Test-Taking Strategies

[RocuROMANium]

So I have taken NextStep Fl's 1-4 (all at standard times) and by far my biggest issue is with time. I just have not found a comfortable test-taking strategy to get me through passages and interpret the data quickly enough. For C/P and B/B I have tried reading the questions first and then scanning the passages but I think this hurts my comprehension because I am just scanning for keywords. I figure that if I skim the passage first and then read the question that I'm not really comprehending that either.

At this point, I know my issues are not with content. Also, when I take my time with practice passages like the AAMC section bank, I do well. I comprehend and interpret data accurately but, again, I take my time. I need to speed it up.

So I was wondering what kind of test-taking strategies any of you had to offer, especially if you struggled with time too. Is it just an immense amount of practice?

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[Blueprint Med School]

For C/P, I often recommend my students try doing the problems before even looking at the passage, since a lot of the time, the questions don't require anything from the passage. For the questions that do require information from the passage, I've seen that you kinda get a feel for how to find the information you need as you do more practice. For example, if a question were to ask about a certain drug, you might immediately know to look in the first paragraph of the passage, since that's usually where the general description of a drug is found.

For B/B, if the issue isn't a content error, then yes, I think the best way to get better is just by doing more and more practice. Eventually, all the weird tables and charts overlap, and you see the same things over and over again.

Hope this helps!

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[RocuROMANium]

Since my May test date was cancelled I’m now concerned with having enough material. Besides the FL’s, I don’t have much material left from the AAMC. Should I just go through the AAMC material again or buy new material? Any recommendations?

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Since my May test date was cancelled I’m now concerned with having enough material. Besides the FL’s, I don’t have much material left from the AAMC. Should I just go through the AAMC material again or buy new material? Any recommendations?

Hmm, this definitely isn't an ideal situation, especially since you've already done your AAMC material. Now, any third party practice material you do will just "feel" different. If money isn't a big concern, I would recommend purchasing UWorld for the MCAT, which is some of my favorite third party MCAT stuff. I also know Altius was offering 10 FL exams for ~$90, but I don't have any experience with Altius and so I'm not sure how great their exams are. Still, that's a great price and more practice is always helpful.

 

[RocuROMANium]

Hmm, this definitely isn't an ideal situation, especially since you've already done your AAMC material. Now, any third party practice material you do will just "feel" different. If money isn't a big concern, I would recommend purchasing UWorld for the MCAT, which is some of my favorite third party MCAT stuff. I also know Altius was offering 10 FL exams for ~$90, but I don't have any experience with Altius and so I'm not sure how great their exams are. Still, that's a great price and more practice is always helpful.

Buy Uworld practice exams or just the question banks? NextStep seems to be the best practice exams should I just buy more?

 

[JimKimSlim]

To improve analyzing data, you should read more scientific articles. Just glimpe through the figures and their descriptions, and try to guess the abstrct of the paper. That will improve your ability to find important findings from data quicker.

Regarding your material problem, once you go through with all AAMC materials, there isn't really much of an option. For any third party exams, you should focus on test-taking strategies/timing rather than trying to understand their rationale. You just have to pick your poison whether it's more NS or Altius. Best of luck!

 

[ThePotatoDoctor]

Doing more practice exams (Altius Exams are really good and relatively inexpensive for like 10 of them) and passages will always be a good idea but you're right; you need a solid strategy that you can always use. There's a lot of content you can buy and practice with. UWorld passages are highly regarded as being great content as well. My strategy is to take time reading the passage searching for 1. The big idea of what they are studying/trying to figure out in the experiment -- that way you can be oriented on what the passage is even talking about 2. Any relationships or details they just throw out that I wouldn't know with a normal science background. I don't analyze figures at all since you don't know if you'll need them but I do scan the axes just to see what it's measuring if I need that info. I know everyone has a different process and something different works for a lot of people but that's how I did it with 131s on C/P and B/B

 

[deleted947265]

Strategy is iterative, speed is just having a good strategy and just knowing what to do and when to do. There's no right or wrong way to do things as long as you're winning. I personally don't read the passages from the start except for CARS, it works for me. It may not work for you. I can't really give you any specific tips without more information.

From the wise Day9:

- Identify the problem. What is the first thing that went wrong?
- What is the actual underlying problem?
- What are you going to do? The next time you find yourself in the situation, try what you said you were going to do. See what happens. This is where practice comes in.

Then just repeat this until you're not making the same mistake in the same situation over and over again. Then you will go fast.