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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 percolate 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.
Your post said "at least" 45 days, so is there a way to extend this time period?
The time period goes until the first automatic shutoff date after 45 days following the user's requested start date. The philosophy behind the time window is to encourage students to not use the exams as standard study material, but to only take them once they feel ready. More than six weeks should be plenty of time to take and thoroughly review three to seven CBT exams. This will hopefully motivate you to stick tightly to a practice schedule.
In terms of the Berkeley Review products available, can you currently download the CBT tests online or is it in CD format?
We have a dedicated website for taking the practice exams. The site is absolutely state of the art and has not crashed in its four and a half years. Pretty much the polar opposite of our company website.
How do your CBTs compare to the actual MCAT? Are they a reliable predictor of real MCAT performance?
I really appreciate your question. In addition to my input, you should also search for threads over the past few years on CBTs. Our exams are considered harder than AAMC practice exams and a great simulation of the difficulty, randomness, and variety of topics found on the typical MCAT.
As far as predicting an actual MCAT score, threads here at SDN show that they are about the same as AAMC practice exams. That is to say, your scores will likely fluctuate over a four to seven point range, and your actual MCAT score will fit into that range about 90% of the time. Because of the randomness factor of the MCAT, no single exam (AAMC included) can ever be an ideal indicator (because topics vary so much from exam to exam). But the collective set of scores can be helpful in predicting how you'll do. Our curves seem generous on many of our more difficult sections, but they are surprisingly good.
Do you have plans to update the CBT's or add cbt8 anytime soon?I understand the the exam is constantly changing like replacing parts of ochem with more bio. Are the CBT's updated regularly or have they been the same since release a few years ago?
Yes. There actually is a CBT 8 and CBT 9, but they are currently only available to students in our lecture course. There are three additional exams that we rotate through the system, although the last content change/modification was in early 2010. Right now most of our CBT work has been on the programming end in an effort to stay compatible with IE, Firefox, and Safari.
I would love love love to enroll in The Berkely Review course. (From what I hear) The course is superb and the owners are always very helpful. Unfortunately, because I'm located on the opposite side of the country, the chances of me enrolling is slim to none. Have the owners ever considered making their classroom content and lectures available online to out-of-staters like me. Perhaps they could include a membership fee of some sort as well. I think this would be extremely beneficial for future test takers. Also, has there been any discussion to expand the company in the future to other states?
And finally, my last question is regarding the ordering system (which seems very ancient by the way ) Will an online payment system be included in the near-future? If so, do you have any idea when?
Thanks for your time
In 1995, BR expanded to UW and U Michigan, which gave it seven locations total (San Diego and Davis were up and running then). The expansion taught a valuable lesson that with live instruction that counts on face-to-face interaction and depends on amazing teachers, it's next to impossible to expand. It's just not a formula that translates into a bulk model, because with our style of teaching and our approach to the MCAT it's hard to find the perfect teacher to do it. They scaled back in size and have been content with running just three to four centers.
On-line classes have been discussed, but in a small in-house trial run, it was a disaster. The student feedback streaming was delayed just enough to create awkward silences and questions that were late by just enough to throw the lecture continuity off. Live on-line classes, in our opinion, don't work very well. Even with the absolute state of the art systems, when you try to add too many feeds into the system, there is discontinuity. It's like on-line gaming when too many people join. You can't have any more than three to four people in a live video chat of this caliber. Also, a big part of teaching is reading the facial expressions and class mood, which is lost when it's not live instruction. You might as well have video clips and give up any attempt at live on-line. Many of Todd's lectures have been recorded, but those will likely stay buried.
In 1996, the owners opted to reduce down to just California centers and not over-stretch the staff. Selling books for home study usage was not introduced until 2003.
And as for the website (vintage 1997), the webmaster (and part owner) has been promising upgrades but at the end of the day just doesn't want to change it. All of the online efforts for the past five to six years have been on the exams, which use a completely different host btw. An online payment service has supposedly been in the works for a few years now, but if you ask me (and this is just my opinion) they don't have an interest in becoming a big company. The major companies have made attempts to buy Berkeley Review on a few occasions, and it came down to BR not wanting to sell. They are people who like running a small business, which as foolish as it may seem to people with big business in their blood, it works.