Thank you everybody! I have been a nervous wreck these past few weeks and I feel so relieved now. I’m still recovering from last night’s celebration. Wife got us a limo and we partied with friends. The past 2 years of school and studying paid off and I feel great about the decision to make a career change.
Next up, applications!
Great job!!
- In reply to:
Thank you everybody! I have been a nervous wreck these past few weeks and I feel so relieved now. I'm still recovering from last night's celebration. Wife got us a limo and we partied with friends. The past 2 years of school and studying paid off and I feel great about the decision to make a career change.
Next up, applications!
Next up, applications!
Dangit must remember to inform wife that MCAT succes means limo parties.....
Are you applying this cycle? Pls say no
Haha, sorry Bailey, my AMCAS will go out as soon as a couple LOR’s and transcripts come in. But don’t worry about me, I just perused the SDN forum for people who also got their scores and some people did much better. However, I think we’ll both beat them with our life experience.
You can go ahead and submit your AMCAS without all transcripts in. They will hold verficiation until they all arrive but you’ll be higher in the queue.
You don’t any LORs to submit, you can go back later and add or change your LORs.
Congratulations on an job well done.
Fantastic and well-deserved! Congratulations!
Bailey, this made me laugh out loud. “Great job, but please tell me you won’t be in my applicant pool?!?!”
SO funny… 
I am so enjoying everyone’s application stories this cycle. It gives me hope for next summer, when it’s my turn–I know it will be here soon enough. I just can’t wait to hear where you guys end up… Onward and upward!
Hey desert_shawn,
What material did you exactly use to prepare for the different sections of the test?
Thanks in advance
Hi patkay, sure thing. Here’s the breakdown:
Gen Chem: EK and EK1001
Physics: EK and EK1001
Verbal: EK, EK101, and TPR
Essays: None
Bio: EK and EK1001
OChem: None
FL’s: all the AAMC ones (my original post has all my stats)
For verbal, I found my practice scores with EK alone were stagnant so I read TPR’s method. There was no way that I could incorporate everything that TPR was asking (rank passages, categorize questions, skip around, etc) in the 40 min time limit so I only used the parts that worked for me (reading the questions beforehand and going back to the passage). So in the end for verbal, I used a mix of EK and TPR methods. I also bought a Kaplan verbal book but decided not to use it. I basically just developed a game plan after some trial and error and then stuck to it on game day. The method I settled on was to do all passages in order, skim the passage questions first, then read the passage, use active highlighting, then attack the questions in order. On test day I felt myself start to panic because the real verbal was harder than the practice ones I had done but I did not deviate from my method and it served me well. Overall, verbal caused me the most grief.
For OChem, I was already taking the class during my MCAT studying. I could not stand to do any additional OChem problems since there were already so many to do in preparation for tests so I did not do any MCAT specific OChem studying. In hindsight, I probably should have since there ended up being more OChem on my MCAT than what were on the AAMC FL’s.
My method for the science sections was to do all the stand-alone questions first, then I went back and did the passages.
For the essays, I spent the first 4-5 minutes typing my outline of what I wanted to write, then typed like crazy. I did the straight up 3 paragraphs, each one addressing the instructions, nothing fancy. I didn’t even go back and proofread.
For those unfamiliar with the acronyms:
EK = ExamKrackers
EK1001 = EK’s 1001 question books (great for practice problems!)
TPR = The Princeton Review
FL = full length, as in full length practice test
Hope that helps and good luck! I want to see all OPM’ers beat my score!
Thanks a lot. This is very helpful!
Hi desert
so you used TPR for verbal and if I remember you got an 8 or something like that. Is it worth getting the TPR for verbal in your opinion?
Redo, I thought it was worth it but only for the parts that worked for me. There is no way that I could have followed their entire method, I simply would not have had enough time to do everything they ask. Maybe it works for other people but I had to do what worked for me.
I bought their book to get another perspective on how to approach VR and only chose to implement the parts I knew I could use. So overall I thought it was worth it but only for selective parts.
Hi desert
thanx a lot. I will keep that in mind.