Advisable to Do a Full-Length Practice Test Before Studying?

[ecobeco]

Since I will be busy next summer with school, I decided to start studying in advance this year. I've purchased TPR's materials and I've gone over a bit of orgo and verbal reasoning. Should I do a practice test first to see where I am before studying? I feel like this is a good idea but I might just end up doing horrible because I haven't done general chem and physics in so long. And this won't be a good indication of what i need to study.

[HopeToBeGreen]

First, good choice on getting the TPR books. I used them and thought they were good.

 

When I started studying, which was much closer to the test date than you are, I wrote a practice test very early on. I was pleasantly surprised by the result and it really helped me to get over any intimidation factor the test held for me. However, I suppose I could just as easily have gotten an ugly surprise and been completely freaked out.

 

Writing a practice test takes a lot of time and I'd suggest that you'd get more benefit for your time by spending those 5 hours reading the TPR books and working through the problems. As you get closer to your test date you'll definitely want to write some practice tests but for now I'd focus on covering the material.

[ecobeco]

Yeah that makes sense. I decided to just sit down with the Physics Review and do something like 50 pages a day, then move on to the other subjects saving orgo for last since there is the least amount on the MCAT. Did you do a prep course? I feel like it would be a waste of money when I can just read and practice at home for free; plus I have all 7 practice tests :S

[vanillabear]

I actually would recommend doing a practice test maybe a week or two into your studying to see if your studying techniques are working. Studying for the MCAT was different than studying for university tests, imo, so having that early experience is good for you.

[atesme]

I, too, would definitely recommend doing a practice test earlier rather than later. I think it's a mistake to hoard your practice tests until the end, telling yourself you don't know enough yet. Remember the MCAT isn't a test of how well you can regurgitate information - it focuses more on how well you absorb and utilize the information you are given. Most of the necessary facts are stated right there in the passage. The most difficult thing isn't the memorizing, it's figuring out how to approach the test in a constructive manner. Even towards the end of my studying, I always thought it was better to take time to practice my testing skills rather than memorizing more teensy details that might not even show up on the day of anyway.

[Leon]

I would do AAMC3 25% of your way into studying. Be warned that this is the easiest AAMC but it should be a good indicator of how you stand. If you major in Bio, you should be scoring pretty well in that section.

 

The truth of the matter is that you can probably hit at least 6 in PS and BS with not much studying (depends on your memory). You should start practicing VR right away since that's the section that takes longest to improve.