Please help on how to study thick Kaplan books!!!!

[siba]

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Hey all! I just started reading the bio section in my Kaplan online course today...


I'm already very frustrated. It seems that a lot of people can just read through the entire Kaplan book with a couple of week. However, I spent three hours reading one chapter. And there's 16 chapters in biology section. That means it'll take me more than two weeks for finishing reading the biology section, not to mention there's still tons of chapters on ochem and gchem. It seems that everything sounds so new to me that I need to re-learn every single concept and try to memorize them all!!

I just started studying today and I'm so frustrated already... How long does it take you finish one section of the book? Can you guys give me some advice on how you "actively" read/learn from the thick book? It takes me forever to nail down one chapter, and I'm so worried now!!

 

[JTSLai]

To be the most efficient, i would suggest you take some practice tests first or some practice subject tests. then go over your tests and see which areas you are weak in. for example if you find that you are missing a lot of cell theory uestions but getting all the genetics problems right, focus mainly on the cell theory material and dont bother as much with genetics. The Kaplan book is a good resource if you know how to focus it down to what you need as there is a lot of stuff in there that you should already know presumably from courses and such. For the things that you do know just a quick skim over the chapters would be good to keep the material fresh in your mind.

 

[allstardentist]

I think it all depends on how well you remember ur old stuff. If you did well in ur bio and remember ur stuff, then the review book should be a breeze. Don't try to gauge how much time u should spend on each section from other people's experience. Everyone has different ability, amount of knowledge, and style of studying. U should study as much as u think you need to study to understand the material thoroughly.
Still, in my opinion, the review book from kaplan is not that great for the bio section. I didn't have any direction questions from the review book. However, I do think the practice questions from kaplan is good (they do have some mistakes tho).

 

[SanOnofre2002]

3 hrs isn't too bad for the first read if that includes note taking and some memorizing. When you go over it the 2nd, 3rd, etc times it will be faster ofcourse. I spent a little over 2 months reading that book over and over. Something that helped me was to cut the book down in size (literally) so it's more manageable. Take it to Kinkos, have the spine cut off, seperate it into sections (bio, gchem, ochem, qr, PAT/RC), then have each of those spiral bound (and make sure you get the spiral bind, not the cheaper alternatives). Having smaller books made it much easier to take more places and it was also less intimidating and daunting than looking at that super-sized book.
Are you trying to study this while taking classes? If so, I'd recommend waiting until summer to do the hardcore studying. That should be your only focus for the 2 months leading up to your test date. Take the DAT in late July if your applying this cycle, so you'll have the time you need. Otherwise you're just wastiing your time.

 

[SororityOMFS]

3 hrs isn't too bad for the first read if that includes note taking and some memorizing. When you go over it the 2nd, 3rd, etc times it will be faster ofcourse. I spent a little over 2 months reading that book over and over. Something that helped me was to cut the book down in size (literally) so it's more manageable. Take it to Kinkos, have the spine cut off, seperate it into sections (bio, gchem, ochem, qr, PAT/RC), then have each of those spiral bound (and make sure you get the spiral bind, not the cheaper alternatives). Having smaller books made it much easier to take more places and it was also less intimidating and daunting than looking at that super-sized book.

haha, i love this idea. Brilliant

It took me about 3 months to do my DAT studying. Read that Kaplan book over a few times, it's key. They have the DAT down well...I wouldnt study much outside the content presented in that book.

And take practice tests to keep it interesting.

It took me hours to read those chapters, but it is WELL worth it. Keep up the good work.

 

[scuzfly]

I agree. I took it and the information in the big blue book was all you needed. If it takes you longer to study bio then study it whenever you can. A large part of studying is finding the time when you can. Read on a lunch break at work, study between classes. Take the flash cards with you and go over them with that 5 or 10 minutes you have before the professor shows up in class. You have to find the time. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO YOU TO DO WELL ON THE DAT? IF IT'S THAT IMPORTANT YOU WILL FIND THE TIME.