mish550,
i took the exam this past august. i took a different commercial study course and was having a lot of difficulty with timing (no fault of the course though). accuracy was great for the passages i finished, but i usually ran out of time with 2 or 3 passages to go. in all the practice exams i did, i only finished all the passages one time. on test day, i finished 8 of nine passages and guessed bbbbbbb for the last passage. this was my second best performance ever. i wound up with an 11 on the verbal section. i was thrilled as i knew that the first 85 minutes of the test day was going to make or break me.
so how did i do it? yeah, i read for tone and jist just as all the courses will tell you to do. one of the best things i did was to get examcrackers verbal book. i read the first couple of chapters a few days before the exam. there i found the following advice:
1- forget searching for the easy passages so you can do them first, as you have to finish them all to do well, or close to them all. (it's just a waste of time)
2- THE SINGLE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR ME was, learn to let go and move on. don't waste time on a question you can't figure out. try to eliminate 2 choices and pick one. the MCAT is just one big trap for pre-meds. we are not comfortable guessing, it's not in our nature. for years we've worked to earn the high GPAs that will open the door to med school. so when it comes to tests, we want to be right. how else will we get the A ? time is critical!!!! is it better to have 95 % accuracy with 7 passages completed, or to give up a little accuracy and complete more? i know it is difficult, but narrow it to 2, pick 1, and move on, the clock is ticking. i'm not saying to do it on every question, just those that are giving you real problems, there are easier questions you can answer waiting for you. this is a good philosophy for all the test sections, you'll be amazed at how many guesses turn out to be the right answer. (examcrackers explain this point)
on test day i had a game plan. try to incorprate all the techniques that i had learned, but above all, keep moving, don't fall into a time trap and run out of time. it worked.
i also filled in all my answers for each section after the five minute warning was given. do not try this unless you have practiced it on many practice tests under timed conditions. one little frameshift mutation could be lethal. i did it because timing across the board was a real problem for me. in addition, some of the testing centers have small writing surfaces that force you to move your test booklet to get to your answer sheet. i put my money on Taylor's time and motion studies. you must stop reading and answering questions right at the five minute warning and start bubbling though.
just remember your plan, stay focused, don't let your nerves defeat you, and keep moving. everybody else is scared shi_less also. stay confident and keep swinging away.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
