P has continued to be a difficult section for me, but I really have found that going through the Kaplan books in conjunction with Khan Academy videos in topics i'm unsure about, and then doing practice questions has really helped.

 

I'm looking forward/excited for this to be done too!! may it be whatever my score, I know I tried my hardest

 

Do you do the practice questions for the KA sections or Kaplan? I can't decide which ones are more worth my time.

 

alright, I think it's time for me to close all the books and stop looking over my notes (eek). but like if they ask anything re: adiabatic, isothermal etc or magnetism I'm screwed but I'll accept my losses lol ANYTHING but those subjects *pleaseeeee*

 

Good luck to all my fellow 4/6 test takers! May the odds be in our favor and the curve be strong ! But most of all don’t forget to take deep breathes, in less then 24 hours it’ll all be over