changing my gameplan for MCAT BIO - need advice!!

[SOAPsucks222]

So last night i took a next-step half length diagnostic MCAT exam, and my bio results were awful, i got a 123. I struggled a lot during the bio portion of the exam, and i knew my score was going to be bad.
this is concerning because i've done some content review. i'm about 100 pages into the 500-page long Princeton Review bio book, which I HATE. It seems horribly written, overly-dense and (hopefully) way longer than necessary! seeing how long it is how unreasonably slow i'm moving through it makes me very discouraged. i'm taking the MCAT in Jan 2019.

i'm a chem major, and my only background in bio is the med school pre-reqs which i didn't get a lot from. I'm thinking about changing to a more concise and more strategic Bio book like examkrackers maybe. the TPR book isn't great for me. what worked for y'all? what would y'all recommend in this situation?

any and all input is appreciated!!

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[SR71BLK]

Kaplan book is great and short. Supplement that with Khan academy videos to cover weak spots. Lastly, NS exams are not comparable to the real MCAT.


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[climbrunskirepeat]

First off, I wouldn't take a diagnostic score to heart - test prep companies typically make their diagnostic tests hard for the purposes of getting people to sign up for their course. Secondly, you shouldn't really take any MCAT score from a 3rd party seriously - I got a 132 in B/B, highest from a TPR test I ever got was 128, NextStep was 129, and AAMC was 130.

The TPR book is definitely way longer than necessary but it helped me structure my time - I went through the chapters and supplemented stuff with Khan Academy videos, my bio/biochem text, and just plain old Google. Play around with it and find out what combo works for you.

 

[Medic741]

Hey! Wish I could take the MCAT now that I've learned how to study well in med school.

Put *way* more emphasis on doing questions. Read a chapter, take minimal notes and jump on doing questions. When you see the multiple choices to *every* question assess what A,B,C,D individually would be suggesting. If you don't know what one of those multiple choice answers is alluding to, that's when you crack open a book and figure it out. Find a hole, make a few Anki cards, keep up on a deck and emphasize testing over passive content review and you should see a strong positive improvement

You'll be much more successful if you put a strong emphasis on test questions than reading a book, which is very passive.

 

[leonardoson]

do uworld questions, all of them, in the section you study that day. Then do the section bank. I was finishing section bank two days before my exam and i think it was a mistake. questions questions questions. People worry about little content details and that's not as important and doing questions

 

[Skeletorr]

Try kaplan bio and biochem, they were pretty thorough. Also, I HiGHLY recommend the UWORLD section banks for bio and biochem. I actually thought they were very similar to aamc material. There should be a free 90 trial code somewhere

 

[SOAPsucks222]

Kaplan book is great and short. Supplement that with Khan academy videos to cover weak spots. Lastly, NS exams are not comparable to the real MCAT.


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thanks! would you recommend the kaplan bio book over EK bio book?

 

[SOAPsucks222]

Try kaplan bio and biochem, they were pretty thorough. Also, I HiGHLY recommend the UWORLD section banks for bio and biochem. I actually thought they were very similar to aamc material. There should be a free 90 trial code somewhere

also, i was hoping for something more concise rather than more thorough. would you recommend kaplan over EK for that?

 

[toedrag]

The B/B section is less about content. Yes, content knowledge is important but it will only get you so far. You want to be fluent in the high yield topics: amino acids, glycolysis, blood flow, etc, but I recommend you familiarize yourself with common experimental techniques. Learn how to interpret complex graphs, understand how southern/northern/western blots work, PCR, gel electrophoresis, etc. There are a ton of great videos on YouTube that will help simplify these experiments. Try not to get bogged down with low yield topics and focus more on how scientists conduct experiments.

 

[Skeletorr]

also, i was hoping for something more concise rather than more thorough. would you recommend kaplan over EK for that?

A 123 signifies content issues that can only be remedied by building a solid content foundation and lots of practice. If books don’t help you, try khan academy vids. Shortcuts won’t get you a 130.

 

[toedrag]

A 123 signifies content issues that can only be remedied by building a solid content foundation and lots of practice. If books don’t help you, try khan academy vids. Shortcuts won’t get you a 130.

Agree that content will move you from the 123 to 125 range, but knowing how to interpret the experiments and data analysis will move you up to that 80-90%ile range.

 

[Skeletorr]

Agree that content will move you from the 123 to 125 range, but knowing how to interpret the experiments and data analysis will move you up to that 80-90%ile range.

Agreed. That’s where lots of practice passages comes into play.

 

[bsizzle44]

Kill the content, learn it inside and out, then start doing questions so you can see how they like to ask questions, and how to answer them. Once you learn how to apply the content to the experimental design you will be golden. Don't skim content and think you can learn it all from doing questions, you really need to know it. This is coming from someone one who went straight to questions and got a 125 then learned content a year later and got a 131 on the second go around.

 

[Medic741]

UWorld has an MCAT qBank?! That's the gold standard for step 1 for everyone studying for the MCAT. 100% do that MCAT Qbank -- if it's anything like the USMLE material its pure gold

 

[bsizzle44]

Never did UWorld so I cant comment on that

 

[Skeletorr]

UWorld has an MCAT qBank?! That's the gold standard for step 1 for everyone studying for the MCAT. 100% do that MCAT Qbank -- if it's anything like the USMLE material its pure gold

UWorld has an MCAT qBank?! That's the gold standard for step 1 for everyone studying for the MCAT. 100% do that MCAT Qbank -- if it's anything like the USMLE material its pure gold

Yep! And it’s a really good qbank. Comparable to the aamc section in terms of difficulty

 

[SR71BLK]

thanks! would you recommend the kaplan bio book over EK bio book?

I did not use EK at all, so I can’t really judge it.


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