Preferred way to go over chapters?

[pritomd]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I have EK for all subjects and taking a Kaplan class so I have their books..what do people generally like to do? I'm about to start studying. EK recommended reading a chapter twice, taking their practice, then reading it a third time..I think Kaplan recommended something similar as well.

I think my plan is to read it "casually" at first (no notetaking), read it a second time annotating in the margins/taking notes, do the problems/practice, then read it a third and final time (not completely final, but final before moving onto the next chapters/topics)

What have you found to work for you?

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I have EK for all subjects and taking a Kaplan class so I have their books..what do people generally like to do? I'm about to start studying. EK recommended reading a chapter twice, taking their practice, then reading it a third time..I think Kaplan recommended something similar as well.

I think my plan is to read it "casually" at first (no notetaking), read it a second time annotating in the margins/taking notes, do the problems/practice, then read it a third and final time (not completely final, but final before moving onto the next chapters/topics)

What have you found to work for you?

I've been wanting some advice on this too, but since I'm about done with 2/3 of the Kaplan books, I'll let you know what I've been doing thus far.

If you have time, reading it over once casually, second time with notes and one final time sounds pretty good.
I felt pretty rushed in the Kaplan class and some weeks had to cover 4 or 5 chapters. So what I did was read it once, but took my time reading each chapter, I made sure I could understand as much of the material as possible and noted the things I might need to go back and look at later. I took notes on the margins, highlighted and then did the end of chapter problems. I tried to get as much out of one pass as possible to save time. Unfortunately I still feel like I've forgotten much of the earlier material from 2 months ago, but now if I feel like I am really weak in a certain topic, I try to go back to that chapter and re-read it casually while looking at the notes I made on the side to refresh my memory.

Good luck.

 

[salim271]

I read once and underlined stuff in the chapter that i didnt know/thought was important. Then i went back and wrote down all that underlined stuff, then i reviewed it (reading for extreme comprehension to the point of recitation and rewriting). It was mostly for bio and physics, i didnt need it for ochem, and the gen chem was too sparse, what they had written i basically already knew.

 

[pritomd]

Okay, the whole "read once casually, read second time with notes, problems, read third time" was good when I was studying on my own, but yeah, after doing the Kaplan class, I'm more pressed for time since the class itself takes time (although since we review the material, I suppose it could count as "going over" the material once)

I'm thinking maybe just collapse step 1+2 together....Read once with notes, go to class/do problems, then read once afterwards.

Also, how about timing? So far, I've been doing blocks of 3 hours with 1 hour breaks...is that too long? Should I take shorter, more frequent breaks? Like 1 hour studying, 10 minutes break?

I'll be unavailable to study next weekend so I want to make up for it by adding ~2 hours a day, but I'm trying to figure out how to fit it in with breaks included too.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Okay, the whole "read once casually, read second time with notes, problems, read third time" was good when I was studying on my own, but yeah, after doing the Kaplan class, I'm more pressed for time since the class itself takes time (although since we review the material, I suppose it could count as "going over" the material once)

I'm thinking maybe just collapse step 1+2 together....Read once with notes, go to class/do problems, then read once afterwards.

Also, how about timing? So far, I've been doing blocks of 3 hours with 1 hour breaks...is that too long? Should I take shorter, more frequent breaks? Like 1 hour studying, 10 minutes break?

I'll be unavailable to study next weekend so I want to make up for it by adding ~2 hours a day, but I'm trying to figure out how to fit it in with breaks included too.

Either of those should be fine, our instructor said not to study more than 3 hours at a time. So I think 3 hours blocks with long breaks in between is fine. It really depends on you though, I tried the 3 hour block schedule and I lose concentration after an hour, so I opt for breaks every hour instead. I'd go with what works best for you.

And yeah trying to find the hours you need is ridiculously frustrating, especially with Kaplan. I can't study tomorrow, so that only leaves me three days to do a full length exam, cover 5 chapters in the O-chem review notes and do the required verbal practice from the syllabus. Try studying when you can, there might be little blocks in the day where you can squeeze in extra hour here or there. Best of luck.

 

[paul411]

I used to skim an EK chapter for general concepts first and then read the chapter for details, doing the "in-lecture" questions as I passed through them. Once I was confident that I get the chapter, I'd take a break and do the 30-min exam. After a day, I reviewed the exam.

 

[duckymd]

I relied strictly on the Kaplan course books, and found it best to read carefully through with very thorough notetaking, then read a second time (perhaps days later) while following the notes as I read.

When I read the first time, I also used the internet to make sure I fully understood the concepts. I would incorporate the new things I found on the internet into my notes as well.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I relied strictly on the Kaplan course books, and found it best to read carefully through with very thorough notetaking, then read a second time (perhaps days later) while following the notes as I read.

When I read the first time, I also used the internet to make sure I fully understood the concepts. I would incorporate the new things I found on the internet into my notes as well.

That's almost identical to what I have been doing. Except I haven't had the time to re-read the chapters a second time. So I just reread 2 or 3 chapters on topics I had trouble with on the full length exams.
Has it been working well for you?

I bought the EK books, because I heard the chapters were shorter and I was thinking of reading those as a sort of refresher to the Kaplan books.

 

[pritomd]

Bleh, it's been hard finding time for reading all the material that comes along in the class.

After being slightly over half done, I've changed to reading once and taking notes, then doing all chapter problems and recommended tests, then moving on to the next subject. Come back a week later to glance/skim over the stuff again.

Re-reading chapters/things I've already covered is proving to be hard to fit in to my schedule with the 3-hour classes. I haven't had a chance to hit my EK books either, it's been all Kaplan!!!

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Bleh, it's been hard finding time for reading all the material that comes along in the class.

After being slightly over half done, I've changed to reading once and taking notes, then doing all chapter problems and recommended tests, then moving on to the next subject. Come back a week later to glance/skim over the stuff again.

Re-reading chapters/things I've already covered is proving to be hard to fit in to my schedule with the 3-hour classes. I haven't had a chance to hit my EK books either, it's been all Kaplan!!!

Haha yup, same here. I just got my EK books, but honestly I probably won't read any of them except maybe the verbal one. However the review notes have been pretty decent I think, hopefully it'll do the job for the real deal. 👍

 

[paul411]

At least try reading EK for content review of weak areas. I used Kaplan's MCAT Comprehensive Review for my first MCAT and found it lacking.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

At least try reading EK for content review of weak areas. I used Kaplan's MCAT Comprehensive Review for my first MCAT and found it lacking.

Yeah, I am keeping the EK books as a second resource for that reason. I think it's always good to see material presented differently if it doesn't make sense in one of the books.
However my test is on the 18th, so I'm hoping to focus on practice tests now and go back to content books when needed. If I had an extra two weeks or so, I would have liked to read through all the EK books, but I felt Kaplan was alright.

Could I ask what was lacking in the Kaplan books you used?