Creating a Lesson Learned Entry
From exam review mode, use the purple plus sign in the lower right-corner to select + Lesson Learned from any question.
The + Lesson Learned form appears on the side of the screen, but you can drag it to anywhere you’d like. All data for the question you’re on will be captured automatically. Hovering over the info tool-tip shows the full details.
For MCAT, click on Blueprint to input a journal specific to Blueprint materials, or AAMC for AAMC materials.
The Strategy Issue drop-down allows you to select from our list of common strategy issues identified by our academic experts. If you don’t see a strategy issue that applies to you, you can start typing into the field to create your own strategy issue.
Use the What Happened? section to succinctly describe what happened on this question. We give you some prompts to get you thinking.
The Takeaway field is where you record the Lesson Learned. You noted what happened in the last field, and now you note what to avoid so you don’t make the same mistake in the future. Or if it’s a question you answered correctly, make a note here of your “a-ha” moment and how to replicate it in the future.
The Feeling emojis give you the option to select a feeling associated with this particular lesson learned. The Info tool-tip gives some guidance on how to interpret these, and they can be updated later on your Journal page.
Lastly, you can add some next steps to your lesson learned by creating a To Do assignment that will be added to your study plan. When you want to review a module, click on the Module icon, or Other to fill in your custom to-do. This is an optional next step, and you can also do it later from your journal page.
Then click Create, and this entry will be added to your journal.
Viewing your Lessons Learned Journal Page
All of your journal entries will be collected and organized on your new journal page. The tab for this page can be found under Journal in the top menu.
You can filter your journal in a variety of ways. If you only want to see entries from a specific exam, adjust the filter under Source and you will see only the lessons learned from that exam. You can also filter by topic, strategy issue, question type, correct/incorrect, and recorded date of your lesson learned. To clear your options, simply click Reset Filters to start fresh.
Lessons Learned Journal Columns
The first column is your status. It can be New (blue circle), Reviewed (black checkmark), or Revisit (thinking icon). Hover over an entry icon to update it and stay organized. Clicking the column header allows you to sort by status.
The Date column shows the date on which you created the entry.
The Source column will tell you the source that this lesson learned is coming from (with all the data that was captured earlier).
The Feeling column can also be sorted and hovering will enable you to update your feeling on the lesson.
The Categories column will give you more information about the question used for the lesson learned.
Your entries for What Happened (with your Strategy Issue underneath) and your Lesson Learned round out the columns on the journal page.
Editing Lessons Learned Entries
To make edits to your lesson learned, click the Pencil icon in the To-Do list on the right.
You will be able to see whether you included any next steps with a blue indicator dot on an icon in the To-Do list. If you didn’t include next steps, you can do so now, by clicking that icon and opening up a blank template for Create To-Do.
Video Walkthroughs
LSAT Lessons Learned Journal Walkthrough
MCAT Lessons Learned Journal Walkthrough
Lessons Learned Journal for AAMC