Does taking notes on Kaplan's Review Notes make sense?

[docjolly]

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Hey All,

I need a bit of advice. When I was an undergrad, I always took notes from my science college textbooks. That's how I best understood the information..Just reading the text never worked for me.

Unfortunately, this practice seems to be working against me as I study for the MCAT...I'm stuck on this compulsive need to take notes as I read through Kaplan's Review notes..It literally takes me between 1-2 hours just to read a chapter AND take notes ..I feel like this is a waste of time..but I attempted the alternative method of just reading the chapters, and I wasn't completely grasping key concepts..

What do you think?

 

[docjolly]

bump

Where are all of the MCAT experts tonight? 🙁

 

[UCdannyLA]

Actually, making a "cliff notes" version of your Kaplan Review Notes is a very good strategy.

One of my friends who got a 39 on the MCAT (13,13,13), took 1 page of notes on each Kaplan Review Chapter. So by the end, he had 60 pages of notes instead of the several hundred you have to begin with.

All he did was skim through the 60 pages once a week, and spent the rest of his time doing practicle problems.

So I'm doing the same thing 🙂 Although I find it hard to take only ONE page of notes on one chapter....I have around 110 pages of notes...but it's definitely worth it.

 

[jeanie523]

Taking notes definitely helped me recall what I read, whether it was from a science textbook or Kaplan review books. I say, stick to the method that has best worked for you in the past. If you learned via taking notes after reading, then by all means continue to do so. Changing the way you learn a few months before the exam is not going to help you (at least in my opinion). I know that it will take you double, triple the amount of time to study, but you'll be grateful after you've finished. Plus, just writing down notes in your own words will help you retain it too...AND you'll have just a short stack of papers to study from, as opposed to hundreds of pages.

Just a thought...
Good luck!

 

[gaf]

I made flash cards and carried them around to read when I had time (e.g., on the bus). Worked for me.

 

[blz]

I did the note thing for only topics i didn't fully understand.