I Feel Like I Don't Know Anything

[PA_dud3]

So, I recently sat down to do a Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT Diagnostic and couldn't even get through the first sections. I have taken all of the prerequisites for Medical School, with the exception of Physics II. I have no idea what I am doing or what I have done to forget everything. Some of the stuff on these exams I have never seen before in my life. Most medical schools don't recommend Anatomy and Physiology as a prerequisite but everything seems based on Anatomy and Physiology, like some obscure neurotransmitter or something like what hormone does what. I start Content Review this week but I honestly don't know if it will be enough.

To be quite honest, I am worried that I didn't retain anything from my prerequisites and that no amount of reviewing is going to wake that information up in my brain. I was always a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" type student who didn't really read textbooks or study outside of class except for Exams and always managed to do well. I realize this is not conducive to success in Medical School, and I am trying to establish good study habits now. Is it possible to do well on the MCAT without remembering everything from your Pre-Reqs? General Chemistry was a little bit better in terms of what I remember, but Biology and Physics are no-go. I'm quite sure if I would have continued taking the exam I would have gotten something like 10th Percentile. Please help! What do I do? What sort of studying should I do to make sure I know the information this time around? Would 100 days of studying even be enough at this point?

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[lumya]

I think it's completely normal to feel overwhelmed.

The material the MCAT covers is a mile wide, but only an inch deep. So much of the test is working on reading the passage and building up the stamina to get through an 8 hour test - both of which come with practice.

The first time I took the MCAT, I took it without finishing most of my pre-requisites. I don't recommend that to anyone, but I got a pretty decent score when the only thing I really knew how to do was reading the passages and making an educated guess. So I don't think you have to be able to dredge up material from Bio 101 for you to be successful at the MCAT. Taking and finishing a diagnostic test will probably give you the best plan going forward. Lots of people study in 100 days, but some people (me included) needed more time, and that's completely normal and fine.

 

[FrameshiftAndrew]

There's a lot to be said about how to go about content review if the material isn't fresh in your mind, but let me address some of your concerns more specifically.

• It's quite common (and totally normal) for MCAT prep to feel like you're re-learning your undergrad prereqs, and feeling that way isn't necessarily a predictor of a bad outcome. As @lumya pointed out, the MCAT very rarely goes into the level of depth that you encountered in your coursework. As you study and practice, you'll hone your sense how science for the MCAT differs from in-depth science classes. If I had to summarize it briefly, the MCAT tends to prioritize key concepts, how to apply those concepts in response to new information (like in passages), and connections across subject areas. (Note that third-party diagnostics may not be very representative in this regard).
• Physiology is absolutely on the MCAT (Foundational Concept 3 on the content outline, as well as some nervous-system and endocrinology-related points in Psych/Soc). I don't know why there's this disconnect between what they require for the MCAT and what they recommend in terms of coursework, but it exists. The good news is that physiology on the MCAT tends to be higher-level, more general stuff relative to the detail covered in many physiology classes, and anatomy (like in the sense of where exactly all the bones, muscles, etc. are located) is emphasized only very, very weakly.
• Physics in particular has a very different feel on the MCAT than in most physics classes. It tends to be more conceptual, and less focused on irritatingly complex problem setups, calculations, or edge cases where certain assumptions break down. Practicing with realistic, representative materials will be helpful in this regard.

In terms of whether 100 days is enough, to some extent it would depend on how many other obligations you have to balance in your life. If you're able to focus most of your time on MCAT prep, I'd say you should roll up your sleeves, get started, and plan on doing some realistic practice at about the halfway or two-thirds mark to see how it's going and whether you need to think about postponing. If you're juggling a lot of other stuff on your plate, it may be worth thinking about a longer timeline.

 

[KnightDoc]

So, I recently sat down to do a Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT Diagnostic and couldn't even get through the first sections. I have taken all of the prerequisites for Medical School, with the exception of Physics II. I have no idea what I am doing or what I have done to forget everything. Some of the stuff on these exams I have never seen before in my life. Most medical schools don't recommend Anatomy and Physiology as a prerequisite but everything seems based on Anatomy and Physiology, like some obscure neurotransmitter or something like what hormone does what. I start Content Review this week but I honestly don't know if it will be enough.

To be quite honest, I am worried that I didn't retain anything from my prerequisites and that no amount of reviewing is going to wake that information up in my brain. I was always a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" type student who didn't really read textbooks or study outside of class except for Exams and always managed to do well. I realize this is not conducive to success in Medical School, and I am trying to establish good study habits now. Is it possible to do well on the MCAT without remembering everything from your Pre-Reqs? General Chemistry was a little bit better in terms of what I remember, but Biology and Physics are no-go. I'm quite sure if I would have continued taking the exam I would have gotten something like 10th Percentile. Please help! What do I do? What sort of studying should I do to make sure I know the information this time around? Would 100 days of studying even be enough at this point?

Diagnostics before content review are designed to scare the crap out of you and get you to buy a course. How did Kaplan and TPR do in achieving their objective (at least with respect to scaring you if not inducing you to buy a course)?

If you took the prereqs and managed to do well, you will definitely gain your footing as you work through content review. It's okay to mix and match material from different sources, depending on what you like.

Whether or not you will be ready in 100 days totally depends on how quickly you can work through the material. I was lucky insofar as I had a ton of time due to repeated delays in test administration this past spring, but you can replicate that, if necessary, by pushing your test date back if you are not ready!

If you want to apply next cycle, you don't NEED to take the test before next June-July. Just work at your own pace, and don't burn question bank or FL material until you are confident you know what you are doing.

 

[acstylin]

What if I took one of your old high school friends, gave her a nose job, cut her hair off, changed her clothes from stylish to gothic, then gave her a giant neck tattoo? Would you recognize her at first? Probably not. That is what the MCAT does. It takes something you knew a little while ago, changes the way it’s presented to you and asks you to recognize it. It’s insanely hard at first. But You will soon get it. It just takes a minute to see through the disguise. The MCAT makes it even more overwhelming by not only disguising your old high school friend, it disguises everyone you have ever met so it feels like you just don’t know anyone. Study. Practice. Practice. Study. And practice some more. You’ll be fine but don’t be overwhelmed and not give up.

 

[MissRibeye]

I took all the pre-requisite courses suggested before MCAT studying and was a very good student and even made flashcards I kept up with throughout the two years and I STILL HAD TO TEACH MYSELF A LOT OF THINGS. I wish I had taken molecular and cell biology beforehand, as that class would've helped on the BB passages SO MUCH!

However, do not freak out if you feel like you have to re-learn or learn new things because I think that is common. I used the 300 page document/KA videos and made my own cards for psych. (got a 132) I used UWORLD questions for the first 30 days to find and learn the things I didn't know or needed to re-learn and made for flashcards. Then I did ~30 days berkley review questions. Then I did ~30 days AAMC bundle.

I got a 515 (127, 128, 128, 132) studying over the summer. I think my first AAMC practice test was a 511 taken after the UWORLD month.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Felt the same way from the start and got a solid score. You are fine.

 

[deleted555445]

So, I recently sat down to do a Kaplan and Princeton Review MCAT Diagnostic and couldn't even get through the first sections. I have taken all of the prerequisites for Medical School, with the exception of Physics II. I have no idea what I am doing or what I have done to forget everything. Some of the stuff on these exams I have never seen before in my life. Most medical schools don't recommend Anatomy and Physiology as a prerequisite but everything seems based on Anatomy and Physiology, like some obscure neurotransmitter or something like what hormone does what. I start Content Review this week but I honestly don't know if it will be enough.

To be quite honest, I am worried that I didn't retain anything from my prerequisites and that no amount of reviewing is going to wake that information up in my brain. I was always a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" type student who didn't really read textbooks or study outside of class except for Exams and always managed to do well. I realize this is not conducive to success in Medical School, and I am trying to establish good study habits now. Is it possible to do well on the MCAT without remembering everything from your Pre-Reqs? General Chemistry was a little bit better in terms of what I remember, but Biology and Physics are no-go. I'm quite sure if I would have continued taking the exam I would have gotten something like 10th Percentile. Please help! What do I do? What sort of studying should I do to make sure I know the information this time around? Would 100 days of studying even be enough at this point?

pre-reqs give you a good foundation to learn MCAT content, but they often don't line up perfectly or even very well with what is tested on the exam. i know i learned stuff in content review i don't think we ever touched on in class, often because the professor was too interested in discussing something pretentious but more interesting to him/her like the derivation of Schrodinger's equation (i'd bet this happens more often at large universities than small colleges).

yes it is possible to do well without remembering pre-reqs; i was 4+ years past my prereqs and i managed a 100th percentile score with ~120 days of studying (in the evenings, when i got home from my full time job). we all start from the bottom, its the work you put in that brings you up to a great score. treat the MCAT as if it is its own class, and the syllabus is what AAMC lays out in their outline. use Anki (i recommend MileDown or JackSparrow decks), UWorld, AKLectures, some third party FL's to work on timing and get more content questions, and the AAMC FL's and section bank. and don't forget to exercise!

 

[PA_dud3]

pre-reqs give you a good foundation to learn MCAT content, but they often don't line up perfectly or even very well with what is tested on the exam. i know i learned stuff in content review i don't think we ever touched on in class, often because the professor was too interested in discussing something pretentious but more interesting to him/her like the derivation of Schrodinger's equation (i'd bet this happens more often at large universities than small colleges).

yes it is possible to do well without remembering pre-reqs; i was 4+ years past my prereqs and i managed a 100th percentile score with ~120 days of studying (in the evenings, when i got home from my full time job). we all start from the bottom, its the work you put in that brings you up to a great score. treat the MCAT as if it is its own class, and the syllabus is what AAMC lays out in their outline. use Anki (i recommend MileDown or JackSparrow decks), UWorld, AKLectures, some third party FL's to work on timing and get more content questions, and the AAMC FL's and section bank. and don't forget to exercise!

Wow, that is amazing. Do you have any general advice on what sort of study schedule you used? Great job by the way

 

[deleted555445]

Wow, that is amazing. Do you have any general advice on what sort of study schedule you used? Great job by the way

thanks, scores came out at 8am here on the west coast and i had just rolled out of bed, definitely thought there was something stuck in my eye and the number on the screen was wrong.

basically i started reading r/mcat about 150 days about to get an idea of what people were studying, i familiarized myself with Anki, and i took my first test (NS diagnostic) about 120 days out. from there i went through the miledown Anki deck for p/s while also reading the 300 page document on the side. Once i finished that deck i kept reviews pretty low and moved on to the jacksparrow Anki deck for c/p. then i moved on to jacksparrow for b/b but didn't really like it, so i ended up using AKlectures for b/b content review (watched all his videos at 2x speed). i would do uworld problems in ~25 question sets during lunch breaks at work and not stress too much about always being right, but rather focus a lot on their explanations which are great. i took an FL every Saturday and reviewed it on Sunday (NS1-4 and AAMC1-4). i didn't really study much for CARS, but i read a lot of news (WaPo, NYT, bleacher report) which i think helped.

this worked for me and may not work for you, but i think what helped was starting early enough that i could try strategies and move on if they weren't working for me. i probably ended up only studying about 2-3 hours per day on weekdays and longer on weekends, but i think having less time gave me more focus, rather than some people who clear 3 months of their life to study and end up losing focus during the day (that would definitely have been me). in my opinion, being able to reason through questions is more important than content knowledge, and UWorld and FL's help you get there.

 

[HighYieldContent]

UWorld

I am not familiar with UWorld, if I am planning to take the MCAT in late April to maybe June should I purchase it now and pay for the elite tier? I can't even start because there are too many resources and I am getting overwhelmed (maybe that is a good thing).

But from tomorrow, I think I'll start using the Kaplan books and use one of the Anki decks you recommended, is there anything else I should do early on? I think I am far from ready to take an FL.

 

[KnightDoc]

I am not familiar with UWorld, if I am planning to take the MCAT in late April to maybe June should I purchase it now and pay for the elite tier? I can't even start because there are too many resources and I am getting overwhelmed (maybe that is a good thing).

But from tomorrow, I think I'll start using the Kaplan books and use one of the Anki decks you recommended, is there anything else I should do early on? I think I am far from ready to take an FL.

Save your money, especially if you are overwhelmed. No need to pay extra for extended access. Three months is PLENTY of time to work through the questions, and starting much earlier is going to give you a diminished bang for your buck.

 

[MissRibeye]

Another perspective - I don't think that UWORLD needs to be near the end at all.

After reviewing the KA psych videos, using 300 pg document, and making psych flashcards as well as doing very light subject review over several months while in classes, I did UWORLD first during my dedicated study period and I think it was a really good way to learn quickly what kind of questions and what topics I was weakest in, THEN I went into a deeper content review of those subjects via content books THEN I did AAMC.

I think it saved me time and aggravation, personally. MCAT questions are way different from any kind of questions I got on tests in class. I really needed to reorient my thinking to be successful, and UWORLD does that in spades.

 

[JimKimSlim]

Don't wait too long on AAMC exams because you want to have plenty of time to review your mistakes and contents you weren't sure of. A mistake I made for my MCAT was that I took my AAMC FL4 only few days (instead of the usual one week) before my exam date, so I didn't have enough time to go through all my mistakes carefully. I still ended up doing fine on the test tho

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I took all the pre-requisite courses suggested before MCAT studying and was a very good student and even made flashcards I kept up with throughout the two years and I STILL HAD TO TEACH MYSELF A LOT OF THINGS. I wish I had taken molecular and cell biology beforehand, as that class would've helped on the BB passages SO MUCH!

However, do not freak out if you feel like you have to re-learn or learn new things because I think that is common. I used the 300 page document/KA videos and made my own cards for psych. (got a 132) I used UWORLD questions for the first 30 days to find and learn the things I didn't know or needed to re-learn and made for flashcards. Then I did ~30 days berkley review questions. Then I did ~30 days AAMC bundle.

I got a 515 (127, 128, 128, 132) studying over the summer. I think my first AAMC practice test was a 511 taken after the UWORLD month.

Hidden in your absolute gem of a post is something that has slowly been lost over the past five years. A great score comes from doing and reviewing countless questions. Based on what you describe above, you did over 7500 practice questions and you got a 515. There really is no secret to doing well on the MCAT. It comes down to learning from doing questions and then reviewing thorough answer explanations.

With all of the posts about which books to use for content and which videos and flash card sets are helpful for memorization, this basic message has slowly gotten lost over the recent years.

It's really as simple as practice makes you better. Review makes you confident, but not in the way you need to be.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

This got me thinking about how many questions I did.

TBR science books: about 6000 questions and I reviewed all of their answer explanations.
EK/TPR CARS and P/S books: about 1500 questions and I reviewed about half of the questions.
AAMC materials: about 800 questions and their explanations totally suck
U: about 600 questions and I reviewed their explanations. I didn't do many C/P or B/B because I was already strong in the sciences from TBR.
FLs: about 2300 questions and I reviewed at least 80% of them.

That's 11,200 questions total and I got a 519. I concur with everyone who says practicing questions leads to success. I barely did any content review. Of all the materials I did, the two that made the biggest difference were AAMC FLs and TBR sciences books (especially chemistry and physics). If you study nothing else, do the TBR sciences and the AAMC FLs.