Ok, before everyone goes off on me, I will disclose that I am in a combined program at SLU (already got my acceptance to the SOM) and although they require us to take the MCAT, it's more of formality than anything (i.e - it doesn't affect anything). With that said, I have my sights set on attaining a composite score of 20 to 25 and I have little less than a week to prepare.
I understand that whatever prep in this short time will most likely have little to no influence of my final score, but I was hoping to reach out to those who have shared a similar situation. What are my options? Practice tests? Review material? I'm a Biology major and I just finished Physics I and II this past year so that stuff seems ok, but I'm looking at Gen Chem stuff and am completely blanking 😱. What about verbal? Should I even bother?
There's no disadvantage to doing as well as you can, so if you're going to take it next week, I would really go at it for the next 7 days, life permitting. I wouldn't just not prepare because they say there's no minimum.
Embarrassing to admit, but I wasn't much better than you the first time I took the MCAT (2009). I prepped for 10 days over 2 weeks, 3-4 hours each day. I really didn't know what I was getting into, in fact, I'd never even heard of SDN!
I decided not to apply to med school that year, even though my score turned out quite well considering! After working for a while, I'm planning to apply next cycle, and have been getting ready to retake my expiring MCAT, so I can tell you what I did last time and what I would have done now.
I hope this helps, and good luck! Of course, if the school permits, pushing back the test date would always make for a stronger score!
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What I did
Read the Kaplan science and verbal books straight (yes, I crammed them--fast reader). I read the questions after each section, but didn't seriously do them except for trying a few verbal sections.
Read the Kaplan quicksheets each day.
Took a paper Kaplan FL before I started studying (yikes, did bad on this!)
Took the free AAMC-3 FL the day before my MCAT (did much better on this one!).
NOTE: I did not review my tests afterwards--big mistake
What would have helped more (besides study in advance 😀 )
Go the bookstore and get or borrow the Kaplan quicksheets. Read AND COPY them each day (I'm a visual learner, so this would be good for me). Tape yourself reading them out loud if you're an auditory learner.
PRACTICE tests. I'd aim to get 3-4 AAMC FL's under your belt...one every other day. (I think you'd probably end up cheating yourself and going too fast if you try to do more--I would!) Take the free one (FL 3) and then the latest ones (9/10-11). After you finish each test, set them aside until the next day before reviewing them.
The next day, carefully REVIEW every question on the test. Write down the concepts you got wrong and why in a notebook. Review that notebook the day before your test.
