Is it wise to take a full length 2 days before your actual test?

[Doctoblast]

Last week I was taking a few aamc practice exams and scoring really close to my goal (within 1-2 points) and then I took cbt 10 on Friday and bombed it (4 points below my goal). I knew that it was because I was very mentally tired from the intense studying the last two weeks (close to 7 hours a day total) with no days off. After I properly freaked out by throwing anything that I could find that wouldn't cause damage at my wall, I took a quick glance at the ps and bio sections and saw some dumb mistakes.

Since each section saw a score decrease and because of the dumb mistakes, I figured my fatigue was finally catching up and I was at high risk for a burnout the week before my mcat. So I took the rest of friday off and saturday I did nothing mcat related at all and hung out with some friends.


Here are my two options: (MCAT date it thursday the 24th)

Should I review the aamc 10 that I bombed, and maybe do a little light review today. Then take aamc 11 tomorrow, review tuesday, rest wednesday?

Or review aamc 10 and review today, do some more review tomorrow and do an ek 101 test, aamc 11 and review tuesday, rest/light review wednesday?

Is it unwise to take a full length 2 days before your actual exam? I feel like I might score better if I wait an extra day to take cbt 11 which would help my confidence. Any input is appreciated!

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[NextStepTutor_2]

Don't do it! You have to ask yourself what you hope to gain from taking a practice test with such little time to go. By now you've hopefully taken enough full lengths to gain experience with the timing and the nature of the test so you won't gain much in that way. I know you need to see that high score on a practice test at this time but what if you don't? It could be for any number of reasons, including burnout and that would shoot your confidence down. If you do take this test, it makes it really likely that you will experience burnout and you don't want to go into your exam like that. Don't underestimate the importance of alertness and general motivation during the test. You'll have a higher chance of achieving your goal if you avoid burnout.

Review, review review. This is the most important part of taking the practice test. If you got something wrong, you break up mistakes into content vs critical thinking. If it is the former, remediate immediately with content books. If it is critical thinking, come up with a concrete strategy that will help you get the question right next time. Example: read carefully to see whether a charge is positive or negative before using RHR. Make a list of lessons learned and look through them often to internalize them. This will make a larger impact on your preparedness than taking a practice test.

 

[Doctoblast]

Don't do it! You have to ask yourself what you hope to gain from taking a practice test with such little time to go. By now you've hopefully taken enough full lengths to gain experience with the timing and the nature of the test so you won't gain much in that way. I know you need to see that high score on a practice test at this time but what if you don't? It could be for any number of reasons, including burnout and that would shoot your confidence down. If you do take this test, it makes it really likely that you will experience burnout and you don't want to go into your exam like that. Don't underestimate the importance of alertness and general motivation during the test. You'll have a higher chance of achieving your goal if you avoid burnout.

Review, review review. This is the most important part of taking the practice test. If you got something wrong, you break up mistakes into content vs critical thinking. If it is the former, remediate immediately with content books. If it is critical thinking, come up with a concrete strategy that will help you get the question right next time. Example: read carefully to see whether a charge is positive or negative before using RHR. Make a list of lessons learned and look through them often to internalize them. This will make a larger impact on your preparedness than taking a practice test.

So should I do my review today and just do aamc 11 on monday instead and then spend the last two days reviewing?

 

[Make Or Break]

Yea I would say avoid it as well. If you don't do well on this practice test, it may demoralize you come test day.

 

[Doctoblast]

Wait so are you guys saying to avoid aamc 11 altogether this week? I see your logic and I guess I could save it in case I have to retake. I would much rather it just be a waste of $35 though 🙂

 

[Doctoblast]

Does anybody else agree with skipping aamc 11 altogether? I'm seriously considering this and would like a little more feedback before I decide to go that route. Thanks! 😀

 

[maxn]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. I have the AAMC #11 left to do and I'm taking the actual MCAT on the 24th. I feel solid on my content knowledge of the sciences so I feel there's not much more I can do at this point other than practice. I've just been doing a few of my remaining verbal reasoning passages throughout the day, but nothing too heavy. My plan is to take #11 tomorrow, review Tuesday, and then have Wednesday off to relax. IMO I won't be burned out anything to the point where it will negatively impact my performance come test day, so that little additional practice can only help. But that's just me, you may be feeling the ill effects of MCAT studying more than me.

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

I took 2 FLs the day before my exam.

Definitely don't do that. xD

 

[Doctoblast]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. I have the AAMC #11 left to do and I'm taking the actual MCAT on the 24th. I feel solid on my content knowledge of the sciences so I feel there's not much more I can do at this point other than practice. I've just been doing a few of my remaining verbal reasoning passages throughout the day, but nothing too heavy. My plan is to take #11 tomorrow, review Tuesday, and then have Wednesday off to relax. IMO I won't be burned out anything to the point where it will negatively impact my performance come test day, so that little additional practice can only help. But that's just me, you may be feeling the ill effects of MCAT studying more than me.

I took 2 FLs the day before my exam.

Definitely don't do that. xD

Haha thanks guys. I think I'll continue reviewing and hold off on aamc 11 this time. Definitely not gonna do 2 FLs the day before!

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

I'll flip the script here. I took practice tests on each of the two days before the test, and scored pretty well on those. That gave me a huge confidence boost for he real thing, and I ended up scoring at the top of my practice test range. I think having that confidence going right into the test was a big part of me doing well. Maybe won't work for everyone, since I didn't really study all that intensively and thus burnout wasn't a factor for me..

 

[kenjixshadow]

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