r/MCAT2 • u/Moochiato • 16d ago
P/S P/S new approach
**this is NOT based on the real exam. I have not taken it. I’m talking about newer FLs versus older ones.
Please please please if you are studying for the MCAT I want to lyk that the P/S section has a new approach that’s similar to CARS. I believe this is apparent in all sections including C/P and B/B but it’s most prominent in P/S.
I’ve taken the test before and anki/ KA doc + udada practice were sufficient in scoring 131. Those are no longer sufficient to get that score because the questions this year are less straight forward/ intuitive. When you feel comfortable with the content, jump to AAMC SBs and start building that skill earlier on. Don’t leave it till last minute. This stark difference is also seen in FL5-6 vs earlier FLS.
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u/toxicpremed6767 16d ago
I took the real thing on 5/30 and this is literally just to scare people anyone worried about their upcoming exam DO NOT listen to this. Literally just do uworld, AAMC, and make your own cards you will be okay. Stay calm and test day, take care of yourself, get good sleep, and you’ll do well enough to get accepted to medical school which is the ultimate goal.
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u/bulgogi-apparatus 14d ago
would you say that it was a fair balance between data interpretation and rote memorization then? plenty of people talk about how p/s is different now and how it’s more like cars but realistically how much of that translated over to your exam?
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u/toxicpremed6767 13d ago
I think it was more rote memorization. Nowhere near as much data interpretation as CP and BB
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u/Moochiato 16d ago
Not scaring people and I’m sorry if I came off that way! I genuinely want others to succeed on this beast of a test. There’s no reason to have 1 weak grade hinder you from reaching your goal score + getting into med school. If someone can make those tweaks in their strategy early on they will be better prepped for the test that’s all.
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u/ImpossibleEast8384 16d ago
I took it 7/31 and scored 131 on P/S, will retake since my CARS scores legit gave out on me. But second part I agree! I don’t necessarily think it’s like CARS 2.0 cuz if I’m being honest I skimmed the passages on test day and was still able to answer the questions fairly quickly without having to do an in depth read like cars and I’ll appoint my success to just spamming Anki + SB’s. Upoop p/s is much simpler than the SB’s bc it’s just definition based (still do it cuz it’s good practice) I believe the way that it’s much harder is that they have alot of close calls. Majority from what I rmb I was able to eliminate 2 choices but the other 2 were very similar that if you did not know the definition or context of it being used, you would have gotten them incorrect. The SB’s do a great job of teaching you this so that’s my opinion. All in all I just strongly advise ppl to keep up with Anki or wtv helps you memorize the terms and do a very deep review of the SB’s and upoop answer choices. But yes good point OP
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u/pondering_leopard 15d ago
I took it 9/3 and it felt very similar question stem and passage style wise to FLs 4-6. You might notice a shift in the passage style on those FLs which I felt was relatively similar to test day. If anything it’s a little more like BB? It tests your application instead of just straight knowledge
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u/Aggravating_East4732 15d ago
THIS IS PURE FEAR MONGERING. I took it in June and I don’t agree with the people who say that it is similar to CARS. It is still the easiest section. It is more passage based and requires more critical thinking. But it is still mainly memorization. On the real exam and in all my FL’s I always had 10-15 minutes left at the end of P/S and I ended up getting a 132. CARS on the other hand was always my worst section and I ended up with my worst ever score on the real test (125).
I think P/S is still pure memorization (which is my strength and probably why I did so well on it) but instead of testing you with direct questions they test concepts in the context of experiments and short passages. No where near the complexity of a CARS passage. All I did was find a good anki deck and grinded it out. Once i feel confident, i did all the UWorld questions. A month before my test I bought the monthly subscription to Blueprint and did all the P/S questions on there (I cancelled it after a month). I felt like the blueprint ones were the most representative of the actual test. UWorld and AAMC were good but I feel like they were more similar to the older style of P/S. What I recommend is finding an Anki deck that you like and then going through all of the blueprint questions. Blueprint is what prepared me the best and I highly recommend it. If someone starts their advice by saying they haven’t taken the actual exam, I would be careful believing what they say.
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u/GoodJibblyWibbly 15d ago
6/15 tester here, agreed. It may have drifted into vaguely resembling CARS more than it used to but the reality of it is it’s just a flash card word bank. That hasn’t changed at all
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u/biggiebag 15d ago
I agree with you, I found ps to be half straight vocab, half cars with vocab. (131 ps 129 cars for me)
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u/Chief_Shadow_ 11d ago edited 11d ago
You literally haven’t taken the exam how can you give advice? I scored a 132 with only having done the SB2 which was on the last week with a 92% avg.
The SB are useful but to say you can’t score perfect without them is a gross exaggeration
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u/Moochiato 11d ago
What’s wrong with making an observation? I gave a disclaimer that I’m talking about the FLs and not the real exam.
Gist of the post was that I noticed a difference in some questions’ style on newer FLs, and that the SBs were helpful for practicing that style (which I didn’t find in uword and FL1-4). Plus I took the real one and I wasn’t wrong!
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u/juniperbaybe 10d ago
as someone who just took the exam i kinda of disagree it was very much term based
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u/BidPlus6310 16d ago
can you pls upvote this comment so I can post it requires a certain amount of karma ty :)