Done studying, now practicing- need help :)

[knightstale4]

Hey guys,
I am finally done studying. It was a pretty painful 3.5 months of studying, but I guess that was my punishment for not paying attention in four years of college. Anyways, I finally took a practice test 10 days ago, and it didn't go very well. Before, studying used to discourage me, but now, practicing discourages me. It's so bad that now I look forward to studying, and avoid practicing.

I was wondering, how do you guys motivate yourself to practice?

And what materials do you use to practice? I am using the following materials:
AAMC tests (all of them)
EK 101 Bio
EK 1001 Physics
EK Verbal
Kaplan Verbal

And where can I find more CBTs?

Also, when you come across a mistake, are you supposed to write the question, answer choices, and correct answer/ concept in a a separate notebook, or just the concept I got wrong?

Thanks for your help.

Best of luck to everybody who is planning on taking the test this year!!!

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[Mister T]

What books did you use to review during hte 3.5 months?

 

[LostInStudy]

Did you do any practice questions/passages while you were studying? Studying is next to useless unless you have some practice mixed in the make sure you really understand the concept.

-LIS

 

[knightstale4]

I made up my own notes as I went through the books from my classes, and combined them with info. from Kaplan and Examkracker books.

I didn't practice when I was studying, but I will be taking the 3/27 test, so I was hoping I would still have some time to salvage my score before then. I definitely have difficulty applying my knowledge to concepts

 

[Mister T]

not practicing while studying was your biggest mistake.

Note taking does nothing in reinforcing and putting the concept into your head if you basically neglected drilling through discretes/passages if htis was the case.

 

[LostInStudy]

Let me suggest that instead of redoing your content review, you find as many practice questions/passages outside of FLs in the next few weeks and go through them and looking back at content when necessary. Start with EK 1001 books and then to TBR passages at the minimum. If you have time/money left then I would also suggest the TPR Hyperlearning Science Workbook.

Also, when I come across a mistake, sometimes I write it down if I think it will help me remember/understand it better but mostly I just try to understand the logic/train of thought used to get to the answer. For someone whose done a thorough content review, it's usually the way they looked at it and not the content review.

Hope this helps,

-LIS

 

[BreakMEDS]

you just got to keep working hard. you can do it!

 

[Marcus Brody]

Content review isn't a waste of time. You are kind of sowing the seeds that will grow later once you practice. Makes practice go further imo.

I don't think there is any secret for materials, the key is having good practice tests. Kaplan ones are alright, not sure about EK or the others. If you want brutal difficulty take the free diagnostic ones from each company. Save the AAMC ones for later.

 

[LostInStudy]

Content review isn't a waste of time. You are kind of sowing the seeds that will grow later once you practice. Makes practice go further imo.

I don't think there is any secret for materials, the key is having good practice tests. Kaplan ones are alright, not sure about EK or the others. If you want brutal difficulty take the free diagnostic ones from each company. Save the AAMC ones for later.

I didn't say (or mean) that content review is a waste of time, just that the proper way to content review is with a lot of practice problems/passages to apply what you have learned and work on rearranging/relearning the proper logic required. If you just read through a bunch of G. Chem, O. Chem, Physics and Biology material without practice then you will have no way of knowing what you get or don't get and what you need to work on (as it appears the OP did). Practice brings everything together and in my opinion is absolutely essential for a 30+.

Hope this clarifies,

-LIS

 

[Marcus Brody]

I didn't say (or mean) that content review is a waste of time, just that the proper way to content review is with a lot of practice problems/passages to apply what you have learned and work on rearranging/relearning the proper logic required. If you just read through a bunch of G. Chem, O. Chem, Physics and Biology material without practice then you will have no way of knowing what you get or don't get and what you need to work on (as it appears the OP did). Practice brings everything together and in my opinion is absolutely essential for a 30+.

Hope this clarifies,

-LIS

Yeah, i don't know about that either. I think just reading a textbook would suffice just fine for content review and would be a great foundation for later, assuming you do enough practice later. It just depends on the person I guess.

 

[knightstale4]

Thanks for all the advice. I guess writing down the question I got wrong is a waste, mostly I just need to write down concepts I am not understanding. I am not sure where to get the CBTs, but I will try to look at the free tests/ more content on the test help sites.

Thanks so much

 

[Mister T]

Yeah, i don't know about that either. I think just reading a textbook would suffice just fine for content review and would be a great foundation for later, assuming you do enough practice later. It just depends on the person I guess.

reading a textbook is a waste of time for content review. You end up reading completely unrelated stuff that you'll forget anyways.

The MCAT tests basics albeit the basics in different forms, and textbooks won't enable you in doing better.