Very Frustrated!

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MercifulDoc

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I have done extensive content review (as I was instructed to do) completed it, however I can't seem to get above a 27 on the official AAMC practice tests. I got:
AAMC#3 7PS, 9VR, 8BR
AAMC#4 9PS, 9VR, 9BR
AAMC#5 8PS, 7VR, 9BR
AAMC#7 8PS, 9VR,9BR
AAMC#8 9PS, 7VR, 8BR

I have sufficient time to complete each section, but for some reason, a single passage or two kills me and I lose a **** ton of marks. Also, I make a few mistakes throughout most passages.

I also find that I have trouble interpreting some of the questions, as in figuring out what they want, what the subject topic that they are trying to ask and sometimes I feel like I know the correct answer, but when I start reading the answer choices, I get thrown off and put down something incorrect....

I can't break a 10 for any of the sections. Please help!

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hmm im no mcat expert but what's been helping me to break 10's in PS & BS and slowly climbing to 12's is to read the passage and questions + answers carefully.

If you are like me, then you probably finished PS w/like ~10-15 mins left and BS w/like ~20-30 mins left....I used to rush and then score w/out looking back and get very similar scores to you.

I found that by looking back and reading the passage really carefully, I was able to catch mistakes + deduct answers despite not knowing the topic well. I'm not sure if that helps you, but I just keep telling myself that this test should be a critical thinking test not rote memorization.

For VR, I can't really say....practice I guess? :/
 
hmm im no mcat expert but what's been helping me to break 10's in PS & BS and slowly climbing to 12's is to read the passage and questions + answers carefully.

If you are like me, then you probably finished PS w/like ~10-15 mins left and BS w/like ~20-30 mins left....I used to rush and then score w/out looking back and get very similar scores to you.

I found that by looking back and reading the passage really carefully, I was able to catch mistakes + deduct answers despite not knowing the topic well. I'm not sure if that helps you, but I just keep telling myself that this test should be a critical thinking test not rote memorization.

For VR, I can't really say....practice I guess? :/

I am in the same boat for BS. but for PS I can barely finish on time, I think I just spend way too much time on calculations. Any timing tips? Do you just go through your passages all at once? and when do you know to just move on and return?
 
I used to have time left over, especially in like BS but then I started reading PS and BS passages slower and more carefully. That's when my score jumped above 9.
 
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Do you skip questions that you initially find difficult?

It amazes me how some people don't do this. The (imbecilic) argument against it is "but I've already spent the time to read the question, won't skipping it and coming back mean I'll be losing time?!?!" Yeah, you're gonna lose 15 seconds you spent reading the question and answer choices douchebag. Big ****ing whoop.

Try it if you aren't already. If you find yourself even SLIGHTLY stuck on a question, mark it and MOVE ON. You'll be amazed at how you can interpret a question in a whole different way, and actually understand what it's asking for, the second time around.
 
Do you skip questions that you initially find difficult?

It amazes me how some people don't do this. The (imbecilic) argument against it is "but I've already spent the time to read the question, won't skipping it and coming back mean I'll be losing time?!?!" Yeah, you're gonna lose 15 seconds you spent reading the question and answer choices douchebag. Big ****ing whoop.

Try it if you aren't already. If you find yourself even SLIGHTLY stuck on a question, mark it and MOVE ON. You'll be amazed at how you can interpret a question in a whole different way, and actually understand what it's asking for, the second time around.

This. Try it in practice first and gradually get used to it. You may lose precious seconds or even a minute or two not making ANY headway, and you won't get that time back. And to top it off, you will also be stressed because of the psychological toll of metaphorically banging your head against a wall.

I practiced doing this and it made a huge difference over time in my test-taking ability, both for the MCAT and in my classes.
 
I am in the same boat for BS. but for PS I can barely finish on time, I think I just spend way too much time on calculations. Any timing tips? Do you just go through your passages all at once? and when do you know to just move on and return?

well what works for me in PS is to say "there can't be this much math. something is fishy". So I almost always avoid lengthy calculations and rarely actually do I need to actually do much math besides the neg log trick. Again, I'm no mcat expert, just saying what has been working for me.

I think the key so far has been to understand the relationships in the formulas.

In terms of timing, I have yet to really run out of time in PS; only when I go back and decide to re-tackle a hard passage I'll spend a few mins on it and every now and then I'll run out of time but at least i have some answer down. So I don't have much timing tips for PS. VR i always count down the 8 min marks and just move on if I am going 20-30 seconds into the next block of 8 mins.
 
Since you're scoring in a range that indicates you've nailed the majority of the content down, I think further improvement will come from your test taking strategy.

Here is the best possible advice I can give you, and though it requires quite a bit of time, I cannot stress how beneficial it is....

Thoroughly go through all of your practice tests again and start making note/record the various question stem patterns and answer choices that show up time and time again on practice tests. I went through all of my practice tests and categorized passage types (i.e- experiments, info., theories) and looked at the common types of questions asked for each passage type, as well as how the questions that required passage reference were worded, and those that were based on outside knowledge. Doing this helped me with sort of knowing what to expect, how to approach various types of questions, and the many traps to avoid on my proceeding practice tests. Patterns and repetitive tendencies seem to be aplenty, so literally dissect each passage, each question and each answer option for every single practice test you've taken thus far. No jokes.

I saw that many of the questions I got wrong had nothing to do with gaps in content. I was drawn to answer choices that felt comfortable and/or looked most appealing, which were almost always wrong. I also noticed a lot of my mistakes came from choosing an answer that was, in general, a correct statement, but did not specifically answer the question being asked. Sometimes, two or three of the answer stems for a particular question are technically true or correct, so you need to try to look at each question and really ask yourself which of the given four options would best answer what the question is asking you. It seriously does make a difference to approach this test using solid strategies and methods.

I sincerely hope this helps you and I wish you the best of luck with the remainder of your mcat studies.
 
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