Balancing School and Exam Prep
1- Assess the Syllabus:
2- How much time do you have until the exam?
3- Set Clear Goals for Learning:
- four (4) questions of reading skills and knowledge acquired in studies;
- five (5) questions of logical reasoning and problems;
- twenty-three (23) biology questions;
- fifteen (15) chemistry questions;
- thirteen (13) physics and mathematics questions.
- Biology is a memory-based subject, and it has the most number of questions. Learning biology subjects first will put you on track as you will see that there are many things to learn and push yourself to come back to studying and moving further. Also if you do the learning part and get rid of it, you’ll have enough time and confidence to start question-solving for biology. Again, as it is a memory-based subject the best way to ace it will be by challenging your memory through quizzes and flashcards. Hence, through these, you’ll only revise the most important parts of the knowledge instead of going over hundreds of pages of materials. Moreover, if you leave biology to the end, you’ll probably feel overwhelmed too soon and stressed about your preparation.
- Chemistry has a huge curriculum too but we have slightly different reasons to prioritize it. It will take time to understand the concepts in chemistry and to understand what the question wants from you as a skill. I teach IMAT Chemistry classes as well and one of the most frequent confusions I see in students is: that they find it hard to apply what they learned in the classes even if they listen carefully and think that they understood the class. Chemistry is a field in which we need to apply our memory, thinking, and calculation skills all together so during your preparation you’ll have to spend time with question solving and subject reviewing. Often you’ll solve questions and realize you could not completely understand a formula or a rule so you’ll go back to your learning materials. Don’t get me wrong, I recommend this approach but you should understand that it will take more time than you assume.
Here is an example structure to inspire you:
First Two Months: Laying the Foundation
Month 1: Diagnostic Phase
Take a diagnostic test to identify your baseline knowledge.
Focus on foundational topics, review core concepts, and identify weak areas.
Month 2: In-Depth Review
Dive deeper into specific subjects, addressing weak areas identified in the diagnostic test.
Begin practicing with basic-level questions to reinforce your understanding.
Months 3-5: Comprehensive Coverage
Month 3-4: Thematic Study
Allocate each month to cover major themes in the IMAT syllabus (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics).
Utilize textbooks, online resources, and practice questions to reinforce your understanding.
Month 5: Integrated Practice
Integrate your knowledge by solving practice tests covering multiple subjects.
Simulate exam conditions to enhance time management skills.
Months 6-7: Refinement and Review
Month 6: Review and Timed Practice
Review all subjects, emphasizing weak areas.
Engage in timed practice to simulate exam conditions and refine time management skills.
Month 7: Intensive Revision
Focus on intensive revision, practicing with mock exams, and consolidating knowledge.
Identify and address any remaining gaps in your understanding
-A year is made of months and months are made of weeks, if you wanna reach your monthly goal, you should set weekly goals too.-
Structuring a Weekly Study Plan: Balancing School/Work Commitments
Weekdays:
Dedicate 2-3 hours on weekdays to IMAT preparation after school.
Rotate between subjects to maintain variety and prevent burnout.
Weekends:
Reserve longer study sessions on weekends (4-6 hours).
Use weekends for in-depth review, practice exams, and addressing weak areas.
Consistency is Key:
Maintain a consistent schedule to ensure steady progress.
Adjust study times based on your school workload and commitments.
Did you fail to meet your weekly/monthly goal? The answer is simple: If you feel like you're falling behind your plan, it doesn't mean that you're failing or stupid, it means that the study plan you made is not for you. Start by decreasing the workload that you aimed for per week. As you get used to the pace, slowly increase the duration/number of questions, etc.
One time per topic is never enough: One of the biggest mistakes I observe with my students is never putting in extra time for revisions. Once they learn a topic in the class, they never revise it. A good revision can include:
Checking the important points in the lecture again.
Watching further videos on the topic or reading from the books.
Checking the summary notes and adding your points: By this method, you'll avoid losing an immense amount of time by writing down everything from scratch. Check my summary notes and personalize them by adding your key points, underlining, and highlighting. another great idea is to prepare flashcards with them. you can use Quizlet or Anki.
A good revision is incomplete without challenging your memory and thinking: SOLVE QUESTIONS. Asking questions about knowledge and answering them is the only way to create the necessary neural links in your brain to remember it. Yes, learning and recalling is a physical & chemical action in your brain. I don't say it, neuroscience says :) Check active recall: https://youtu.be/IyvlgRf7u3Y?si=JP8N8CcQsXyb0tSE
Spaced repetitions: Shortly to say, one revision isn't enough. You should revise the same topic within 1 week, 3 weeks, 6 weeks so on. You can check what is spaced repetition: https://youtu.be/Z-zNHHpXoMM?si=FrtyZ4_6uQRgBtCb
- Check my preparation courses: You can simply avoid losing time in finding the right study materials and building a study plan. I did them for you :)As a medical student in Italy not only did I experience the same marathon and succeed in it but also in the last 5 years I worked hard with dozens of pre-med and medical students to develop a personalized approach to IMAT Preparation.
My courses contain accumulative work of five years which you can see in every detail of slides, summaries, notes, and worksheets. You can find enriched external resources of questions and books to deepen and challenge your knowledge.
Yet, they have the most updated structure: after every IMAT exam, I deeply analyze the paper and update my course content based on the exam curriculum and question styles.
These courses are specifically designed to bridge the gap between your high school education and the IMAT curriculum. If you missed out on certain classes such as Biology or feel a bit rusty due to the passage of time, my courses can take you from the basics to mastery level to help you achieve great scores in the exam.
Check them here: medstudentitaly.gumroad.com
The path can get lonely: As IMAT takers from all around the world, this marathon is not only about studying the most and for the longest hours but also about staying consistent, uplifted, and motivated. Finding other IMAT takers can make you feel less lonely and more motivated. That's why this year I created a telegram group, check it out: https://t.me/+HylaFB5qG5g3ZjI0
Furthermore, you can keep an eye on my social media accounts, it takes only one comment to reach out to me at:
Subscribe to my newsletter to hear about application updates, important deadlines, study tips, and medstudent life in Italy: https://medstudentitaly.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Comments
Post a Comment