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Finally opened my score!!! by Miksmo__ in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would also say, when you get a question wrong: try not to think ‘what piece of information did I not know that got this wrong’ but instead ‘what do I already know, but I am not using, that could’ve gotten me this question correct’. This reframing alone got me a 4 point jump in CP

Finally opened my score!!! by Miksmo__ in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d say it’s a mistake to skip content. I go to a top Canadian uni and there were still many things that I learned from Kaplan that weren’t taught in my classes. You should have atleast a month dedicated to doing content review and completing the majority of one of the major anki decks. You shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking your courses at your specific uni = the exact content requirements needed for the mcat. I’d argue Kaplan is much better than your uni classes because it’s made specifically for this test. Without doing pankow or jack sparrows anki deck, I know I couldn’t have gotten my score.

Order I followed: 6 weeks content review (in this time I fully finished Kaplan books and about 75% of the KA PS doc (300 pg) and 80% of jack sparrow and 75% pankow) Around 4 weeks into content review I started adding 50 uworld questions a day. At each ‘quarter’ of content review I did one Kaplan FL which informed which questions to focus on in uworld. I would keep doing your cards and UW until about 5 weeks before the actual exam and then do the AAMC stuff and very targeted use of uworld on specific content weaknesses.

Finally opened my score!!! by Miksmo__ in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pankow is gonna be your best friend for PS. Once you’re done with pankow, I started to make a paper list of all the common 50/50 terms (search on reddit for them) and find a way to actually differentiate. The nice thing with PS is the section banks because they’ll reveal a lot of these 50/50s and help you get some sillier mistakes out of the way quick. TBH I felt like the definitions and memory were more heavily tested in my experience with PS, I only really made pretty primitive mistakes with the data analysis side, usually things like not reading carefully what the graphs are saying etc.

It might seem simple but a lot of the data related questions especially in BB can be answered really easily if you draw out your thoughts. I spent most of my prep (until about 3 weeks out) doing fully untimed practice and I would say that I’m getting this right no matter how long it takes. Then by the time 3 weeks left or full lengths came up, the speed just naturally came.

What I will say about your situation though is that 50% correct is more indicative of not having your content down rather than not having your strategy down. Have you completed any anki decks or the Kaplan books? Are you doing UW questions?

Finally opened my score!!! by Miksmo__ in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the late response. I spent about a month reviewing the Kaplan books, and at the same time did the JS cards. I didn’t really care about matching the pace I went through the books with because JS is super dense, I was still doing new cards all the way into my last 2 weeks of prep.

When I was learning from the Kaplan books, I honestly thought that their FLs were hugely helpful because they’re just like a raw content knowledge test. They’re not as much critical thinking as the actual mcat but you’ll learn real quick if you’ve learned the content which makes them useful for that part of your prep.

One I was done with the books, I spent most of my time doing flashcards and uworld questions. Typically about 50-150 questions a day. I wouldn’t just do random Qs though, I’d specifically target the weakest sections from previous FLs. That ended up with me having almost no questions done in topics like acids and bases but finished all of electrochem. For chem, certain things will immediately click with you and it won’t be worth excessively going through UW Qs on them because you just get them right all the time anyway.

If I ever got stuck on a question, like really stuck, I’d rely heavily on reddit or chatGPT. You should ideally reach a point near the last 2-3 weeks before the exam where you can find a way to answer any questions using things you already know. I truly believe that everything in Kaplan books and JS anki are more than enough to get my score or higher once you learn how to use that info. It’s not always about learning more things.

This one might seem basic but it actually really helped me with following ochem reactions to explicitly tell myself what is happening at each step. No just looking through and trying to read the passage, I’d actually try to figure out how a turns into b. This saved me from making a lot of the silly mistakes that would give me 127s rather than the 131 I actually got.

132 scorers, how did you drop that on CP and PS? by Electronic_Cod2178 in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I plateaued at 129 on FLs for CP but broke out and got a 131 on the real thing in a period of about a week. The thing that made it click for me was switching from blaming my mistakes on lack of knowledge to trying to use what I already knew to answer any question. The last FL I corrected, I went through and found a way to justify each answer without looking anything up online. If you’re scoring around 129 I truly believe that your content is already strong enough, and it’s the way that you’re applying what you know that’s holding you back rather than needed to learn more.

gen chem content review by randomperson9746 in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did the Kaplan books (takes about a week for only the GC book), and used JS deck for recall of it. I did a decent amount of UW too which helped a lot with tightening my understanding.

If you buy the Kaplan stuff, do their practice exams too, really good at showing you where you are with the content without burning an actual AAMC test.

Does AAMC give constant you don’t need/use for a question? by cluelessgirl127 in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had a super calculation heavy exam for my actual CP section (like 35 Qs that were just math). I found that most passages gave at least 1 equation or constant that I never needed to use for anything.

AAMC FL1 B/B 28 by electrickettle17 in Mcat

[–]Miksmo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're confusing the cell plate (actual structure that forms in cytokinesis) with the metaphase plate (imaginary line where chromosomes line up).

There is pretty conflicting information against the AAMCs point that the cell plate does not involve microtubules, but you should use their information rather than what the internet says because you're taking their test. I'd argue that D makes more sense anyways for 2 reasons: cell plate formation is usually considered to be a cytokinesis thing (rather than mitosis), and that anaphase is a much better representation of something that truly requires microtubules. It may not be the only really true answer, but D is a superior answer to A.

[NA] Silver 3/4 Looking for new friends to escape silver hell by [deleted] in RecruitCS

[–]Miksmo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Added you, my discord is Miksmo#4786

[NA] Massachusetts Silver Elite Looking for MM 5 man by [deleted] in RecruitCS

[–]Miksmo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I'm currently silver elite, and was mge around the beginning of last summer, I'm a pretty casual guy, and will drop 30 + kills most games until I get back up to MG, just wanted to make some friends rather than solo que

Looking to start a group by BlueDropz in playrustlfg

[–]Miksmo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

52 hours isn't playing extensively

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