Need advice on studying for next years January MCAT

[fuhgidabowdit]

I tried following SN's schedule and I ended up not being able to prepare the way I wanted to, to take the September 1st MCAT. I'm planning on taking it now in January.

So, As far as studying goes I feel pretty comfortable with the content but my scores were't where I wanted them to be on the practice tests (in the high 20s range, aiming for at least 37). (Note that I only took aamc 3/4 but considering that they weren't where I wanted them to be I stopped right there)

I've finished reading every book in the berkeley review and have done passages 1,4,7,10 in every chapter. Ive finished all of the EK 1001 books (besides bio). I've watched all of Chad's videos to solidify my concepts even further.

Now all I have left to do is pretty much practice, and lots of it. I'm going to be taking a full school schedule (mon-fri, work on weekends). This will leave me pretty much only December, and maybe January (depending on my schedule) to do MCAT studying exclusively until the January MCAT date.

The only thing I'm scared of is kind of forgetting all of this stuff that I've learned in the past couple of months, or at least forgetting it to the extent where I'm not comfortable with it anymore. As far as my plan of study goes from here on forth, I'm planning on finishing all the remaining Berkeley review passages, doing the Princeton review workbook, and then taking as many practice tests I can get my hands on (including the 6 aamc tests I still haven't taken). If all goes according to plan iA I'll be able to finish the princeton review hyperlearning workbook before school starts next week. Then I will try to fit in the Berkeley Review passages and Verbal passages during this fall semester. Then In December will start taking as many practice tests as I can.

One of the main things that screwed me up was that I slacked off some in undergrad and was learning some of this stuff for the first time this summer. Like basically BR Orgo book 2, some of BR physics book 2, and the organ systems in Bio. So I guess my question would be to advise me on whether or not I'm on the right track and whether you think four months will be too long of a wait to not be doing exclusive MCAT studying (after having basically learned everything this summer).

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[KindofBlue]

You say you were comfortable with content, yet you scored below what you were aiming for.
Why did that happen? While you were doing TBR passages, were you consistently scoring 11~12?
If not, why did you get them wrong? Was it the difficult passage, graph interpretation, or the detail mentioned in content review, etc.?
I think it would be hard for people on SDN to comment on what tactics might be useful for you without knowing what went wrong for you with the FLs and TBR passages the first time.
If you finished at least 1/3 of TBR and EK 1001 and are almost 90% (or higher) sure you completely understand the content/concept/logic of the problems you got wrong, then you're content should be pretty solid IMO. If that's the case, yes, I guess what you really need is just practicing to finish on time.

 

[fuhgidabowdit]

I never scored the passages on TBR content but on average I'd say I usually missed about 2-3 questions per passage. And the thing is that I feel I understood the content after taking aamc test 3 and 4 (i.e. I finished EK 1001 and watched chad's videos after aamc 4). After taking aamc 3/4 when i was reviewing the question I got wrong, almost every time I put "had difficulty with the concepts". So I thought that was my weakness, not the actual test taking skills (misinterpreting a graph, knowing the information but not being able to apply to a question, etc.).

However, one thing I didn't mention is that I was taking aamc 5 and i kind of, stopped taking it half way through the physical sciences because i felt i wasnt prepared. I ended up scoring an 8 on the physical sciences part. I think I did kind of panick half way through the section so the score isn't that accurate. I dont think there was anything on that part of the test that I didn't understand (for the most part, but I haven't reviewed it at all because I want to try to forget it by the time I take it again in a couple of month). And also during aamc 3 I was extremely mentally exhausted and I kind of rushed it to the point where I had ~20+ minutes remaining on each section. After looking back at it I see that that test wasn't really that hard.

Oh and one more thing I want to mention. When I took these tests I dont feel like I was naturally taking the test. I feel like I was taking it with the mindset where I'm trying to remember all the tricks, trying to remember the the way they teach you to answer the questions (the process of eliminiation etc.) and all the other nuances that the MCAT prep books try to teach you to take the test. I feel like this kind of makes me suffer when trying to comprehend the test. So instead of trying to figure out what the heck the question or passage is talking about, I'm worrying about not falling into a trap or remembering to use my common sense to eliminate easy answers....etc. This is another one of my big problems in verbal. Instead of comprehending the passage I'm worried about the way the prep books tells you how you should do it.

So in the beginning I thought that my weakness was content review. But in hindsight it might just be the actual test taking skills and not being able to apply what I knew. I really dont know? Help would be appreciated.

 

[fuhgidabowdit]

last bump before i let this thread die

 

[MacBiochem]

Hey... i was following the same schedule, and im writing on sept. 1st. Also not scoring as high as i would like to be, but writing anyways... im in canada and applying only to schools here, and most dont frown upon having written the mcat twice. Hopefully i wont have to though (yn)

But anyways, i think you should spend the next couple of months doing the tests every three days? The BR passages aren't really a good indication of how you will do on the test- since they are neatly sorted out into sections... they are only good for getting use to the content (i thought). But yea, you should also try to buy the kaplan FLs, and do those along with the AAMC ones. do them every three days and review teh content you are forgetting in the days between.

Although i started off doing the SN schedule, i altered it to fit in more practice tests instead of doing the last 1/3 BR... i found those weren't helping me as much.

Hope that helps a bit... goood luck !

 

[fneverforget]

Its good that you put off taking the test until Jan. I was scoring fine on AAMC exams, but the real exam is 10X much harder than any practice test. I wouldn't be surprised if I scored 4-5 points lower than my AAMC average.

What I am wondering is why you think SN2's schedule is not sufficient. It is more than sufficient to get above a 30. I took kaplan and kaplan sucked, its books didn't go into that much detail, and its online practice material was not like the actual mcat. I looked at SN2's schedule and its books and was planning on using that, but then I decided to just take kaplan. SN2's books are detailed and cover the material in depth, which is necessary for the mcat. They also give you a ton of practice passages to work with that IMO are very similar to MCAT passages. KEEP AT IT.

As far as not forgetting the material goes, try getting a hold of the kaplan flashcards. Maybe from a friend who has taken the course and is done with the MCAT. They have 356 flashcards for the content that are a great way to remember stuff without reading the chapters. I'd say the 356 kaplan flashcards were the only good thing that came out of me taking that worthless course.

 

[fuhgidabowdit]

I don't think that Sn's schedule wasn't sufficient, I just slacked off some. But now that I have more time to study I'm going to try to fit in more practice (because I'm able to). I don't know if I'll be able to take practice tests every 3 days because of my schedule, but I do have the flash cards. You think studying the flash cards like once a week will be sufficient to keep the material stuck in my head?

Hopefully in December I'll be able to just take consecutive practice tests.

I was also thinking about doing BR Review passages once a week (in addition to the flash cards) maybe 2 sections from each subject [orgo, bio, physics, chem], like on a Saturday or something.

And also does anyone have any recommendations of trying to fix the problem of worrying about the technique of taking the test rather then "naturally taking the test", or will this fix itself on its own once I've done enough practice.