A few MCAT tips

[Neurophage]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi guys,

I've been reading this forum for a year or so and it has been by far the most useful resource on the internet for applying for medical school. Now that I finally have something to contribute, I wanted to try and give back a little. I hope someone finds my ideas helpful. 🙂

Disclaimer: I am NOT the king of the MCAT or the smartest guy in town. I'm just some hyperanalytical person who got a pretty decent score for my intelligence range (11/14/14/Q for what it's worth). These are my humble thoughts on what helped me get a good score and what I could've done better. Take them as you will.

What served me well:

• 
  Make studying for the MCAT the most important activity in your life. I firmly told family and friends that I'd be very busy until my test date, and racked up some debt due to working less during the three months in which I studied. This approach might not be right for everyone, but I don't regret it.

• Focus heavily on practice exams and problem solving rather than theory and memorization. I think the brain needs to do a task rather than study it to become proficient, and that belief has always served me well. The MCAT is more a test of your ability to solve complex problems than a test of your science knowledge. You'll learn the theory as a side effect of analyzing your missed questions.

• Thoroughly analyze everything you do wrong on practice questions, and focus your studies on your weaknesses. Never, ever let anything go if you don't understand it thoroughly. In addition to knowledge benefits, I suspect that's how the brain gets good at solving really difficult problems.

• (This may be controversial): I went on a severely restricted ketogenic diet, then ate a moderate amount of carbs before and during my exam. The result was extreme sustained energy and concentration. I do NOT suggest this if you're prone to test anxiety; it was almost too much for me, and I'm usually pretty calm during exams. If you're considering it, try it well in advance of the exam.

• 
  Exercise. I went for a 30 minute run every day and it helped my concentration a lot. I'd rather get some exercise and study for an hour than skip it and study for three hours.

What I could've done better:

• 
  Swallow your pride and get a lot of feedback about your essays. I suspect my essay score would be higher if I had sought feedback so that I could actively correct deficiencies like I did with the other sections. As is, I don't really know why I didn't score higher, and that's frustrating. (Note: Per member MedPR, essay scores are being phased out and may be unimportant. Unconfirmed.)

• Don't neglect "low yield" topics. The Kaplan course suggested that some topics probably wouldn't show up and therefore weren't deserving of attention. I wish I'd paid more attention to those supposed fringe topics, because neglecting them cost me some points. Specifically, I wish I'd studied lab techniques like mass spec and HPLC more.

• Decide how you're going to tackle the VR section and fully commit to it ASAP. I went back and forth about whether Kaplan's passage mapping technique was worthwhile or not, and in the end I think that hurt me. If I'd practiced the same way from the start, I think my VR score would've been stronger.

• Don't think about the MCAT while waiting for your score. I spent the last month feeling like I'd bombed the test and seriously considering backup career options. Turns out I did just fine, and stressed out for nothing.

• 
  Space out your full-length practice exams. I tried to take one every day during the final stretch (I took 14 total), and near the end I had a burnout scare where I felt exhausted and unmotivated. Taking a couple days off seemed to fix it, but I could've taken two more exams if I'd pushed myself a bit less.

I'll update this if I think of anything else. 🙂

 

[xoxx]

great post...
What was your study plan in terms of hours/days/weeks/years ?

 

[Neurophage]

I am the worst bookkeeper ever, and I was tutoring at the time so my hours varied a lot, but I can tell you this: I took the Kaplan online course, and started studying exactly three months before the MCAT. I calculated the number of days I had to go through the lessons by subtracting one day for each full length exam and then dividing the remainder by the total number of lessons to figure out how many days I had per lesson. (It turned out that some lessons took me longer or shorter than I'd allotted, but doing it that way helped keep me from procrastinating.) In terms of hours, I studied every day til I got that fuzzy, sleepy feeling we all know and then quit for the night and did mindless stuff like watch TV or read novels. I actively tried to push myself to study for increasingly longer uninterrupted periods--I figured since the MCAT is a ridiculously long exam, stamina would benefit me. During the final stretch, I was taking full-length practice exams every day. Near the end, I had a burnout scare where I felt exhausted and apathetic for a few days, so I took two days off and felt refreshed, skipping a couple full lengths. In retrospect I'd probably try and space those out more.

 

[MedPR]

Don't waste time on essays. The score is meaningless and there won't even be a writing section come 2013.

 

[BB8730]

Those sound like some great suggestions - thanks for the post!

 

[Neurophage]

Don't waste time on essays. The score is meaningless and there won't even be a writing section come 2013.

If that's true (scores being currently meaningless), it'd make me very happy. 😀 Do you happen to have a source?

 

[Charles Darwin]

Don't neglect "low yield" topics. The Kaplan course suggested that some topics probably wouldn't show up and therefore weren't deserving of attention. I wish I'd paid more attention to those supposed fringe topics, because neglecting them cost me some points. (Can I specify the topics in a broad sense, or is that not allowed?)

As long as you don't mention passage specifics, there's nothing against posting topics that were on the MCAT.

 

[MedPR]

If that's true (scores being currently meaningless), it'd make me very happy. 😀 Do you happen to have a source?

No, but lots of people on SDN saying they spoke with ADCOMs who either didn't know what the writing section was or didn't care what your letter was.

 

[kimicurtis]

You should post in the 30+ thread 🙂

 

[Neurophage]

You should post in the 30+ thread 🙂

Done. Not sure if I should delete this thread and post it there instead--seems long for the format of that thread.

 

[bhandal]

Dude what happen to your writing score? Would you say that your ketogenic diet may have affected your writing abilities? Hopefully med schools can overlook the Q, I know I wouldn't. Anyways, have a trollioloiol day 🙂

 

[Forkit]

Dude what happen to your writing score? Would you say that your ketogenic diet may have affected your writing abilities? Hopefully med schools can overlook the Q, I know I wouldn't. Anyways, have a trollioloiol day 🙂

Nobody cares what you would or would not overlook on someone else's MCAT score. Post something useful or nothing at all.

 

[Neurophage]

Dude what happen to your writing score? Would you say that your ketogenic diet may have affected your writing abilities? Hopefully med schools can overlook the Q, I know I wouldn't. Anyways, have a trollioloiol day 🙂

As I was reaching for the razor to end my miserable existence, I realized you were trolling me. You are a bad person with brown bananas and dirty socks for a soul. 😛

 

[Charles Darwin]

So what topics did you overlook?

 

[Neurophage]

So what topics did you overlook?

I already edited the original post to reflect this, but specifically I remember questions about mass spec, HPLC and possibly gas chromatography that I couldn't answer. And the Kaplan books wouldn't have helped me to answer them, either.

 

[DavetheMD]

Solid advice. Would you be willing to disclose what the 11 was and why you think it was your weakest score?

 

[Neurophage]

Solid advice. Would you be willing to disclose what the 11 was and why you think it was your weakest score?

The 11 was VR. I think it's partly because I'm not a good speed reader (my brain likes to be excessively thorough), and partly because I waffled about what technique to use. First I wrote off Kaplan's passage mapping technique as too time consuming, then decided it might be useful after all once I started doing full lengths, then settled on a modified and abbreviated method that worked better for me. The result was that I never felt very comfortable with my technique. I suspect that if I'd just picked something--anything--and stuck with it throughout the course of my studying, I'd have got a higher score.