(4/20 test taker) Order in using my study materials?

[Pachibo]

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I am taking the exam on 4/20, and I just started studying today. I know it's late, but I have 8+ hours a day to study. I took the NS diagnostic exam, and scored the following:

C/P: 125 scaled score and 50 percentile

CARS: 124 scaled score and 39 percentile

Biology: 125 scaled score and 50 percentile

P/S: 126 scaled score and 61 percentile

Total: 500 scaled score and 50 percentile

I have access to the following paid materials:

TBR (missing psych and cars)

TPR hyperlearning cars workbook

Kaplan 7 book set

AAMC materials

My performance on the CARS section is really bad compared to the other sections. Other than the TPRH book, what other materials would you guys recommend?

In what order should I go through the materials? Are there any other free or paid materials that I should use? I heard the NS practice exams are good, so I'll probably purchase tests 4-5 as well. Since I only have two months to study, how many practice exams would you guys recommend? Since they would take a whole day to do.

 

[pms_testosterone]

Take the AAMC sample test ASAP to get a better idea of where you are

CARS takes longest to improve, so get on that and work on it every day

Min. 3 full-lengths, but do practice questions every day

Edit: the Khan Academy practice questions are useful for studying (but not predictive of your score)

 

[treatem-and-streetem]

Use the AAMC CARS passages and any and every CARS passage you can. Do it literally for an hour every day. With 2 months I would go through material in 3ish weeks (CARS everyday still) and then start pounding out practice tests and practice questions. I can't overstate how important practice tests are. MCAT is a lot about concepts and applying them than knowing empirical facts.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I have access to the following paid materials:

TBR (missing psych and cars)

TPR hyperlearning cars workbook

Kaplan 7 book set

AAMC materials

In what order should I go through the materials?

I would strongly recommend that you focus on passages more than review. You will be better prepared by doing practice passages and reviewing the answers than reading content, especially with just two months to go. Try our phase I passage set for every topic first. If you score really well, move on to phase II. If you feel you struggled on Phase I, then go back and review the text section from whichever source fits your style for that specific topic. There are 40 total sections in the TBR books you have, so it will take about forty days to get through each homework set (around 100 to 110 questions each). Mix in some CARS days as well as CARS evenings whenever you finish a homework set early. Start your AAMC FLs (as well as two others from whatever source you choose) around four weeks before your exam.

I think it's optimal to start with our practice passages, because they emphasize a lot of concepts and often teach how to use a shortcut to save time (especially in the general chemistry and physics sections.) Once you get that down, the FLs you do should go more smoothly.

 

[Deleted member 750603]

Practice test, practice test, practice test. In that order.

Do as many as you can to get your mental stamina up and used to thinking about taking the exam rather than knowing an overwhelming amount of information that you cannot possibly learn in two months.