30+ MCAT Study Habits- The CBT Version

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omegaxx

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1) Your individual scores and composite score
PS=14 VR=13 WS=Q BS=14 Composite=41Q

2) The study method used for each section
PS&BS: Reviewed all the materials (except Organic Chem, because I just finished a year long O. Chem course and knew it like the back of my hand). Practiced.
VR: Practice, practice, practice.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Princeton Review all the way.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Princeton Review all the way.
I also bought AAMC 4-6 for building confidence two weeks before the actual exam.

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Pharmacology & English, although I took the exam after sophomore year so I just had the prereq sciences and five English courses under my belt.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Read smartly, and read a lot, not just textbooks and scientific papers and newspaper, but also materials in the humanities department.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
2.5 months (~10 weeks), averaging ~3 hrs/day.

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How much time did you dedicate to each FL? You took quite a few, and I would love to take half as many as you did, but I only have a month to dedicate to FLs after my content review is over, and I was planning on taking a FL then having 2 days to review it, do some extra TBR passages for content review as well as brush up on any weak spots discovered from the FL. I would do 2 of these tests per week plus a break day, per the SN2ED schedule.

Would you recommend doing more FL's and trying to cut down on the review time?
I took one FL a day on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Look over the FLs on the rest while taking care of class works. So if you have no class over the summer, you could do one FL and then FL review the following day. If you do that you'll be able to take 12-14 practices. I mean the FL review days are very light. The better you do, the lesser you have to review so if you do well, the reviews day could be your "kinda" break day. Don't study too much the day before the exam though. just relax. TBR passages were too hard for me but if you can do them, by all means. you will be well prepared. I would suggest the kaplan topical subject tests over TBR passages for content review though since topicals test concept much like MCAT but in a more complex way. But it's totally your preference. Hope this helps.
 
I took one FL a day on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Look over the FLs on the rest while taking care of class works. So if you have no class over the summer, you could do one FL and then FL review the following day. If you do that you'll be able to take 12-14 practices. I mean the FL review days are very light. The better you do, the lesser you have to review so if you do well, the reviews day could be your "kinda" break day. Don't study too much the day before the exam though. just relax. TBR passages were too hard for me but if you can do them, by all means. you will be well prepared. I would suggest the kaplan topical subject tests over TBR passages for content review though since topicals test concept much like MCAT but in a more complex way. But it's totally your preference. Hope this helps.

Awesome, thanks for the reply. I think that I will have to wait and see how my first FL goes and the subsequent review day goes. I think that getting some extra practice tests in there will help me more than doing more BR practice passages. From what I've read, I think I'm going to go with the GS tests.

Really appreciate the response, all of this studying is so stressful, especially not knowing where I stand at the moment because I haven't taken any diagnostics or anything. Some days I feel like I would score a 12 composite and some days I feel like I'm in the high 20's. I guess only time will tell.
 
Awesome, thanks for the reply. I think that I will have to wait and see how my first FL goes and the subsequent review day goes. I think that getting some extra practice tests in there will help me more than doing more BR practice passages. From what I've read, I think I'm going to go with the GS tests.

Really appreciate the response, all of this studying is so stressful, especially not knowing where I stand at the moment because I haven't taken any diagnostics or anything. Some days I feel like I would score a 12 composite and some days I feel like I'm in the high 20's. I guess only time will tell.
I know it's a very very stressful time. Hang in there and soon you will be on your computer refreshing every 10 seconds waiting for the score. GS FLs are great. They are hard so they toughen you up. I would suggest take AAMC3 if you can asap. You don't have to pour over the AAMC review because it's kinda old but it will put your mind at ease and helps you target your weakness. Just PM me if you have any question or if you are feeling down :) I totally understand what you are going through. Best of luck!
 
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A
Uhhh...
This is not the place to post an advertisement for your app. Just sayin'. People watch this thread diligently to see others' MCAT scores and how they did it and your post is taking advantage of that. That app is brand new and "you and your friends" probably developed this app and I'm not sure if this is against TOS on SDN but it should be.
HAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this comment made my day.
 
I finally get to post in here! I know my 31 isnt crazy like these other nuts, but its 30+! Good luck!


1) Your individual scores and composite score


April 24, 2014: PS 11 VR 9 BS 11 = 31


2) The study method used for each section


For all the sciences, I think I watched Chad’s Videos at least 5x before jumping into BR. For me, I like having someone teach it to me because it seems to stick better. After watching his videos, the BR books were much easier to navigate.


Physical Sciences: For physics, I completed every passage in Berkeley Review and all the free standing questions in the TPR Science workbook to really drill in the concepts. Physics was my weak subject because I didn't have any formal physics courses, so I learned it from scratch. For general chemistry, I completed about half of the passages in the Berkeley Review, and all the FSQ in TPR SW as well. I started working some of the passages in TPRSW as well, but ran out of time. I wish I could have finished the rest of them.


Verbal Reasoning: This was BY FAR the toughest section for me. I started using ExamKrackers 101 and got a 6 my first test. My scores in EK 101 ranged from 7-8, with I think one 9. I never broke 9. After completing all of EK 101, I used TPR hyper learning and completed all the passages in that as well. Overall, I don't think I ever broke 9 on any practice material and averaged around 7-8. I can't really give any tips in VR besides to do a lot of passages. For the real exam, my plan was to go in to it and read the first paragraph. If the passage was humanities or philosophy, I would skip it because during practice, I would average like 2/7 on these types of passages, but I would score well on the other passages.


Biological Sciences: For biology, I read through EK, but for me it wasn’t enough. I also read through Princeton Review biology to get a better understanding. As far as passages for biology, the only practice passages I did were about ¼ of the passages in TPRSW. These are the best for sure because they have a lot of experimental passages. I also completed the FSQ in TPRSW for biology. For organic, I literally only used Chad and did a few passages. I really didn’t focus a lot on O-chem (which was dumb because on the exam I had a few ochem questions that I got wrong which would have raised my score to 12-13.)



3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)


Answered this above


4) Which practice tests did you use?


AAMC 3-11

Ended up scoring 31 on AAMC 10 and 29 on AAMC 11.


Berkeley Review CBT Tests 1-5 (good practice for sciences, but tougher. VR is crap.)




5) What was your undergraduate major?


UCLA neuroscience BS


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?


Start early. Even if you plan out a schedule, you are probably gonna fall behind and wish you had another week or so to study. DO A LOT OF PRACTICE PROBLEMS. Seriously, if you sat down and completed all of the BR passages and TPR SW passages, there is NO reason you shouldn’t score at least 12 in the sciences. Stay calm and take a break day every few days. On test day stay calm. The test is much harder than the practices and it is overwhelming. After the test, youre gonna feel horrible. I was SURE that I scored a 6 in VR, but ended up with a 9 which was the highest Ive ever scored.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?


Around 4 months
 
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I finally get to post in here! I know my 31 isnt crazy like these other nuts, but its 30+! Good luck!


1) Your individual scores and composite score


April 24, 2014: PS 11 VR 9 BS 11 = 31


2) The study method used for each section


For all the sciences, I think I watched Chad’s Videos at least 5x before jumping into BR. For me, I like having someone teach it to me because it seems to stick better. After watching his videos, the BR books were much easier to navigate.


Physical Sciences: For physics, I completed every passage in Berkeley Review and all the free standing questions in the TPR Science workbook to really drill in the concepts. Physics was my weak subject because I didn't have any formal physics courses, so I learned it from scratch. For general chemistry, I completed about half of the passages in the Berkeley Review, and all the FSQ in TPR SW as well. I started working some of the passages in TPRSW as well, but ran out of time. I wish I could have finished the rest of them.


Verbal Reasoning: This was BY FAR the toughest section for me. I started using ExamKrackers 101 and got a 6 my first test. My scores in EK 101 ranged from 7-8, with I think one 9. I never broke 9. After completing all of EK 101, I used TPR hyper learning and completed all the passages in that as well. Overall, I don't think I ever broke 9 on any practice material and averaged around 7-8. I can't really give any tips in VR besides to do a lot of passages. For the real exam, my plan was to go in to it and read the first paragraph. If the passage was humanities or philosophy, I would skip it because during practice, I would average like 2/7 on these types of passages, but I would score well on the other passages.


Biological Sciences: For biology, I read through EK, but for me it wasn’t enough. I also read through Princeton Review biology to get a better understanding. As far as passages for biology, the only practice passages I did were about ¼ of the passages in TPRSW. These are the best for sure because they have a lot of experimental passages. I also completed the FSQ in TPRSW for biology. For organic, I literally only used Chad and did a few passages. I really didn’t focus a lot on O-chem (which was dumb because on the exam I had a few ochem questions that I got wrong which would have raised my score to 12-13.)



3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)


Answered this above


4) Which practice tests did you use?


AAMC 3-11

Ended up scoring 31 on AAMC 10 and 29 on AAMC 11.


Berkeley Review CBT Tests 1-5 (good practice for sciences, but tougher. VR is crap.)




5) What was your undergraduate major?


UCLA neuroscience BS


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?


Start early. Even if you plan out a schedule, you are probably gonna fall behind and wish you had another week or so to study. DO A LOT OF PRACTICE PROBLEMS. Seriously, if you sat down and completed all of the BR passages and TPR SW passages, there is NO reason you shouldn’t score at least 12 in the sciences. Stay calm and take a break day every few days. On test day stay calm. The test is much harder than the practices and it is overwhelming. After the test, youre gonna feel horrible. I was SURE that I scored a 6 in VR, but ended up with a 9 which was the highest Ive ever scored.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?


Around 4 months

I am in the SAME position with these verbal tests I am taking from EK101 but I am like 2-3 questions away... Did you think your test was similar to the EK101 and also were you able to apply some of the same strategies??

Also for physics I am the same.. had to learn from scratch.. Do you think the TPR hyperlearning or the TBR passages were most similar to the test? Did you do passages after you would review or wait a while to see how much you retained?

One last thing, how did you retain information, especially for physics? Did you just keep reviewing? memorize formulas? go back to the TBR chapters?

THANK YOU !!!
 
I am in the SAME position with these verbal tests I am taking from EK101 but I am like 2-3 questions away... Did you think your test was similar to the EK101 and also were you able to apply some of the same strategies??

Also for physics I am the same.. had to learn from scratch.. Do you think the TPR hyperlearning or the TBR passages were most similar to the test? Did you do passages after you would review or wait a while to see how much you retained?

One last thing, how did you retain information, especially for physics? Did you just keep reviewing? memorize formulas? go back to the TBR chapters?

THANK YOU !!!
Pm me
 
Hi, I am new to this forum. I gave the KAPLAN MCAT Practice Test and I got a 21. 5 on Physical Sciences, 11 on Verbal Reasoning, and 5 on Biology. I don't know why it seemed harder than the Barron's Practice tests. I am 17 and I will be taking the test in August, I am a Sophomore at Rutgers New Brunswick. I don't think this test is about memorizing so trying it wont really help. Any suggestions?
 
Hi, I am new to this forum. I gave the KAPLAN MCAT Practice Test and I got a 21. 5 on Physical Sciences, 11 on Verbal Reasoning, and 5 on Biology. I don't know why it seemed harder than the Barron's Practice tests. I am 17 and I will be taking the test in August, I am a Sophomore at Rutgers New Brunswick. I don't think this test is about memorizing so trying it wont really help. Any suggestions?
What? lol
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
May 8, 2014: PS 12 VR 10 BS 14 = 36


2) The study method used for each section
I spent the first month reviewing content. I would read 8 chapters of the review books each week, and finished in four weeks. So I would read one chapter a day and then read two on some arbitrary day (didn't matter which, as long as it got done). Through physics and gen chem, I kept sheets of paper where I would jot down math tricks, formulae, and tricky concepts for each chapter. Then throughout the entire time between this and the MCAT, if something reminded me of a concept I had studied, I would go over it in my head (slightly neurotic, but it worked). Also, I did not read the verbal review books.
After finishing my content review, I spent the next three months doing practice material and the schedule I used is as follows:
Sunday:
Practice test (I started with AAMC 3, then did TBR 1-4, then I did the AAMCs in order but I skipped AAMC7 because of time). I started with 3 to get a feel of the official tests, and so that I could know how representative TBR was. I stopped TBR before finishing the 5 tests I ordered because I felt it was too difficult and was hurting my confidence. I started off scoring 30 and 31 on all of them, and when I moved on to the AAMCs I immediately scored 36-39 on them all.
Monday:
Review practice test. Kept a journal of my mistakes from BS and PS.
Tuesday:
BS practice passages and FSQ. From the big TPR practice book.
Wednesday:
Timed practice VR section from 101 passages
Thursday:
PS practice passages and FSQ. From the big TPR practice book.
Friday:
Review my "mistake book" from all previously taken practice tests as well as the PS sheets I had made during content review.
Saturday:
Break day

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
TPR for content. AAMC, TBR for practice tests. TPR 101 passages for verbal.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
AAMC 3, TBR 1-4, AAMC 4-5 and 8-11.


5) What was your undergraduate major?
Biology and Psychology.


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Stick to your routine. DO NOT SKIP DAYS. Especially for content review. Skipping some practice stuff later on will be okay, though. Keep a mistake book, and review it. It sucks and is very arduous, but review it every week. You WILL see concepts repeating on the tests and you WILL remember reading how you messed up on it before.
Stay positive and stay calm. When taking practice tests and especially the real deal, this is very very important. Drop all baggage before taking any form of MCAT test. Don't think about any drama or homework or anything while taking this test. Before each section, I would put my head down and just focus on breathing and think about the section I was about to take, how great I was going to do, and how lucky I was to have the chance to be there taking that section. Once you finish a section, DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT. Just take your 10 minute break and think about the next. Lingering thoughts about PS when you're on VR will make you do worse. Think about everything after the whole test is over.
And also, use your breaks. Walk around, eat something each time, drink water. It's all very important.

Good luck everyone!

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
4 months (January-May)
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score

May 8, 2014: PS 14 VR 12 BS 12 = 38
First and only time taking the test.

2) The study method used for each section

First off, my strategy was to remove myself from virtually all other responsibilities for about 14-15 weeks (mainly February, March, and April) to focus solely on MCAT preparation. I had no classes. I had no work. I decided that I would give my absolute best effort to succeed on this thing and only take it once. I realize I was fortunate (and sacrificed a lot) to do this, mainly pushing back my graduation one semester. But I feel it was worth it.

I have a 4+ year history of undergraduate biological sciences coursework, including all the med school pre-req's. In addition, I have taken genetics, molecular cell biology, anatomy and physiology, intro biochem, medical biochem, developmental neurobiology, and comparative vertebrate anatomy. This college course history led me to feel very strong in biology from the outset. Not so much, however, in o-chem. It had also been four years since I had taken chemistry 1 and 2 and physics, however.

I began by doing a diagnostic test before any content review / learning. I used AAMC e-mcat 3, the free one, and scored a 28 with a 7 on PS. This let me know I really needed to shore up chemistry and physics. I decided to do this first and, after speaking with a few people at my school and reading lots of positive reviews on this site, determined the Berkeley Review was that good good super fly for physical sciences.

Physical Sciences: Berkeley Review. I spent a solid five or six weeks doing the four PS books (two for general chemistry, two for physics). These four books comprised 99% of my review and practice for PS (I did a few problems later from the Princeton Review Science Workbook). I did the BR books exactly as they instructed, however I changed my scoring scales for the end-of-chapter passages/questions as I determined their scales were way too lenient. Yes, I know BR is tougher, but their scales were a little ridiculous. I ended up subtracting about 2 from every scale score (so I could never score higher than a 13, which I felt was realistic). I did not use the Berkeley Review's other practice tests or review, though I'm sure they'd be great too.

I decided to take my biggest weaknesses and work my ass off until they were my greatest strengths. Nothing will give you more confidence than realizing you're really good at something you were previously poor at. And again, I see this mcat lesson echoing in life, pardon the cliché.

Verbal Reasoning: I used only AAMC fl passages (and a Princeton Review practice test) and a few "tips and strategies" how-to articles including this one:

http://www.studentdoctor.net/2012/09/best-methods-to-improve-your-mcat-verbal-reasoning-vr-score/.

I mainly relied on my fairly strong reading comprehension skills.

Biological Sciences: I used Princeton Review's organic chemistry book and ExamKrackers' book for Biology for strict content review / end-of-chapter practice passages and questions (and whenever I felt like Examkrackers Biology was a little lacking, I would glance at Princeton Review's biology book, but this wasn't often). However, for biology, I again relied mainly on my background. I really relied on Princeton Review's organic book to learn and re-learn o-chem. I also purchased a used copy of the Princeton Review Science Workbook, but only did perhaps 100 questions from it (and it has thousands). I also listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car whenever I drove anywhere, which was helpful for o-chem especially, and also biology.

Utilizing every AAMC e-mcat's material was crucial and arguably the most important study method overall. I planned on purchasing the AAMC Official MCAT Self-Assessment Package, but never got around to it. If I could do it again, I would utilize absolutely everything the AAMC provides. If you were trying to gain residency to Japan, would you buy official guides by the Japanese government first, before third party material? A terribly stretched analogy but yes you would.


3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)

AAMC for everything chiefly and firstly. Especially the content guides.

PS: Berkeley Review. Listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car.

VR: Only AAMC e-mcat full-lengths and one Princeton Review practice test. See above. I mainly relied on my reading comprehension skills and once I saw I was averaging a steady 11 on the practice tests, I honestly neglected VR for the most part.

BS: Princeton Review for organic chemistry and ExamKrackers (and very little Princeton Review) for Biology. ~100 questions from the Princeton Review Science Workbook, mainly for 0-chem practice. Listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car, which was actually really helpful for o-chem and biology.

Again, for all three, the AAMC e-mcat practice tests were crucial.

4) Which practice tests did you use?

All AAMC e-mcat's except for #4, and one Princeton Reveiw test (one from an access code you get when you buy their books). I did e-mcat 3 before starting content review, e-mcat 5 after finishing PS review, e-mcat 10 and the Princeton Review test after organic review, then e-mcats 9, 8, 11, and 7 after pretty much all review (bio) was completed. I chose this order because of the semi-diagnostic nature / difficulty differences of each exam. I would have done e-mcat #4 had I managed my time better.

The AAMC e-mcats not only served as diagnostics (every one, for every subject, just at different stages of preparation), but also content review. Yes, the earlier e-mcats were easier overall (and contained PS sections which were a far cry from what I saw on 5/8), but I'm a proponent of taking everything the AAMC provides very seriously.

Test Date Score (PS/VR/BS)

AAMC e-mcat 3 (1/19/14) 28 (7/11/10)
AAMC e-mcat 5 (3/20/14) 31 (11/9/11)
AAMC e-mcat 10 (4/18/14) 35 (12/13/10)
Princeton Review (4/22/14) 23 (7/9/7)
AAMC e-mcat 9 (5/1/14) 36 (12/11/13)
AAMC e-mcat 8 (5/3/14) 39 (14/11/14)
AAMC e-mcat 11 (5/4/14) 37 (14/11/12)
AAMC e-mcat 7 (5/6/14) 39 (15/11/13)

AAMC e-mcat average: 35

What was your undergraduate major?

Biology


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

I need to make this clear: I started with a 7 on PS on the diagnostic test, e-mcat 3. I ended up scoring a 14 on what was by far the most difficult, wild, bizarre PS section I had ever seen (the May 8th MCAT PS section). I guessed on at least 10 questions, which were pretty much 25%-chance straight-up guesses. I didn't even know if I had answered every question. And I got a 14. If this is not a testament to the Berkeley Review's physical sciences books, I don't know what is.

I also learned a few critical things, chief among which was the importance of timing myself. I learned to, before each practice test, create a timing sheet with guidelines, in such a fashion that I could easily replicate it on test day (once the test started and I could write on the scratch paper). I created it so that on the PS and BS sections, I would hopefully have six minutes to review after answering every question. So it turned out as:

Done with this question By this time (time remaining)
#13 54:00
#26 38:00
#39 22:00
#52 6:00

This helped me so much, mentally and practically. Just being cognizant of my pace made a huge difference. More often than not I would be a few minutes behind then only have two or so minutes to review, but simply knowing this while testing was huge.

Finally, if you can manage it, make preparing for this test your main focus while you can. I can't imagine trying to take classes or working or volunteering or doing extracurriculars or all of the above while also prepping for the MCAT. I know that's nowhere near possible for most people, but that was definitely a huge reason why I scored a 38.

Best of luck to everyone about to take the test. I'm not a genius. I have a very low GPA. I had a pretty-good-but-not-great SAT score. But I prepped as best I could and scored super duper well.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?

About 14-15 weeks.
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score

May 8, 2014: PS 14 VR 12 BS 12 = 38
First and only time taking the test.

2) The study method used for each section

First off, my strategy was to remove myself from virtually all other responsibilities for about 14-15 weeks (mainly February, March, and April) to focus solely on MCAT preparation. I had no classes. I had no work. I decided that I would do give my absolute best effort to succeed on this thing and only take it once. I realize I was fortunate (and sacrificed a lot) to do this, mainly pushing back my graduation one semester. But I feel it was worth it.

I have a 4+ year history of undergraduate biological sciences coursework, including all the med school pre-req's. In addition, I have taken genetics, cell biology, anatomy and physiology, intro biochem, medical biochem, developmental neurobiology, and comparative vertebrate anatomy. This college course history led me to feel very strong in biology from the outset. Not so much, however, in o-chem. It had also been four years since I had taken chemistry 1 and 2 and physics, however.

I began by doing a diagnostic test before any content review / learning. I used AAMC e-mcat 3, the free one, and scored a 28 with a 7 on PS. This let me know I really needed to shore up chemistry and physics. I decided to do this first and, after speaking with a few people at my school and reading lots of positive reviews on this site, determined the Berkeley Review was that good good super fly for physical sciences.

Physical Sciences: Berkeley Review. I spent a solid five or six weeks doing the four PS books (two for general chemistry, two for physics). These four books comprised 99% of my review and practice for PS (I did a few problems later from the Princeton Review Science Workbook). I did the BR books exactly as they instructed, however I changed my scoring scales for the end-of-chapter passages/questions as I determined their scales were way too lenient. Yes, I know BR is tougher, but their scales were a little ridiculous. I ended up subtracting about 2 from every scale score (so I could never score higher than a 13, which I felt was realistic). I did not use the Berkeley Review's other practice tests or review, though I'm sure they'd be great too.

Verbal Reasoning: I used only AAMC fl passages (and a Princeton Review practice test) and a few "tips and strategies" how-to articles including this one:

http://www.studentdoctor.net/2012/09/best-methods-to-improve-your-mcat-verbal-reasoning-vr-score/.

I mainly relied on my fairly strong reading comprehension skills.

Biological Sciences: I used Princeton Review's organic chemistry book and ExamKrackers' book for Biology for strict content review / end-of-chapter practice passages and questions (and whenever I felt like Examkrackers Biology was a little lacking, I would glance at Princeton Review's biology book, but this wasn't often). However, for biology, I again relied mainly on my background. I really relied on Princeton Review's organic book to learn and re-learn o-chem. I also purchased a used copy of the Princeton Review Science Workbook, but only did perhaps 100 questions from it (and it has thousands). I also listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car whenever I drove anywhere, which was helpful for o-chem especially, and also biology.

Utilizing every AAMC e-mcat's material was crucial and arguably the most important study method overall. I planned on purchasing the AAMC Official MCAT Self-Assessment Package, but never got around to it. If I could do it again, I would utilize absolutely everything the AAMC provides. If you were trying to gain residency to Japan, would you buy official guides by the Japanese government first, before third party material? A terribly stretched analogy but yes you would.


3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)

AAMC for everything chiefly and firstly. Especially the content guides.

PS: Berkeley Review. Listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car.

VR: Only AAMC e-mcat full-lengths and one Princeton Review practice test. See above. I mainly relied on my reading comprehension skills and once I saw I was averaging a steady 11 on the practice tests, I honestly neglected VR for the most part.

BS: Princeton Review for organic chemistry and ExamKrackers (and very little Princeton Review) for Biology. ~100 questions from the Princeton Review Science Workbook, mainly for 0-chem practice. Listened to Examkrackers' Audio Osmosis in the car, which was actually really helpful for o-chem and biology.

Again, for all three, the AAMC e-mcat practice tests were crucial.

4) Which practice tests did you use?

All AAMC e-mcat's except for #4, and one Princeton Reveiw test (one from an access code you get when you buy their books). I did e-mcat 3 before starting content review, e-mcat 5 after finishing PS review, e-mcat 10 and the Princeton Review test after organic review, then e-mcats 9, 8, 11, and 7 after pretty much all review (bio) was completed. I chose this order because of the semi-diagnostic nature / difficulty differences of each exam. I would have done e-mcat #4 had I managed my time better.

The AAMC e-mcats not only served as diagnostics (every one, for every subject, just at different stages of preparation), but also content review. Yes, the earlier e-mcats were easier overall (and contained PS sections which were a far cry from what I saw on 5/8), but I'm a proponent of taking everything the AAMC provides very seriously.

Test Date Score (PS/VR/BS)

AAMC e-mcat 3 (1/19/14) 28 (7/11/10)
AAMC e-mcat 5 (3/20/14) 31 (11/9/11)
AAMC e-mcat 10 (4/18/14) 35 (12/13/10)
Princeton Review (4/22/14) 23 (7/9/7)
AAMC e-mcat 9 (5/1/14) 36 (12/11/13)
AAMC e-mcat 8 (5/3/14) 39 (14/11/14)
AAMC e-mcat 11 (5/4/14) 37 (14/11/12)
AAMC e-mcat 7 (5/6/14) 39 (15/11/13)

AAMC e-mcat average: 35
What was your undergraduate major?

Biology


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

I need to make this clear: I started with a 7 on PS on the diagnostic test, e-mcat 3. I ended up scoring a 14 on what was by far the most difficult, wild, bizarre PS section I had ever seen (the May 8th MCAT PS section). I guessed on at least 10 questions, which were pretty much 25%-chance straight-up guesses. I didn't even know if I had answered every question. And I got a 14. If this is not a testament to the Berkeley Review's physical sciences books, I don't know what is.

I also learned a few critical things, chief among which was the importance of timing myself. I learned to, before each practice test, create a timing sheet with guidelines, in such a fashion that I could easily replicate it on test day (once the test started and I could write on the scratch paper). I created it so that on the PS and BS sections, I would hopefully have six minutes to review after answering every question. So it turned out as:

Done with this question By this time (time remaining)
#13 54:00
#26 38:00
#39 22:00
#52 6:00

This helped me so much, mentally and practically. Just being cognizant of my pace made a huge difference. More often than not I would be a few minutes behind then only have two or so minutes to review, but simply knowing this while testing was huge.

Finally, if you can manage it, make preparing for this test your main focus while you can. I can't imagine trying to take classes or working or volunteering or doing extracurriculars or all of the above while also prepping for the MCAT. I know that's nowhere near possible for most people, but that was definitely a huge reason why I scored a 38.

Best of luck to everyone about to take the test. I'm not a genius. I have a very low GPA. But I prepped as best I could and scored super duper well.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?

About 14-15 weeks.


Incredible score, Alex! In terms of the PS section, would you credit TBR's content, tips/tricks throughout the content, or the practice problems as the reason for your success? I have been trying to use TBR PS but I keep feeling as though they don't give enough content and expect a strong understanding of the material to answer the in-chapter example questions. Very frustrating.

If you feel as though it's the practice problems that helped you the most, then I'll feel more comfortable just using TPR for content & TBR for the questions.

Thanks!
 
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Incredible score, Alex! In terms of the PS section, would you credit TBR's content, tips/tricks throughout the content, or the practice problems as the reason for your success? I have been trying to use TBR PS but I keep feeling as though they don't give enough content and expect a strong understanding of the material to answer the in-chapter example questions. Very frustrating.

If you feel as though it's the practice problems that helped you the most, then I'll feel more comfortable just using TPR for content & TBR for the questions.

Thanks!

Thanks for the compliment! As far as the Princeton Review for PS goes, I can't speak to it because I didn't use it.

What I do know is that I felt Berkeley Review gave me more than enough content clarification and details, along with stellar passages and really helpful tips and tricks (like how to do certain math steps quickly, shortcuts to save time, etc.)

I think the mcat is becoming more and more a very complicated reading comprehension test. This goes more for BS than PS, but I really think practice and ironing out your weaknesses is more important than knowing every little detail about every single subject.

If you go through all four BR PS books, understand everything, and do fairly well on their end-of-chapter passages/questions (or at least show an upward trend), you should feel very comfortable. I didn't buy the BR PS extra practice tests, but that's probably a good idea too. And just practice from all sources (mainly AAMC stuff) after that.

It's much more important to understand concepts and become quick at basic math problems (which BR does a great job with) like log shortcuts and estimating answer ranges than trying to memorize tons of equations. Yes, there are some you need to know by heart, but definitely not all. I think one of the BR books even says as much - the important equations you will need are always given in the passage. Yes, you'll be a little faster if you already know it, but practice is more important.

The Berkeley Review PS books: if you study, they will come. They = baller ass high scores.
 
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Thanks for the compliment! As far as the Princeton Review for PS goes, I can't speak to it because I didn't use it.

What I do know is that I felt Berkeley Review gave me more than enough content clarification and details, along with stellar passages and really helpful tips and tricks (like how to do certain math steps quickly, shortcuts to save time, etc.)

I think the mcat is becoming more and more a very complicated reading comprehension test. This goes more for BS than PS, but I really think practice and ironing out your weaknesses is more important than knowing every little detail about every single subject.

If you go through all four BR PS books, understand everything, and do fairly well on their end-of-chapter passages/questions (or at least show an upward trend), you should feel very comfortable. I didn't buy the BR PS extra practice tests, but that's probably a good idea too. And just practice from all sources (mainly AAMC stuff) after that.

It's much more important to understand concepts and become quick at basic math problems (which BR does a great job with) like log shortcuts and estimating answer ranges than trying to memorize tons of equations. Yes, there are some you need to know by heart, but definitely not all. I think one of the BR books even says as much - the important equations you will need are always given in the passage. Yes, you'll be a little faster if you already know it, but practice is more important.

The Berkeley Review PS books: if you study, they will come. They = baller ass high scores.

When you say 'Do fairly well on their end-of-chapter passages/questions', what kind of scores would you say people should be trying to get to feel a bit more confident? 70% or more? 80%?
 
When you say 'Do fairly well on their end-of-chapter passages/questions', what kind of scores would you say people should be trying to get to feel a bit more confident? 70% or more? 80%?

I averaged around 76% right early on in chem (I did chem first), then worked up to around 79% or 80% later in physics. I believe it worked out to 11 or 12ish on their scales, which I adjusted to 10ish average.
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score

April 24, 2014: PS 9 VR 10 BS 14 = 33
First and only time taking the test.

2) The study method used for each section

For the first three weeks I used Chad's videos (http://www.coursesaver.com) to review Gen. Chem, O. Chem, and Physics (best desicion ever!)
After that I had content down but I still went over the Kaplan books for Physics, Chem, O.Chem, and Bio.
Having content down is not enough, you need to do practice MCAT style questions for each section.
For verbal just practice, practice, and practice.



3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
1) Chad's videos for a quick review of science content(expect for bio)
2) I took a Kaplan course. I know they're expensive but it was totally worth the investment. What I liked about Kaplan is they didn't focus too much on content, like what all other test prep companies do, but they focused on getting you to think in MCAT mode. They give you enough content, other companies give way too much, but their main focus is getting you used to MCAT style questions. Plus if you feel like you need more content you could always refer to other sources. They give plenty of practice for all 3 sections!
3)EK101 verbal passages and The Princeton Review Verbal Hyper-learning. I finished these early on in my studying so that I could then move on to computer verbal exams instead of paper.
4) THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. AAMC practice tests and and self assessments. They came free with my Kaplan course.


4) Which practice tests did you use?
Kaplan provides 11 practice tests (i did 9 of them)
I also did all 8 AAMC practice exams
my average for Kaplan exams 6-9(I did these ones first) was 28.5
my average for Kaplan exams 1-5 was 33.8
my average for AAMC exams was 30.75 (i usually got 33 or 32 but AAMC 10 and 11 were hard)
The scoring of AAMC practice material is VERY much like the actual test!

What was your undergraduate major?

Biology
6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
First off Confidence and having a strong support group really help! I also had something to motivate me every day, I wrote 45 on computer paper and taped it on the wall in front of my desk at home. Lol I know it's silly but anytime I would get sick of studying I would look up at it and get some energy to keep going. Try to study at the same time everyday, I loved getting up at 8am and starting at 9. Study in blocks and TAKE BREAKS! I also had one day off every week and did zero MCAT studying that day. It might seem like a bad idea to do that, but trust me it helps keep you sane. I would study about 30-35 hours a week with the day off, one of my friends did no days off and he would average a lot less because he would get exhausted. Plus these 30-35 hours are real studying, not just sitting there staring at my books. In conclusion having a day off gives you energy to keep going hard! One last thing, really take the time to review your practice exams, if you don't you will NOT see much of a rise in your score.
7) How long did you study for the MCAT
I took one week off after the fall semester and then started right after christmas. I went hard all the way through March, so 3 months of hardcore studying. At that point I was ready to take it, and I think if I took it earlier I would have done better. In April I just did 2-3 hours of practice each day and some days I would just do practice exams.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL STUDYING AND FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS!
 
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When you say 'Do fairly well on their end-of-chapter passages/questions', what kind of scores would you say people should be trying to get to feel a bit more confident? 70% or more? 80%?

And maybe I should clarify that while I averaged around 75-77% correct for the whole two chem books, and maybe 78-80% total for the two physics books, these were just averages. There would be some passages or groups of passages where I'd totally bomb like 7 out of 8 questions.

The key is to not get discouraged by things like that, figure out what your mistakes were (and really try to learn how to fix them), then just keep working intelligently. This goes as much for the real test as it does for practice.
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
First score (6/20/2013): 28 (11 PS, 7 VR, 10 BS)
Second score (5/17/2014): 33 (13 PS, 9 VR, 11 BS) 5 point increase!

2) The study method used for each section

Use the AAMC topics list for PS and BS. Know the formulas/equations well and use flashcards for terms not familiar with. Also, it is really the concepts that are important in taking this test. Memorization can only help you so much.
Did 2-3 verbal passages every other day, with reviewing answers in the days in between. Honestly, VR is not my forte so I am not an expert on this, but it helps to practice regularly to maintain that muscle memory.
Post-phrasing is very important! Write down why you got your questions wrong, and review them the day before taking a practice test.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Kaplan online resources (On Demand)
AAMC Self-Assessments and practice tests (come with Kaplan online course)
TPRH for verbal was helpful when I ran out of AAMC verbal material to use
EK 101 was not helpful for me

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Kaplan FL 1-5
All 8 AAMC tests

Before 6/20/2013:
AAMC 3: 29
AAMC 4: 33
AAMC 5: 29
AAMC 7: 31
AAMC 8: 29
AAMC 9: 33
AAMC 10: 31
AAMC 11: 33
average= 31

Before 5/17/2014:
AAMC 3: 37
AAMC 4: 34
AAMC 5: 32
AAMC 7: 30 (I think I was burnt out from doing too much practice)
AAMC 9: 34
AAMC 11: 36
average= 33.8
Even though I retook these tests after a year, I honestly did not remember the content.

Kaplan 1: 32
Kaplan 2: 34
Kaplan 3: 37
Kaplan 4: 37
Kaplan 5: 33
average= 34.6

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Human Biology

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Stick with a schedule as best as you can, and make it your first priority over work and school. Avoid burnout by eating healthy and exercising on a daily or even weekly basis (I would jog 4.5 miles every Wednesday to keep my mind off of the MCAT. It also helps when you didn't score well on a practice test).
Once again, POST-PHRASE IS IMPORTANT! After writing down your explanations for why you got the question wrong, you need to remember to review them before taking another test.
You must review any topics on the AAMC topics list you are not familiar with, or you are screwed on test day (true story).

I think what helped me improve by 5 points since last year's was that 1) I was calm and confident on the day of test (I was too nervous last year and kept thinking, "this test will determine if I get into med school or not"), 2) I took more breaks and hung out with my friends and family more than I expected to, 3) I took care of myself by exercising regularly and sleeping more, and 4) I reviewed often my mistakes from the post-phrase sheets.
Ear plugs help a lot! I bought Leight Sleepers from Walgreens and I seriously did not hear anything while taking my practice tests and actual test.

Test-taking tips that EVERYONE should use:
1) Do discrete (stand-alone) questions FIRST.
2) Skip hard questions or ones that require time to calculate. Mark these and get back to them.
3) Make a mental map of the passages--note main idea of each paragraph. This will help you in locating answers.

The MCAT tests you on how well you do under pressure. Remember to triage and keep calm!

7) How long did you study for the MCAT
3-4 months. Any longer and I think I wouldn't be able to remember the content.

The MCAT is a beast and a marathon. I thought the real test was slightly harder than the practice tests. Do not talk about the MCAT the day before test day, but minimal studying is okay. Instead you should do something fun the day before, like watch a movie or go to the beach because your mind will need to be ready for the 4-5 hr exam. Don't get discouraged if you don't score well on some of your practice tests; go out with your friends and exercise. Then resume studying and hopefully your mind will be refreshed.

Good luck to all! I hope this is an inspiration to you. :luck: PM me if you have any questions!
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
35: 13V, 11PS, 11BS
Three years ago, I took the test and got a 30S (10/10/10). So I'm pretty stoked about that 5 point jump!

2) The study method used for each section
So, my basic plan was this: go through the PR online lectures for three months, and then do a massive amount of practice problems and tests for the last month before my test.

Verbal: I read. A lot. I'm currently in grad school, my entire job is qualitative research and analysis, and then I spend much of my free time reading blogs. So, that was definitely at play. Verbal just played to my strengths. (I also scored a 168 on the GRE verbal.) That being said, I think understanding the little tricks and traps that the AAMC uses in verbal was also immensely helpful. This was the one area where taking a class was useful. (The other stuff about outlining or prioritizing passages was pretty rubbish, IMHO.) For example, once I realized how often I was bringing in outside knowledge, causing me to fall for certain traps that were set, I started doing much better on practice passages.

Bio: I watched all of the PR online lectures, took notes, and did their amplifire practice problems. I made flashcards for absolutely everything. Then I tested my knowledge using practice problems and tests, going back and making more flashcards for concepts and terms.

Orgo: Again, PR lectures and practice problems all the way. I focused very little on knowing specific mechanisms and reactions. For me, having a really solid understanding of acid/base chemistry, polarity, and resonance structures was key. Once I had that down, it was easy to reason through any reaction-based orgo problem. (I wish I had realized this when I actually took my orgo classes in college!)

Gen chem: PR, yada yada. I did a lot more practice problems than for Bio or Orgo, though. For me, the three key concepts I needed to get down were acid/base chemistry, redox reactions, and periodic trends. The rest was just math and formula memorization.

Physics: Again with the PR. I'm pretty sure this was where I did the most practice problems. Honestly, that's probably the only way to get the formulas and concepts down.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Princeton Review online self-study. AAMC practice tests.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
I never actually did any of the PR practice tests, but I did most of the AAMC ones. I also didn't follow the typical schedule. Instead, I only did the practice tests when I felt I had a good grasp on the underlying material, during my last two weeks of studying.

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Pre-med. However, I graduated two years ago. I actually hadn't taken general chemistry or orgo in 5 years, so that was where I spent a good deal of time studying concepts.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Understand the material. Seriously, that was the difference between my 30 and 35. The first time around, I felt I had a "good enough" grasp. (And, obviously, a 30's still a decent score.) This time, I made sure I knew everything forwards and backwards. I knew it better than I probably did in undergrad.

Having a good grasp of the material, as well as adequate practice, also made the actual test way less stressful. It's still a difficult and stressful affair. But, when you're not constantly feeling like you don't know or are guessing, the whole process feels much smoother. If you know that you know the material, the MCAT is a lot less intimidating.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
About 4 months. For most of that time, I was studying about 8-10 hours a week (only on the weekends, so that was fun). However, I actually took two weeks off of work right before the test to full-time study. This was when I did a lot of practice problems and practice tests, giving myself time off the two days before the exam.


My schedule and methods probably wouldn't work for everyone, but they worked quite well for me. Now, I'm a re-applicant, so fingers crossed!
 
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Your individual scores and composite score
(5/22/2014) 33: 11V, 11PS, 11BS
Never, and I mean, never taking it again. Will be my first and only time taking it :) I'm so grateful.

2) The study method used for each section
Did a shortened Princeton Review lecture offered by my school for about 78 hours while being a full time student. Twice a week, three hour sections. A good refresher but didn't cover anything in fine detail. Started really studying for it Mid March. I scheduled the test originally in April, but I got a practice score of 22 on AAMCAS 10 and delayed it until may 22nd. The last month and a half of school I went nuts and studied like crazy.

Verbal: Never had a big problem with verbal. Was around 9+ before I took the lecture. Learned some really good advice.
1) before you read the passage, read the question and make a grocery list of important terms to find in the passage
2) Annotate the passage as you're reading it
3) Summarize main idea of passage
4) When answering questions, provide a reason for why you can eliminate a choice. And have an answer in your head before you answer the question if applicable.

I did lots of passage practice, and was reading 18th century works because I was in a English class at the time. The 4 steps improved my practice score to the 11+ range consistently. Never read any strategy books on the verbal section, practice was good enough.

Bio: TPR Lecture was helpful for a refresher, but it was confusing at times due to my class being a shortened version. I ended up reading the Princeton review biology book twice in 3 days? I highlighted it the first time as I was reading, and wrote notes on key points as I read it a second time. After that was just a lot of practice passages to work out details. I learned a lot from the questions I got wrong. I was really uncomfortable with biology as a whole in the beginning, (5-8 range) but after a lot of practice I was around 10-12.

Orgo: Thought the Princeton lecture was really good, but I was nervous because I dropped organic chemistry my sophomore year. Lecture really helped me clear up some misunderstanding, although I also read the Princeton review organic chemistry book twice in the same way as I did the biology book. The key for me was really knowing stereo-chemistry, resonance, and sugars. Memorizing equations was easy. After a lot of practice, you realize there are only so many ways an organic chemistry question can be asked. For me the three key points were what showed up most often and what I focused on the most (on the actual test, a sugar question came up that I already knew the answer to by heart).

Gen chem: did lecture and read book in the same manner as I did biology and organic chemistry. I was a biochemistry major so I didn't really bother with general chemistry as I knew most of it already. Acid-Bases was worth reviewing though as it can get confusing.

Physics: was nervous as I hadn't taken physics in 2 years. Did lecture and read book in the same manner as I did biology and organic chemistry. What was important was relearning how to calculate by hand. Once you got the equations down thought physics was really easy. Thought the Physics review book did an amazing job covering all the equations I needed. Got a free point on the actual test from a equation I memorized about pendulums from the review book.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Princeton Review 78 hour lecture,their books, and their practice test website (which also included AAMC practice tests). Nothing but praises for the lectures for being a great refresher, and most importantly the books (Princeton physics, organic chemistry and biology review books were in particular really amazing). Only thing I used to study.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
did 2 of the princeton review practice test, and all the AAMCs except for 5+6? I spent the last two weeks just doing practice tests after I made sure I knew all the foundations.

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Biochemistry. All my classes were mostly chemistry based, I maybe took 5-6 biology classes my whole undergrad.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?\
1) Study your own way. Everybody was saying you should take practice tests as you study. I learned all the material first, and then spent my remaining time doing only practicing tests (last two weeks). I like working out the fine details last, rather than trying to do everything at once. Doing practice tests when I didn't know all the material would have only made me more nervous. Studying than practicing first really helped.
2) Take physiology and a genetics course if you can. I would have cried studying for the MCAT if I hadn't taken physiology before (even though it was only 1 semester at my school). It really helped covering the crazy amount of information presented on biology in the MCAT.
3) Save AAMC 10-12 for last. They really are good predictors of your actual score. I was between 31-33 on those tests.
4) Don't take the test if your practice scores aren't where they want to be. Reschedule. Delaying it for a month was totally worth it.
5) Avoid SDN the last month before your exam. It can make you really nervous like I did. Some of the people here are way too smart and are aiming for the 37+ range. I would have been ecstatic even if I got a 31.
6) When you do practice tests, it's super important to focus on what you got wrong and why you got it wrong. I learned just as much from the practice tests as I did from the lectures and books.
7) Believe in yourself! The last month and a half when I was studying like crazy and wanted to give up at times, I just told myself you're going to be a doctor and a little test isn't going to stop you. And at worst, you just retake it. But make sure you give it your all and leave no regrets!!!
8) The most important thing when taking the test is pace. If you don't know a question, mark it and come back later (really helped me out on the actual test). When doing verbal passages, pace yourself so you have time to do all the passages. This can only be learned through taking lots of practice tests.
9) Believe in yourself! Can't restate this enough times!

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
Around 3 months. I took the 78 hour course. Spent the last month and a half doing 6-10 hours a day studying.
 
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Your individual scores and composite score
(5/22/2014) 36: 11V, 12PS, 13BS
Hit around my AAMC average (36.5) first and only time taking it, thank God.

2) The study method used for each section
Took a Kaplan course that ran September through March and only met once a week; I didn't think I could manage more frequently with my school and research. In and of itself, the course was pretty useless, but all the online material was pretty clutch.

Verbal: Not a huge problem for me. My average on the AAMCs was a 12, so I actually did a little worse on the real thing. For verbal I used
1. AAMC FLs
2. AAMC Self-Assesment
3. Examcrakers
In my opinion, Kaplan verbal is terrible and not indicative of the real thing. Excluding the AAMC FLs, I would break up the material and spend 25 minutes doing 3 passages every morning before class and go over them that evening when I was done with classes. I think consistent practice versus bouts of tons of practice is the key with verbal.


Bio: I'm a Bio major, so most I've biology was review for me. I've taken genetics, physiology, cell bio, etc. Due to my research, I'm also very comfortable reading scientific articles and interpreting experimental data, which I think it critical for the trend seen in bio passages on more recent MCATs. Overall though, I think biochemistry, which I was in this past semester, was the best class I took to review for the MCAT, since it covered subjects from biology, orgo, and gen chem. The biology section tests through Kaplan are also very good because they are very challenging. My average on this section was a 12, and I scored a 13 :)

Orgo: I focused on covering just the basics of orgo: being familiar with nomenclature, Sn1/Sn2, sugars, isomerism etc. In retrospect, I wish I had been more thorough in my review since there was one very difficult orgo passage on my exam, but luckily it turned out okay. Just because orgo is such a small portion of the exam, DO NOT SHRUG IT OFF. Like all other resources, I used Kaplan for this one.

Gen chem: Once again, I used Kaplan. However, my biggest source of review for this portion of the test was definitely taking a biochem course. It covered titrations, acids/bases, redox chem, and all the other pesky topics you might have forgotten about since your gen chem courses.

Physics: I took physics this past year, and it is by far my weakest subject. I focused not on memorizing equations, but instead on how variables relate to one another to try and better understand the underling concepts. I felt like this was good prep for my physics section because a lot of it was on slightly...strange topics that I hadn't explicitly reviewed.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
I used Kaplan for all test sections, but I also used Examcrakers and AAMC self assessment for verbal. I wish I had the time to use the self assessments for the other sections, because I believe this would have been advantageous.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Did 5 of the Kaplan FLs, and while they are good for reviewing difficult material, do not use these to calculate your average. The scaling is ridiculous. You can miss 10 and get a 40+. Only use AAMCs to calculate your averages. I took all 8 AAMC exams, so 13 total practice exams.
5) What was your undergraduate major?
Biology, with a bunch of upper level courses (genetics, cell bio, physiology, evolution, biochem)

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
1) Don't take practice exams until you've at least finished content review
2) Take: 1. Biochemistry, 2. Genetics 3. Cell Bio/Micro (in order of importance) if you can
3) Don't compare yourself to people on SDN. Anywhere else, a 30+ is a good score
4) Take practice tests under real conditions, and go over everything you got wrong/right. Rewrite wrong questions in your own words in a notebook and how you would solve them. Review the relevant content and take notes on the same page if needed. Read through this notebook at least once a week. I did it on my "break" day when I did no new studying.
5) Give yourself enough time to study. I was taking 15 credits and doing 20 hours of research a week, so I knew I would need a more drawn out length of time to study. Not ideal, but you work with what you have.
6) BE CONFIDENT. I was convinced I got maybe a 33 after the exam and cried the entire way home (I want to go to a research medical school). I signed up for another exam, bought all new books, AND THEN DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE IT!!! Unless something goes terribly wrong during your exam, believe in yourself and trust that you will do how you have always done +/- 2 points

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
Technically September-May. But the breakdown was:
September-December: Go to class, do required work, not take much seriously
December-March: Continue with class, actually take it seriously, finish up content review, take first practice exam(s)
March-May: Live, breath, sleep MCAT; sacrifice social life (sans special occasions), take practice exam every Saturday while in school and every 3 days once done with classes.
 
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I think Kaplan is good for bio, but unless you have a strong background in orgo, their book reads like memorizing a bunch of reaction mechanisms in my opinion. I did NOT feel prepared for the difficult orgo passage on my exam, but that seemed to be the general consensus for people who took the test on my date. However, I don't know that any prep material would have adequately prepared me for that passage because it just wasn't something I expected to see.
 
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Hey guys, I am taking chem 1, chem 2, and algebra/ trig class this summer, fall I'm taking organic chem 1 and physics 1 then in spring I'm taking organic chem 2 and physics 2... So by next summer I'll be ready to take my MCATs.. Should I start studying some stuff now? What should I use to study? Should I take a course like Kaplan or buy books and study on my own? I really need to do well on my MCATs my gpa isn't so great from my first few semesters in college :/ ... Any and all advice would be greatly appreciate. I wrote a similar post earlier somewhere so sorry for the repeated post...
 
@amberlynnp13 You'll be taking the new, different version of the MCAT next summer. Currently, everyone will have zero advice for you because no one has taken it yet. The best advice I can give you is to work your ass off in the prereq classes to really understand the material... don't just work for an A
 
@amberlynnp13 You'll be taking the new, different version of the MCAT next summer. Currently, everyone will have zero advice for you because no one has taken it yet. The best advice I can give you is to work your ass off in the prereq classes to really understand the material... don't just work for an A
Alright! Thanks for the advice!! Should I study my butt off and review now and try to take the old version!?
 
Alright! Thanks for the advice!! Should I study my butt off and review now and try to take the old version!?

No, please don't! The last testing date for the 'old' MCAT is January 25th ... Sure you'd have all the prereqs taken except Phys 2 & Orgo 2, but those are indeed tested on the MCAT ... and to get the best score you can get I'd definitely have those mastered.

So take your time and shoot for the 2015 MCAT... there's no shame in taking that one. I know its longer and covers the social sciences but I believe you'll be much happier with a score you get on that one!
 
No, please don't! The last testing date for the 'old' MCAT is January 25th ... Sure you'd have all the prereqs taken except Phys 2 & Orgo 2, but those are indeed tested on the MCAT ... and to get the best score you can get I'd definitely have those mastered.

So take your time and shoot for the 2015 MCAT... there's no shame in taking that one. I know its longer and covers the social sciences but I believe you'll be much happier with a score you get on that one!


New MCAT doesn't start till spring 2015. :) its on AAMC's website.
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
PS: 12
VR: 11
BS: 11
Composite: 34

2) The study method used for each section
PS: Read through the content review books for physics and g-chem. Did a ton of practice passages after reviewing the content. I was really bad at physics when I started studying but all I can say for this section is practice, practice, practice! Learning the style of the MCAT passages is really half the battle.
VS: I didn't really do much "strategy" for verbal. I completely disregarded the TPR strategy and just kind of highlighted as I went through the passage and then referred back when need be when answering the questions. The only things I followed from TPR strategy was ranking the passage difficulties and then doing them from easiest to hardest.
BS: Read through the orgo and bio content review books. I made outlines for the bio topics that I sometimes struggled with as well as flashcards for the hormones. For orgo I made a very, very basic overview sheet for with a bunch of random things that I thought were important to remember. I looked at the sheet often to really drill those concepts. I also did a lot of practice passages from the TPR science workbook.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
PS: TPR subject books + science workbook, AAMC self-assessment
VR: TPR verbal reasoning hyperlearning
BS: TPR subject books + science workbook, AAMC self-assessment

4) Which practice tests did you use?
AAMC 10 (prior to studying)
TPR 1-5 (scattered throughout my content review)
AAMC 3,4,5,7,8,11,9 (after content review)

After each AAMC test, I wrote down each question that I got wrong and why.

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Neuroscience

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Take a day off once in a while! I ended up having to take a few days off during the last 5 or so weeks of studying because of migraines (probably from burnout/stress/bad eating & sleeping habits) but it ended up being for the best to take a day off and be refreshed the next day. Burnout is no fun.

Also, when you leave the test, it doesn't matter how you feel! I came out of my BS section feeling absolutely crushed and it went just fine. Stay confident, you can do this :)

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
Class 10 hr/week January-early April, studied on my own ~4 hr/week
Studied on my own ~4-6hr/day after finals for about 5 weeks before my test (test May 31)
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
First time, in 2005 Composite: 30
Second time, in 2012 PS: 11 VR: 11 BS: 12 Composite: 34

2) The study method used for each section
I used Kaplan only, all 4 of their subject books. I also had my undergrad textbooks and google for any topic that needed more depth. I felt like Kaplan had some great high-yield information. I realized a couple of days into studying that there was too much information to remember, so I started making notecards over information that I knew would not stick. This ended up really helping me increase my score as I went along, especially with Organic. I really didn't understand organic the second time around, but I knew many of the reactions and patterns: it was good enough.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)

Very happy with the Kaplan material. I felt like it was succinct but contained enough information to nail the passages.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Only AAMC, I think 1-6. These closely mirrored my actual score. I started at a 29 and steadily increased to a 35 towards test time. The last four tests were strictly timed, and I think this helped alot. If I had 5-10 extra minutes for each section, I could get everything right, so time ended up being a HUGE factor (didn't finish the physics section on the real thing).

I spent quite a bit of time reviewing questions that I got wrong or passages that I found challenging. I would take a practice test in the morning, take a lunch break, and then spend 1-2 hours in the afternoon reviewing the test with my notes/review books. I'd even end up with some new notecards from these test reviews. I'm glad I did this because many of the passages on the actual test were very familiar in format/content and it allowed me to buzz through these sections and spend most of my time on the more challenging stuff. If I could do it over again, I would have done the same thing but made sure I got through all of the AAMC practice tests.


5) What was your undergraduate major?
Exercise Science, masters in molecular biology

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Study as much as possible, with breaks. I would be up at 7am and study for two hours, then have a 15 minute break. If I was disciplined I would be done at 5-6 in the evening and have quite a bit of time to relax, which helped with burnout. I was under a time crunch, so I front-loaded content review to the first two weeks of studying (without any practice questions/tests). I feel like this helped with actually knowing where I stood by the time I started taking practice tests and gave me ample time to get after weaknesses. I would also say make a strict schedule and stick to it. You can get through a section review book in 2-3 days and have it be quality review if you stick to your system. I had never done notecards before at any time: I was surprised with how helpful they were. In medical school, I have Quizlet open on my computer as I'm studying--when the class median is often around 92%, it's amazing how important those seemingly unimportant facts become:)

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
5 weeks, 10-12 hours a day. I had been teaching high school math at the time; it had been 7 years since physics/chemistry and 2 years since significant biology. Thanks Kaplan! (but don't take their course, waste of money--if you are self-disciplined, you will do fine and should be in medical school).
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
First time, in 2005 Composite: 30
Second time, in 2012 PS: 11 VR: 11 BS: 12 Composite: 34

2) The study method used for each section
I used Kaplan only, all 4 of their subject books. I also had my undergrad textbooks and google for any topic that needed more depth. I felt like Kaplan had some great high-yield information. I realized a couple of days into studying that there was too much information to remember, so I started making notecards over information that I knew would not stick. This ended up really helping me increase my score as I went along, especially with Organic. I really didn't understand organic the second time around, but I knew many of the reactions and patterns: it was good enough.
3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Very happy with the Kaplan material. I felt like it was succinct but contained enough information to nail the passages.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Only AAMC, I think 1-6. These closely mirrored my actual score. I started at a 29 and steadily increased to a 35 towards test time. The last four tests were strictly timed, and I think this helped alot. If I had 5-10 extra minutes for each section, I could get everything right, so time ended up being a HUGE factor (didn't finish the physics section on the real thing).

I spent quite a bit of time reviewing questions that I got wrong or passages that I found challenging. I would take a practice test in the morning, take a lunch break, and then spend 1-2 hours in the afternoon reviewing the test with my notes/review books. I'd even end up with some new notecards from these test reviews. I'm glad I did this because many of the passages on the actual test were very familiar in format/content and it allowed me to buzz through these sections and spend most of my time on the more challenging stuff. If I could do it over again, I would have done the same thing but made sure I got through all of the AAMC practice tests.


5) What was your undergraduate major?
Exercise Science, masters in molecular biology

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Study as much as possible, with breaks. I would be up at 7am and study for two hours, then have a 15 minute break. If I was disciplined I would be done at 5-6 in the evening and have quite a bit of time to relax, which helped with burnout. I was under a time crunch, so I front-loaded content review to the first two weeks of studying (without any practice questions/tests). I feel like this helped with actually knowing where I stood by the time I started taking practice tests and gave me ample time to get after weaknesses. I would also say make a strict schedule and stick to it. You can get through a section review book in 2-3 days and have it be quality review if you stick to your system. I had never done notecards before at any time: I was surprised with how helpful they were. In medical school, I have Quizlet open on my computer as I'm studying--when the class median is often around 92%, it's amazing how important those seemingly unimportant facts become:)

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
5 weeks, 10-12 hours a day. I had been teaching high school math at the time; it had been 7 years since physics/chemistry and 2 years since significant biology. Thanks Kaplan! (but don't take their course, waste of money--if you are self-disciplined, you will do fine and should be in medical school).

Any chance you have the orgo info that you studied? I'm having trouble really understanding it but if you got by I feel that I might be able to as well!
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
4/26/13: 13/13/14 --- 40


2/16 Kapalan Diag: 34 (12/11/11)
2/23 AAMC 3: 36 (13/12/11)
3/2 AAMC 5: 34 (11/11/12)
3/9 AAMC 4: 33 (11/10/12)
3/16 TPR 1: 24 (9/8/7)
3/23 AAMC 7: 35 (11/12/12)
3/30 AAMC 8: 39 (14/13/12)
4/6 AAMC 9: 38 (13/13/12)
4/13 AAMC 10: 35 (14/11/10)
4/20 AAMC 11: 37 (13/11/13)

Do you know what happened with your TPR practice? 24 is way low compared to all of your other tests. Would you say that TPR practice exams aren't worth taking? I'm focusing on practice tests from now until my MCAT date next week so I'm wondering if I should not waste time taking TPR practice.

Congrats on your 40 :claps:
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
PS=12 VR=11 BS=12 Composite=35

2&3) The study method used for each section? What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
I didn't have the money to shell out for a class, so it was all solo. Examkrackers has a guide on its website that outlines a 10 week plan using its books. I rented the books ($20) from Amazon and followed that schedule. I also bought used Kaplan subject review texts (used, $45 total). I used the Kaplan review to supplement EK--each day that I covered a section in examkrackers, I read the sections in Kaplan that corresponded. I HEAVILY preferred Kaplan to EK. Many weekends, I took AAMC tests ($175). Total prep was under $250.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
AAMC 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-- very accurate predictors of my score

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Comparative Literature (a while back), just finished 2 years of post bacc that was science heavy, which probably helped--the material was fresh.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
AAMC practice tests were excellent. The value of clicking the "yes, I want my test scored" before test day was huge, plus neither Kaplan questions nor EK questions really captured the MCAT imho. Get exercise and eat well throughout your prep period, too.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
2.5 months (~10 weeks), averaging ~3 hrs/day, though I also skipped a few days here and there since I had two siblings and a few friends who got married in that bizarrely short period of time.
 
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If you have enough official exams (I wouldn't suggest more than 2, so that you can debrief/review them appropriately), then skip the PR tests. It's great if you're short on practice problems, but I think it could hurt your confidence going in to the real thing.

As to why the TPR scores were so low? Couldn't tell ya. I treated them as if they were the real test, like all the others, so it wasn't a preparation thing. maybe it is more discrete knowledge focused?
Do you know what happened with your TPR practice? 24 is way low compared to all of your other tests. Would you say that TPR practice exams aren't worth taking? I'm focusing on practice tests from now until my MCAT date next week so I'm wondering if I should not waste time taking TPR practice.

Congrats on your 40 :claps:
 
Any chance you have the orgo info that you studied? I'm having trouble really understanding it but if you got by I feel that I might be able to as well!

Not sure. It was all from the Kaplan review book. I just remember having quite a few notecards of specific reactions and that it seemed to help with the actual test.
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
13PS, 13VR, 14BS, 40 total

2) The study method used for each section
SN2ed 4 month

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
TBR for physics, chem, and ochem and EK for bio/TBR for bio passages as per SN2ed.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
All AAMC full lengths and TBR 1-7

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Neuroscience

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Definitely get the self assessment packages from AAMC and do them the week before the exam around AAMC FLs 10 and 11.


7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
5 months. Did the full SN2ed (minus the hat trick; I'm not creative and knew I would be wasting my time with it) and then added TBR 1-7 between AAMC FLs 5 and 7 so that added about 3 weeks. I was also supplementing with TPRH science workbook after finishing all of TBR passages. Adding in the self assessment packages added another week to the plan bringing my total to 5 months.
I spent as much time per day as I needed to get done what that particular day required.
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
13PS, 13VR, 14BS, 40 total

2) The study method used for each section
SN2ed 4 month

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
TBR for physics, chem, and ochem and EK for bio/TBR for bio passages as per SN2ed.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
All AAMC full lengths and TBR 1-7

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Neuroscience

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Definitely get the self assessment packages from AAMC and do them the week before the exam around AAMC FLs 10 and 11.


7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
5 months. Did the full SN2ed (minus the hat trick; I'm not creative and knew I would be wasting my time with it) and then added TBR 1-7 between AAMC FLs 5 and 7 so that added about 3 weeks. I was also supplementing with TPRH science workbook after finishing all of TBR passages. Adding in the self assessment packages added another week to the plan bringing my total to 5 months.
I spent as much time per day as I needed to get done what that particular day required.

Any sections in TBR physics you found lacking that you had to supplement with something else? Also amazing score!!!
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
13PS, 13VR, 14BS, 40 total

2) The study method used for each section
SN2ed 4 month

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
TBR for physics, chem, and ochem and EK for bio/TBR for bio passages as per SN2ed.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
All AAMC full lengths and TBR 1-7

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Neuroscience

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Definitely get the self assessment packages from AAMC and do them the week before the exam around AAMC FLs 10 and 11.


7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
5 months. Did the full SN2ed (minus the hat trick; I'm not creative and knew I would be wasting my time with it) and then added TBR 1-7 between AAMC FLs 5 and 7 so that added about 3 weeks. I was also supplementing with TPRH science workbook after finishing all of TBR passages. Adding in the self assessment packages added another week to the plan bringing my total to 5 months.
I spent as much time per day as I needed to get done what that particular day required.

Congratulations!! Such a great score! Just wondering, why did you suggest doing the AAMC SA a week before? Thanks!
 
I didn't need to supplement TBR physics with anything. They cover everything pretty well IMO.

I would do the self assessments a week before just to drill yourself on hundreds of authentic AAMC questions. It'll cover any remaining content weaknesses and just get you more accustomed to the type of questions seen on the actual MCAT. If you know everything you should know the week before, it'll also be a confidence booster.
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
39
(13/11/15)

2) The study method used for each section
I basically did a modified Sn2 schedule. I took 13 credits knowing that I planned on studying for the whole semester. After researching on SDN for quite some time, I started strong with the 4 month schedule. However, it soon became apparent that it would be nearly impossible for me to keep up with this and I started to fall behind very quickly. This was very discouraging and school work started picking up so I took about a week off and started again. Originally I read each chapter in my books (I’ll get to those in the next section) and then reread them later. THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND IS A WASTE IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. So what I started to do was make flashcards on a program called Anki while reading each chapter. This forced me to slow down and attempt to absorb the material. It helped me realize that I needed more time with a certain subject if I didn’t know what to write on the flash card.
I did this for the majority of the semester, which brought me close to finishing content. During the last month, I was out of school with no obligation but to study. Each day I would study about 6 hours, with frequent breaks. I also tried to stay physically active which helped my moral quite a bit. At this point I had finished content review and was going through problems from all of my books and reviewing flashcards. The majority of my time for the last month was spent doing all the practice problems I could get my hands on. The only time I would go back to the books was when I didn’t understand a problem/flashcard or if I realized that the content was brand new to me, which lots of it was. When reviewing content in this past month, I used all sourced available to me, including my review books, textbooks, and the internet. The internet has some GREAT resources and it is very easy to look up small details if you are ever thinking about it and just want to see random material again.
I knew self-study would work best for me for a couple of reasons. I generally learn from the book and not lectures in class, which had me get used to learning with no guidance. I also had a pretty erratic schedule from school, with most of my grades derived from large tests. Sometimes I could study 4 hours a day and others I would have to take a couple days off and this probably wouldn’t have worked so well with a MCAT course. Lastly, I wanted to spend time on subjects that I needed the most help with. I didn’t want to sit through a course and pay somebody to waste an hour of my time when it could be spent elsewhere. I ended up using about 1/3 the cost of a course and investing it in extra books. I sold these books after taking the exam and all-in-all spent around $350 (not too shabby). This is not to say that courses can’t help people study for the MCAT! I realized at the start that they were just not for me. I am generally a highly motivated person and knew that I didn’t need a push from others to work.
Just as a little background, I had been tutoring cell biology for about a year at this point, just started tutoring physiology, and was currently taking physics E and M. I was pretty decent at cell bio so I only did a bit of review for that. Physics was my best/favorite subject in school so the only review I did was to look up all the equations I needed to know and made sure I understood from where they were derived and to what situations they applied. REMEMBER, the MCAT is more a reasoning test than a test for memorization and it seems to be trending even further in this direction. Sitting there and memorizing every equation or memorizing every step and enzyme in cell metabolism is probably a waste of time. There are very important equations or steps that you need to know and you should at this point in college to able to determine what they are. If things keep coming up, that is generally a good hint that you are expected to have that information memorized.
For verbal, I started off using a few review books and doing about 3 passages 4-5 times a week. In addition, I tried to read online articles from any reputable website I could, with the intention of becoming better at reading from a computer screen. I stopped this after about 1.5 months, but I think it was a very helpful start. I also stopped doing passages after about 2 months. After a few AAMC tests, I realized that none of the verbal workbooks have questions that are very close to real AAMC questions. These verbal review books are still helpful! They allowed me to get used to reading short passages and get used to timing. I learned BY FAR the most from AAMC passages. They showed me that I needed to pay attention to how the author felt and think about why he/she would write certain phrases. Once I did this, my verbal improved 1-2 points. Additionally, I actually used the highlighting tool that AAMC gives on the practice and real MCAT. I usually think those types of things are pointless and huge waste of time, but I found that this helped improve my score an additional 1-2 points. Highlighting makes me slow down and look for these author clues and learn some of the material. It also allowed me to get a spacial memory of the passage, which I could use if I absolutely needed to go back to the passage. In reality I didn’t go back to these highlights much to get the main ideas; it was a tool to help me read more effectively. While reading, if you don’t understand a small part of the passage, DON’T SWEAT IT! The chances any given part of the passage will be tested is low, and all the time that you saved by not trying to reread it 4 times can be used later, after you already know what the question is and have a better understanding of the passage as a whole. I practiced finishing each passage in 7 minutes. This is unrealistic, but it allowed me to finish easy sections in 6 minutes on the real test and take my time for the harder ones. At the end of a full verbal section, my mind is mush and I generally slow down to 9 minutes per passage.
The last REALLY important thing I want to talk about is the flash card program I used. It is called Anki and I found it from another SDN 30+ article. Basically what it does is allow you to make a bunch of decks of virtual cards. After seeing a card, the program prompts you to rate the difficulty of the card. Your answer to this question changes the next time you see this card. If you say it was very easy card for you, the card may show up 4 days later. If you are struggling with it, the card can come up in another minute. THIS WAS THE MOST HELPFUL FOR CONTENT REVIEW!!! I did this for about 45 minutes a day. I realized after reading a bunch of these 30+ articles that very successful MCATers have SOME way of reviewing content that isn’t a book. Whether this is through flash cards or taking notes, this is in my opinion the only reason that I scored so high. Reasoning and test taking skills can get you into that mid 30 area, but very hard content review can push you into the high 30 range. Again, you need to understand what is important! Memorizing steps of metabolism won’t help! Understanding key enzymes, where it happens, starting products and how they move through the cycle, and of course the goal and general end products is what you should know! NOT THE NAME OF EVERY INTERMEDIARY…..like some books seem to expect.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Berkeley Review – I used this for most of my science review. This by far had the best orgo, gen chem, and physics review that I saw. The only issue was biology. The content review for biology was WAY too in depth and expected you to memorize absolutely pointless information. As a result, I didn’t use this book for content or practice problems. Sometimes, I looked at asubject if I didn’t understand it from my other bio book or continually got questions wrong. The review problems in the back of each book were awesome, albeit a bit in depth. They tested you on concepts in a bunch of different ways which is very helpful. Something to remember though is that NO passage on AAMC will ever ask about one particular subject like that and just dig around it (e..g you would never see a passage that would only ask about a titration curve like in BR). Because of this, do not score yourself using BR back of book subject tests. It will probably make you feel like poop. Instead, I used these questions as learning opportunities and took my time answering each one. I did the chapters in thirds (e.g. first third, second third…) like Sn2. In the end I didn’t get a chance to finish them all and started to skip around to passages in subjects with which I knew I needed help. All BR science, except bio, would highly recommend.
EK 1001 – Bought them and never even opened them.
EK 101 Verbal – This was the book in which I did the majority of verbal practice. Passages were pretty close to the real thing. The questions were as close as any other non AAMC verbal could be. Scored 10’s pretty consistently and then started scoring 11-12 when I took practice AAMCs.
EK Biology – I did almost all bio content review from this book. Yes, it goes over the content a little less in depth than other books, but I found that it was the exact level that I needed. A bit of an easier read than BR too. For the subjects that I had previously never learned, I generally needed a little bit more help and went to other sources for some more info. For subjects that only needed to be refreshed, which was most, this book did the trick! Highly recommend.
Textbooks – The only texts books I really used were my biochem textbook and cell biology. I used them at times were I could distinctly remember there being some diagram which originally helped me learn the material. Once I saw the diagram it was generally easier for me to learn the material again.
The Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Workbook – Did all of my biology practice problems from this book. Has TONS of free standing and passage based questions. Some of the questions were a bit too in depth, but other forced me to learn material which I missed in EK bio. I think this book captured the trend of biology passages being about an experiment. This was the case in the last couple of practice AAMC’s and the real thing as well. Didn’t get a chance to finish all the biology practice problems. This book also contains a TON of other science problems that I didn’t get a chance to do. Highly recommend.
TPRH Verbal – This book was a huge waste of money. I saw on SDN that it supposedly was the closest thing to AAMC verbal out there, but found it only marginally better than EK. With EK weighing in at a quarter the price, I would skip this one.
I also used AAMC practice tests as described below. I would take the test and then go over it the next day. I made a list of every question I got wrong and why it got it wrong. I also went through and learned all of the material I guessed on. Review process probably took about 1-1.5 hours for each test, depending on how much content I had to go back and review.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
I only used practice AAMC tests. I took #3 as a diagnostic about halfway through my content review and took #7-#10 in the last month. I took 7 when I got left school and realized I wasn’t ready for the rest. I took the remaining 4 over the the 2.5 weeks before the test. 10 and 11 were closest to the real thing, although all the rest were still great practice. All of my scores probably should have been a bit higher, as I never checked my answers even when I had 10 minutes to spare. This was a dumb decision. It drove me crazy knowing that my practice scores should be higher due to the high correlation between AAMC average and actual MCAT score.
#3 – 32 (11/10/11)
#7 – 33 (12/11/10)
#8 – 35 (13/11/11)
#9 – 36 (14/11/12)
#10 – 38 (13/12/13)
#11 – 38 (12/13/13)

5) What was your undergraduate major?

I’m an Economics major.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
1. You will fall behind. It is ok. Just breathe and get back whenever you can.
2. Don’t take any of your scores too seriously, you can always improve.
3. You’re given the answer to every question in the test. This is very important to understand. MCAT writers very rarely expect you to be able to remember some obscure equation… first and foremost the MCAT is a reasoning test. They ask you to take a concept that you know and apply it in a new situation. If the question is very hard they leave clues in the answer!! Practice allows you see these clues and start eliminating incorrect responses. Often I didn’t know the answer but could eliminate all other choices.
4. Time your tests and take them with similar testing conditions to the real thing. I took 10 minute breaks between sections and left my testing room. I’m a pretty fast test taker in general, so I didn’t bother timing practice passages during review, but if you struggle with timing this might not be a bad idea. The only practice I ever timed was verbal, where timing is everything.
5. I know it may be difficult/impossible, but try to give yourself some time before the test during which the only thing you do is MCAT. Getting rid of all distractions and really focusing in on the test helped me. Sleep, breathe, think MCAT all the time.
SDN has helped me so much in preparing for this test – remember IT IS only a test. I want to pay this site back and thank all of the other posters who helped me in my quest for the 45 (lol).

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
About 3.5 months, which includes a couple of instances where I off for a week. The first 2.5 months I was still in school. This made studying VERY DIFFICULT, especially during testing weeks. I missed plenty of days in my study schedule and continually fell behind. For the last month out of school, I put my head down and plowed through review books for approximately 6 hours a day. Closer to the test I slowed down a bit as I was on the verge of burning out. Over the last month, I improved my score by 7 points.
 
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
39
(13/11/15)

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
Berkeley Review
– I used this for most of my science review. This by far had the best orgo, gen chem, and physics review that I saw. The only issue was biology. The content review for biology was WAY too in depth and expected you to memorize absolutely pointless information. As a result, I didn’t use this book for content or practice problems. Sometimes, I looked at asubject if I didn’t understand it from my other bio book or continually got questions wrong. The review problems in the back of each book were awesome, albeit a bit in depth. They tested you on concepts in a bunch of different ways which is very helpful. Something to remember though is that NO passage on AAMC will ever ask about one particular subject like that and just dig around it (e..g you would never see a passage that would only ask about a titration curve like in BR). Because of this, do not score yourself using BR back of book subject tests. It will probably make you feel like poop. Instead, I used these questions as learning opportunities and took my time answering each one. I did the chapters in thirds (e.g. first third, second third…) like Sn2. In the end I didn’t get a chance to finish them all and started to skip around to passages in subjects with which I knew I needed help. All BR science, except bio, would highly recommend.

Congratulations on your score!!!!!!! I have a question - did you do the passages in BR timed or untimed since you said you took your time answering each one?
 
Sorry it was unclear, but I took the BR passages untimed. I tried to reason through each question and learn how I should be thinking on the test. The only timed passages I did were AAMC practice tests and verbal practice passages.
I generally take tests quickly so I didn' think I needed to practice my timming for science passages, although if this is a problem for you maybe consider practice with timming. I learned the balance between rushing to finish and going slowly enough to minimize stupid mistake from the practice AAMC tets.
I finished practice AAMCs with 10 or more minutes to go, but on the actual MCAT ran out of time on PS. BS and Verbal I had about 10 minutes to review my answers.
 
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Sorry it was unclear, but I took the BR passages untimed. I tried to reason through each question and learn how I should be thinking on the test. The only timed passages I did were AAMC practice tests and verbal practice passages.
I generally take tests quickly so I didn' think I needed to practice my timming for science passages, although if this is a problem for you maybe consider practice with timming. I learned the balance between rushing to finish and going slowly enough to minimize stupid mistake from the practice AAMC tets.
I finished practice AAMCs with 10 or more minutes to go, but on the actual MCAT ran out of time on PS. BS and Verbal I had about 10 minutes to review my answers.

Hey gene, I don't want to badger you with questions on this thread, so would you mind if I asked you via PM's? I'd greatly appreciate it :)
 
No, please don't! The last testing date for the 'old' MCAT is January 25th ... Sure you'd have all the prereqs taken except Phys 2 & Orgo 2, but those are indeed tested on the MCAT ... and to get the best score you can get I'd definitely have those mastered.

So take your time and shoot for the 2015 MCAT... there's no shame in taking that one. I know its longer and covers the social sciences but I believe you'll be much happier with a score you get on that one!

SHE HASNT EVEN TAKEN GEN CHEM 1...This is ridiculous.
 
1) Your individual scores and composite score
8/3/13 PS=9 VR=10 BS=9 Composite=28
6/21/14 PS=10 VR=13 BS =11 Comp = 34
I raised my score by 6 points!

2) The study method used for each section

First time studying I used mostly Princeton Review but also some Exam krackers. I think my mistake was to try to read through as much review material as possible but not focus on the quality of my studying.

Second time around I really focused on the material provided by the aamc. The SAP and aamc practice tests. I spent good amount of time reviewing all of the SAP and practice tests after I had finished them. For some I retook the PS or BS section of a test (not timed) and tried to explain each question as if I were teaching it.

For the PS I really worked on timing and not wasting large chucks of time on a single question. (An improvement of a 9 to a 10 on the PS might not look that impressive but before my first test my PS scores were ranging from 7-9 and while preparing for my second test they were from 10-12)

For verbal I spent a lot of time reviewing the verbal sections written by the aamc. I tried to learn how they think. I would look for evidence in the passage to support whatever they said the right answer was. (The first time I studied for verbal I tried to find as much verbal prep material as possible. I think that was not an effective use of my time.)

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
See above... biggest change was to focus on aamc materials.

4) Which practice tests did you use?
Before my first take I used mostly practice tests from test prep companies and two aamc ones.

Before the second mcat, I used all the aamc tests.
Practice test scores ranged from 33-36 with an average of 34
PS from 10-12
Verbal from 11-14
BS from 11-14

5) What was your undergraduate major?

Philosophy and literature. Lots of reading.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Focus on quality not quantity. Make sure you understand and can explain every concept and question. Use aamc materials.

If you are retaking the test, try to find a different method of studying. What you were doing before probably wasn't working for you.

Take a physiology class.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?

6 weeks, pretty much full time.
 
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I'm so honored to be able to post here...I've always wanted to, and now, even though I just barely made this thread, hopefully some of the information I put on here can be useful to someone else in conquering the beast. Note that I will actually be going in depth as to what I did wrong the first time and combine it with what I did right the second time.
1) Your individual scores and composite score
3/22/14: 23 (9/7/7)
6/21/14: 30 (11/9/10). A SEVEN POINT INCREASE WOO :D

2) The study method used for each section

Okay so here's what I wanted to do: write down all of the systems I believe that may have caused me problems during the first round, and then following that up with what I believe I did right the next round.

PS: So, actually when I first took this test, I hadn't finished physics 2 yet. When I started studying lightly, I hadn't even really gotten into physics 1 yet. Here is the first bit of advice I can give you. BE SURE YOU ARE DONE WITH ALL OF YOUR PREREQS BEFORE TAKING THE MCAT!!! Even if you have AP or IB credit for such classes, I would recommend taking the courses at university level, since most likely they are more challenging and, probably more applicable. Besides, there is nothing wrong with refreshing yourself. Now, you will see on these forums people claiming to get 30+ and not take all of the prereqs. I would strongly advise against this. They could have done well for a couple of reasons. Maybe they just had a good test day. Maybe their self-study tricks worked for them. Or, maybe they are just amazing test takers/are just incredibly smart. For the majority of the test takers, I wouldn't recommend doing this. I remember being very agitated when I took the first test and realizing that I hadn't gotten to some of the stuff on the AAMC guidelines. Optics and and the later parts of physics 2 are not the type of material to try to teach yourself. Of course now, having been taught by several different professors and peers, it seems a lot easier, but that's after a long time of practice. I tried to use the Kaplan quicksheets and the Kaplan big general book to learn the later part of physics 2, and it didn't work for me. Before I go into what study material I used for PS, I would like to offer another disclaimer. Be careful about AAMC PS scores. In the last year, AAMC has upped their game and made PS sections that have been, on average, much more difficult than the given PS sections. I actually was hitting consistent 11's on the AAMC's the last two weeks before I took the test, thought I did well, and got a 9. But, the passage difficulty/language was much higher on my 3/22 test than on the AAMC practices. So, be weary of that. It is incredibly important. I am a firm believer (especially after these two tests) in underestimation rather than overestimation of your score. Okay, now I can get into what I used the first time versus the second time. For PS the first time, I used Kaplan's in class course, physics notes from my university course, and mcat-review.org. Now, the only thing that I changed from my first to my second time as far as study material was concerned (if we aren't talking testing material yet), is that I focused more on my class notes in conjunction with the AAMC guidelines, and didn't focus as much on mcat-review.org or the Kaplan notes. I bought the EK1001 Physics book. Don't use it, it is repetitive and not really in an MCAT question style, in my opinion. For me, it was a waste of time. It was useful to use my class notes/homework to study for the MCAT Physics section because 1) I had very recently taken physics at the university and 2) my physics class was generally much tougher than the MCAT physics on PS. If these two don't readily apply to you, especially number 2, maybe you should look elsewhere for Physics refreshers. So the testing strategy for physics the first time consisted of some of the Kaplan material (like quizzes and stuff) and AAMC tests. That was a huge mistake for me. First of all, I felt like the quizzes didn't really line up with the MCAT format on the PS section. Secondly, the AAMC PS is misleading when it comes to score/difficulty. So, the second time around I used GS. Yeah, I know, on the 6/21 thread people heard me testify to GS's effectiveness as if I had been told personally by the head of AAMC to use GS for PS. But, I found them incredibly helpful. Now, don't get me wrong, GS PS is a little different in format compared to AAMC PS, as in maybe they would have 8 passages and two sets of discretes, rather than 7 passages and 3 sets of discretes. But the passage difficulty/language was on par with the real MCAT. I was comparing the PS that I took on 3/22. And, surely enough, I scored the exact same score (9) on my first GS PS test about 3 weeks after my real MCAT. GS PS gets insanely hard and you might feel discouraged with point values at first, but it will increase, and you will notice an increase in your AAMC PS once you do enough GS PS. Surely enough, I was hitting consistent 10s and 11s on GS PS, and got an 11 on PS on 6/21. In fact, when I saw the 6/21 PS, I was happy because I was reminded of the GS PS format. Now, there is a disclaimer to the testimonial above. GS PS gets insanely difficult around GS 8-10. I would recommend trying to take either 8, 9, or 10 (choose 1) as a real test, but then using the other two just as an exercise. It will help from feeling burned out or incredibly frustrated at lower PS scores on the 8-10 GS PS.
Now, Gen Chem. So, I took Gen Chem's back in 2012, so I didn't really remember so much gen chem at first. However, when I first started to refresh myself, it all started to come back to me, like riding a bike. But, that might also be because I had a difficult set of Gen chem 1/Gen Chem 2 classes here that really made me study very hardcore back in 2012, so that might be why it was so easy to draw from long-term memory. This is another supporting detail to my belief to draw from class notes if the class was harder than AAMC tests. Such was the case for me, so I used my old notes. Also, I remembered from my class year in gen chem that I had weaknesses in gases, solubility, titration curves, and ICE tables. So, I spent a good chunk of my review of gen chem reviewing those 4 subjects. Okay, so for gen chem the first time, I used my old class notes, Kaplan, and mcat-review.org. Actually, I didn't have much of a problem with gen-chem the first test, it was more of a problem on physics. But, again, I did change my methods in gen chem and saw a legitimate increase in my scores afterwards. I focused on those 4 weaknesses and drilled them into my head for hours and hours and hours. So the second time around I was using mainly mcat-review.org, notes from GS PS (this applies for physics as well), and my old class notes, as well as AAMC guidelines.
Overall, my test/review cycle for PS went like this: I took two months to study for my retake, so I had a method that at first eased me into GS and AAMC's then went at a much faster pace. At the beginning, I would do 2 days of content review for PS, then take a section test of GS. Since there were 10 GS PS sections to take, this worked while working it in with GS BS and AAMC BS as well as VR stuff to account for the two months. But, as I got closer to the testing time, I had to speed it up. So, towards the end I was doing 1 GS PS test one day, review the next day, then another GS PS test the 3rd or 4th day, working in conjunction with BS and VR, which I will get into in a second. Conclusively, if I have key pieces of advice for PS it would be this: Teaching yourself physics or chemistry isn't the easiest thing in my opinion, so use supplements, such as mcat-review.org for some things, your old class notes for other things, and perhaps youtube for others. Now youtube seemed more applicable to me in the BS section, but we will go in depth with that later. Another piece of advice for PS is: you don't know if you will get a calculation heavy test. This section was actually my biggest problem with timing when I got in my rhythms for the 6/21 MCAT. I actually almost forgot about passage 1 on my 6/21 MCAT since I skipped it because it looked intimidating. And, with most of my GS PS, I would feel like I would run low on time. So, in my opinion, you should practice as if the test will be calculation heavy and/or lengthy, however you define that.

Okay, sorry for such a long PS rant, now I can get into VR. Verbal is actually a weird transition for me. At first, verbal was amazingly tough for me, like I couldn't see a way people got above an 8 on VR sections. The biggest piece of advice for VR I have is: make a system that works for you that has you finish with a little time to spare on average. 8 minutes on each passage is good. Now, where I ran into problems my first time was passage-mapping. Now, I am not trying to flame Kaplan's methods, they worked for some of my other colleagues, but for me, passage mapping took too much time and I would get bogged down in minute details and taking the notes took WAY too long. I almost always ran out of time. So, I switched to simply reading and comprehension. What I mean by that is reading once through for comprehension, and answering the questions. Yeah, I know that seems like, the most intuitive thing in the world, but it actually takes practice. What I did personally was pretend in my head that I was giving a speech about whatever subject was in front of me, so I had to be the most excited and attentive person in the world for this specific passage, and it really helped. I saw my verbal scores shoot up almost instantly from 7s to 9s. I would consistently score 9s on my practices and got a 9 on the real one 6/21. For Verbal the first time, I used mostly AAMC verbals. The second time around, I used GS at first, until I realized that GS Verbal is very different than AAMC, so I went back to mostly AAMC verbal. My material didn't really change, it was mostly the method. Trust your AAMC verbal averages, because even on harder days, the MCAT verbals won't deviate too much from the AAMC general layout. Also, I would like to maybe suggest that, at this point I was really only doing the verbals on AAMC's when I took full AAMC tests, not section tests. I didn't want to over test verbal, since I felt like I could improve the most on BS and PS with content review/ change of methodology.

Now time for BS: So let me start this section with a disclaimer: I had some real problems with biology at first. That's because my foundation at my university was awful, due to insanely difficult teachers and lack of a high school foundation. I probably have the most useful information with how to get a solid (not amazing/stellar for 11+, but a solid, 9/10 BS) score. So, the first time around, I relied way too much on EK1001. That was a huge mistake. Also, Kaplan BS for me didn't work for content review for whatever reason. The second time around, I changed my strategy to approaching BS. Before, I would use Kaplan BS, EK1001, and AAMC BS post test notes to approach it. Bad choice for me. The second time around, I focused more on mending the broken subjects, like genetics, biological molecules, molecular genetics, musculoskeletal, and immunology. I saw an almost instant score increase when I used this method in conjunction with GS BS, even though GS BS has a slightly different format than AAMC BS. GS BS was a very helpful tool for me, it prompted me to think more critically and analytically, even if their difficulty was only slightly above or at the same level as AAMC. So, second time around, I used GS BS, mcat-review.org guidelines (wrote out EVERY one in detail), AAMC BS post-test notes, and even some youtube videos (like some great ones on musculoskeletal, immunology, and molecular genetics!) My review method for BS was a lot more time consuming than PS or VR combined. What I would do is study content for 2 days, then take a GS BS section test, review those notes, repeat until I got to AAMC BS sections. I would review my weaknesses until my eyes bled, test myself, even try to teach others, it seemed like it helped me solidify my core concepts. BS I never had a problem with timing so much, but there are a couple of warnings I need to give for BS on the real deal: 1. Don't freak out when you see the AAMC11 type of experimental passage on your MCAT. Sorry to say, but most BS's that I have heard people recently take say that there is at least one, maybe more of these passages on the real deal. Another thing to do, is LEARN ORGO! Seriously! Like, I was a bonehead the first time and thought that there wasn't going to be a lot of orgo on the test, and on my first one there wasn't. However, on my retake, there was a crap ton of orgo. Point is, be prepared for lots of orgo. Yeah, I know you have heard "Oh, there won't be a lot of orgo on my test, and if it will be, it will be simple SN1, SN2..." STOP THAT THINKING! Because my retake had a lot of orgo on it, and it was TOUGH. Moral of the story: be prepared to be tested on orgo, regardless of how "little" you may think there is, because you never know. That's a mistake I made...

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
For PS: Old class notes, GS/ AAMC post test notes, mcat-review.org, AAMC guidelines.
For VR: Mostly AAMC.
For BS: AAMC guidelines, AAMC post-test notes, GS post-test notes, mcat-review.org

4) Which practice tests did you use?
PS: Gold Standard/ AAMC
VR: AAMC
BS: Gold Standard/AAMC

The second time around, my averages were (including both AAMC and GS)
PS: 10.5
VR: 9.4
BS: 10

5) What was your undergraduate major?

Psychology with Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience.


6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Yes. Several.

1. Know your abilities. This has to be one of the most important tips I can give you. Remember, it is better to underestimate than overestimate. Again, might seem like common sense, but I had a real problem with this one. I felt like "OK! I got a 12 on this AAMC PS, I'm good for PS right? Right?!" Don't do that. Be critical, and be thorough. It is better to be disappointed in a low score that motivates you to study harder and get higher (and most often results in such a change happening) than a false sense of security.

2. Don't be afraid to postpone. My first test was too soon, and I felt it in my gut too. Don't say like "Oh I won't be able to apply this cycle, blah blah blah" I get that, I really do, but think of this as an investment. If you rush yourself or trick yourself into thinking you are ready, you most likely won't do well, then you have to pay AGAIN and go through this grueling study/repeat process AGAIN, and believe me, it takes it out of you.

3. Don't burn out. Captain obvious strikes again, right? Well, yeah it seems like something so intuitive, but hear me out. I know we are all very dedicated, studious people. We want to get that score, no matter what, right? I get that to a degree, but it is not, repeat, NOT worth your mental stability. This is actually probably my most important tip. I took this stuff way too seriously and it almost cost me big time. It is just a test at the end of the day, and I have heard of people taking the MCAT 3+ times, so don't mega-stress yourself out. I had a panic attack a week before my 1st MCAT because of my practice test score. I felt the anxiety rip me apart, and I was depressed for a long time. In conjunction with 1 and 2, try to find days that you can relax or take it a little more lightly. No test is worth your mental health, and that's the truth.

4. Work on your weaknesses. Seriously, one of the biggest issues for me is that, first time around, I worked on my strengths. WRONG! DONT DO THIS! Of course, you can refresh yourself on said strengths just to make sure you don't get rusty, but you need to study your weaknesses until you can't conceivably find them. In fact, go as far to even say that your old weaknesses need to become stronger than your current strengths. Seriously. I know it feels awful to have to review stuff that you don't want to, but I'm sure that you won't want to do other medical tasks as a doctor either, but you will have to. Just keep your head up and do it.

5. This next one is incredibly important too. Don't take anyone's one advice as gospel. You are the only one who knows how you test. Take bits and pieces from everywhere, as it is clear that I did from my reviews above. And on another note, don't listen to people that say that "The MCAT is like AAMC 10 and 11, so therefore if you tank AAMC 11, you don't stand as good of a chance..." Guys, I got a 26 on AAMC 11, and got a 30 on the real deal. Don't put too much emphasis on any one test. On that note, don't freak out when you get a bad test score. I hadn't scored below a 27 since I started my retake studying, and the last test I took before my MCAT, AAMC 11, I got a 26. At first, I kind of freaked, but then calmed myself and remembered that bad tests happen. Rely on your averages, it provides a helpful guideline.

6. Maintain a social life to a degree, and keep up with stress-relieving activities. Agrees with a couple of points above, don't really need to go into why.

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
2 months. I had 2 months from the time I got my first score to my retake on 6/21. Pretty much studied every day, with several break days dispersed at random.
But, I also had all of the time that I studied for my first test as well. But, if I had to recalculate that into the time well-spent in total, I'd say about 2.5-3 months in total.

 
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