slow test taker...

[smedly2]

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What about the time factor?? Speed was my only issue on the mcat. Is a quick pace as important during step1 as it was in the mcat.


thanks

 

[smellycat]

definitely not.
I thought the step1 gave a lot of time and sometimes just enough time.
But the mcat was always not enough time.

 

[Pegasus]

I struggled with time..as did most of my classmates. I did Q-bank in about 30mins and still had troubes with time on Step I.. Be sure to pace yourself..and dont spend too much time on ?'s that you do not know.

Peg

 

[TulaneKid24]

I am a slow test taker also. But I found that I had more than adequate time on Step 1. I usually would have anywhere from 5-8 minutes left over after finishing each block.

 

[scootad.]

i finished qbank sections w/ 20 minutes to spare after going over the ?s for the first time and w/ about 6 minutes after going over them twice.

on the real thing, i usually finished sections w/ about 8 minutes to spare and ran out of time when trying to get through the ?s for the 2nd time.

the real test has a different big picture type feel to it than qbank and thus for me took longer to complete.

 

[Fermi]

Just to throw in my experience...

I never once had a time issue on QBank, always finishing with 8-10 minutes or more on 50-question blocks. And I treated QBank as a true testing experience each time, not just guessing or flipping through questions when I didn't really know them.

To my surprise, when I took Step 1, I came down to the last minute on every single block, and I don't really know why. The questions didn't seem longer, although they seemed much different in scope and concept than QBank (I can't really describe it better than that). I guess I did spend more time than usual reasoning things out on the dry-erase boards. I also took more a few close-your-eyes-pray-and-take-a-deep-breath breaks within the blocks to alleviate the anxiety associated with long sequences of totally unexpected questions 🙁

A couple friends who took the boards before me related a similar experience, so long story short, be prepared for a little more time pressure on the real exam.

 

[Jaded Soul]

Another way to deal with the time pressure on the real exam is to learn how to go through the questions once and only once. No marking questions, no reviewing questions. The technique isn't for everyone, though.

 

[Christiangirl]

Hi Jaded soul. I pm'd you. Thanks.