mcat advice?

[*health sci gurl*]

I'm writing the mcat this aug...and i'm taking princeton review to help prep for it. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on studying - like study strategies, or what to focus...ie. what most people found the hardest. I kno it varies from person to person, depending on individual strengths..but in general what part did people find the trickest...? I'm guessing verbal's gonna be a tough one for me. And like how did you guys prep for the essay part? I'm thinking of like keeping a word doc of current events going on in the world...i donno...what did you guys do? Also...did people find that there were like certain tricks to look out for on the actual mcat.


Thanks!!

[sajidgidda]

I'm in the same position, August 19th test date I believe. I'm using a mix of ExamKrackers and Kaplan books but I think the ExamKrackers ones are better. Whatever unit you're weakest at is the one you'll find the hardest so it depends on the person. As far as the essay, I'd recommend allocating about 30 mins- 1 hour each day to get some good literature time. Exposure to elegant pieces of writing may help you with your essays, as not only will your range of language improve but you'll see different ways of structuring sentences and arguments.

Anything else I can help you with, let me know

[ironpalm83]

I am taking the August one as well. I am also using combination of examkrackers and kaplan review material. I downloaded MCAT audio osmosis and so far it's been great. Tho it's not voice of Jessica Alba or BoA, hey! it helps with the concepts!

[w1ll]

I doubt anyone who did extremely well on the MCAT is gonna be reading this, but if you are out there...

How about posting a schedule on how you studied for the MCAT each day of the week? (insert 2month time frame for August 19!)

PS- I'm using Kaplan review books, but I find myself spending most of the day reading the Review chapters, making my own notes, and then vigorously memorizing them. The problem is, this becomes so time consuming I'm not sure if this is the most efficient way of studying given my time frame.

[jameslynton]

I'm writing the mcat this aug......I was wondering if anyone has any advice on studying - like study strategies, or what to focus...ie. what most people found the hardest. ..Thanks!!Ok - I did the MCAT last August. Here is what I suggest. The MCAT test is about speed. Pure and simple - speed not learned content is what gets you. Now about prep books - Kaplan is ok, the review book I found that was the best was the Barron's.

Now lets talk about speed - how to you get it. First, you need to read faster so a speed reading course is suggested. Second you need to do timed tests daily. You can down load for a small fee the old MCAT exams off the site. Start taking each sections for time. Take one section each day. use an old kitchen timer. Your goal is to take the test or parts of the test over and over working till you can read and answer the exam section in less time than given. Don't worry at first about being right - concern yourself about being able to read and mark the sheet with in the time given.

When I took the test last year - I saw a bunch of the Kaplan people with flash cards before the tests. They had organic molecules on them. They were of no use on the Bio test. My take - know basic principles of biology and organic - there were no questions on the test that could not be answered with basic science principles. In physics and basic chem - all the problems broke down to knowing and applying the basics. Know your moles, F=MA etc all basic stuff. Now what they do is have tons of verbage you have to read threw to find the answers. In one they had a page and half of verbage - however the answer and problem statement were all in one paragraph that was totally different than the other verbage around it

So being able to read fast is critical to finding the solution - A problem maybe framed in as advanced physics however the actual solution will be basic stuff. You have to pick it out. The Barron's review is excellent because they hit all the basic stuff. There questions are the closes of the three reviews out there.

Here are my scores of the three review/practice books on the market
Barron's - A+ covers all the basic areas you need and sim exams closest to the real thing.
Princton - B+ - CD is nice for the time stress of taking a section. Review of knowledge and basic stuff very good.
Old MCAT from site - A+ - tests are well worth the money - practice verbal sections for speed.
Kaplan review - C - not really worth the money - subject matter off and questions are too difficult - it does scare you but does not help you.
Kaplan 45 - C- - not worth the money - saw no problems like what was in this mother.
Well this is just my .02 - hope it helps. If you work the test sections daily for speed - in about a week or two it will kick in and you will be finishing the section in less time. next you want to be able to deconstruct the question - once you are able to do that - the answers pop out at you.

By the way on the USMLE stuff I am doing now - I can knock threw 50 q's in about 30 minutes. I am doing them at first just for speed and not accuracy. That is what gets most peole stuck. We are trained to be accuare but not fast. You want to see yourself as a sprinter then add accuracy after you can do a section in 10% less time than the section is allowed.

Also by using the speed method - you guess faster - believe or not more people spend more time on guessing than any other item. Think of it this way - You will spend more time on a losing game of solitare than a winning one. This applies to this test. Guess fast and go on. Later once you have speed you will find your guesses get better and better.

[sajidgidda]

Yeah I got the Kaplan 45 book and it's a bit of a monster. I think instead of making the content harder they've just tried to word the questions in an overly complex way so its more confusing than downright difficult

[*health sci gurl*]

So being able to read fast is critical to finding the solution - A problem maybe framed in as advanced physics however the actual solution will be basic stuff. You have to pick it out. The Barron's review is excellent because they hit all the basic stuff. There questions are the closes of the three reviews out there.

Here are my scores of the three review/practice books on the market
Barron's - A+ covers all the basic areas you need and sim exams closest to the real thing.
Princton - B+ - CD is nice for the time stress of taking a section. Review of knowledge and basic stuff very good.
Old MCAT from site - A+ - tests are well worth the money - practice verbal sections for speed.
Kaplan review - C - not really worth the money - subject matter off and questions are too difficult - it does scare you but does not help you.
Kaplan 45 - C- - not worth the money - saw no problems like what was in this mother.
Well this is just my .02 - hope it helps. If you work the test sections daily for speed - in about a week or two it will kick in and you will be finishing the section in less time. next you want to be able to deconstruct the question - once you are able to do that - the answers pop out at you.

Also by using the speed method - you guess faster - believe or not more people spend more time on guessing than any other item. Think of it this way - You will spend more time on a losing game of solitare than a winning one. This applies to this test. Guess fast and go on. Later once you have speed you will find your guesses get better and better.


Hey...thanks a lot...that really helps! The passages are what i'm worried about...not really the material. I find that i get stuck on passages, finding answers in the passages and putting things together - it's not really the material. So the advice about speed reading and getting that down instead of worrying about the right answers is really helpful.

I'm taking PR..so i have their books...which are pretty good at breaking things down for you. I wanna get Barron's review...since everyone seems to reccommend it. My main prob right now..are the friggin passages! It's so fustrating...i think i need to come up with a strategy, or maybe if i get the speed down, the answers will just stick out like you said...

But anyways...that was really helpful..thanks!

[jameslynton]

Hey...thanks a lot...that really helps! The passages are what i'm worried about...not really the material. I find that i get stuck on passages, finding answers in the passages and putting things together - it's not really the material. So the advice about speed reading and getting that down instead of worrying about the right answers is really helpful.

I'm taking PR..so i have their books...which are pretty good at breaking things down for you. I wanna get Barron's review...since everyone seems to reccommend it. My main prob right now..are the friggin passages! It's so fustrating...i think i need to come up with a strategy, or maybe if i get the speed down, the answers will just stick out like you said...

But anyways...that was really helpful..thanks!
On the last August test we had one passage on Geo political something or other - it was hard as nails to even read it. Because I had been doing the speed thing I read the questions first - then read the passage. It was the next to last one in that test section. That was a strategy I used on the GRE to score 720 read the questions first then read the passage. However, on this one that did not work because the passage was so obscure. So I did the last passage which was easy. Then came back to it. You could not get any hooks into it to connect the answers with the passage. By the way, I took the test pretty cold because I just did not have any time to do more than look over Biology and organic.
After the test, several of us were going what was that passage about? No one had a clue. So I would say download the old MCAT's and do a verbal reasoning section daily to practice until you can read and answer in the test time frame as fast as possible. Then see if your answers are correct. Or do the practice tests and see how you do. Often times one or two words and their placement in the question makes it right or wrong. None of the practice test I saw were as difficult as that one.

[tRmedic21]

Well, I did very well on the MCAT, but my studying won't help you a bit I guarantee.... because I didn't even crack a book for it! Ha!

Actually, that's not true... I hadn't had Genetics yet when I took it, so the night before the test, I did look up in the MCAT prep book that G paired with C and that A paired with T (hope I still have that right, Basic Sciences are long behind me!). I also read a couple of pages on how to do the essays... about how you should read the question, make a point, defend it with at least 3 arguments, then come up with a COUNTER to your original point and summarize at the end.... I think that was what they recommended. I assume it was basically to show that you could use logic to defend even a viewpoint that you didn't agree with. It must have worked, because I made my highest score in the verbal section, contrary to what I have heard of most 'science'-oriented people doing. Always amazed me to see people post scores like.... 12, 13, 6 L or something. lol I did quite well on the verbal and written portions of the exam (I think I got an S on the written?). I attribute decent reading/writing skills to spending so much time reading as a kid (yes, Virginia, even fiction will help you!!!). I find so many of the common spelling and grammatical errors I see today from my peers to be so strange... lol. Not that my spelling is perfect in any way, let me say.

Anyways, I really didn't help much, probably, except to say that I thought the writing portion was probably the most pertinent section of the MCAT for my future as a doctor. Written and verbal communication skills are absolutely essential, and you can bet that when you see the healthcare field breaking down and losing people between the cracks, this is where the heart of the problem lies. :( Don't blow it off!

I don't remember exactly what my topics were.... but I believe one of them asked me to explain why the United States' sense of community and nationwide pulling together to help the war effort in the late 1930s and early 1940s was so key in helping to win World War II..... not exactly current events, eh? I loved writing the essay for that one, though. Really made me think, and I still think it was one of the best essays I've ever written in all my years of schooling. Makes me wish I could have seen how the graders commented on it. :D Alas.... I'll never know. :(

[jameslynton]

Lets us know if this helps. Others may have the same questions.

[JLea]

I purchased an e-book from this website: http://www.mcat-secrets.com/

This book helped tremendously!

April 2005 MCAT

29R

VR - 10
PS - 11
** - 08

I read the Kaplan book for about 2 weeks and I had not yet taken Organic Chemistry. (Thus, ** was lower. The strategies shown in the book helped.)