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Track your weak points

Another tip on how to prepare for MCAT effectively is identifying your weak points and working on them accordingly. After taking your first few practice tests, you will be able to identify the areas you need to improve. In tracking your weak points, it is important to be honest. According to Dr. Sandra McGuire in a podcast with The PreMed Years, mistakes are actually beneficial for a student who is studying for a test like the MCAT. You will be able to tell where your brain has a tendency to go wrong when you identify mistakes. More importantly, working out your mistakes will bring the most out of your studying.

Make Study Schedule

Before putting yourself into studying mode, you ought to make a good study schedule. A study schedule works best when it is followed regularly. You should aim to develop a study schedule that you could follow for the period of each semester in the college. Since the majority of students enroll in various classes every semester, you will need to reevaluate your schedule and improve it every semester. Keep in mind, the most essential thing is sticking with your schedule. Making and following a study schedule could help you concentrate and appropriately manage your time.

Do not forget to study with your notes

When you are preparing for an exam, always go through your notes and do not be completely dependent on your text books. For example, you might have highlighted few topics which are very important in your notes. So, do not miss important topics and learn according to the most important priority topics. And also in this case, do not leave the least important without glancing it as anything can be expected. Also, to make your notes more interesting and easy to study, try to include diagrams, pie charts and graphs to help you understand the topic even better.

Expect anything on your question paper

Make it a habit to expect anything that might be included in your question paper. Never expect a few patterns and prepare in that way and get disheartened. Examiner’s have all right and authority to test you with any kind of question patterns. Do not try selective study methods as this might have a chance of backfiring back at you, and in the end you might end up with questions that you had omitted . So, prepare from all aspects to face whatever the style questions might have been asked.

Do not burn mid night oil

Do not inculcate the methods of studying a day before the exam. It is often misunderstood that the concepts stands better in the memory a night before than reading out earlier. This is not true at all. Reviewing your notes everyday will be a bit time consuming, but it will work wonders at the end, during exams. Try not to cram too hard a day before the exams. Remember when you are burning midnight oils before night of the exam no concepts gets into you as you merely read for marks and not knowing the concepts. There might also be a risk of forgetting everything that you have learned by studying all night.

Assignments are serious job and not for lecturers

Most of the students have a habit of finishing their assignments a day before the submission date and also considers it as a piece of material for marks. Be it a small assignment or big one, it is something which shows your individual contribution. It does not only gain you marks but also helps you to realize your potential. Never postpone doing it or do not do it in a rush. Do not postpone your assignments until the day before they are due submission date. Try to start writing your assignment as soon as possible: Take your time, do some research work and present it at your best. Remember your content will speak for you only if you present it a neat manner. Use proper font size and spacing or if you have been asked to write make sure you keep it legible to understand. Also, if you fail to submit your assignment after the due date, most lecturers won’t even bother to take a look. Make sure that your assignments and assigned work are perfect and they meet the standards and requirement set by the lecturer. This will also create a good impression about you to the professor and can help you earn a good image.

Ask questions and never be ashamed if you do not understand

While attending college we might notice that almost all the students have different levels and capacities of hearing and understanding. Not everyone can grasp and understand everything after one lecture. Such listening skills come by habit for many. If you feel that you are lost and you are struggling to understand the concept of the lesson, then do not hesitate to ask questions and doubts to the lecturer. Always keep in mind that it is better to ask help from lecturers rather than being ignorant about your doubts. Try not to ignore important doubts as these doubts may prove to be a problem for you in the future, especially while studying for exams. Make sure that you ask as much as you can from your lecturer and clarify and learn from those doubts, if possible.

Get involved for yourself

Most of the students misunderstand that most of the lessons are taught and spoon fed to the students. But in reality, it is the opposite. Always remember that you are there to learn. You pay for your education and the teachers do not pay you for hearing their lectures. Always be involved and push yourself to focus on your studies every day because you are the one responsible for your outcome in your career and education. Take responsibility for the money which has been invested on you and your tuition.

Even if you do not read all the day, try to review lessons each day

Finish your subjects day to day might be sounding childish. But that is the best way ever and one alternate is you can at least try to recollect whatever subject contents you have learned through the day. Recent survey tells that the best method of retention is to review your subject within twenty four hours of hearing. Studies have shown that by trying to review lessons on the same day when they are taught, enables students to remember more than half of the material. Hence, reviewing lessons each day can do wonders for your memory and also the retention of the material in one’s mind. Also, recollecting the taught materials every day, can enable you to identify any mistakes or omissions in your notes and materials and helps you to be prepared better for the final exams and tests.

Do not forget to organize your study materials

You might have bundles of notes or any flyer’s which has potential content to be saved. So, never forget to organize you study materials. Try to note down in notebooks or in case when you write down in loose sheets do not forget to file the study materials. Make it a habit to organize every day your study materials which you used on the same day. Organizing class materials is one of the most important qualities that a college student should have. Make sure that you use office stationery such as sticky notes, highlighters and post-it notes to remember various textbook pages, try to save your assignments and also make small organized notes that will help you to remember important terms and words. All these will be of great help to you during the final exam.