Knowing how to personalize your study often presents a challenge for many students, myself included. I know that practice makes perfect and I have heard many good things about the quality of Next Step full length practice exams. However, How do you suggest getting the most out of the exams? Especially since they are so long. Also, I am currently taking an intro to psychology class, do you have any suggestions on how to get the most out of my class for the mcat? I
Hi
@Dove G^2, good questions! Let me answer your questions in order. First, there are two aspects of "getting the most out of a practice exam":
taking the exam and
reviewing it. You're absolutely right that the exams are really long, and especially feel that way early on in the MCAT prep process. This is the main value of taking practice exams: it allows you to get completely accustomed to the length, style, format, and timing of the exam. To make the most of this process, I recommend taking each exam under test-like conditions - timed, with no breaks (even if you are able to pause the exam, try not to do so!), in a quiet location away from home. If possible, you can even mimic more specific parts of the Test Day process - for example, by using a desktop computer or an actual computer mouse instead of a trackpad, since that's what the testing center will use.
You mentioned that the practice tests are really long, so if you initially have trouble taking a full test under exam-like conditions, it is
absolutely fine to start out taking individual sections instead. I've seen tons of students delay their first full-length because they don't feel ready to handle a seven-hour exam (or because they haven't yet covered 100% of the content), but in general, the sooner you get accustomed to test-style passage practice, the better. If you don't feel up to taking a full test, then, just choose one of the four sections (perhaps one you have been working on recently - or even a CARS section, which doesn't require any specific knowledge!) and take that - ideally under timed conditions, but if that's not possible, untimed. This way, you become familiar with the question and passage style of the exam and can use that familiarity to shape your prep early on.
However, all of these tips for
taking the exam are not nearly as important as properly
reviewing the exam. Review is absolutely everything in MCAT prep! I've seen plenty of students take only a few full-lengths, or take full-lengths under less-than-optimal conditions, and
still excel on the MCAT just because they did a thorough job reviewing the practice they did complete. To get the most out of the review process, try to do the following:
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Spend at least as much time reviewing the exam as you did taking it (so, at least 7 hours). If you need even more time, that's fine! The most important thing is that you do not rush this process.
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Review questions that you answered correctly as well as ones you got wrong. This way, you don't neglect to review any questions where you may have guessed correctly simply due to chance. And even if you got a question right and think you understand why, be sure to check the explanation to see if it matches your mental explanation of your answer choice. You may find a flaw in your own reasoning, or you might discover an alternative way to solve the problem (which could be faster or more intuitive).
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Don't skip past your "stupid mistakes"! Virtually any MCAT tutor will tell you that a
very common student problem involves students neglecting to analyze questions that they missed due to small/silly errors. Often, a student will see one of these questions and say to themselves "Wow, that was stupid! I won't make that mistake in the future," then move on right away. Instead, you should stop and think
why you made this error, and make a conscious
written note of it. This way, you'll avoid the all-too-common trap of making the exact same minor errors over and over and over.
With regard to your psychology class, the answer depends on whether you are in the process of MCAT prep now. If you are, I recommend trying to tie your MCAT studying into your psych class materials whenever possible. When you see each concept in your MCAT prep book / video, go beneath the surface and ask yourself questions: is the concept presented similarly in your class, or is it described in a different way? Does your psych class give any good examples that can help solidify your MCAT knowledge? etc.
Good luck and let us know if we can help answer anything else!
