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My thoughts on prepping for the MCAT (I worked for a medical school previously).
1. Med schools start with the quantitative factors to determine application strength. There is no absolute admit, they will always look at other factors, but GPA and MCAT scores can help you become a presumably admit. GPA is an indicator of past success (how you did in a specific set of classes in your undergraduate classes) .MCAT is a predictor of future success (your potential as a medical student with the medical school curriculum). If you don't have solid GPA or MCAT, keep trying to improve those, and make sure you have other things you can say about yourself (personal statement, research/clinical experience/letters of rec) to increase your value to the med school.
2. Students usually study 20 hours a week over 12 weeks for 240 total hours. 300 hours is better or 25 hours a week. If you can't do this many hours a week, start studying earlier and give yourself more than 12 weeks. Think about the fact that the average student does 240 hours and that includes students who didn’t study and also students who didn’t do well and didn’t get into medical school.
3. Include breaks (even 15 minutes!) in your study blocks and don't study every day.
4. Purchase or get free tests from the AAMC or from other test prep companies.
5. Take as many practice tests as you need. There is not one size fits all for a student. Take as many as you need to score consistently. Good luck!
1. Med schools start with the quantitative factors to determine application strength. There is no absolute admit, they will always look at other factors, but GPA and MCAT scores can help you become a presumably admit. GPA is an indicator of past success (how you did in a specific set of classes in your undergraduate classes) .MCAT is a predictor of future success (your potential as a medical student with the medical school curriculum). If you don't have solid GPA or MCAT, keep trying to improve those, and make sure you have other things you can say about yourself (personal statement, research/clinical experience/letters of rec) to increase your value to the med school.
2. Students usually study 20 hours a week over 12 weeks for 240 total hours. 300 hours is better or 25 hours a week. If you can't do this many hours a week, start studying earlier and give yourself more than 12 weeks. Think about the fact that the average student does 240 hours and that includes students who didn’t study and also students who didn’t do well and didn’t get into medical school.
3. Include breaks (even 15 minutes!) in your study blocks and don't study every day.
4. Purchase or get free tests from the AAMC or from other test prep companies.
5. Take as many practice tests as you need. There is not one size fits all for a student. Take as many as you need to score consistently. Good luck!
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