No improvements over 6 months of studying...

[AWolfman]

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Hello all,

I have been out of school since May of 2015, and started studying with EK until I decided to give in and take TPR course that ended in January. Since then, I have been re-watching lectures, doing more passages and practice exams, etc. The past 2 months I have been putting in 60+ hours per week, and have failed to reach above 500 on all 6 of my TPR practice exams (Latest being 123, 122, 123, 128=496). I have rescheduled my date twice so far, and am currently set to take it on 4/1.

I need help figuring out what I am doing wrong, and whether I can drastically improve my score by the 4/1 deadline. It seems as though I know the material well enough, and I am wondering if the TPR exams are much harder than the actual MCAT. I took the AAMC Bio pack and scored 75% correctly (they were not passage based questions). I wanted to save the rest of the AAMC materials until the last, but I am worried I am a lost cause at this point.

If anyone has had similar experiences with what I am currently facing, I would greatly appreciate any advice that you may have for me.

 

[Dr. Trenb]

Did you finish content review?

 

[AWolfman]

Yes. I feel like I know the material for the most part, but continually find myself choosing the wrong answer after narrowing my choices down to 2. This especially reflects my CARS score.

 

[NextStepTutor_3]

This is a good question! Even if the FLs you've been taking are harder than AAMC materials (which is likely), it's still frustrating to feel like your score is stuck. The truth is that it's possible to work insanely hard (like it sounds like you're doing) and still plateau in terms of score, and the best way to break that plateau is to change how you review your practice. When you review passages / full-lengths, how do you do it? Do you keep a log of your mistakes or write anything in particular down? Do you make sure to go over the questions you answered correctly as well as those you've missed?

This especially relates to what you said most recently - that you often find yourself eliminating all but two answers and still picking the wrong one. My advice: keep a log that's focused entirely on which wrong answers you tend to pick, separate from what you're already doing. Students always focus on "why I didn't pick the right answer," but often neglect those attributes of the wrong answer that made it so tempting. Try this out the next time you work through some CARS passages! For each question you miss, write down a sentence or two describing anything about the wrong answer that stands out. Is it especially extreme? Is is partially right, but wrong in one facet / part of the sentence? Is it the exact reverse of the right answer, or from the wrong part of the passage, or something the author never actually said? If you do this for a couple of weeks, two things will happen: 1) you'll likely start noticing patterns or traps that you fall into and 2) you'll get a better feel for "what a wrong answer looks like," which is extremely valuable, especially in high-stress or timed situations.

Anyway, good luck 🙂

 

[Dr. Trenb]

Well, since you finished content review, do not waste time re-watching lectures. Practice, practice, practice. As for your exam, I don't know if you are ready to take it, but:

- Start doing the AAMC contents (Q bank, individual packs) except the FL tests. No need to save the AAMC until last because "last" is here, the exam is in less than a month. You need to practice with them, analyze the questions (correct and incorrect), be familiar with the style.
- For TPR FLs, I am not familiar with them. The general consensus is that EK exams are the closest to the real thing. I suggest you buy 1 and try it out since EK sell them individually.
- Also, I am not sure if you used this before but you can see what other scored and compare yourself;

- Make sure you make your decision before the deadline