thehumanmacbook Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 So looking over my new TPR books, I have a question about studying the actual material. Concepts are the most important thing since the majority of the exam will be passage-based. But doesn't one need to be thoroughly familiar with the material in order to be able to process the passage and find its nuances? So wouldn't the logical studying progress be: 1) memorize and understand most (or all) of the information in the prep books 2) do as many problems as you can 3) go back to areas that need practice/more memory? I'm just a bit confused as to why they tell us not to memorize things from the prep books at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj89 Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 you should be memorizing certain laws/relationships between variables Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 So wouldn't the logical studying progress be: 1) memorize and understand most (or all) of the information in the prep books 2) do as many problems as you can 3) go back to areas that need practice/more memory? Yes. I'm just a bit confused as to why they tell us not to memorize things from the prep books at all.Most of the stuff you shouldn't need to memorize, and you'll have learned it in school. I don't know why they'd tell you not to memorize stuff from the book at all, but you should at least memorize general concepts, common useful forumlas, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larrivee Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 If they tell you not to memorize then they have never seen an actual MCAT. Of course understanding is important and the passage based questions typically involve more understanding than memorization because they present most of the facts to you. But most of the non-passage based questions require previous memorization. What germ layer is the adrenal cortex derived from? A spike in ________ levels causes ovulation Of course you need to understand embryology and the female cycles, but you base your understanding on memorized facts/theories. In my opinion understanding and memorizing are very dependent on each other and shouldn't/can't be isolated. Memorization without understanding is virtually meaningless and understanding without some degree of memorized knowledge is impossible (I think it's impossible...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 So I should strive to memorize all the facts as best I can? Can anyone share some tips on how to best memorize/understand the concepts necessary for the MCAT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larrivee Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 So I should strive to memorize all the facts as best I can? Can anyone share some tips on how to best memorize/understand the concepts necessary for the MCAT? Well, you're going to want to focus on high yield topics for memorization. If you try to memorize everything in sight you'll exhaust yourself. Memorize the facts needed to understand the main concepts covered in the prep books. The books do a relatively good job at covering what will be on your MCAT. I used Kaplan and found that they did a good job at covering the important topics and they had high yield questions in the back which covered topics that have been presented in a large portion of recent MCATS. My advice is practice as much as you can. Every practice MCAT you can get your hands on, do it! I did 20 practice MCATs and I think I should have done more. Practice teaches your mind how to jump from topic to topic as well as helps you to realize for yourself what types of questions are on there, how are they worded, what topics pop up frequently, what areas do you struggle with the most, etc. Practice like a fiend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharmingHedgehog Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I am crap at memorizing, but pretty good with the concept stuff... which is also why I did pretty good with writing, verbal, and physical sciences... and kind of crap at bio compared to the rest of the population... I think most Bio stuff is memorization based (a mitochondrion is called a mitochondrion, and you can't get that by logically deducing anything)... but with physical sciences, it's a lot more concept based. As long as you understand how to approach a problem (which comes with practice...), then it doesn't matter if they've given you x & y, asking for z, or if they've given you z & x, and ask for Y. Similarly, with verbal... you need to figure out a way for you to be comfortable with breaking down the passage. If you choose to use the method suggested by TPR, then you have to memorize that; if (like me) you are too fail to memorize... then find your own way. For the written section, you need to figure out how to approach the essay (they teach you the sandwich method or osmething, which was really helpful), and this is important -- and they tell you int he book too -- you need to have enough news knowledge to give as examples. But see, you don't need to know the exact details, just be able to summarize the general idea to prove your point =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBoss Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 The title of the thread kinda made me feel like I should respond. My MCAT score was okay, but not what I wanted, so I guess I didn't really live up to my name lol. Since I hadn't taken quite a few classes that I should have had before the MCAT, I spent a lot of time memorizing, and probably a lot more than I should have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerena Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 The title of the thread kinda made me feel like I should respond. This made me smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBoss Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 This made me smile. 10char Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runDMC Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 thehumanmacbook....what made you choose tpr? i am debating between that and prep 101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyleh Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 Sorry but Andy says he's the boss... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted April 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 thehumanmacbook....what made you choose tpr? i am debating between that and prep 101 I got a nice discount, good books. Prep 101 uses EK which is pretty easy to get; TPR has more days in its classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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