nontrad student preparing for MCAT

[ERHARH22]

Hey hi! I am a nontraditional student looking to start my study for the mcat. I am searching for advice on how to start my studies. I have heard that taking a practice exam first is helpful, yet when i begin those, i feel its a waste of my time because i hardly remember the concepts and such from undergrad (I have taken 4 years off since undegrad). With that being said, would it even be beneficial to take a practice test to gauge where im at, or just start a prep course and study all topics?

One very confused mother just trying to prep for the mcat, Thanks in advance!

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[RocuroniumRedux]

From the perspective of someone who took the AAMC free sample exam as a diagnostic ~5 years out of undergrad: I still think there's value in taking a practice exam, just to see the scope and depth of the materials presented and to familiarize yourself with the format and cadence of the exam. It's true that you might barely remember the concepts, but this also cues you into areas you need to study (e.g. I was mostly rusty on amino acid and enzyme kinetics, but cell biology was relatively easy). If you're self-motivated, I would recommend against taking a prep class as self-studying is generally much more economical.

 

[Tryhj11]

I would recommend studying before taking the diagnostic. Otherwise, you run the risk of essentially "wasting" the diagnostic. Not sure how much value is there to taking an exam that you are totally unprepared for, both in terms of test taking skills and content knowledge. Study the material, do some practice problems, then take the diagnostic and go from there. Try to see how you are doing/scoring on your own first before using a prep course. A prep course could be useful if you can afford it.

 

[lockstitch]

Both commenters have valid points. I’ll propose a compromise: take a third-party diagnostic. You’ll get an idea of what’s covered and a taste of the question style. Might feel daunting but hey, your score is only gonna go up from there, right? One useful attitude is to just go for it; being too careful about wasting tests or whatnot is counterproductive, though so is being cavalier about using them… hence the compromise.

Prep course or not: depends on your resources and your learning style. I couldn’t afford one and prefer self-studying anyway, and I ended up with a good score even coming from a nontrad, non-science background.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Online prep curses are a huge money-maker for companies. Whether having 100+ names in a Zoom chat box with you and some videos and online questions is worth $2000 or more is up to you. There are literally tens of thousands of people who prepped on their own and got great scores.

AS has been mentioned, it's probably best to not waste AAMC exams, but in the event you have already used the unsecured exam as a diagnostic, then do exactly as the poster above suggested, and get an understanding of how the test flows and what the questions are like. The AAMC diagnostic you took is likely a reference or template for many test writers, so use it for more than just a diagnostic tool.

 

[labratchronicles]

Definitely need more information. What was your undergraduate major? Are you enrolled in a post-bacc? Full-time work? When do you want to take the exam?

Overall, I would take the diagnostic to get a gauge of what you need to work on. On average, nontrads need extra work in Chemistry/Physics (CP) and Biology/Biochemistry (BB). We get blown out of the water by science majors who take micro, mol, genetics, and the like.

I improved about 12 points from the AAMC Sample Test, which I used diagnostically, in a six-month span. My CARS score ended up taking me down from a more solid score.

My best piece of advice is to cut what feels counterproductive, and just try to keep momentum through your content review. If something doesn't make sense, you will have time to smooth it out during your test-taking practice. Put eyes on all the subjects AAMC recommends.

Bear in mind that AAMC has released a new practice test, so there are now 6 tests that you want to use wisely. I think AAMC Sample is good to gauge your skills and provides satisfaction that third-party diagnostics won't. My Princeton Review tests were helpful content-wise, but not indicative of how I would do on the real McCoy.

 

[RocuroniumRedux]

I improved about 12 points from the AAMC Sample Test, which I used diagnostically, in a six-month span. My CARS score ended up taking me down from a more solid score.

Out of curiosity, what what your sample test diagnostic baseline, and what score converter did you use? I used the spreadsheet from Blueprint and got a 512 without any content review and I'm wondering how representative you thought the sample was relative to other FLs and the real MCAT.

 

[labratchronicles]

Out of curiosity, what what your sample test diagnostic baseline, and what score converter did you use? I used the spreadsheet from Blueprint and got a 512 without any content review and I'm wondering how representative you thought the sample was relative to other FLs and the real MCAT.

I just checked the BP score sheet out and it gave me a 497 on my sample test. The way I did it before, it was a 498. So I would say it is a pretty accurate read on your abilities. Ended with a 510 on the real thing. Higher than I scored on any of the practice tests from AAMC, so I was satisfied. Recently was admitted to a DO school.

The Sample is the same as the other ones, but I also winged most of it as I had yet to finish taking orgo/phys and had yet to take biochem and physicis 2 (and orgo 2, but I don't think it's essential for the MCAT). My friend, with a 512 out the gate, you should be applying to NASA, not medical school!

 

[SahilMehtaMD]

Taking a practice exam as a diagnostic is a really good strategy; however, you don't need to waste one of the AAMC full lengths to do it. A lot of test prep companies offer one practice exam for free (MedSchoolCoach, Kaplan, Blueprint).

 

[Mightybee10]

Howdy!

DM me!

I wanted to give some advice based on what course worked for me. I did Altius, and I signed up because the average MCAT score is 516.4. Obviously, it is for students who complete the whole program, but I wanted a high score, so I planned to get my money's worth. I really liked it because you get a one-on-one tutor, and they were really a mentor throughout the whole process. The information was also super digestible and focused on high yield. When I tried Kaplan, I was taking too long because there was so much content. There is also weekly classes, and in general, it was a really structured course that fully prepared me. I got the score I needed and actually got into medical school last week because of it.

For me I am an engineering student and decided to apply as a senior. I didn't have any of the background content except for physics so I needed the help. For test accuracy, I found AAMC a little easier, but my average Altius CARS was equal to my AAMC average CARS and were what I got on test day.