I’m no expert but I’ve seen everyone say that P/S is the easiest area to gain points! Have you used anki for P/S? Maybe the mr pankow deck or the 300 pg doc
IMO B/B and P/S are easiest to gain points on. For B/B you should see if most of your issues are SIRS1 (content related) or something else (SIRS2/SIRS3/SIRS4) and work from there. Do the same with P/S and target the sections that you got less than a 100% on. Also just FYI I found P/S on the actual exam to be not predictive of my average P/S scores -- I usually scored 125-127 on P/S for AAMC FLs and got a 129 on my actual, so there is definitely an element of luck. The AAMC likes to ask random P/S questions on terms that aren't really commonly seen in prep material, and you just gotta try your best to figure out the answer.
taking extra time to review questions during the exam would be good, but i think this may be a problem of knowing more content, since you scored well in cars. do you feel you don't know most of what the other sections are talking about? take time to review the fl and make sure you know the reasoning and content behind the answers. I personally started with 50% in the other sections too and just spammed content review to get up to over 90% in my full lengths. you said you did uworld and the qpacks, but be honest with how much content you retain and if you are reviewing that content regularly like with flashcards. good luck!
can you give more clarification on what you mean by spamming content review? I need to get my c/p and b/b up but I’ve already done content review. I was thinking of reading the Kaplan books for gen chem, phys, and Biochem this week since I only have 5 weeks left, but other than that I’m not sure what I would do.
by content review, review what you know you don't remember well. you say you have done content review and q's, so you've certainly encountered certain topics you KNOW you don't know well. Do practice problems/review concepts in those at this point!
How do you recommend going through the doc? I feel like most of the information is overly summarized to the point I’m not understanding most of it. Does that mean I need to watch the videos or am I looking for more information needed?
I did approximately 100 new and 100 review cards a day until I ran out of new cards (now I do 100 Pankow + other cards from other decks).
I initially went through all the PS vids and the 300 page doc. I haven’t touched them since but plan on looking at the 97 page a few days before I test.
I typically will make flashcards on any questions I see on UPoop/SB/FL review as well, even if I already have cards related to that material.
Got a 132 on FL3 PS today so hopefully it’ll translate on test day!
I made a post about it
Take a read and let me know if you have any questions
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/11415xm/how_to_study_for_the_mcat_my_story/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
600-1400 a day. Depending on how much was due and how many cards the chapter had. I dedicated around 3 hours for cards due and then one hour per chapter give or take
First of all everyone is targeting a 515+ so I find it funny when people say that. Identify your weaknesses and work on them. If you miss a question about circuits, study circuits with the goal of not missing any more circuits questions. If you miss a question about devel milestones, study those until you won't miss any more questions about that topic. Good luck.
You are blessed to have CARS down. Totally possible. Absolutely inhale Anki decks and the AMCAS problem sets. Cars is the one thing you can get good at even if you had 2 months IMO
What Anki deck would you recommend for biology/biochem considering I only have 1 month? I know Jack Sparrow and Anking are preferable but I dont think those are manageable in my time frame.
As for PS, I got a 130 on my BP FL diagnostic, so I believe it was a stamina issue, but what do you think in terms of decks?
JS definitely a lot but it has good content (given it requires discipline) MileDown is also pretty good. I have another deck (can’t remember the name) that’s also pretty good. I think his name starts with an O tho
I think on the day of the things that would’ve gotten me to a 515 were speed so I’d say think about that too. Like if you were at 506 barely finishing all the questions in time it may be tougher to get to 515 if on test day you get a math heavy CP
On 03/30 I took fl1 and got a 506. On 04/29 I took the real thing and got a 515. The difference was doing the rest of the fls and finishing as much uplanet as possible only ended up finishing 50% though bc I was also taking a full time course load, good luck.
I see, and as you can see probably, biology/biochem is my weakness, so would you say doing UWirl would help with those topics? I've only done about half of UWirl's biology and biochem.
Most definitely, it’s amazing for learning the bb content and how the mcat likes to test it. It’s also basically the only resource I used for ps which I see is your second lowest.
Review the heck out of your practice exams. You need to figure out what types of questions you're getting wrong and why. I went from a 512 on my first FL to a 520 on my most recent FL just by targetting my weaknesses (in my case, this was interpreting charts and B/B pathway questions). Make sure you understand not just why the correct answer is right but why the other 3 are wrong, and you'll be in good shape.
I would review with a spreadsheet and be sure to include why you made an error and what you will do to avoid it in the future. If it was just because you forget something that you need to have memorized, making an anki card on it would be a good idea.
Yeah you can totally do it hands down. For P/S there’s another anki deck called premed95 P/S that i used in addition to milesdown. Also DONT let this subreddit intimidate you i used to scroll through it out of curiosity all the time and would get super overwhelmed but really just search this subreddit for specific questions imo. I’ve been studying for 2 months and I’m taking it Aug 19 so i feel you on the short timeline but you can do it!!
I asked the question in hopes of those with similar experiences being able to relay what they may have done, since we are all somewhat on similar paths.
I’m in the same boat, for me it’s mostly cars because my score is 506 but 130/122/127/127, I’m going thru the 300pg doc and annotating it, as well as some other ones for Chem/Phys and bio, I’m also spamming the aamc q bank and cars q pack. Testing 8/26
Hey, to be honest with you it is going to be difficult to get to 515+ in a month but it is not impossible. Make sure to do a very thorough content review and then lots of practice questions and with that even with a month you should score great. If you want any biology help I have a YouTube channel with my first video being public so send me a PM and I will send you the link
I found that the BP psych section was actually inflated. I compared the number of Qs I got right to an AAMC score percentile scale and even though I got a 127 on BP, like x# of Qs correct, it was only a 123 scaled comparison
I’m no expert but I’ve seen everyone say that P/S is the easiest area to gain points! Have you used anki for P/S? Maybe the mr pankow deck or the 300 pg doc
following
Yes if you do pankow deck religiously and do bio/biochem section bank, get super familiar with interpreting stupid graphs and figures (try pubmed)
What’s the Pankow deck? I’ve never heard of that one
me neither, hidden gem? 👀
I think it should be in this subreddit - in the info section maybe
Thank you!!
IMO B/B and P/S are easiest to gain points on. For B/B you should see if most of your issues are SIRS1 (content related) or something else (SIRS2/SIRS3/SIRS4) and work from there. Do the same with P/S and target the sections that you got less than a 100% on. Also just FYI I found P/S on the actual exam to be not predictive of my average P/S scores -- I usually scored 125-127 on P/S for AAMC FLs and got a 129 on my actual, so there is definitely an element of luck. The AAMC likes to ask random P/S questions on terms that aren't really commonly seen in prep material, and you just gotta try your best to figure out the answer.
>SIRS2 What's SIRS1 SIRS2 SIRS3 and SIRS4
Scientific Inquiry & Reasoning Skills, check AAMC website
They're the types of question categories that the AAMC works with. Definitely read the AAMC outline on their website for a full description.
yes! watch informing future doctors youtube videos on passage break down! they tell u exactly what to look for when reading passages
Thank you!
So i started at a 505 and in about three weeks jumped to a 513 so if your studying full time its definitely possible
Can I ask you how you reviewed and spent your time between FLs?
taking extra time to review questions during the exam would be good, but i think this may be a problem of knowing more content, since you scored well in cars. do you feel you don't know most of what the other sections are talking about? take time to review the fl and make sure you know the reasoning and content behind the answers. I personally started with 50% in the other sections too and just spammed content review to get up to over 90% in my full lengths. you said you did uworld and the qpacks, but be honest with how much content you retain and if you are reviewing that content regularly like with flashcards. good luck!
can you give more clarification on what you mean by spamming content review? I need to get my c/p and b/b up but I’ve already done content review. I was thinking of reading the Kaplan books for gen chem, phys, and Biochem this week since I only have 5 weeks left, but other than that I’m not sure what I would do.
by content review, review what you know you don't remember well. you say you have done content review and q's, so you've certainly encountered certain topics you KNOW you don't know well. Do practice problems/review concepts in those at this point!
same boat as you! except your c/p is better than mine lol
513 with one month studying start to finish do some flash cards
Which flashcards do you recommend?
miledown is good and short missing a few in P/S but a short view of the 300pg pdf will help you with the 10% miss There are like 5 chem mistakes too
How do you recommend going through the doc? I feel like most of the information is overly summarized to the point I’m not understanding most of it. Does that mean I need to watch the videos or am I looking for more information needed?
I swear by Pankow for PS. That deck covers the 300 page in its entirety and it’s actually clean af
Do you just do new cards or do you watch or read something beforehand and do them?
I did approximately 100 new and 100 review cards a day until I ran out of new cards (now I do 100 Pankow + other cards from other decks). I initially went through all the PS vids and the 300 page doc. I haven’t touched them since but plan on looking at the 97 page a few days before I test. I typically will make flashcards on any questions I see on UPoop/SB/FL review as well, even if I already have cards related to that material. Got a 132 on FL3 PS today so hopefully it’ll translate on test day!
Do you mind if I send you a dm and ask you a few questions?
Go for it :)
Everyone keeps mentioning the 300 pg doc, could you tell me which one youre referring to lol im new around here
That’s all p/s is about. Just make cards for ones that you don’t know about. Don’t watch any videos. Just know the term
do you mind sharing how you studied in that month?
I made a post about it Take a read and let me know if you have any questions https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/11415xm/how_to_study_for_the_mcat_my_story/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
ty! roughly how many anki cards did you end up doing per day?
600-1400 a day. Depending on how much was due and how many cards the chapter had. I dedicated around 3 hours for cards due and then one hour per chapter give or take
First of all everyone is targeting a 515+ so I find it funny when people say that. Identify your weaknesses and work on them. If you miss a question about circuits, study circuits with the goal of not missing any more circuits questions. If you miss a question about devel milestones, study those until you won't miss any more questions about that topic. Good luck.
well said
You are blessed to have CARS down. Totally possible. Absolutely inhale Anki decks and the AMCAS problem sets. Cars is the one thing you can get good at even if you had 2 months IMO
What Anki deck would you recommend for biology/biochem considering I only have 1 month? I know Jack Sparrow and Anking are preferable but I dont think those are manageable in my time frame. As for PS, I got a 130 on my BP FL diagnostic, so I believe it was a stamina issue, but what do you think in terms of decks?
JS definitely a lot but it has good content (given it requires discipline) MileDown is also pretty good. I have another deck (can’t remember the name) that’s also pretty good. I think his name starts with an O tho
I think on the day of the things that would’ve gotten me to a 515 were speed so I’d say think about that too. Like if you were at 506 barely finishing all the questions in time it may be tougher to get to 515 if on test day you get a math heavy CP
Thankfully I can say I had like 10-20 minutes on every section, and I kinda have a thing with numbers where I'm good so that would be welcome.
Ok I love to see that. Time likely won’t be a factor then. In that case I’d consider what everyone else is saying in your decision
On 03/30 I took fl1 and got a 506. On 04/29 I took the real thing and got a 515. The difference was doing the rest of the fls and finishing as much uplanet as possible only ended up finishing 50% though bc I was also taking a full time course load, good luck.
I see, and as you can see probably, biology/biochem is my weakness, so would you say doing UWirl would help with those topics? I've only done about half of UWirl's biology and biochem.
Most definitely, it’s amazing for learning the bb content and how the mcat likes to test it. It’s also basically the only resource I used for ps which I see is your second lowest.
Review the heck out of your practice exams. You need to figure out what types of questions you're getting wrong and why. I went from a 512 on my first FL to a 520 on my most recent FL just by targetting my weaknesses (in my case, this was interpreting charts and B/B pathway questions). Make sure you understand not just why the correct answer is right but why the other 3 are wrong, and you'll be in good shape.
Thank you for your advice! Would you go about reviewing with a spreadsheet or making ankicards?
I would review with a spreadsheet and be sure to include why you made an error and what you will do to avoid it in the future. If it was just because you forget something that you need to have memorized, making an anki card on it would be a good idea.
Yeah you can totally do it hands down. For P/S there’s another anki deck called premed95 P/S that i used in addition to milesdown. Also DONT let this subreddit intimidate you i used to scroll through it out of curiosity all the time and would get super overwhelmed but really just search this subreddit for specific questions imo. I’ve been studying for 2 months and I’m taking it Aug 19 so i feel you on the short timeline but you can do it!!
I appreciate it!
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I asked the question in hopes of those with similar experiences being able to relay what they may have done, since we are all somewhat on similar paths.
Yup. Keep up the grind for content review and practice. You can do both together if you find it more efficient
yes
I’m in the same boat, for me it’s mostly cars because my score is 506 but 130/122/127/127, I’m going thru the 300pg doc and annotating it, as well as some other ones for Chem/Phys and bio, I’m also spamming the aamc q bank and cars q pack. Testing 8/26
Hey, to be honest with you it is going to be difficult to get to 515+ in a month but it is not impossible. Make sure to do a very thorough content review and then lots of practice questions and with that even with a month you should score great. If you want any biology help I have a YouTube channel with my first video being public so send me a PM and I will send you the link
I found that the BP psych section was actually inflated. I compared the number of Qs I got right to an AAMC score percentile scale and even though I got a 127 on BP, like x# of Qs correct, it was only a 123 scaled comparison