right now I'm taking a blueprint exam once every 10 days. when I review an exam, I write down what I got wrong and the general topic it would fall under and study that topic. I then practice that topic with Uworld questions. I'm just starting to use flashcards and I think they are definitely helping me understand the martial a lot. I think one of the primary reasons I'm getting questions wrong is that I'm so focused on time and I'm not paying enough attention to the passage and questions.
I'm open to any and all advice whether that be trying different study methods or trying new material, especially on cars!
So personally I only have experience with Uworld, kaplan, and TPR. My actual MCAT scores: I scored a 506 (8/2019) then a 518 (9/2020) when I re-took the exam. It seems you're adjusting your study methods which is great. I used flashcards for P/S terms and also for physics equations which really helped increase my score. The first 8 weeks I read all the prep books at least once. During this time, I'd read a 2 chapters a day and then do practice questions. I'd take frequent breaks (try not to burn out) and a day off on sundays. I started taking practice exams every 2 weeks during this time. Then, I gradually increased it during the last month to every 5 days, with the last mock exam I took being 7 days before my exam (during the last 4 weeks i almost only did aamc content) During this time, I reviewed "problem areas" (legit any question that made you slightly anxious, any question that made you feel insecure, any topic at all. for example it was titrations for me) and specifically did focused problems/passages on those problem areas. I did random recall flashcards in the evenings (random subject, random topic). During the last 7 days I only did light aamc problems and review.
All third party exams are way harder than the AAMC. So don't be too disheartened. That being said, try the AAMC sample test and see how you do in like 2ish weeks. Slow down, take your time to really read the question. I know that there's a huge time crunch, but try to calm yourself down and let yourself think. The more clearly you think, the more correct you get and the quicker you get it right.
CARS (I got a 129 on actual): so CARS is tricky for most of us because we think like scientists. We are skeptics and want to knit pick at the details. This causes us to often find "conflicting" evidence within the passage. The key to CARS, in my opinion, is to think with intuition/feelings. Right before the CARS section, I think about books I enjoyed reading for fun, artsy vibes, etc. Gets me in the CARS way of thinking. Also I used Westin for daily passage practice. If you don't have CARS intuition naturally, you'll slowly build it over time by doing a ton of passages. Whenever you go over what you got wrong in CARS, look at patterns in the question style you get wrong (author's opinion supported/weakened, evidence-based, etc). For me, I sucked at the strengthen/weaken ones and found that pattern. So I really focused on that question-type in my prep and was aware of HOW I typically got it wrong (usually i picked too extreme an answer, so on the actual exam when I saw a strengthen/weaken answer, I stopped and asked myself if the answer I selected was too extreme before I picked it).
Happy to answer additional questions you have
