When should I be taking my MCAT AAMC tests?

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Dreamstoo

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I plan to take AAMC 3-11. I have the AAMC Self Assessment also which I plan to use starting Monday. Plan to use it as study material on days that I'm not taking or reviewing my AAMC tests

My test date is September 6, 2014.

I was planning on taking my first practice test exactly 4 weeks before so would August 9th, 2014 (28 days before my test date) be appropriate? Would any of you guys recommend taking one earlier?
 
I plan to take AAMC 3-11. I have the AAMC Self Assessment also which I plan to use starting Monday. Plan to use it as study material on days that I'm not taking or reviewing my AAMC tests

My test date is September 6, 2014.

I was planning on taking my first practice test exactly 4 weeks before so would August 9th, 2014 (28 days before my test date) be appropriate? Would any of you guys recommend taking one earlier?


Not reviewing your tests is a bad idea. I didn't really see improvement in my score until I started reviewing my tests. Also as far as when you should take the test common SDN knowledge is the SN2ed system. I personally was taking practice test way before a month because I needed estimates to where I was so I had time to improve. If you take your first practice test 1 month before the the actual thing if your score isn't where it needs to be then you don't have time to recover. Also try using the MCAT forum.
 
Ideally you should start 1.5 to 2 months before. Use the AAMC's to track your progress of mastering the material. You will probably find that you have massive content gaps as you begin testing.
 
Not reviewing your tests is a bad idea. I didn't really see improvement in my score until I started reviewing my tests. Also as far as when you should take the test common SDN knowledge is the SN2ed system. I personally was taking practice test way before a month because I needed estimates to where I was so I had time to improve. If you take your first practice test 1 month before the the actual thing if your score isn't where it needs to be then you don't have time to recover. Also try using the MCAT forum.

I do plan to review the tests the day after I take them and for me, material wise I will feel ready by Thursday next week. My plan is take the AAMC test one day, next day review all of the AAMC test, third day find weak topics in AAMC self assessment and then repeat. So take a practice test every 4th day.
 
I do plan to review the tests the day after I take them and for me, material wise I will feel ready by Thursday next week. My plan is take the AAMC test one day, next day review all of the AAMC test, third day find weak topics in AAMC self assessment and then repeat. So take a practice test every 4th day.


Well if you aren't following SN2ed schedule my best advise would be to make a plan and to stick with it.
 
Uhhh, right away if you plan on finishing them all. Literally, do one right now.
 
I did two per week, except for the first week and the week of my MCAT, I only did 1, so 5 weeks before the date of my test. If I had to do it all over again, I'd give myself closer to 6 weeks because I did feel burnt out toward the end and it showed in my scores. Thank goodness I only did 1 test the week of my MCAT.
 
I plan to take AAMC 3-11. I have the AAMC Self Assessment also which I plan to use starting Monday. Plan to use it as study material on days that I'm not taking or reviewing my AAMC tests

My test date is September 6, 2014.

I was planning on taking my first practice test exactly 4 weeks before so would August 9th, 2014 (28 days before my test date) be appropriate? Would any of you guys recommend taking one earlier?

Uhhh, right away if you plan on finishing them all. Literally, do one right now.
Definitely this ^^

I was short on time near the end as well, and tried to do 2-3 a week. You want to give yourself as much time as possible to review them (for me I would have preferred 2 days of review per test), so get started right away.
 
Definitely this ^^

I was short on time near the end as well, and tried to do 2-3 a week. You want to give yourself as much time as possible to review them (for me I would have preferred 2 days of review per test), so get started right away.

Good to see you got into med school man! Congrats. I'm starting a month before and I decided to keep my plan. I think it will work for me better that way. Also I do plan to do 2 days of review. I will be done by September 2nd if I start on August 9th.

Doing self assessment for biological sciences- orgo and biology. So far I scored 95% on the orgo SA and 98% on bio (only done 51 questions so far, doing a printed out version I got from an expired prep course).
 
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