How I scored a 524 on the MCAT

[An0nymousUser]

In the attached pdf, I have my notes/results/guide for how I studied for the MCAT and got a 524. I took my exam September 2nd, 2017. I hope this helps. Good luck to all!

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[glamglow]

Thank you so much for this! I have a question, I'm struggling with my approach to physics and was wondering what you would recommend. Is it beneficial to go through a prep book for physics? I always hear people telling me that practice problems are most important, so would it be a good idea to skip the prep book review altogether and just go straight to the questions? If I did that, I would be reviewing what I got wrong and the concepts I didn't know. However, I'm unsure whether it's helpful to take notes aside from the equations. Do you think just knowing the equations (and their relationships) and doing practice problems is enough?

 

[Zenabi90]

Thank you so much for this! I have a question, I'm struggling with my approach to physics and was wondering what you would recommend. Is it beneficial to go through a prep book for physics? I always hear people telling me that practice problems are most important, so would it be a good idea to skip the prep book review altogether and just go straight to the questions? If I did that, I would be reviewing what I got wrong and the concepts I didn't know. However, I'm unsure whether it's helpful to take notes aside from the equations. Do you think just knowing the equations (and their relationships) and doing practice problems is enough?

How much time do you have?

 

[glamglow]

I'm planning to take the January 20th exam, but am feeling overwhelmed with the material I have to cover for everything else. That is why I was thinking of that approach for physics. What would you recommend? I have biology, biochemistry, physics, and psychology/sociology left to cover

 

[Zenabi90]

I'm planning to take the January 20th exam, but am feeling overwhelmed with the material I have to cover for everything else. That is why I was thinking of that approach for physics. What would you recommend? I have biology, biochemistry, physics, and psychology/sociology left to cover

Psych/soc is literally flash card work. All key terms and concepts should be memorized. Can be brute forced easily enough via Anki or the 100pg Reddit document. The 100pg Reddit doc should be enough to get you a 130+ if you memorize every word of it, and it's a lot smaller than the other paid review books.

Physics is almost 100% question recognition and unit analysis. If your physics teachers never taught you unit analysis, they need to be fired because it's responsible for 80+% of my success in physics. Since you have time, memorize the formulas, but also recognize that formulas can be manipulated. For example, a basic kinematics equation like d = (v init + v final) * t / 2 can be more easily memorized as 2d/t = v init + v final, and if you're given everything but v final, knowing how to manipulate your formulas can save a lot of time here. So bottom line, memorize your formulas, manipulate your formulas, and practice problems practice problems practice problems until you can look at a question and within 10-15 sec, know intuitively what you need to solve for and what formulas you can try.

 

[glamglow]

Wow, this is amazing advice! Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it!!

 

[663697]

Thank you so much for this! I have a question, I'm struggling with my approach to physics and was wondering what you would recommend. Is it beneficial to go through a prep book for physics? I always hear people telling me that practice problems are most important, so would it be a good idea to skip the prep book review altogether and just go straight to the questions? If I did that, I would be reviewing what I got wrong and the concepts I didn't know. However, I'm unsure whether it's helpful to take notes aside from the equations. Do you think just knowing the equations (and their relationships) and doing practice problems is enough?

How confident are you in the physics content? If you haven't covered all of it in your pre-reqs or are shaky with some areas of physics, then it's important to get the concepts down first. IMO, you'd be wasting practice problems by just jumping straight into them without the proper background.

Edit: The test isn't just about solving problems, but also about being able to think about the physics conceptually. You could be presented with some medical technology in a passage that somehow finds a way to incorporate electric fields. Obviously you need to have the formulas down but if you don't understand the theory behind electric fields you'll have a hard time understanding how to dissect the experiment.

 

[glamglow]

How confident are you in the physics content? If you haven't covered all of it in your pre-reqs or are shaky with some areas of physics, then it's important to get the concepts down first. IMO, you'd be wasting practice problems by just jumping straight into them without the proper background.

Edit: The test isn't just about solving problems, but also about being able to think about the physics conceptually. You could be presented with some medical technology in a passage that somehow finds a way to incorporate electric fields. Obviously you need to have the formulas down but if you don't understand the theory behind electric fields you'll have a hard time understanding how to dissect the experiment.

Thank you for your response! I am not too strong in physics, that's why I am concerned about it, but I also want to cover it in the fastest way possible because it seems to be the least covered topic on the exam. What would you recommend in terms of approaching the physics portion?

 

[Zenabi90]

If you haven't covered all of it in your pre-reqs or are shaky with some areas of physics, then it's important to get the concepts down first. IMO, you'd be wasting practice problems by just jumping straight into them without the proper background.

Edit: The test isn't just about solving problems, but also about being able to think about the physics conceptually.

I absolutely agree. I should have been clearer. Memorizing formulas only works if you can apply them. Meaning you understand the concepts and can recognize which formula is needed in any given situation.

A tip one of my profs shared with me: If all else fails, draw a diagram. Make it real, on paper, list all your givens, draw all the forces, and what is being asked of you. I've used this strategy succesfully on seemingly complex questions and it saved a lot of headache trying to keep things straight in my brain.

 

[chemdoctor]

Wow!! Thank you so much!!! I've still got a couple of years before I take the MCAT but this is still awesome advice

 

[Gilakend]

Psych/soc is literally flash card work. All key terms and concepts should be memorized. Can be brute forced easily enough via Anki or the 100pg Reddit document. The 100pg Reddit doc should be enough to get you a 130+ if you memorize every word of it, and it's a lot smaller than the other paid review books.

Physics is almost 100% question recognition and unit analysis. If your physics teachers never taught you unit analysis, they need to be fired because it's responsible for 80+% of my success in physics. Since you have time, memorize the formulas, but also recognize that formulas can be manipulated. For example, a basic kinematics equation like d = (v init + v final) * t / 2 can be more easily memorized as 2d/t = v init + v final, and if you're given everything but v final, knowing how to manipulate your formulas can save a lot of time here. So bottom line, memorize your formulas, manipulate your formulas, and practice problems practice problems practice problems until you can look at a question and within 10-15 sec, know intuitively what you need to solve for and what formulas you can try.

Do you happen to know if from the 300 page doc to the 100 page doc there is a big difference in actual content or is it just less explaining things? I am aiming for high P/S score and was wondering if my time would be better spent going through the 300 page doc or using the 100 page doc and having more practice passage time.

My general plan (please give feedback if you think it's bad) was to watch videos at 2x speed then after the video make Anki card referencing either the 300 or 100 page doc.

However, I'm not sure how many hours of videos there are!!

Thanks!

 

[Zenabi90]

300 page doc is 100 pg doc with screenshots of the videos.