MCAT PREP (cant afford)

[doctortobe26]

Hey all!

Ive read a lot about preparing for MCAT on here and I was wondering if ya'll could share how you prepared for it on a budget? I looked at the kaplan courses and I just dont have $2000 for the course but I want to be able to do the best I can on the MCAT since thats my only shot at medical school.

Also, did you guys do mock interviews to prepare for interviews? Im too embarrassed to see a pre-med advisor since I have a low gpa(due to serious health issues I took a lot of D's and F's) and I know they will either tell me to wait or just find another path but I want to try.

Any advice regarding MCAT, interviews, and application will help.


Thank you!

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[joe_1395]

Hey all!

Ive read a lot about preparing for MCAT on here and I was wondering if ya'll could share how you prepared for it on a budget? I looked at the kaplan courses and I just dont have $2000 for the course but I want to be able to do the best I can on the MCAT since thats my only shot at medical school.

Also, did you guys do mock interviews to prepare for interviews? Im too embarrassed to see a pre-med advisor since I have a low gpa(due to serious health issues I took a lot of D's and F's) and I know they will either tell me to wait or just find another path but I want to try.

Any advice regarding MCAT, interviews, and application will help.


Thank you!

Honestly, I am enrolled on the Kaplan program.. Not that great. The only good thing about them is their MCAT channel. So I would use that money for something else. Definitely buy all the AAMC stuff. I have taken FLs from them (Kaplan), EK, NS, and I recently came across Altius. I would say that Altius is the best of FLs, there's a discount code around here. And I think NS would follow altius, Kaplan focuses more on content. There's also Khan, do the passages they provide. It's free. I would suggest looking into AK lectures, I found them extremely helpful for bio/biochem. Chad's videos for the chemistry.

 

[AnonPanda1]

Hey all!

Ive read a lot about preparing for MCAT on here and I was wondering if ya'll could share how you prepared for it on a budget? I looked at the kaplan courses and I just dont have $2000 for the course but I want to be able to do the best I can on the MCAT since thats my only shot at medical school.

Also, did you guys do mock interviews to prepare for interviews? Im too embarrassed to see a pre-med advisor since I have a low gpa(due to serious health issues I took a lot of D's and F's) and I know they will either tell me to wait or just find another path but I want to try.

Any advice regarding MCAT, interviews, and application will help.


Thank you!

Low GPA, how bad? You could always ask your registrar to nullify the grades for health reasons. If you're not URM or veteran and you're below 3.4 sGPA and cGPA, you need to bring it up above that. The MCAT is an afterthought to that.

If above is good, like the person before me said, purchase all the AAMC materials such as the MCAT Study Guide, Unscored FL, Scored FL 1 and 2, Section Bank, Flash Cards and CARS question pack. The other question packs are made from old MCAT exam questions and may not be as relevant. Buy a set of good books like Kaplan (if you like bare bones) or Berkley Review (for those who are weaker in science or for those who want to be comprehensive). Total should run you about $300. If you need more practice exams, I can recommend Altius. These were the resources I used and I scored ~99th percentile.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. I'm a professional tutor and premed advisor.

 

[Orlandoc]

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[DoctorCrush]

I think content prep can vary greatly on whatever material you decide. Just make sure to follow the outline released from AAMC if you're using unconventional sources. But the absolute must have for this process is ALLL the practice materials from AAMC. If that's the only thing you have money for, do that!

 

[DoctorCrush]

P.S. depending on your income, you may qualify for FAP, which gives you all those materials for free. Apply for that no matter what. Worst case scenario you get rejected from the assistant program.

 

[Swagster]

You can prepare on a budget. I capped at $500 and felt as prepared as anyone I knew taking it.

Do not skimp on AAMC materials. Get their exams. I did the two that were available at the time, although there are three now.

TBR science books are your next must buy item. They have hundreds and hundreds of passages, which is the most important part of any book. Older biology books are fine. Get the 2015 versions of organic, general, and physics. Most of these can be found used.

For CARS, get EK 101 (used from before 2015 is fine) and the TPR workbook (any year is fine).

Take advantage of KA for additional passages, especially psychology and sociology. The biology ones are pretty good too.

The important thing in saving money is to buy used materials that are in good shape.

 

[Dirtybird]

If you want to save money, you have to invest a decent amount of time doing some research and making a study plan.

The best part of taking a course is that you have a curriculum/plan laid out for you. I've taken a kaplan course when I first took the MCAT and got a 35.

That score is about to expire and I'm currently studying for the MCAT again in case I don't gain a medschool acceptance this cycle. This time, I've been studying on my own after forgetting most of the content. I actually think I'm doing a better job this time at prepping for the exam than 4 years ago when I took the Kaplan course, though I'm also a much more organized person than I was back then.

Anyways, I created my own plan with the heaviest influences from the 12-week EK/NS study plan and mcatdoggo's study plan, both available on these forums. Took me a long time to make my study plan + list of resources.

So far, I've bought used Kaplan books for $100. I'm also reusing the EK CARS practice book that I bought the first time around, forget the cost. If I could go back in time, I probably would have bought the EK books for content review as well since they are much less wordy. I'm supplementing content review with Khan academy (free), which I've actually been using quite a lot, especially for psych/sociology. There's also a ton of other free resources that have been quite useful, including notes + online flashcards that other SDN users have made.

I'm currently on week 8 of my 14 week plan. I'm wrapping up content review and plan to focus more on practice problems + exams soon. I'm supposed to be hearing back from the only medschool I'm waiting on this week, which will determine whether I continue studying lol...

Anyways, assuming I don't get in, I still have about ~$300-350 more to spend for the AAMC practice materials bundle + NS full length exams.

Total costs (not including $310 exam registration): ~$450-500

 

[238460]

If you want to save money, you have to invest a decent amount of time doing some research and making a study plan.

The best part of taking a course is that you have a curriculum/plan laid out for you. I've taken a kaplan course when I first took the MCAT and got a 35.

That score is about to expire and I'm currently studying for the MCAT again in case I don't gain a medschool acceptance this cycle. This time, I've been studying on my own after forgetting most of the content. I actually think I'm doing a better job this time at prepping for the exam than 4 years ago when I took the Kaplan course, though I'm also a much more organized person than I was back then.

Anyways, I created my own plan with the heaviest influences from the 12-week EK/NS study plan and mcatdoggo's study plan, both available on these forums. Took me a long time to make my study plan + list of resources.

So far, I've bought used Kaplan books for $100. I'm also reusing the EK CARS practice book that I bought the first time around, forget the cost. If I could go back in time, I probably would have bought the EK books for content review as well since they are much less wordy. I'm supplementing content review with Khan academy (free), which I've actually been using quite a lot, especially for psych/sociology. There's also a ton of other free resources that have been quite useful, including notes + online flashcards that other SDN users have made.

I'm currently on week 8 of my 14 week plan. I'm wrapping up content review and plan to focus more on practice problems + exams soon. I'm supposed to be hearing back from the only medschool I'm waiting on this week, which will determine whether I continue studying lol...

Anyways, assuming I don't get in, I still have about ~$300-350 more to spend for the AAMC practice materials bundle + NS full length exams.

Total costs (not including $310 exam registration): ~$450-500

u will get in!!!!