Bombing MCAT except VR

[broom]

if I understood you correctly what you are trying to say is that doctors need 'critical reading' skills and the ability to read a scientific article and fully comprehend the 'essence' of it. Right?

 

well is that not EXACTLY what the VR part of the MCAT tests? I think that you think that it is ONLY the science majors that are taught this skill in undergrad when in reality everyone (or almost everyone) is taught this in every field...In fact I think the social sciences allow you to do it and learn it more....the science majors aren't big on essays but the social sciences are and I can tell you as a 4th year student in this field...I have probably written about 100 papers or so the past few years and the majority require you to 'learn something new', ESPECIALLY in the upper years. Its assumed that you have a 'general idea' of the field and that you will build and learn from there. Its constantly about going out and finding something new...In my last year (4th) every single class was like this and it required me to go and learn about something I knew nothing about (sometimes things I had never heard of!). This required me to go and educate myself on the basics of the field I was studying, then doing a LOT of research and reading through many different 'peer-reviewed and academic' papers and writing an essay on it. This requires you to not only read an article but to synthesize and analyze it to understand what the 'key ideas' are.

 

So I think this is done in most fields.

 

I find it funny that you would think this would be a 'bad' side....because Its actually one of the reasons I *want* to go to Mac....they allow you time to learn on your own....which after these past few years of researching and analyzing articles and the such I'm really good at it!

 

Hope that answered your question?

 

Thanks for the reply. But what I meant is not exactly being able to read something and understand the essence of it. Instead, one should read an article and be able to decide if this treatment is something that they should incorporate in their practice. The Verbal Reasoning MCAT section is a timed test, for a relatively short passage, including questions which answer only to what pertains to the passage (e.g., What was the author's tone? Which of these would discredit their central argument? etc.) However analysis of scientific literature is usually more dense, longer, and involves incorporating knowledge from the outside of statistics as well as the topic at hand. McMaster teaches you the knowledge of natural science that are required by a physician, and it can be argued whether more or less scientific knowledge is necessary. However, I am concerned on if they teach you how to analyze papers and give you enough experience to do that.

 

Also, note that I did not say that one needs to take courses in the natural sciences — any scientific field (including social sciences) that uses experiments and research articles gives one an adequate understanding of the working of science. However, I am more concerned with political science, music, English majors etc. who perform admirably on the Verbal Reasoning section of the MCAT, enter into medical school, but still have no appreciation for science-based medicine.

[markov79]

the MCAT is a standardized measure. so that would be the difference.

 

ooohhhh yaaaa.... LOL. then i gotta feel bad for the people who didn't take gen chem phys and bio, cause they're kinda at a disadvantage... then again, it's not like you can't learn it. still, it'd save a bit of time, i guess. meh.

[apache]

haha, i agree, like just study vr if you want, but like… ya know, do the other sections… 2 14 2 L … lol with no studying you prob know enough to get like 8's on the other 2, u might as well write it while ur there, hehe … i walked into the dat, winged it, and aced the academic portion, ya never know what can happen

 

You should do the other sections as well instead of skipping them entirely.

[apache]

to be honest, for people with really strong arts backgrounds, there sometimes is a content advantage, i got a psych article i didn't read and nailed 5 free marks because i'd read it 4 times before… i seemed to get one every practice aamc where i would know a lot about the piece so i didnt have to infer.

 

as a caveat to your emphasis of reading skills, i think advanced stats and research design should be tested, having such a strong background in it makes me nauseas at times when i'm like even explaining simple things like stat sig versus clinical sig, or generalist diagnostic criteria but narrow inclussion criteria leading to over prescribing… construct validity, inter rater reliability, population prevelances role in interpreting post hoc how accurate a confirmatory or exclusionary test is… stats is a whole other level, especially since criterion for, say running a test is often an emergent property used as a measure of clinical prognostication, and not necessarily etiology underlying illness… often multiplicative and interactive… and then how we need converging measures and often lin regression followed by even single or double factor analysis, then retrying different measures to see if different "factor combos" cluster better… then deciding what test to use… key is if you're good you can dissect for hours, instead of looking at a p value… how do comorbities factor in, and say one is copd, does cause effect how copd interacts with other comorbids… maybe you can find certain bits predictive of high likelihood of developing more rapid pathology that might be improved short term, but accelerated long term (congestive heart failure and continious short term relief causing endocrinological cascade that makes u worse in long run)… i'm just saying most studies are never simple, if they are theyre usually too general to be off use, and people need to dissect everything they read… not just memorizing o less than 0.05… good, got a new protocol… i'm a huge advocate of using lamotrigine in bipolar because of compliance, min side effects, antidepressent effects at 400 mg, and low risk of liver damage, of course this sounds heretical… i'm not against lithium, it's great, but clinical use is a diff ball game than controlled clinical studies.

 

 

Thanks for the reply. But what I meant is not exactly being able to read something and understand the essence of it. Instead, one should read an article and be able to decide if this treatment is something that they should incorporate in their practice. The Verbal Reasoning MCAT section is a timed test, for a relatively short passage, including questions which answer only to what pertains to the passage (e.g., What was the author's tone? Which of these would discredit their central argument? etc.) However analysis of scientific literature is usually more dense, longer, and involves incorporating knowledge from the outside of statistics as well as the topic at hand. McMaster teaches you the knowledge of natural science that are required by a physician, and it can be argued whether more or less scientific knowledge is necessary.

[sprinkles]

hey all so I actually did this today and the MCAT people were so shocked! At first they thought I was some kind of genious or something to finish so fast ahhaaa

 

everyone piled into the room to see the crazy girl who finished in an hour

 

and then they are like did you mean to VOID it?

 

Then they were like we might have to write a report the AAMC....

 

and then finally after repeating a few times made them undestand that im WRITING ONLY FOR VERBAL one of the guy stops and asks me.....can I ask *why* ? So I explain the Mac rule and they were all so dumbfounded! LOL

 

"REALLY?! Mac only needs verbal?!"

 

I told them that I had heard of multiple people doing that....and they said I was their first! LOL

 

it was an interesting day.

[skarletstarlet]

hey all so I actually did this today and the MCAT people were so shocked! At first they thought I was some kind of genious or something to finish so fast ahhaaa

 

everyone piled into the room to see the crazy girl who finished in an hour

 

and then they are like did you mean to VOID it?

 

Then they were like we might have to write a report the AAMC....

 

and then finally after repeating a few times made them undestand that im WRITING ONLY FOR VERBAL one of the guy stops and asks me.....can I ask *why* ? So I explain the Mac rule and they were all so dumbfounded! LOL

 

"REALLY?! Mac only needs verbal?!"

 

I told them that I had heard of multiple people doing that....and they said I was their first! LOL

 

it was an interesting day.

 

Me too!!! They were so shocked, there were a few girls who giggled nervously and said "oh yeah, Mac, hehehehe, Vr only, hehehehe"

 

very awkward.

[Kasiunut]

I was considering doing this but have decided to take a shot at the other sections too, since I may as well. I got an 8 once in PS just by purely guessing. I'm hoping it can do it again!

 

However, my main focus is that VR score so I don't really care about the other sections...Wish me luck August 17th!

[sprinkles]

I was considering doing this but have decided to take a shot at the other sections too, since I may as well. I got an 8 once in PS just by purely guessing. I'm hoping it can do it again!

 

However, my main focus is that VR score so I don't really care about the other sections...Wish me luck August 17th!

 

good luck! I'm sure you'll do great