Time control is Test control this is a central principle of MCATSaviors Basic/Advanced Timing Strategy course. So why does going over a minute really matter?
It's because the punishment for exceeding one minute per question is baked into the design of the test itself.
In any given section C/P, B/B, and P/S (CARS has a separate set of rules ) half the time is typically given to questions and half to reading the passage. This leaves approximately 1 minute on average(some will be longer and some shorter) for every question. This seems ok except for the fact that the greatest single waste of time students experience is tackling questions they can’t solve.
If you have taken the MCAT previously you are probably familiar with the sensation of “almost” being able to solve a content based question. You know the majority of the info needed, you followed the passage really closely, BUT for some reason the answer isn't clicking.
You know who else knows the answers aren’t clicking? The AAMC.
Questions that trick us into thinking they are “close” to being solved trick us into burning more time than needed on them. But unfortunately, if we are missing even one of the content pieces needed to nail that question we probably can't get it correct no matter how long we spend on it.
In our experience with thousands of students( and many thousands of practice exams) one trend that is really consistent is that as the timestamp of a question goes up the students' accuracy typically goes down. This is typically because beyond a certain point, students stop actively solving questions and resort to rereading answers, the question, or the passage looking for any shred of a hint.
As the timestamp of a question goes UP the students' accuracy typically goes DOWN
This wasted time can unfortunately add up to a lot. Students read a passage in an average of 4.5 minutes. If you waste 2 extra minutes on just 2 questions in the entire exam you could have almost read another passage with that time.
Timing on the MCAT is insanely tough which is why at the MCATSavior we have an entire course dedicated to explaining the timing rules MCAT uses and giving students strategies to consistently beat the AAMC. (its 100% free and you can access it here) In it we cover what are some of the best defenses against the AAMCs psychological timing tricks and hopefully it can really improve your test taking skills as it has for hundreds of other students.
