PcM Fail - Second Try
A little backstory, I failed the first test a few months ago which I considered to be an unfortunate practice run. I had only missed one section of the exam so I knew I was at least close to grasping the information and was hopeful to take the test again after the waiting period.
This time, I decided to use ARE Test Exam Prep and studied with my tutoring group for a month and a half before the test, during which I also re-read AHPP, Ballast & the Schiff Lectures. I considered myself to be relatively more prepared for the PcM exam and felt better while taking it.
I was pretty shocked and disappointed to find that not only did I fail the test again, but I had actually done worse than my first time. At the very least I was disappointed in myself and am unsure how to proceed.
Was I missing something in the study material? Did I not cover enough content? Any advice is appreciated as I feel this was a major blow to my test taking confidence.
- Emily
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Emily,
Do you have access to practice exams? I recently retook PcM and passed, I think what helped me was taking lnewsof practice exams and going over the sections and types of questions I got wrong. This allowed me to narrow down and focus my studying. For example I would use blackpec and if it says Section 1 I did bad I would look for which types of questions in section 1 gave me the most trouble. I also tried to improve my score each time I took the practice exams
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Hey Tony,
Thanks for your reply! I had access to the Ballast practice exams and did pretty well on those, and like you said I would compare my wrong answers to the correct ones. In retrospect I should have probably delved deeper into the broader themes but will definitely be taking your advice and giving myself more time to grasp the full picture rather than reviewing and moving on.
Would you recommend Black Spectacles as an additional service for studying? I have been on the fence and thought I would be fine with just the ARE test prep.
Again, thank you for your advice, it gives me a little more confidence that the test is at least passable by others and I just have to work harder.
- Emily
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Emily,
So what I like about Blackspectacles is the practice exams, they look and feel like the REAL exam. I use ARE Exam Prep as my basic study material (I like how it's organized) and then I would just dive into the AHPP. I also used Hyperfine it is really good in helping you narrow down AHPP and has links to relevant material.
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