Doing half a FL 1x a week during content review?

[matchmeifyoucan]

What do you think are the pros and cons of doing half a FL each week as opposed to the entire FL each week? I will start doing a FL once a week 7 weeks before my exam (my self-study schedule is 16 weeks). However, for the first 9 weeks of my studying, I am conflicted as to whether I should do entire FLs 1x a week, as well, or perhaps just do half a FL 1x a week (which would alternate between the C/P-C.A.R.S. subjects and BB-P/S subjects).

Weeks 1-9 (content review- and practice passage-heavy)
- half FL 1x a week
Weeks 10-16 (FLs and TBR Phase 3 practice passages)
- an entire FL 1x a week

OR

Weeks 1-9 (content review- and practice passage-heavy)
- an entire FL 1x a week
Weeks 10-16 (FLs and TBR Phase 3 practice passages)
- an entire FL 1x a week

For the Weeks 1-9, I plan on using the NS tests. And for weeks 10-16, I plan on using EK and AAMC tests exclusively.

Any input is gladly appreciated!

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[theonlytycrane]

I think it can be a good idea. I personally did most of my practice in 1/2 full-length chunks. I found it easier to get up to do (it's hard to motivate yourself to take a 8+ hour practice test). Also, since I spent 2x the time reviewing each of my full length sections, it made reviewing in chunks more manageable.

 

[NextStepTutor_3]

I like your idea of splitting the FLs up during the first weeks of your prep, for a couple of reasons. First, your plans for weeks 10-16 mean that you'll be taking 7 full exams no matter what; this is a solid number and should be fine for building up endurance, especially considering the number of additional exams you'll take in split-up form. Also, like @theonlytycrane implied, review is massively important, and you'll want to spend as much time or (preferably) significantly more reviewing each exam/section as you did taking it. It's usually much easier to take half of an exam and spend five hours reviewing than to take a full exam and spend 10 hours on review, so splitting up tests tends to lead to more review time.

The one thing I would advise is that you do take 1-2 full exams during those first 9 weeks. Maybe consider a schedule like this:

Weeks 1-4: half a FL once per week, or even split this further into one section twice per week
Week 5: full exam
Weeks 6-9: half a FL once per week, or even split this further into one section twice per week
Weeks 10-16: an entire FL once per week

I know it might seem weird to switch it up like this, but from what I've seen with my own students, those 1-2 full exams early on in your prep will pay off. Taking a full-length exam under test-like conditions is a new and intimidating experience, even for students who have been taking partial exams or individual sections for weeks. Getting to see what a full test feels like around 5-6 weeks in will give you more confidence than waiting until week 10 to ever experience a full-length in one sitting. I always recommend that my students take at least one full exam well before they've finished working through the content for this very reason.

Anyway, hope this makes sense. It sounds like you'll be doing a lot of quality practice either way, so you're off to a great start!

 

[matchmeifyoucan]

Thanks @NextStepTutor_3 and @theonlytycrane; the input is very appreciated. I half expected to hear something about taking FLs before finishing the majority of content review is a waste of time and so on.