I've always found classes pretty unhelpful when it comes to learning material. I just have to have the written materials, plow through them for as long as it takes and inundate myself with practice questions to figure out what I didn't realize I wasn't getting. I've been doing this for the past several months- originally as a precursor to taking the prereqs so that I knew I could do well. (Grades have been spotty previously).
And I actually have learned a ton. I have the old tbr books and the seven book Kaplan set. And have done about every practice question I can find. I actually think I'm in really good shape to take the test- I can max bs, bio and cr- even the harder Kaplan tests. Phys/chem isn't where I want it because I'm still struggling with physics. But I think one more month of this I could be reasonably certain of getting a 95th percentile score overall.
And I'm really tempted to because my short term memory is way better than my long. If I don't keep up this level of practice, I really will lose it.
That said, does it send some sort of bad signal if I take it before doing even half the prereqs? I still know I'll have to do them of course. And maybe repeating will help everything "stick". But standardized tests are kind of my thing and I think I'd get a better score now than is guaranteed later (not sure how long to study, etc...) plus even if I do have time to study later, the prospect of doing this all again sounds no fun and not very efficient.
Also would be a pretty big relief to at least knock one thing off.
Eta:
The MCAT feels a lot like the bar to me. There's just so much material. Retaining it long term isn't really even feasible. It's all about taking the test when it's all stuffed in there.
And I actually have learned a ton. I have the old tbr books and the seven book Kaplan set. And have done about every practice question I can find. I actually think I'm in really good shape to take the test- I can max bs, bio and cr- even the harder Kaplan tests. Phys/chem isn't where I want it because I'm still struggling with physics. But I think one more month of this I could be reasonably certain of getting a 95th percentile score overall.
And I'm really tempted to because my short term memory is way better than my long. If I don't keep up this level of practice, I really will lose it.
That said, does it send some sort of bad signal if I take it before doing even half the prereqs? I still know I'll have to do them of course. And maybe repeating will help everything "stick". But standardized tests are kind of my thing and I think I'd get a better score now than is guaranteed later (not sure how long to study, etc...) plus even if I do have time to study later, the prospect of doing this all again sounds no fun and not very efficient.
Also would be a pretty big relief to at least knock one thing off.
Eta:
The MCAT feels a lot like the bar to me. There's just so much material. Retaining it long term isn't really even feasible. It's all about taking the test when it's all stuffed in there.
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