Re-studying, need advice on practice material

[IgA]

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[member232]

I re-took and bought TBR Verbal and didn't like it one bit. I maybe did 2 tests and gave up. I would re-do examkrackers in the beginning and then use TPRH to boost your score in the middle of the prep and then get teh AAMC self-assessment (it has 3 verbal tests about) for the week before your test. The AAMC self-assessment is pretty good for realistic practice and also the AAMC official guide (get for a cheap price only about 1 test's worth of material in it)

For sciences do TBR, if you feel like you're remembering too much info then just exhaust your TPRH science workbook

 

[IgA]

Thanks, does anybody else have other ideas too?

 

[gtbROX]

Spend a minimum of 2 months reviewing:
I recommend TPRH+EK material.
Start each of your study days with verbal passages (use TPR verbal workbook and EK 101 verbal and any other resource and alternate them, do not pick and choose, but use answer sheets on scratch paper so you can reuse passages) in the morning (you should start at 10AM at the latest), every week add a passage such that as the weeks progress you will be doing more passages per day and do not go past 7 per day. You will go from doing 1 per day to 7 per day.
You should go through AT LEAST a chapter a day, and by that I mean actively taking notes and reading the EK chapter and the lecture test and questions. Then you will do the same as well as do all the example problems for the TPRH subject books. Then you will go to the corresponding freestanding and passage Qs of the TPRH science workbook. The student guide included with the books will tell you which ones. Alternate subjects so that you do a diff. subject but each one evenly.

After the 2 months of content review, you should be completely done with all practice material in the science workbook. The science workbook is only good for reviewing topics, not so much for simulating the actual test since its questions focus on certain topics (it is meant to help you retain knowledge and identify weak spots of yours within certain topics/chapters. You will spend at least a month doing at least one verbal drill early in the morning, taking a practice test at the time during which your actual mcat will be, doing at least one science drill, and reviewing (with above mentioned active note taking) at least one topic (your weakest one). You will also have to check your answers for every single question of every drill you did that day by the end of the day; you should also review the answers of your practice test that day or at least the next day.

If you follow this schedule, you should make sure to have 1-2 day(s) per week (saturday/sunday recommended) as a break. When you check your answers for drills/passages/practice tests, you will check all questions whether you got them right or wrong, you will check all answer choices to see why each one was eliminated, especially if you did not eliminate them on your answer sheet; for the Qs you got wrong you will right down the rationale for the correct answer and the rationale for why your answer choice was wrong on your answer sheet.

This is my recommended study plan.

 

[rootz02]

I'm a pre dental student but teach the mcat for Kaplan after I scored a 39 on it (15 BS, 13 PS, 11 VR). I originally started teaching the DAT since that was my required entrance exam. After teaching for a year and going through all the Kaplan material, I felt pretty confident about the content and took the OAT and then PCAT to score qualify and teach those exams. I know a lot of people seem to hate Kaplan, but the amount of practice materials they provide you with is incredible. It's mind boggling how many students devote months to content review and fail to adequately practice applying that content to different question types. The mcat is'nt a science test by any means; it's a measure of one's ability to think critically. It requires lots of practice, not lots of review. I don't know what TBR or EK is, but my advice to anyone taking any standardized exam (especially the mcat) is to practice. If these resources are cheaper and provide sample passages, sample sections, and most important sample full lengths, then go for it. Let your countless bad scores on practice tests guide your studying and forge your path to your desired score (guessing 32+). Hope this helps a little. Good luck to you.