If you'll take the MCAT again, what will you do differently?

[DemonDeacon]

God Forbid we have to mess with the beast all over again, how will you prepare differently?

As for here, I'm giong to use textbooks to read up the chapters on stuff that confuse me the most. Every morning, I will do at least two or three verbal passages from EK's verbal book.

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[ASDIC]

do more genetics and organic chem

 

[Cerbernator]

ssNOT THINKING ABOUT IT NOT THINKING ABOUT ITss

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I woulda written a better essay and paid more attention to my hand writing.

 

[pmpndaflip]

study less because studying more apperently seemed like it didn't really matter on test day . The exam is random! Not to mention the amount of time you put into it is not necessarily proportional to your score.

 

[cher25]

study and take practice exams

 

[premyo2002]

cry...every night

 

[DemonDeacon]

Make sure I go over oxidation numbers

 

[superdevil]

i would amputate my left foot with a rusty table saw, and then threaten myself that i would lop off the right one if i didn't do better.

also, i would do more verbal practice (though its a moot point, cuz i'm NOT taking it again).

 

[ms2209]

i would amputate my left foot with a rusty table saw, and then threaten myself that i would lop off the right one if i didn't do better.

also, i would do more verbal practice (though its a moot point, cuz i'm NOT taking it again).

LOL! I seriously don't even want to fathom having to tackle the MCAT again ...and to be perfectly honest, I'm skeptical that I could improve by much the second time around. I mean, if I busted my ass for one year and couldn't get a good enough score, why would two months' crammed studying make any difference? But hey, that's just me .

 

[Clemson Doc]

The August administration will be my fourth time. Yes, really. The first time I registered, and saw the part where you had to check the box if you had taken the test three or more times, I laughed and wondered how dumb you had to be to not do well after three tries. Oh, the irony.

As for what I will change in my prep, I signed up for a Kaplan course this time. In the past, I have either been a full-time student taking a full load of hard science classes (MCAT #1), or working full-time and having to squeeze MCAT in at night after I arrived home (MCAT #'s 2 and 3). I have resigned from my job and am really looking forward to having a totally open schedule to immerse myself in MCAT with no distractions.

I used Examkrackers last time, and like their materials, but I feel like I need the structure of a live course this time around. I am still planning on supplementing with EK materials, especially Audio Osmosis and 1,001 series again. Those helped a lot last time. I highly recommend the EK Verbal strategies (I'm not doing the "mapping the passage" crap that Kaplan suggests).

The main reason I'm taking the MCAT again is because I know I can do better than I have in the past. I was hitting 30's on my AAMC practice exams, and was very disappointed when I only made a 26 on the real thing last August. I was accepted at a D.O. school for this fall, but have decided that I want to go the M.D. route instead. It's worth it to me to take this test again, and prove once and for all that I can conquer it.

Hopefully those of you taking it for the first time will not have to go through what I have!

 

[bigdan]

Clem-
Good luck! I hope you get what you're aiming for. I will ABSOLUTELY apply with a 26...I think that's a good score.

As for what to do on a retake, I'll know Orgo better, and I'll have my timing down precisely...I timed my practice tests, but was still flustered during the exam.

Good luck to all us retakers!

dc

 

[DemonDeacon]

Hey hey hey, we're not ALL retakers YET. I'm 51% sure now I'll have to retake it.

As for Clem, yeah, good job on the practice exams! Just get enough schleep!

 

[neoncandle]

The Kaplan notecards are great and I would definitely go back over those. I would go over all the practice questions I printed off from the Kaplan site. Also, at my school there are a lot more Kaplan materials to go through. I would mostly do that and cry. But I would hang in there because my practice exam scores were great. If I don't get a good score, I will know that I can do better.

 

[LUBDUBB]

.and to be perfectly honest, I'm skeptical that I could improve by much the second time around. I mean, if I busted my ass for one year and couldn't get a good enough score, why would two months' crammed studying make any difference? ...

I feel exactly the same way...and as one poster said above, I really feel like all that studying didn't help me one bit...I honestly felt like I guessed on the whole damn thing.

I studied from october to april, used kaplan, used my class textbooks and took 10 practice exams including kaplan, TPR and AAMC. After all that, If I still didn't do well, I think there must be something wrong with me and I doubt I can do much more to bring my score up significantly.

Best of Luck

 

[Nuel]

I really wouldn't do anything differently. I am not the kind of person who spends 60 hours going over the stuff I already seen before. But I made sure I put in 100 hrs max into prep on weekends for 3 months as regards April's MCAT. But after taking the April test I metaphysically sensed I had the MCAT figured out so that I was able to swear in all my rage coming out from my April 17 testing room that if the MCAT God permitted me to retake, I would slay the beast the second time. But now I am taking all that back. I still don't have these guys figured out as I had initially thought, well, maybe to some extent.

 

[misanne]

(I'm not doing the "mapping the passage" crap that Kaplan suggests).

I am in the Kaplan course for the 2nd time you know with the higher store deal, but I also have the exam krackers stuff also and I am just getting in to it literally, anyway what does EK suggest for verbal that is different than Kaplan???

 

[Agent Splat]

I'll remember to put my name on it before I let them take grab it from my desk

 

[DemonDeacon]

anyway what does EK suggest for verbal that is different than Kaplan???

EK tells us NOT to skip any passages. They say to do all the passages in order, because some hard passages have easier questions, while easy passages may have harder questions. So unless you want an 8, don't skip any passages and don't move from one passage to another. They also say NOT to go back to the passage when you are answering questions. Just go with your hunch, otherwise going to and back to the passage while answering questions will drain your time. They also said some other stuff, but I don't remember now.

 

[MoosePilot]

EK tells us NOT to skip any passages. They say to do all the passages in order, because some hard passages have easier questions, while easy passages may have harder questions. So unless you want an 8, don't skip any passages and don't move from one passage to another. They also say NOT to go back to the passage when you are answering questions. Just go with your hunch, otherwise going to and back to the passage while answering questions will drain your time. They also said some other stuff, but I don't remember now.

They say not to go back to the passage? Urk! That's awful.

Why take an open book test and not use the book? Time doesn't mean anything if you finish all the questions and miss them all.

 

[DemonDeacon]

I don't remember details, but it was because if you go back, you'll keep on going back and you don't to do that. You shouldn't think to yourself that all the answers are in the passage, because they all aren't. I guess this takes a long time to master, not within a few days or weeks.

 

[MoosePilot]

I don't remember details, but it was because if you go back, you'll keep on going back and you don't to do that. You shouldn't think to yourself that all the answers are in the passage, because they all aren't. I guess this takes a long time to master, not within a few days or weeks.

Well, let me say that technique goes against TPR philosophy pretty cleanly. In order for that to work, you have to assume that after your first read of the passage you have total comprehension and total recall. I don't know about you, but I can always get a bit deeper understanding of a smaller piece of the passage once I know what the question is asking.

I finish every question and I refer back to the passage, so it's not impossible with time limits, although I'm a very fast reader and verbal is my best section.

 

[ferreed]

I cannot imagine reading a passage through just once and expecting to know how to answer the kinds of subtle, nuanced questions posed in the VR. I scored pretty well on VR in practice and just can't see how you can have confidence in your answers that way. I skimmed the passages (less than 2 minutes), then took each question in order and re-scanned the passage to find the answers. That worked well in practice and felt good on the test.

(For those who do not recognize me, don't adjust your dial. I am new here, having lurked for far too long and finally being driven to the unthinkable-- registering and posting-- by the stress of waiting for scores. )

 

[MoosePilot]

I cannot imagine reading a passage through just once and expecting to know how to answer the kinds of subtle, nuanced questions posed in the VR. I scored pretty well on VR in practice and just can't see how you can have confidence in your answers that way. I skimmed the passages (less than 2 minutes), then took each question in order and re-scanned the passage to find the answers. That worked well in practice and felt good on the test.

(For those who do not recognize me, don't adjust your dial. I am new here, having lurked for far too long and finally being driven to the unthinkable-- registering and posting-- by the stress of waiting for scores. )

Welcome aboard! Ignore that little stress-orgy, we've toned it down a little (for a few days)

 

[btowngirl]

I took the August 2003 MCAT and scored a 29. I thought I could do better, so I studied again and took the April 04 exam. Studying the second time was much much easier. First of all, you know the breadth of material better for the second time before you even start studying. That way, you can spend the majority of your time taking practice exams instead of having to go over material. I had the EK verbal 101 passages and broke each full length into 3, 3 passage sections, (i took them in 27 minutes). It is important to do some full length exams like test day, but for the purposes of studying, you dont actually have to sit down for 85 minutes at a time. I found doing shorter sections allowed me to stay focused and actually work on improving my verbal (i also did this for the science sections). I also used EKs 1001 questions for chem and physics. These books were great because they helped my improve my weak points. I am pretty sure that I did better this time. Studying a second time was not nearly as bad or stressful. But hopefully, none of you will have to do that.

 

[SCB]

I cannot imagine reading a passage through just once and expecting to know how to answer the kinds of subtle, nuanced questions posed in the VR. I scored pretty well on VR in practice and just can't see how you can have confidence in your answers that way. I skimmed the passages (less than 2 minutes), then took each question in order and re-scanned the passage to find the answers. That worked well in practice and felt good on the test.

(For those who do not recognize me, don't adjust your dial. I am new here, having lurked for far too long and finally being driven to the unthinkable-- registering and posting-- by the stress of waiting for scores. )

I studied with EK for the April test (and Kaplan for the Aug. 2003 test). EK technique does not say that you should never go back to the passage, but instead that you should not depend on the passage alone for answers. They also teach you how to use the answer choices and question stems to answer questions. EK tells people that cannot finnish the verbal section to stop using "going back" as a tool until you are completing all passages.

After studying with EK and Kaplan, I prefer the EK approach (and not just in verbal). Verbal is my strongest section and I do go back to the passage, but EK taught me to be more efficient (no mapping, etc.) and look for info where I wouldn't expect to find it. If someone has trouble with verbal I suggest that they take a look at EK Verbal book and 1001 questions, if not then do what works best.