Should you be taking about 4~ hours reading 1 Kaplan chapter?

[la flame]

Just started prepping last week and I've noticed for my Biology book, it's been taking me forever to get through each chapter. I admit, I am pretty weak in Biology especially body systems since my Biology 2 course dove into Ecology/Ecosystems instead of the human body. For example, I just did the Endocrine system and took me nearly 4.5 hours to get a solid grasp. All I did was power through the chapter and google information that didn't make sense and wrote down notes to help me remember mistakes.

But when I do Gen chem/Ochem studying, those chapters are a breeze since my chemistry background is pretty solid ( Made an A in every Chem series and I am a Gen CHem tutor).

Does Content review really depend on how much you retained from your prereqs? Thank you

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[deleted936470]

yes, it looks like you'll need extra work for BB.

if Kaplan works for you, great, but it sounds like it's not, and I don't think passive reading for 4-5 hours is an effective use of time unless you are truly being exposed to it for the first time. Even then, I'd recommend slowly integrating some passage-related questions to help your retention and to apply what you learned.

I'd start off by creating an excel spreadsheet of all the BB topics, track weaknesses, hone in on weak topics by answering BB passages, and then monitor improvement. BB is a huge section so a lot of organization will go a long way.

good luck!

 

[JimKimSlim]

i also used Kaplan when I first started prepping for the MCAT, and my head was spinning with obscure details and concepts. It took me about 90 minutes, including the problems at the end, per chapter when I focused on high yield sections, glimpsed through other sections, and wrote Anki deck for obscure concepts. Also, it’s always a good idea to supplement high yield sections that are hard to grasp with KA videos.

And no. Content review does not depend on how much you retain from pre-req. I had a hard time reviewing physics contents because they were very different from my university’s introductory physics sequence. Also, I never took pre-med psychology in college but had no hard time reviewing those concepts. I did use a lot of Khan Academy for reviewing all the sections and took my own notes.

 

[natalux]

For reference, I took the AAMC sample 1.5 months out for the test (after mostly just Kaplan), got a scaled score of ~125 on b/b, and then got a 131 b/b on the real thing.

I essentially self-studied bio because the bio classes I took in undergrad did not cover anatomy/physiology whatsoever. I found that spending tons of time on Kaplan did not really help me. My B/B score on the FL I took after about a month of just going through the book and taking notes was only a few points higher than my diagnostic. I found it much more helpful to skim a chapter, take some quick notes, and then go through the relevant UWorld sections with my notes in front of me to make sure I both knew the concepts and understood how to apply them. I'd mentally note down all the stuff that I would've had to have memorized to answer those questions, re-read the relevant Kaplan sections in more detail, and throw the key terms into an Anki deck to memorize. I found this way more efficient than just reading Kaplan.

 

[la flame]

For reference, I took the AAMC sample 1.5 months out for the test (after mostly just Kaplan), got a scaled score of ~125 on b/b, and then got a 131 b/b on the real thing.

I essentially self-studied bio because the bio classes I took in undergrad did not cover anatomy/physiology whatsoever. I found that spending tons of time on Kaplan did not really help me. My B/B score on the FL I took after about a month of just going through the book and taking notes was only a few points higher than my diagnostic. I found it much more helpful to skim a chapter, take some quick notes, and then go through the relevant UWorld sections with my notes in front of me to make sure I both knew the concepts and understood how to apply them. I'd mentally note down all the stuff that I would've had to have memorized to answer those questions, re-read the relevant Kaplan sections in more detail, and throw the key terms into an Anki deck to memorize. I found this way more efficient than just reading Kaplan.

you think it would be wise to incorporate UWORLD before my first FL? So let's say after finishing 2/3 Bio chapters, I can go back to UWORLD and practice questions? I feel like the End of the chapter Questions on Kaplan's Book aren't that "good".

 

[natalux]

@la flame IMO yes. To me Uworld was best used as a tool to test concept knowledge in a format similar to how it'll actually come up on the exam.

 

[deleted947265]

It doesn't matter if it takes you ten minutes or ten hours and two gallons of blood. You just gotta get it done. I probably spent about that if not more.