Test Prep and Study Tips
Practicing Timing
SET TIME CAPS PER QUESTION RATHER THAN PER PASSAGE/QUESTION-SET IN ALL PRACTICE SESSIONS
Be in the moment with individual questions, and set time caps per question, rather than per passage/question-set. Try keep it at 2.5–3 minutes per question, considering some you may fly through confidently in ~30 seconds leaving extra time for others. When you hit 3 minutes on a question and still don’t really know how to answer it, choose something intuitively/strategically, flag it, and move on.
There are some obvious reasons why it’s better to put time caps on individual questions rather than entire passages/question-sets: passages are different lengths; passages have different amounts of questions; passages are of different intensity levels.
But more importantly, putting time caps on individual questions…
can help prevent allowing yourself too much time on a question, which may lead to second-guessing yourself or over-thinking it;
can help prevent spending too much time thinking about the passage information rather than the question itself; this is how we may get lost in passage information and/or lose sight of what the question is really asking;
can help prevent losing time on a question that may just be a loss anyway, and moreover, it helps prevent taking time away from a ton of easy questions which have yet to come;
can help you focus on the question at hand, rather than hard questions that previously came up that may continue to bug you and set a negative tone over the rest of the section/test;
can help you focus on the question at hand, rather than the daunting fact that there are a lot more questions to come;
can help you focus on each question at hand and getting each question correct one by one, rather than focus on the ever-present pressure of scoring high on the entire exam; focussing on the point you are playing, rather than winning the match, will help ultimately win enough point to win the match.
And most importantly, putting time caps on individual questions…
helps keep you focused on good question approach strategy;
helps keep you revolving around words/ideas in question-stems and answer-choices rather than allowing tmi to creep in and going beyond or thinking too much;
helps keep you engaged in what the question is really asking so as to not choose an answer that is not really addressing the question-stem information or question itself;
helps you utilize answer-choices to your advantage, allowing them to determine what is relevant in the question-stem or passage, as well as allowing them to determine what fundamentals to elicit;
helps you utilize all/any information in the question-stem whether it be to elicit relevant fundamentals or more precisely find passage information.
It helps you more accurately choose an answer that… well… best answers the question.
Being in the moment with individual questions, means keep your thoughts, fundamentals, and passage usage centered around the words/ideas in the question-stem and answer-choices to optimize accuracy and time.
Improving Timing On Tests
Be most conscious of timing in the beginning of a section of a test. When we start a section, we have all the time allotted for that section, and in our minds, it’s a lot of time, so we tend to spend more time than we should on questions. It’s like at the beginning of the weekend, we feel like we have all the time in the world to get everything done, but when Sunday comes around, we realize we didn’t get anything done and have to cram it all in before Monday!
Also, be most conscious of timing with the first couple questions under any passage. Whether we read entire passages or approach them the Praxis way, we’ll never have a concrete grip on the passage content and main idea having to initially approach passages in such a short amount of time. This makes the first couple questions the hardest, and we tend to spend the most time on these.
Be swift from the start—eliminate answer-choices, choose one strategically or intuitively, flag it if you are uncertain, and move on.
There are many benefits to this swift approach: you’ll be more strategic with your answer choices, rather than think too much; you may come across new information in the passage or question-stems while approaching subsequent questions that will tip you off to previous flagged questions; you won’t be taking time away from or even run out of time before potentially easy questions yet to come; and many times, when you move on from a problem that you can’t quite solve at the moment, it may click later on after you have cleared your mind of it.
When you are tipped off or something clicks for flagged questions, finish the current question, and then return to that flagged question.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER AFTER “EASILY ELIMINATING TWO AND THEN ALWAYS CHOOSING THE WRONG ANSWER OF THE TWO LEFT”
In these cases, we tend to want to think harder about the information in the passage and even continue reading more information in the passage, and/or we tend think longer for more fundamentals that could help. These tendencies would be introducing TMI and causing us to think too much and even go beyond the focus in the question-stem and answer-choices, and ultimately waste precious time—all of which causes us to lose sight of what the question is asking.
INSTEAD, TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER more often, spend that precious time revisiting the question-stem and refresh on what it is really asking, then:
get hypercritical and literal with words used in each of the answer-choices to be more accurate with which one better matches the information in the question-stem or relevant passage information,
and get more picky with grammar in each of the answer-choices to be certain of which one more particularly addresses the information in the question-stem or relevant passage information and actually answers the question.
Scheduling Practice Tests
It's not about committing to a strict practice test schedule and taking as many as possible. It's about seeing improvements in your daily practices and taking practice tests when you are more encouraged, even excited, to see your work pay off. So, commit to improving in your daily practices; then commit to taking a practice test.
We recommend at least 3 to 6 depending on the test: for MCAT and DAT, 5–6; for GRE, 4–5; and for PSAT, SAT, and ACT, 3–4. Also, consider that if your energy, focus and endurance levels have not improved significantly two weeks before the test, then you might want to slip in 1 to 2 extra practice tests in.
Practice Tests should be taken on the same day, at the same time at which your actual test is scheduled for at least 3 to 4 practice tests leading up to the exam. You should also practice waking up at a time that gives you space to do your morning routine, drive to the facility, and get there in time to sit and relax before checking in.
The best way to simulate the test is to take practice tests in a location that is not your comfort zone, meaning different from the location you have been studying: libraries, office spaces, quiet coffee shops, neighbor’s home office, etc. There should be people around and minor distractions. It should be an environment that you don’t necessarily care to spend too much time in, which may help you focus, get the test done and get out of there.
Make sure to time yourself for each section [if you are not taking a CBT (computer-based test)], as well as take all scheduled breaks, and do what you foresee yourself doing during the breaks: eating snacks, using the restroom, etc.
Managing Daily Self-Test-Prep
Develop a daily task list the night before to alleviate yourself of the many little things that stress you out and to rest well. Start the next day knocking the quick and easy things off your list. Feel the sense of accomplishment and be encouraged to knock more off.
Then, work on the more difficult and time-consuming tasks. You will have at least cleared your mind of the many little things that get in the way of what you really want to accomplish, allowing yourself to focus and be studiously productive… every day!
“Memorizing” Content For Tests
Don't settle for just memorizing science concepts or even mnemonics for them, because–admit it–don't we all sometimes forget what we memorized when it comes to test time.
When studying science concepts, think about the hows and whys of them which is easily done if you try find reasons for them or bring them to life with examples. Even just the process of trying to find reasons or elicit examples will help you remember concepts better and for longer.
You can also write a “story” about topics/concepts that you have a hard time remembering and understanding. Basically, this means write a small blurb about the topic/concept somehow relating it to yourself or making up a real-life situation.
Example: Glucose is reabsorbed through the Proximal Convoluted Tubule (first portion of the Nephron immediately after the Bowman's Capsule (filtrate cup)), because we CANNOT PEE OUT GLUCOSE; it MUST IMMEDIATELY BE REABSORBED, because we NEED GLUCOSE in our blood and tissues AT ALL TIMES or else we'll DIE!
Yeah…. my example of how I remember where along the nephron glucose is reabsorbed is funny and a bit extreme, but when we add a little drama to our “stories” about topics/concepts, we remember as well as understand them better.
When To Review Content for a Standardized Test
Reviewing content should be the first step of test prep, however, it’s not about reading content books cover-to-cover. How to start is indeed the hard part. Start with briefly reviewing topics/concepts that were always tough for you to understand. Start with reading about these topics/concepts with no obligation of thoroughly understanding them.
Then, periodically revisit and re-review these topics/concepts throughout your test prep. You will find that each time you review them, they will make more sense, and eventually, you will gain greater understanding of them so as to readily apply them on test questions.
The sooner you hit your toughest topics/concepts and the more frequently you review them, the more time you’ll have to allow for them to click and to practice applying them on test questions.
Now, content review should also continue throughout your test prep. While assessing practice passages/questions or full-length practice tests, if you missed questions that required fundamentals and realize you did not apply those fundamentals appropriately to answer the questions correctly, then reference your content review books for those particular topics/concepts, review them, and then practice more questions involving them.
Trusting Your Knowledge and Application of Fundamentals
You might hear "go with your gut" a lot when it comes to answering questions on tests, but I know we tend to not trust our gut during the actual test. How do you know if/when you can "go with your gut"?
Trust your "gut" on a test when math and science knowledge readily comes to mind and the application of fundamentals helps you swiftly eliminate answer-choices or even choose an answer… just go with it! This is your "educated gut" leading to an "educated guess" which is not really a guess at all but the application of fundamentals.
If you are taking too much time to think of the fundamentals that could be applied or do not know how to apply them to the question at hand, then maybe think of alternative ways of answering the question or mark it and move on.
But what if it's a complex math or science question?? Well, all complex math and science boils down to the fundamentals no matter how complex it sounds or looks; this is why we learn the fundamentals up through college. It is for us to apply them to solve complex problems on tests and even in our careers.
Too many of my students have readily thought of simple fundamentals to answer tough questions but did not use them, because they didn't trust that their knowledge was correct or that the concepts they elicited could be applied to the question at hand, or because they thought the simple fundamentals that readily came to mind were too simple to answer the complex question. All I do is push them to use the their knowledge to eliminate answer-choices or even choose an answer, and more times than not, they would get it correct—to their own surprise. This happens most with my DAT and MCAT students who are well beyond the fundamentals in their schooling and have forgotten that the fundamentals are the foundation of all things in math and science. I am always happy to see them happy about applying fundamentals to the toughest questions and then continuing to "trust their gut" and getting many, many more questions correct with just the simplest of fundamentals!
How to know when to apply fundamentals to help answer MCAT Questions
Well, first, get it out of your head that MCAT passages are so complex that you can't use fundamentals to answer the questions.
Then, train yourself to heighten your awareness of fundamental words or ideas in question-stems and answer-choices: words/ideas that came up in your Bio, Orgo, Chem, and Phys 101 classes; words/ideas in your MCAT content books; words/ideas that you know you have to know for MCAT. Basically, look for fundamentals in question-stems and answer-choices.
Apply fundamentals if the question-stem and/or answer-choices have fundamental words or ideas, and they almost always do, because all science—no matter how complex—boils down to the fundamentals.
Briefly define the fundamental words/ideas in question-stems and keep them in your head as you are going through the answer-choices and try eliminate any that are off-point with or opposite of the words/ideas in the question-stem. Eliminate any answer-choices that are flat-out fundamentally false; you’ll definitely find these in answer-choices, so heighten your awareness of these!
Overall, LOOK FOR FUNDAMENTALS in questions-stems and answer-choices AND USE THEM to your advantage…. otherwise, all that content review you do for MCAT is useless!
To learn more about how to heighten your awareness of fundamentals in question-stems and answer-choices and how to use them to your advantage so as to apply fundamentals on MCAT to make it so much easier, try a FREE 1-Hour lesson (link below).
How to reinforce content details That You’ve Always had trouble remembering or understanding
When it comes to topics or concepts that you’ve always had trouble remembering or understanding, rather than spending hours or days trying to memorize and understand details of these topics/concepts, review them swiftly in short amounts of time and repeatedly over long periods of time, meaning, throughout your test prep. When you re-review trouble-topics or trouble-concepts repeatedly over long periods of time, you not only reinforce the details, committing them more to memory, you actually start to gain greater understanding and even insight into the topic/concept, which, in turn, will further help you reinforce and commit details to memory. Things come to light or click more when you see them over and over; it’s kind of like watching a movie a second time—you see and/or hear things you didn’t the first time and then understand the movie better, and next thing you know… you’re actually reciting lines from the movie in conversation.
The problem with spending hours or days trying memorize and understand details in one shot, is that you inherently focus more on memorizing than understanding—thinking this is the only time you have to review a particular topic/concept—and focusing more on memorizing than understanding reduces the understanding, which, in turn, takes away from actually reinforcing and committing details to memory.
