Should I take an MCAT prep class or not?

[Lannister]

Hello. I know there's been a lot of threads about this, but I'm looking for advice for my particular situation.

I have a history of being a good test taker (I almost always tested in the 99th percentile on standardized exams). Therefore, I don't want to drop $2000 on a Kaplan class if all they're going to do is teach me strategies. What I really need is content review. When I look at practice MCAT questions, I find that I can't answer them because I don't remember things from gen chem and intro bio and stuff, but I know that if I spent a couple of minutes reviewing the concepts I would get them right easily.

I did well in my pre-reqs, As in everything except ochem, in which I got two Bs. I'm taking biochem and my third semester of intro bio this semester, and then I'll be done with pre-reqs. I'll take the MCAT on May 22nd.

I've always been very motivated, and I prefer to figure stuff out on my own rather than learn it in the classroom. However, I'm worried about my motivation. I just spent a semester abroad, during which I did like no work and got all As, so I'm afraid I'm going to go back to my university and be super lazy and unmotivated. That's the main reason I was going to take a class. But then my friend said she took Kaplan's new MCAT class last semester and she said they did virtually no content review. So now I'm not sure what I should do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[Lannister]

One other question. I know there are study schedules available online for people who self-study. But are there any for the new MCAT?

 

[pithy84]

I advise you to take one full-length AAMC practice exam (number 3 is free) and see how you score. Do this as soon as possible, do this before studying.

Your score will be very useful information. The difference between a 20 and a 37 is huge, and from your posts, I could imagine you getting either a 20 or a 37. I just have no idea. Neither do you.

Some people say "study first", but I disagree entirely. Taking just one AAMC practice is the first thing you should do, especially if you have not decided on a study plan.

 

[TheRhymenocerous]

If you usually do well on standardized tests, I don't see much reason to take a class. That way you have the flexibility to focus on your particular weaknesses.

 

[Lannister]

@pithy84 Hmm, that's a good idea. So I should take one of the practice exams for the old MCAT, even though I'll be taking the new one?

 

[pithy84]

Yes, you should take an old MCAT practice exam, the reason being: Those are available now, but the MCAT 2015 practice exams will not be available until later (no sooner than January 31st, and AAMC has not said exactly when).

You want to take a real AAMC exam, not a Kaplan or Princeton Review imitation. The only way to take a genuine AAMC practice test is to take the pre-2015 version. So go forth and take it!

Because you should take the exam as soon as possible, you should not wait for the 2015 version which will not arrive for at least a month.

 

[Lannister]

Okay that makes sense! I'll take an old MCAT practice exam on the third of January and see how it goes, and I'll post my result here. How long should the practice exam take?

 

[Dreamstoo]

Okay that makes sense! I'll take an old MCAT practice exam on the third of January and see how it goes, and I'll post my result here. How long should the practice exam take?

3 hours 50 minutes with a break.

If you can get an AAMC 3R exam it will be 5 hours and 5 minutes with a break.

 

[Lannister]

Okay, that's not bad. What's a 3R exam?

 

[Dreamstoo]

It's a longer version of the exam and I'm not entirely sure on how to get them to be honest. If you are taking the 2015 MCAT, I highly recommend those instead of the CBTs.

 

[texan2414]

It's a longer version of the exam and I'm not entirely sure on how to get them to be honest. If you are taking the 2015 MCAT, I highly recommend those instead of the CBTs.

Wait a bit until the current MCAT is completely rolled out.
AAMC will be releasing MCAT Question Packs and I am sure these will be "old" MCAT testing material rebranded for the 2015 version of the test.

There's a lot of practice material coming your way for the 2015 by AAMC this spring. Stay vigilant

 

[Dreamstoo]

Wait a bit until the current MCAT is completely rolled out.
AAMC will be releasing MCAT Question Packs and I am sure these will be "old" MCAT testing material rebranded for the 2015 version of the test.

There's a lot of practice material coming your way for the 2015 by AAMC this spring. Stay vigilant

Do you know how early in spring btw? I'm really trying to take this exam before August if I can.

 

[texan2414]

Do you know how early in spring btw? I'm really trying to take this exam before August if I can.

Am not sure tbh. I would presume they would release this new material BEFORE the first of the 2015 exams in April/May.

 

[Levrone]

Am not sure tbh. I would presume they would release this new material BEFORE the first of the 2015 exams in April/May.

hopefully way before april... or else april/may test takers get screwed again lol.. i'm hoping by next month they release it

 

[Lannister]

Okay so I finally got around to taking the practice test, and it was pretty bad. I got a 25 (7/9/9). Here were my issues:

Physical sciences: I know I've learned all of that stuff before and I understood the questions, but I did not remember ANYTHING. At all. So a lot of content review is obviously necessary for physical sciences.
Verbal: I thought I would do better than I did. I feel like a low score in verbal shows that I don't have a good strategy down?
Biological sciences: I actually haven't finished the bio pre-reqs yet. I'm taking the class that covers development and physiology this semester, so I feel like knowing that material will improve my score dramatically. Not having taken that class meant I guessed on about half the questions. Again, I know I learned everything else the test covered (like stuff about proteins, genetics, and especially like ATP production and stuff), but I don't remember much of it.

What do you guys think? I'm kind of depressed now lol. Is it pretty much impossible to raise your score like 10 points in between the diagnostic and the real thing?

 

[Alma1989]

Okay so I finally got around to taking the practice test, and it was pretty bad. I got a 25 (7/9/9). Here were my issues:

Physical sciences: I know I've learned all of that stuff before and I understood the questions, but I did not remember ANYTHING. At all. So a lot of content review is obviously necessary for physical sciences.
Verbal: I thought I would do better than I did. I feel like a low score in verbal shows that I don't have a good strategy down?
Biological sciences: I actually haven't finished the bio pre-reqs yet. I'm taking the class that covers development and physiology this semester, so I feel like knowing that material will improve my score dramatically. Not having taken that class meant I guessed on about half the questions. Again, I know I learned everything else the test covered (like stuff about proteins, genetics, and especially like ATP production and stuff), but I don't remember much of it.

What do you guys think? I'm kind of depressed now lol. Is it pretty much impossible to raise your score like 10 points in between the diagnostic and the real thing?

A 25 without content review? Not bad.

 

[Lannister]

A 25 without content review? Not bad.

Really, it's not bad?? That's a relief, it felt pretty bad Haha. I really feel like by just doing content review for physical science and biological science I can raise my scores a lot. But again, the verbal score scares me. I got like a 35 on the reading section of the ACT so I expected to be good at verbal.

 

[Alma1989]

Really, it's not bad?? That's a relief, it felt pretty bad Haha. I really feel like by just doing content review for physical science and biological science I can raise my scores a lot. But again, the verbal score scares me. I got like a 35 on the reading section of the ACT so I expected to be good at verbal.

Look up AAMC test administration data percentile ranks. The mean score is usually 24-25. That's still a long way from scoring 35 (or whatever the equal to that is on the new one), but you have a lot of time ahead of you anyway.