Friday, April 5, 2013

If You Climb, You Might Fall




Last week I took a practice test to see how my preparations were coming and I was not pleased.  The final score was....wait for it....a 23.  That is one point higher than the first time I took it and six points lower than last year's test.  You can imagine, that with the MCAT only 1 and a half months away that caused me to panic greatly.

There are several ways I can interpret this outcome.  I can interpret it to say that I have taken a huge step back in my accumulated knowledge and have forgotten almost everything.  However, I don't think this is the correct interpretation.  I am positive I know much more than I did last year, so I have to examine the source of the test and where my deficiencies lie.

In my current preparations I have finished reviewing all but two chapters of the Berkeley Review test prep materials.  It is a very dense and difficult review, but I think it is more than adequate to help prepare for the MCAT.  The test I took, to show my progress, was a free diagnostic test from Kaplan.  I did remarkably poor in the Physics section, and ironically it had a lot of questions from the two chapters I had not finished reviewing.  What are the chances that the majority of questions would come from 2 of the 10 chapters that physics covers?  I thought that was a little skewed, but I also have to think that on test day, if the same thing happens I would still be screwed so maybe it is a moot point.

Being a free diagnostic test I did some research on it through Google and found several accounts where someone scored remarkably poor yet did very well on the actual test.  I began to suspect that the difficultly level on this diagnostic is much higher than the actual test in order to funnel more people into the Kaplan program.

With that being said, I still came out with some positives.  I plan to take a different diagnostic next week to see if my suspicion is correct.  Out of all the problems, there wasn't anything I didn't "know" per-se, but there were several problems that I knew how to do, yet couldn't remember the formula to do what I needed to do.  That is definitely something I can remedy, and it is certainly something that is not allowable on test day.

Because I am a theoretical thinker, I have never put much stock in memorizing huge amounts of information.  Since we have such a huge resource of data recall at our very fingertips that sort of exercise is unnecessary if you know how to find and apply theory to the necessary information.  In physics I would usually memorize one or two key equations which would allow me to derive any subsequent equations on test day.  It saves study time, and if you can derive the equations I believe you truly understand the fundamental concepts more intimately than someone who merely memorized formulae and variables by rote.

The theoretical approach is no good when approaching a test like the MCAT.  Yes, the test is designed to reveal how well you can think critically, how well you can apply information instead of regurgitate it, but when it comes to the calculation portions that is not true, because you do not have enough time to derive and then apply the solution.  Part of my past failures can be attributed to my desire to calculate the exact solution to "make sure" I was 100% correct, rather than estimating, answering, and moving on in a timely fashion.  The difference in time between both approaches is probably on the order of 1 - 2 minutes per question...which can add up quickly.

With this in mind, I have decided to use the brute force method.  I am simply going to slam as many physics formulas and chemistry reactions into my head as possible so that I will have a quick recall system ready on test day.  It is not my preferred method, but I have to admit that when pressed for time it will be an invaluable tool.  If I can immediately recall every physics equation, and quickly indicate what type of reaction is taking place I think my physical sciences score is going to shoot through the roof.

Another thing that accounts for my low score is that this is my first timed passage of my review.  I have been taking everything slow and measured up until this point to make sure I truly understand the concepts I am reviewing.  Now I am transitioning into the timed portion, and it is obvious that I am simply out of practice with regards to pacing and quickly moving through passages.  I did not run out of time during the practice test, but there were four or five calculation question I knew how to calculate, but "marked" for later because I felt pressed for time.  I know that practice will alleviate the panic I felt on those questions.

Next week I am going to post my score for the follow up practice test.  If it still sits around a 23, I may have to consider postponing my MCAT date.  Until then, stay tuned.

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