Performing well on standardized tests is a must for any future physician. When you make the decision to pursue a career in medicine, you should plan to become the most effective test-taker you can be.
Your first major testing hurdle is the MCAT, and in addition to familiarizing yourself with the assessed topics, you should also consider how you will manage your time on exam day.
While you will ultimately have to decide which methods work best for you, here are three ways to plan how to best manage your time during the MCAT.
[Use these three techniques to ensure a smooth MCAT testing session.]
1. Segment each section’s allotted time into smaller portions: Each of the four MCAT sections is either 90 or 95 minutes long. Intensely focusing for that period of time can understandably lead to fatigue and perhaps even incorrect answers toward the end of each section.
If you discover while completing practice tests that testing fatigue is an issue for you, consider breaking each section into smaller portions. For instance, instead of thinking about all of the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills passages as one entity, tell yourself that you will only be addressing two per time block.
When you finish each portion of two passages, take a small break — 30 seconds or a minute. While you may be reluctant to set aside precious time for a short breather, you may find that you return to the MCAT refreshed and able to move forward with the next two passages more quickly and accurately.
[Get tips to help students sit for the longer MCAT.]
2. Set aside difficult questions for later: Ideally, you will know the answer to each MCAT question as soon as you encounter it. For most students, however, this ideal is far from reality, and you will inevitably discover that some questions are more challenging than others.
One source of test day time-management struggles is when students agonize over one or two questions for several minutes, losing moments that they could better spend answering easier questions.
Before you sit for the MCAT, decide how much time, on average, you will spend on each question. Remember to factor in the total number of passages per section, the total number of questions per passage and your reading speed. During the test, if you find yourself exceeding your time limit for any one question, use the flagging feature to mark it for review and move on to the next.
Return to the flagged questions as time permits — this can help guarantee that you won’t find yourself with little or no time for easier items.
[Steer clear of these three common MCAT mistakes on test day.]
3. Use question stems to guide and prioritize your reading: While it may be tempting to immediately dive into each passage, quickly review the question stems that follow before reading — this may save you time.
Developing some familiarity with the questions you will soon answer can guide what you pay attention to as you read, allowing you to avoid becoming distracted by information that will not be useful later on. Remember that every passage contains information that you won’t be tested on, and that has the potential to confuse you and slow down your reading.
If you choose to review the question stems before reading, be mindful of the time you spend on this strategy. Spend no more than a minute reading the question stems, and remember you don’t need to read the answer options before you read the passage. The goal is simply to gain a sense of what information in the passage may be most important.
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3 Ways to Manage Time for MCAT Success originally appeared on usnews.com
