KoalaT's All-in-One MCAT Guide!

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KoalaT

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I just finished my MCAT yesterday. I spent the past 150+ days preparing and lurking around this forum. Over that time, I learned a lot about the MCAT, preparing for the MCAT, and found an abundance of resources that every MCAT taker should have. Here it is. All-in-One. Enjoy

THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL THOSE PREPPING FOR THE MCAT. THIS CONTAINS EVERYTHING YOU'LL EVER WANT TO KNOW.

PREPARING/STUDY GUIDE
Where to start?
SN2ed's Study guide http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-a-3-month-mcat-study-schedule.623898/

This is the guide I used and is perfect. It takes 95 days to complete and has since be adapted by other users (check the stickies). All you really got to do is throw in a chapter of psych/soc after each round of studying and VIOLA! Adapted for the new MCAT.

Keep a record of your schedule. I created a giant table that recorded how many days until the MCAT, what I did that day, and what practice material I utilized. Mark out your progress on the SN2ed schedule as you go.

BEST MATERIAL
My opinion: The best material is TBR, hands down. Don't worry that it is old. It is still the best in every category, including Biochemistry. This material is the highest rated by other users, and I 100% agree. I also bought and used the new TBR Psych book. It was AMAZING. Just like other TBR material, which is highly concept focused and contains a huge depth of material.

Sociology must be supplemented into this material. I used TPR sociology. It's only 2 chapters and it covers it all perfectly (along with AAMC material, it is all you need).

TPR Hyperlearning workbooks are a MUST! These are the greatest depth of practice and very good.

EK1001 is a great source of discrete questions for content review. This link will help you line up your TBR chapters with the appropriate EK questions.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ek-1001-matched-to-tbr-how-to-supplement-ek-bio.1021208/

MATERIAL COMPARISONS
TBR: Best material for study prep. It will teach you every single little detail and it does an OUTSTANDING job of walking you through how everything works step by step so you get an amazing conceptual understanding. You'll find yourself no longer needing to memorize small details and more focused on thinking about the big picture and reasoning solutions. Passages are VERY difficult. They focus heavily on content and details from the preceding chapters and are best used for putting your newly learned content into practice rather than giving you a realistic idea of MCAT passages

TPR: Probably the second best material. Most of all, you want to use the Verbal hyperlearning workbook and the science workbook. You'll have 101 passages in every section and their verbal is definitely the best.

EK: Very "general concept" oriented. It does not go in much depth. It focuses more on teaching you important details and concepts. It is good for very quick overviews and general understandings, but TBR will teach you material much better. EK1001 is probably the best thing from here. STEER CLEAR OF EK VERBAL PRACTICE. However, EK verbal strategy is good: Read to understand. No gimmicks.

Khan Academy: Great videos to supplement on concepts you have difficulty with. Use the videos to clarify areas you are weak in. Also, great source of free practice material. Best for Psych/Soc practice

Kaplan: Honestly, I really don't like Kaplan. It tries to teach you important details and simply how to solve problems and gives you very little insight into how things work or appropriate test taking strategy.

VERBAL
What should I do?

Strategy
I personally highly prefer EK's strategy. I suggest reading their verbal book. It is very short. The old MCAT was much different the new CARS. The old MCAT was only 7.5 minutes per passages. Many testers resorted to speed reading tactics and short cuts. The new CARs allows 10 minutes per passage. This is plenty of time to read the whole passage through once and even go back to the passage during questions.

EK strategy is basically as follows: READ EVERY WORD. Don't read first and last sentences only, don't skip passages that are hard and focus on easy one's, don't just read intro and conclusion. The fact is these are all just test taking gimmicks and will cap your score at a 9-10 (126-127). If you want to go higher, you need to take it as the test intended. To truly read the passage and understand the point being made. This takes practice and time.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. The only way to improve verbal is to practice, practice, practice. Everyday. I used to think I was never getting better at verbal. I'd review the tests I took and think "okay that's what I did wrong, but how is this improving me for next time?" The fact is you really are getting better. It may not seem that way, but you are. Refer to this post by me:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/verbal-proof-that-practice-makes-perfect.1177878/

The Golden Rule
This is the number one way to see quick results in your score. Use this strategy. Practice it. Soon, you will no longer need to abide by it strictly and will learn to spot wrong answers and right answers. You MUST read this thread by me:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-to-improve-on-verbal-golden-rule.1189602/

Verbal Practice Material
TBR: Not very good honestly. I avoided this

**TPRH: The TPR hyperlearning workbook is a must. This is the best and most realistic material. Great practice material. I did 3 passages each day in chunks and kept record of all my scores.

EK: They have good strategy, but they're verbal practice is pretty awful. It is extremely inconsistent (from super easy to stupid hard). The material was written by the owner's brother who honestly probably had very little credibility to do so. You will notice so many questions that are down right unfair, way too detail oriented, and you will question many answer and their explanations

**LSATs: Great practice material. These are great material because they are old tests that have been proven fair. When you get questions right, you will know why. When you get them wrong, you will agree with why you were wrong. Fair, balanced, good practice.

TIMING, PRACTICE TIMING, AND MCAT FORMAT
Chem/Phys Section:
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

CARS
90 Minutes
9 Passages

Practice with 9 minutes per passage.

On the real test you will have 10 minutes per passage

Biochem
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

Psych/Soc
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

On FL and the real MCAT
Before starting, write out a time line and mark out the times as you complete them.

Ex: Write "1:35 - 1:27 - 1:19 - 1:15 - 1:07 - 59 - 51 - 47 - etc etc" at the top of your page.
When you finish the first passage (max of 8 minutes) mark out the 1:27. This is your deadline for when you should be complete with that section. The discretes will be in portions of 4 at a time. Mark out the times as you go. Try to finish each section a bit early. You do not want to get behind and feel rushed. You will make mistakes and not think as carefully. Also you must have time to review to make sure you do not have any incompletes. This does happen occasionally and will happen to you at some point, so be sure to have time to hit the review button and quickly find any incompletes and click the answer you intended.

More information about format found here:
https://www.mcat-prep.com/mcat-2016/

THE AAMC MATERIAL
You want to start this material about 30 days out from the test. It will teach you whats important and give you an idea of what the real deal is like.

Section Banks
This material is all new for the new MCAT. It is more difficult than the real deal and the full lengths a bit, but that is good practice (**Edit: It's general more difficult than the real deal. Many people have been reporting their biology section had 2-3 passages that were of similar to the increased difficulty as the section bank). Absolutely great material here. In the Psych/Social section bank in particular, be sure to record what every single theory/term means. Even if it isn't the right answer, look up what it is (i.e. conflict theory, functionalism, Social facilitation, etc etc)

Individual Volumes
These are simply old AAMC material that has been chosen to be put in here. You'll notice it is easier and more of a concept and knowledge review. These passages are not as realistic to the real deal but are great practice material for review. They are simply old AAMC practice test passages you have probably seen if you've taken the old AAMC FLs.

Practice Tests
Not much to say here. Must take them. Compare your scores to the spreadsheet I will post below to get an idea of how you will do on the real thing.

SCORES AND BENCHMARKING WHERE YOU ARE
This spreadsheet was created for people to report their scores on various tests. Use it to see how other's who scored similar scores as you did on other material and the real deal.

http://bit.ly/1SwSODA. You can probably find an updated version of this somewhere on the forums that has the AAMC practice test in it as well.

General concept (depends on GPA too):
510 (30-31/84 percentile) = in the running for medical applicants with good competitiveness
515 (34/94th percentile) = A very competitive application
520 (37/98th percentile) = Take your pick of all the schools that want you.

Always shoot for the 520. Don't limit yourself based on expectations and don't settle for "good enough". Practice makes perfect. Keep striving.

**Also see the "Record Keeping" section below. You should always benchmark your progress in different topics and verbal.

PRACTICE PASSAGES: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
According to the SN2ed schedule, you do practice passages after each chapter. As well, for the last 35 days, you pretty much do nothing but practice up until the test. The key here is LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

After taking passages, do not skip over ones you got correct. Read it again and reason through "why was that correct?". You'll be surprised to see you often get questions right for inappropriate reasoning. For questions you get wrong, think about them before looking at the answer. When you do read the answer, you need to internalize what you were previously missing and what information you need to learn to get it right the next time. Was it passage misunderstand? Was it content you had wrong? Or was it simply something you knew but just got wrong.

The whole point of practice passages is to IRON OUT THE WRINKLES. Getting questions wrong is a not entirely a bad thing. It helps you realize the wrinkles in your knowledge and smooth them over.

Practice material
The best practice material (other than the AAMC material above) is the TPR workbooks. Both the verbal workbook and the science workbook. Here's a technique I used that I think is best:

I created my own tests. Create a Chem/Phys section:
- Take 6 passages from the TPR chemistry in random different topics.
- Take 3 passages from TPR physics in random different topics.
- Take 1 passage from TPR Ochem in a random topic

This would leave me with 10 passages, which I'd time myself on and do the whole section (realize there on no discretes in this home made test. You should not give yourself more than 80 minutes and should practice with about 70-75 minutes)

Next create a verbal section using TPR hyperlearning verbal workbook (should be 9 passages)

Lastly, create a biology section with 9 Bio passages and 1 Ochem passage from the "Biologically relevant organic molecules" topic in TPR.

Now, take all 3 sections as if it was a real test. Afterwards, grade it and iron out those wrinkles.

*Psych/soc is harder to practice. Khan academy passages are probably your best bet. I simply timed myself passage by passage and did however much I felt was good.

Record Keeping
You should seriously keep a record of your progress. For example, CARS I created a table. It said what passages I did, what strategy I planned to implement (before I took the passages), the grade I got, and then my after thoughts. For example, I would say "I'm going to get through the passages quicker this time and spend more time on the questions and referring back". After taking the test, I might say something like "I should have spent more time understanding the passages" or "I still need to get through the passages quicker". Then, when you do your next set of passages the next day, implement a revised strategy. Overtime, you will see your score go up and your strategy improve.

I also kept a log of all my science question mistakes. If I got something wrong and thought "Dang, I didn't even know that" or "Wow I should have remembered that", I would summarize the knowledge I needed to learn in a log. I organized it by chapter and topic (i.e. Chapter 1 Physics - Forces). This helps because you can read through it later. You'll find you learn from your mistakes temporarily but it is easy to forget what you learned about the course of your study schedule. It helps to read through your most common mistakes later to really solidify them.

Keep grade logs for every passage you do. This way, when you're done with all content, you can see where your lowest grades where and target them.

FULL LENGTH PRACTICE
In addition to AAMC material, there is a free online TPR full length you can take. Google it.

EK has released 4 new MCAT FL that are $5o a piece. They are good review. They are more difficult than AAMC material and the real MCAT, but you can compare your scores with the above spreadsheet to see where you're at.

Remember, grading your practice tests and learning from you mistakes is far more important than just taking the test and seeing your score.

NEW VERSUS OLD MCAT
This compilation was put together by MCATJelly. Read all the information. It is people's comments on how the new sections compare to the old and what material was most emphasized (Ex: Know your proteins and amino acids! Beware: physics is lightly tested compared to the old test but any physics is still fair game and you are still expected to know it all. Heavy emphasis on optics, light, frequency, fluids/pressure, and electrics)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/wiki/mcat2015exam

This link compares the new to old MCAT and tells you what content has been removed. For example, you can lightly review rotational motion and momentum, since it has been removed. It is still a good idea to go over it.
https://www.mcat-prep.com/mcat-topics-list/

This post shows how to convert old scores to new scores. The simple calculation of old score*1.33 + 468 does not work. Do not believe online calculators. There is a new distribution method and Efle here has laid it out for you.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...centile-comparison-conversion-tables.1143689/

CONCLUSION
That's just about it. I'm sure there's some typos in here, and I'll fix them if I notice any. If I remember anything I forgot, I'll edit this post.

It's been a great 6 months of being a part of this SDN community. It helped tremendously, and I'm grateful for everyone's combined efforts. I finished my MCAT and I'm signing out for good. Shout out to SN2ed, MCATJelly, Xenith, and all the other's who've put in so much work to help out.

Good luck to everyone! Hope this helps!

**Edit: For those who are interested, I scored in the 96th percentile with nearly perfect scores in Chem/Phys and Bio.

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I might start doing at least 5 passages a day from the science workbook since you recommend it for practice along with BR passages
 
Thanks man! I love all your tips too and believe they will help me on verbal (been getting 60-65% right on CARS and need to improve).

My test date is on Aug 5.
Gone through Chem/Physics/Physiology EK book
Gone through Biochem Kaplan book (still need to do Beta Oxidation and Pentose Phosphate pathway tho)
Gone through Psychology Princeton Review Book

I have the princeton review hyperlearning science and verbal workbooks along with the BR Chem, Physics, and Bio books
- Already done with most of Chem 1 Book BR
- Goal is to finish Chem 1 and Chem 2 BR and Bio 2 BR and high yield topics in physics and ochem from BR
Since I've already gone over most material, I can finish 2-3 chapters a day along with the practice passages from that chapter.

I'm also going to start taking 2 nextstep fl a week
(have only taken one full length for nextstep 2 weeks ago and got 125/125/126/127 ----- 503)

I don't know if I have enough time to incorporate Princeton Review science workbook :(
what do you think my best options are?
Should I stick with BR passages or should I start doing PR science workbook passages?
Hmmm this is hard to say because it sounds like you've already done a lot of content and work. I would highly suggest that about 1 month before the test you need to begin all the Official AAMC material. It won't take you 1 month to do it all, but after doing it, you will realize what the real thing is going to be like and want to brush up on different things (amino acids, sociology terms, laboratory techniques, etc).

TBR can be very time consuming due to how in depth it is. If you are worried about time, you could consider targeting the subjects you are unsure about. EK is a good overview and sometimes can be enough if you know the topic very well. However, if you don't remember the subject or didn't learn it well the first time, EK can leave you confused. This is where TBR is great because it teaches every little detail from start to finish.

If you think the TBR passages are helping after chapters, continue doing them. If you want more practice in specific areas, use TPR. It is organized by subject and topic, so you can easily target areas of weakness. It is a lot of passages. Don't freak out if you don't get through it all. I'm pretty sure I had quite a few left over as well.
 
Hmmm this is hard to say because it sounds like you've already done a lot of content and work. I would highly suggest that about 1 month before the test you need to begin all the Official AAMC material. It won't take you 1 month to do it all, but after doing it, you will realize what the real thing is going to be like and want to brush up on different things (amino acids, sociology terms, laboratory techniques, etc).

TBR can be very time consuming due to how in depth it is. If you are worried about time, you could consider targeting the subjects you are unsure about. EK is a good overview and sometimes can be enough if you know the topic very well. However, if you don't remember the subject or didn't learn it well the first time, EK can leave you confused. This is where TBR is great because it teaches every little detail from start to finish.

If you think the TBR passages are helping after chapters, continue doing them. If you want more practice in specific areas, use TPR. It is organized by subject and topic, so you can easily target areas of weakness. It is a lot of passages. Don't freak out if you don't get through it all. I'm pretty sure I had quite a few left over as well.

Yeah, I'm good in Physics, decent at ochem, but I struggle a lot with some subjects in gen chem. Especially problems involving calculations.
Also, I think BR bio book #2 is a must. Its only 5 chapters and it covers everything you need to know. (already have a good physio base from EK).
I can easily finish 2-3 BR chapters a day along with passages + review of passages
This will be my schedule:

7/4: NS Fl #3 + Review of fl
7/5: Physical sciences BR + CARS
7/6: Physical sciences BR + CARS
7/7: Bis BR + CARS
7/8: Psychology Khan academy passages + CARS
7/9: EK #1 + review of fl
7/10: Physical sciences BR + CARS
7/11: Physical sciences BR + CARS
7/12: Bis BR + CARS
7/13: Psychology Khan academy passages + CARS
7/14: NS fl #4
7/15: Chem qpacks + review + CARS
7/16: Physics qpacks + review + CARS
7/17: Bis qpacks + review + CARS
7/18: EK #2 + review
7/19: Review + CARS qpack #1
7/20: Official guide questions + Review + CARS qpack #2
7/21: C/P section bank + Review + CARS
7/22: Bis section bank + Review + CARS
7/23: Psych section bank + Review + CARS
7/24: Ungraded AAMC + Review
7/25: CARS + Review and focus on Physical science weaknesses
7/26: CARS+ Review and focus on Biology weaknesses
7/27: CARS + Review and focus on Psychology weaknesses
7/28: Graded AAMC exam + review
7/29: CARS + Review and focus on PS weaknesses
7/30: CARS + review and focus on Biology weaknesses
7/31: CARS + review and focus on psychology weaknesses
8/1: Redo CARS qpack #1 + review of graded AAMC
8/2: Redo CARS qpack #2 + review of graded AAMC
8/3: Read Notes
8/4: light quicksheet reading
8/5: exam day!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I just finished my MCAT yesterday. I spent the past 150+ days preparing and lurking around this forum. Over that time, I learned a lot about the MCAT, preparing for the MCAT, and found an abundance of resources that every MCAT taker should have. Here it is. All-in-One. Enjoy

THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL THOSE PREPPING FOR THE MCAT. THIS CONTAINS EVERYTHING YOU'LL EVER WANT TO KNOW.

PREPARING/STUDY GUIDE
Where to start?
SN2ed's Study guide http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-a-3-month-mcat-study-schedule.623898/

This is the guide I used and is perfect. It takes 95 days to complete and has since be adapted by other users (check the stickies). All you really got to do is throw in a chapter of psych/soc after each round of studying and VIOLA! Adapted for the new MCAT.

Keep a record of your schedule. I created a giant table that recorded how many days until the MCAT, what I did that day, and what practice material I utilized. Mark out your progress on the SN2ed schedule as you go.

BEST MATERIAL
My opinion: The best material is TBR, hands down. Don't worry that it is old. It is still the best in every category, including Biochemistry. This material is the highest rated by other users, and I 100% agree. I also bought and used the new TBR Psych book. It was AMAZING. Just like other TBR material, which is highly concept focused and contains a huge depth of material.

Sociology must be supplemented into this material. I used TPR sociology. It's only 2 chapters and it covers it all perfectly (along with AAMC material, it is all you need).

TPR Hyperlearning workbooks are a MUST! These are the greatest depth of practice and very good.

EK1001 is a great source of discrete questions for content review. This link will help you line up your TBR chapters with the appropriate EK questions.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ek-1001-matched-to-tbr-how-to-supplement-ek-bio.1021208/

MATERIAL COMPARISONS
TBR: Best material for study prep. It will teach you every single little detail and it does an OUTSTANDING job of walking you through how everything works step by step so you get an amazing conceptual understanding. You'll find yourself no longer needing to memorize small details and more focused on thinking about the big picture and reasoning solutions. Passages are VERY difficult. They focus heavily on content and details from the preceding chapters and are best used for putting your newly learned content into practice rather than giving you a realistic idea of MCAT passages

TPR: Probably the second best material. Most of all, you want to use the Verbal hyperlearning workbook and the science workbook. You'll have 101 passages in every section and their verbal is definitely the best.

EK: Very "general concept" oriented. It does not go in much depth. It focuses more on teaching you important details and concepts. It is good for very quick overviews and general understandings, but TBR will teach you material much better. EK1001 is probably the best thing from here. STEER CLEAR OF EK VERBAL PRACTICE. However, EK verbal strategy is good: Read to understand. No gimmicks.

Khan Academy: Great videos to supplement on concepts you have difficulty with. Use the videos to clarify areas you are weak in. Also, great source of free practice material. Best for Psych/Soc practice

Kaplan: Honestly, I really don't like Kaplan. It tries to teach you important details and simply how to solve problems and gives you very little insight into how things work or appropriate test taking strategy.

VERBAL
What should I do?

Strategy
I personally highly prefer EK's strategy. I suggest reading their verbal book. It is very short. The old MCAT was much different the new CARS. The old MCAT was only 7.5 minutes per passages. Many testers resorted to speed reading tactics and short cuts. The new CARs allows 10 minutes per passage. This is plenty of time to read the whole passage through once and even go back to the passage during questions.

EK strategy is basically as follows: READ EVERY WORD. Don't read first and last sentences only, don't skip passages that are hard and focus on easy one's, don't just read intro and conclusion. The fact is these are all just test taking gimmicks and will cap your score at a 9-10 (126-127). If you want to go higher, you need to take it as the test intended. To truly read the passage and understand the point being made. This takes practice and time.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. The only way to improve verbal is to practice, practice, practice. Everyday. I used to think I was never getting better at verbal. I'd review the tests I took and think "okay that's what I did wrong, but how is this improving me for next time?" The fact is you really are getting better. It may not seem that way, but you are. Refer to this post by me:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/verbal-proof-that-practice-makes-perfect.1177878/

The Golden Rule
This is the number one way to see quick results in your score. Use this strategy. Practice it. Soon, you will no longer need to abide by it strictly and will learn to spot wrong answers and right answers. You MUST read this thread by me:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-to-improve-on-verbal-golden-rule.1189602/

Verbal Practice Material
TBR: Not very good honestly. I avoided this

**TPRH: The TPR hyperlearning workbook is a must. This is the best and most realistic material. Great practice material. I did 3 passages each day in chunks and kept record of all my scores.

EK: They have good strategy, but they're verbal practice is pretty awful. It is extremely inconsistent (from super easy to stupid hard). The material was written by the owner's brother who honestly probably had very little credibility to do so. You will notice so many questions that are down right unfair, way too detail oriented, and you will question many answer and their explanations

**LSATs: Great practice material. These are great material because they are old tests that have been proven fair. When you get questions right, you will know why. When you get them wrong, you will agree with why you were wrong. Fair, balanced, good practice.

TIMING, PRACTICE TIMING, AND MCAT FORMAT
Chem/Phys Section:
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

CARS
90 Minutes
9 Passages

Practice with 9 minutes per passage.

On the real test you will have 10 minutes per passage

Biochem
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

Psych/Soc
95 Minutes
10 Passages
15 Discrete questions

Practice with 7-7.5 minutes per passage and about 1 minute per discrete.

On the real test you will have 8 minutes per passage and 1 minute per discrete.

On FL and the real MCAT
Before starting, write out a time line and mark out the times as you complete them.

Ex: Write "1:35 - 1:27 - 1:19 - 1:15 - 1:07 - 59 - 51 - 47 - etc etc" at the top of your page.
When you finish the first passage (max of 8 minutes) mark out the 1:27. This is your deadline for when you should be complete with that section. The discretes will be in portions of 4 at a time. Mark out the times as you go. Try to finish each section a bit early. You do not want to get behind and feel rushed. You will make mistakes and not think as carefully. Also you must have time to review to make sure you do not have any incompletes. This does happen occasionally and will happen to you at some point, so be sure to have time to hit the review button and quickly find any incompletes and click the answer you intended.

More information about format found here:
https://www.mcat-prep.com/mcat-2016/

THE AAMC MATERIAL
You want to start this material about 30 days out from the test. It will teach you whats important and give you an idea of what the real deal is like.

Section Banks
This material is all new for the new MCAT. It is more difficult than the real deal and the full lengths a bit, but that is good practice (**Edit: It's general more difficult than the real deal. Many people have been reporting their biology section had 2-3 passages that were of similar to the increased difficulty as the section bank). Absolutely great material here. In the Psych/Social section bank in particular, be sure to record what every single theory/term means. Even if it isn't the right answer, look up what it is (i.e. conflict theory, functionalism, Social facilitation, etc etc)

Individual Volumes
These are simply old AAMC material that has been chosen to be put in here. You'll notice it is easier and more of a concept and knowledge review. These passages are not as realistic to the real deal but are great practice material for review. They are simply old AAMC practice test passages you have probably seen if you've taken the old AAMC FLs.

Practice Tests
Not much to say here. Must take them. Compare your scores to the spreadsheet I will post below to get an idea of how you will do on the real thing.

SCORES AND BENCHMARKING WHERE YOU ARE
This spreadsheet was created for people to report their scores on various tests. Use it to see how other's who scored similar scores as you did on other material and the real deal.

http://bit.ly/1SwSODA. You can probably find an updated version of this somewhere on the forums that has the AAMC practice test in it as well.

General concept (depends on GPA too):
510 (30-31/84 percentile) = in the running for medical applicants with good competitiveness
515 (34/94th percentile) = A very competitive application
520 (37/98th percentile) = Take your pick of all the schools that want you.

Always shoot for the 520. Don't limit yourself based on expectations and don't settle for "good enough". Practice makes perfect. Keep striving.

**Also see the "Record Keeping" section below. You should always benchmark your progress in different topics and verbal.

PRACTICE PASSAGES: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
According to the SN2ed schedule, you do practice passages after each chapter. As well, for the last 35 days, you pretty much do nothing but practice up until the test. The key here is LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

After taking passages, do not skip over ones you got correct. Read it again and reason through "why was that correct?". You'll be surprised to see you often get questions right for inappropriate reasoning. For questions you get wrong, think about them before looking at the answer. When you do read the answer, you need to internalize what you were previously missing and what information you need to learn to get it right the next time. Was it passage misunderstand? Was it content you had wrong? Or was it simply something you knew but just got wrong.

The whole point of practice passages is to IRON OUT THE WRINKLES. Getting questions wrong is a not entirely a bad thing. It helps you realize the wrinkles in your knowledge and smooth them over.

Practice material
The best practice material (other than the AAMC material above) is the TPR workbooks. Both the verbal workbook and the science workbook. Here's a technique I used that I think is best:

I created my own tests. Create a Chem/Phys section:
- Take 6 passages from the TPR chemistry in random different topics.
- Take 3 passages from TPR physics in random different topics.
- Take 1 passage from TPR Ochem in a random topic

This would leave me with 10 passages, which I'd time myself on and do the whole section (realize there on no discretes in this home made test. You should not give yourself more than 80 minutes and should practice with about 70-75 minutes)

Next create a verbal section using TPR hyperlearning verbal workbook (should be 9 passages)

Lastly, create a biology section with 9 Bio passages and 1 Ochem passage from the "Biologically relevant organic molecules" topic in TPR.

Now, take all 3 sections as if it was a real test. Afterwards, grade it and iron out those wrinkles.

*Psych/soc is harder to practice. Khan academy passages are probably your best bet. I simply timed myself passage by passage and did however much I felt was good.

Record Keeping
You should seriously keep a record of your progress. For example, CARS I created a table. It said what passages I did, what strategy I planned to implement (before I took the passages), the grade I got, and then my after thoughts. For example, I would say "I'm going to get through the passages quicker this time and spend more time on the questions and referring back". After taking the test, I might say something like "I should have spent more time understanding the passages" or "I still need to get through the passages quicker". Then, when you do your next set of passages the next day, implement a revised strategy. Overtime, you will see your score go up and your strategy improve.

I also kept a log of all my science question mistakes. If I got something wrong and thought "Dang, I didn't even know that" or "Wow I should have remembered that", I would summarize the knowledge I needed to learn in a log. I organized it by chapter and topic (i.e. Chapter 1 Physics - Forces). This helps because you can read through it later. You'll find you learn from your mistakes temporarily but it is easy to forget what you learned about the course of your study schedule. It helps to read through your most common mistakes later to really solidify them.

Keep grade logs for every passage you do. This way, when you're done with all content, you can see where your lowest grades where and target them.

FULL LENGTH PRACTICE
In addition to AAMC material, there is a free online TPR full length you can take. Google it.

EK has released 4 new MCAT FL that are $5o a piece. They are good review. They are more difficult than AAMC material and the real MCAT, but you can compare your scores with the above spreadsheet to see where you're at.

Remember, grading your practice tests and learning from you mistakes is far more important than just taking the test and seeing your score.

NEW VERSUS OLD MCAT
This compilation was put together by MCATJelly. Read all the information. It is people's comments on how the new sections compare to the old and what material was most emphasized (Ex: Know your proteins and amino acids! Beware: physics is lightly tested compared to the old test but any physics is still fair game and you are still expected to know it all. Heavy emphasis on optics, light, frequency, fluids/pressure, and electrics)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/wiki/mcat2015exam

This link compares the new to old MCAT and tells you what content has been removed. For example, you can lightly review rotational motion and momentum, since it has been removed. It is still a good idea to go over it.
https://www.mcat-prep.com/mcat-topics-list/

This post shows how to convert old scores to new scores. The simple calculation of old score*1.33 + 468 does not work. Do not believe online calculators. There is a new distribution method and Efle here has laid it out for you.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...centile-comparison-conversion-tables.1143689/

CONCLUSION
That's just about it. I'm sure there's some typos in here, and I'll fix them if I notice any. If I remember anything I forgot, I'll edit this post.

It's been a great 6 months of being a part of this SDN community. It helped tremendously, and I'm grateful for everyone's combined efforts. I finished my MCAT and I'm signing out for good. Shout out to SN2ed, MCATJelly, Xenith, and all the other's who've put in so much work to help out.

Good luck to everyone! Hope this helps!

**Edit: For those who are interested, I scored in the 96th percentile with nearly perfect scores in Chem/Phys and Bio.
Please I have a question. first off thanks so much for this post I was doing mostly all of this but now I really will be TPR hyperlearning. didn't realize it was that good. I use TBR 2013 for everything and EK 2015 to help out on some tough concepts once in a while. I am just wondering why you recommend lightly looking over topics such as circular motion which have been removed for the 2015 MCAT. Will I not score above 95% if I skip these topics that are no longer tested? why do you state we should still look over it? I am aiming for your score so I would really love to hear from someone who has achieved the score I want! Thanks so much!
 
Please I have a question. first off thanks so much for this post I was doing mostly all of this but now I really will be TPR hyperlearning. didn't realize it was that good. I use TBR 2013 for everything and EK 2015 to help out on some tough concepts once in a while. I am just wondering why you recommend lightly looking over topics such as circular motion which have been removed for the 2015 MCAT. Will I not score above 95% if I skip these topics that are no longer tested? why do you state we should still look over it? I am aiming for your score so I would really love to hear from someone who has achieved the score I want! Thanks so much!
Just because it can't hurt to look over for an hour or so. Yes, it's not on there and there's no need to do a bunch of practice, but it never hurts. In no way should you waste your time doing the whole chapter, studying it extensively, and doing practice problems.
 
Having taken the MCAT, I just want to chime in and say this advice is spot on, especially the golden rule for CARS. I followed most of the advice and did great on the MCAT. Thanks KoalaT!
 
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This is super helpful!!! :clap::clap::clap:

Did you use actual LSATs for CARS practice?
Yes. Only after running out of other resources.

TPR verbal was the best. But I tried to do 3 passages every day and that was for like half a year. So ya, you can run out pretty quick. That was when I moved to LSAT tests. It's true that the format is different and the questioning style isn't the same, but I at least found it better than using bad MCAT passages (i.e. EK where the answer doesn't make sense even after reading the explanation). With LSAT tests, the you at least got consistency and a feeling of fairness when you read the answers/explanations.
 
Some people say they are, but I wouldn't advise this. There are plentyyyyy of actual CARS resources out there.
By now, I'm sure there's plenty more CARS resources out there. At my time, it was only TPRH, TBR, and EK. EK was trash, TBR was ehhhh, and TPRH was golden. Also, the new MCAT changes had just come into affect when I took it so verbal section changed to CARS and there was very little updated information on the new MCAT or CARS resources. LSATs verbal sections were the next best option for me. But you're right, there probably are plenty of CARS resources available now.
 
Thanks for chiming in. I agree that TPR has been really helpful for CARS. I laughed when I read your comments about EK passages. I liked them at first but lately I just scratch my head after some of their answers. I never planned to do TBR for CARS because of the blah feedback, but I might need more passages. To be fair, TBR is untouchable in the sciences and the only thing you need, but their CARS missed the mark.
 
Hey KoalaT, thanks for this post! It's already helping me get my studying organized. I have a question about how you integrated TPR science review material into the Sn2ed study schedule. Did you use TPR practice instead of EK? Did you use your TPR "mini-tests" instead of AAMC FL? I'm not too clear of the when and where for incorporating TPR practice into the Sn2ed schedule. Any help is much appreciated!
 
This plan is absolutely top shelf. I used basically the same thing having been out of school for a while and it worked well. It's all about passages and you'll do well over 1000 using this approach.
 
TPR Hyperlearning workbooks are a MUST! These are the greatest depth of practice and very good.

Hey there! Thanks for this extensive, helpful post!
I was wondering what these Hyperlearning workbooks are? I can't seem to find them. Do you mean the "Workout" book?
 
Hey there! Thanks for this extensive, helpful post!
I was wondering what these Hyperlearning workbooks are? I can't seem to find them. Do you mean the "Workout" book?

I think it's something you can only get from the TPR class. I found mine on Amazon.

I also used materials only given to people in the TBR class that were super helpful (well organized summaries, cool tricks, memorable examples, etc...).

If you can get your hands on classroom materials like the Hyperlearning CARS book or TBR class handouts, do it.
 
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