HOW TO REVIEW MY FL????

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BioPlum

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I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I have no idea what to do with my practice test. Everything online says you should review the test and make sure you understand everything you got wrong. Just reading my wrong answers does absolutely nothing for me, so should I try to make a google doc and type out all the questions and answers? Would that be wasting time since I'm hoping to retake at the end of May? I'm struggling/panicking because I still don't know what study method works well for me. Ugh. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated - I'm just curious as to specific ways that people review their tests...
 
You need to first understand why you got it wrong. I think it could fall into 3 categories:
  • Passage mistakes - these are problems with how you read and understand the passage
    • Not finding a pertinent part of the passage
    • Not understanding a key relationship in the passage
    • Not understanding a graph or figure
    • Relying on your content knowledge instead of pertinent passage info
  • Content mistakes - these are content gaps that you need to fill in
    • Forgot what you already learned
    • New content that you haven't learned
    • Relied on unrelated passage info instead of content
  • Testing mistakes - these are kind of the miscellaneous mistakes related to the test itself
    • Misread the question stem
    • Misread an answer choice
    • Ran out of time
    • Math error
When you figure out why you got a question wrong then you can attack how to improve. Didn't know enough about the citric acid cycle? Better hit that subject again and learn more. Had no idea what this figure was referring to?

1583939621582.png


Learn more about reading and interpreting graphs.

The other big piece of advice is to review EVERY question. Not just the ones you got wrong. The reason for this is that you might have gotten some questions right for the wrong reason. You might have just guessed right this time, but you are asking for trouble later if you don't understand every question and every answer choice. The MCAT likes to use similar tricks so it is helpful to get a feel for common wrong answers too.
 
You need to first understand why you got it wrong. I think it could fall into 3 categories:
  • Passage mistakes - these are problems with how you read and understand the passage
    • Not finding a pertinent part of the passage
    • Not understanding a key relationship in the passage
    • Not understanding a graph or figure
    • Relying on your content knowledge instead of pertinent passage info
  • Content mistakes - these are content gaps that you need to fill in
    • Forgot what you already learned
    • New content that you haven't learned
    • Relied on unrelated passage info instead of content
  • Testing mistakes - these are kind of the miscellaneous mistakes related to the test itself
    • Misread the question stem
    • Misread an answer choice
    • Ran out of time
    • Math error
When you figure out why you got a question wrong then you can attack how to improve. Didn't know enough about the citric acid cycle? Better hit that subject again and learn more. Had no idea what this figure was referring to?

View attachment 298156

Learn more about reading and interpreting graphs.

The other big piece of advice is to review EVERY question. Not just the ones you got wrong. The reason for this is that you might have gotten some questions right for the wrong reason. You might have just guessed right this time, but you are asking for trouble later if you don't understand every question and every answer choice. The MCAT likes to use similar tricks so it is helpful to get a feel for common wrong answers too.

I somehow thought it wouldn't be a good use of time to do a really in-depth review, but it seems like it's necessary. I appreciate this, thank you!
 
I somehow thought it wouldn't be a good use of time to do a really in-depth review, but it seems like it's necessary. I appreciate this, thank you!

That is the best use of your time in the last month or so of study. You should spend as much time reviewing the FLs as you do taking them (7+ hours).
 
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