MCAT Retake and Timeline/Schedule (6/15 test date)

[cardi-o]

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I’m planning on taking my 3rd retake, (1st void, 2nd 496: 125,121,126,124), on June 15th. I spent about a month and half reviewing content already, from my last exams plus current studying I already feel very comfterable with it, and I am nearly finished so I plan on spending these next 2 months doing practice questions/passages.

With that, I am unsure in how exactly I am going to spend those 2 months. I am planning on taking NS FLs for one month and reviewing them. For that month, should I also begin working on AAMC material exclusively like doing all the question packets (I am saving the section bank for the final month) or save it for the last month? I have been practicing with my CARS since I started restudying, but if there are any suggestions in how to still improve please let me know.

Then for the final month I plan on taking the AAMC practice exams that I have already taken the last time I took the MCAT (499,501,506) but I did not do the Sample Test, so I am wondering if I should keep that test for last since it will be new material to me that I have not seen or even the second to last exam to give myself more time to review it since it will be my first attempt.

Reason for retake: I was performing better with the practice FL and when I took the actual exam I had a massive migrane and felt burnt out and was taking full doses of tylenol in between each section

Final thing, I am realistically aiming anywhere from 504/505+

Any other input will be helpful!

 

[deleted929944]

Sounds like a good plan. Not too sure how helpful retaking the AAMC practice exams is the second time. The only thing I'd change would be uworld (or something similar) instead of redoing the AAMC practice exams.

 

[cardi-o]

Yea I was not sure how much I would really gain from retaking the AAMC FLs. I guess my thought was that I wanted to be familiar with the way they write their exams. I think I might try and do Uworld FLs and maybe do section tests of the AAMC FLs to get myself used to their writting style so that I don't rely on the super inflated scores, from my retake, as an accurate indicator.

Thanks for the input! @jvj24601 !

 

[Pillar Prep]

Looks like your plan is pretty solid plan. Love that you are focusing on question based learning in the last month. You certainly need to be careful when it comes to using the AAMC FLs as "predictive" factors because you have already completed them. That being said, they are still important to complete so that you can re-familiarize yourself with the AAMC style of thinking. UWorld does a very good job of replicating the AAMC style of questions so invest in 90-day access. The sample test is certainly useful to complete as well but the scores are often times inflated, so once again, probably not a great idea to use as a "predictive" factor. Best of luck!

 

[cardi-o]

Looks like your plan is pretty solid plan. Love that you are focusing on question based learning in the last month. You certainly need to be careful when it comes to using the AAMC FLs as "predictive" factors because you have already completed them. That being said, they are still important to complete so that you can re-familiarize yourself with the AAMC style of thinking. UWorld does a very good job of replicating the AAMC style of questions so invest in 90-day access. The sample test is certainly useful to complete as well but the scores are often times inflated, so once again, probably not a great idea to use as a "predictive" factor. Best of luck!

Yea I plan on using Uworld in my studying, but I am a little cautious with its CARS. Is the UWorld CARS material helpful/representitive of the actual exam? My biggest weakness is CARS so my biggest focus has been with that section.

 

[cardi-o]

For my final month, should I do the AAMC FLs then spend 2 days reviewing them followed by section bank and Uworld content? or should I try and just take NS FLs or mix it up between the two instead since the AAMC scores will be inflated.

I kinda just want an accurate indicator to tell me where I am at the month before my exam but at the same time I dont really want to stray away from AAMC material bc in my last exam I felt that reviewing AAMC material close to my test date helped a lot.

Any direct adivce in what exactly I should do would be helpful. I know that I should incorporate Uworld, all of the AAMC material, and an accurate FL indicator just confused in how exactly I should do that while trying to be as AAMC exclusive as possible the month before my exam.

For example, I currently have 4 weeks of this month doing NS FLs and doing AAMC Questions Packets/Uworld Qbank, then the month before my exam I have nothing but AAMC FLs, Uworld, and Section Bank Content. Should I try to incorporate 1or 2 NS FL in the last month before my exam (if so at the startm ,middle toward the end) and move an AAMC FL to the last half of this month? Or should I avoid AAMC FLs to begin with and just use them as a Qbank type thing. I hope this makes sense!

 

[Pillar Prep]

Yea I plan on using Uworld in my studying, but I am a little cautious with its CARS. Is the UWorld CARS material helpful/representitive of the actual exam? My biggest weakness is CARS so my biggest focus has been with that section.

Great question. UWorld CARS is certainly good, but we recommend Testing Solution CARS - the passages are fairly representative and the feedback they give is very instructive. They have a 30-day free CARS guide on SDN somewhere, check that out!

 

[cardi-o]

Great question. UWorld CARS is certainly good, but we recommend Testing Solution CARS - the passages are fairly representative and the feedback they give is very instructive. They have a 30-day free CARS guide on SDN somewhere, check that out!

Great thanks!