Just Done with My Test Today

[milkvincent]

I would say the test was much easier than the 1994 practice test and was of similar difficulty to the 2005 practice test. If you did really bad on the 1994 one (as I did), don't freak out. They probably have updated the test materials over these years.

Here are my suggestions for all those who are going to take the test in the future. First and foremost, give you enough time to study, especially if you are not familiar with many of the topics covered in the test because this test truly covers a whole of stuff. I would say at least 3 months of prep. For the prep, start with the topics you have never learned or not familiar. For me, I have never taken any cell/developmental bio courses so I started with those first. I used the Molecular Biology of the Cell (Alberts et. al.) 5th ed but the 4th ed in the ncbi website is almost the same.

Then after about 1/2 of your prep time, you should begin studying those topics that you are familiar. I would say use your lecture slides/notes if you have taken good notes. These are the best resources in my opinion because these notes/slides usually cover most important details of the topics. They are better than using books because you have to spend time filtering out the unimportant stuff.

About a week or two before the exam date, try do a practice test. Take note of the questions that you know you have studied for them during your prep time but you forget the detail of it. Review those. For those questions that you have absolutely no ideas what those are, just skip them. Don't even think of trying to study for them because you simply won't have enough time. Focus on reviewing the things that you already know to get a better retention of the materials.

Finally, take 1 or 2 more practice tests in the last week. Try to learn how to pace yourself and decide what strategies you should use in the real test. For me, I always start with the matching questions (~Q120-140). They are ones that require the least time to tackle with and usually the easiest ones. Use them to boost your confidence. Your confidence is really important in helping you to proceed smoothly in the test. Then, I will do the experiments part. I will give myself 45 min at maximum to deal with this part. I do this part before the beginning ~120 questions because it is the part that usually takes the longest time. If I deal with them at the last moment, I know that I will be very nervous and will not be able to reason out each question smoothly. And I give myself a time limit (45min) and I will move back to the beginning part even if I haven't finished the experiment part. I do this to ensure I have enough time to finish the first part. And here is my suggestion for pacing: spend at most 1 min per question on the first 120 questions; spend ~10 sec for each matching question; spend at most 45 min for the entire last experiment questions part. This way you will probably be able to finish the whole test. And if you are able to finish the whole test, there is a very high probability that you will get a pretty high percentile score.

Before your test date, make sure you get some good sleep. Nothing can give you a better test performance than having enough rest. Just before your testing time, take a shower. It'll keep you awake and fresh. And make sure you have breakfast. You know why? Because you need to have enough glucose to supply to your brain!!! Double check you have brought your pencils (not mechanical pencils though), erasers, your ID. Bring a jacket in case your testing center has air conditioners set to a very low temperature. Finally, arrive early because you may need to find which room in the building is the actual test site.

And as a final note, good luck to you all who are taking the test!

[natcarmi]

wow....!!!!
thank u very much!!!!

[natcarmi]

where did u find 1994 practice test????