Kaplan MCAT General Chemistry Review

In addition to being a thinking test, as we’ve stressed, the MCAT is a standardized test. As such, it has its own consistent patterns and idiosyncrasies that can actually work in your favor. This is the key to why test preparation works. You have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with those consistent peculiarities, to adopt the proper test-taking mindset.

The following are some overriding principles of the MCAT mindset that will be covered in depth in the chapters to come:

• Read actively and critically.

• Translate prose into your own words.

• Save the toughest questions for last.

• Know the test and its components inside and out.

• Do MCAT-style problems in each topic area after you’ve reviewed it.

• Allow your confidence to build on itself.

• Take full-length practice tests a week or two before the test to break down the mystique of the real experience.

• Learn from your mistakes—get the most out of your practice tests.

• Look at the MCAT as a challenge, the first step in your medical career, rather than as an arbitrary obstacle.

That’s what the MCAT mindset boils down to: Taking control. Being proactive. Being on top of the testing experience so that you can get as many points as you can as quickly and as easily as possible. Keep this in mind as you read and work through the material in this book and, of course, as you face the challenge on Test Day.

Now that you have a better idea of what the MCAT is all about, let’s take a tour of the individual test sections. Although the underlying skills being tested are similar, each MCAT section requires that you call into play a different domain of knowledge. So, though we encourage you to think of the MCAT as a holistic and unified test, we also recognize that the test is segmented by discipline and that there are characteristics unique to each section. In the overviews, we’ll review sample questions and answers and discuss section-specific strategies. For each of the sections—Verbal Reasoning, Physical/Biological Sciences, and the Writing Sample—we’ll present you with the following:

• The Big Picture

You’ll get a clear view of the section and familiarize yourself with what it’s really evaluating.

• A Closer Look

You’ll explore the types of questions that will appear and master the strategies you’ll need to deal with them successfully.

• Highlights

The key approaches to each section are outlined, for reinforcement and quick review.

TEST EXPERTISE

The first year of medical school is a frenzied experience for most students. In order to meet the requirements of a rigorous work schedule, students either learn to prioritize and budget their time or else fall hopelessly behind. It’s no surprise, then, that the MCAT, the test specifically designed to predict success in the first year of medical school, is a high-speed, time-intensive test. It demands excellent time-management skills as well as that sine qua non of the successful physician—grace under pressure.

It’s one thing to answer a Verbal Reasoning question correctly; it’s quite another to answer several correctly in a limited time frame. The same goes for Physical and Biological Sciences—it’s a whole new ballgame once you move from doing an individual passage at your leisure to handling a full section under actual timed conditions. You also need to budget your time for the Writing Sample, but this section isn’t as time sensitive. When it comes to the multiple-choice sections, time pressure is a factor that affects virtually every test taker.

So when you’re comfortable with the content of the test, your next challenge will be to take it to the next level—test expertise—which will enable you to manage the all-important time element of the test.

THE FIVE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF TEST EXPERTISE

On some tests, if a question seems particularly difficult you’ll spend significantly more time on it, as you’ll probably be given more points for correctly answering a hard question. Not so on the MCAT. Remember, every MCAT question, no matter how hard, is worth a single point. There’s no partial credit or “A” for effort, and because there are so many questions to do in so little time, you’d be a fool to spend 10 minutes getting a point for a hard question and then not have time to get a couple of quick points from three easy questions later in the section.

Given this combination—limited time, all questions equal in weight—you’ve got to develop a way of handling the test sections to make sure you get as many points as you can as quickly and easily as you can. Here are the principles that will help you do that:

1. FEEL FREE TO SKIP AROUND