About a month left before the test, any advice is appreciated!

[jzc86]

Hi all, new member here! I wanted to hear what your suggestions are for my last month of study before the actual test date (9/12). I had originally planned to take the exam on 8/14, but postponed it as my score has been below my goal (>515).

Here’s what I’m doing:
Kaplan for content (6 weeks), Uworld for practice (~4 weeks ongoing), and AAMC (~3 weeks ongoing).
I study from 8:30-12:30 and 1:30-5:30/6:30 (about 8-9 hours a day). I do one subject for 4 hours, which means 2 subjects a day, and take notes.
I go over my notes before doing 25-40 practice questions.
I try to do 2 Jack Westin and 1 AAMC CARS passages.
I read for pleasure for about 30-45mins before going to bed.
I take one whole day to review my practice test: write down why I got it wrong and add unfamiliar topics to my notes.

Here’s my score breakdown in chronological order:
(free, took it halfway through content review) Kaplan: 497 (124/123/124/126)
(free) NextStep: 507 (127/125/126/129)
(free) TPR: 503 (125/124/125/129)
AAMC 1: 510 (126/127/128/129)
AAMC 2: 509 (129/127/126/127)
AAMC 3: 508 (130/124/127/127)

I recently discovered Anki flashcards (MileDown) and am trying to do ~30 cards after reviewing my notes/before doing practice questions. I am also planning on purchasing NextStep’s 3 practice exams to practice every Saturday like usual.

I feel that even though my C/P is improving, my B/B fluctuates a lot, which is weird because I thought that would be my second best section after P/S. I’ve never been a good reading comprehension test taker because I was born and raised in a different country and spoke other languages before English.

Another thing I’m worried about is studying for the MCAT on top of my school subjects. We start 8/19 and will be virtual until at least 9/7, which means most of my extracurricular activities will be significantly less time consuming (the reason why I decided I could study during online school.) However, I wanted to know how/how much people study for the MCAT during school.

Please let me know if there’s any other info you’d like to know. Any suggestion/advice is appreciated, and thanks in advance!

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[JimKimSlim]

Looks like your AAMC FL average is around 509. Try to break that 510 on your AAMC FL4. You will likely get your AAMC FL average on the test, if you manage your stress well. As for how much I studied for the MCAT during school, I studied about 2-3 hours every night on week days and about 8 hours on Saturdays. Again, use that last AAMC FL4 wisely!

 

[jzc86]

Looks like your AAMC FL average is around 509. Try to break that 510 on your AAMC FL4. You will likely get your AAMC FL average on the test, if you manage your stress well. As for how much I studied for the MCAT during school, I studied about 2-3 hours every night on week days and about 8 hours on Saturdays. Again, use that last AAMC FL4 wisely!

Hey thanks for your advice! I'm planning on doing NS's 2-4 exams from this Saturday for 3 consecutive weeks. Then I'm considering taking AAMC FL 4 the Saturday after I'm done with NS FLs and 1 the last Saturday. I've taken FL 1 before on 7/18. When I take FL1 again, it'll be 9/5, which is a little under 2 months apart. Do you think that will work/be effective?

 

[JimKimSlim]

I generally don’t recommend using third party resources 6 weeks before test day. Also, I wouldn’t recommend retaking FL’s but rather use those 8 hours to keep reviewing your mistakes or even making your own AAMC style problems. IMO, there are people who study 1000+ hours with 505 versus those who study < 100 hours with 518. Their difference is that the latter group reads the testmaker’s minds. Knowing AAMC logic and rationale thoroughly is very important to scoring well on these types of tests. Use NS to practice timing, but I would recommend using only AAMC materials for reviewing and thoroughly understanding their rationale.

 

[jzc86]

I generally don’t recommend using third party resources 6 weeks before test day. Also, I wouldn’t recommend retaking FL’s but rather use those 8 hours to keep reviewing your mistakes or even making your own AAMC style problems. IMO, there are people who study 1000+ hours with 505 versus those who study < 100 hours with 518. Their difference is that the latter group reads the testmaker’s minds. Knowing AAMC logic and rationale thoroughly is very important to scoring well on these types of tests. Use NS to practice timing, but I would recommend using only AAMC materials for reviewing and thoroughly understanding their rationale.

Ohh I see! So during the week before I take NS to practice timing, I should redo AAMC's online materials like the flashcards, QPacks, Online Guide, and Section Bank even if I've done them before, is that correct? Would you recommend doing them 3 times? I'm about to finish all the materials and will be re-doing them for the second time next week. Thanks!!