Just wanted to say that this is a very common issue. It's a bit of a trap: many people are tempted to put off taking practice tests until they feel like they've fully covered as much as possible. Then, there's a ton of pressure to score well on the first practice FL - after all, they've covered all of the material, so they should be doing well! When these people almost-inevitably score lower than expected, they find it especially demoralizing. But the truth is that it's very hard to excel on the first or even second FL unless you've been doing tons of good passages under pressure already. You can know all the science in the world and still have timing, endurance, or general reading carefulness issues.
The solution to this is to start taking at least occasional practice tests before you feel 100% ready. I usually advise taking the first one about 4-6 weeks from the start of content review. This way, a low score doesn't "feel" as bad, because you know there's material out there that still needs to be covered. But you get used to the MCAT style, start building endurance early, and get a feel for question types that you can answer strategically even when you don't have a ton of knowledge. There's a sentiment that taking a practice test before thoroughly reviewing all the content is a waste of that exam, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The only wasted exam is one that isn't reviewed properly afterwards. You can learn a great deal from, say, a passage on the bicarbonate buffer system even if you've never heard of it in your life (which questions required knowledge? which ones could be solved straight from the passage? did any relate to other topics you HAVE covered, like equilibrium? etc.)
But tips for people who are in the middle of their prep (and 2 months out is plenty of time, by the way!) to help get over that nervousness:
- Make your first FL one that won't pressure you score-wise. There are unscored tests out there, even the AAMC sample; there are shorter diagnostics that might not freak you out as much if the score doesn't look great; if you don't want to do this and are still nervous, break a test into sections and take those gradually. Getting, say, a 123 on one section somehow doesn't do as much damage to morale as getting a 490 on a full exam. (Disclaimer: We all know that it's important to gauge your progress with accurate scoring! But if your alternatives are taking an unscored test or not taking any exams until it's too late, take the unscored exam. I can't possibly overemphasize how important it is to jump into the practice test part of your prep early).
- If this isn't appealing, just try not to focus on the scores of your first 1-2 FLs. This has already been said here, but your first FL score is not necessarily predictive of your eventual success. (Personally, after my first practice test, I was given feedback that my goal score would be "almost impossible," but ended up going 3 points higher.) There's such a massive amount of information that can be gained from the review of a full-length exam; it's too bad that we naturally get distracted by the numbers.
Anyway, good luck everyone!
