Question: are the phase 1 and 2 passages in the book comparable to the real difficulty of the MCAT passages or are they harder/easier?
Thanks!
Phase I are typical not realistic, not because of difficulty though. These questions are all (or close to all) coming from one basic theme or topic, where the MCAT mixing things up in their passages. These are meant to review and relearn information. And yes, they are generally difficult, because when you miss them, the answer explanations are there to teach a mnemonic or strategy to use on future questions (in phase II and phase III).
Phase II is meant to incorporate a few more outside (but related) concepts as well as stress you for time. The purpose of Phase II is to develop good timing and to apply the tricks you learned in Phase I.
Phase III is all about the realism of mixing random topics and presenting some bizarre and quirky experiments and applications.
How would you recommend spacing out the CBTs? Is one day in between sufficient enough for reviewing the CBT, or would you recommend two days in between?
This really comes down to you and your schedule. Personally, I think two days between exams is a good idea if possible, but sometimes a person's schedule just doesn't fit that plan.
If I had an open schedule, I'd take a test and the grade it right afterwards. I'd look at the questions I missed without reading the answer explanations and try those again. I'd make an error log that simply designates the error as careless (and what the carelessness was) or content base (I missed it because I didn't know the material). I'd give myself the night to digest the exam in my mind, because that is where your knowledge really grows. Let it perculate a bit. The next day, I would read through the answer explanations (for every question, whether I got it right and wrong). I'd add to my error log the equations to terms I needed. On the third day, I'd go back to troublesome questions (not necessarily ones I got wrong, but ones that I got right feeling insecure or got wrong for a reason other than brain-farting). I'd rewrite those questions and answer choices. I'd spend the next few hours reviewing material and doing passages from my regular study materials. Later that day, I'd try the questions I wrote that morning. This will be tiring, but amazingly helpful.
Then, I'd start the entire three-day process over again.
How long before starting studying for the MCAT should someone who lives in the east coast order the Home Study package?
Great question. The short answer is two weeks if your are paying by credt card or money order and four weeks if paying by personal check.
Let me start my longer answer by apologizing for our archaic system and explaining the timing. There is the mail runner, who collects mail at 1:30 or so each day. When he returns, the process of boxing books and making labels begins. If the number of orders are typical that day, then he'll finish by 3:00 and the shipment goes out that day to FedEx. Any orders paid for by check are placed in the ten day hold pile. Money order and credit card orders go out the same day if possible (on busy days they may go out the next day). Problems that cause delays come into play in a few ways. First, Mondays are really busy (two days of mail come those days), so it's usually a case where only some orders go out the same day. Second, there are two post offices in Berkeley, and the Berkeley Review PO Box is at the secondary post office. This adds a day (maybe two) to standard mail getting to our box (priority mail is handled faster). Lastly, there is the FedEx timing factor. Their last pickup is
around 3:30 in the afternoon, but due to variation in how busy they are, it's a moving target. From time to time, we miss their pickup for that day and it sits.
So there is a bit of luck involved in the timing. If you hit it just right, then your order could be on its way to you two to three days after you mailed it. If you hit it wrong, then it will take longer. Also, during the holiday season, the sweatshop shuts down and the workers have been known to take a day off here and there.
) Will an online payment system be included in the near-future? If so, do you have any idea when?
