When reviewing your practice exams, how do you solidify knowledge?

[Codaster]

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I've been trying to write down the facts surrounding the questions I miss (or guess correctly on), but this is time intensive, since I am just starting studying and many of them require me to write down a lot to jog my memory from stuff I learned 2 and 3 years ago.

However, I don't think it's sufficient just to read the explanation and go "oh yeah, that's why that was right" because I tend to not internalize that kind of stuff.

Do you guys have some kind of middle path that balances the time required with content retention?

Thanks!

 

[Jepstein30]

I've been trying to write down the facts surrounding the questions I miss (or guess correctly on), but this is time intensive, since I am just starting studying and many of them require me to write down a lot to jog my memory from stuff I learned 2 and 3 years ago.

However, I don't think it's sufficient just to read the explanation and go "oh yeah, that's why that was right" because I tend to not internalize that kind of stuff.

Do you guys have some kind of middle path that balances the time required with content retention?

Thanks!

When marking answers right/wrong, only mark whether you got it wrong or not. Don't mark what the actual answer is and don't read the answer explanation. Go do something else (study related or not) for an hour/day or so.. and go back to the questions you got wrong. Try again. Repeat until you get the right answer. The goal is to make sure you can figure out why an answer is right/wrong.. not just read the answer explanation and as you said, "oh yeah I know that" type thinking.

This will help a bit in this regard because you're forcing yourself to figure it out on your own.. even if it takes multiple tries (when you're left with one answer.. don't skip the process.. convince yourself why its right).

I have some other tricks for this but it's late and I'm coming up blank haha.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

Take the time to write the reasoning behind your mistake for every single answer you get wrong. It may seem like a waste of time, but it will help you internalize your mistakes which in my opinion is the most important step in MCAT prep.

-Whoo

 

[survivordo]

Agree with whoo - time convincing yourself of why you got the answer right/wrong is time well spent. You might not get through as many questions in a day but what is the point of getting through them if you aren't actually learning anything. I kept a big word file and made a bullet for each question with important information from the explanation. I then read and re-read this file numerous times to help integrate it into my memory.

Survivor DO

 

[Codaster]

When marking answers right/wrong, only mark whether you got it wrong or not. Don't mark what the actual answer is and don't read the answer explanation. Go do something else (study related or not) for an hour/day or so.. and go back to the questions you got wrong. Try again. Repeat until you get the right answer. The goal is to make sure you can figure out why an answer is right/wrong.. not just read the answer explanation and as you said, "oh yeah I know that" type thinking.

This will help a bit in this regard because you're forcing yourself to figure it out on your own.. even if it takes multiple tries (when you're left with one answer.. don't skip the process.. convince yourself why its right).

I have some other tricks for this but it's late and I'm coming up blank haha.

This is a good strategy, but what do you do if you simply don't know the content or can't reason for yourself why it is right/wrong? At what point do you consent to looking up info? Seems like you can waste a lot of time that way.

Take the time to write the reasoning behind your mistake for every single answer you get wrong. It may seem like a waste of time, but it will help you internalize your mistakes which in my opinion is the most important step in MCAT prep.

-Whoo

Oh I totally agree, but this is a pretty vague statement. I'm trying to figure out exactly what you guys do to achieve that result.

 

[altitude]

Suggestions, which I like, from other users:

Spinach Dip:
After every single test or quiz, it is imperative that you study the questions you got wrong and WHY you got them wrong. The simple mistakes (such as forgetting the formula to calculate Joules) go on flashcards. Your flashcards should have a single word or phrase on the front; on the other side, all the information you need to know about the term. For example:
Front: Newtons
Back: Mass*Acceleration. Measure of force. Newtons = kg*meters/seconds^2

(I refer you to: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=988678)

MikeyMCAT:
Whenever I got a question wrong or if I was unsure about it, I reviewed everything about the question to make sure that I'd never get a similar question like it wrong again.

All credit goes to those users.

 

[Jepstein30]

This is a good strategy, but what do you do if you simply don't know the content or can't reason for yourself why it is right/wrong? At what point do you consent to looking up info? Seems like you can waste a lot of time that way.

You can't really waste that much time, you have to get it right eventually and there's only 3 wrong answers. If you're completely lost, take a break and review the content.. then go back. Getting things wrong and working it out for yourself really helps in acquiring information (you'll remember the process which will trigger the details).

It works really well for Verbal since.. there is really no content and it's all analysis skills. But with PS/BS, it still is the way to go IMO. I still wrote down the topics I got wrong and little factoids if necessary.. and when I reviewed the various subjects, I'd look up the specific topics I got wrong and make sure I get a good grasp.

For example, if I got a question about pKa wrong.. I wouldn't just write down "pKa" but I'd put a one liner that explains which answer is correct like "second pKa is always greater than the first pKa."

It's also really helpful to go back a week or so later and review the ones you got wrong, if you have time. If you can't get the answer right, you still don't know what you're doing and don't remember the factoid that you wrote down.. so try again.