Practice questions during content review

[deleted421268]

Did you guys do practice problems and questions during content review or just content solely during content review and did practice problems during pure practice time?

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[Cheeezcake]

I finished content review and am still studying for the my test date, but have taken many passages. You should take practice questions throughout review because you'd be surprised at the type of material the MCAT is concerned with and more importantly the details they're not. For example you might see you don't need to memorize heavy details on cyclin-dependent kinases or the Urea cycle like you did in your biochemistry class. Being familiar with questions and passage styles could save you a lot of flashcards

 

[appropriatepeanut]

I tried doing practice problems while I was doing content, and it quickly became too much. Practice problems are really there to test your knowledge of the subject, and I found that doing the practice problems right after I had learned the material was not a good gauge of my knowledge. I recommend just focusing on content during your content review phase and then do practice problems once you feel you have a sufficient base knowledge.

 

[deleted421268]

I tried doing practice problems while I was doing content, and it quickly became too much. Practice problems are really there to test your knowledge of the subject, and I found that doing the practice problems right after I had learned the material was not a good gauge of my knowledge. I recommend just focusing on content during your content review phase and then do practice problems once you feel you have a sufficient base knowledge.

What about the discrete practice problems at end of each chapter of each Kaplan Subject book while I do content?

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

I tried doing practice problems while I was doing content, and it quickly became too much. Practice problems are really there to test your knowledge of the subject, and I found that doing the practice problems right after I had learned the material was not a good gauge of my knowledge. I recommend just focusing on content during your content review phase and then do practice problems once you feel you have a sufficient base knowledge.

I couldn't disagree more... if you cut anything from your study routine cut "content review". Doing practice after you study something is actually the opposite of how it should be done. Do practice Qs then use those questions/answers to direct your studying/review.
The only reason you base knowledge would need revamping is if you never took undergrad or you're a senior citizen going back to school.
I will restate CONTENT REVIEW is a massive waste of time. Absolutely, do not give up practice questions and answer review for content review. This action would be incredibly inefficient.

 

[appropriatepeanut]

What about the discrete practice problems at end of each chapter of each Kaplan Subject book while I do content?

I wrote about this in a how I studied for my score post, so for more information check there! I used TBR, and one of my regrets is wasting time doing their chapter passage practice problems. They do not ask you in questions in the same way AAMC will; third party asks questions in ways that are not reflective of how you will be tested (its hard to explain exactly how, you'll see it though when you get to third party full lengths, AAMC FLs, and U-World). I haven't used the Kaplan books so I am not sure what the discrete questions are like, but my general advice would be if they are relatively quick and don't take up much time you can go ahead and do them, but don't waste a lot of time on them. Use the time saved on doing these Kaplan passages to spend more time going through U-World, Altius, Next Step, and AAMC material! Hope this helps🙂

 

[appropriatepeanut]

I couldn't disagree more... if you cut anything from your study routine cut "content review". Doing practice after you study something is actually the opposite of how it should be done. Do practice Qs then use those questions/answers to direct your studying/review.
The only reason you base knowledge would need revamping is if you never took undergrad or you're a senior citizen going back to school.
I will restate CONTENT REVIEW is a massive waste of time. Absolutely, do not give up practice questions and answer review for content review. This action would be incredibly inefficient.

I don't disagree that practice is important all I am saying is to utilize the best practice tools most efficiently. I personally did not find the end of chapter quizzes in content books to be helpful in the long run. Right, and I do agree that if you already know you are competent in a topic there is no need to waste time creating flash cards and going over content. In those situations its best to go ahead and move onto practice problems to find any minor holes you may have. But that being said, if you already know that you don't know enough about the topic at hand it would be counterproductive to begin with practice problems, realize what you already knew, and then go back again. I think a lot of people agree with me that what gets people to 130-132 consistently, is knowing the small discrete facts as they end up being the distinguishing factor. I wasn't suggesting giving up practice or review time, just that it would be less work to learn it well the first time so your practice was indicative of your preparedness.

 

[deleted421268]

But those discrete end of chapter problems in Kaplan do offer possibility of learning content though mistakes because they have explanations for each question and answer but I find the questions to be time consuming. Even after I get done with content with a chapter I may score like 9/15 or so on discrete chapter questions so I guess I shouldn't take it personally. I'm considering not doing those discrete questions and just focus on content from each chapter and my plan was from May 6th till test day do practice questions and passages.

 

[appropriatepeanut]

But those discrete end of chapter problems in Kaplan do offer possibility of learning content though mistakes because they have explanations for each question and answer but I find the questions to be time consuming. Even after I get done with content with a chapter I may score like 9/15 or so on discrete chapter questions so I guess I shouldn't take it personally. I'm considering not doing those discrete questions and just focus on content from each chapter and my plan was from May 6th till test day do practice questions and passages.

The same thing happened to me! I would learn the chapters and score really poorly on them, and spend a ton of time reviewing them because I thought they were how I was going to be asked questions in the exam. It's kind of hard to explain that the way they ask you discrete questions is not like the AAMC does. You'll see the difference as you work your way through studying. I think that is a good idea! To each their own though, I am not trying to convince you merely give advice that I wish I had received when I was studying🙂

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

I don't disagree that practice is important all I am saying is to utilize the best practice tools most efficiently. I personally did not find the end of chapter quizzes in content books to be helpful in the long run. Right, and I do agree that if you already know you are competent in a topic there is no need to waste time creating flash cards and going over content. In those situations its best to go ahead and move onto practice problems to find any minor holes you may have. But that being said, if you already know that you don't know enough about the topic at hand it would be counterproductive to begin with practice problems, realize what you already knew, and then go back again. I think a lot of people agree with me that what gets people to 130-132 consistently, is knowing the small discrete facts as they end up being the distinguishing factor. I wasn't suggesting giving up practice or review time, just that it would be less work to learn it well the first time so your practice was indicative of your preparedness.

A few things here.
1. You do not need to be competent to make questions more useful than any other form of studying, just vaguely familiar. Literally, did you here about it once in a lecture freshman year? Excellent, no need to worry about "content review".
2. Questions aren't for minor holes in understanding. They are for the highest AND the most basic level of learning and understanding. They require memorization, synthases, critical thinking, and the correct perspective.
3. "it would be counterproductive to begin with practice problems" I simply disagree. There's really nothing to back this statement up. Questions solidify old knowledge and reinforce the new. Literally no downside.
4. If you do content review you are giving up time doing questions.
5. It's way more work to review something. Do a question. Then review again. Than just doing the question and reviewing you answers from there. Not to mention content review is so dry and insanely anti learning. Unless you have perfect recall.