Before You Start to Study! Pre-Review is critical.

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PlsLetMeIn21

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I've seen loads of threads about different study plans, but very few suggestions of what to do before diving into books and videos. I want to share what I did, not because everyone should do it, but because it worked for me and it includes some of the wonderful advice I got along the way.

First, a little background on me and my situation. I'm an average student who did average on the SAT and ACT and ended up at an average school. My sciGPA is hovering around 3.6 and when I first started to grasp what exactly the MCAT was, I was hoping I could get a 510. I took the MCAT this past September following my sophomore year. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, I took the MCAT having not taken biochemistry. While I don't recommend doing this, I was able to learn it from my review books and my test was lighter in biochemistry than what everyone had warned me about. I didn't do so well on the Reading part of my SAT or ACT and guess what? I struggled on the CARS section as well. But I knew that going in so I should have been better prepared.

Before You Do Anything Else
The first thing I did, at the advice of my big sib, was to look at the Official Guide to the MCAT by AAMC. I cannot emphasize this enough. I did this ten months before my MCAT and it took me about a week to work through the book. This will tell you exactly what to expect on the MCAT and best of all, you get sample questions to see the style they use to ask their questions. The reason this is so valuable is that what you don't realize at first is that you are learning how to take their test more than you are reviewing material. It also lists the subjects tested on the MCAT. Once you have looked through that book, it is time to decide what materials and sources are best for you.

Choosing Your Materials
I dove into Reddit and SDN to read everything I could about the various materials. Honestly, at first this confused me more than anything because rather than narrowing down from the four sources I knew about, I instead learned that there are like six or seven sources for each section. I kept a tally sheet about the different books and videos noting which ones people recommended and which ones they didn't like. What else I did that made a big difference is that I also included a tally of what people who did poorly used, so I could avoid those materials. It took me a few days but I had a ranking of the books and resources for each section: C/P, CARS, B/B, and P/S. After all that work, it ended up that I reached the same conclusion as Zenabi90 and KoalaT (TBR for C/P, EK and TPR for CARS, TBR for B/B, and TPR for P/S), which made me feel confident in my choices.

From here, still nine months before my exam and five months before I planned to start studying, I looked at my big sib's MCAT books and her friends MCAT books. I think they had nearly everything ever made for the MCAT, LOL. I was taking physics and organic chemistry that quarter and decided to compare three MCAT books side-by-side on the topics I was covering in my classes. It became clear very fast the TBR matched me, so I bought their science books. I used them in conjunction with my classes the rest of the year.

People will try to tell you that which books you use doesn't matter (I've read this at SDN a few times), but they're wrong. At least they were for me. If you are genius and you know everything, then sure. But if you are average like me, then it's worth your time to find the books that match you. I swear by TBR for chemistry, physics, organic, and biology and I did far better on C/P and B/B on my MCAT than I ever dreamed, but that doesn't mean they will work for everyone. I swear by TPR for P/S, where I also did well. Do your own homework on what will work for you. Spend time looking at the various books, especially the questions and answer explanations. You will be glad you did.

Make A Schedule
This is a no brainer, but what matters is that you make a schedule that matches you. I am not one to micromanage my life, much to my detriment in some classes, so I did not opt for a daily planner like most of my friends did. I instead set weekly goals. I looked at all of the materials I had and estimated how much time it would take to complete. I wanted to be done with my reviewing two months before my test date. Be sure to sign up for an MCAT the day registration opens. Get the date you want so you know exactly what your schedule is going to be. Each week I completed six to eight TBR science chapters, two TPR P/S chapters, and did at least twenty CARS passages. This included thorough postgame analysis of EVERY question I did. It takes a [insert profanity here]ton of time, but it is critical to learn from doing questions.

Once I was done with the book portion of my review (and occasional Khan video, which are superb for P/S BTW), I switched over to AAMC materials. DO NOT SKIMP ON AAMC MATERIALS! I didn't get as much from the Q packs as the section banks, but you should still do them both. Do the Q packs first and Section Banks last. This will take about two weeks give or take. You also want to look at the 300-page P/S document from MCATKings, it is pure gold!

From here it's time to take practice exams. I planned to do two a week, but due to events getting in the way, it never quite worked exactly like that. Give yourself at least one full day of review to go over your exam in its entirety and another day to do general review. I wrote out two to three pages of notes following each exam and spent that day reviewing that information. This helped solidify my weaknesses.

Materials
Get all of your materials early so you know what you are up against. I worked better on paper than computer, so I printed some of the online stuff I had. I started an Anki deck for P/S terms from day one and this helped. Some materials are better suited for early review and others for later review. While I didn't use EK for my review, I used them in the last six weeks for quickly double checking myself and testing my recall. Their answer explanations are pretty bad, but at that point in my review I wasn't using them to learn. So they were a valuable resource late in my studies where they would not have been helpful early in my review.

Do the unscored AAMC exam first, before any other FL, so you can get a bearing on where you're at and so you get exposed to the MCAT way of asking things. For my next exams I mixed the different sections from three different companies (EK, TBR, and the company that shall not be named) to get a different feel for each section. This was at the behest of my big sib's friend who scored 520 and it was brilliant advice. This more than anything prepared me for the completely random material I saw on my MCAT. For my last three exams I did AAMC Exams 1, 2, and 3. Even though everyone says, me included at times, that AAMC is the best indicator of what to expect on the MCAT, the truth is that everything I did on practice exams helped me about the same and nothing can fully prepare you for your exam.

Use any leftover sections from FLs to do mini exams during your last two weeks. This was exceptionally helpful for getting more CARS passages. You will run out of CARS passages!

Big Picture
More important than anything is that you start your first day of reviewing in the right frame of mind. You will have your emotional ups and downs the entire way. I felt like throwing my general chemistry book against the wall a few times, but those moments pass. And you grow. Don't overemphasize content review. Become a really good multiple-choice test taker. When you don't fully grasp a passage, relax and attack the questions like they are free standing. Don't let the anklebiters slow you down.

Absolute Musts (in no particular order)
There are a few things everyone should do for this exam.
1. Buy all of the AAMC exams and practice questions
2. Download the 300-page P/S document
3. Read TBR's Organic Chemistry book 2
4. Don't ignore CARS.
5. Focus on doing questions and not on content.

Good Luck to You All!

I want to thank so many helpful people at SDN that gave me insight into the exam, sound advice about how to prepare, kind words when I was feeling low, and support throughout the six months I was studying. The SDN community is a treasure! :love:

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Lots of good advice in there and a well-written post. However, it might not work for everyone, especially those on a limited time frame and/or those who learned the material well the first time. The very first thing anyone should probably do is assess their situation and what type of learner they are before formulating a study plan. I tried a bunch of the stuff here on SDN and the one thing I realized was that I am very much a context learner and prereview was not helpful for me personally. The point is, there is no one size fits all for the MCAT, but I do think there is a lot of useful advice in this post that will probably work well for many learners.
 
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Thank you. I hope some people find the suggestions to be helpful. I got 132 on C/P and B/B and a 516 overall. I faceplanted the CARS section.

This is pretty standard to see opposing scores in CARS vs the science sections for extremely high scorers of either section; it's almost as if they inversely correlate at the fringes (90+ percentile). Being from the opposite side of the spectrum (someone who generally finds CARS easy), I would say it is just because the two worlds don't overlap much. As a liberal arts major, I spent years performing critical analysis of dense works but literally had no idea until about a week before the MCAT that only data values with an asterisk next to them were considered statistically significant for the MCAT. The hard sciences are just that; concrete. Critical analysis is a more nuanced practice, and if you are entrenched in either mindset (black and white or everything is a shade of grey), then it is hard to quickly adapt, which is probably why they stick CARS right between C/P and B/B, lol.
 
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I LOVE your post Esob. That describes me perfectly. I never read much as a kid, I went to a high school that emphasized science, I go to a college that emphasizes science, and get really scared at poetry readings. On the SAT it was night and day between math and English and on the MCAT I was at both extremes in terms of percentiles for science versus CARS. I honestly cannot think the way you describe and I'm quite certain I have an uncanny sixth sense for choosing the distractor answer choice on every CARS question ever written. I've decided to go for it and apply with my 122 CARS this summer and hope that at least one adcom member is illiterate and takes mercy on me.
 
I LOVE your post Esob. That describes me perfectly. I never read much as a kid, I went to a high school that emphasized science, I go to a college that emphasizes science, and get really scared at poetry readings. On the SAT it was night and day between math and English and on the MCAT I was at both extremes in terms of percentiles for science versus CARS. I honestly cannot think the way you describe and I'm quite certain I have an uncanny sixth sense for choosing the distractor answer choice on every CARS question ever written. I've decided to go for it and apply with my 122 CARS this summer and hope that at least one adcom member is illiterate and takes mercy on me.

Best of luck to you. If you find that you want to retake it, I took Jack Westin's CARS course and he really caters to teaching a method of getting to the right answer on CARS that resonants with hard-science-minded individuals. The class was full of people that had perfect scores on C/P and B/B but that had bombed the CARS section, and I saw those people make big improvements because he teaches a systematic way to get to the right answer. For me, personally, it was harder to implement at first because it was slower and I ultimately went back to mostly my own methods for CARS because his focus is not getting a 132 on the section, its getting a 127-ish, which will get you into just about any school you want. I probably wouldn't say it was worth the cost for someone who is an English or Philosophy major, but for someone who had the hard science down, it might be a game changer.
 
***This was a reply to a spammer promoting a YouTube video about the same MCAT I took, but that post has since been removed it seems. Thanks Moderators for looking out for us!***

Be careful making major study decisions based on one Youtuber. Before I began studying I looked at hundreds of reddit and SDN posts, I spoke to my big sib and her friends, and I kept a detailed tally sheet of what people used to study and how they did. I went overboard but needed to because if I didn't I would probably have second guessed myself.

I took the MCAT on the same day as the person in your video and my experience was nothing like what she describes. I thought the C/P section was straight forward and the reddit comments I read through in my manic postMCAT phase said the same thing. The C/P section had less biochemistry than I expected, but it was pretty much what I expected based on the AAMC materials, including FLs and section banks. The organic chemistry was completely doable and easier than the section banks.

Be careful not to study the wrong way for organic chemistry. IMHO, I think she studied the wrong materials because like many posts I saw when trying decide what to use, she felt confident going into the MCAT and believed the materials she used were good, but then she was shocked by the exam and apparently didn't do well.
 
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I took my first MCAT in Sept 2017 (that I scored) and it was ochem sprinkled with some ochem and then for a topping it was ochem. Had I done the basic ochem studying, like I am now, I would have been fine. I still remember one of the passages and :smack: the physics on my exam was easy peasy and the gen chem was pretty minor

During the summer of 2017, I scoured the reddit and SDN forums, like @PlsLetMeIn21 and wrote down all the topics; found some of the exact things on Khan Academy - almost verbatim - and honestly, wasted time.

If you want to do well, follow the tried/true paths of those who seem similar to yourself and at a minimum:

1. Print out the AAMC 63 page (120+ single pages, 63 double) thing with all the topics listed on it; make sure you can talk about each topic in some scientific detail
2. Make sure you can do the mechanisms listed for ochem (Grinyard, Gabriel and one other)
3. Make sure your content knowledge is solid (Ka v Ksp; pH v pka v pOH; etc.)
4. Do practice exams - any that you can afford from any of the known vendors PLUS all the AAMC FLs
 
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Those tips are genius Ad2b. I took a different exam than you, but can say without a doubt that your list would have worked perfectly for my exam.
 
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Those tips are genius Ad2b. I took a different exam than you, but can say without a doubt that your list would have worked perfectly for my exam.

Send me thy C/P vibes and good joo-joo :) I love physics and chem; ochem is meh, biochem is the best BUT counting on no hurricanes, no in-house guests, no parental heart attacks or deaths for the last, final, never-ever again exam I take. As in never-ever. This is it.
 
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Send me thy C/P vibes and good joo-joo :) I love physics and chem; ochem is meh, biochem is the best BUT counting on no hurricanes, no in-house guests, no parental heart attacks or deaths for the last, final, never-ever again exam I take. As in never-ever. This is it.

I will send you vibes and good joo-joo, but it sounds like you already have plenty. In looking back on my science sections, I owe how well I did to my big sib for hew wonderful suggestions and to TBR for amazing passages and even better answer explanations. I learned concepts better than ever before and I mastered test tricks I haven't seen anywhere but TBR books. The biggest thing I learned to do was use my time efficiently.
 
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i agree on pre-review being useful.

just print out kaplan quick sheets and/or the AAMC list of topics. and go through those for the first week. i.e. expose yourself to all the material at a very early stage, especially if you haven't taken the courses for a few years.
 
almost everything on the exam is highly doable........ it's moderate depth and miles wide.... not that many tough questions if the exam were open book.

i figure it's not fair to ask about obscure stuff because the main study content suppliers all have different obscure stuff or no obscure stuff. and AAMC knows that.
 
i agree on pre-review being useful.

just print out kaplan quick sheets and/or the AAMC list of topics. and go through those for the first week. i.e. expose yourself to all the material at a very early stage, especially if you haven't taken the courses for a few years.

I think the AAMC list of topics was a great place to start before actually studying. Looking through it and seeing familiar terms made me believe in myself that I could do this.
 
After looking at the mcat outline, I wonder if the creators wanted to confuse the average student? Some of the wording seems general and not specific enough. For example, Amino Acids - Describe the absolute configuration at the alpha carbon. After reviewing an organic text and biochem text, all I could absorb was that "most" biological compounds containing amino acids... have their amino group on the left side of the alpha carbon projecting towards the viewer, thus many are L-amino acids.

My question is did I actually learn what I needed to know about absolute configuration at the alpha carbon?
 
After looking at the mcat outline, I wonder if the creators wanted to confuse the average student? Some of the wording seems general and not specific enough. For example, Amino Acids - Describe the absolute configuration at the alpha carbon. After reviewing an organic text and biochem text, all I could absorb was that "most" biological compounds containing amino acids... have their amino group on the left side of the alpha carbon projecting towards the viewer, thus many are L-amino acids.

My question is did I actually learn what I needed to know about absolute configuration at the alpha carbon?

At the start of your studies, I think it's more important to be aware of the need to understand absolute configuration as opposed to actually knowing it. Knowing what L means in terms of stereochemistry and structure and that it is the common biological form is a basic piece of information you need. As you study, you'll add to that pool of information. For instance, I never realized that for amino acids L went with S and D went with R (almost always) until I learned about it doing a TBR question. That's also when I learned that cystine was the exception and that organic chemistry and biochemistry assign priorities differently. Being cognoscente of the concept as you study is what you are aiming for.
 
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almost everything on the exam is highly doable........ it's moderate depth and miles wide.... not that many tough questions if the exam were open book.

i figure it's not fair to ask about obscure stuff because the main study content suppliers all have different obscure stuff or no obscure stuff. and AAMC knows that.

This sums it up so well. My actual exam had minimal obscure detail-based questions. Applying basic concepts is essential.
 
Here is my testing log for the practice FLs I took. Taking practice tests when you're well rested is key.

Test 1 (early June, before doing much review) AAMC sample: C/P 70%, CARS 68%, B/B 74%, P/S 80%
FL1 (8/1): TBR1 C/P 130, EK1 CARS 123 (ouch), *****1 B/B 127, EK1 P/S 128 = 508 total
FL2 (8/7): TBR2 C/P 129, EK2 CARS 122 (starting to stress), TBR1 B/B 129, *****1 P/S 129 = 509 total
FL3 (8/10): *****1 C/P 131, *****1 CARS 125, EK1 B/B 127, TBR1 P/S 128 = 511 total
FL4 (8/15): EK1 C/P 129, EK3 CARS 124, *****2 B/B 128, EK2 P/S 129 = 510 total
FL5 (8/20): TBR3 C/P 131, *****2 CARS 126, TBR2 B/B 129, *****2 P/S 128 = 514 total
FL6 (8/23): AAMC 1 C/P 131, CARS 126, B/B 131, P/S 130 = 518 total
FL7 (8/30): AAMC 2 C/P 131, CARS 124, B/B 131, P/S 129 = 515 total
FL8 (9/5): EK3 C/P 127, *****3 CARS 124, TBR3 B/B 129, *****3 P/S 128 = 508 total
FL9 (9/13): AAMC 3 C/P 131, CARS 123, B/B 130, P/S 128 = 512 total
MCAT (9/18): C/P 132, CARS 122, B/B 132, P/S 130 = 516 total
 
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Here is my testing log for the practice FLs I took. Taking practice tests when you're well rested is key.

Test 1 (early June, before doing much review) AAMC sample: C/P 70%, CARS 68%, B/B 74%, P/S 80%
FL1 (8/1): TBR1 C/P 130, EK1 CARS 123 (ouch), *****1 B/B 127, EK1 P/S 128 = 508 total
FL2 (8/7): TBR2 C/P 129, EK2 CARS 122 (starting to stress), TBR1 B/B 129, *****1 P/S 129 = 509 total
FL3 (8/10): *****1 C/P 131, *****1 CARS 125, EK1 B/B 127, TBR1 P/S 128 = 511 total
FL4 (8/15): EK1 C/P 129, EK3 CARS 124, *****2 B/B 128, EK2 P/S 129 = 510 total
FL5 (8/20): TBR3 C/P 131, *****2 CARS 126, TBR2 B/B 129, *****2 P/S 128 = 514 total
FL6 (8/23): AAMC 1 C/P 131, CARS 126, B/B 131, P/S 130 = 518 total
FL7 (8/30): AAMC 2 C/P 131, CARS 124, B/B 131, P/S 129 = 515 total
FL8 (9/5): EK3 C/P 127, *****3 CARS 124, TBR3 B/B 129, *****3 P/S 128 = 508 total
FL9 (9/13): AAMC 3 C/P 131, CARS 123, B/B 130, P/S 128 = 512 total
MCAT (9/18): C/P 132, CARS 122, B/B 132, P/S 130 = 516 total

Out of curiosity, how did you feel coming out of the test? I have similar AAMC FL scores (517-518) with CARS 124-125, but the exam felt exactly the opposite: CARS was the only section that felt decent as in better feeling than from FLs, but in all the sciences I felt <100% on more questions than I usually do in FLs. Timing felt fine (finished 15 mins early like in practice FLs), but overall it feels like I underperformed.
 
I always stress about CARS, so it didn't feel great. I recall thinking it could be anywhere between 124 and 127 when I hashed it over in my head after my exam. My C/P section was tough, but I felt really good about it. Of all four sections, that's the one I was best prepared for. For B/B I never know what to expect. There were a couple experiments that messed with my head where I didn't understand the graphs they gave, but apparently that was okay. I am most surprised by my B/B score because I didn't see that coming. I would have guessed maybe 129. P/S was exactly what I expected. I crammed the 300 page reddit document over the last few weeks and it was good for nearly all of the questions. There was only one passage I can recall feeling uneasy about, so a 130 was what I thought I'd get. IMHO, I don't think you can predict your score based on how you feel.
 
I've seen loads of threads about different study plans, but very few suggestions of what to do before diving into books and videos. I want to share what I did, not because everyone should do it, but because it worked for me and it includes some of the wonderful advice I got along the way.

First, a little background on me and my situation. I'm an average student who did average on the SAT and ACT and ended up at an average school. My sciGPA is hovering around 3.6 and when I first started to grasp what exactly the MCAT was, I was hoping I could get a 510. I took the MCAT this past September following my sophomore year. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, I took the MCAT having not taken biochemistry. While I don't recommend doing this, I was able to learn it from my review books and my test was lighter in biochemistry than what everyone had warned me about. I didn't do so well on the Reading part of my SAT or ACT and guess what? I struggled on the CARS section as well. But I knew that going in so I should have been better prepared.

Before You Do Anything Else
The first thing I did, at the advice of my big sib, was to look at the Official Guide to the MCAT by AAMC. I cannot emphasize this enough. I did this ten months before my MCAT and it took me about a week to work through the book. This will tell you exactly what to expect on the MCAT and best of all, you get sample questions to see the style they use to ask their questions. The reason this is so valuable is that what you don't realize at first is that you are learning how to take their test more than you are reviewing material. It also lists the subjects tested on the MCAT. Once you have looked through that book, it is time to decide what materials and sources are best for you.

Choosing Your Materials
I dove into Reddit and SDN to read everything I could about the various materials. Honestly, at first this confused me more than anything because rather than narrowing down from the four sources I knew about, I instead learned that there are like six or seven sources for each section. I kept a tally sheet about the different books and videos noting which ones people recommended and which ones they didn't like. What else I did that made a big difference is that I also included a tally of what people who did poorly used, so I could avoid those materials. It took me a few days but I had a ranking of the books and resources for each section: C/P, CARS, B/B, and P/S. After all that work, it ended up that I reached the same conclusion as Zenabi90 and KoalaT (TBR for C/P, EK and TPR for CARS, TBR for B/B, and TPR for P/S), which made me feel confident in my choices.

From here, still nine months before my exam and five months before I planned to start studying, I looked at my big sib's MCAT books and her friends MCAT books. I think they had nearly everything ever made for the MCAT, LOL. I was taking physics and organic chemistry that quarter and decided to compare three MCAT books side-by-side on the topics I was covering in my classes. It became clear very fast the TBR matched me, so I bought their science books. I used them in conjunction with my classes the rest of the year.

People will try to tell you that which books you use doesn't matter (I've read this at SDN a few times), but they're wrong. At least they were for me. If you are genius and you know everything, then sure. But if you are average like me, then it's worth your time to find the books that match you. I swear by TBR for chemistry, physics, organic, and biology and I did far better on C/P and B/B on my MCAT than I ever dreamed, but that doesn't mean they will work for everyone. I swear by TPR for P/S, where I also did well. Do your own homework on what will work for you. Spend time looking at the various books, especially the questions and answer explanations. You will be glad you did.

Make A Schedule
This is a no brainer, but what matters is that you make a schedule that matches you. I am not one to micromanage my life, much to my detriment in some classes, so I did not opt for a daily planner like most of my friends did. I instead set weekly goals. I looked at all of the materials I had and estimated how much time it would take to complete. I wanted to be done with my reviewing two months before my test date. Be sure to sign up for an MCAT the day registration opens. Get the date you want so you know exactly what your schedule is going to be. Each week I completed six to eight TBR science chapters, two TPR P/S chapters, and did at least twenty CARS passages. This included thorough postgame analysis of EVERY question I did. It takes a [insert profanity here]ton of time, but it is critical to learn from doing questions.

Once I was done with the book portion of my review (and occasional Khan video, which are superb for P/S BTW), I switched over to AAMC materials. DO NOT SKIMP ON AAMC MATERIALS! I didn't get as much from the Q packs as the section banks, but you should still do them both. Do the Q packs first and Section Banks last. This will take about two weeks give or take. You also want to look at the 300-page P/S document from MCATKings, it is pure gold!

From here it's time to take practice exams. I planned to do two a week, but due to events getting in the way, it never quite worked exactly like that. Give yourself at least one full day of review to go over your exam in its entirety and another day to do general review. I wrote out two to three pages of notes following each exam and spent that day reviewing that information. This helped solidify my weaknesses.

Materials
Get all of your materials early so you know what you are up against. I worked better on paper than computer, so I printed some of the online stuff I had. I started an Anki deck for P/S terms from day one and this helped. Some materials are better suited for early review and others for later review. While I didn't use EK for my review, I used them in the last six weeks for quickly double checking myself and testing my recall. Their answer explanations are pretty bad, but at that point in my review I wasn't using them to learn. So they were a valuable resource late in my studies where they would not have been helpful early in my review.

Do the unscored AAMC exam first, before any other FL, so you can get a bearing on where you're at and so you get exposed to the MCAT way of asking things. For my next exams I mixed the different sections from three different companies (EK, TBR, and the company that shall not be named) to get a different feel for each section. This was at the behest of my big sib's friend who scored 520 and it was brilliant advice. This more than anything prepared me for the completely random material I saw on my MCAT. For my last three exams I did AAMC Exams 1, 2, and 3. Even though everyone says, me included at times, that AAMC is the best indicator of what to expect on the MCAT, the truth is that everything I did on practice exams helped me about the same and nothing can fully prepare you for your exam.

Use any leftover sections from FLs to do mini exams during your last two weeks. This was exceptionally helpful for getting more CARS passages. You will run out of CARS passages!

Big Picture
More important than anything is that you start your first day of reviewing in the right frame of mind. You will have your emotional ups and downs the entire way. I felt like throwing my general chemistry book against the wall a few times, but those moments pass. And you grow. Don't overemphasize content review. Become a really good multiple-choice test taker. When you don't fully grasp a passage, relax and attack the questions like they are free standing. Don't let the anklebiters slow you down.

Absolute Musts (in no particular order)
There are a few things everyone should do for this exam.
1. Buy all of the AAMC exams and practice questions
2. Download the 300-page P/S document
3. Read TBR's Organic Chemistry book 2
4. Don't ignore CARS.
5. Focus on doing questions and not on content.

Good Luck to You All!

I want to thank so many helpful people at SDN that gave me insight into the exam, sound advice about how to prepare, kind words when I was feeling low, and support throughout the six months I was studying. The SDN community is a treasure! :love:

Thank you for this information! You did such an amazing job putting this post together and am very appreciative. I will definitely use some of these tips. I've been through many different posts and this is one of the most helpful I've seen due to it's cumulative nature.
Good luck on your continued journey!
 
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I followed the schedule in their book and did the phases exactly as they laid them out. I occasionally split Phase 3 into two parts. Looking back now, maybe I could have skipped a few Phase 1s and Phase 2s on material I knew well, but I would strongly recommend doing all of Phase 3. Those were the most realistic passages I found anywhere, even better than SBs. The important thing is that you review them right after you're finished and it's fresh in your mind.
 
The phases only apply to the C/P books. For B/B, I did the 1/3 chunking described by one of the study plans (KoalaT or Jelly I think it was.)
 
Someone PMed me about the 1/3. Again, it's only an issue for biology. The biology book has fifteen passages, so I did 1-5 as Phase 1, 6-10 for Phase 2, and 11-15 for Phase 3. The plans mentioned above broke it into 1, 4, 7, 10, and 13 for Phase 1. Phase 2 was 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14. Phase 3 was 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. I honestly don't think it matters how you break them up.
 
Decided to bump for people who wanted my study plan. I honestly didn't have a detailed plan, I just set weekly goals and had an idea of the big picture and when I needed to be doing FLs.
 
I've seen loads of threads about different study plans, but very few suggestions of what to do before diving into books and videos. I want to share what I did, not because everyone should do it, but because it worked for me and it includes some of the wonderful advice I got along the way.

First, a little background on me and my situation. I'm an average student who did average on the SAT and ACT and ended up at an average school. My sciGPA is hovering around 3.6 and when I first started to grasp what exactly the MCAT was, I was hoping I could get a 510. I took the MCAT this past September following my sophomore year. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, I took the MCAT having not taken biochemistry. While I don't recommend doing this, I was able to learn it from my review books and my test was lighter in biochemistry than what everyone had warned me about. I didn't do so well on the Reading part of my SAT or ACT and guess what? I struggled on the CARS section as well. But I knew that going in so I should have been better prepared.

Before You Do Anything Else
The first thing I did, at the advice of my big sib, was to look at the Official Guide to the MCAT by AAMC. I cannot emphasize this enough. I did this ten months before my MCAT and it took me about a week to work through the book. This will tell you exactly what to expect on the MCAT and best of all, you get sample questions to see the style they use to ask their questions. The reason this is so valuable is that what you don't realize at first is that you are learning how to take their test more than you are reviewing material. It also lists the subjects tested on the MCAT. Once you have looked through that book, it is time to decide what materials and sources are best for you.

Choosing Your Materials
I dove into Reddit and SDN to read everything I could about the various materials. Honestly, at first this confused me more than anything because rather than narrowing down from the four sources I knew about, I instead learned that there are like six or seven sources for each section. I kept a tally sheet about the different books and videos noting which ones people recommended and which ones they didn't like. What else I did that made a big difference is that I also included a tally of what people who did poorly used, so I could avoid those materials. It took me a few days but I had a ranking of the books and resources for each section: C/P, CARS, B/B, and P/S. After all that work, it ended up that I reached the same conclusion as Zenabi90 and KoalaT (TBR for C/P, EK and TPR for CARS, TBR for B/B, and TPR for P/S), which made me feel confident in my choices.

From here, still nine months before my exam and five months before I planned to start studying, I looked at my big sib's MCAT books and her friends MCAT books. I think they had nearly everything ever made for the MCAT, LOL. I was taking physics and organic chemistry that quarter and decided to compare three MCAT books side-by-side on the topics I was covering in my classes. It became clear very fast the TBR matched me, so I bought their science books. I used them in conjunction with my classes the rest of the year.

People will try to tell you that which books you use doesn't matter (I've read this at SDN a few times), but they're wrong. At least they were for me. If you are genius and you know everything, then sure. But if you are average like me, then it's worth your time to find the books that match you. I swear by TBR for chemistry, physics, organic, and biology and I did far better on C/P and B/B on my MCAT than I ever dreamed, but that doesn't mean they will work for everyone. I swear by TPR for P/S, where I also did well. Do your own homework on what will work for you. Spend time looking at the various books, especially the questions and answer explanations. You will be glad you did.

Make A Schedule
This is a no brainer, but what matters is that you make a schedule that matches you. I am not one to micromanage my life, much to my detriment in some classes, so I did not opt for a daily planner like most of my friends did. I instead set weekly goals. I looked at all of the materials I had and estimated how much time it would take to complete. I wanted to be done with my reviewing two months before my test date. Be sure to sign up for an MCAT the day registration opens. Get the date you want so you know exactly what your schedule is going to be. Each week I completed six to eight TBR science chapters, two TPR P/S chapters, and did at least twenty CARS passages. This included thorough postgame analysis of EVERY question I did. It takes a [insert profanity here]ton of time, but it is critical to learn from doing questions.

Once I was done with the book portion of my review (and occasional Khan video, which are superb for P/S BTW), I switched over to AAMC materials. DO NOT SKIMP ON AAMC MATERIALS! I didn't get as much from the Q packs as the section banks, but you should still do them both. Do the Q packs first and Section Banks last. This will take about two weeks give or take. You also want to look at the 300-page P/S document from MCATKings, it is pure gold!

From here it's time to take practice exams. I planned to do two a week, but due to events getting in the way, it never quite worked exactly like that. Give yourself at least one full day of review to go over your exam in its entirety and another day to do general review. I wrote out two to three pages of notes following each exam and spent that day reviewing that information. This helped solidify my weaknesses.

Materials
Get all of your materials early so you know what you are up against. I worked better on paper than computer, so I printed some of the online stuff I had. I started an Anki deck for P/S terms from day one and this helped. Some materials are better suited for early review and others for later review. While I didn't use EK for my review, I used them in the last six weeks for quickly double checking myself and testing my recall. Their answer explanations are pretty bad, but at that point in my review I wasn't using them to learn. So they were a valuable resource late in my studies where they would not have been helpful early in my review.

Do the unscored AAMC exam first, before any other FL, so you can get a bearing on where you're at and so you get exposed to the MCAT way of asking things. For my next exams I mixed the different sections from three different companies (EK, TBR, and the company that shall not be named) to get a different feel for each section. This was at the behest of my big sib's friend who scored 520 and it was brilliant advice. This more than anything prepared me for the completely random material I saw on my MCAT. For my last three exams I did AAMC Exams 1, 2, and 3. Even though everyone says, me included at times, that AAMC is the best indicator of what to expect on the MCAT, the truth is that everything I did on practice exams helped me about the same and nothing can fully prepare you for your exam.

Use any leftover sections from FLs to do mini exams during your last two weeks. This was exceptionally helpful for getting more CARS passages. You will run out of CARS passages!

Big Picture
More important than anything is that you start your first day of reviewing in the right frame of mind. You will have your emotional ups and downs the entire way. I felt like throwing my general chemistry book against the wall a few times, but those moments pass. And you grow. Don't overemphasize content review. Become a really good multiple-choice test taker. When you don't fully grasp a passage, relax and attack the questions like they are free standing. Don't let the anklebiters slow you down.

Absolute Musts (in no particular order)
There are a few things everyone should do for this exam.
1. Buy all of the AAMC exams and practice questions
2. Download the 300-page P/S document
3. Read TBR's Organic Chemistry book 2
4. Don't ignore CARS.
5. Focus on doing questions and not on content.

Good Luck to You All!

I want to thank so many helpful people at SDN that gave me insight into the exam, sound advice about how to prepare, kind words when I was feeling low, and support throughout the six months I was studying. The SDN community is a treasure! :love:
This is really a great compilation! Adding a little personal perspective, but I found great utility in doing a full review of weak areas before I went into my 'dedicated' study period. I needed review in physics and biology, so I got the Princeton Review books for those two and spent an entire month reading and doing the questions in them. I stunk at the time, but this meant that I was warm when I went through them as part of dedicated when I took my class.

Again, thank you for sharing your story. I love reading these and being a part of 'pass it on' culture.

David D, MD - MCAT and USMLE Tutor
Med School Tutors
 
Thank you MST for being a part of the 'pass it on' culture. That is what makes SDN so wonderful. I've gotten much more from the SDN community than I can ever give back. :giggle:
 
I want to reiterate, the AAMC Guide to the MCAT is a treasure that most people seem to ignore. If you know my plight (no interviews yet, so I'm preparing a second time hoping I get interviewed and accepted before having to take it again) I recently started studying for my second attempt. I'm trying to keep my P/S, B/B, and P/S scores the same while improving CARS. I started with the AAMC Guide and it seriously is amazing.
 
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@PlsLetMeIn21 can you share how you felt about the TBR practice exams? Most people on the internet say they are no good but I saw you did all three. I am using their books based on this post and am really liking them. I wanted a few add'l practice exams and have been trying to figure out which ones to purchase. Thanks ahead of time.
 
I liked them for the most part. The strong points are the answer explanations and their emphasis on developing test logic and test strategy. Their downside was that the biology didn't have enough experiment based passages. They have experiments, but it didn't feel like the AAMC tests. Their C/P is spot on with the difficulty and weirdness of the exam. I was pleasantly surprised by CARS, because I had heard such negative things about their CARS book. That section was actually pretty good. What I didn't like at the time but loved in retrospect was their P/S. It felt more like CARS 2.0, which ended up being more like my actual exam than anything I did from all other resources.

Overall I'd recommend them. I'd liked them a little better than the other 3rd party exams I did, but nothing will simulate they style of passages and questions on the real deal like AAMC exams. If you didn't use TBR books, then I'd highly recommend their exams to expose you to their test tricks. Honestly, when I look back on it, that was the main reason I scored so well. Their tricks are so simple to use but I'd never seen them before.
 
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@PlsLetMeIn21 can you share how you felt about the TBR practice exams? Most people on the internet say they are no good but I saw you did all three. I am using their books based on this post and am really liking them. I wanted a few add'l practice exams and have been trying to figure out which ones to purchase. Thanks ahead of time.

I want to follow up on my previous response, because I was awol while studying for my retake. I lucked out and took what looks like the last MCAT for a while. As you may or may not know, I'm in the current applicant cycle, but not having much luck. I took the MCAT again this past Saturday after a roughly 60-day cram session. I ended up taking a prep class this time, despite my reservations about doing it. With my time limitations I figured it was a wise move. Best decision I've made during this entire process. I got more done and was better prepared after nine weeks of studying with the class than two years ago when I studied for over fourteen weeks on my own. How this relates to the exams is that in the TBR course (the one I took) I had access to four exams, two of which were what I took before and two completely new ones. The new ones were as good as AAMC (which also had a new exam since the first time I took the MCAT). I gained a new appreciation for their exams after hearing from the author about the logic behind the questions and how he came up with the question. It gave me a whole new outlook on the exam that I think made a difference on all of the sections. How you look at passages and questions is more important than how well you know the material. I'm not sure my post helps clarify what you should do, but I have a much higher opinion of their exams after the class and after my recent MCAT (which was different from my first exam).
 
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I want to follow up on my previous response, because I was awol while studying for my retake. I lucked out and took what looks like the last MCAT for a while. As you may or may not know, I'm in the current applicant cycle, but not having much luck. I took the MCAT again this past Saturday after a roughly 60-day cram session. I ended up taking a prep class this time, despite my reservations about doing it. With my time limitations I figured it was a wise move. Best decision I've made during this entire process. I got more done and was better prepared after nine weeks of studying with the class than two years ago when I studied for over fourteen weeks on my own. How this relates to the exams is that in the TBR course (the one I took) I had access to four exams, two of which were what I took before and two completely new ones. The new ones were as good as AAMC (which also had a new exam since the first time I took the MCAT). I gained a new appreciation for their exams after hearing from the author about the logic behind the questions and how he came up with the question. It gave me a whole new outlook on the exam that I think made a difference on all of the sections. How you look at passages and questions is more important than how well you know the material. I'm not sure my post helps clarify what you should do, but I have a much higher opinion of their exams after the class and after my recent MCAT (which was different from my first exam).

How did you do on your second taking?

How did the second MCAT exam you took compare to the first MCAT exam you took?
 
I've seen loads of threads about different study plans, but very few suggestions of what to do before diving into books and videos. I want to share what I did, not because everyone should do it, but because it worked for me and it includes some of the wonderful advice I got along the way.

First, a little background on me and my situation. I'm an average student who did average on the SAT and ACT and ended up at an average school. My sciGPA is hovering around 3.6 and when I first started to grasp what exactly the MCAT was, I was hoping I could get a 510. I took the MCAT this past September following my sophomore year. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, I took the MCAT having not taken biochemistry. While I don't recommend doing this, I was able to learn it from my review books and my test was lighter in biochemistry than what everyone had warned me about. I didn't do so well on the Reading part of my SAT or ACT and guess what? I struggled on the CARS section as well. But I knew that going in so I should have been better prepared.

Before You Do Anything Else
The first thing I did, at the advice of my big sib, was to look at the Official Guide to the MCAT by AAMC. I cannot emphasize this enough. I did this ten months before my MCAT and it took me about a week to work through the book. This will tell you exactly what to expect on the MCAT and best of all, you get sample questions to see the style they use to ask their questions. The reason this is so valuable is that what you don't realize at first is that you are learning how to take their test more than you are reviewing material. It also lists the subjects tested on the MCAT. Once you have looked through that book, it is time to decide what materials and sources are best for you.

Choosing Your Materials
I dove into Reddit and SDN to read everything I could about the various materials. Honestly, at first this confused me more than anything because rather than narrowing down from the four sources I knew about, I instead learned that there are like six or seven sources for each section. I kept a tally sheet about the different books and videos noting which ones people recommended and which ones they didn't like. What else I did that made a big difference is that I also included a tally of what people who did poorly used, so I could avoid those materials. It took me a few days but I had a ranking of the books and resources for each section: C/P, CARS, B/B, and P/S. After all that work, it ended up that I reached the same conclusion as Zenabi90 and KoalaT (TBR for C/P, EK and TPR for CARS, TBR for B/B, and TPR for P/S), which made me feel confident in my choices.

From here, still nine months before my exam and five months before I planned to start studying, I looked at my big sib's MCAT books and her friends MCAT books. I think they had nearly everything ever made for the MCAT, LOL. I was taking physics and organic chemistry that quarter and decided to compare three MCAT books side-by-side on the topics I was covering in my classes. It became clear very fast the TBR matched me, so I bought their science books. I used them in conjunction with my classes the rest of the year.

People will try to tell you that which books you use doesn't matter (I've read this at SDN a few times), but they're wrong. At least they were for me. If you are genius and you know everything, then sure. But if you are average like me, then it's worth your time to find the books that match you. I swear by TBR for chemistry, physics, organic, and biology and I did far better on C/P and B/B on my MCAT than I ever dreamed, but that doesn't mean they will work for everyone. I swear by TPR for P/S, where I also did well. Do your own homework on what will work for you. Spend time looking at the various books, especially the questions and answer explanations. You will be glad you did.

Make A Schedule
This is a no brainer, but what matters is that you make a schedule that matches you. I am not one to micromanage my life, much to my detriment in some classes, so I did not opt for a daily planner like most of my friends did. I instead set weekly goals. I looked at all of the materials I had and estimated how much time it would take to complete. I wanted to be done with my reviewing two months before my test date. Be sure to sign up for an MCAT the day registration opens. Get the date you want so you know exactly what your schedule is going to be. Each week I completed six to eight TBR science chapters, two TPR P/S chapters, and did at least twenty CARS passages. This included thorough postgame analysis of EVERY question I did. It takes a [insert profanity here]ton of time, but it is critical to learn from doing questions.

Once I was done with the book portion of my review (and occasional Khan video, which are superb for P/S BTW), I switched over to AAMC materials. DO NOT SKIMP ON AAMC MATERIALS! I didn't get as much from the Q packs as the section banks, but you should still do them both. Do the Q packs first and Section Banks last. This will take about two weeks give or take. You also want to look at the 300-page P/S document from MCATKings, it is pure gold!

From here it's time to take practice exams. I planned to do two a week, but due to events getting in the way, it never quite worked exactly like that. Give yourself at least one full day of review to go over your exam in its entirety and another day to do general review. I wrote out two to three pages of notes following each exam and spent that day reviewing that information. This helped solidify my weaknesses.

Materials
Get all of your materials early so you know what you are up against. I worked better on paper than computer, so I printed some of the online stuff I had. I started an Anki deck for P/S terms from day one and this helped. Some materials are better suited for early review and others for later review. While I didn't use EK for my review, I used them in the last six weeks for quickly double checking myself and testing my recall. Their answer explanations are pretty bad, but at that point in my review I wasn't using them to learn. So they were a valuable resource late in my studies where they would not have been helpful early in my review.

Do the unscored AAMC exam first, before any other FL, so you can get a bearing on where you're at and so you get exposed to the MCAT way of asking things. For my next exams I mixed the different sections from three different companies (EK, TBR, and the company that shall not be named) to get a different feel for each section. This was at the behest of my big sib's friend who scored 520 and it was brilliant advice. This more than anything prepared me for the completely random material I saw on my MCAT. For my last three exams I did AAMC Exams 1, 2, and 3. Even though everyone says, me included at times, that AAMC is the best indicator of what to expect on the MCAT, the truth is that everything I did on practice exams helped me about the same and nothing can fully prepare you for your exam.

Use any leftover sections from FLs to do mini exams during your last two weeks. This was exceptionally helpful for getting more CARS passages. You will run out of CARS passages!

Big Picture
More important than anything is that you start your first day of reviewing in the right frame of mind. You will have your emotional ups and downs the entire way. I felt like throwing my general chemistry book against the wall a few times, but those moments pass. And you grow. Don't overemphasize content review. Become a really good multiple-choice test taker. When you don't fully grasp a passage, relax and attack the questions like they are free standing. Don't let the anklebiters slow you down.

Absolute Musts (in no particular order)
There are a few things everyone should do for this exam.
1. Buy all of the AAMC exams and practice questions
2. Download the 300-page P/S document
3. Read TBR's Organic Chemistry book 2
4. Don't ignore CARS.
5. Focus on doing questions and not on content.

Good Luck to You All!

I want to thank so many helpful people at SDN that gave me insight into the exam, sound advice about how to prepare, kind words when I was feeling low, and support throughout the six months I was studying. The SDN community is a treasure! :love:
My $0.02 : simply get kaplan + aamc materials and make a study plan based on your needs/deficits
 
My $0.02 : simply get kaplan + aamc materials and make a study plan based on your needs/deficits
Reading is fundamental...

The op got a 516 the first time he took the MCAT but had a low CARS section. Op just retook the MCAT this month and is awaiting his score...
 
How did you do on your second taking?

How did the second MCAT exam you took compare to the first MCAT exam you took?

I stayed the same in C/P and P/S, went down by 2 in B/B and UP BY 5 in CARS!!!!!!!

I don't recall my first exam (September 2018) as well as I once did, but I definitely walked out of this last one feeling a little blindsided by the passage length and the number of bizzaro questions. The amount of biochemistry seemed much more on my first one and the depth I needed to understand physics was way more on this latest exam. The passages didn't seem to help as much this last time as the first time.
 
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My $0.02 : simply get kaplan + aamc materials and make a study plan based on your needs/deficits

I don't have that great of a GPA, so I needed to do much more than the bare minimum. I read about way too many people doing that plan and bombing to risk it.
 
I stayed the same in C/P and P/S, went down by 2 in B/B and UP BY 5 in CARS!!!!!!!

I don't recall my first exam (September 2018) as well as I once did, but I definitely walked out of this last one feeling a little blindsided by the passage length and the number of bizzaro questions. The amount of biochemistry seemed much more on my first one and the depth I needed to understand physics was way more on this latest exam. The passages didn't seem to help as much this last time as the first time.

Congrats! That’s excellent!

How did you prepare for CARS and the science passages this time around?

Which third party full lengths are best?

Is Berkeley Review’s level of detail needed?
 
Congrats! That’s excellent!

How did you prepare for CARS and the science passages this time around?

Which third party full lengths are best?

Is Berkeley Review’s level of detail needed?

Thanks so much! I can't begin to tell you how much of a relief it was to see my CARS score. I cried (happy tears) for a week.

The weird thing is that I didn't do much different in terms of CARS except think more about it. I did more passages this time around, but I think the thing that mattered most was that now I recognize which questions are unrealistic. I didn't get hung up on things as much this time and emphasized staying focused. I honesty just got into the right mindset for CARS. I think I mentioned somewhere that I took the TBR class, which more than anything saved me a ton of time.

The CARS teacher was super helpful and supportive, but in the end it comes down to you. Their CARS passages we used in class are seriously way better than their book. In addition, I did CARS passages from EK, TPR, NS, and UW. While none of them are like AAMC, I think they were all helpful.

For biochemistry, chemistry, organic, and physics I just went to class and then stayed for every office hour to get my questions answered and hear other people's questions. I really didn't do that much in terms of practice and I got a 132. My B/B dropped to 130, but I think my first score might have been lucky.

For P/S I did the 300-page doc again and focused on KA and UW passages. I got a lot from lectures, way more than I expected. I went over the class pdfs a couple times after each lecture. But in the end, it requires knowing everything in the 300 page doc.

As for FLs, it's so hard to say which are best. I have now done FLs from pretty much every resource. If you put my hand to fire and made me pick I'd still not be able to do it. I liked EK B/B passages. I liked N/S P/S passages. I liked TBR C/P and CARS passages. But I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Nothing is as good as AAMC, but even then, your MCAT is going to be different than everything you use for practice, even the AAMC FLs. Thankfully their was one AAMC exam that I hadn't already taken, so I got one realistic practice exam.

Finally, TBR's level of detail is perfect for some passages and overkill on others. I know this doesn't help you, because you're talking about their books, but their class goes into the exact level of detail and reasoning you need. My best advice if you are using their books is to focus on their explanations and how they eliminate wrong answers and how they connect different concepts. That more than anything is what they can help you master.
 
Thanks so much! I can't begin to tell you how much of a relief it was to see my CARS score. I cried (happy tears) for a week.

The weird thing is that I didn't do much different in terms of CARS except think more about it. I did more passages this time around, but I think the thing that mattered most was that now I recognize which questions are unrealistic. I didn't get hung up on things as much this time and emphasized staying focused. I honesty just got into the right mindset for CARS. I think I mentioned somewhere that I took the TBR class, which more than anything saved me a ton of time.

The CARS teacher was super helpful and supportive, but in the end it comes down to you. Their CARS passages we used in class are seriously way better than their book. In addition, I did CARS passages from EK, TPR, NS, and UW. While none of them are like AAMC, I think they were all helpful.

For biochemistry, chemistry, organic, and physics I just went to class and then stayed for every office hour to get my questions answered and hear other people's questions. I really didn't do that much in terms of practice and I got a 132. My B/B dropped to 130, but I think my first score might have been lucky.

For P/S I did the 300-page doc again and focused on KA and UW passages. I got a lot from lectures, way more than I expected. I went over the class pdfs a couple times after each lecture. But in the end, it requires knowing everything in the 300 page doc.

As for FLs, it's so hard to say which are best. I have now done FLs from pretty much every resource. If you put my hand to fire and made me pick I'd still not be able to do it. I liked EK B/B passages. I liked N/S P/S passages. I liked TBR C/P and CARS passages. But I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Nothing is as good as AAMC, but even then, your MCAT is going to be different than everything you use for practice, even the AAMC FLs. Thankfully their was one AAMC exam that I hadn't already taken, so I got one realistic practice exam.

Finally, TBR's level of detail is perfect for some passages and overkill on others. I know this doesn't help you, because you're talking about their books, but their class goes into the exact level of detail and reasoning you need. My best advice if you are using their books is to focus on their explanations and how they eliminate wrong answers and how they connect different concepts. That more than anything is what they can help you master.

Thanks! Very helpful.

Does TBR offer their class online?

How did you obtain other 3d party resources - by buying their books via Amazon or by buying access to their online resources?
 
Thanks! Very helpful.

Does TBR offer their class online?

How did you obtain other 3d party resources - by buying their books via Amazon or by buying access to their online resources?

No idea about TBR online classes. With Covid, I guess they have to.

I found SDN classifieds and Amazon to be the best places to shop. The TPR CARS book is the hardest thing to find. Everything you need shows up somewhere. I bought most things new that I could, to avoid markings and the problem sets already being done. I leaned early that when someone lists "no markings" it means there are some markings.
 
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