Options/Opinions?

[Turkelton]

So I've decided to take my third and last shot at the MCAT and would love some advice on what I should do. I'm trying to decide between studying on my own or taking a class (Princeton Review/Kaplan).

 

My score breakdown has been:

 

Sept. 2009: PS-8, BS-9, VR-10, WS-P, COMP: 27P

Aug. 2010: PS-10, BS-10, VR-9, WS-Q, COMP: 29Q

 

The second time I wrote it I studies for about the same amount of time as the first time (3 months, roughly 2-4 hours a day, 5-6 days a week). I did switch from Kaplan to Princeton Review and also incorporated EK. I don't know what to do to improve my score further. I'm thinking of using TBR for chem since that is one of my weak areas. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Is the time that I put in enough? I will hopefully write again on April 13, and will start studying very soon, but was trying to decide if I should also take a class from Jan-Mar?

[bored]

I was told to treat the mcat as a full time job for the 4 months of summer. do a 5-7 hours of studying and chill on the weekends for the summer. I honestly think 2-3 hours is not enough.. I would do that and didnt do so well this summer. so try out a 5-6 hours a day next summer. and stop enrolling in mcat courses, they are a waste of money, just discipline your self and buy the material only.

 

that is what I am going to do next summer..

[lloyder34]

I agree with the above post. I studied for three full months. I tried to get a part time job for the summer but after a fair bit of looking, decided it would be best in the long term to devote my time solely to the mcat. I spent my days studying and attended a night course. It's important not to burn yourself out. Take weekends off, exercise, get out with friends at night and stuff like that. That being said, you also have to be disciplined and not slack off (which is easy to do, especially early on).

If I were you I wouldn't take any more courses, it seems you have taken enough and at this point you have learned that they aren't going to make or break your grade.

I spent the first month studying 4-6 hours /day, 2nd month about 8 hours/day and in the final month/weeks leading up to the MCAT was putting in 10-12 hour days. It sucks, but its something you have to commit yourself to in order to prevent having to redo it the next summer. Also, if you plan on not having a job, make sure you have enough funds to get you through. I didn't really budget my funds and cash got a little tight towards the end. By the end of it I was drinking strictly discount beer!

[markov79]

as above, work hard etc.... i pretty well agree with the above poster. but also make sure you study smart. you might need to reevaluate how youre studying. its tempting to just try to nail down the material more but not focus on the problem solving aspects etc. which wont help you past a certain point. conversely, if you need to get the concepts down, also find a way to do that. i used to pretend molecules had personalities... "nitrogen is a floozy and so gives up electrons easily." etc. maybe that wont work for you but finding something else might help.

[osteon]

More importantly than working hard is working effectively. All the memorization in the world won't get you a good MCAT score - thinking critically and understanding the linkages between everything you are reading is what will. For instance, the first time I wrote I studied ~6-8 hours per day for 3 months and scored a 27R. Second time, I studied 4 hours per week for only a few weeks and got a 35Q. All I did was change the way I was studying the material. Read about muscles and joints, think about beams and forces; read about circulation, think about osmosis and fluid dynamics; read about electical potential energy, think about gravitational potential etc.

[Turkelton]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I think I'll take your advice and not waste my money on a course. I have all the materials so I'll just put in the work and dedicate more time to it.

 

I probably won't be able to dedicate a summer to it since I've started my masters now, but I have a lot of downtime until January when my project really picks up so I'll use these three months to study a bulk of the material.

 

Thanks again!

[repede]

My first book was Kaplan's premier program. I thought it was garbage, and I quickly sold it at a used bookstore after trying to push through the Chemistry section.

 

I picked up EK and think it's quite excellent. It's very thorough and focuses on understanding concepts, which is exactly what you need to do well on the MCAT.

 

I don't know too much about Princeton's science sections. Their writing section stuff is decent but nothing extraordinary, but you seem to be doing fine anyway.

 

As for their VR prep, do NOT follow Princeton's strategy. It's way too convoluted and a waste of time. All that stuff about analyzing the type of question, pre-reading, making notes/highlighting, or "1 passage is killer in every MCAT, just skip it and guess" - I have my serious doubts it would do anything but harm your score. EK's Verbal strategy helped me get 10 and 11 on VR, which is nothing amazing but good enough at most schools.

[lloyder34]

^ agreed. PR Verbal is garbage, I ended up picking up EK with a month to go and using strategies from that. PR Writing is fairly helpful however.

The PR Science books write like a narrative. I think it would be better to have a book that condenses information and presents it in a more easy-to-access way, not have to read through expansive paragraphs to find information.

[Daniel]

I followed the SN2 schedule which uses TBR for bio, chem, physics and EK for verbal. I had access to TPR but once you start going through TBR there is no comparison in my opinion. TBR has more passages that are extremeley well done. The schedule is also fairly intense. Best self-study program I've seen.

[drpropofol]

i used to pretend molecules had personalities... "nitrogen is a floozy and so gives up electrons easily." etc. maybe that wont work for you but finding something else might help.

 

do you have a mental disorder?

[markov79]

do you have a mental disorder?

 

haha who knows. it's really no different than remembering the chemical characteristics of the atoms/molecules. it just helped me remember better 'cause it was interesting, like i said. remembering the characteristics better translates into being able to use those qualities to predict what the particle will do in a certain situation, haha. (eg. carbon and oxygen have a one-sided relationship. oxygen is greedy and likes attention [read: likes electrons]. if oxygen is there to attract attention/electrons [as is the case with a carbonyl], it makes carbon jealous and s/he goes to find his/her own source. enter your generic nucleophile.)

[imawannabe]

carbon and oxygen have a one-sided relationship. oxygen is greedy and likes attention [read: likes electrons]. if oxygen is there to attract attention/electrons [as is the case with a carbonyl], it makes carbon jealous and s/he goes to find his/her own source. enter your generic nucleophile.)

 

That's awesome, I wish the profs taught it to me that way. When I'm teaching someone else chemistry, I explain things in a similar way and they seem to get it (or at least laugh).