How do you study when you feel like you know the material already?

[mohad]

So basically, I found out that my major issue with the MCAT was that I couldn't read the question to save my life. They asked which one supports the author, I picked one that would weaken the author. They asked for the net force on a block not moving, and I put the force applied. Simple stuff like that. I ended up slowing down on my 3rd TPR practice test and ended up scoring a 32. 13 in PS, 8 in V, and 11 in BS. Even after post test analysis, I made some reading errors in PS and BS. Few things were content issues. Lately I've just been doing verbal and my score is sitting at a 9ish, and yesterday I was a question or two away from a 10, so that's good.

Now my issue is that I feel like I know a lot of the material, but I haven't fully gone through the content review in my TPR class. The reason why I know a bunch of the material already is because this past year, I took physics 1/2, ochem 1/2, and I just have a good memory remembering my basic bio/genetics stuff. I've been really studying hard for the first month of taking the course, but I hate touching any books now because I just get upset when I start reading. Obviously I don't know everything, but I guess I have this unjustified confidence confidence that is coming out of nowhere. What the hell do I do from here? I really want to keep improving my score, and I know that if I work a little harder, the mid 30s are attainable, if not upper 30s. I just have never studied for a test more than 2 days in advance for a long time, and so I am getting a bit antsy reviewing things I have seen a ton of times. I know the last thing I should do is gain a false sense of security from one decent test score but I really am at a loss at this point. I still have a month and a half till my test so there is plenty of studying to be done, but I don't want to study to the point where I will burn out.

here's a tl;dr if you want a summary: got one decent test score, i feel like i know a ton of material, how do I continue studying when I think I know the material well? Or how do i humble myself and realize that i have a ton to still learn?

Oh, and please take this post with a grain of salt. I don't mean that I know everything, but I just feel frustrated reviewing stuff that I am comfortable with. Occasionally I do mess up an old concept, but I don't know how to go about studying said concept without reviewing everything, and that's where part of the issue is. I know that there is a ton of room for improvement and 1 test isn't indicative of my score, but it did a good job of lulling me into some form of security. I just want to get rid of that feeling. I plan on taking at least 1 more practice test this weekend, so I'll see if my latest score is someone accurate.

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[salim271]

Take harder practice material if you really feel like the current testing material is too easy. Do you have, or have you done the EK 30 minute exams? Those are pretty tough, take some of them and no doubt you'll find a weak point somewhere... and then attack that weak point.

If you're feeling prepared, that's good (I still dont, lol,) do whatever you have to do to keep yourself sharp.

 

[stsa84]

I was in the same boat (sort of). I felt like I had a very solid grasp of nearly everything before I began studying, but for me it wasn't difficult to buckle down and put in 250 hours of studying in the 6 weeks before my exam.

Here's what I did/recommend:

Forget about what you know or think you know, commit to studying full time the next 6 weeks. If you have a main book you can study from, read/study through it 2 or 3 times. I worked my way through Kaplan's ~1500 page book in about 2.5 weeks, reading every word and doing every practice example given in the text and the problems at the end of each section, then re-read/studied the whole thing again in about 1.5 weeks, this time reading nearly everything. I went over it a third time, skipping sections I knew like the back of my hand, in about 1 week. By the third time, I basically read straight through, stopping only to recite things to myself (such as all of the glands in the body, the hormones they produce/store, and what the effects of them are).

On the diagnostic test before I began studying, there were many questions that I knew were very easy, I knew I had learned and basically still knew, but I couldn't quite recall one piece of information that was critical to getting the question right (such as, is the last variable in this equation squared, or not?). Going over everything in your study materials, even if you feel you already know it, will help you touch up these spots you feel strong in but in reality could use reinforcement.

As you go through your study material, make a list of your weak points (no matter how much you know, there are multiple areas you are weakest at). After you have reviewed all the material 2-3 times, spend another week or so going over your weak areas. I read the Kaplan sections, as well as going back to my textbooks and notes for additional problems and explanations (in my case, one of these areas was rxn kinetics). In the final 2 weeks, do 4 or so FL's.

Whether or not you are able to enjoy your studying these next weeks (I actually got into a rhythm with it and began to enjoy my quiet days with cup after cup of iced coffee and Pandora on my ipod), or you have to grit your teeth and endure it painfully, in reality it is only 6 weeks and you just have to do it. It is more beneficial than you might think...your future self will thank you.

 

[mohad]

Well my big thing is that I love practice problems. I think it is fun to do FL exams and then go over them picking out what my weak spots are. It's just that I don't know how to do more practice problems given what I have. I am going through the big TPR science workbook and doing questions, but I don't want to repeat them until 2ish weeks before the exam. I would like to burn through practice exams, but there is no point of doing a ton of them while my class is still going through content review and is dropping good hints and tips to solve the problems. Also, the classes help me identify what I'm doing wrong. I have a few practice passages online dedicated to particular topics, but I don't want to touch those for another few weeks, just so i can keep the material fresh in my head. I downloaded the TBR books, so I want to go through the section tests in those books, but I feel like I would have to read the information in each section before taking the test cause I hear they're more detailed. Thinking about that just makes me anxious because I don't know if I could handle reading two entirely sources of information that are trying to get the exact same thing across.

I guess I'll try and give EK a shot and get their books for the problems they have. It's just kind of frustrating when you're only a few weeks into the review class and your instructor tells you that you're about to hit a wall real soon if you are already in the double digits in 2 sections.

 

[salim271]

It's just kind of frustrating when you're only a few weeks into the review class and your instructor tells you that you're about to hit a wall real soon if you are already in the double digits in 2 sections.

Instructors can only really give you advice on things like this based on the average student that enters and uses the course, I dont think you really seem like an average student at all, so I wouldnt give it much weight. The only real wall I think that everyone hits is the 12-13 walls, where wrong answers come down to just miniscule mistakes/misconceptions. Even those can be reduced and effectively destroyed by the right person and the right amount of time, I think.

 

[stsa84]

I didn't realize you were in a review class...reading back through your post I see where I missed a word (shows my reading comp skills, huh?) Why did you shell out the money for a review class if you felt like you already knew the material well? It sounds to me like you'd be better off studying on your own.

 

[mohad]

Well I wanted to take a class because I was afraid of the test. I had the notion that it was some impossible test to get a score above a 30 and that I wouldn't get in if I didn't take a class. It turns out that the class helped me get on a good study schedule too. I read the material before class, go over it during class with the teacher, and then come home and do the practice questions to solidify what I learned. Another reason why I took the class is because my sister tried to get into med school a few times 10+ years ago, but that didn't work out for her, so she ended up doing something else. My dad kind of reminds me of her and tells me to work hard to get in, so I don't want to leave this test to chance.

 

[btown8908]

Review concepts that you are weak in and not just using rote memory to come up with a correct answer. On the MCAT, imho, it was more of a logical test, and a lot of the concepts I did not have to know fully in depth because I could read the section and know all I needed to know to answer the questions. Anyway, my small bit of advice is that you should be able to know of all the equations for PS and know the basic concepts of anatomy/physiology/enzyme material for BS. That being said, you may know the concepts really well, but how do you handle a stressful environment like actual test day? That's how you study: under high stress conditions. Just my two pesos.

 

[ridethecliche]

Do some hard core passage practice and work on your weak points.
Does TPR have a q bank?

 

[mohad]

Unfortunately TPR doesn't have a question bank. I plan on going through the TBR books though just for extra practice problems. At least looking at material in a new format will be good for me. Plus, I haven't seen the questions before so it will be better than going over old problems that I've read over a ton.

I mainly dislike reviewing physics and ochem. That's probably because I just took college classes over the 2 subjects and they're still fresh. Bio is about the only bearable thing to review. I guess I just have to remember that this is all for my benefit.

 

[ridethecliche]

What about gen chem?

Take practice passages, if you do all or most of the TBR ones, you're bound to hit everything.

Review what you miss. I think passage based study might be a good option for those that know the material well.

I'm going to be doing that with TBR the second go around. Do every 3rd passage or something, review, then do the rest kind of deal.

 

[mohad]

What about gen chem?

Take practice passages, if you do all or most of the TBR ones, you're bound to hit everything.

Review what you miss. I think passage based study might be a good option for those that know the material well.

I'm going to be doing that with TBR the second go around. Do every 3rd passage or something, review, then do the rest kind of deal.

I just finished reviewing all of GChem stuff that I learned this month a few minutes ago. It's alright. At least it isn't heavily math based, and I still have some places to improve. I actually like verbal studying cause I see improvements. I plan on trying to go through a 4th practice test tomorrow, and hopefully I can maintain if not improve my latest score. I have always been an impatient person, so I am just really anxious for test day. I just wish I could burn through every practice test and then hit the real thing to be done with it, hopefully with a damn good score.

 

[stsa84]

I just finished reviewing all of GChem stuff that I learned this month a few minutes ago. It's alright. At least it isn't heavily math based, and I still have some places to improve. I actually like verbal studying cause I see improvements. I plan on trying to go through a 4th practice test tomorrow, and hopefully I can maintain if not improve my latest score. I have always been an impatient person, so I am just really anxious for test day. I just wish I could burn through every practice test and then hit the real thing to be done with it, hopefully with a damn good score.

When's your test date? Believe me, if you think time is going slow now, just wait until you until the test is complete and you have 30-35 days of waiting for your score! It's been 14 days since I took mine, 19 days to go, and time has started moving backwards.

 

[mohad]

August 19... That gives me a week of summer left, then I get to go off to school, so that should keep me busy. I am just freaking out over this test. I will go insane from reviewing a ton. Once august rolls around though is when I plan on starting to go through each AAMC every other day and review what I missed hardcore the days in between. At least then, I will get good practice and the material will switch up. And they will be somewhat indicative of my score, so that should be interesting to see.

IMPORTANT
One more thing, I have this old EK verbal 101 passages book that I downloaded from just googling the name. Its the 60 question 85 minute book from 2002. Should I just buy the new one from the CBT era and do both, or is the new one somewhat of a repeat of the old one?

 

[mohad]

Oh lawldy, took the next practice test. 10 in PS, 9 in verbal, and 12 in BS. It looks like I found my weakpoints. I got nearly all acid/base, fluids, and pendulum questions wrong...And I suck at developmental bio. And I still suck at reading questions. It looks like the last test I took tested my strengths in PS. Either way, this test definitely opened my eyes in a good way, and I'm pretty happy about the improvements in my BS and PS scores. Only 14 more points till I hit my goal!

 

[stsa84]

There ya go...nothing like a good scare to light a fire under your butt. Good luck studying these next weeks! Hope your motivation to continue studying can come, in the future, from the encouragement of seeing higher and higher scores instead of the sobering effects of a lower than expected one.