How far out to start AAMC material?

[jparsenal87]

Hi all - I am testing on May 13, and been starting on content review, and trying to finalize my daily schedule. I have access to a fair number of resources in terms of books, but I am definitely making a priority of mine taking a ton of practice problems to get a feel for timing, etc.

Right now, as I have it set out, I will finish my content around the 24th of March. During content review, I plan on doing Phase 1+2 questions (about 5 passages each) from TBR along with EK 30 minute exams weekly, along with the Phase 3 from TBR weekly once I'm a few weeks in (those are section-length practices with material from all over). I am only saying this to make clear that I will be doing passages during my content review.

My plan at this point is once that March 24 hits, to switch over to AAMC material. My weeks would be spent doing question packs and section bank, and then each weekend do a FL (from AAMC + NS), maybe do 2 FL a week some times, and use these results to target my studying.

My question for all of you is that I know it's critical to use the section bank and other AAMC materials and get use out of them. Do you think using them for the month and a half before the test is sufficient/a good idea? Or do I need to start working it into my content review earlier?

Thanks!

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[Ad2b]

I think I've seen it here by others and concur:

Give yourself enough time to go through all the FLs you have from whatever company you got them from and the AAMC SBs twice.

For a May 13th exam, I would do the SBs probably end of Feb, make sure you understand what/why you got things wrong. Work on other AAMC materials, revisit the SBs mid/late April. Then take the scored AAMC 1 and 2 (not sure if people think that's worth doing twice or not).

Some may ask why take them twice when you've already seen them. This isn't to "memorize" the tests but to make sure you can answer the AAMC style questions.

 

[DaAlienist]

I think I've seen it here by others and concur:

Give yourself enough time to go through all the FLs you have from whatever company you got them from and the AAMC SBs twice.

For a May 13th exam, I would do the SBs probably end of Feb, make sure you understand what/why you got things wrong. Work on other AAMC materials, revisit the SBs mid/late April. Then take the scored AAMC 1 and 2 (not sure if people think that's worth doing twice or not).

Some may ask why take them twice when you've already seen them. This isn't to "memorize" the tests but to make sure you can answer the AAMC style questions.

So you recommend doing ALL my exams twice, or just the AAMC section bank? Am I taking them twice or is the 2nd pass just a review?

 

[NextStepTutor_3]

I believe @Ad2b was saying to do the AAMC section bank twice, and to take the other exams once. As far as the SB goes, it depends on how thoroughly you typically review materials (everyone thinks they review thoroughly enough, but the section bank is very complex and difficult, so it can take a lot of effort to review each question).

If you typically have trouble retaining information, or if you've noticed that you sometimes miss questions and then miss very similar questions later, you probably should actually take the section banks two times. This way, you'll be able to identify the questions you missed twice. If you miss a question, review it, and then still miss it again later, it's a great signal that you NEED to figure out what is leading you to choose the wrong answer. Then you can address this, whether it means returning to the content, or just hammering it home in your head that you need to avoid a particular trap.

If you're typically pretty good at retaining information, and especially if you have plenty of other resources available, it's totally fine to take the section bank just one time. In that case, though, I'd recommend working through it a chunk of passages at a time, then reviewing those passages the same day. 2-3 days later, review the same passages AGAIN. Finally, right before your exam, review the section bank a third time. This review doesn't have to take too long - if you easily remember why the right answer is right and the wrong ones are wrong for a particular question, you can move through it quickly. But don't be afraid to linger on the more difficult questions and really think through it.

Just a quick note to the original poster, @jparsenal87 - it sounds like you have a pretty solid plan. My only advice would be to take one AAMC full-length practice test ASAP, even before March 24th if you can. The earlier you can get the feel of a "real AAMC" exam, the better. The Sample Test is a great resource for this, since it doesn't give an official score anyway. My other piece of advice is that it probably won't be necessary to ever do 2 FL exams per week. (1 FL every 5 days or so is about the maximum frequency I would ever recommend.) It tends to be exhausting to try to fit in more, and you want to make sure you have a full day, even 2 days if necessary, to review each FL very carefully after taking it.

Good luck studying!