Hey guys,
Can someone help me out with the same issue? I'm scheduled for the 08/21 exam. I haven't done any practice FLs yet and for the last month I have been doing primarily content review and practicing 4-5 practice passages a day for each topic and making the Anki flashcards, etc. I've gone through portions of my EK books and hoping to go through the TPRH science workbook in the next couple weeks, allowing me all of July and a couple weeks in August to go through FLs (mostly TPR and AAMC) with a comfortable knowledge base.
However, I was considering moving the test date to either 09/18 or 10/25, preferably the latter. By doing this I can give myself July, August, September, and part of October for taking FLs and going over them comprehensively - with the extra time I should be able to go through thoroughly at least 30 FLs before the real one; the reason I would want to do that is to try to minimize the luck factor as much as possible and hopefully make the test conditions second nature in addition to fine-tuning the knowledge gaps. The extra time could also allow me to buy and complete all or most of the TBR science passages. I also just realized that I would probably save money by delaying since my test center is near my college and I'll be at home in the summer. Since ideally I would have wanted to make some test runs to the test center a week before, I would have needed to find a place to live nearby.
But I do realize a couple of cons to the delaying plan. First, would I forget the science that I've reviewed so far? I've heard of people spending 7+ months (from the 30+ thread) to allow themselves enough time to take a lot of FLs. From July to October I will probably try to take at least 2 per week and will try to keep reviewing the Anki flashcards, my review sheets, and passage logs on non-FL days. But still won't I forget the nuances or details?
Second, I will probably have school work and extracurriculars to worry about in September and October, though since I'm doing a thesis, I'll only have 2 science (but one of them is a grad-level elective) and 1 humanities class essentially with Fri-Mon off. I could probably put a hold on EMS, volunteering, and tutoring till I finish the exam.
Lastly, I'm worried about burnout, but will this occur even if I space out the FLs as I've said?
I'm seriously pushing for the 36 or higher (but I know there are NO guarantees!) and really hoping to not have to take it a second time, though I think the current curtailed exam is offered till Jan. 23 so I would have about two months till that date IF I needed to retake. Also, I'm going to be a senior and not applying till the 2015 cycle.
So what do you guys recommend? Thx a lot in advance!
