Kaplan blue book - how did you use it?

[drteeth]

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Hey guys,

I'm trying to figure out the best method to use to study the Kaplan book. I am taking the online class as well so its the review notes book which is essentially identical to the blue book. Im currently on the bio section but there is so much information and there are so many pages in this book that Im feeling quite overwhelmed and lost as to how I should approach this.
How did you use it and what worked best for you? Any additional advice that you feel might be helpful would be great!

Thanks, as usual, for your help🙂

 

[drteeth]

Gotta be done - Bump...

 

[Ex_EE]

I'll tell you what I did. I did not take the Kaplan course I just bought the book. I sat down and over 1.5 weeks I read the biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry sections straight. After that I took the two sample science tests that came with the book and the sample from the ADA website. This worked well since almost all of the information was straight review from the classes I took.

 

[bruinpredent]

If you want an awesome foundation, i'd recommend reading the book once while alternating between sections (4 chapters of each subject at a time) and do all of the practice problems, noting the ones you got wrong. Highlight important points and write whatever key points or mneumonics you may need to remember later.

THEN, go through it again, this time reading only the things you highlighted and doing the problems that you missed the first time around. If you really wanted to be gangsta, make flashcards out of the stuff you wrote in the margins, since they are probably important points that may be helpful on test day.

Thats my suggestion. Good Luck.

 

[Gordon9721]

i second what bruinpredent says

flashcards are so gangsta

 

[drteeth]

If you really wanted to be gangsta, make flashcards out of the stuff you wrote in the margins, since they are probably important points that may be helpful on test day.

Thats my suggestion. Good Luck.

Thats quite a gansta suggestion. I think I might use it. Just one thing though - there is so much important info. in these pages, and so much detail, particularly in bio, that my flashcards might become a new textbook. Any suggestions on that end. I mean, other than eliminating things I know well, how do I go about deciding what is important enough to make cards out of...and whats not...

Thanks again for your inputs!

 

[Indie]

Thats quite a gansta suggestion. I think I might use it. Just one thing though - there is so much important info. in these pages, and so much detail, particularly in bio, that my flashcards might become a new textbook. Any suggestions on that end. I mean, other than eliminating things I know well, how do I go about deciding what is important enough to make cards out of...and what not to...

Thanks again for your inputs!

I just used it as an overall review, it covers so many topics and is very broad.. I didnt make cue cards for it, I just re-wrote whatever I didnt understand in a notebook (otherwise i'd be buried in cue cards like you said) re-writing things helps me memorize them.. get yourself one of those 5 subject notebooks and use one section for each...

 

[fancymylotus]

ready kappy review notes through while doing problems,read through again while reading only sections missed on problems,go through schaums bio and make bio notes for each chapter of kappy bio along with extra schaums info that kappy doesnt have,buy destroyer,do destroyer orgo problems and review missed subjects in kappy orgo,and make flashcards for everything😀

 

[bruinpredent]

Thats quite a gansta suggestion. I think I might use it. Just one thing though - there is so much important info. in these pages, and so much detail, particularly in bio, that my flashcards might become a new textbook. Any suggestions on that end. I mean, other than eliminating things I know well, how do I go about deciding what is important enough to make cards out of...and whats not...

Thanks again for your inputs!

depends on how much time you have. you see...its just a matter of repetition, if you read the book once, then go back and read stuff you thought was important or needed clarification, and THEN make flashcards, the stuff will stick. It takes time, i'll admit it....i made around 150 flashcards just for the bio section and they were jam packed and it took about two to three 8 hour study days, but after that whole ordeal i knew the book COLD. knowing the basics on this exam tends to be much more important than knowing all the little facts (for that very reason i found schaums to be a bit too detailed).

as for determining whats important...think of it this way: if theres anything you seem to lack full understanding of or if there are any small details in kaplan that you can't seem to remember, right those things down on a flashcard. for instance, some of the smaller plant hormones...I COULD NEVER REMEMBER THOSE. gibberlins? or how about the ferrodoxin electron carrier? small silly details like that. or how about the nitrogen cycle? blegh...hated that. hormones? gotta keep 'em straight...

as for what subjects to make flashcards for...definitely bio, and then to some extent ochem (all the important reactions, IR spectrums, etc...). as long as you read through gchem twice and do all the problems you shouldn't need to make flashcards for it (atleast i didn't).

hope that helps