Studying for Jan CBT yet? / Best way to study?

[monaheel]

First off, good luck to the August MCAT'ers -- I'm sure you all will ace it =). I thought I would see who has started studying for the Januarly exam, and how you're going about doing it?

I just started reviewing stuff (only an hour or so per day) for right now. I'm enrolled in a prep class (EK) starting in October. I think this month I'll pick it up a notch and start doing practice problems and maybe attempt a FL or two in September.

What are the rest of you doing? I'm nervous that there's not a lot of practice/materials geared towards the CBT version, so any advice would be appreciated.

Also, I'm sure this varies per person, but I was wondering what people found most helpful -- studying one subject really well before moving on to the next or going back and forth between subjects? I find I want a change of material sometimes, but I also waste time when I attempt to transition to different subjects.

Also, if anyone's been super productive/dedicated and already started w/ practice exams, post your scores (which will also make me feel a bit guilty and start studying more hopefully haha! ).

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[olemissbabydoc]

First off, good luck to the August MCAT'ers -- I'm sure you all will ace it =). I thought I would see who has started studying for the Januarly exam, and how you're going about doing it?

I just started reviewing stuff (only an hour or so per day) for right now. I'm enrolled in a prep class (EK) starting in October. I think this month I'll pick it up a notch and start doing practice problems and maybe attempt a FL or two in September.

What are the rest of you doing? I'm nervous that there's not a lot of practice/materials geared towards the CBT version, so any advice would be appreciated.

Also, I'm sure this varies per person, but I was wondering what people found most helpful -- studying one subject really well before moving on to the next or going back and forth between subjects? I find I want a change of material sometimes, but I also waste time when I attempt to transition to different subjects.

Also, if anyone's been super productive/dedicated and already started w/ practice exams, post your scores (which will also make me feel a bit guilty and start studying more hopefully haha! ).

I'm working the beast, but if you haven't heard from around this forum i'm nuts and haven't taken pre-reqs.. so i'm practically teaching myself inorganic, organic, and physics.... so.. yeah.. i'm testing in april. My Kap Diag was 20, without the courses... i haven't taken any of the AAMC's yet, my first is scheduled for next week..

I try to study about an hour of each subject that i'm 'teaching' myself a day, then review later in the day with something i'm good at - bio or a&p stuff, something that I don't have to think about so hard.

 

[MSc44]

I'm working the beast, but if you haven't heard from around this forum i'm nuts and haven't taken pre-reqs.. so i'm practically teaching myself inorganic, organic, and physics.... so.. yeah.. i'm testing in april. My Kap Diag was 20, without the courses... i haven't taken any of the AAMC's yet, my first is scheduled for next week..

I try to study about an hour of each subject that i'm 'teaching' myself a day, then review later in the day with something i'm good at - bio or a&p stuff, something that I don't have to think about so hard.

serious question here but how did u score a 20 on your first exam if you have never seen the material before.like ochem inorganic and physics????

were u just guessing

 

[dr.kicia]

serious question here but how did u score a 20 on your first exam if you have never seen the material before.like ochem inorganic and physics????

were u just guessing

this is acctually very interesting but i am able to belive in this.
My own b/f who never studied bio-chem-phys and is a buisness managemet major scored 8 on the bio test i gave him...it was funny couse i was trying to show him how hard my studying material was and here he goes with an 8!!! LOL
but i guess that if you do not know something then you pay more attention to reading passages and then u just use ur logic, in bio and verbal section this can really be enough to pull out 20 on the whole thing...physical is a different story couse over there if you don't know you don't know and your logical thinking will not help you.
and ofcourse it always depends on the test you get, some things are easier then others for different people

 

[TMP-SMX]

I think the best thing you can do for yourself in the writing CBT is to learn how to type... Fast and accurately. For the rest of the test it is all pointing and clicking.

Oh... And studying the material is a good bet.

 

[League54]

I dont know if this helps, but Gold Standard just released a 2007 CBT study package. Do a search on ebay, I believe you can also buy it directly from them.

 

[olemissbabydoc]

I have pretty good reading comprehension and I didn't do much guessing, I did a lot of narrowing down of choices and choosing what seemed to be the most logical or make the most sense...

I had a&p in college/ ap bio in high school and chem in high school, so somehow that stuff has started coming back to me.

Now that i'm beginning to truly UNDERSTAND how physics and in-o works, i'm looking forward (now i really sound like a nerd) to my first AAMC full length in about a week.

 

[monaheel]

Yay, my 1st post ever on SDN and people responded =). Haha, ok, I'm a dork.

gradu8in2003 -- i honestly think you'll do well teaching yourself, like someone else already pointed, having a fresh perspective may give you a clearer viewpoint in figuring out the right answer. as long as you really get gen chem, i don't think organic is too bad... i remembered basic trends (polarity, electronegativity, etc.) and could usually guess what the product of a rxn would be w/out using my orgo textbook. but i still suck at physics, even after two classes lol... good luck on the 1st length, let me know how it goes =)

I looked up the gold standard CBT package, it looks promising, I think I'm going to get it next week sometime... It's amazing how much material is out there ot study for the MCAT; I feel overwhelmed and I've barely started haha.

Sigh, if only my typing speed was being tested, I could goof on AIM all day to practice.... oh wait, I already do that haha . Hope everyone has a good weekend!

 

[olemissbabydoc]

Yay, my 1st post ever on SDN and people responded =). Haha, ok, I'm a dork.

gradu8in2003 -- i honestly think you'll do well teaching yourself, like someone else already pointed, having a fresh perspective may give you a clearer viewpoint in figuring out the right answer. as long as you really get gen chem, i don't think organic is too bad... i remembered basic trends (polarity, electronegativity, etc.) and could usually guess what the product of a rxn would be w/out using my orgo textbook. but i still suck at physics, even after two classes lol... good luck on the 1st length, let me know how it goes =)

I looked up the gold standard CBT package, it looks promising, I think I'm going to get it next week sometime... It's amazing how much material is out there ot study for the MCAT; I feel overwhelmed and I've barely started haha.

Sigh, if only my typing speed was being tested, I could goof on AIM all day to practice.... oh wait, I already do that haha . Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Thanks for the encouragement.. i think you are the first person who hasn't thought i was completely and utterly insane!