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TPR Diagnostic Round 2


The Law

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I took my second diagnostic and got 4,5,6 on verbal, physical science, and bio respectively. I'm kinda worried right now bc I don't know if I'll ever be able to increase my score soooo much by mid August to meet to cut offs at most of the schools. Do you think that improving my scores THAT MUCH will be possible? (if I spend my entire life prepping from now till August?). Input is appreciated.

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kingirl:

 

absolutely!! there's still time. You need to focus and stay on the ball.

 

Analyze where you're loosing marks on the MCAT. Don't hesitate to go back to basic concepts. Look at your mistakes, try to find what you were thinking and reason it out how you can avoid it in the future.

 

Mcat's more about mental health than anything. I'm very confident that if you put in the 'hard' effort then you'll be able to achieve the marks you need.

 

Remember to THINK POSITIVELY!!! and never never never ever give up :)

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I took my second diagnostic and got 4,5,6 on verbal, physical science, and bio respectively. I'm kinda worried right now bc I don't know if I'll ever be able to increase my score soooo much by mid August to meet to cut offs at most of the schools. Do you think that improving my scores THAT MUCH will be possible? (if I spend my entire life prepping from now till August?). Input is appreciated.

 

kingirl,

 

sure you got time. But make sure you focus on VR everyday. The other sections, you can raise your score just by learning content. VR takes practice-- its skill based rather than content-based as the other 2 sections are.

 

VR is the hardest to raise, so do that everyday, and you can do PS/BS on alternate days or something. (this is just my opinion. if you think its stupid, no harm).

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I think the Kaplan PS are still harder though. But their bell curve is really really generous. I didn't bother re-doing the ones I did last year, but I remember getting like 57% and still ending up with a 10 or something.

 

What are you guys getting for the essays? I've gotten 5, 6, 5, and I thought some of them were really poorly written.

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Don't put too much weight on those diagnostics. I know from personal experience the Kaplan and TRP diagnostics don't reflect the AAMC question style exactly. The prep companies, minus EK, really push calculations and memorization of little details. The AAMC exams are more passage based on the sciences passages and require limited raw calculations, more formula shifting type stuff. The VR from the prep companies also have a different feel. Last summer I was scoring 6-7 on the prep company stuff. On the EK and AAMC VR tests I was getting about 10-11. I got a 12 on VR on the real deal.

 

If you are mapping passages etc. for VR leave that bull**** behind. Try a few tests by just reading the passage without going back to the passage a lot. This is the way you have been reading for years and it is the best way. EK has the best idea: Read for the main idea not details, use passage stems and answer choices as hints, and only go back to the passage as a last resort.

 

I think the TPR and Kaplan tests are designed to teach more than give you a legit MCAT feel. If you are getting demoralized try out AAMC CBT 3 or one of the EK exams. These are more in line with the real deal.

 

Oh and I wouldn't even consider your mark you get on those little topical tests they give you. Those things are really really far from anything you will see on the MCAT. Just view them as tools to review concepts etc. For me those found a nice place in the garbage can in favor of EK 1001 and Nova questions/passages.

 

 

That's my two cents.

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Actually I don't think PRinceton Verbal is that inaccurate. I've done the entire EK verbal book and I've been scoring about the same for both. Kaplan is pretty crappy though, I agree, though their passages are good, just too detailed questions.

 

How about the sciences though? I know Kaplan's physics is much harder, but Princeton's physics isn't that easy either... =( Does memorization really help w/ science? There's so much memorization necessary for bio..sure the passage helps, but you need to knwo it too.

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Memorization is important most definitely. But with a test as big as the MCAT I want to memorize the stuff I will need. Knowing too many little details can slow you down and cause you look too deeply into a simple question. Just look at orgo for example, if you memorized 5476547 reactions but only 25 are tested this over memorization could cause confusion by allowing you to see "zebras" as possible answer choices.

 

Btw this is the core principle of the EK strategy outlined the introduction chapters of many of their books.

 

The focus of Kaplan/TPR materials on rogue memorization is my main beef with Kaplan and to an extent TPR.

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I am beginning to hate verbal.....

 

some passages just don't make any sense...i read them and I go....whaoo!! totally didn't get what they meant....

 

its just those passages that get you done and depressed...

 

after you read the passage try to asnwer the questions to the best of your ability, but then just forget about it...you can't be thinking of the passage you didn't understand while trying to read the next one, that will just throw you off...try to keep your focus :D

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Argh, I can't take this anymore. I keep on getting 28-30 on these TPR tests. Am I pretty much screwed for the big test? Argh...

 

This is absolutely ridicullous. I got 31, 34 and 31 on AAMC 4, 5 and 6 respectively TWO WEEKS AGO. And now I'm dropping a bunch 2 weeks after? Why oh why....

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Argh, I can't take this anymore. I keep on getting 28-30 on these TPR tests. Am I pretty much screwed for the big test? Argh...

 

This is absolutely ridicullous. I got 31, 34 and 31 on AAMC 4, 5 and 6 respectively TWO WEEKS AGO. And now I'm dropping a bunch 2 weeks after? Why oh why....

 

my understanding (which may very well be way off) is that TPR tests are not necessarily representative of the actual thing. If you were scoring into 30's on the AAMC practice ones then I wouldn't stress about the TPR that much. You are certainly not doomed :D Best of luck!

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TPR 1st diagnostic: 8BS 5PS 7VR O

2nd: 8BS 4PS 6VR S

I got a 5 and a 6 on my writing samples... holy **** I think I got an easy marker, cause my examples were really general (no actual current events). But my comments said that they were easy to read and that I tied all the tasks together well... so I guess it doesn't matter if my examples sucked?

My main concern is PS. I find it really, really hard! I try to do the practice homework and the readings but I feel like they don't help since so many of the questions are passage based and are "trick" questions. Anyone else feel the same way?

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