“Q:A” Should I do the discrete questions first on the MCAT science sections

QofQuimica: Some of the other moderators may have other thoughts about this issue. My personal opinion is yes; in fact, I do the discrete questions first myself. The main reasons are that the discretes tend to be more straightforward than the passage-based questions, and they take less time to do because there isn’t any passage to read. But there is also a good psychological rationale for doing the discrete questions first: since they tend to be quicker and less involved, getting through them quickly can build up your confidence before you start tackling the passages.

As with any strategy for taking the MCAT, if you are unsure about whether doing the discretes first works for you, you should try it on one or more practice tests well before test day.

Shrike: Q’s right, but there’s even more reason to do what we at TPR call Free-Standing Questions first: even if they aren’t quicker to do (and sometimes they’re not), they tend to take a fixed amount of time — there’s really only one approach to these. On the other hand, there are a variety of ways to approach a passage, some more time-consuming than others. As you approach the time limit, you want all of the inflexible FSQs done, so you can adapt your methodology on the remining, passage-based questions to the time remaining.

On the other hand, if you’re really fast, it doesn’t matter what order you do the questions in.

QofQuimica: I’m really fast, but I still do the discretes first for all the reasons we gave above. Still, I agree that if you don’t have trouble finishing the section on time, then whether to do the discretes first is probably a question of personal preference. But for most students, it will probably save time to do the discretes first.

LT2: I tend to agree with the people who suggest doing the free standing questions first; they tend to give you the most "bang for your buck". They’re quick: either you know ‘em or you don’t, and you don’t want to be stuck at the end of a section leaving three or four free standing questions….I found it really helped me on the PS section where i tended to run short on time.