Using TBR Books, worried my background isn't sufficient!

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jparsenal87

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Two examples from the VERY first set of questions in the Bio Book:

1. Nicotinic cholinergic receptors can be found at all of the following locations EXCEPT:

2. Visual field information is processed in which region of the brain?

For the first one, I focused on "cholinergic", and was looking for an answer choice that would be adrenergic. For the second one, as soon as I saw visual information, I immediately thought occipital lobe.

For the first question, the answer was understanding that the receptors on post-ganglionic parasympathetic neurons are MUSCARINIC not nicotinic...but neither of those words was even mentioned in the chapter.

Likewise, the answer for the second one was the parietal lobe, even though all the chapter says about the parietal love is "associated with tough and stretch sensation".

I know TBR passages often incorporate material from future chapters, but neither of those things seem like they would come up anywhere but in the nervous system chapter. They seem specific enough that I have a hard time believing this should be considered general background knowledge.

Has anyone run into this problem with TBR? What do you recommend doing about it, when no amount of reviewing the chapter would help me with either of those questions?

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Ha! Yes and it drove me nuts! I thought I was super incompetent BUT, I bet you will remember the associations made with each other those questions. TBR uses what I like to call the freak out method. They give you super in depth questions to make you freak out and look up detailed or abstract facts that relate to the material. If you want straight forward supplement with EK or Kaplan. I've learned that all of TBR questions are like "hat tricks" or concept webs. It forces to pull on info in indirect ways to get you to rationalize at a higher level when approached about any topic. It will get better and you will be amazed at the amount of deducing you will be able to do quickly once it it for a while. But for morale purposes I try to follow TBR practice questions with easier questions from an app or different book company. Good luck!

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Maybe I'm missing something here but I thought visual field information was processed in the occipital lobe?
 
Maybe I'm missing something here but I thought visual field information was processed in the occipital lobe?
It is all visual information are process in the ocxiptable lobe. However, it does communicate with other lobes .. such as the temporal lobe for object recognize since the latter is involved with short term memory and with the parietal lobe for the perception of objects.
 
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A fair number of TBR's questions have content that isn't in the passage or in the content review they did.

But you can still derive a lot of value from their passages by learning from the mistakes.

Very true! In the biology books this is applicable to about a third of the questions. In the current chemistry and physics books, phase III has about 25% of the questions from subjects outside of the chapter. Some of these topics will be covered later, some have been covered in previous sections (and this serves as review), and others (usually the passages) may cover material not covered in the text portion in order to reduce the amount of text. Our philosophy has always been that passages and questions give students the best opportunity to review and learn, so that is where we make sure all of the information is covered. For physics and chemistry, the text is meant for thorough review if you don't feel strong in a topic, a place to show mnemonics and shortcuts, a place for the most straight forward questions, and a place to talk about applications. Many students choose just to do the embedded questions and the passages, referring to the text only when they have a strong need.
 
We have to remember nothing (Unless stated otherwise in physics) happens in a vacuum. That is the biggest lesson I've learned since using TBR. And it's the basis for the mcat. Visual info isn't confined to one part of the brain, just like respiration is tied to the lungs, kidneys, brain stem, RBCs etc. Everything is connected. Remember biology is chemistry, chemistry is physics, and physics is life.

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