that is honestly a great attitude! I was honestly so defeated after my firat MCAT... i even considered not going into medicine because I thought if I couldnt do well on this test how can i do well in med school?
But I kept pushing through and changed my whole study method.
The first time around I focused way more on content than actual test taking. I was so hung up on trying to memorize everything that I wasn't focusing on question patterns and how to work through passages. You can NEVER know everything and I wasted 5 weeks trying to and giving myself only one week for questions.
The second time around I was way more serious and bought the Berkeley books (since I already used the Kaplan) and months before would do the practice questions in them and only do content review on topics i needed aka i was TROUBLESHOOTING
The only book I read through entirely about 6 weeks before the exam was bio. So for two weeks I did quick review and for the next 4 i did QUESTIONS!!! I did a **** ton of questions and took about 11 practice exams and would hardcore review the exams after. I would look into every question whether I got it right or wrong since every question is a fact. This allowed me to notice patterns in MCAT questions and spend more time getting comfortable with the test questions than trying to absorb a crazy amount of content.
Good luck and stay positive. You will get to where you need to be ... I promise
First and foremost, congratulations and then some. Your improvement is amazing, motivation, and downright awe-inspiring.
I'm writing because you touched me with your post in a way that shocks me. When I saw your first post with your new score and how much you improved, I immediately wondered what you did to improve so much. I was very much hoping you used our materials, but to be quite honest, after reading SDN posts over the last few years about other resources that have become trendy and pushed us down the popularity chart at SDN, I was't sure given that maybe 20% of current SDNers use our books (unlike about 50% three years ago.)
When I read in your second post (the one quoted here) that you got serious and used our books, it really moved me. I am truly honored, as a small part of those books is my work. I'm sure your feedback inspires all of the authors, and I thank you for that. Best of all, you used the books PERFECTLY! That is EXACTLY what every student should do, but more and more often they do not.
(1) Your point about doing questions and thoroughly reviewing them is huge. You learn more reviewing questions after the fact than anywhere else.
(2) Your doing content review only when trouble-shooting is the absolute best way to study for this exam, and something most people fail to do. Learning to efficiently answer multiple-choice questions is how you prepare for a multiple-choice, passage-based exam.
(3) About ten full lengths is optimal and the best thing someone can do is thoroughly go through their reasoning of every questions after they are done. They should take 6 hours and 15 minutes to complete and ten hours to review.
Congratulations on a fantastic job and thank you for letting us share a small part in your success.
