MCAT - don't remember a lot from prereqs

[adamsonoflevi]

I am wondering if it is possible to do well on the MCAT if I don't remember a lot from my prereqs? They were scattered starting about 6-7 yrs ago and I'm finishing them up with Ochem 2 this semester. I did take Biochem last semester and am taking Biochem 2 this semester and sitting in on Bio 1. I have been studying Chad's Videos, and the information is really making sense, and I feel like I can self-study everything. I am extremely motivated, and have been studying around 6 hours a day this week. Although I'm taking a full course load this semester, I plan to study for the MCAT during the summer, and possibly sit in on a refresher Ochem or Physics class at the community college. After that I'll get more EC's and work experience (hopefully scribe), while studying part time until the January MCAT. I don't have any money left for financial aid, so this is my last semester in Undergrad I can take classes. Everyone tells you to take a practice test before studying, but honestly I don't want to do that because I know the content is severely lacking. What study books or resources should I use? I'm using Chad's videos right now, but I plan to utilize either TBR, TPR, or EK during the summer. I'm aware that Chad's videos aren't the best for the new MCAT, but they're extremely helpful so far. Has anyone succeeded in a situation similar to mine?

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[Goro]

Nope.

I am wondering if it is possible to do well on the MCAT if I don't remember a lot from my prereqs? They were scattered starting about 6-7 yrs ago and I'm finishing them up with Ochem 2 this semester. I did take Biochem last semester and am taking Biochem 2 this semester and sitting in on Bio 1. I have been studying Chad's Videos, and the information is really making sense, and I feel like I can self-study everything. I am extremely motivated, and have been studying around 6 hours a day this week. Although I'm taking a full course load this semester, I plan to study for the MCAT during the summer, and possibly sit in on a refresher Ochem or Physics class at the community college. After that I'll get more EC's and work experience (hopefully scribe), while studying part time until the January MCAT. I don't have any money left for financial aid, so this is my last semester in Undergrad I can take classes. Everyone tells you to take a practice test before studying, but honestly I don't want to do that because I know the content is severely lacking. What study books or resources should I use? I'm using Chad's videos right now, but I plan to utilize either TBR, TPR, or EK during the summer. I'm aware that Chad's videos aren't the best for the new MCAT, but they're extremely helpful so far. Has anyone succeeded in a situation similar to mine?

 

[adamsonoflevi]

Nope.

I don't know what other options I have

 

[hall1ms1b]

I don't know what other options I have

There's a specific thread on mcat studying. Do a search and spend 5 hours reading every one of the posts. HTH!


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[hall1ms1b]

sorry. I couldn't place this link on my phone. But take a look in the MCAT discussion thread : https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/mcat-discussions.31/

 

[Goro]

Audit some courses?

Why would you take a high-stakes career-deciding exam if you're not ready for it? This brings your judgment into question. We're allergic to poor choice makers.

I don't know what other options I have

 

[Promethean]

I hadn't even taken all the pre-reqs when I took the MCAT. I had to teach myself enough trig to then teach myself the physics that I needed, because I'd never taken even a single physics course when I first sat for that exam, and I still managed a good score. I only took it again, after finishing my pre-reqs, because I was so certain that I could do better, and I did.

So, you don't have to have taken the courses last year. But you should actually have a lot of the concepts ready in your head, so that if you applied yourself with serious study for a few weeks to months, then it should come back to you. No, you can't walk in cold and do well. You have to study. But as long as you did well in the courses, you absolutely have the capacity to do well on the test, with adequate preparation.

 

[adamsonoflevi]

sorry. I couldn't place this link on my phone. But take a look in the MCAT discussion thread : https://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/mcat-discussions.31/

Thank you!

 

[Seattle Mariners Fan]

TBR will help. Its ridiculously challenging, probably overkill.

 

[xffan624]

I am wondering if it is possible to do well on the MCAT if I don't remember a lot from my prereqs? They were scattered starting about 6-7 yrs ago and I'm finishing them up with Ochem 2 this semester. I did take Biochem last semester and am taking Biochem 2 this semester and sitting in on Bio 1. I have been studying Chad's Videos, and the information is really making sense, and I feel like I can self-study everything. I am extremely motivated, and have been studying around 6 hours a day this week. Although I'm taking a full course load this semester, I plan to study for the MCAT during the summer, and possibly sit in on a refresher Ochem or Physics class at the community college. After that I'll get more EC's and work experience (hopefully scribe), while studying part time until the January MCAT. I don't have any money left for financial aid, so this is my last semester in Undergrad I can take classes. Everyone tells you to take a practice test before studying, but honestly I don't want to do that because I know the content is severely lacking. What study books or resources should I use? I'm using Chad's videos right now, but I plan to utilize either TBR, TPR, or EK during the summer. I'm aware that Chad's videos aren't the best for the new MCAT, but they're extremely helpful so far. Has anyone succeeded in a situation similar to mine?

Plan on taking some additional time to study. I had last taken a prereq about 6-8 years before taking the MCAT. I studied using multiple resources (Kaplan, TPR, etc). I gave myself about 6 months to study (I was working about 40+ hours a week as well). Result: 34 (old scale). It can be done. It just takes some extra work.

 

[futuremdforme]

Am I missing something? It seems entirely possible to do well on the MCAT a year from now.

I didn't remember much, I just re-learned from prep material. If you learned it once (and did well), you can do it again. I used EK (old MCAT). My pre-reqs were older than yours with no refreshers. I just didn't book a test until I was consistently hitting acceptable scores. I studied part-time while working 45+ hrs/week over 4-5 months. I did very well.

 

[kraskadva]

I am wondering if it is possible to do well on the MCAT if I don't remember a lot from my prereqs? They were scattered starting about 6-7 yrs ago and I'm finishing them up with Ochem 2 this semester. I did take Biochem last semester and am taking Biochem 2 this semester and sitting in on Bio 1. I have been studying Chad's Videos, and the information is really making sense, and I feel like I can self-study everything. I am extremely motivated, and have been studying around 6 hours a day this week. Although I'm taking a full course load this semester, I plan to study for the MCAT during the summer, and possibly sit in on a refresher Ochem or Physics class at the community college. After that I'll get more EC's and work experience (hopefully scribe), while studying part time until the January MCAT. I don't have any money left for financial aid, so this is my last semester in Undergrad I can take classes. Everyone tells you to take a practice test before studying, but honestly I don't want to do that because I know the content is severely lacking. What study books or resources should I use? I'm using Chad's videos right now, but I plan to utilize either TBR, TPR, or EK during the summer. I'm aware that Chad's videos aren't the best for the new MCAT, but they're extremely helpful so far. Has anyone succeeded in a situation similar to mine?

Kaplan has some free practice tests you can take to get a baseline of what you really need to work on. And if you're really good a digging on the internet, you can probably find old-form AAMC practice tests to use for most of the basic knowledge & getting used to the question style.
Do save the newest, official AAMC practice tests for after you've studied content and feel prepared to test, since those will be the most accurate predictors of your score. You're correct in that you shouldn't p*ss those away right now, but the first read through of your post sounds like you don't want to take any practice tests, which would be a bad idea.
Plenty of people have self studied for the MCAT though, and the MCAT forum is a great place to talk with others in the same situation.

 

[tryptamine]

I can reinforce the words of encouragement. Though I've not sat for the exam itself yet, I've started taking full-length practice exams and my results are on course for my target score (515-520).

I'm ten years out from pre-reqs and eight years out from having done anything remotely scientifically related. That said, I feel that my foundation in college was pretty strong and that I had built an intuitive understanding of each of the subjects by the end of them. I remembered very little when I started my prep back in September (I'm taking the April 28th exam), but I found that it came back very quickly. I've been working roughly 30 hours per week on it alongside a full-time job, but it's nowhere near impossible. Re-taking any of this coursework would have been overkill for the level of conceptual knowledge required.

The MCAT does not require deep understanding of any of your coursework. Nothing I've seen in my prep so far has been anything near the level of depth or required mastery of any of my undergrad courses. Success seems to be much more based on having a working knowledge of physical and biological relationships and being able to identify and extract important information from a sea of irrelevance and deep out-of-scope technicality.

If your level of motivation and understanding are as you characterize them, I think can be well-equipped to sit for this test next year. Put in the time, and by a few months in, the returns that you see should be very gratifying.

As for study material, I've been using Kaplan for content review, Examkrackers for targeted work on weak subject areas, and Nextstep for full-length practice exams (half length diagnostic and first full length are free). I've been very happy with the results I've been able to get from them. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss study plans in further depth.

 

[futuremdforme]

The MCAT does not require deep understanding of any of your coursework. Nothing I've seen in my prep so far has been anything near the level of depth or required mastery of any of my undergrad courses. Success seems to be much more based on having a working knowledge of physical and biological relationships and being able to identify and extract important information from a sea of irrelevance and deep out-of-scope technicality.

This is a good point! There's so much info in the passage!