Advice on biological sciences section of MCAT?

Question

I have been doing many practice tests and it seems that the weak link is bio sciences. I am not sure i am doing badly because its the end of the test or something. What are some good tips on doing well on this section?

Answer 1

i took the mcat in july, & was experiencing the same difficulty. i don't know how long you've been studying or when you're taking the mcat, but if you're in the same situation i was in (where i only had a few weeks to study & couldn't really devote all day to it), this is my advice. the amount of detailed information that you could be asked about is absolutely staggering, & it's impossible to memorize it all in a short time. therefore, instead of just cramming facts that you'll probably forget under pressure into your head, familiarize yourself as much as possible with a general overview of each topic, and instead focus on the problem-solving techniques that many of the questions are testing. study the answers to the practice questions & make sure you can follow the path of thought.

(of course, if you have the time, you should try & actually learn as much information as possible; these are just my suggestions for when you're in crunch time.)

when i took the mcat, i felt like i didn't know a lot of the information, but by trying to think logically & make "good guesses," i managed to get an 11 in the biological sciences, which probably doesn't sound great to you but is higher than i expected! it does suck that this section comes at the end, but just try to be as calm & focused as possible; breathe slowly & deeply, & don't waste time. make sure you get to all the questions, & then you can go back & look at some of them. & remember that you won't be hurt by guessing, so make sure to answer all the questions!

sorry for the lengthy & rambling answer, hope some of it helps! good luck, the mcat's not fun! ;-)

Answer 2

As I recall, even though you do need a background in biology, usually the answers are found within the text of the passage.  Keep on doing those practice tests; I would also suggest going back to the questions you missed and figuring out why you missed them.  You'll pick up new knowledge and maybe find a type of question that you continually miss so that you can train yourself to ace them in the future.  I used Examkrackers 1001 questions in biology to prep for the MCAT and found all the questions to be quite helpful.  Good luck!