How I prepped for a 526

[otterxavier]

So, I took the new MCAT in April and got a 526 (proof). Since then, I've gotten lots of messages on SDN asking about study strategies. Rather than answer the same questions over and over in a thousand different places, I figured I'd compile all of my advice into one thread.

My goal in sharing this is not to say that this is the way to do well on the MCAT, nor do I think that the way that I studied is hugely innovative. Rather, I want to give people some hope that with commitment, discipline, and a solid head start, it is possible to do very well on the MCAT even if you:
- are not a hard sciences major
- are a nontrad balancing work and school
- have a limited budget for prep materials, and do not have the time or money for an MCAT course
- are not following an extremely detailed day-by-day schedule
- haven't finished your prereqs (although I don't recommend this!)


My background:

I've been out of college for three years. I double-majored in humanities/social studies in undergrad and took some chem and stats, but no bio, physics, psychology, or sociology. (When I took the MCAT, I still hadn't taken psych or soc, had just started biochem, and was 2/3 of the way through physics.) I started a postbac last summer knowing that a) I'd be taking the MCAT within a year and hopefully applying immediately afterward, and b) I wouldn't be able to take time off from school or work to prep full-time. So my goals were:
1. retain what I learned in my prereq courses so I didn't have to waste time relearning things
2. start studying ridiculously early and do a little bit every day (~2 hrs/day over 9 months rather than ~8 hrs/day over 2-3 months)

This is different from how a lot of people do the MCAT, so I'm not sure how well my experience will translate. However, the general principle holds for anyone: study early, slowly, and steadily. If you study 2 hours a day for a year, you've put in the same amount of time as someone who studies 8 hours a day for a single summer. But you'll probably have a more solid grasp on the material, and much lower stress levels.

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[otterxavier]

12,000 Anki cards?! Didn't you mean 1200?

Nope, I do mean 12,000. Realize that included the cards that I made for each of the prereq courses, not just MCAT prep per se.

 

[Necr0sis713]

I LOVE how you said that the most helpful class to you was molecular biology. I couldn't agree more with you.

A lot of people don't think you need it for the MCAT. But honestly, it introduced me to all of intimidating terms and concepts. Like I wouldn't have known WTF a Zinc finger domain was, or what a pluripotent stem cell was.

 

[otterxavier]

I LOVE how you said that the most helpful class to you was molecular biology. I couldn't agree more with you.

A lot of people don't think you need it for the MCAT. But honestly, it introduced me to all of intimidating terms and concepts. Like I wouldn't have known WTF a Zinc finger domain was, or what a pluripotent stem cell was.

I think people say that you don't need it for the MCAT because the MCAT doesn't test on it per se, and will often explain molecular bio topics in passages as they're relevant. But molecular bio is so fundamental to so many of the passages that if you don't come in already familiar with those concepts, you end up having to learn and synthesize them during the exam.

 

[madguitaristjcm]

congrats on your score, that is very impressive! Ive heard that TPR psych is not that great, do you have any complaints/thoughts about this? and which Practice exams would you recommend most? Ive also heard TPR to not be very good or accurate as far as comparing it to how you actually do on the mcat. Thanks in advance!

 

[aalamruad]

Because I have advocated for Anki in other areas of this forum, I would offer one improvement to the OP's Anki card examples. Obviously his overall study system worked well, but I'm quite confident his/her score did not result from, nor was it significantly benefited from, Anki cards testing things like "name two portal systems" or cards defining "pulmonary circulation" and "systemic circulation." The final three cards he/she suggested would be the very best of all of them in terms of preparing for MCAT-2015. I recommend that nearly all Anki cards be conceptual in nature. A good conceptual notecard will automatically cause review and retention of the basic terms and vocabulary which underlie it, but will have the far more important effect of generating solid conceptual networks of understanding and synthesis. A fact/memorization-based card has no dual benefit and only promotes rote recall.

We need to STUDY in the same way we are going to be asked to PERFORM. Because MCAT-2015 asks straight-up vocab/definition/fact questions only on very rare occasions, and asks predominantly why- how-, predict-, synthesize-, analyse-, understand-, visualize-type questions...the Anki cards you use for review and spaced repetition should be of the same form. If you want to ACCELERATE the efficiency of your prep even further, work hard to author Anki cards which accurately reflect the style/form/substance of real AAMC MCAT-2015 question stems. I'd suggest cards like this:

"The mammalian hepatic portal system suggests that which circulatory arrangement is evolutionarily advantageous in absorbing and processing nutrients?" [Direct connection of circulatory components via a second capillary bed].

"A drug administered by direct injection and absorbed into the blood stream at a capillary bed in the arm differs from an orally-administered drug absorbed in the intestine in that the orally-administered drug will:" [pass through two capillary beds (portal plus regular systemic capillary bed) while the first passes through only one].

If you can develop the ability to quickly and accurately author these kinds of Anki cards for each subject you review (and review them regularly), your performance will improve dramatically. This is exactly the kind of conceptual-focused practice needed in place of rote content review.

Great job on your score otterxavier!

@otterxavier what do you think of this critique? If you were to do it again, would you modify your prep in the way that this poster suggested, or are you confident that your method was plenty effective?

 

[otterxavier]

congrats on your score, that is very impressive! Ive heard that TPR psych is not that great, do you have any complaints/thoughts about this? and which Practice exams would you recommend most? Ive also heard TPR to not be very good or accurate as far as comparing it to how you actually do on the mcat. Thanks in advance!

The PR psych/soc book was the only prep that I used, and it contained almost all of the terms and concepts that I encountered on the AAMC practice exam and the real test. The psych/soc section of the exam does include a lot of questions about research methods, though, and that is not addressed well in any of the prep books that I've seen... not sure what is a great way to prep for that, but I found that I learned more about it from popular science books like Bad Science than in my college classes.

Re practice exams: realize that I took the very first sitting of the new MCAT, so I'd imagine there are more abundant and accurate practice exams available now. But: Obviously the best practice tests are going to be the ones put out by AAMC -- and I think the popular advice to do those toward the end of your studying is a good idea. TPR's practice tests and diagnostics are imo too heavy on content and weak on interpretation and critical thinking, and they are much harder than the actual exam -- my scores on the TPR practice tests were ~15 points lower than the actual MCAT. I do think they're worth doing in order to identify topics that you're weak on, to build endurance, and to get used to the feel of taking the test -- but don't take the scores too seriously. The practice exam that came closest to my actual MCAT score was the one from Next Step.

 

[otterxavier]

@otterxavier what do you think of this critique? If you were to do it again, would you modify your prep in the way that this poster suggested, or are you confident that your method was plenty effective?

Glib answer: I'm confident that my method was effective because I'm more than happy with the score that I got -- so no, I wouldn't study any differently

Serious answer: my study experience was the exact opposite of this:

A good conceptual notecard will automatically cause review and retention of the basic terms and vocabulary which underlie it, but will have the far more important effect of generating solid conceptual networks of understanding and synthesis. A fact/memorization-based card has no dual benefit and only promotes rote recall.

I experimented with making conceptual cards like the Altius tutor's examples, and found that without even trying to, I often ended up memorizing the explanation on the card verbatim, even if I didn't genuinely understand it or know what all of the terms meant. Or, I'd remember which key terms were relevant and could generate a string of applicable buzzwords without fully grasping how they were connected. Or, I'd remember how a concept applied to that particular example, but would struggle to apply it to other situations.

Flashcards are inherently a tool for memorization. They are designed to drill you into instantaneous recall, and while that is not a substitute for deeper understanding, it's still worthwhile. There is a solid base of information that you need in order to do well on the MCAT, and the exam is much less painful if you can recall certain terms and facts quickly without having to fish for them or reason your way up to them.

But flashcards are not a tool for developing critical thinking skills like synthesis, analysis, and prediction. Conceptual understanding comes from encountering a concept in a variety of different contexts and applications. Flashcards by their very nature can't do that -- they repeat the same thing over and over, and your ability to make good conceptual flashcards is fundamentally constrained by the depth of your understanding of a topic. That's why sample questions and practice exams are so valuable, as well as study strategies like the sn2ed hat trick: they present content in ways that are perpetually new and fresh and push you beyond what you already know (or think you know).

 

[ogedoc]

Thank you so much for all this valuable information! Happy to hear someone else was successful studying and working at the same time. Can I ask where you got in or are going?

 

[betterfuture]

You're welcome, and good luck! I got into Dartmouth and Harvard, and am still waiting to hear from BU.

Congrats!

 

[aalamruad]

You're welcome, and good luck! I got into Dartmouth and Harvard, and am still waiting to hear from BU.

You're so awesome. Seriously. So awesome. (not being facetious)

Leaning towards one school over the others at the moment?

 

[ogedoc]

You're welcome, and good luck! I got into Dartmouth and Harvard, and am still waiting to hear from BU.

Wow! Congratulations! All such amazing schools!!!

 

[Necr0sis713]

How did you practice verbal a month out from your exam?

 

[otterxavier]

How did you practice verbal a month out from your exam?

To be honest, verbal has always been a strong area for me, so at that point I wasn't really working on it aside from taking practice exams.

 

[madguitaristjcm]

Does anyone here know if the exam krackers 101 books for biology, chemistry and physics would still be good for the new format? I have the verbal book but was wondering about the other subjects..

 

[realguy123]

Hi,

Thanks for the Anki info - I'm going to try it. However, I'm curious if you used an organization system to keep topics separate, new vs old separate, etc? If you could discuss your management of your deck, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[otterxavier]

Hi,

Thanks for the Anki info - I'm going to try it. However, I'm curious if you used an organization system to keep topics separate, new vs old separate, etc? If you could discuss your management of your deck, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Sure. My system wasn't too nuanced: I had separate decks for bio/biochem, gen chem, organic chem, physics, and psych/soc. I also had a deck for factoids that I missed from practice questions and passages.

 

[lebronisking23]

.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Dear otterxavier,

I read your incredible thread almost one year ago.

I sat for the MCAT on April 23rd and just received my score. While I did not get a 526, I did receive a 523.

Thank you for turning me onto Anki and your study strategy. You reaffirmed my initial suspicion that a slow and steady approach to studying is best.

 

[otterxavier]

Dear otterxavier,

I read your incredible thread almost one year ago.

I sat for the MCAT on April 23rd and just received my score. While I did not get a 526, I did receive a 523.

Thank you for turning me onto Anki and your study strategy. You reaffirmed my initial suspicion that a slow and steady approach to studying is best.

Congratulations!! That's fantastic, so glad that all of your hard work paid off! Good luck on your applications -- hopefully everything will be smooth sailing now that the MCAT is behind you

 

[MarioKart]

Congratulations!! That's fantastic, so glad that all of your hard work paid off! Good luck on your applications -- hopefully everything will be smooth sailing now that the MCAT is behind you

Thanks for an awesome study strategy. May I ask what your opinion on the Kaplan 2015 set is (if you don't own it there is a free book preview on Google books!!) I don't want to be one of those people who buys a million things and gets overwhelmed so I was thinking of sticking with Kaplan books + khan academy + official FLs, and I guess that biochem txt book off of your recommendation!!!

Edit: wow you got into Harvard lol congrats!!!!!

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Congratulations!! That's fantastic, so glad that all of your hard work paid off! Good luck on your applications -- hopefully everything will be smooth sailing now that the MCAT is behind you

Thank you very much for the encouragment; I appreciate it!

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Thanks for an awesome study strategy. May I ask what your opinion on the Kaplan 2015 set is (if you don't own it there is a free book preview on Google books!!) I don't want to be one of those people who buys a million things and gets overwhelmed so I was thinking of sticking with Kaplan books + khan academy + official FLs, and I guess that biochem txt book off of your recommendation!!!

Edit: wow you got into Harvard lol congrats!!!!!

I hope you don't mind me chiming in, but I thought I'd share the books I used.

In terms of printed material, I used a combination of The Berkeley Review (gen chem, organic chem, biology, and physics), The Princeton Review (psychology/sociology and verbal), and Examkrackers (verbal).

For TBR, I completed every single passage in each book and found that it did a more than adequate job of preparing me for the sciences. You will need to brush up on some additional biochemistry--especially when it comes to enzyme kinetics and basic biochemistry lab (Westerns, Southerns, Northerns, column chromatography, affinity chromatography, etc.). Basically, what TBR misses, you will cover in the online official AAMC practice material.

TPR psychology/sociology was not adequate! I highly recommend watching the Khan Academy videos; they cover pretty much everything there is to know for this section (and do so quite succinctly).

The Princeton Review Hyperlearning verbal workbook is absolutely fantastic. The passages are a little bit shorter than those used by the AAMC in their practice material but the question style aligns quite closely.

In contrast to the TPR Verbal, I found EK 101 Verbal to be a near waste of time. The material was not representative of what AAMC uses and the questions border on absurd. Don't waste your time on it (or just save it for later review).

By the time I was done with prep, I had completed around 300 verbal passage. I found this section to be the most difficult despite the fact that I read quite a bit on a daily basis.

As for full lengths: I only did the two official AAMC ones. I found that to be more than adequate and, frankly, moving a mouse across a computer screen for circa 6 hours per test per day is very hard on one's body.

I hope the above helps and perhaps someone else might voice their opinion regarding Kaplan.

 

[ginadima]

I hope you don't mind me chiming in, but I thought I'd share the books I used.

In terms of printed material, I used a combination of The Berkeley Review (gen chem, organic chem, biology, and physics), The Princeton Review (psychology/sociology and verbal), and Examkrackers (verbal).

For TBR, I completed every single passage in each book and found that it did a more than adequate job of preparing me for the sciences. You will need to brush up on some additional biochemistry--especially when it comes to enzyme kinetics and basic biochemistry lab (Westerns, Southerns, Northerns, column chromatography, affinity chromatography, etc.). Basically, what TBR misses, you will cover in the online official AAMC practice material.

TPR psychology/sociology was not adequate! I highly recommend watching the Khan Academy videos; they cover pretty much everything there is to know for this section (and do so quite succinctly).

The Princeton Review Hyperlearning verbal workbook is absolutely fantastic. The passages are a little bit shorter than those used by the AAMC in their practice material but the question style aligns quite closely.

In contrast to the TPR Verbal, I found EK 101 Verbal to be a near waste of time. The material was not representative of what AAMC uses and the questions border on absurd. Don't waste your time on it (or just save it for later review).

By the time I was done with prep, I had completed around 300 verbal passage. I found this section to be the most difficult despite the fact that I read quite a bit on a daily basis.

As for full lengths: I only did the two official AAMC ones. I found that to be more than adequate and, frankly, moving a mouse across a computer screen for circa 6 hours per test per day is very hard on one's body.

I hope the above helps and perhaps someone else might voice their opinion regarding Kaplan.

Awesome Job! And how long did you take to study? What was your study schedule like?

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Awesome Job! And how long did you take to study? What was your study schedule like?

I studied for nearly a year (maybe about 10 months). I did more when I had breaks from work/school and less when I was busy.

The key is consistency: you must do the Anki flashcards routinely and keep chipping away at the material.

 

[matchmeifyoucan]

I hope you don't mind me chiming in, but I thought I'd share the books I used.

In terms of printed material, I used a combination of The Berkeley Review (gen chem, organic chem, biology, and physics), The Princeton Review (psychology/sociology and verbal), and Examkrackers (verbal).

For TBR, I completed every single passage in each book and found that it did a more than adequate job of preparing me for the sciences. You will need to brush up on some additional biochemistry--especially when it comes to enzyme kinetics and basic biochemistry lab (Westerns, Southerns, Northerns, column chromatography, affinity chromatography, etc.). Basically, what TBR misses, you will cover in the online official AAMC practice material.

TPR psychology/sociology was not adequate! I highly recommend watching the Khan Academy videos; they cover pretty much everything there is to know for this section (and do so quite succinctly).

The Princeton Review Hyperlearning verbal workbook is absolutely fantastic. The passages are a little bit shorter than those used by the AAMC in their practice material but the question style aligns quite closely.

In contrast to the TPR Verbal, I found EK 101 Verbal to be a near waste of time. The material was not representative of what AAMC uses and the questions border on absurd. Don't waste your time on it (or just save it for later review).

By the time I was done with prep, I had completed around 300 verbal passage. I found this section to be the most difficult despite the fact that I read quite a bit on a daily basis.

As for full lengths: I only did the two official AAMC ones. I found that to be more than adequate and, frankly, moving a mouse across a computer screen for circa 6 hours per test per day is very hard on one's body.

I hope the above helps and perhaps someone else might voice their opinion regarding Kaplan.

Did you use the old TBR books? I was under the impression that the new version was more than enough to cover up biochem material, and that only the old books may need some supplementation.

Also, did you try the TBR psychology book? If so, was it adequate?

 

[gift2hands]

At least a day later, make flashcards from notes.
- Once I'd finished learning all of the flashcards from a chapter, I went back and did the questions and passage at the end.

Hi, this is an awesome post! Congratulations on your amazing score and getting into medical school!!!

I just graduated from college and I want to take the MCAT in about 6 months time (January, 2017 or the first 2017 MCAT date). I completed most of my prerequisites a while back, so I do need time to efficiently review contents. I love this approach, and I am making my schedule to follow this.

Please, I need a little bit of clarification on the flashcard approach. If I understand correctly, for example, you read chapter 1 of biochemistry today and then you make flashcards on that chapter tomorrow before you begin your next chapter (biology). My confusion is after creating the flashcards for the biochemistry chapter, do you immediately start learning them and then go ahead to do the practice passage before starting the next chapter (biology)? Or do you just create the flashcards and move on to the next chapter, but continue practicing the flashcards for that chapter as Anki presents them daily (depending on your settings)? Once you're done with the deck, then you go ahead to do the practice questions? How long does this typically take?

Thanks

 

[otterxavier]

Thanks for an awesome study strategy. May I ask what your opinion on the Kaplan 2015 set is (if you don't own it there is a free book preview on Google books!!) I don't want to be one of those people who buys a million things and gets overwhelmed so I was thinking of sticking with Kaplan books + khan academy + official FLs, and I guess that biochem txt book off of your recommendation!!!

Edit: wow you got into Harvard lol congrats!!!!!

Thanks!! I haven't looked at the Kaplan books and I'll happily defer to what other people have posted about them... one of the perks of being done with the MCAT is choosing not to spend any more beautiful summer days reading test prep materials

But, I definitely think you're on the right track by not buying a bunch of different things. It's easy to drown in the bog of test prep materials and study advice; it seems like some folks on SDN spend more time honing their test prep tactics than actually studying. Keep it simple: pick a reasonable amount of prep material, figure out a consistent study strategy, and stick to it. Any deficiencies in your prep will become clear when you start working through AAMC's practice materials, at which point you can figure out how best to fill in the gaps.

Hi, this is an awesome post! Congratulations on your amazing score and getting into medical school!!!

I just graduated from college and I want to take the MCAT in about 6 months time (January, 2017 or the first 2017 MCAT date). I completed most of my prerequisites a while back, so I do need time to efficiently review contents. I love this approach, and I am making my schedule to follow this.

Please, I need a little bit of clarification on the flashcard approach. If I understand correctly, for example, you read chapter 1 of biochemistry today and then you make flashcards on that chapter tomorrow before you begin your next chapter (biology). My confusion is after creating the flashcards for the biochemistry chapter, do you immediately start learning them and then go ahead to do the practice passage before starting the next chapter (biology)? Or do you just create the flashcards and move on to the next chapter, but continue practicing the flashcards for that chapter as Anki presents them daily (depending on your settings)? Once you're done with the deck, then you go ahead to do the practice questions? How long does this typically take?

Thanks

Thanks, and good luck to you! Let's see... so, my process was:
- read chapter and take notes
- make flashcards from notes
- learn flashcards (and continue reviewing once learned)
- do questions from book

I did a little bit of each of those tasks every day, and didn't wait to finish everything for one chapter before moving on to the next. So, at any given time I might be working on reading chapter 6, making flashcards from the end of chapter 5, learning cards from the beginning of chapter 5, doing questions from chapter 4, and continuously reviewing flashcards from everything that came before. (Or, more realistically: reading Physics chapter 1, making flashcards from the end of the Organic Chem book, learning cards from the beginning of the Organic Chem book, and doing questions from the Biology book... things were a little more spaced out.)

How long it typically took is hard to say -- some chapters were harder for me than others, and at some points I was studying more/less than my daily target depending on work and school commitments, so I got "behind" (not that I really had a formal schedule). But the general principle was to be at different stages of learning/reviewing a variety of topics at any given time, not to go through one topic and move on to another. Does that answer your question?

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Did you use the old TBR books? I was under the impression that the new version was more than enough to cover up biochem material, and that only the old books may need some supplementation.

Also, did you try the TBR psychology book? If so, was it adequate?

I used the 2013 revision.

I emailed TBR regarding the 2015 version and their administrative staff informed me that the content review in the books hasn't changed; however, they added a significant number of discrete questions to each book (I can't recall how many exactly).

All in all, the books covered most of the necessary biochem with exception of a few biochem lab techniques and some esoteric enzyme kinetics.

I have not used TBR's psychology book; however, Khan Academy should cover most (if not all) the bases.

I hope this helps!

 

[dboyhaaan]

I used the 2013 revision.

I emailed TBR regarding the 2015 version and their administrative staff informed me that the content review in the books hasn't changed; however, they added a significant number of discrete questions to each book (I can't recall how many exactly).

All in all, the books covered most of the necessary biochem with exception of a few biochem lab techniques and some esoteric enzyme kinetics.

I have not used TBR's psychology book; however, Khan Academy should cover most (if not all) the bases.

I hope this helps!

I'm supplementing with EK and just thought I should add they did a good job covering the lab techniques.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[pointodr]

I used the 2013 revision.

I emailed TBR regarding the 2015 version and their administrative staff informed me that the content review in the books hasn't changed; however, they added a significant number of discrete questions to each book (I can't recall how many exactly).

All in all, the books covered most of the necessary biochem with exception of a few biochem lab techniques and some esoteric enzyme kinetics.

I have not used TBR's psychology book; however, Khan Academy should cover most (if not all) the bases.

I hope this helps!

Hi there

I'm very interested to learn more about your approach, as I will be adopting a very similar one!

I am starting a one year post bacc and want to start reviewing slowly about 10 months in advance alongside my classes as both you and otterxavier have done. I also want to use the TBR materials.

I guess my questions are as follows:

1. Are you still in school / postbacc, and did you do this alongside classes?

2. Were you ever in the situation (as @otterxavier was - correct me if I'm wrong?) where you were "reviewing" something for the MCAT before actually learning it in class? If so, did you find the TBR materials adequate in this regard?

3. How did you space out the TBR passages? otterxavier had done a strict content review first with a few practice passages, and then moved on to passages a little later. With TBR, however, the passages are a key part of the content learning process. How did you ensure that the "tricks" you learned from the TBR passages were remembered 10 months later on test day? How did you treat the phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3 passages for each section? I am paranoid I will do all of the TBR passages too early and forget them by the time the test comes around.

4. Any other "deviations" or differences from the otterxavier routine? Did you take notes and then create anki notecards, as he did?

Thank you!

 

[gift2hands]

Thanks, and good luck to you! Let's see... so, my process was:
- read chapter and take notes
- make flashcards from notes
- learn flashcards (and continue reviewing once learned)
- do questions from book

I did a little bit of each of those tasks every day, and didn't wait to finish everything for one chapter before moving on to the next. So, at any given time I might be working on reading chapter 6, making flashcards from the end of chapter 5, learning cards from the beginning of chapter 5, doing questions from chapter 4, and continuously reviewing flashcards from everything that came before. (Or, more realistically: reading Physics chapter 1, making flashcards from the end of the Organic Chem book, learning cards from the beginning of the Organic Chem book, and doing questions from the Biology book... things were a little more spaced out.)

How long it typically took is hard to say -- some chapters were harder for me than others, and at some points I was studying more/less than my daily target depending on work and school commitments, so I got "behind" (not that I really had a formal schedule). But the general principle was to be at different stages of learning/reviewing a variety of topics at any given time, not to go through one topic and move on to another. Does that answer your question?

Wow... It looks like I will be juggling a lot of things together lol. Well, I guess it's one of those things. You have been extremely helpful. Thank you so much!!

 

[Swagster]

I hope you don't mind me chiming in, but I thought I'd share the books I used.

In terms of printed material, I used a combination of The Berkeley Review (gen chem, organic chem, biology, and physics), The Princeton Review (psychology/sociology and verbal), and Examkrackers (verbal).

For TBR, I completed every single passage in each book and found that it did a more than adequate job of preparing me for the sciences. You will need to brush up on some additional biochemistry--especially when it comes to enzyme kinetics and basic biochemistry lab (Westerns, Southerns, Northerns, column chromatography, affinity chromatography, etc.). Basically, what TBR misses, you will cover in the online official AAMC practice material.

TPR psychology/sociology was not adequate! I highly recommend watching the Khan Academy videos; they cover pretty much everything there is to know for this section (and do so quite succinctly).

The Princeton Review Hyperlearning verbal workbook is absolutely fantastic. The passages are a little bit shorter than those used by the AAMC in their practice material but the question style aligns quite closely.

In contrast to the TPR Verbal, I found EK 101 Verbal to be a near waste of time. The material was not representative of what AAMC uses and the questions border on absurd. Don't waste your time on it (or just save it for later review).

By the time I was done with prep, I had completed around 300 verbal passage. I found this section to be the most difficult despite the fact that I read quite a bit on a daily basis.

As for full lengths: I only did the two official AAMC ones. I found that to be more than adequate and, frankly, moving a mouse across a computer screen for circa 6 hours per test per day is very hard on one's body.

I hope the above helps and perhaps someone else might voice their opinion regarding Kaplan.

This is a wonderful post and right on the mark. Thanks for writing it and thanks to otterxavier for the helpful thread. While I am a couple points short of your score (CARS was not up where I had hoped), I used the same materials for the sciences and was very happy with the outcome. I used the new TBR biology, psychology, and organic chemistry books and the old general chemistry and physics books. I would have used the new g chem and physics had they been available, but the older ones sufficed nicely. I mixed in a few books I had laying around to quiz myself, but BR books were the main tools of my review.

You have to do all of the passages and work through all of the explanations. That is where the meat is. Like you, I did every passage and felt completely prepared for the test. Mostly I felt read to think through the questions. I felt the new organic chemistry book addressed some of the biochemistry lab techniques, but they could use more review on enzymes. The passages is were I picked up most of that information, especially when it came to molecular biology.

For psychology, Khan passages and the TBR book worked well together. It exposed me to different passages and covered most of the information I needed. I think flashcards are useful with all of the terminology and theories. Despite having very minimal background in this area, I felt well prepared.

For CARS, I may not be the right person to make suggestions. I did above average, but nothing to brag about. I looked at the same resources as you and would agree 100% that very few practice passages are similar to the AAMC and the MCAT itself. I think the important thing is to start early and take the section seriously.

For full lengths, the two AAMC exams are a must. I also took three TBR exams and felt they were very helpful. They didn't feel like the AAMC practice I did, but for me they were better tools for my actual MCAT. You need to think and that's what AAMC and TBR exams made me do. I looked at one other exam, but the typos drove me crazy so I stopped. I'm rather OCD, so I hit my errata limit rather quickly.

 

[pointodr]

This is a wonderful post and right on the mark. Thanks for writing it and thanks to otterxavier for the helpful thread. While I am a couple points short of your score (CARS was not up where I had hoped), I used the same materials for the sciences and was very happy with the outcome. I used the new TBR biology, psychology, and organic chemistry books and the old general chemistry and physics books. I would have used the new g chem and physics had they been available, but the older ones sufficed nicely. I mixed in a few books I had laying around to quiz myself, but BR books were the main tools of my review.

You have to do all of the passages and work through all of the explanations. That is where the meat is. Like you, I did every passage and felt completely prepared for the test. Mostly I felt read to think through the questions. I felt the new organic chemistry book addressed some of the biochemistry lab techniques, but they could use more review on enzymes. The passages is were I picked up most of that information, especially when it came to molecular biology.

For psychology, Khan passages and the TBR book worked well together. It exposed me to different passages and covered most of the information I needed. I think flashcards are useful with all of the terminology and theories. Despite having very minimal background in this area, I felt well prepared.

For CARS, I may not be the right person to make suggestions. I did above average, but nothing to brag about. I looked at the same resources as you and would agree 100% that very few practice passages are similar to the AAMC and the MCAT itself. I think the important thing is to start early and take the section seriously.

For full lengths, the two AAMC exams are a must. I also took three TBR exams and felt they were very helpful. They didn't feel like the AAMC practice I did, but for me they were better tools for my actual MCAT. You need to think and that's what AAMC and TBR exams made me do. I looked at one other exam, but the typos drove me crazy so I stopped. I'm rather OCD, so I hit my errata limit rather quickly.

Congrats! Did you also follow the longer, drawn out study schedule as per otterxavier's approach? If so, I'd love to hear your answers to the questions I asked above also!

Thanks

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Hi there

I'm very interested to learn more about your approach, as I will be adopting a very similar one!

I am starting a one year post bacc and want to start reviewing slowly about 10 months in advance alongside my classes as both you and otterxavier have done. I also want to use the TBR materials.

I guess my questions are as follows:

1. Are you still in school / postbacc, and did you do this alongside classes?

2. Were you ever in the situation (as @otterxavier was - correct me if I'm wrong?) where you were "reviewing" something for the MCAT before actually learning it in class? If so, did you find the TBR materials adequate in this regard?

3. How did you space out the TBR passages? otterxavier had done a strict content review first with a few practice passages, and then moved on to passages a little later. With TBR, however, the passages are a key part of the content learning process. How did you ensure that the "tricks" you learned from the TBR passages were remembered 10 months later on test day? How did you treat the phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3 passages for each section? I am paranoid I will do all of the TBR passages too early and forget them by the time the test comes around.

4. Any other "deviations" or differences from the otterxavier routine? Did you take notes and then create anki notecards, as he did?

Thank you!

Hello!

1) I finished school in December 2015. Currently working in a lab and a few contractor positions on the side. Basically, I did study during the school year.

2) I had covered most (maybe all?) of the material before I started reviewing. However, I was quite weak in physics and had to basically start from scratch. Yes, TBR material was sufficient for most everything assuming that you supplement your greatest weak spots with a YouTube video or two.

3) I read the chapter --> did all the passage --> made Anki flashcards--> read another chapter --> did all the passages there --> made more Anki cards ---------->

How do you memorize the tricks? Use Anki (or any spaced repetition learning system that you find convenient)!

4) I did hand write notes as I was reading the chapter. That made is easier to "import" them into Anki later on without having to flip through the thick TBR books.

I hope this helps!

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

This is a wonderful post and right on the mark. Thanks for writing it and thanks to otterxavier for the helpful thread. While I am a couple points short of your score (CARS was not up where I had hoped), I used the same materials for the sciences and was very happy with the outcome. I used the new TBR biology, psychology, and organic chemistry books and the old general chemistry and physics books. I would have used the new g chem and physics had they been available, but the older ones sufficed nicely. I mixed in a few books I had laying around to quiz myself, but BR books were the main tools of my review.

You have to do all of the passages and work through all of the explanations. That is where the meat is. Like you, I did every passage and felt completely prepared for the test. Mostly I felt read to think through the questions. I felt the new organic chemistry book addressed some of the biochemistry lab techniques, but they could use more review on enzymes. The passages is were I picked up most of that information, especially when it came to molecular biology.

For psychology, Khan passages and the TBR book worked well together. It exposed me to different passages and covered most of the information I needed. I think flashcards are useful with all of the terminology and theories. Despite having very minimal background in this area, I felt well prepared.

For CARS, I may not be the right person to make suggestions. I did above average, but nothing to brag about. I looked at the same resources as you and would agree 100% that very few practice passages are similar to the AAMC and the MCAT itself. I think the important thing is to start early and take the section seriously.

For full lengths, the two AAMC exams are a must. I also took three TBR exams and felt they were very helpful. They didn't feel like the AAMC practice I did, but for me they were better tools for my actual MCAT. You need to think and that's what AAMC and TBR exams made me do. I looked at one other exam, but the typos drove me crazy so I stopped. I'm rather OCD, so I hit my errata limit rather quickly.

Congratulations on your score! Looks like we followed a very similar study approach.

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Congrats! Did you also follow the longer, drawn out study schedule as per otterxavier's approach? If so, I'd love to hear your answers to the questions I asked above also!

Thanks

Yes, I did follow the longer drawn-out study approach developed by @otterxavier. I am not proficient at cramming large amounts of information into my head within a short period of time. Thus I strongly prefer to space my studying out by starting early and mitigating the associated stress, as well.

 

[pointodr]

Hello!

1) I finished school in December 2015. Currently working in a lab and a few contractor positions on the side. Basically, I did study during the school year.

2) I had covered most (maybe all?) of the material before I started reviewing. However, I was quite weak in physics and had to basically start from scratch. Yes, TBR material was sufficient for most everything assuming that you supplement your greatest weak spots with a YouTube video or two.

3) I read the chapter --> did all the passage --> made Anki flashcards--> read another chapter --> did all the passages there --> made more Anki cards ---------->

How do you memorize the tricks? Use Anki (or any spaced repetition learning system that you find convenient)!

4) I did hand write notes as I was reading the chapter. That made is easier to "import" them into Anki later on without having to flip through the thick TBR books.

I hope this helps!

Thanks - very helpful! So after how many months did you finish your content review (which I suppose included all the TBR passages)? And after this what did you use to practice passages? Official AAMC materials + TPRH verbal workbook? How many anki cards did you end up with, out of curiosity?

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

Thanks - very helpful! So after how many months did you finish your content review (which I suppose included all the TBR passages)? And after this what did you use to practice passages? Official AAMC materials + TPRH verbal workbook? How many anki cards did you end up with, out of curiosity?

You're welcome.

I finished content review (including all TBR passages) about one-and-a-half months before the exam.

Then, I transitioned to official AAMC material and TPRH verbal.

I ended up with almost 600 Anki flashcards.

I hope this helps!

 

[pointodr]

You're welcome.

I finished content review (including all TBR passages) about one-and-a-half months before the exam.

Then, I transitioned to official AAMC material and TPRH verbal.

I ended up with almost 600 Anki flashcards.

I hope this helps!

It definitely helps...thanks! Did you go through one subject at a time like otterxavier or mix and match?

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

It definitely helps...thanks! Did you go through one subject at a time like otterxavier or mix and match?

You're welcome!

Like @otterxavier, I went through the content one subject at a time.

 

[excited4lifeahead]

how did you go about the chemistry/physical section..i am struggling with that

 

[Un Cupo de Cafe]

how did you go about the chemistry/physical section..i am struggling with that

Pardon me, but is your question directed towards @otterxavier or @Un Cupo de Cafe?

Speaking for myself, I studied for the chemistry/physical section using the four gen chem/o-chem TBR books. They key is to practice with as many passages as possible.

 

[deleted647690]

Because I have advocated for Anki in other areas of this forum, I would offer one improvement to the OP's Anki card examples. Obviously his overall study system worked well, but I'm quite confident his/her score did not result from, nor was it significantly benefited from, Anki cards testing things like "name two portal systems" or cards defining "pulmonary circulation" and "systemic circulation." The final three cards he/she suggested would be the very best of all of them in terms of preparing for MCAT-2015. I recommend that nearly all Anki cards be conceptual in nature. A good conceptual notecard will automatically cause review and retention of the basic terms and vocabulary which underlie it, but will have the far more important effect of generating solid conceptual networks of understanding and synthesis. A fact/memorization-based card has no dual benefit and only promotes rote recall.

We need to STUDY in the same way we are going to be asked to PERFORM. Because MCAT-2015 asks straight-up vocab/definition/fact questions only on very rare occasions, and asks predominantly why- how-, predict-, synthesize-, analyse-, understand-, visualize-type questions...the Anki cards you use for review and spaced repetition should be of the same form. If you want to ACCELERATE the efficiency of your prep even further, work hard to author Anki cards which accurately reflect the style/form/substance of real AAMC MCAT-2015 question stems. I'd suggest cards like this:

"The mammalian hepatic portal system suggests that which circulatory arrangement is evolutionarily advantageous in absorbing and processing nutrients?" [Direct connection of circulatory components via a second capillary bed].

"A drug administered by direct injection and absorbed into the blood stream at a capillary bed in the arm differs from an orally-administered drug absorbed in the intestine in that the orally-administered drug will:" [pass through two capillary beds (portal plus regular systemic capillary bed) while the first passes through only one].

If you can develop the ability to quickly and accurately author these kinds of Anki cards for each subject you review (and review them regularly), your performance will improve dramatically. This is exactly the kind of conceptual-focused practice needed in place of rote content review.

Great job on your score otterxavier!

Could you give more tips on how to create conceptual anki cards? I'm having trouble understanding how to come up with a good way to ask questions. For example, how would I conceptualize all of the vocab/definitions for a psych/soc chapter?

I guess, for example, if I was trying to make a card to define "Recognition", instead of putting "the process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned", I could put, "what is a type of retrieval that is important for the mcat?"

I feel like questions like this would be very difficult to answer unless in the context of a multiple choice question

 

[Ssha]

Thanks!! I haven't looked at the Kaplan books and I'll happily defer to what other people have posted about them... one of the perks of being done with the MCAT is choosing not to spend any more beautiful summer days reading test prep materials

But, I definitely think you're on the right track by not buying a bunch of different things. It's easy to drown in the bog of test prep materials and study advice; it seems like some folks on SDN spend more time honing their test prep tactics than actually studying. Keep it simple: pick a reasonable amount of prep material, figure out a consistent study strategy, and stick to it. Any deficiencies in your prep will become clear when you start working through AAMC's practice materials, at which point you can figure out how best to fill in the gaps.




Thanks, and good luck to you! Let's see... so, my process was:
- read chapter and take notes
- make flashcards from notes
- learn flashcards (and continue reviewing once learned)
- do questions from book

I did a little bit of each of those tasks every day, and didn't wait to finish everything for one chapter before moving on to the next. So, at any given time I might be working on reading chapter 6, making flashcards from the end of chapter 5, learning cards from the beginning of chapter 5, doing questions from chapter 4, and continuously reviewing flashcards from everything that came before. (Or, more realistically: reading Physics chapter 1, making flashcards from the end of the Organic Chem book, learning cards from the beginning of the Organic Chem book, and doing questions from the Biology book... things were a little more spaced out.)

How long it typically took is hard to say -- some chapters were harder for me than others, and at some points I was studying more/less than my daily target depending on work and school commitments, so I got "behind" (not that I really had a formal schedule). But the general principle was to be at different stages of learning/reviewing a variety of topics at any given time, not to go through one topic and move on to another. Does that answer your question?

You were smart from the beginning. But me, I keep getting 498-500 in the practice tests, I dont know what to do anymore.

 

[otterxavier]

You were smart from the beginning. But me, I keep getting 498-500 in the practice tests, I dont know what to do anymore.

How much time do you have before your exam date? Are there particular types of questions that you notice you're struggling with?

Also, which practice tests have you taken?

 

[Ssha]

How much time do you have before your exam date? Are there particular types of questions that you notice you're struggling with?

Also, which practice tests have you taken?

I'm moving my exam date to January 2017. I've taken most of the Kaplan exams (I've heard they are supposed to be harder than the real exam). I've also taken the Aamc scored and unscored & did slighty better but not as much as I like.
Thanks for the reply btw

 

[otterxavier]

I'm moving my exam date to January 2017. I've taken most of the Kaplan exams (I've heard they are supposed to be harder than the real exam). I've also taken the Aamc scored and unscored & did slighty better but not as much as I like.
Thanks for the reply btw

No problem. Moving your exam date to January is a smart move -- that gives you time to prep really well. It's hard to "diagnose" via SDN, but I would definitely go through your old practice tests and keep a tally of why you got questions wrong, to figure out what the patterns are. For example, do you have a notably lower score on some subsections than on others? Do you do better on free-standing questions than on passages? Do you run out of time on passages, or have trouble retaining/finding information in them? Is your content review weak in certain areas? Do you have trouble connecting what you already know to the questions about it? Do you get stuck on questions that require you to reason in certain ways (e.g., select which of I/II/III are not true)?

 

[Ssha]

No problem. Moving your exam date to January is a smart move -- that gives you time to prep really well. It's hard to "diagnose" via SDN, but I would definitely go through your old practice tests and keep a tally of why you got questions wrong, to figure out what the patterns are. For example, do you have a notably lower score on some subsections than on others? Do you do better on free-standing questions than on passages? Do you run out of time on passages, or have trouble retaining/finding information in them? Is your content review weak in certain areas? Do you have trouble connecting what you already know to the questions about it? Do you get stuck on questions that require you to reason in certain ways (e.g., select which of I/II/III are not true)?

Hmm I see what you are saying. For each section it's something else. For example in CARS I run out of time because it takes me 12 minutes to read through the passages and answer questions (instead of 10) and if it's a boring passage I zone out. Right now i'm constantly practicing hopefully that helps.

 

[otterxavier]

Hmm I see what you are saying. For each section it's something else. For example in CARS I run out of time because it takes me 12 minutes to read through the passages and answer questions (instead of 10) and if it's a boring passage I zone out. Right now i'm constantly practicing hopefully that helps.

For the CARS issue, at least: are you really reading the passages, or are you skimming them? If you're getting bogged down, I'd suggest making a conscious effort to really skim instead of reading. As you go through, focus on highlighting (a) key words like important terminology or attributed opinions ("according to so-and-so"), (b) words that indicate tone (strong adjectives/adverbs), and (c) words that indicate connections and transitions ("however," "additionally," "in spite of this," etc.). When you answer the questions, use your highlighting to refer quickly to the relevant parts of the passage -- you can then read those more closely if you need to.

The other thing that some people try is previewing the questions before they read the passage, so they know what to focus on -- I didn't personally find that helpful, but you may, so it's worth a try.

 

[matchmeifyoucan]

I can see using ANKI for subjects like biology/biochem, organic chemistry, and psychology, but what about the more quantitatively focused physics and general chemistry? My weakest subject is physics, and I've used ANKI successfully with some subjects but have trouble when using it with math-heavy subjects. :/

@Un Cupo de Cafe @otterxavier