I have been reading this thread since I was a sophomore in college in hopes for gathering tips in my own preparation for the MCAT, and while my score is not a crazy amazing 35+ score, I hope the lessons I learned over the past few months in studying for this test can help someone achieve the score they desire.
I know the advice for the "sections" will be obsolete in a few months, but hopefully the test-taking skills help for the new test!
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1) Your individual scores and composite score
PS=10 VR=11 BS=10 (composite = 31)
Immediate post test-thoughts can be found here (
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...014-mcat-thread.1071898/page-34#post-15864047)
2) The study method used for each section
I started off studying for this test with SN2ed in May scheduled for an August date. I ended up taking the test in November. I was averse to taking class because of the high price tag that was attached to it, but in retrospect this was one of my
biggest mistakes in studying for this exam. I did all of the Berkeley Review books and followed SN2ed to a tee, occasionally skipping re-read days when I fell behind. I took my first FL a few weeks before my originally scheduled test and scored a 22. Just a lesson that following a certain schedule is not going to guarantee you a great score - I continued to take a few more practice tests and found that my AAMC 3 score was not a fluke, and significantly readjusted my practice strategy. I got my hands on EK 1001 and an online Kaplan course and that's when I really started to see score gains.
PS: While BR provided a solid foundation and I am still in undergrad, I found that I literally remembered nothing from general chemistry. I was lucky that I was just out of E&M Physics and knew it really well, but as I reviewed gen chem I found myself being like, "Oh! I know that!" and not spending the time drilling concepts like I should. For this section, you really need to know the basics inside and out. Even post-test, I'm able to help my friends who are taking these classes now - and I got a 10 PS. That's how well you need to know the basic concepts. You don't need to know any crazy details, but you need to know the basics of the subjects tested on here
inside and out, because ultimately on the real thing they will ask you questions that test your ability to manipulate your knowledge of the fundamentals and apply them in different situations.
After I failed at SN2ed, picking up EK 1001 changed my life. EK 1001 drills the
crap out of basic science concepts. I did all 1001 problems for GenChem and about half the Physics book (all of the areas I was having trouble with) over the course of two weeks. I went from scoring maybe 8-9 on PS to consistently scoring 10. A lot of my issue was that by the time the test actually rolled around, I forgot a decent amount of the nuisanced material EK covers - I did EK 1001 in September and my test was in November, if I had taken it in October I am convinced I would have done better because I would have remembered a lot of the stuff from EK 1001 I forgot. Chad's videos were great for having someone teach you concepts - my friend swears Chad is the reason he improved his PS score, and I felt he was a great supplement. Physics especially.
I also took a ton of Kaplan FLs and that REALLY helped. I had a decently calculation-heavy test, but I didn't feel like it was any different from my Kaplan FLs, and taking the Kaplan FLs really helped prepared me for whatever may be thrown my way on test day. I think that skipping around in PS is a fantastic strategy because checking my answers in PS was always key. In my practices, I found the FLs I had time to check my answers on were the ones I did best on because I was able to catch silly math errors or a missed key word in the question. Kaplan section tests were crucial in helping me nail down PS timing as well.
I really struggled with TIMING on PS. Always start with the discretes and map out your test; this is a Kaplan strategy, and it takes like one extra minute but gives you a ton of peace of mind. Once you have the discretes out of the way, you're no longer in the territory of missing easy questions because you run out of time. As you skip to the discretes, write down what each passage is about and how many questions it has; then, when you're done with discretes you can evaluate what KIND of test you have. Doing this on test day was a GODSEND. I knew what passages were my strengths, what were my weaknesses, and which were the "tough" passages so I could tackle those last, instead of floundering around trying to figure out which passages to spend more time on. I originally had a lot of difficulty with PS timing as well, and in mapping out my passages, I would give myself 14 minutes per 2 passages - some passages require less than 8 minutes, some require more, and this is a way to handle that without messing up your time entirely. This also allowed me to skip around in PS, which was really helpful as coming back to questions, I often found the answer after having some time to let the question stew in the back of my head. In terms of reading the passages, sometimes you really need NO information from the passage. I personally used to take a lot of time reading passages in PS, and on test day I just looked at the questions first and went back as necessary - you can tell what passages need the passage and what don't. Don't waste your time reading every single passage to a T.
VR: I completely neglected this section up until a few weeks before my test because I am a voracious reader, and the neglect showed. VR is different from normal "reading", and I did not take a lot of humanities classes as an underclassman to prepare me for answering questions about what I read. I started off doing a few passages from TPRH Verbal everyday, but my score on AAMC 3 VR after doing this was a 6 and I didn't even finish all of the passages. If I could do it over, I would use both TPRH VR and EK 1001 VR and do ENTIRE tests. EK 1001 is not representative of AAMC or the real thing, but it prepares you to handle questions. I also know it's stressed on here to do just a few passages a day, but I think to build up your stamina and test taking ability, you should stimulate a VR test weekly or as often as you need to depending on how much time you're studying for. I was consistently scoring 7-8 before my test, I literally never broke 8, but it was more of a time issue than the actual question style; I was genuinely sure I would have to retake because of this section. I had a fundamental inability to move on from questions and skip around. Post-gaming is great in figuring out how AAMC asks questions, but there's a certain point where it just no longer helps either in my opinion. The night before my test, my friend who is amazing at verbal suggested that I just cut myself off at 8 minutes per passage and take an educated guess on the questions that I was waffling on. The
only test I ever did this on was my real exam, and I got an 11. Take that as you may.
Frankly, verbal is a crapshoot and I think I just got lucky - but it helped me in verbal to start thinking about WHAT the passage is actually about and writing down the main idea, then tackling the questions. Just read the passage, and read quickly. I spent~2-3 minutes understanding the passage, and more time on the questions because I always felt I had to jump back, even when I had an understanding of the passage. You don't always need a "strategy" for verbal, this is a section that just needs practice practice practice, and a clear head. On test day, being wise with my timing and POE helped me the most.
BS: I am a teaching assistant for physiology and I teach lab/recitation for general biology I, so I REALLY neglected this section initially, and I had significant content gaps in the topics in this section I had never seen before, such as immunology. I spent way more time on ochem than necessary - I think BR ochem is overkill and I wasted way too much time trying to memorize reactions I literally don't even remember nor did I see on my test, or even any other AAMC for that matter.
I think that teaching genbio I while I was studying for the MCAT helped my score at least a point or two because I have never taken biochemistry or upper level molecular biology classes outside of molecular genetics, and a lot of the questions on my test correlated well to what I was teaching my students. This section is also a lot of scientific data analysis rather than concepts, imo, and while you need to have a basic understanding of the concepts, having a research background or having read a lot of experimental research papers will help you the most. I didn't have as much trouble with convoluted bio passages that wanted you to interpret the passage as I did discretes; having more foundational content would have been the thing that helped my score the most. I was so focused on getting my PS score up that I neglected bio content a lot in the last 2ish months leading up to my test. Also, EK 1001 Bio and Ochem are fantastic. I did about 1/2 of Ochem, and a little bit of EK 1001 Bio. If I had finished EK 1001 Bio my score would have been higher for sure.
I would also recommend mapping out all the body systems (physio-wise) - I ran out of time studying to do this, but I think this would have really helped me with a few discretes. Again, just study the basics here, but I think you could easily score 10-11 if you had solid test-taking skills through extensive practice. I wish I had studied my notes from my physiology class a lot more as well - I relied far too much on "MCAT" study materials for this section, when in reality you just need to know the material.
3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
I originally started out with SN2ed and supplemented with Chad's videos. All the BR books and EK Biology. I would not recommend this, but I speak as someone who is still in undergrad and had this stuff decently fresh. BR goes VERY in-depth, and while mastering BR will get you a great score, I was missing literal basics when I started taking FLs. BR doesn't do as great of a job (in my opinion) of stressing the basics, or at least not in a way that worked for me. SN2ed was not the best schedule for me, not conducive to my study or learning style. People swear by SN2ed and I was sure that doing that schedule would guarantee me a fantastic score. I have multiple friends who did it and got 35+ scores, but just be aware that
not one study schedule works for everyone. This is not an undergrad class where the more material you cram into your head or the more you study will get you a better score. This is about studying smart to understand basic foundational knowledge and being able to apply it.
After SN2ed, I got access to a Kaplan class, and did EK 1001 which is what I attribute most of my score gains to. Kaplan is fantastic. I can't speak for any of the other testing companies, but when I initially started studying I was discouraged by many people from taking a class, and I really wish I had taken one. If I could do it over, I am sure that having a class would boost my score at least a few points - or at least have allowed me to study for this test in a shorter period of time. The immense amount of study material you have access to makes the price tag worth it, as well as the support system that comes with taking an in-person class. Additionally, having an instructor to be able to ask questions to would have been phenomenal. I used to the MCAT study q&a section on here a lot (and I thank SDN for the fantastic help I was given!), but I'm someone who really gains more out of asking questions than staring at material and learning it myself. I need someone to explain things I don't understand, and a class would have been really useful here. Having the Kaplan FLs was amazing, and Kaplan SECTION TESTS are phenomenal. Section tests are the REASON I was able to fix my timing in all my sections and actually even FINISH the test, and they really helped prepare me for the first. Kaplan BS is the best prep out there in my opinion for the current test, and Kaplan PS is fantastic as well. I did two Kaplan VRs and found them incredibly different from AAMC, but I felt that post-gaming Kaplan VR helped me navigate humanities passages a lot better. In VR, I always struggled with the natural science passages (which is the opposite of most people, lol) and Kaplan wasn't of great use here.
EK 1001 is underrated. For me personally, I was like "oh, this is stupid basic stuff that I know" - did I really know it? No. EK 1001 called me out on my BS and made SURE I knew the basic stuff. I was lacking basic, foundational knowledge due to focusing more on the details of BR, and EK 1001 drills the basics you need to know. If I could do it over, I would start studying with a LOT more EK 1001. It was just too much to keep with in SN2ed to do the BR passages properly and EK 1001, so I cut it out - but when I picked it up again in August, I was kicking myself for not having done it sooner. Chad's videos were great for the basics as well, but I originally did not really use him the right way when I was doing SN2ed. When I sat down and straight up only paid attention to his videos for concepts I was struggling with, he's a great resource.
Additionally, my friends and I joke that you literally need to "live" the MCAT. Start thinking about how things apply in daily life. I will literally never look at my world the same again because of all the science knowledge I have drilled into my brain from studying for this test. The MCAT came up in absolutely everything I was doing for almost 7 months, and that's the moment where you know you have your foundational knowledge - you know everything to a point where you can literally apply it to anything. Referring to old textbooks and notes is also fantastic, if you felt you have notes from taking some of these classes that you can still understand. I didn't refer to my phys notes till like three weeks before my test, and if I had used them a lot earlier I feel that my BS content would have been way better.
4) Which practice tests did you use?
All the AAMCs, Kaplan 1-3, 4 Kaplan PS section tests, 4 Kaplan BS section tests, 3 EK 1001 verbal tests.
Take AAMC 11 before you take AAMC 10. That test demoralized me like no other.
AAMC 3 (late July) - 22 (8PS/6VR/8BS)
AAMC 4 (early August) - 23 (8PS/8VR/7BS)
AAMC 5 (taken in sections without timing, early August) - 28 (9PS/11VR/8BS)
AAMC 7 (September) - 27 (10PS/8VR/10BS)
AAMC 8 (early October) - 30 (12PS/7VR/11BS)
AAMC 9 (mid October) - 31 (10PS/11VR/10BS) - I had to stop this test in the middle and thought my VR score was skewed as a result
AAMC 11 (weekend before my test) - 24 (7PS/8VR/9BS)
AAMC 10 (two days before my test) - 25 (9PS/7VR/9BS)
Kaplan FL 1 - 9PS, 9BS (did not take VR)
Kaplan FL 2 - 11 PS, 10 BS (did not take VR)
Kaplan FL 3 - 33 (13PS/10VR/10BS)
As you can see, my scores were literally ALL OVER THE PLACE. I also had a serious issue with sitting down and taking the full test because I had anxiety about getting scores. While simulating testing conditions is important, I think more important than that is building up the stamina to take three full sections in a row with each section timed. I am living proof you cannot put stock into your practice tests as I think I had serious test anxiety on 10/11, and I took the real thing with absolutely no pressure. The practice tests I took with no pressure were also the ones I did best on. Also, section tests to help with test conditions were just as good as full practice tests.
I only completely simulated two tests under exact test taking conditions (AAMC 8 and AAMC 10) and I did not feel that this hurt me on test day. Test day is COMPLETELY different. You just can't simulate the kind of "realness" you feel when you sign the fact that you're taking the "Medical College Admissions Test." That kicked me into high gear so much more than the anxiety I felt with any practice test. I guess my approach to this is the fact that you've taken a ton of tests in your life, and while this is completely different, if you have an IDEA of what you're getting into - you will be okay. That's just me though.
5) What was your undergraduate major?
Neuroscience
6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Be kind to yourself. This is literally JUST a test. It's a piece of the medical school puzzle and I honestly felt slightly entitled when I started studying - I have a decently high undergrad GPA and as a result, I thought the MCAT would be cake. It was not, at all. I was supposed to take this test on August 21st and I took it on November 7th. While shooting for a high score is great, if you're not a standardized test taker like me, it's good to remind yourself that a non 35+ score is not going to keep you out of medical school.
Learn the basics. Starting with BR, I neglected this profusely and it showed. Take an AAMC before you start studying so you know what the test is like. Yes, you don't want to waste FLs, but I had NO IDEA what the test was like until I took a FL two months into studying and it was COMPLETELY differently from what I thought it was going to be. Additionally, be open to changing your study style. You may think you know how to study, but the most successful people know how to adapt. This test is unlike anything else...it's like a final over everything you've learned for three years/multiple pre-med requisites. What may have worked for your classes may not work in studying for this. I know it didn't for me, and the fact that I kept trying to study the same way made me pretty miserable for a few months. The minute I switched it up to accommodate for the fact that it was something completely different was when I saw changes. There is also a point where you have TOO much study material. Over the summer, I was doing a BR chapter a day with respective Chad's videos and it was just. too. much. I wasn't processing anything and
learning. It's okay if you don't use the best study materials for every section. Just find what works for you and run with it. There is no best study method, no best study materials, you just have to figure out what works for you. Some people can study for the MCAT in two weeks, some need multiple months - this is all dependent on how good of a test-taker you are, your foundational knowledge, multiple other factors. While it's super stressed to !!keep doing practice!!, this was a waste of my time from May-August because I didn't even know the material I was doing questions for. You should be exposed to MCAT questions, but you have to have foundational knowledge first.
DON'T PUSH YOUR DATE TOO MUCH. There comes a point where you just need to grit your teeth and take it. I started studying with the expectation that I wanted to be one and done, and continued to push my test date because I didn't want to take it till I felt "ready."
Fun fact, and my post-test thoughts on the November 7th test have this story in detail, but I was going to void my test on test day. Having taken AAMC 10 and 11 with terrible scores so close to my test date, I was an absolute mess by test day. I was sick of studying, and moreso I felt like a failure because I had been studying for so long and hadn't taken the test. I was going to just not go to my test because I was so terrified of getting a subpar score and it's commonly accepted on here to "trust your average." Well, my average was awful, so logically I felt that I shouldn't take it. While that is great advice if you're consistently scoring lower, my scores were literally all over the place, and I should have known myself. I peak on test day under the pressure of knowing "this is the real thing." After I took AAMC 10, I was convinced that I would not be scoring my test and was looking into canceling and taking the 2015 test. The day before, I went out to dinner and my friend planted the seed that I should score my test because I had studied for so long - having one crappy score on my transcript would not kill my dreams of being a doctor. I woke up the next morning still about 80% sure I was not going to be scoring. When I got to the test center, it just felt incredibly real - and while I felt no different on the real thing than I had on multiple practice tests, I scored my test. This was also partially because I knew I had done my best with what I had available - I had managed my time well, I was not anxious AT ALL while taking it, and if I did do poorly it would be a true reflection of my abilities rather than some test day fluke. I was calculating my AAMC average while staring at the void screen and was convinced scoring it was a bad idea at the time, but I wanted to stop being so obsessed with getting the score of my dreams. There is a part of me that believes that medical schools make us take this test to have us stop being so obsessed with certainty and perfection.
Getting my score was probably the most pleasant surprise ever as I spent the month convincing myself it would be okay to retake in 2015 and recovering from the intense burn out that was studying for this test for 6 months. I think this just goes to say that no practice test ever can predict your test day performance, and this test is half psychological. Now, I'm not saying that if you're consistently scoring low 20s you should go in and expect a miracle, but I had scored in the 30s before, I knew the material, and the amount of pressure I was putting on myself by November to get a certain score and consistently feeling "entitled" to a 35+ score was deterring me from peak performance. I also had been studying for 6 months and at that point it was ridiculous to even think about pushing my test. The ultimate goal is to be a physician, and while going to a top 20 school would be a phenomenal dream come true, even a 45 wouldn't guarantee you that. While it would significantly help your chances, believe in the fact that this process is more than just your MCAT score. YOU are more than your MCAT score, and your intelligence is more than this score.
Lastly, and in my opinion the most important one, a support system. My friends were my rock during this ordeal. This test sucks balls. There's no other way to put it. Having regular perspective outside of it was critical. I started studying with a friend who was taking it the same day as me in September, and found my motivation shooting way up. I loved studying while I had classes because I had something to distract me outside of the MCAT. Getting tunnel vision is the worst thing that you can do during this test because it will burn you out, and quick. Having people that are there for you when you get a 22 on a practice test, are willing to listen to you talk about practice passage scores, and listen to your fears while supporting you is crucial. A lot of the time I didn't listen to my friends and family when they gave me advice about this test because I felt that they "didn't get it" - but in the end, their confidence in me was warranted and necessary. It's impossible to study for this thing without an outlet, at least it was for me.
SDN was a huge savior as well; I particularly have to thank
@sillyjoe,
@orangetea,
@TexasSurgeon, and
@SwedishMD2B. As corny as it is, this website was a great place to find support in the madness that is the pre-med world. I didn't know a ton of older pre-meds or people who had taken the MCAT, and it's a great resource to find answers. That being said, don't get too caught up in how other people are doing. SDN is first of all not a representation of the real world (small sample size), and secondly, it's supposed to be a resource. If you find that it's more deterring than it is helpful, get off. At the end of the day, only you know yourself.
7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
May-November (6 months) ~30 hours/week over the summer, 15-20 hours/week during school, with a 2 week break in August.
This was overkill, and if done correctly, I think 4 months of studying is enough. I was told to take time off and focus my energy solely on the MCAT, but this hurt me a lot early in the summer. I was thinking about only the MCAT and had no other distraction which made my studying less productive, I wasn't a happy PERSON, and it showed in the fact that I lost motivation to study by the end of July and burned the F out. I also started studying after a particularly rough semester - school ended April 27th and I picked up MCAT books in May 1st - and I was burned out. Don't study for this while you're burned out and avoid burn out as a whole. I didn't really believe in burn out until I studied for this test.
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This was super long, but if you made it through, congrats! I hope this helps someone out there.
And remember, you can do it.
🙂
