Could any one offer some suggestion on my plan please?

[deleted910026]

Hello all,

I am aiming to take the MCAT next Janurary (2021) right after I finish my biochemistry course and have practiced the entire winter break. (please also offer some suggestion on this plan)
Here are some of my questions:
1. Should I sign up for the Kaplan self-paced course or use free resources?
2. Although I have taken physics, I had a horrible time and had to literally memorize the textbook for my exams. I don't understand why I am terrible at physics, any suggestion for studying physics for the MCAT?
3. The behavioral section seemed okay from the Princeton practice exam; however, I am not familiar with some of the sociology concepts. Should I just self-study or take a class for it?
Thank you all very much!

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[sgw97]

I think you should allow more time for dedicated study, rather than just grinding over winter break. I would really recommend checking out AAMC's study material because it helped me a lot, but YMMV. For me sociology was a lot of content memorization. Absolutely do not underestimate CARS. Practice CARS daily, understand how the questions are structured and how they want you to think.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I’m skeptical of this outline for one reason: finishing biochem right before the MCAT and a lack of dedicated study period. Biochemistry is such an essential component of MCAT prep because it permeates all other sections of the exam. A dedicated study period is essential because the exam takes not only knowing the material but knowing how to take the MCAT really well. This comes with practice.

for your other questions, I generally do not recommend self paced classes. I find that they encourage students to be WAY too passive in their preparation. I also don’t think there is enough value added in self paced classes when Khan Academy is free. in person classes can be well worth the investment, especially if you need the structure to help you make progress in your MCAT prep.
for weaknesses in chemistry and physics, check out the Berkeley review books. They have a very structured review program that involves multiple simulated passage exams at the end of the chapter for spaced repetition. Their biology books had great passages as well but the content review is denser.

for p/s, your baseline has to be knowing all of the definitions and concepts covered in KA and/or TPR/Kaplan review book. I highky recommend Anki for making flash cards to study.

a general structure I recommend to students is 1-2 months of dedicated content review with practice passages. 1 month of content review with simulated MCAT practice exams using 3rd party exams with additional weekly practice sections using UWorld (KA passages would be ok here as well). And then 1 month of dedicated MCAT prep with AAMC resources doing all of the exams in simulated conditions, all q packs (especially car), and the section bank.

 

[Blue $kies]

In response to your question, I am someone who is re-attempting the MCAT this April for another time after MANY years of trying. I am juggling a very busy final semester of grad school in an unrelated field (cybersecurity). However, I have recently stumbled upon the MCAT podcast which is a resource I wish I new about years ago. I access this podcast through my spotify account and the moderator is a doctor by the name of Dr. Ryan Gray. This podcast discusses mindset and strategy for the MCAT and is helping me strategize a lot better. Through listening I better understand the concept of high yeild and low yeild topics and how to break-up my time of study. From my understanding, staying close to the outline for the p/s is a good idea, in that I mean defining terms and creating hypos for those terms. There are practice questions for every subcategory of the MCAT through the AAMC's website, located next to where you can see the Khan Academy videos for the subjects.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

1. Should I sign up for the Kaplan self-paced course or use free resources?

Usually, the free resources are enough.

2. Although I have taken physics, I had a horrible time and had to literally memorize the textbook for my exams. I don't understand why I am terrible at physics, any suggestion for studying physics for the MCAT?

Be sure to learn all of the equations as well as the science behind them. Learning how to use the equations and why they are the way they are is more important than just memorizing.

3. The behavioral section seemed okay from the Princeton practice exam; however, I am not familiar with some of the sociology concepts. Should I just self-study or take a class for it?

It's usually enough to self-study, since most of the concepts for the P/S section are just vocabulary words.

As for your plan, I actually did the same thing. I took my MCAT in January, right after I took biochem in the Fall semester. This meant that biochem was very easy for me, since I had just taken the class. However, it did mean that I had to spend my whole winter break and the beginning of my next semester frantically studying for the MCAT.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[bdawg0426]

I bought the Berkeley review but augmented my set with a different behavioral science book, but towards the end I got more out of reading my highlights in my own psychology textbook.

Find a study plan on the internet and use it. People have well designed 12 week study plans. Set one day a week aside to do pure practice tests, and do them timed exactly as the real MCAT. Buy the entire AAMC full package, which last year gave me 3 practice exams and 1 sample exam which are worth their weight in gold, as well as flash cards. I also bought the Kaplan flash cards on Amazon for under $20 but I used the online questions on my cell phone when i had spare time at the gym, restaurant, and any time I wanted to do a bit more. But I did not take any $2000 course. Mostly what it gives you is structure so you optimize use of your MCAT time. Also, expect to put in 300-500 hours total to really be ready, including as many full length practice exams as have time. Structure each practice exam EXACTLY as the real MCAT. Same order, same break times, same food, same drink, same writing pen and mini marker board, etc. It gets you well practiced in knowing how much time you have on the real test day. You will need to build some test stamina as its a LONG exam. I only took the official MCAT once, and I attribute that to the hundreds of hours I spent preparing and the 10 practice exams I took. Save the AAMC exams for the last month before the MCAT. You will likely score a bit higher on the AAMC tests than 3rd party exams, but that is no guarantee. People vary as you would expect. But the trend is higher scores, with some steps forward and some back, but overall up so don't feel defeated to score 515 on one exam and 512 on the next one, because your 3rd or 4th exam could be a 518 or higher. Just keep analyzing results, figure out what you are doing wrong with each type of question,and keep progressing through all the review material, and circle back as needed. Use flash cards, use AAMC and 34d party practice exams, buy a really good study set of books (I used Berkeley review books as I mentioned above), and practice, practice, practice.

I struggled with physics a bit because some formulas you simply have to memorize and know how to apply them. Buy blank index cards for that and create your own flashcard set, in additiion to the AAMC and Kaplan flash cards (AAMC is better but Kaplan has 10x the quantity). By the time your day has arrived, you will be fresh, energized, and ready to do your absolute best, which is all anyone can hope to do.

One last tip on AAMC material. Save the sample exam for the week before the real MCAT. The reason is the two steps forward, one step back scoring. THe last thing you want is a score below your average trend with no real time to review material and right before the main event.

 

[ThePotatoDoctor]

The plan seems a bit rocky to me just based on the lack of time studying for the MCAT. Although the material coincides well with a lot of undergraduate courses, the actual test is quite different than most test you are probably used to taking. Memorization doesn't help too much aside from a few questions here or there or the PsS section. Something I think was irreplaceable for me was taking full length practice exams to gt used to the amount of time testing and seeing a ton of MCAT-style questions. A lot of companies have FLEs that are helpful -- Altius, Next Step, Princeton...

I would recommend taking the test later -- April or May? to give yourself more time-- it won't hinder your application timeline at all.

 

[bdawg0426]

The earliest letters of app I saw this cycle were in July. It takes 35 days to get your MCAT score so as long as you take the MCAT by late May or early June, you will be in the first wave. Secondaries come out in August so I fully agree with ThePotatoDoctor.