How to go on about content review? Sigh...

[impatientcollegestudent]

I feel so overwhelmed by the content. I need to review my content first before I start practicing but looking at my new kaplan7 book set, and going through the bio book I still feel so overwhelmed... how do you guys go on about it honestly? I read the entire bio book but find that I don't remeber too much of the information, should I take notes? It's just that I can't imagine taking notes on every single chapter from these 7 books... That seems so insane to me. There has to be another way to get through these books with good recall of the information, I feel like I'm doing something wrong here...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Phoodie]

Try one of the schedules that are stickied. Most of them aim for one lecture a day + practice passages + review. It's not too bad as long as you're willing to put in the effort and have the time.

Personally, I jot down bolded terms and things I feel I should know. At the end of the day, if I can't remember something, I put it in my Anki deck.

 

[ac62994]

Definitely should be taking notes - I'm usually against writing in books, but I'm pulling out all the stops because it is pretty insane.

I do a Chapter (highlighting/notes in book) -> Break -> Cards.

Doing Chapter and Cards separately gives me double the review.

 

[queenoftheclouds]

I felt the same way when I first started studying for the MCATs. It seemed like this huge demonic monstrous glob of content thrown in your face, it's impossible to retain all of it!!! Right? I also never took physiology and was weak in my pre-reqs.

What you'll later come to realize is that you start seeing (through continuous practice) how the content is integrated and how questions are asked. The most important concepts will show up over and over and over again. It'll begin to stick.

But I definitely suggest re-reading the content chapters over and over again if you're unfamiliar with it. The first run through for me seemed like a foreign language. Then the second run through, I started recognizing terms and becoming more familiar with things. Third run through, I was nodding going "yeah yeah I know this already. I've read it 3 times." That's just me though, because info takes a while for it to sink in for me. But it works. Do whatever helps. Just remember not to get TOO caught up in details, but you should be comfortable with the level of detail the AAMC looks for. If you look through their questions, you'll gage the level.

 

[lesil]

I would recommend practicing. Section tests are great, you can also find individual passages and discrete questions to practice. I do section tests and go over the answers I got wrong. The more you do it, the more you'll see patterns and recognize certain concepts. If there's a question type you consistently get wrong, it may be something you need to read up on. Testing and going over your tests is one of the best ways to study.

 

[chelseamapp]

I would recommend practicing. Section tests are great, you can also find individual passages and discrete questions to practice. I do section tests and go over the answers I got wrong. The more you do it, the more you'll see patterns and recognize certain concepts. If there's a question type you consistently get wrong, it may be something you need to read up on. Testing and going over your tests is one of the best ways to study.

How did you time the end of passage questions?

 

[SteyrFWB]

Get 10 full length practice exams for your content review.

Go through every question carefully, no time limit, use content book to supplement question.

It will probably take you one week per FL exam. But take your time to know the content.

You are TRAINING for exam now, not PRACTICING for the exam.

10 exams would probably take you 3 months. But those questions should cover 90% of the content topics.

Once you finish exam questions, go through all the content review.

Then do the AAMC packages/ FL exam for PRACTICE.

Use your practice exam questions to bone up your content knowledge. It is much more efficient than doing it the other way around.

 

[Phoodie]

Get 10 full length practice exams for your content review.

Go through every question carefully, no time limit, use content book to supplement question.

It will probably take you one week per FL exam. But take your time to know the content.

You are TRAINING for exam now, not PRACTICING for the exam.

10 exams would probably take you 3 months. But those questions should cover 90% of the content topics.

Once you finish exam questions, go through all the content review.

Then do the AAMC packages/ FL exam for PRACTICE.

Use your practice exam questions to bone up your content knowledge. It is much more efficient than doing it the other way around.

I think this method would be great for someone with a strong foundation in all of the content areas but from OP's post, it seems as if he/she isn't ready for this yet. Learning from FLs is great after reviewing content for most people who don't remember the nitty gritty details from their prereqs but I think it's a waste of resources beginning with FLs. You'll have exhausted your resources by the time you should be at your peak in MCAT preparation. Not being well prepared in content is also incredibly demoralizing when taking FLs or even doing practice passages because of how many questions you're going to spend excess time on.

 

[SteyrFWB]

Seriously, you won't feel like you "exhausted" all 12 FL exam questions. If you truly spent your time doing the questions, and learn from the question slowly, going over content review book as supplement, in all seriousness, you won't finish all 12 exams in 10 weeks.

It will probably take you a solid week for each exam. One exam builds upon the other exam. By the time you finish that last full practice exam, "most" contents would have been covered.

Then spend a week or two to skimp over the full review books and Khan academy to fill in some loose holes.

Then take the AAMC practice question/ FL exam.

Just my two (perhaps three) cents after taking MCAT, USMLE part I, II, III, multiple residency intraining exams, and board oral/ written exam.

Please use questions to fortify your knowledge. Get tons of QUESTIONS, with good supplement content review. Study questions slowly. But keep going.