How long did it take you guys to get through chapters?

[deleted74029]

As I read the Kaplan Review Chapters and take notes it can take me 2+ hours to read through one chapter and take notes on it. This just feels too long and I feel like I'm wasting time that could be used for something else, such as practice. What strategy did you guys use when reading chapters?

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[sunsfan]

I am surprised by my slow pace, too. Simply reviewing content and answering the few practice questions embedded in the text takes me ~5 hours. No kidding. I timed myself.
Searching this forum the other day, I learned that many others spent ~6 hrs per day just in content review per important topic. It's really not that unusual to spend so much time in content review especially if it's been a while since your class. But make sure you set aside lots of time to answer passages as well. All that content review is nothing without practice. I give myself an "exam day" dedicated to answering passages for every 2-3 chapters I finish.
Once, I tried answering passages without reviewing to cut down on my study time, but it just didn't feel right for me. So I'll stick to my current system.

 

[nfg05]

I would call myself an atypically fast reader, but 1.5 to 2 hours doesn't sound too bad for a chapter of Kaplan review. For me, I have to take notes on the most important points or I barely retain anything. Even though I don't usually look much at the notes later, just taking them forces me to actually think about the content instead of just mowing through it being like yeah I understand that.

I've found that doing all the "preview" stuff for a Kaplan lesson in one day is a pretty hefty task, even if you have 8 hours to devote to it so I wouldn't sweat too much. I "started" the class on may 13 and finished my content review (preview chapters, workshops & quizzes, online lessons, and review topical tests) a couple days ago. This took 4 hours for 3 days per week and 6 hours for the other 4 days per week for a total of 12+24 = 36 hours per week. I stopped going to the actual classroom because I found the online lessons to be better than the instructors and I could do an online lesson in about 2 hours without being slowed down by the basic questions asked by many of the students in my class.

 

[russellfx]

Maybe its because I just took all the pre-reqs within the past 2 years but I've never spent more than 30 minutes on a chapter in the kaplan review notes .. let alone hours?!

 

[Haro4130Frame]

Maybe its because I just took all the pre-reqs within the past 2 years but I've never spent more than 30 minutes on a chapter in the kaplan review notes .. let alone hours?!

I havent either. It was way easier to just read it through and be done with it

 

[engineeredout]

I spend hours and hours on every bio lecture in EK because I haven't taken bio so I'm really learning it for the first time, and taking extensive notes while doing so.

Other subjects like physics and chem go by faster because I'm already familar with them. Just depends on how comfortable you are with the topic. No reason to speed through a section though if going slower is beneficial.

 

[masterMood]

this is science reading and you're understanding and analyzing what you're reading. It is much more logical reading than non-science material because you must read "if a then b then c etc" in order to understand the next thought. Again, this is not true 99% of the time (not som uch for biology as its more meorization) but with chemistry, orgo, and physics it seems to be the case.

I treat biology however like the other subjects and approach it logically, which albeit is slower, I end up retaining it better too.

 

[AsuKa]

takes me awhile to read too.

roughly 30 pages will take 6 hours, which is about 12 minutes per page.

i usually read each page at least twice though, and i highlight and re-write a lot in the margin.

just keep doing it, consistency is key, and before you know it you'll be amazed at how much youve covered.

 

[E216]

Yeh same for me also, it does take a good amount of time to go through the material, and since I take the quizzes online...its an all day event. dont feel bad about it though, its a normal thing.

 

[LUCPM]

I normally make summary notes as I read through the chapters. This is time consuming but it'll save me a great deal of time later on when I review it again.

Also, I try to focus on understanding the concept. Good luck