questforstarfish Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 So I've recently finished reading through the Princeton Review prep books, and there are a LOT of formulas! The required formulas sheet at the back of the General Chem book is two or three pages long, and similar for Physics and OChem. To me, it seems absolutely impossible to memorize these formulas. Is it necessary to have them all memorized (I believe there are upwards of 100) or will they be offered in the passages, with non-passage-based questions relying more on the most basic formulas? Much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzle Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Do a few practice tests and you will see what you need. In physics, know: f=ma, w=fd, p=w/t, F=Ed, PE=mgh, etc. These are basic classical physics principles. There is nothing hard to remember in those. You will see that most questions deal with concepts rather than calculations but knowing the equation allows you to figure out trends needed. There aren't much key equations in chem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UofTkid Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 another similar question, how u guys do stoichiometry calculations quickly without having to spend more den 2mins on such questions. I have noticed from 3-11 AAMC those were longest the calculations where I just guessed and moved on. I loved those calculations in Grade 11 and G.Chem I but due to time constraint it is not worth to get behind by solving them and not finish the section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master100 Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 another similar question, how u guys do stoichiometry calculations quickly without having to spend more den 2mins on such questions.I have noticed from 3-11 AAMC those were longest the calculations where I just guessed and moved on. I loved those calculations in Grade 11 and G.Chem I but due to time constraint it is not worth to get behind by solving them and not finish the section. Glad it is not just me! Even though it takes me a while to do those questions sometimes, I find it easy to just round most of the numbers they give to nice numbers that are easy to work with. Mostly, the answers are not very close to each other so rounding gives you the rough answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchToast Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 another similar question, how u guys do stoichiometry calculations quickly without having to spend more den 2mins on such questions.I have noticed from 3-11 AAMC those were longest the calculations where I just guessed and moved on. I loved those calculations in Grade 11 and G.Chem I but due to time constraint it is not worth to get behind by solving them and not finish the section. I remember that when I would try rounding and doing these in my head, I would usually make stupid mistakes and get the question wrong. For me to get them right, I had to go through and do the calculations. When I did that, my overall scores in PS would be a lot higher. I guess it just depends on your mental math skills, but... if you're in doubt, write it out. Btw, that rhyme was intentional . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elarXi Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Well, from the practice tests & the actual one I took, I didn't find a vast abundance of calculations (especially tending towards the 10-11 AAMC & the actual).... What I found helpful for myself is to write out the formula before doing every calculation, take a mental note of the units & glance @ answers (sometimes, you can get the answer just by doing that... also, some answers aren't numbers, they're plugged-in-formulas). For the actual calculation, get real-good at estimating; if you follow EK's suggestions about estimation & rounding, well, chances are you would get it right... but maybe that's just me... Oh, and you can definitely afford 2 minutes/question for some questions... I know a lot of people suggest you just "skip" and return if you have time... well, depending on your mindset that strategy might not work; myself, personally, I felt rather comfortable juggling information from 7 passages, but still when you come back after you're done the rest you would still feel lost and will probably have to read up = tons of lost time Honestly though, if you feel like it's taking, like, FOREVER, just write whatever you were at on the sheet (& write down the Passage/Q#), and come=back later... I wish I did that during my orgo, cuz there was a really long spec question, which I killed like 8 minutes on and had to rush for other quick questions.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UofTkid Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 I remember that when I would try rounding and doing these in my head, I would usually make stupid mistakes and get the question wrong. For me to get them right, I had to go through and do the calculations. When I did that, my overall scores in PS would be a lot higher. I guess it just depends on your mental math skills, but... if you're in doubt, write it out. Btw, that rhyme was intentional . i was looking through somebodys AAMC 1,2 and 3, written in early 2000. they had their old school long divisions done for every single question, where I could just estimate and reach at the right answer by just playing around with the numbers in my head. for my method, there is a risk of making mistake if options choices are close numerically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questforstarfish Posted August 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 ^ Yeah, see, that's what I'm talking about- there is just no way on this earth that I can memorize 100 formulas per section... Thanks, though, everyone- the MCAT says that it's not trying to test memorization skills, so why would they require the memorization of so many formulas? I'm not quite at the point where I can take practice tests yet, but they'll probably give me a way better idea of what I need! Thanks for your answers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrenchToast Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 ^ Yeah, see, that's what I'm talking about- there is just no way on this earth that I can memorize 100 formulas per section... Thanks, though, everyone- the MCAT says that it's not trying to test memorization skills, so why would they require the memorization of so many formulas? I'm not quite at the point where I can take practice tests yet, but they'll probably give me a way better idea of what I need! Thanks for your answers! Ignore the person that posted above you. It's not a person, haha. But unfortunately, I do think there is a lot to memorize. You just have to keep reviewing it until you internalize it. As I was reading through my notes, I would write down or highlight everything that I hadn't remembered, and then I would review these "forgotten things" while I was on the subway, while I was eating if no one was around, etc. It's a pain, but you've got to do what you've got to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FacelessMage Posted August 31, 2012 Report Share Posted August 31, 2012 Try these: http://www.prep101.com/mcat/free-mcat-study-aids/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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