Time Management on PS Section

[speranza]

Well, I took Kaplan's FL #6 today and was pretty pleased with my Verbal and Bio scores (12 and 11), but am far from happy with my PS score. PS has always been my hardest section and I never have enough time to finish it. Like today, for Bio, I finished and had 10 mintues to spare. For PS, I didn't even get to about 15 questions and had to completely guess. I don't know what to do. I know I have a weaker background in physics and gen chem, but I do think I have a decent grasp on the concepts and pretty much know the formulas. But whereas in Bio, after reading a question I am usually like "okay, this is the answer or this is what I need to do to get the answer" often with a PS question, my mindset is more like, "what do I need to do to get the answer?" or just "I have no idea what to do to get the answer." So I think this is what is keeping me from finishing the sections, not immediately knowing what to do and having to think/analyze the questions way too much. Is the only remedy for this just more practice? I've certainly done a lot of practice sections and practice tests, but haven't seen any significant improvement (and today's score was actually one of the lowest I've gotten on a practice test in PS).

I know that if I could just finish the section, my score would improve so much. And I've just been skimming the passages. I know a lot of people say to read the passages completely first, but I think if I did that, I'd have even less time...

Sorry for all the rambling, but I am so frustrated by my inability to finish this section. Any comments/advice are very appreciated. Thanks.

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[frany584]

PS is my weakest section too, today i took kaplan FL1 and got a 10 in PS (my highest score so far in physical science) i didn't read hardly any of the passages, many of them didnt require me too. i was skeptical about this advice but pretty happy with the results, you could always try it that way while practicing passages and see if u like it or not. good luck!

 

[smiley98]

I have the exact same problem as you... if I come across a good method I will definately share... but as of now I am just trying to get good simplifying the passages in terms of concepts and equations that I have reviewed. Do you happen to have the conversion chart for fl6?

 

[speranza]

smiley, no I don't have the score conversion chart with me, sorry.

Anyone else have any advice on finishing?

 

[jjjj2]

In my opinion, the physical sciences section on the kaplan full-lengths isn't really representative of the actual MCAT. The passages are way too long (very wordy, lots of extraneous info). Even I had some trouble finishing kaplan's and PS is my best section.

But all that's not to say that they aren't good practice. If you can finish one of these babies, you should have no problems finishing the real thing on test day.

On the AAMC exams, I can usually finish the PS with about 20 minutes left over. Don't know if this will help, but anyway here's my method. At first, don't read the passage. Quickly glance at the figures and equations and get your brain cooking the concepts you may need to apply, then go straight for the questions. Look for questions that don't require passage-specific information and answer those first. I feel there are many more of these on the aamc tests than on kaplan's. For the remainder of the questions, just quickly skim the passage, pinpointing what knowledge you may need to answer the questions. If you feel completely lost on a question, don't dwell too long on it. Make a guess, mark it so you can come back if you have time, and move on. This may take some practice in understanding what the MCAT expects you to know, and what info you are expected to extract from the passage, but in the end, it saves time.

Good luck!

 

[speranza]

In my opinion, the physical sciences section on the kaplan full-lengths isn't really representative of the actual MCAT. The passages are way too long (very wordy, lots of extraneous info). Even I had some trouble finishing kaplan's and PS is my best section.

But all that's not to say that they aren't good practice. If you can finish one of these babies, you should have no problems finishing the real thing on test day.

On the AAMC exams, I can usually finish the PS with about 20 minutes left over. Don't know if this will help, but anyway here's my method. At first, don't read the passage. Quickly glance at the figures and equations and get your brain cooking the concepts you may need to apply, then go straight for the questions. Look for questions that don't require passage-specific information and answer those first. I feel there are many more of these on the aamc tests than on kaplan's. For the remainder of the questions, just quickly skim the passage, pinpointing what knowledge you may need to answer the questions. If you feel completely lost on a question, don't dwell too long on it. Make a guess, mark it so you can come back if you have time, and move on. This may take some practice in understanding what the MCAT expects you to know, and what info you are expected to extract from the passage, but in the end, it saves time.

Good luck!

Actually, that's basically what I've been doing..quickly skimming the passage and then going to the Qs. I never read the passages first. But even doesn't seem to work for me.

I've also heard the AAMC PS sections are easier in the past, but some people on this board have commented that the April MCAT's PS was just as hard as Kaplan's, so I certainly can't count on it being easier, you know?