Opinions on best way to work through content review?

[ekennedy51]

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Hi,

I had a quick question for people who have found good strategies for their MCAT prep. I am in a Kaplan course (and really enjoying it) and I also have the EK set just for a different perspective.

Both of these have content review books (EK has the 5 books themselves, Kaplan has the Scientific American content review books that are what you study prior to the lectures). My question for the board is regarding how you used these? EK seems to have a good strategy, in which they suggest you read through the chapter once, in sort of a "pleasure reading" style where you are just gaining some understanding. The second reading should involve highlighting and making notes in the margins. Finally read it a third time thoroughly and slowly.

I have also considered treating it more like a class lecture. Read it once, go through it a second time and makes notes in a notebook of important things, and then study my notes. I have felt for a long time that the process or writing out notes or re-writing them in your own writing is a great way to learn (which is why I rarely print out and use a teacher's powerpoints-- I find I pay less attention and tend to drift).

I know there is no 100% right answer and it depends on people's preferences, but I am curious to know what others do to effectively work through the content review material.

Thanks!
Eli

 

[Swagster]

The problem I find with reading something three times is that you aren't practicing. You can read something to get an understanding of the concept, but until you apply it to passages and questions you'll never know if you got it. I abandoned EK early in my preparation. I need more passages and more realistic questions. For me, I learn best when I review my mistakes and go over answer explanations. I don't know how Kaplan is for that, but EK is notorious for its minimalistic explanations. I'd save EK until the end and use it to test if you remember things later this summer.

 

[ekennedy51]

So for you, it was really just repeated practice? Passage, questions based on passage, evaluate performance and review?

That seems a solid strategy if you have the material down. I am coming back to the material, though, after 5 years of working to support my wife through vet school. As such, it has been between 6-9 years since I had the four major courses tested on the MCAT. For this reason, I feel like I need to review the material because while most of it is familiar, I am fully comfortable with very little of it. I think if I read through the content review and acclimate myself with it again, I will be more effective when I work on passages and questions. Right now, if I just start hitting passages and questions, I think I would be striking out a lot because the content simply isn't there.

Thanks for the reply!
Eli

 

[Buttermellow]

I studied solely with EK. I read through the section, did the end of section problems, then went back and clarified anything that I didn't fully understand. It seemed to work pretty well for me, though my scores haven't come back yet...

 

[ekennedy51]

So Butter, you didn't really ever take notes, highlight things, etc? You mostly just read the chapter for understanding then dove into the problems?

 

[Swagster]

So for you, it was really just repeated practice? Passage, questions based on passage, evaluate performance and review?

That seems a solid strategy if you have the material down. I am coming back to the material, though, after 5 years of working to support my wife through vet school. As such, it has been between 6-9 years since I had the four major courses tested on the MCAT. For this reason, I feel like I need to review the material because while most of it is familiar, I am fully comfortable with very little of it. I think if I read through the content review and acclimate myself with it again, I will be more effective when I work on passages and questions. Right now, if I just start hitting passages and questions, I think I would be striking out a lot because the content simply isn't there.

Thanks for the reply!
Eli

If you're coming back after five years away from the material I defintely think you need to use BR for content review. Rather than reading EK three times, why not read EK once and BR once, then do BR passages. At the very end, take CBTs and do the EK questions to quiz yourself on what you remember.

 

[ekennedy51]

I appreciate the responses. Definitely giving me some good insight. Just trying to be as efficient with my time as possible.

 

[Buttermellow]

So Butter, you didn't really ever take notes, highlight things, etc? You mostly just read the chapter for understanding then dove into the problems?

Yep. No notes, and no highlighting(I always resell my books so I never mark them). If I knew I would need to know something I would just take a minute to get it down in my head and then move on. The practice problems in the EK books and later the FL exams were the most useful study tool for me, as they allowed me to see the areas I was weak in.