Hi everyone…well it has begun. I took the AAMC Practice Exam yesterday. Ok ok I’ll admit I couldn’t sit for 6 hours straight so I had to break it up into 3 hour chunks…it’s like exercising, you have to start slowly. 
Anyways, it took everything in me to not let that one test completely discourage me.
Ok so here’s my question…do any of you have tips on how to get through the test in the time alloted? I found that I could deal with the material if I just had more time to process it. I guess it’s just going to come down to practice, practice, practice. The first thing I did after I finished the exam…got online and bought the 1001 Question books…I’ve got some SERIOUS work to do! 
Hope it went well for everyone…let me know what you thought of it.
Bea
Hi Bea,
I just wanted to let you know I’ve been out sick; I haven’t dropped off the planet. I’ll get back with you when I restart.
Barb
Hey Barb,
I hope you feel better!
Take care,
Bea
I really recommend that you stick with the allotted time right from the start. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Calculate how much time you have per passage or set of discretes (I think it’s 7 minutes apiece for PS and BS and 9 for VR).
2. when you start a section (PS, VR, BS), write down the start time. Calculate and write down the finish time (you will not have a stopwatch or timer in the real MCAT). Put those in front of you on the desk (I just wrote on my desk during the MCAT!). When you start a passage, write your start and stop time at the top of the page. Whatever you do, finish by the stop time. Go on to the next passage. If you finish one early, still allow yourself only the allotted time for the next passage. If you finish the section early, go back and use the remaining time to recheck.
3. if you always do this, you will always finish in time. This also forces you to learn to guess and go on, an essential skill for the accomplished MCATer. Mark whether you knew, guessed, had no idea, changed an answer, etc.
4. as you get more experienced, you can drop this technique
5. After you finish the exam, you can go back (BEFORE looking at answers) and take as much time as you like to redo questions and change answers (do this the next day if you like). Time yourself and see how much extra time you needed. Also, notice how often you guessed correctly.
I used this technique throughout my practice tests, until my timing was very good. On the day of the real MCAT, I did it too, because I did not want to run out of time. Examkrackers says you should never do this, and eventually you will get your timing down just by practicing; that’s true, but in the real thing it’s easy to lose track of time.
Hey, Bea – what city are you in? I’m in TX too–maybe we should get together sometime.
Barb