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sandprince

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Hey, so I'm writing my exam on August 5th, and I'm using Examkrackers 9th edition as my main source for content review. I have looked through the schedules of others and sort of formulated my own (started studying 2nd week of May). I've so far managed to fall behind in my study schedule. I feel as if I'm spending way too much time on content review (taking me about a day per chapter). As I'm going along I'm writing tons of notes as I always have while studying. I'm a bit of a procrastinator, but I'm doing my best to get on top of things.

Aside from the practice questions inside the EK books I haven't gotten to practice exams yet. I want to begin working on AAMC practice problems, and working through full lengths as soon as possible. Does anyone have any tips for speeding up my content review? This is my first time writing the exam and honestly I'm not too sure what to expect. At this pace I have quite a ways to go :/

Thank you!

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Their home study schedule is extremely ambitious and most days took me longer than expected. Just start doing a full length each weekend pretty soon and you'll get plenty in. A day per chapter is the appropriate amount of time for the EK books, so I don't think you need to speed that up? It's what they recommend, and some days it took me two days for some of the really long chapters.
 
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Hey! I'm in the exact same boat as you, taking the mcat early august and using examkrackers. How do u feel about the 30 minutes practices in the back of the book?
 
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Hey, so I'm writing my exam on August 5th, and I'm using Examkrackers 9th edition as my main source for content review. I have looked through the schedules of others and sort of formulated my own (started studying 2nd week of May). I've so far managed to fall behind in my study schedule. I feel as if I'm spending way too much time on content review (taking me about a day per chapter). As I'm going along I'm writing tons of notes as I always have while studying. I'm a bit of a procrastinator, but I'm doing my best to get on top of things.

Taking extensive notes during each chapter is a little overkill. The little details won't get you points on the exam. You understanding the big picture will. So understand the big picture from each chapter and usually you can summarize this in 3-4 sentences. You should work at the pace of 3-4 chapters per day, in different subjects if possible. You need to get to actual practice as soon as possible because content review is almost useless.
 
You need to get to actual practice as soon as possible because content review is almost useless.

Can you elaborate on this? How can one do well on practice tests if they don't fully understand the content? I mean, I understand you don't need to know every single detail, just a basic understanding of the general concept but still, don't you need to know the content in order to answer questions? I haven't done any PT's so I guess this is why I don't understand when people emphasize more on PT's than content review.
 
Can you elaborate on this? How can one do well on practice tests if they don't fully understand the content? I mean, I understand you don't need to know every single detail, just a basic understanding of the general concept but still, don't you need to know the content in order to answer questions? I haven't done any PT's so I guess this is why I don't understand when people emphasize more on PT's than content review.

Content review will get you so far. It's not completely unnecessary in that it refreshes your memory on some material but you should already know this material because you've taken the pre-med pre-req classes. So if you already know the material, then you shouldn't have to take extensive notes on it. And knowing the material will only get you so far. That's why even some of those on here who have gotten straight A's in all their pre-med required classes still can't break through a certain barrier on the MCAT. The MCAT doesn't test whether you can remember a certain fact. It doesn't even test you if you can recall a general concept. It tests you on whether you can use that concept in the way the question wants and while that requires prior knowledge of the concept, knowledge itself won't get you far. That's why you have to start applying concepts as quickly as possible. If you find that you are on a loss on a question, go back and review the concept. But you need to get a lot of practice applying these concepts to do well on the MCAT.
 
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Aldol is completely right. Once you start passages you are actually still learning content through missed problems and problem solving and will learn the necessary concepts that you would have breezed over during content review. If you start passages early you will understand which content is necessary and what isn't. Doing passages is just a different way of solidifying concepts that you will have a higher chance of seeing on the actual mcat.
 
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