Free and effective MCAT study tactic!

[907914]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I just wanted to share with everyone what seems to me like an effective MCAT study tactic that has really been working well for me. I went from a 510 on FL1 early January to a 519 on FL2 today and with 2 more months still till real deal

Take in to account: I have taken every prerequisite course except Psych/Soc before I started studying. YMMV

First thing, over winter break I watched every Crash Course Psychology and Sociology YouTube video, taking notes on everything. At the beginning of each day, I read through all of my notes (active reading, asking self questions etc) from the previous day to cement the information. At 8 videos a day, this took about 3 hours a day and 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I spent an hour each day reviewing material I hadn’t touched in a while. Honestly, MCAT-review.org is a free resource that has all of the bare bones information you need. If something doesn’t make sense, Wikipedia was my friend. No need for expensive review books.

Now, for the last month (in between my two practice tests) there is only one thing I have done: Khan Academy. Do 2 new passages in each category each day. Look up every answer choice you don’t understand/don’t know. After every question, read the description of why the correct answer is correct regardless if you got it right or wrong. Then the next day, start the day off by repeating the passages you did the day prior (just do check for remembrance) and explain your answer choices as you are picking them (why your answer is right and why the other three individually are wrong). Then move on to 2 new passages for the day. Repeat.

Has anyone else done something similar to this? I would love some feedback on this, but also if you need a place to start this has worked really well for me.

 

[907914]

Ended with a 521 using this.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Great job MemeLord!

So basically, be smart, work your a## off, and do tons of passages every day. That is a perfect plan.

I also did this plan, but with a slight twist. While free is awesome, this is my future you're talking about so dropping a grand on AAMC materials and the best books for each section seemed very much worth it. I too did about ten passages a day, starting first with my review books (for maybe a month and a half) followed by AAMC. I just have to say that AAMC is a great investment and everyone should be doing those. Don't be cheap when it comes to AAMC.

I did my due diligence to make sure everything I bought was the best (got great reviews and more importantly had people getting great scores and very few examples of bad scores using them.) I focused on the answer explanations when picking what I used. Based on my GPA I should have gotten somewhere around a 503, but ended up with a 516. Focusing on passages is key!

I hope you don't mind, but I want to say that I appreciate your suggestion to be frugal. There are a lot of things out there that cost some serious coin and don't help much. Yet people keep using them and then posting that they bombed the MCAT even though they "studied and felt ready." From scouring Reddit and SDN before I started my studying I noticed that people using the expensive 7-book set kept posting that they bombed their test. It was seriously uncanny that the people throwing money down that sinkhole were the vast majority of people saying they had to repeat.

People who took streaming MCAT courses are the other group of money-wasters that make me scratch my head. Why fork over two grand to stream some dude going through a script? It should be obvious that these don't work, but people still drop bank for something that over and over doesn't work. I can totally see paying money for an actual classroom course with an actual human being teaching where you can ask questions and get feedback. Being able to speak to a tutor who knows their sh## is worth it. But come on people, why pay for videos or streaming when the there are awesome free videos out there, like MemeLord mentioned.

Thanks for posting this MemeLord!

 

[907914]

Great job MemeLord!

So basically, be smart, work your a## off, and do tons of passages every day. That is a perfect plan.

I also did this plan, but with a slight twist. While free is awesome, this is my future you're talking about so dropping a grand on AAMC materials and the best books for each section seemed very much worth it. I too did about ten passages a day, starting first with my review books (for maybe a month and a half) followed by AAMC. I just have to say that AAMC is a great investment and everyone should be doing those. Don't be cheap when it comes to AAMC.

I did my due diligence to make sure everything I bought was the best (got great reviews and more importantly had people getting great scores and very few examples of bad scores using them.) I focused on the answer explanations when picking what I used. Based on my GPA I should have gotten somewhere around a 503, but ended up with a 516. Focusing on passages is key!

I hope you don't mind, but I want to say that I appreciate your suggestion to be frugal. There are a lot of things out there that cost some serious coin and don't help much. Yet people keep using them and then posting that they bombed the MCAT even though they "studied and felt ready." From scouring Reddit and SDN before I started my studying I noticed that people using the expensive 7-book set kept posting that they bombed their test. It was seriously uncanny that the people throwing money down that sinkhole were the vast majority of people saying they had to repeat.

People who took streaming MCAT courses are the other group of money-wasters that make me scratch my head. Why fork over two grand to stream some dude going through a script? It should be obvious that these don't work, but people still drop bank for something that over and over doesn't work. I can totally see paying money for an actual classroom course with an actual human being teaching where you can ask questions and get feedback. Being able to speak to a tutor who knows their sh## is worth it. But come on people, why pay for videos or streaming when the there are awesome free videos out there, like MemeLord mentioned.

Thanks for posting this MemeLord!

Oh yah, my last month was all AAMC official. Same strategy just with the legit stuff. All told MCAT study resources cost me lost $300. Not bad. Not bad.

Also, It averaged out to every other day with school and family, but it is totally manageable. No one can teach you how to study. Good job!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Oh yah, my last month was all AAMC official. Same strategy just with the legit stuff. All told MCAT study resources cost me lost $300. Not bad. Not bad.

Also, It averaged out to every other day with school and family, but it is totally manageable. No one can teach you how to study. Good job!

Between the study guide, Q packs, section banks, and FLs that is a well spent $300. Personally, I intended to take a live course but couldn't because of commuting issues. So I set my budget at $1000. New TBR science books (bought them for $300 and sold them for $250), used TPR P/S and CARS books (bought them for $120 and sold them for $50), used EK books (gift from big sib and gave them away), FLs from EK, TBR, and **** ($500), and UWorld free trial. All in all it cost me a little under $1000.

Looking back on it, TBR was worth every dime and way better than any of the free materials I looked at (I got 132 on both C/P and B/B and no way could have done it without their books.) I liked TPR for P/S, but probably would have done the same without it. If I had to do it over, I would only buy TBR and EK FLs, and not all of them.

I think studying for this test can be done for $500 to $750 if you spend wisely and sell your stuff after. If you feel you need to get a tutor and can afford it, then dropping $2K for a course with live teachers seems worth it to me. But hell no would I pay that much for live on-line bs.

Considering what my primaries are going to cost me, that's actually quite cheap. 🙂

 

[907914]

Between the study guide, Q packs, section banks, and FLs that is a well spent $300. Personally, I intended to take a live course but couldn't because of commuting issues. So I set my budget at $1000. New TBR science books (bought them for $300 and sold them for $250), used TPR P/S and CARS books (bought them for $120 and sold them for $50), used EK books (gift from big sib and gave them away), FLs from EK, TBR, and **** ($500), and UWorld free trial. All in all it cost me a little under $1000.

Looking back on it, TBR was worth every dime and way better than any of the free materials I looked at (I got 132 on both C/P and B/B and no way could have done it without their books.) I liked TPR for P/S, but probably would have done the same without it. If I had to do it over, I would only buy TBR and EK FLs, and not all of them.

I think studying for this test can be done for $500 to $750 if you spend wisely and sell your stuff after. If you feel you need to get a tutor and can afford it, then dropping $2K for a course with live teachers seems worth it to me. But hell no would I pay that much for live on-line bs.

Considering what my primaries are going to cost me, that's actually quite cheap. 🙂

True that...seeing that price tag looking at the bottom of the ‘schools’ section is giving me the heeby jeebys. Might knock it down from 22 to 18. Who knows.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I am at 32 schools right now, but will trim to 28 by Friday. My GPA is low and my volunteer work doesn't stand out, so I have to spread my net. Plus I have an embarrassingly low CARS score like a lead weight on my app. The cost is just one thing keeping me up all night.

 

[medgal98]

I just wanted to share with everyone what seems to me like an effective MCAT study tactic that has really been working well for me. I went from a 510 on FL1 early January to a 519 on FL2 today and with 2 more months still till real deal

Take in to account: I have taken every prerequisite course except Psych/Soc before I started studying. YMMV

First thing, over winter break I watched every Crash Course Psychology and Sociology YouTube video, taking notes on everything. At the beginning of each day, I read through all of my notes (active reading, asking self questions etc) from the previous day to cement the information. At 8 videos a day, this took about 3 hours a day and 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I spent an hour each day reviewing material I hadn’t touched in a while. Honestly, MCAT-review.org is a free resource that has all of the bare bones information you need. If something doesn’t make sense, Wikipedia was my friend. No need for expensive review books.

Now, for the last month (in between my two practice tests) there is only one thing I have done: Khan Academy. Do 2 new passages in each category each day. Look up every answer choice you don’t understand/don’t know. After every question, read the description of why the correct answer is correct regardless if you got it right or wrong. Then the next day, start the day off by repeating the passages you did the day prior (just do check for remembrance) and explain your answer choices as you are picking them (why your answer is right and why the other three individually are wrong). Then move on to 2 new passages for the day. Repeat.

Has anyone else done something similar to this? I would love some feedback on this, but also if you need a place to start this has worked really well for me.

What did you do to study for all the other subjects aside from psych during your content review phase?