MCAT Content Review- Take Notes?

[Hopefulpremed123]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello Everyone,

So I initially started my MCAT prep around mid June through taking a prep course: The Berkeley Review, with my MCAT being on September 19th. So for the past month, I've made progress in the books, but I feel like my way of studying is quite inefficient. I tend to take detailed notes on each chapter, and even though this does help me remember the content, its taking me around 5-6 hours to finish one chapter in a subject like Biology. During my college classes, I felt that for memorization heavy classes I could just rewrite every chapter word for word, say it out loud and memorize well, but I think I need to really pick up the pace with my preparation.

Furthermore I am placing a lot of emphasis on just reading and memorizing the content rather than doing practice Q which I will definitely change. Did you also feel that taking notes was time inefficient? Do you recommend to just read each chapter carefully and maybe only take notes on the most important bolded terms and just do a lot of questions after? I know that my test is not for another 2-1/2 months, so I wanted to see how you guys went about prepping. Am I still okay with how much time I have left to finish content review ( maybe by around August 15th) and spending the rest on exams?( I did already start, so it won't be from scratch)

Also, how often did you go back and review your old notes b/c I also feel that it's very common to be forgetting minor details from content we read 2 weeks ago. Lastly, do you all feel that the 300 page Khan Academy notes along with the videos are sufficient for doing well on the P/S section or would you still recommend supplementing it with actually reading my TBR book?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Hopefulpremed123]

Bump! Any help would be really appreciated

 

[ajax224]

Hello Everyone,

So I initially started my MCAT prep around mid June through taking a prep course: The Berkeley Review, with my MCAT being on September 19th. So for the past month, I've made progress in the books, but I feel like my way of studying is quite inefficient. I tend to take detailed notes on each chapter, and even though this does help me remember the content, its taking me around 5-6 hours to finish one chapter in a subject like Biology. During my college classes, I felt that for memorization heavy classes I could just rewrite every chapter word for word, say it out loud and memorize well, but I think I need to really pick up the pace with my preparation.

Furthermore I am placing a lot of emphasis on just reading and memorizing the content rather than doing practice Q which I will definitely change. Did you also feel that taking notes was time inefficient? Do you recommend to just read each chapter carefully and maybe only take notes on the most important bolded terms and just do a lot of questions after? I know that my test is not for another 2-1/2 months, so I wanted to see how you guys went about prepping. Am I still okay with how much time I have left to finish content review ( maybe by around August 15th) and spending the rest on exams?( I did already start, so it won't be from scratch)

Also, how often did you go back and review your old notes b/c I also feel that it's very common to be forgetting minor details from content we read 2 weeks ago. Lastly, do you all feel that the 300 page Khan Academy notes along with the videos are sufficient for doing well on the P/S section or would you still recommend supplementing it with actually reading my TBR book?

Thanks for your help!

I'm studying rn for my test in august so I don't have a lot of advice but I realized during my content I felt like it took forever to get through the chapter because of handwriting notes. I ended up switching to just typing important ideas and words i didn't know into quizlet. I know it seems weird bc handwriting for me has always been the best way to learn things, but I think I'm actually retaining more. Especially because quizlet has a "learn" option so when I go over it I type out stuff and I often talk to myself while reviewing.

Hope maybe another perspective helped you out some!!!

 

[daw05]

I used princeton review for my prep. I'm nontraditional, which means I was teaching myself a lot of the material for the first time or for the first time in a decade.

For me, I think taking notes worked out really well - it's pretty well proven that it helps you remember. I went through all seven books, which had drill questions at the end of each chapter. I outlined the chapters, and did the questions, sometimes looking back into the chapter if I really needed in some of the more complicated subjects like chem/physics. I then went through all the books a second time, and took the drill at the end without referencing the books. I don't think I ever really read my notes - just used them to help remember as I went through

I did all three practice tests for TPR, never scored more than a 504. I messed up the timing, so it was about 3 weeks out before I even took my first test. I also reviewed the chapters one last time the week before the test (scanned difficult portions). I also did the science diagnostic at Nextstep.

Bottom line, this was all pretty time intensive - there were some weekends I studied morning until night over the last month, and most nights home from work. But... the results were there. I got a 521.

Hope this helps.

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

It's all about the art of knowing yourself.

50% of my time on practice questions and review of incorrect answers.
30% on FL and review of those
20% on content review... (videos, note taking, reading)

Note taking is a waste of time imo, but if you've got a good memory for it then maybe that's your jam.