How I studied for a 518

[appropriatepeanut]

Hi! I took my MCAT in January and scored a 518 (130/127/131/130). This site has been incredibly useful, and I would like to pay my study tips forward.


AAMC BreakDown:
AAMC FL #1- 517 (130/127/131/129)
AAMC FL #2- 512 (128/128/128/128) (this one I found so hard because it was over stuff I did not know well so don't be discouraged if this one is lower just learn from it!!)
AAMC FL #3- 519 (128/127/132/132)

RESOURCES USED:
all of the AAMC materials, TBR, Chad's videos, Altius, Next Step, U-World, IWantAHighMCATScore’s Guide to MCAT Lab Techniques.

STUDY PLAN:
I studied 6-7 months for my exam and did content from June through August and then practice problems from September through December. I took a full course load in the summer so I studied about 4-5 hours of MCAT everyday and then in the fall semester I still had a full course load but I would work in 6-8 hours everyday. I know this time frame is longer than usually suggested, but I learn much better over long periods of time. If you are debating on how long you should study I would recommend looking at how you study for exams as a basis for how you best learn. I like learning material/studying for exams over a longer period of time because I remember it and understand it better. I used Berkley Review and I honestly can't stress how good these books were. I also think to get the books full worth you need to have sufficient time to go through and memorize all the details the books provide you with because they really help you get those extra final points.

Chemistry/Physics- I used TBR and Chad's videos (chadsvideos.com). I found the physics book for TBR incredibly difficult to understand especially as someone who struggles in physics. I would watch his videos and take notes and then go over TBR as I found that I was able to understand the book much better and had a way better grasp on the material. I feel like his site is so valuable and not enough people know about it. His chemistry reviews were also great 12/10. I followed the same method of videos followed by reading as I did with physics.

CARS-Honestly I don't know what to tell you about this section. I used all the AAMC material but I was still not able to make my score go up.

B/B-TBR all the way for this one. They had the most comprehensive biochemistry and biology reviews. I think understanding biochemistry is one of the most important things for this exam, because there are exams were C/P is almost completely biochem so if you don't know it it's a double whammy. I used IWantAHighMCATScore’s (on reddit) Guide to MCAT Lab Techniques to learn lab procedures, and I really recommend it. It has almost every lab technique you will see and does a great job of explaining them.

P/S- I used TBR and U-World. I read through the 300 page KA document, but for some reason I have a hard time understanding the way KA explains things. I ended up using the explanations in U-World as the source for my sociology content because I really liked their explanations.

After I had learned all the content, I started doing 1 3rd party exam every weekend until my exam. The first week of December I stopped doing 3rd party material and exclusively started doing AAMC.
You can really learn a lot from what you did wrong, so take the time to thoroughly go through your exams. This helped me raise my score quite a bit.

THINGS I WOULD CHANGE IF I DID IT AGAIN/WISH I KNEW:

1. Everyone talks about using the practice problems in TBR so I did most of them, and I really did not find them that helpful in the overall scheme of things. They don't ask you things in the way the exams will, so its truly not as helpful as other resources. If I had to do it over again, I would skip all of the in chapter and end of chapter quizzes that they offer and use the extra time that I saved to do more U World, Altius, Next Step etc.
2. The MCAT is 70% content and 30% practice. Content matters so much as you are trying to reach higher scores that it does not matter how well you get at reading a passage or analyzing answer choices, if you don't know the material you can't pick the correct answer. I think I overemphasized practice problems when I was studying.

If I left anything out or there is anything more you want to know feel free to ask!

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[PlsLetMeIn21]

This is such a useful post! I did a very similar plan and got a similar result, sans my horrid CARS score. It's all about doing passages and getting exposure to many different ways of looking at the same material.

 

[babySimba]

Hi! I took my MCAT in January and scored a 518 (130/127/131/130). This site has been incredibly useful, and I would like to pay my study tips forward.


AAMC BreakDown:
AAMC FL #1- 517 (130/127/131/129)
AAMC FL #2- 512 (128/128/128/128) (this one I found so hard because it was over stuff I did not know well so don't be discouraged if this one is lower just learn from it!!)
AAMC FL #3- 519 (128/127/132/132)

RESOURCES USED:
all of the AAMC materials, TBR, Chad's videos, Altius, Next Step, U-World, IWantAHighMCATScore’s Guide to MCAT Lab Techniques.

STUDY PLAN:
I studied 6-7 months for my exam and did content from June through August and then practice problems from September through December. I took a full course load in the summer so I studied about 4-5 hours of MCAT everyday and then in the fall semester I still had a full course load but I would work in 6-8 hours everyday. I know this time frame is longer than usually suggested, but I learn much better over long periods of time. If you are debating on how long you should study I would recommend looking at how you study for exams as a basis for how you best learn. I like learning material/studying for exams over a longer period of time because I remember it and understand it better. I used Berkley Review and I honestly can't stress how good these books were. I also think to get the books full worth you need to have sufficient time to go through and memorize all the details the books provide you with because they really help you get those extra final points.

Chemistry/Physics- I used TBR and Chad's videos (chadsvideos.com). I found the physics book for TBR incredibly difficult to understand especially as someone who struggles in physics. I would watch his videos and take notes and then go over TBR as I found that I was able to understand the book much better and had a way better grasp on the material. I feel like his site is so valuable and not enough people know about it. His chemistry reviews were also great 12/10. I followed the same method of videos followed by reading as I did with physics.

CARS-Honestly I don't know what to tell you about this section. I used all the AAMC material but I was still not able to make my score go up.

B/B-TBR all the way for this one. They had the most comprehensive biochemistry and biology reviews. I think understanding biochemistry is one of the most important things for this exam, because there are exams were C/P is almost completely biochem so if you don't know it it's a double whammy. I used IWantAHighMCATScore’s (on reddit) Guide to MCAT Lab Techniques to learn lab procedures, and I really recommend it. It has almost every lab technique you will see and does a great job of explaining them.

P/S- I used TBR and U-World. I read through the 300 page KA document, but for some reason I have a hard time understanding the way KA explains things. I ended up using the explanations in U-World as the source for my sociology content because I really liked their explanations.

After I had learned all the content, I started doing 1 3rd party exam every weekend until my exam. The first week of December I stopped doing 3rd party material and exclusively started doing AAMC.
You can really learn a lot from what you did wrong, so take the time to thoroughly go through your exams. This helped me raise my score quite a bit.

THINGS I WOULD CHANGE IF I DID IT AGAIN/WISH I KNEW:

1. Everyone talks about using the practice problems in TBR so I did most of them, and I really did not find them that helpful in the overall scheme of things. They don't ask you things in the way the exams will, so its truly not as helpful as other resources. If I had to do it over again, I would skip all of the in chapter and end of chapter quizzes that they offer and use the extra time that I saved to do more U World, Altius, Next Step etc.
2. The MCAT is 70% content and 30% practice. Content matters so much as you are trying to reach higher scores that it does not matter how well you get at reading a passage or analyzing answer choices, if you don't know the material you can't pick the correct answer. I think I overemphasized practice problems when I was studying.

If I left anything out or there is anything more you want to know feel free to ask!

Is there any prep course you would recommend?

 

[appropriatepeanut]

Is there any prep course you would recommend?

I personally did not use any prep-courses so I can't speak to which ones are best. Many people who I have talked to that used prep-courses say that they are beneficial if you need an external force to tell you to study or set time aside everyday to practice.

 

[appropriatepeanut]

How do you tackle focusing and concentrating for hours at a stretch? I don't find the material terribly difficult since I am fresh out of taking several science courses that covered the content on the MCAT. However, the sitting, reading, not getting distracted on rather boring subjects: it's a bitter fight to the death. My Advisor recommended sitting in a room at the library with no windows, no foot traffic outside and essentially lock myself up in a room like a mushroom. I do confess getting distracted easily but during those moments when I'm cruising reading/studying without getting totally bored and get the "what the frack" attitude when the questions are incredibly boring, how do you keep focused? I feel this is my number 1 enemy.

I think it's really a function of personality. I've been a competitive athlete my whole life so I pretty used to having to stay focused from 4-8 hours if I need to. If you are struggling with being focused for that length of time, I suggest easing into it. I downloaded this app "Be Focused" and you basically set how long you want your work time and break time to be and how many rounds you want to go for. So I would study an hour then take a 15 min break to give my eyes a rest. Maybe start with trying 2 rounds and forcing yourself to be really focused during your on time and then as you get used to it work your way up to 3,4,5 hours etc.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Is there any prep course you would recommend?

The only prep course worth the money they charge is probably TBR.