Advice from an MCAT teacher

[roja]

So, I scrolled a few pages (its slow in the ED tonight) and didn't really see a nice succinct summary of MCAT advice.

So, after 5 years of teaching the MCAT, I have seen some of the same bad advice, problems etc over and over again. So here is a brief summary of helpful hints.*


1. Do NOT take the April MCAT with a half assed mentality, thinking 'well, if my scores suck, I can still take it in Aug'. This is a bad idea for many ridiculous reasons: -Do you really want to waste the bucks?
-Do you really want to study for the damn thing again? Because even studying half way blows.
-Unless you want your precious interview time wasted with explaining why you had to take the MCAT again, why you didn't take it seriously the first time, etc etc. Instead of why you are such an interesting amazing person and thier school would be nuts not to take you.
2. You should plan to spend 40 hours a week studying for this thing. This test can make or break your chances. Take it seriously and study for it. If you are in school, take easier classes. Do not make the common (and obvious) mistake of trying to figure out if you will study for the MCAT or an important premed course. Both will end up losing out. Plan intelligently. Either take a full load in school OR study for the MCAT. If you work, save money or work it so you can have time to study.
3. Realize you will be studying intesely for about 12 weeks. You need to prep your family and friends that you will be incognito for the majority of this time. You can't be hanging out and having fun most of the time. You need to be studying and making sure you are getting enough sleep.
4. Make sure that you are also taking care of yourself. Work out and make sure you have a little bit of fun.
5. Take a prep course. yes, they are expensive, but this is your damn life.
6. The August MCAT doesn't keep you from getting into medical school. Low scores do. So, don't believe the myth that you have to take the april one. If you can work it so you can spend the summer studying and you kick butt on the exam, you will get interviews.
7. Do not get sucked into self defeating ideology.
8. Realize you are not competing with yoru classmates. Find people to study with, even if all you do is meet up and sit together. it makes you study when you don't want to. You will also have someone to ask random questions of. Always ask others for help. you never know who will be able to explain something in a way that will make it all clear to you.

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[Shrike]

I also disagree that most students have already mastered the material. They aren't signing up at Kaplan and TPR to learn test taking strategies."

True but unfortunate. The most valuable thing we give you is not a condensed version of stuff you didn't learn because you were too busy getting A's (ponder that), it is how to take the test. Like it or not, it IS a skill that CAN be learned.

I teach, and incidentally take, tests for a living. On the MCAT, I teach physics and verbal. I know some biology. As for chemistry, I honestly cannot keep straight what an acid is -- I have not had a chemistry class since high school, nearly twenty years ago, and I don't remember it and don't care to start. Yet I will probably come in with a 38 on the April exam, maybe 37 because of the dearth of difficult physics problems. Do you think I could do that if this were a knowledge test?

Those of you who keep saying the review courses are not worth it, you may be right, for yourself, but many students (perhaps including you) can learn to do better, sometimes a lot better, even without increasing their knowledge of the content. We see it every test administration, and so do all the other test prep services. You don't have to like it (and I wouldn't), but you have to remember that the MCAT is a curved test. If you know the material just as well as the guy next to you, but he is also trained in test-taking, then it may well turn out that he grows up to be a doctor and you don't.

(To those who had less-than-inspiring instruction in the past, I'm sorry; unfortunately some are better than others. Take my course next time. You may wind up hating me, but you'll score higher.)

 

[daelroy]

True but unfortunate. The most valuable thing we give you is not a condensed version of stuff you didn't learn because you were too busy getting A's (ponder that), it is how to take the test. Like it or not, it IS a skill that CAN be learned.

I teach, and incidentally take, tests for a living. On the MCAT, I teach physics and verbal. I know some biology. As for chemistry, I honestly cannot keep straight what an acid is -- I have not had a chemistry class since high school, nearly twenty years ago, and I don't remember it and don't care to start. Yet I will probably come in with a 38 on the April exam, maybe 37 because of the dearth of difficult physics problems. Do you think I could do that if this were a knowledge test?

Those of you who keep saying the review courses are not worth it, you may be right, for yourself, but many students (perhaps including you) can learn to do better, sometimes a lot better, even without increasing their knowledge of the content. We see it every test administration, and so do all the other test prep services. You don't have to like it (and I wouldn't), but you have to remember that the MCAT is a curved test. If you know the material just as well as the guy next to you, but he is also trained in test-taking, then it may well turn out that he grows up to be a doctor and you don't.

(To those who had less-than-inspiring instruction in the past, I'm sorry; unfortunately some are better than others. Take my course next time. You may wind up hating me, but you'll score higher.)

Well, I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree. I took both both review courses very seriously and I have a respectable IQ. I still think the claims that "test taking abilities will get someone a 37 without really knowing the material" is just a gimic and phoney baloney. I do believe you will achieve a 37 on the MCAT, but I think you are a very bright individual who can get aways with this. And I'm fairly certain you know more about chemistry than you let on. The rest of the 99% wouldn't be able to do this just using a handfull of strategies and a lack of knowledge. If it were that easy, more students would excell. After all, these are students aspiring to go to medical school so I'm sure they are fairly intelligent to begin with. I doubt that most students who sign up for these review courses were too stubborn or intelligent to grasp the test taking techniques learned. I also find it interesting that the advocates of these review courses happen to be paid instructors of these same programs. The truth is you have to study and know the material. Test taking gimics aren't going to give you a high score; knowing the material and practicing will. I'm not suggesting test taking techniques aren't valuable. However, most students can learn these on their own from review books, friends and constant practice. They don't need to throw down over a grand to learn some "strategies." If it's too good to be true; it often is. I'm sure I could do better if I signed up for one of these courses, but I'm also sure I could lose another $1300 dollars. Finally, I still have yet to hear from an actual student and not an instructor about how Kaplan and TPR helped them achieve their score through the strategies they were given. Nearly all proponents of such review courses admit the practice tests and resources were helpfull but the lecture was worthless. That can't be a coincidence.

 

[fun8stuff]

"The results of a study comparing the MCAT performance of students who had enrolled in commercial review courses with the performance of those who had not, involving over 20,000 students during a five year period, indicate that gains derived from commercial review courses are small. The gains do not support the contention that review courses provide increased knowledge and facility in test taking. You should realize that the small differences in the scores of individuals receiving coaching may simply be due to the time devoted to reviewing relevant material."

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/studentmanual/preparing.pdf
page 7 under "Should I enroll in a commercial review course?"

 

[Shrike]

"The results of a study comparing the MCAT performance of students who had enrolled in commercial review courses with the performance of those who had not, involving over 20,000 students during a five year period, indicate that gains derived from commercial review courses are small. The gains do not support the contention that review courses provide increased knowledge and facility in test taking. You should realize that the small differences in the scores of individuals receiving coaching may simply be due to the time devoted to reviewing relevant material."

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/studentmanual/preparing.pdf
page 7 under "Should I enroll in a commercial review course?"

This may be right. I don't know. It is interesting, even if it doesn't prove much, that all of the testing services say similar things about the value of such courses. Maybe they're right. On the other hand, we know that our students improve. Maybe they would have anyway.

Because MCAT is a content-based test, I suspect it will be difficult to pull score improvements out of the statistical noise without research that cannot as a practical matter be performed. (With something like LSAT it's different -- claims that prep services don't help with that test are utterly ridiculous. I can't teach my students content because there is no content, and their mean improvement from first practice test to last, these tests being actual LSATs, is just under ten points. Our nationwide average is somewhere around seven points. And a lot of data points go into these averages. I honestly do not know our MCAT average; it certainly is a more complex problem, especially because our practice tests can't be genuine previously-administered tests so the data would be questionable regardless.)

Everyone is right to point out that my opinion, and that of every other prep course instructor, is biased. So is AAMC's, though the reasoning is not as straightforward. (They really have no interest in giving people good preparation advice, and at least some interest in making their methods look fair.) Finally, opinions of those who have taken the class and feel it either did or did not help are interesting and worth something, but not dispositive. No student can know how he would have done if he had prepared differently.

So we can prove nothing. Yippee. I do know that if my son grows up to aspire to medical school, I will find a way to get him professional test-taking help, because I suspect the courses do help and also just in case. And I will resent like hell that I feel I have to do that; I hope a better selection method comes along before then.


(Incidentally, re the study cited above: I'd like to see it, if you know where it is. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time imagining controlling such a study for other relevant criteria, including desire to take a prep course. I would be loath to put great faith in such a study if it were done by any of us commercial folks, or by AAMC.)

 

[toxin]

First of all you discount the study that was done by AAMC with a sample size of 20.000 students, which means that the power of the test to detect any difference between the two groups is HIGH, then you state that 'we know that our students improve' without showing any evidence whatsoever. This would be the first sign to discount your 'evidence based' answer as nothing more than just anecdotal opinion.

QUOTE: "Because MCAT is a content-based test, I suspect it will be difficult to pull score improvements out of the statistical noise without research that cannot as a practical matter be performed" <=== What excatly are you trying to state?? What do you mean by statistical noise? Isnt statistics research? .. as a pracitical matter!!! That sentence has no meaning.

QUOTE: " I honestly do not know our MCAT average; it certainly is a more complex problem" hmmmm...no comment necessary.

 

[liverotcod]

On the other hand, we know that our students improve.

I am curious: how do you measure improvement in your students?

 

[roja]

I don't really consider my opinion to be that biased. I know longer work for TPR and probably never will again (residency doesn't really make for time)
I did take a prep course (kaplan) and I chose to teach because I needed the money, I loved to teach and I felt that out of the two available, Princeton's material was better worked.


How did I gauge improvement in my students? If thier diagnostic scores were imiproving, if when I quizzed tehm about older material and they got it. I did review sessions throughout and as attendence declined through the course, I knew it was because material was being mastered.

I don't believe that you don't have to know the material or that you have to have extensive knowledge. I am some where in between. However, it is true that some people really do have a hard time wiht multiple choice tests and they might know more about that subject but can't quite get hte right awnser. There is also a timing issue (often a huge issue for some people)
I have also had students with dyslexia that I had to customize particular techniques to help master the test.

There seems to be a false assumption that prep courses are either to learn to take the test or to master material. These are only TWO reasons to take them. There are lots. And it doesn't mean its impossible for someone to do well without one. however, it also doesn't mean that people are suckers or idiots because they need one. And the bias that because you (whoever that is) didn't need one, doesn't mean that there aren't others that don't.

 

[liverotcod]

I don't deny the utility of, nor the need for, prep courses.

In your answer about how you measured improvement, while the anecdotal part of the measurement (quizzing and diminishing attendance) is unassailable, I am cynical enough to doubt the diagnostic scores. There seems to be a general consensus, here and elsewhere, that the test prep organizations start students on diagnostic tests that generate extra-low scores in order to A) justify the expense of the course, and B) ensure the course's "raise your grade" guarantee.

And, of course, just taking practice tests makes one better at testing. But that topic has already been sufficiently covered.

 

[roja]

liverotcod-

No one is admonishing you for your opinion. Nor is anyone telling you that you are wrong. If a prep course is wrong for you, then its wrong for you. Just as it is right for others.

Your posts imply that those that support and/or teach are in some league to screw premeds out of money. I continued to teach because I loved to teach and I had wished there had been individuals around who were able to give me some perspective. And this is what I did for my students. I also read their admissions essays, talked to them about volunteering, when to apply to medical school and many other things that weren't 'strict prep course'.

As to your point of unassailable (unmeasurable?), welcome to the world. Many things are unmeasureable. You asked how I measured improvement. This was how I did it. You have a valid point that taking the exam does help. However, one thing that I have seen over and over is individuals who take test after test and keep making the SAME mistake OVER and OVER and OVER, thus they max out thier score and can't budge it. (especially in Verbal reasoning). This happened to me in Physics as well.

Courses are helpful (with good instructors) because they can figure out your own weaknesses and help you raise your score by getting you outside of your own head.

But they aren't for everyone. However, its not a CIA plot to artificially give people 'fake good scores'. They provide a service that helps many people out. And like all things in the service industry- they are good for some and not for others.

Your skepticism doesn't affect my pocketbook in the least. My advice to students considering taking the MCAT is to think about ALL of these points and make a decision based on their own life and needs. Prep courses are not ALL evil, nor are the ALL glimmer and gold.

 

[liverotcod]

My advice to students considering taking the MCAT is to think about ALL of these points and make a decision based on their own life and needs. Prep courses are not ALL evil, nor are the ALL glimmer and gold.

Roger that.

 

[ms2209]

I don't deny the utility of, nor the need for, prep courses.

In your answer about how you measured improvement, while the anecdotal part of the measurement (quizzing and diminishing attendance) is unassailable, I am cynical enough to doubt the diagnostic scores. There seems to be a general consensus, here and elsewhere, that the test prep organizations start students on diagnostic tests that generate extra-low scores in order to A) justify the expense of the course, and B) ensure the course's "raise your grade" guarantee.

And, of course, just taking practice tests makes one better at testing. But that topic has already been sufficiently covered.

I completely agree with what you've mentioned here. I took Kaplan in preparation for the April MCAT, and I was quite flustered during the course due to my lackluster performance on the diagnostic. I basically thought it was "all over" (I'm a bit melodramatic, in case you can't tell!! ), until I took the full length and scored about 9 points higher. After that, my score basically stabilized, and I am skeptical that my "magical improvement" had anything at all to do with the course prep. I most probably would've gotten that score anyway, had Kaplan given us a fair diagnostic assessment. I don't deny that preparation has helped, but I question that it helped improve my score by so much. Furthermore, we'll find out just how effective it was based on my actual MCAT score.

Prep classes are, after all, a business, and they're not going to give "guarantees" that your score will improve or else you can re-take the class for free without already ensuring that no one will have to take the class again. If people were scoring 30s on the diags, I'm sure the number of re-takers would increase exponentially. Also, to the point that roja made about attendance dropping as a sign of improvement - I hesistate to share that viewpoint, because speaking to other individuals in my class who stopped attending, it appeared to me that lack of attendance was due to students' views that classroom time was of no use, and that they were not able to derive any benefit from showing up, so why waste their time? Almost every individual I've spoken to has reiterated that the class time for prep classes is pointless; it's basically all about the practice items that they offer you outside of class and the proctored full length exams.

However, given that I took a class, I am not admonishing anyone who chooses to do so. Certainly, with the insanity of juggling classes and prepping for the MCATs, a class seems to be the most structured way of preparing well in advance for this enormous endeavor (although after taking the class, I realized that it's really not as structured as people think - much of it is still self-motivated, because you have to do the practice items and the reading assignments!). Thus, I would recommend the class for individuals who need the structure and/or the resources, but I can't help but feel that 99 percent of individuals, if they had enough time in their lives and enough self-discipline, could learn all of this stuff on their own (and arguably much better) than they do in prep classes. That's just my two cents though!