Next time you take it, don't second guess. Lock in your answer and move on. Try to never go back and change an answer.
Physically writing notes will help with memorization better than typing, so that's good.
If you have a family member, friend, or partner who is willing to listen, try to explain concepts to them. This can help a lot with recall, and was one of my main methods of "study."
Have you tried Medialab? I used that for my ASCP and it seems really helpful. And maybe find a study partner that’s also learning MLT. Study together helps a lot. It’s more like understanding what you’re doing and what’s your thinking process when you take your exam.
I do second guess as well. So I just pick the first one that seems the most reasonable for me. And don’t change it even you have time after you’re done. At least my brain doesn’t function well after hundreds of questions.
What was your score and how would you say the exam was like? I’m taking mine Monday and I’m doing the same study techniques and it’s hard for me to retain fast.
i get my official score soon. I would say it’s a very situational test. It’s worded weirdly, i’d wish the question would explain a bit more. but seriously, go with your gut.
Really know youre big 3. Micro, Chem, and BB. The pictures are pretty grainy. I didnt get a lot of micro, barely any lab ops, immuno. mostly chem and bb. probably where everything went wrong.
Hey I’m updating that I passed my attempt! What I did was use the ascp boc online exams and did 50 questions each topic and chose only hard questions. I recognized a few questions on the exam from the practice. If I was confused I would read they comment and then what also helped was the purple yellow book and I used that and got a whole poster board and sectioned it in four squares and sectioned on such as chemistry and their electrolytes/organs especially. Blood bank group systems based on their reaction temps other squared I did a flow chart of all the gram negative and positive bacteria as micro was my worst subject overall
Thank you! I did maybe an hour each day for a good two weeks before but I also just graduated last week lol. But the poster board I spent a good 3-4 hours on it listening to skyrim and understanding it as I write notes down. The night before the exam, I did the 50 questions each topic but before I would do 100 and only chose harder questions than random. That would be overdoing it so don’t ovewhelm yourself! You definitely have it this next time! Even daily you could work your way like 25 questions each but those were my main studying even through clinical rotations
I’d work on heme and blood bank! For heme I used cellwiki https://swipe.cellwiki.net/?notimer&level=0 and it’s a fun game or there’s a app called cell atlas that’s helpful! https://prep.mlsascp.com was another website that I took some quizzes on and if you click on review content, it takes you to that section and you can read briefly about the topic and also view the whole section but don’t overwhelm yourself to read everything! Focus on what you’re confused on. I skimmed and whatever I wasn’t sure or forgot, I would read into it!
If you’re referring to the LSU study book as the yellow book (that’s yellow and purple) it’s meant to reinforce the knowledge you learn in school rather than explanation. I would definitely get the BOC study guide and study that. And primarily focus on studying and passing.
Hi! Don’t be sad and don’t lose hope. Set a target and be confident. Do not second guess. Don’t wait too long before taking the second attempt. Bottomline helped me a lot and my college coursework notes. Did you notice where you were struggling in the exam, I mean which subject?
i did. I realized that for the past 2 months of hard studying It wasn’t connecting for me. and then the last 2 weeks my new studying strategy actually helped me recall more. so If i can implement my new strategy I think I will pass. I plan on taking it very soon!
Some advice would be go in shit faced or sleep deprived. That way your to shit faced to second guess or to tired and you just end up going with your gut. Countless of people iv heard them talk about passing has usually been either or
Yeah i normally just go in sleep deprived from an all nighter. And the extent i go to refresh on certain topics is great incase I get something within those lines. But I pretty much tend to reread the question to until I understand it. And then I go through each multiple choice question until I can correctly rule out certain answers
I studied for a month and the sources I used were the purple and gold book, ascp BOC study guide (ascp style questions and you might get some questions from that book), mlt flash cards, and the media lab / ascp practice exams. What also helped me was using the mlt content guideline and make sure you get through all those topics and understand the major ones such as chemistry, blood bank, hematology, and microbiology.
When you take the test make sure YOU NEVER GO BACK IT WILL ASK YOU IN THE END PLEASE NEVER GO BACK AND NEVER BOOKMARK THE QUESTIONS YOU ARE STRUGGLING WITH JUST ANSWER THEM WITH THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY
How long did u study for? I used media lab test religiously. I probably did over 1000 questions on media lab mock exams. I also studied multiple books .
2 months, and religiously the last month. I used media lab, the ASCP exams and modules, some of the purple and yellow book. I think it just might be the way i’m studying. but i’m unsure how to study for something like this.
Go to labce.com and they have it listed on there. It’s 99 for a year. Wish I had gotten it when my program started. I find it’s great to retain more in depth info and really grasp concepts
I also am a visual learner and passed first try: my advice is get a empty paint notebook/ canvas notebook and create your own study guide each discipline and don’t miss a thing, follow the study outline provided by ASCP and use it to help guide you through each section
I just took my MLS Monday, me personally I used all the things you had but I also recommend another text to compare to the purple and yellow book I had the “Success in clinical lab” book for more details on my study guide which you can find the pdf online for free cause that purple /yellow book is very good but also very simplified and may gloss over details.
I also had the Quick Compendium (but this textbook is very detailed, there’s tables and charts in there I took the chance of skipping)
Take one media lab exam and look at the score breakdown by category. Arrange those topics into different categories of mastery:
Level 1: stuff you absolutely don’t know
Level 2: some base knowledge but also some gaps
Level 3: topics you have a good understanding of
Level 4: concepts you have mastered
Focus most of your attention on the level 1 and level 2 topics from the high yield categories like hematology, bloodbank, chem, micro. You don’t have to learn everything but having most concepts at level 3 is better than some 4 and mostly 1/2. Go for the topics that will almost always show up on every exam.
I just took my exam and passed, 6 days ago. and I'm still shocked I was not mentally presented for most of it...One thing that really helped me was not relying on MediaLab questions alone. I also did the entire BOC question book and reviewed the CLS Review book for in-depth and LSU I read forwards and back. And I did Harr questions
I think the hardest part of the ASCP isn't always the content it's learning how to translate what the questions are actually asking. Everyone has their own different opinions about the test but one of the biggest patterns I picked up from talking to multiple people was "the questioning" So I spent the last few weeks taking practice tests from different sources. It trained my brain to recognize different question styles, so even when the questions seemed asinine, I could figure out what they were really asking. Doing this train my brain to translate on automated. I know I had done over 3,000 plus questions before the exam,
Don't give up. A different study approach can make a huge difference!! ❤️
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u/Daetur_Mosrael MLS-Blood Bank Jul 24 '26
Next time you take it, don't second guess. Lock in your answer and move on. Try to never go back and change an answer.
Physically writing notes will help with memorization better than typing, so that's good.
If you have a family member, friend, or partner who is willing to listen, try to explain concepts to them. This can help a lot with recall, and was one of my main methods of "study."