How many practice questions do you do?

[Sammy1024]

I've been trying to do 20 questions per subject per day, and then I review each set of questions after I take them but it's so hard to finish it all!

Is 80 total too little?? Too much?? Just right??

They're all passage based questions, so a passage, and then 5 - 7 questions.

Is there a better way?

I'm just trying to get enough practice in to bring up my score.

Also, any suggestions about approaching passage based questions?
I've noticed that when I do discrete practice problems, I usually get them mostly right but passages are a whole different story!
So it's not like I don't know the content, just doesn't translate when I do passages?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

I've been trying to do 20 questions per subject per day, and then I review each set of questions after I take them but it's so hard to finish it all!

Is 80 total too little?? Too much?? Just right??

They're all passage based questions, so a passage, and then 5 - 7 questions.

Is there a better way?

I'm just trying to get enough practice in to bring up my score.

Also, any suggestions about approaching passage based questions?
I've noticed that when I do discrete practice problems, I usually get them mostly right but passages are a whole different story!
So it's not like I don't know the content, just doesn't translate when I do passages?

This was my strategy early on in studying to just do practice questions. Let me be honest, it won't get you far. You need to do passages! There are only a handful (5 on average I believe) of discrete questions in each passage, the rest are passage based knowledge Q's. Build your ability to read, understand, and apply passage information to questions.

My advice and what worked for me: 2 passages a day per subject. I did upwards of 3-4 passages of VR a day (~7minutes each)

 

[Sammy1024]

Do you think that doing at least 2/subject is enough?

Right now i'm trying to aim for 3 passages per day.

What did you do for stuff that you were having trouble with? I keep getting things wrong in Electrochemistry and some other topics like Buffers, etc. and I went over the content for that a few times but it seems to not be helping. :[

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

Do you think that doing at least 2/subject is enough?

Right now i'm trying to aim for 3 passages per day.

What did you do for stuff that you were having trouble with? I keep getting things wrong in Electrochemistry and some other topics like Buffers, etc. and I went over the content for that a few times but it seems to not be helping. :[

Short advice: Do intense studying. Do not drag the MCAT studying out over 3+ months. Plan for ~1-2 months study time depending on how well your current practice exams are. Treat it like a job. I did 40-50 hour study weeks with a practice test every Sunday (I did ~5 practice tests). Treat the practice tests like real exams. No distractions, no noise, etc..

Are you struggling with the concepts or simply remembering the material come test time?

 

[Sammy1024]

I do one test a week. I'm at a 28/29 right now and i'm aiming for at least a 30. (Test is in about a month).

I think some of them are concepts, like electrochemistry, but for biology it's more like remembering material. I've been doing TBR and it's just been so-so results. Like 4/7 or something on a passage. And I can't figure out what I'm not understanding about the topic because it all seems like random facts that I should know.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

I do one test a week. I'm at a 28/29 right now and i'm aiming for at least a 30. (Test is in about a month).

I think some of them are concepts, like electrochemistry, but for biology it's more like remembering material. I've been doing TBR and it's just been so-so results. Like 4/7 or something on a passage. And I can't figure out what I'm not understanding about the topic because it all seems like random facts that I should know.

4/7 on a passage is OK but you can do better. Aim for an average of 1 wrong per passage. I did the math a while back and forget, but to get the score I wanted (over a 30) you were allowed ~4 wrong per section.

For remembering material google acronyms or youtube them. I guarantee someone has a better way to remember it, and if not, make one! Once you put it on a note card in your bathroom mirror for a week you'll remember it (I did this for frequency/harmonics).

For not understanding material, get another resource. Another book or google or even blog post - someone has probably posted a simplified explanation to an otherwise complex topic.

 

[Sammy1024]

Thank you so much for all your help.

I had two more questions:

1. If i'm averaging, lets say 4/7 for Kinetics, and then one day I get 2/7, would you say that's due to the passage, or should I do better content review on it?

2. A 2/7 consistently means definite content review necessary?

I understand you might not know, since everyone is different but I just wanted a second opinion.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

You're experiencing these fluctuations because you're not retaining the material or it's new material you do not know. I don't know your study habits or the passages you're going through.

My general recommendation: Study with the intent to internalize the material. Do not, as I like to say, memorize the material like vocab words you won't remember next week. Understand the concepts so well you can explain them in a paragraph or even a sentence. Then you will not have these fluctuations.

 

[Sammy1024]

Thank you for all your help! :]

 

[BeachBlondie]

Do as many as you can.

I did 3,500.

 

[Futbol99]

This was my strategy early on in studying to just do practice questions. Let me be honest, it won't get you far. You need to do passages! There are only a handful (5 on average I believe) of discrete questions in each passage, the rest are passage based knowledge Q's. Build your ability to read, understand, and apply passage information to questions.

My advice and what worked for me: 2 passages a day per subject. I did upwards of 3-4 passages of VR a day (~7minutes each)

You only did 2 passages a day a long with 3/4 Verbal passages? What else did you on that that day - review and make notes off some content review on the questions you didnt understand? Also, how long did you keep this going for? How many months did you have to prepare for your MCAT?

My test is May 31. Unfortunately, Im one of those people who kept on dragging this mcat for a long time, and it hasnt been helping. Im stronger in content sure, but still not where I should with the way I should be studying for this. I stopped and now what I've been doing so far for the rest of the month is to hit every topic during the week by doing the practice questions (also wondering how many is good for practice?), then verbal, and review of the passages and add to my notes. Planning over the weekend to review those material done during the week over again through some more passages / Kaplan Topical tests and review the flash cards.
Starting 2nd week in May I will begin to do AAMC's, a few practice FL's and some practice passages again on weaknesses.

Is this a reasonable plan? I'm still trying to decide how many passages to do per day rite now, as that's one section I'm trying to improve -my reading comprehension and application. My timing is also bad for passages! Also is it good to do what I said on weekends, or should I ditch that and do company practice FL's. Imo I think repetition is key, so the former seems more appropriate.

Thanks!

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

You only did 2 passages a day a long with 3/4 Verbal passages? What else did you on that that day - review and make notes off some content review on the questions you didnt understand? Also, how long did you keep this going for? How many months did you have to prepare for your MCAT?

My test is May 31. Unfortunately, Im one of those people who kept on dragging this mcat for a long time, and it hasnt been helping. Im stronger in content sure, but still not where I should with the way I should be studying for this. I stopped and now what I've been doing so far for the rest of the month is to hit every topic during the week by doing the practice questions (also wondering how many is good for practice?), then verbal, and review of the passages and add to my notes. Planning over the weekend to review those material done during the week over again through some more passages / Kaplan Topical tests and review the flash cards.
Starting 2nd week in May I will begin to do AAMC's, a few practice FL's and some practice passages again on weaknesses.

Is this a reasonable plan? I'm still trying to decide how many passages to do per day rite now, as that's one section I'm trying to improve -my reading comprehension and application. My timing is also bad for passages! Also is it good to do what I said on weekends, or should I ditch that and do company practice FL's. Imo I think repetition is key, so the former seems more appropriate.

Thanks!

Ya I should have mentioned in addition to the passages I did content review - lots of it. Solidify content, learn new stuff, etc...

I did an intense ~1.5months of studying with a 7 day (not week) cruise in there! My practice tests went from a 24 (pre study start) to a 34.

 

[Sammy1024]

3500?! I feel so inadequate compared to that. I think to this point i've done a total of:

235 (B) + 117 (OC) + 185 (P) + 221 (GC) = 758
66% (B) 55% (OC) 54% (P) 58% GC

I know this should be at like at least 75% probably. :\

 

[Futbol99]

Ya I should have mentioned in addition to the passages I did content review - lots of it. Solidify content, learn new stuff, etc...

I did an intense ~1.5months of studying with a 7 week cruise in there! My practice tests went from a 24 (pre study start) to a 34.

Impressive! So angry rite now. I feel trapped in the MCAT prison. I think I dragged it too long I feel its psychologically messing with me now as Im in need to get a 32 min.

Can you be a little detailed with your study schedule for my interest?
So did you do 1.5 month of studying in total or 1.5 month of content + passages review then last 0.5 did practice exams?
Also did you ever go back to a topic you studied or you would finish it on that day with the practice passages then move onto the next topic the next day, and at the end of the week you would do a practice exam?

Thanks for clearing.

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

Impressive! So angry rite now. I feel trapped in the MCAT prison. I think I dragged it too long I feel its psychologically messing with me now as Im in need to get a 32 min.

Can you be a little detailed with your study schedule for my interest?
So did you do 1.5 month of studying in total or 1.5 month of content + passages review then last 0.5 did practice exams?
Also did you ever go back to a topic you studied or you would finish it on that day with the practice passages then move onto the next topic the next day, and at the end of the week you would do a practice exam?

Thanks for clearing.

Here's a brief overview. I plan to write a detailed study schedule on my blog this weekend so keep a lookout for it.

~1.5months total studying.
Took a full practice test before starting studying to know where I was at and view the analysis at the end to see what needed work (KEY POINT: keep track of this! it's your best/only tool)
did content review by basically going through the mcat book chronologically and took a practice test every weekend to see improvement/struggles
once i got through the books, probably less than a month in, I went back and focused on things that I was scoring low at based off test results

 

[mrh125]

As many as possible. I went through pretty much all of the books available.