Finished my exam and passed. Here's my advice.

Published Aug 6, 2014

1 Post

I scored a 87 on my first exam and none of the sections (I took all of them) are below 80. The school I'm applying to only require 75 on certain sections.

My first advice is study in advance! Really, I don't mean to boast or anything but I literally just touched the review book (The book is Admission Assessment Exam Review, 3^rd Edition btw) and only reviewed A&P the night and the morning before the exam (took it in the afternoon) so I can say I could have got a better score if I studied in advance. You don't have to spend months to study on but you should start studying on it a week before the exam.

I had 4 hours for the exam and I finished in about 3 hr 30'. Here's how you should do it, do the section you're most unconformable with first (mine is A&P) just to get it off your head first, then go to all the English Sections (Reading, Grammar, Vocab), then spend the rest on science subjects (Math, Chem, Bio) and other sections (Critical Thinking, Personality, Learning Style)

Vocabulary (20'): Like I said, I only studied A&P section so I have no clue what's on this section and I still managed to get an 80 (Guess I watch a lot of medical TV shows so it helps a little). When I got back home and checked the book, a lot of them are from the Vocabulary Review sections and in the test sample. You should spend time on it. For some of the questions, you can guess what the word means from the example but it's better to know the meaning than to have to guess it. So yeah, if you spend enough time on the review book, you'll do just fine.

Reading Comprehension (55'): Again, no idea what's on it, still got an 82. This is definitely the longest section so you should do it right after the section that you want to finish it first. Study on the book and keep practicing with the sample test, it will give you the idea of how to read between lines and find the best answer. Know how to recognize the writer's motive, opinion. Know the difference between fact and opinion. Try to understand the passage so you can get what can be implied from the passage and can summarize the passage in a few sentences. There may be some questions that asks what this word in the passage means so beware and read carefully to make the best guess you can come up with. Some passages are quite interesting to read but some are quite dry and full of facts so be ready.

Grammar (25'): Scored an 84. Go to the book, it has everything you need to pass this section. All they ask is what part of the sentence is grammatically correct/incorrect. Know the difference between too/to/two, four/for, etc. I felt so stupid for not studying this section when I got home.

A&P (20'): Ah, this section was not as overwhelming as I thought it was. My last A&P class was 1 year and a half ago but I still got an 84. Again, study on the book, from the review part to the sample test part. If you have an A&P book, revise the first chapters of each organ system of the body (those chapters usually cover how the organ works and stuff). Don't go too deep for the name but you need to know the name of the bones and muscles (but not all of them, what the review book provides is quite enough for the exam, in my opinion). The questions are really general and don't dig really into any particular system so don't worry too much, just know how each system works and a few names. You'll do just fine.

Math (40'): Got a 100 at ease. I didn't worry about this part at all. All you need to know is how to add, subtract, multiply, divide numbers or fractions. Know how to round up the number because some questions will ask you to do it, also there're a few proportion questions but they're really easy. The only problem I had was the calculator program (oh, you're not allowed to bring in your own calculator, the computer has the program for it) was very crappy so it took me a little longer to find the answer. But if you're not comfortable with this subject, just study the book, you'll ace it in no time.

Biology and Chemistry (15' each): Scored a 92 on both of them even though I don't have to take them. The questions are very general. If you just finished your Microbiology course, it would help a lot with Biology. Don't worry, they won't ask about the bacteria name or what disease they cause or anything, just how DNA, protein, carbohydrates work or how the cell works, you know, general biology stuff. The chemistry sections has some questions involving calculating weight, density so you need to know that. You should know different kinds of chemical bond as well. The questions are very general. Again, if you're not good at any of these two, just go to the review book.

Critical Thinking (20'): Got a 820. Have no idea how good that sounds. You should try to be as unbiased and rational as possible, that's all I can give it to you. Most of the questions put you in the position of a nurse and ask you what you would do in different situations. Just try to stay as unbiased and rational as possible.

Personality/ Learning Style: There's no score on these two, just answer it like your buzzfeed quiz, I guess? But if you're rejected because of these two sections, please don't kill me :nailbiting: .

So yeah, that's all I want to share and I just want to emphasize that you should study in advance. If this is what I get from only studying in less than 24 hours prior to the exam, imagine what you geniuses can do! Study hard and you'll do great in the exam.