things i wish someone told me before i took the MCAT
1) DON’T take an MCAT prep course
self-study > MCAT prep course
with self-studying, you’re able to create your own tailored schedule.
a tailored schedule is more effective because you can focus on your weaknesses rather than focusing on material you’ve already mastered
2) take high priority classes before the MCAT
classes i recommend taking before the MCAT (¾ listed are required anyway):
biochemistry (with an emphasis on biochem!!!)
additional classes that would be beneficial for ¾ sections:
classes that will help you but aren’t really necessary:
physics: not a major part of the new MCAT
if it doesn’t fit into your schedule, you can still do well.
psychology: everything on the MCAT related to psyc is easy, so you’ll be fine, even if you learn it independently.
classes that wouldn’t be all that helpful:
sociology & english: the MCAT questions are quite different from what you’ll learn in your college class
math: all the math you need for the MCAT is very basic
3) resources i recommend for studying for the MCAT
you can skip the verbal book
from my experience, kaplan basically covers 99% of what you need to know for the MCAT.
what you DON’T want to do with the kaplan books (or any other unofficial practice resource) is take the practice tests in the books
i know a lot of people do that, but i strongly advise against it. the reason being is MCAT test makers phrase their questions in a very specific way, and they want you to think in that specific way.
AAMC official practice resources
they include passage-based question sets, practice tests, and flashcards.
you want to do all of those at least once, BUT you wanna take the practice test at least 2x.
4) schedule your studying
learning period: from the beginning of college up to a month before your MCAT test date
when you read the kaplan books, take very detailed notes (because you don’t wanna spend extra time re-reading when there’s this much material), and come back to those notes any time you forget or need a refresher on something.
this time period is pretty flexible, so you can read the books however you want at whatever pace as long as you get them done a month before your test date before you enter that cram period.
also, during this learning period, you’re taking the relevant classes and absorbing the knowledge to succeed on the MCAT.
how i used the kaplan books during this learning period:
before every relevant class (e.g., before an organic chemistry class), i read the organic chemistry kaplan book, and i think this played a big role in my maintaining a 4.0 throughout the past three years of undergrad.
so if it’s still early in college for you, i highly recommend this approach!
cram period: a month before your MCAT test date
you wanna spend the first couple of days (maybe 2-7 days) reviewing those notes you took from the kaplan books
after reviewing your notes, what you want to spend the rest of your time on is taking practice tests.
take a practice test one day, review it the next day, and you wanna repeat that until a day before your test date.
if you’re doing it right, you should be spending more time reviewing the practice tests than you do taking them (and the exam takes 7hours, so that’s a lot of reviewing).
you might be wondering, “with that schedule that’s a lot of practice tests. where do you get that many practice tests?”
the official AAMC source only has about 3 practice tests
those passage-based question sets the AAMC offers: you want to conglomerate those sets into mock practice tests
you can make an unofficial practice test by taking like 60 biology questions, 60 chemistry questions, 60 verbal questions, 60 psychology questions.
protip for study scheduling for the MCAT: you want to set up your test date so that in that cram period right before the MCAT, you don’t have any school/classes
balancing school and serious (no half-assing!!!!) MCAT studying just don’t go well together
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
jacobvanloon
