study tips please

[jenniferl28061]

Hi ALL,

I've been studying from the text and reviewing the questions online and I'm completely done with Gen. Chem (took me about a week, 2 chapters per day). I was wondering if that's a good idea? or should I mix it with Physics, Bio, Organic and VR too?

[mcat_premed3832]

Some students can't study one subject all in a row like you did (concentration wanes) and so they need variety. Others prefer to get one "over with" at a time. It's only a matter of preference but what really counts is: will you remember what you read over the past 2 weeks on test day for the real MCAT? For this reason, we should talk about your notes and how best to use them . . .

Hopefully the notes that you have taken are all top level information (of course we call those your Gold Notes!). Writing extensive notes like you would do in class is not necessary for the MCAT which is more about reasoning than memorization. Your focus is to gain understanding and take brief notes as clues or reminders to information that you find more challenging to remember. For example, you might condense a whole chapter down to 1 page of notes or less.

All the while, you must do: (1) chapter review problems (as you've done) and (2) AAMC problems from the Official MCAT Guide. Chapter review is what you have already considered important but why must you do Gen Chem problems right now from the Official Guide? Because you still don't know what to memorize and what to just to understand. You don't yet know what equations the AAMC provides and what you need to have permanently in your mind (the videos will help you know this BUT you are going to hear rumors, get nervous unexpectedly so, by doing the most recent problems ever released by the AAMC, the most accurate of all their materials to reflect the new MCAT, your confidence will grow with your study habits and study materials).

As long as your Gold Notes are brief, you should review all of your notes every 3-5 days. So even when you change subjects, the information you studied weeks ago is still fresh. You might say: wait, 3 weeks from now, I'm still going over notes from a few days ago? It will take forever to study? Not so bad! Because each time you review your Gold Notes from the first few chapters of Gen Chem, you will get faster and faster because it will become so familiar to you. And plus, your notes must be brief.

Incidentally, you should add to your notes from practice material as well.

[aali112821093]

Hi Jennifer,

Well Many students prefer to mix up all the subjects, alternating Gen chem, Physics, Bio, Orgo and verbal passages. I also would suggest to do a few passages related to the particular chapters that you are reading. So that you get familiar to the format of the passages and getting use to doing the passages. Well with verbal I would suggest to do a the passages timed from the beginning, approximately, 7 mins a passage. Maybe start off with three and slowly increase it. You could try it the first week, if it suits you then stick with it if not then you could try something you might be comfortable with. The main reason for alternating is to keep you from getting bored with each subject.

Hope this helps, you could pm if you have any further questions.