Starting to study for mcat question!

[virtualmaster999]

Hey everyone,

So school starts up again next Monday and I will be staring to study for the 2015 mcat sometime towards the end of this month and take the exam in April of May ( yes I know it's a long span but this tests is a lot harder and has more info, I'm terrible at standardized test, not good with reading skills, and I have other things going on). Anyway! So I bought TPR 2015 set and have some previous mcat material from different companies (TBR Examkrackers Kaplan etc). I will be purchasing the 2015 examkrackers set in October. Now, since I have a lot of time to prepare and that the new mcat still doesn't have a tom of material out, should I save my passages for later on, maybe in like December or January, when most of my content review should be done? Or should I use them along whenever I'm doing content review for a specific chapter?

What do you guys think is best? Advice?

Thanks in advance!

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[DocKingh]

I would first go through all of the content. Then I would review all of the content until I feel comfortable with it. Then I would start doing passages and non-AAMC FLs (Kaplan, GS, TPR, TBR, etc.). Towards the end you should focus solely on AAMC material (hopefully AAMC releases some stuff for the 2015 test soon). Anyways, I think it's better to take passages after you are at least aware of every major content topic. I have my test in 3 days, and this is the study breakdown I used this summer. I think it worked well. I hope it helps you for the new test too. Good luck!

 

[valkener]

Generally it's not a bad idea to save prime questions/tests (like AAMC full-length) for when they are most useful. But it's never bad to go through the learning content. However, assessment tools are limited if you're one of those that will go through absolutely everything. That being said if you really have everything (TPR, TBR, EK), then you have plenty and shouldn't worry about diving in head-first.

 

[virtualmaster999]

Generally it's not a bad idea to save prime questions/tests (like AAMC full-length) for when they are most useful. But it's never bad to go through the learning content. However, assessment tools are limited if you're one of those that will go through absolutely everything. That being said if you really have everything (TPR, TBR, EK), then you have plenty and shouldn't worry about diving in head-first.

I see what you mean. I do have prior material, but I'm not sure how applicable it will be (besides verbal) with respect to the new exam and content/changes. Would you also recommend do content review for now and saving passages for later on?

 

[The Brown Knight]

Why not take the current shorter/easier version in January (offered till Jan 23) if you are planning on taking it in 2015? You also get winter break for uninterrupted study.

 

[virtualmaster999]

Why not take the current shorter/easier version in January (offered till Jan 23) if you are planning on taking it in 2015? You also get winter break for uninterrupted study.

Haven't taken physics yet. No physics background and I'm not risking teaching myself new material plus learn all the rests plus take classes. I won't rush. Yeah it sucks that the new one is purely death but whatever- gotta do it.

 

[The Brown Knight]

Haven't taken physics yet. No physics background and I'm not risking teaching myself new material plus learn all the rests plus take classes. I won't rush. Yeah it sucks that the new one is purely death but whatever- gotta do it.

But do you have all your other pre-reqs done? If so, spend the next couple weeks of summer to review everything for bio, gen chem, and org chem. It would be a LITTLE harder, but you could self-teach physics using your college textbook and Khan Academy videos over the next semester - 5 months is MORE than enough time. Along the side keep up with a little bit of passage practice for BS and gen chem and take FLs on occasional weekends. This is what I personally would do if I were in your shoes. And tbh, college physics courses tend to be very calculation and math heavy (my calc-based course required lot of derivations using basic equations) - MCAT, on the other hand, focuses a lot more on INTUITION and MCAT-related equations are pretty easy to remember. I honestly felt I built a lot of my intuition by reading on my own from prep books and Google. But, your choice.