Main Sequence     Overview Cycle     Interdisciplinary Discussions     Verbal Reasoning     Essay

Module 2 - Special Topics in Mechanics & Waves

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from one of my students who told me years ago that anything you do for two weeks in a row becomes a habit. This is practical wisdom of enormous benefit, whether you want to exercise regularly, quit smoking, or complete a big project such as MCAT preparation. Self-discipline is an art of patience. It is only natural for there to be an internal resistance as you adjust your life to MCAT preparation. I have seen many students falter a bit at the beginning because they think they will only succeed through chaining themselves to the oarlock. Keep on track for two weeks in a row, and studying for the MCAT will become a habit. It will become much easier and much more enjoyable once you have gotten past the torsion of adjustment. This second module is crucial. Try to find your weekly rhythm. If you are trying to do a module per week, maybe you should set aside three hours every weekday morning and five hours on Saturday. Maybe eight hours on Saturday and six hours for two afternoons in the week. Whatever study schedule you decide on, just decide, and stick with it for two weeks and you will be home free. It will become your habit.

Let me address, for a moment, the group of students for whom it is not possible to dedicate twenty hours per week to MCAT preparation. For students with full-time jobs and families, twenty hours per week would be very difficult to manage. This learning program can accomodate you if you take two weeks for each module on the syllabus and study a smaller amount of time, say ten ten or twelve hours per week over a longer period. The spiraling curriculum of the course will ameliorate the problem of forgetting the early material. In this course, we aren't just adding new pieces of material to a series of concepts that grows longer each week. We are following a planned process of laying down a comprehensive foundation and elaborating a mental structure through repetition and articulation, a structure that becomes more rich, full, and interrelated as we progress. Your mastery of the early material should get stronger as the course progresses.

Module 2 - Overview

Main Sequence - Rotation, Simple Harmonic Motion, Elastic Properties of Solids, Fluid Mechanics, and Waves.

Overview Cycle - Make a second complete survey of Physics aiming for broad familiarity.

Interdisciplinary Discussions - The interdisciplinary focus this module is a bit lighter than last module and modules hence. A special theme this module is the relevance of Fluid Mechanics to the Human Cardiovascular System.

Verbal Reasoning and Essay - Reading program and Verbal Reasoning exercises. Learn the Wisebridge method for writing critical MCAT essays.

Module 2 - Main Sequence        { 12 - 15 hours }

This module the Main Sequence work will require the lion's share of your study time, as in most of the modules of this course. To help you achieve your learning goals, I suggest various assignments. These are a basket from which you can choose. You might choose to perform every suggested assignment for the most important topics that present special difficulties for you. Just remember that the Learning Program is designed to be flexible so that students can make use of study materials with which they may already be familiar, which may represent a large investment, such as materials from one of the big national courses, or which reflect your individual needs and tastes. Some of your materials will become dog-eared, familiar friends before the end of this course. You will know how every page looks and even smells in your Main Sequence Book and Overview Cycle Book. Additionally, I hope you will come to see some of the Resources in the Exploration Environment the same way. Painstakingly chosen, these links are well calibrated for MCAT study with the scientific concepts beautifully explained. Lastly, please do consider making use of Wisebridge Materials. I am proud of my work, and I hope you find my publications helpful to your studies.

During this module we will complete our Main Sequence study of classical mechanics, and we will also be covering the topic of Waves. Last module's mechanics topics were foundational: Kinematics, Newton's Laws, Work Energy & Power, and Momentum & Impulse. This module we will be covering Special Topics in Mechanics, Rotation, Harmonic Motion, Elastic Properties of Solids, and Fluid Mechanics. Although all four of these topics are important for the MCAT, Harmonic Motion and Fluid Mechanics are special favorites of the test writers. We will also be covering Waves this module. At this level, the treatment of waves focuses on mechanical waves, i.e. pulses along a stretched string and sound waves, for example. The wave treatment of light comes later in Wave Optics, so it will be our conceit to call this entire module, including waves, a week for Special Topics in Mechanics:

Rotation on the MCAT

Although straightforward rotation problems seem to show up a bit less on the MCAT compared to the rest of classical mechanics, it is still an important topic for MCAT review. Comparison of rolling versus sliding motion has appeared fairly often, and static equilibrium problems involving summation of torque have appeared a few times.

Learning Goals for Rotation

Suggested Assignments

Harmonic Motion on the MCAT

The mass-spring and the simple pendulum are classic problems of Physics 101. There is no escaping them. You must go into the MCAT with a clear understanding of the behavior of these devices. However, the MCAT rarely presents you with the straight-forward model, being more apt to throw you something of a curve ball, such as a compound pendulum or a damped mass-spring. Never panic if the MCAT presents you with a complicated version of a simpler device you have learned. One of the main goals of MCAT preparation is to be prepared to apply fundamental principles within seemingly difficult contexts.

Learning Goals for Harmonic Motion

Suggested Assignments

Elasticity on the MCAT

Elasticity appears fairly regularly on the MCAT, and the basics of this discipline, which is often neglected in lecture course, are pretty easy to master. On the exam, you may be expected to distinguish the three common types of deformation, elongation, shearing and compression, and their corresponding moduli, for example, or you may be asked to distinguish an elastic from a non-elastic deformation.

Learning Goals for Elasticity

Suggested Assignments

Fluid Mechanics on the MCAT

In one sense, Fluid Mechanics is not as 'fundamental' as the primary topics of mechanics, such as Newton's Laws or Work & Energy, which are underpinnings of all of science. Nevertheless, Fluid Mechanics is the equal of any topic in the physical sciences as a straightforward source of MCAT questions. The major topics of Fluid Mechanics are enduring MCAT favorites, such as Archimedes Principle, the Continuity of Volume Flux, or Bernouli's Law. Nearly every MCAT has several questions from Fluid Mechanics.

Learning Goals for Fluid Mechanics

Suggested Assignments

Waves on the MCAT

In one form or another, the topic of Waves comes up on nearly every MCAT. There are usually going to be a few uncomplicated waves problems. The test-writers will make sure you know how to move between wavelength, wave speed, and frequency, for example. Usually these simple questions are nested within a discussion of a more advanced scenario from wave optics or modern physics, for example. Occassionaly, one might run into a waves passage that represents a more advanced take on a familiar topic, such as two dimensional standing waves on a drumhead or a complex seismic wave. With waves as with most topics,the MCAT likes to give you unfamiliar, difficult-seeming phenomena and then ask questions which are pretty easy if you know the fundamentals.

Learning Goals for Waves

Suggested Assignments

Module 2 - Overview Cycles        { 3 - 5 hours }

Repetition and triangulation are keys to a successful program of Overview Cycles. Each time you cycle from the beginning to the end of a scientific discipline your mastery of the knowledge becomes more integrated and interrelated, and the task ahead becomes more 'finite'. You start to understand which concepts are most important, and you gain the ability to take a structural approach to the self-assessment. In our Overview Cycle work this module,we will begin another grand tour, although this time we will be touring the Physics section of the Grassroots version of Alfa Diallo's excellent MCAT Pearls.

Alfa Diallo created MCAT Pearls as a way to help make effective MCAT preparation more accessible. MCAT Pearls presents a set of clear conceptual overviews for each of the MCAT topics. From the perspective of our learning program, MCAT Pearls has tremendous value as our ideal online Overview Cycle Book, benefiting us with an additional sequenced mode for a thorough, fast cycle through the material. At present, Alfa is in the midst of a substantial revision to create a Premium Version of MCAT Pearls. The next edition will have a more intuitive, polished interface, and there will be a small registration fee. Alfa appears to be committed, however, to maintaining the excellent free version as 'MCAT Pearls Grassroots'. Alfa is a Medical Resident, which means he is probably overworked and half-broke all the time. Let me make an appeal to Learning Program students. Alfa has created something of real value because he wants the world to be better. Although there is no requirement for the use of MCAT Pearls Grassroots, when you visit, please support his work with a small donation and thank Alfa for the benefit of MCAT Pearls.

Overview Cycle - Learning Goals

Suggested Assignments

MECHANICS Kinematics Newton's Laws Work, Energy, and Power Momentum and Impulse Rotation Harmonic Motion Elastic Properties of Solids Fluid Mechanics WAVES Waves GRAVITATION Gravitation THERMODYNAMICS Temperature and Heat Flow The Ideal Gas and Kinetic Theory The First Law of Thermodynamics The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Heat Engines ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM Electricity DC Current Magnetism Electomagnetic Induction AC Current LIGHT & OPTICS The Properties of Light Geometric Optics Wave Optics MODERN PHYSICS & NUCLEAR PHYSICS Modern Physics Nuclear Physics

Module 2 - Interdisciplinary Discussions        { 1 hour }

The Interdisciplinary Discussions are like arrows out of the Main Sequence topics to the rest of science. The discussions work within the spiraling curriculum of the course to support the development of major themes of conceptual development. A primary theme within the discussions these first months will be to show how the fundamental topics of General Chemistry become much more coherent under the light of Physics. However, this module our Main Sequence topics are the Special Topics in Mechanics. Certainly we would not be out of line to point to the relevance of concepts from Harmonic Motion and Rotation for the understanding of the Internal Energy of chemical substances, and we could point to the relevance of Waves to the understanding of Quantum Mechanics, yet we will only be doing a bit of that this module. Too much too soon would be conceptually punishing and counterproductive. It will be much better to hold things in abeyance for one module.

In other words, this module the Interdisciplinary Discussions are something of a light tour, an interesting foray, pointing out some things of interest, such as the relevance of Fluid Mechanics to the Cardiovascular System, and high-lighting topics of special importance for the MCAT.

Interdisciplinary Discussion - Learning Goals

Suggested Assignments

Module 2 - Verbal Reasoning        { 2 - 3 hours }

Reading Program and Exercises

To help make you into a stronger reader, an important part of this Learning Program will be to spend a few hours approximately every other module reading difficult and interesting works. This will make your brain stronger.

Additionally, we have our first exercise to help you understand the thought processes involved in creating verbal reasoning multiple choice questions. As you better understand the problem of writing these questions, you will better understand the nuances in answering them.

Verbal Reasoning Tip of the Week

Catch your breath and think for a moment as soon you read a prompt for an author's tone question. Take a moment to think about it before reading the answer choices. The shades of difference between the answer choices are usually subtle with author's tone questions. You don't want the second best answer to dictate your impression.

Verbal Reasoning Assignments

Module 2 - Essay        { 2 hours }

Having written your first MCAT essay last module, you have a sense of the challenge of these writing assignments. Now that you have some experience, let's discuss the MCAT writing assignment in more depth.

The MCAT requires you to think and write critically. Let's take a moment to look at a typical example of MCAT essay instructions. Every MCAT writing assignment follows the same basic format. The instructions consist of a prompt followed by three tasks:

States are not moral agents, people are, and people can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.

Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which institutions shape the moral standards of people. Discuss what you think determines the relationship between the individual conscience and the institutions of society.

A good MCAT essay is NOT a five paragraph theme

Almost every American high school student learns how to write five paragraph themes. In secondary school we learn that the basic short essay should be organized in the following five paragraph structure: 1. Introduction   2. Body Paragraph   3. Body Paragraph   4. Body Paragraph   5. Conclusion. The five paragraph theme is supposed to be a tool for beginning writers to master and then move on. But it's often very difficult for college students to break out of the five-paragraph mode. Over the years teaching my MCAT course, I have often noticed that the five paragraph theme is deeply ingrained with many premedical students, especially students who have spent the majority of their undergraduate careers tackling the hard sciences, and who have not done much writing at the college level. There seems to be a tendency to fall back on the five paragraph theme, to try to succeed on the MCAT essay with the form.

The problem is the MCAT is asking you to deliver critical writing, not the 'say what you're gonna say; say it; say what you said' of five paragraph themes. In critical writing, the ideas develop organically, but the five paragraph theme discourages strong connections between the ideas in the essay. Almost invariably, what students learn to write is some version of "We can see [thesis] through Example A, Example B, Example C," with the paragraphs about A, B, and C connected to each other with a string of "Also"s or "Moreover"s. In theory, you could use the five-paragraph template to come up with a critical essay whose body paragraphs go like this: "Let's take Point A as a premise (and here's why A is a reasonable starting point). Now, if we examine the assumptions behind A, we can see that B follows from it. However, we may not realize that we should also consider C (but here's why we should)." That would be critical writing because the ideas are developing.

Another problem with the five paragraph theme is that it encourages students to write the dullest, most formulaic introductions and conclusions ever. Students recognize how dreary it is to write a conclusion that restates everything that's been said in the introduction, but they've been taught over and over again to begin their last paragraphs with "In conclusion, this essay has shown that [insert slightly reshuffled sentences from introduction]." Why go through the process of writing if you're going to end up at the same place you began?

Writing a Critical MCAT Essay

Here's another MCAT writing assignment:

The distribution of wealth in society should only reflect the free transactions of individuals not government policy.

Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which other factors besides individual economic activity should possibly influence the distribution of wealth in society. Discuss what you think should determine the distribution of economic benefits in society.

Every MCAT Essay has the same three basic assignments.

1. Describe the point of view of the statement.
2. Investigate a point of view critical of the statement.
3. Find a deeper insight or overall reconciliation.

The three basic tasks of the MCAT essay represent a classic rhetorical figure of critical philosophy, the dialectical progression from thesis, to antithesis, to synthesis. In the history of ideas, the dielectic has been the basis of grandly totalizing philosophical systems. For the purposes of writing MCAT essays, the dialectic describes the progression of ideas in a critical thought process that is the force driving your argument. A good dialectical progression propels your arguments in a way that is satisfying to the reader.

• The thesis is an intellectual proposition.
• The antithesis is a critical perspective on the thesis.
• The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition.

Thesis, anthithesis, and synthesis represents a compact way of expressing the process of critical thinking. Let us step back and think of writing the MCAT essay on these terms. This will help you learn to create a unified essay powered by ideas.

For the First Five Minutes, Imagine a Debate to Help you Brainstorm

So you're sitting in the MCAT, and you just opened your first essay. Now is not the best time for writer's cramp. Take a deep breath. One thing veteran writers learn is the value of a 'generative device'. A generative device is a trick you play on yourself to get the ideas flowing. With my students over the years, we developed a generative device that helps you get started with the MCAT essay. For the first five minutes, imagine that you are witnessing 'debate night' at the local auditorium with the topic your essay prompt. Imagine the debate and write down a few notes about what you hear. Try to write one or two good sentences for each of the three tasks. Take about two minutes for each.

So in my small group course over the years, I would teach my students this game for the first five minutes to get their ideas going. I hate to say this, but learning this game practically guarantees that even a minimally literate person will earn at least an above average score on the MCAT essay. Is that justice? Mom and dad had the big bucks to pay me and their kids are now doctors! So work hard so you can do the same for your kids!! Anyway, here it is:

Imagine that your essay were the evening's topic at a debating club. The first speaker argues for the thesis. The second speaker argues for the antithesis. The third speaker is the wisest of all, representing the synthesis. The third speaker's point of view is like the point of view of the chorus of a Greek tragedy, who arrives at the end to explain the deeper truth.

So, take a couple of minutes for each task, no more than one or two, and imagine that you were watching the debate and take some notes on a piece of scratch paper. Write down one or two good, clear sentences that might be used in each stage of the debate.

The distribution of wealth in society should reflect only the free transactions of individuals.

	Thesis The proper role of government is to protect rights, not to ensure outcomes. Throughout history, societies that have attempted to manage their economies through government intervention have achieved neither freedom nor prosperity.
	Antithesis The libertarian view of transactions ignores the tremendous investment of society as a whole in the infrastructure of the modern economy that makes private wealth possible. Property begins with real estate. When one person stakes a claim to land, they are depriving another of the use of it. The minimum requirement of justice would be for the landless to have some guarantee of minimal subsistence.
	Synthesis Both the free transactions of individuals and the democratic decision-making process of a free society should have a role in determining the distribution of economic goods. Balancing individual rights and social welfare seems to be the consensus approach among the liberal democracies of the world. This great compromise seems to have some hope of producing the most good for the most people.

Please don't think you need to write in a high style to score a superior MCAT essay score. Mostly you want clear sentences and correct grammar. Write in the way that is natural for you, in your own voice. Many people would be much better writers if they wrote nearly as well as they speak. I wrote the notes above in the way that is natural for me, but I can't help that. It has been a struggle for me to write comprehensibly ever since my formal humanities education. Despite my limitations, however, I was able to score an 'S' on my own MCAT essay years ago, and that ain't bad!

Constructing a Unified Essay

Let's see how this patented system works with a different MCAT essay. Let's do our five minute process with a different prompt, and then discuss how to unify the essay. Okay, here we go . . .

It is a miracle if curiosity can survive a formal education.

Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which formal education might promote intellectual curiosity. Discuss what educational institutions can do to promote the natural love of learning without sacrificing educational standards.

Take a deep breath and write down a few sentences for each task.

	Thesis Education isn't filling a bucket but lighting a fire. By too great a reliance on competition, testing, and rote learning educational institutions can thwart the natural love of learning.
	Antithesis Very few people ever learned long division because they enjoyed it, and few children would volunteer to practice spelling. Sometimes education means suffering years of work after which one can realize the understanding of the world and the capabilities education has given you.
	Synthesis Although elementary and secondary education in the United States do seem to be evolving in a direction which may hurt the natural desire to learn in children, with too much emphasis on testing and rote learning, there is no denying at the university level, our system combines the best of freedom of inquiry with the need for professional training.

For better or worse, that's what I could come up with in five minutes. I think I have something to work with.

Decide on which way you lean to unify the essay

Now that you have a few notes, look them over, and think about how you feel about the argument. It will nearly always be better for the overall unity of your essay if you consciously tilt the voice of the writing a little bit towards either the Thesis or Antithesis. With an MCAT prompt, there are always worthwhile arguments on both sides, so you must not lean so far that you set up the other as a 'Straw Man'. Creating a position that is artificially easy to refute, setting up a Straw Man is a logical fallacy that is one of the hallmarks of weak argument.

Leaning the essay a little bit one way or the other is how you generate dynamic critical energy, and give the essay a unified voice. Think about it. You are asked to describe a point of view. Next you are asked to take a critical perspective. Leaning a bit one way or the other signals to the reader that there is an author behind the essay with a point of view. Giving the essay a authorial voice is how you create a unified critical progression.

• If you decide to lean towards the thesis, you voice the thesis with strong, declarative sentences, and then your discussion of the antithesis is modulated just a bit to give the reader a sense that you are taking an interlude to voice and address some worthy criticisms. Use a few rhetorical devices such as 'It could be argued with some validity that . . . ' or 'Many people strongly believe that . . .' to show that you are taking some time to address some criticisms which may be raised against the thesis. You make strong arguments, but just put a little bit of distance.



• If you decide to lean towards the antithesis, you start out with a voice describing the thesis which is modulated to convey a sense of provisional understanding. You are questioning this interesting idea. Trying it out. Investigating it. Then, when you reach the second task, the voice of antithesis is stronger and more declarative.



• But always, with the synthesis you give consideration to both sides. Keep your overall point of view, but show how reflection allows you to develop a new understanding and reconciliation of thesis and antithesis.

Writing the Essay

After the first five or six minutes, you now have a nice set of notes with a sentence or two for each of the three tasks. You have a sense of your overall point of view, your lean, and so you begin. The art of composition is balancing between the sense of overall form, which transcends the moment of writing and guides it, and the creativity of the moment itself. Too much structure, and the essay is stultified and dull, formulaic. Too much freedom, and the essay is a formless stream-of-consciousness. If you practice balance, you will become a good writer. A big part of balance is trusting yourself. Now that you have taken the time to structure the essay beforehand, trust yourself to be creative as you write.

Usually, at some stage in the composition, within a task, some break-point or transition will occur to you. If this happens, welcome it, because it will allow you to make at least one of the tasks two paragraphs. Think about the point of view of the graders. Three tasks. Three paragraphs. Over and Over. If you can use the paragraph unit to introduce a bit of depth and complexity within a task, it will be pleasing to the reader. I guarantee it. I suspect that the four paragraph essays score a point higher just by default.

Now you need to practice writing at least one of these each module. If you do this, you will have a good mastery of this form going into the test. For feedback from your fellow students, please do type your essays in at the FORUM.

Benefits beyond the MCAT

Learning to write a three to five paragraph critical argument built on thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, actually gives you something valuable for the rest of your life. Having mastered this simple form, you will always have this classic rhetorical figure in your medicine bag, the skill to write a short, persuasive critical argument. You will be able to conduct correspondence in business that respects other people's points of view while arguing persuasively for your own, and you will be able to participate more effectively in the politics of your community.

Essay Assignments