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I received a 34 (11P, 10V, 13B) on my April 26th MCAT retake and I have been getting some PM's about study materials/strategies/etc. Before I started this whole MCAT process, I used SDN a lot for MCAT book suggestions, study methods, etc and now I would like to give back and provide some advice for future test takers. Before I start, I realize that a 34 is not "WOW" by SDN standards but this post is mainly for those of you who are scoring in the high 20s or low 30s and are trying to get your score to the mid 30s. This is going to be a relatively short post compared to a lot of the other guides on SDN. I will basically break down the 3 sections describing what I did for it and my suggestions. Again, everything here is just my opinion.
PS:
I actually got a 12 on PS on my first MCAT so my score decreased by 1 this time around but that's because my last PS was really easy and my April PS was very difficult.
Materials used + my opinion on them:
- TBR for content review: definitely the best PS content review out there
- all TBR chem/physics passages: very tricky but extremely helpful. contrary to what a lot of people say, I did not find them that hard.
- all TPRHL chem/physics passages + discretes: great practice but questions are very easy. good for pounding in the basics.
- some EK1001 (~100 each) questions for physics/chem: i thought these were very difficult because the questions were worded weirdly and they were asking about weird topics that you would normally learn in your courses; they are not necessarily covered on the MCAT, which is why I only did ~100 problems for each subject
- All 7 PS Kaplan Section tests: These were EXTREMELY difficult. I usually got about 60-70% correct on these section tests. However, these are exactly the passage based physics/chem (especially physics) type of questions you would see on an extremely hard PS section. these section tests are definitely worth doing.
- Almost all PS Kaplan topical + subject tests: These were very difficult too. The topicals are the same style as the section tests whereas the subject tests asked some pretty calculation heavy discretes. do these if you are already done with the section tests.
- TPR ICC passages: very difficult and not really worth doing imo.
- some EK-30 minute exams: these were too easy and not really worth your time.
Advice: If you are in the Kaplan course, definitely utilize those section tests. TBR gives you enough content review but their passages are not enough if you are looking to score high.
V
I suck at Verbal so I felt like I was extremely lucky to pull off a 10. I personally believe this section is almost all natural ability in terms of how you think about things. I did over 200 passages to prep for this section but I would say that EK101 and TPRHL verbal workbook were the best practice. However, the 30 or so verbal passages in the TPR ICC book is a hidden gem.
BS
This is the section that I did my best on (13). There's mainly 2 types of questions that you really need to be worrying about.
1. Research passages: IMO, there will be around 2-3 passages on average that are of this style. These are the "gene hxc is down-regulated by gene hxb" kind of passages. You will have to draw pathways and be able to use logic and think your way through the questions. Personally, I believe the best way to prep for this is by reading the discussion sections of pubmed articles that you are interested in. Be sure to be able to understand bar graphs and tables. Know what the difference between +/- and +/+ is. Know terms like up-regulated, down-regulated, knock-out, etc. I only read like 4 total pubmed articles but I spent about an hour understanding almost every single detail in its discussion section. I can say with confidence that this was the biggest reason why my score improved 3 points on my retake.
2. Discretes from left-field: You are most likely going to be asked at least 2-3 really weird questions. One way to prepare for this is reading the TBR Bio book, if you have enough time. That is what I did and I made notes about every weird detail I could find. Although this is a lot of work for just a couple of questions, I think this is important to do if you are aiming high. I know I was asked at least 2 very specific questions on my April MCAT that I had taken notes on.
Practice tests taken
- All AAMCs
- Kaplan FL 1-9
- TBR CBT 1-3
I studied for about 4 hours a day for 4 months for my April test. In addition, I took 15 credits during the time while volunteering/working/etc. I hope some of you may find this helpful. Good luck!🙂
PS:
I actually got a 12 on PS on my first MCAT so my score decreased by 1 this time around but that's because my last PS was really easy and my April PS was very difficult.
Materials used + my opinion on them:
- TBR for content review: definitely the best PS content review out there
- all TBR chem/physics passages: very tricky but extremely helpful. contrary to what a lot of people say, I did not find them that hard.
- all TPRHL chem/physics passages + discretes: great practice but questions are very easy. good for pounding in the basics.
- some EK1001 (~100 each) questions for physics/chem: i thought these were very difficult because the questions were worded weirdly and they were asking about weird topics that you would normally learn in your courses; they are not necessarily covered on the MCAT, which is why I only did ~100 problems for each subject
- All 7 PS Kaplan Section tests: These were EXTREMELY difficult. I usually got about 60-70% correct on these section tests. However, these are exactly the passage based physics/chem (especially physics) type of questions you would see on an extremely hard PS section. these section tests are definitely worth doing.
- Almost all PS Kaplan topical + subject tests: These were very difficult too. The topicals are the same style as the section tests whereas the subject tests asked some pretty calculation heavy discretes. do these if you are already done with the section tests.
- TPR ICC passages: very difficult and not really worth doing imo.
- some EK-30 minute exams: these were too easy and not really worth your time.
Advice: If you are in the Kaplan course, definitely utilize those section tests. TBR gives you enough content review but their passages are not enough if you are looking to score high.
V
I suck at Verbal so I felt like I was extremely lucky to pull off a 10. I personally believe this section is almost all natural ability in terms of how you think about things. I did over 200 passages to prep for this section but I would say that EK101 and TPRHL verbal workbook were the best practice. However, the 30 or so verbal passages in the TPR ICC book is a hidden gem.
BS
This is the section that I did my best on (13). There's mainly 2 types of questions that you really need to be worrying about.
1. Research passages: IMO, there will be around 2-3 passages on average that are of this style. These are the "gene hxc is down-regulated by gene hxb" kind of passages. You will have to draw pathways and be able to use logic and think your way through the questions. Personally, I believe the best way to prep for this is by reading the discussion sections of pubmed articles that you are interested in. Be sure to be able to understand bar graphs and tables. Know what the difference between +/- and +/+ is. Know terms like up-regulated, down-regulated, knock-out, etc. I only read like 4 total pubmed articles but I spent about an hour understanding almost every single detail in its discussion section. I can say with confidence that this was the biggest reason why my score improved 3 points on my retake.
2. Discretes from left-field: You are most likely going to be asked at least 2-3 really weird questions. One way to prepare for this is reading the TBR Bio book, if you have enough time. That is what I did and I made notes about every weird detail I could find. Although this is a lot of work for just a couple of questions, I think this is important to do if you are aiming high. I know I was asked at least 2 very specific questions on my April MCAT that I had taken notes on.
Practice tests taken
- All AAMCs
- Kaplan FL 1-9
- TBR CBT 1-3
I studied for about 4 hours a day for 4 months for my April test. In addition, I took 15 credits during the time while volunteering/working/etc. I hope some of you may find this helpful. Good luck!🙂
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