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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
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!
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!
