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Originally Posted by LastDance
Hey "nismo" i hope everything works out for you. Could you please talk about how you were able to improve your MCAT score from a 19 to scoring above 30's on practice tests?!?! i am currently trying to prepare for the august exam. Actually what i was wondering was how you studied and HOW LONG have you been studying? like how many hours a day, how many days a week? what you used to study? study routine?? stuff like that? do you think 4 months is enought time to study for the MCAT??? thanks a bunch bro... good luck.. i hope it all works out for you...thanks again
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First, the reason I scored a 19 on the first test was because I studied 0 days for the test. At that time I was tired of hearing about how difficult the mcat was, so I decided to take the test and find out for myself. I was not aware that old practice tests were available online, and I didn't have to spend $200 on taking the real thing. So technically I went from a 19 to a 27 to averaging 35 on practice tests, but I think it's more like going from a 27 (actually studied for the test) to averaging 35 currently.
But to answer your question about my study methods...I took two months to study for the exam last August (scored a 27). I used examcrackers review books, 1001 questions (all discrete questions) for org chem, gen chem, and phys. For bio I used one of their books which has passage based questions, and for verbal I used one of their books with nine or ten practice tests. I read the review books carefully, and it usually took me an hour to finish each chapter (there are about 10 chapters). I did the few practice questions associated with each chapter, and then I also did a few mini mcat tests at the end of the book. This method might not be good for everyone because I also had human phys and biochem, and most of the material that I reviewed for the bio section was not new to me (in terms of endocrine system, cardio, respiratory, and metabolism, etc.).
For this upcoming exam, I started studying in January using kaplan. I again read the review books (kaplan's), but that was the only thing that was similar to what I did the first time. With kaplan you have access to qbank (discrete and passage based questions on all subjects), topical tests, general discrete question tests, and a bunch of kaplan full length tests as well as aamc versions. You also have access to online workshops and quizzes. I completed all of this material except the full length tests (I only did 5 of kaplan's and 2 aamc). All together I did more than 3,000 questions (passage based), and probably at least another 1,000 discrete questions. This might seem like a lot, but if you start studying now you'll get thru everything by August. You will get better with the subject knowledge by doing as many questions as you can, and not so much by reviewing the books. One more note to add, when I did all of thousands of practice questions, I thorougly read the explanation for each answer, not just the one I answered incorrectly. This is where most of your subject knowledge will come from. After doing so many passages you will start to get used to critical reading and critical thinking to answer the questions.
I personally think that each person has their own method for studying, and for me this is working out fairly well. Out of the seven practice tests which I took, on the last four I have been getting 14-15 on the bio section; 12-13 on the physical sciences section, and 7-12 on the verbal section. The verbal is the most difficult for me, because if I lose interest in what I'm reading I have to go back to the passage many times and that slows me down. However, those passages that do interest me, I answer almost every question correctly. I'm also not too good with physics, but I heard that kaplan's physical sciences section is fairly tough, so maybe on the real test I'll do better with physics. Anyways, this is what I used to study, but I strongly encourage you to take this test very seriously. I think that the mcat is a difficult test, but it's not as difficult as some people make it out to be. If you know the material very well (and you have to know everything because you don't know what you will get on your version), and you develop and practice critical reading and thinking, then I think you will be able to score AT LEAST a 33. But to have a very good knowledge of the material, you will have to put in a lot of hours in order to learn it. I apologize for the very long response, but I hope it helps.
04-16-2006, 09:02 PM
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