MCAT studying tips and tricks

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Doctor or bust

asdf
5+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
160
Reaction score
71
Hi all, I've begun studying for the MCAT and am currently doing about 5 or so chapters a day. I'm mixing the Kaplan and TPR book sets and using Anki while going through the chapters as my method of note taking. After a few weeks of going through this content I will likely start getting into the AAMC question packs and such. Does anyone have any advice for how I could improve my strategy? I think it should work well but I'd like to know of what everyones opinions of this are.
Any ideas on how to improve the efficiency of studying for this monster would be greatly appreciated!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Always have the AAMC's "What's on the exam?" webpages open to make sure you cover everything and avoid learning things that aren't on the test.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Hi all, I've begun studying for the MCAT and am currently doing about 5 or so chapters a day. I'm mixing the Kaplan and TPR book sets and using Anki while going through the chapters as my method of note taking. After a few weeks of going through this content I will likely start getting into the AAMC question packs and such. Does anyone have any advice for how I could improve my strategy? I think it should work well but I'd like to know of what everyones opinions of this are.
Any ideas on how to improve the efficiency of studying for this monster would be greatly appreciated!


Firstly you must be a wizard if you can do 5 chapters a day. I topped out at like 3 a day. I don't recommend taking notes because it just slowed me down but everybody is different.

My advice: Do everything else first before you do the AAMC material. I recommend saving the AAMC material for last (starting it ~3-4 weeks before your actual exam).

Also for psych soc, make sure you read the 100 pg khan academy document on reddit. My only regret for psych/soc is that I wish I had read that document sooner. It has everything you will ever need to know for psych soc for the mcat.
 
Firstly you must be a wizard if you can do 5 chapters a day. I topped out at like 3 a day. I don't recommend taking notes because it just slowed me down but everybody is different.

My advice: Do everything else first before you do the AAMC material. I recommend saving the AAMC material for last (starting it ~3-4 weeks before your actual exam).

Also for psych soc, make sure you read the 100 pg khan academy document on reddit. My only regret for psych/soc is that I wish I had read that document sooner. It has everything you will ever need to know for psych soc for the mcat.
I take Anki notes on the TPR chapters but just read the Kaplan pages so it isn't as bad especially over the course of a day. I'm checking out the reddit page now with that document and its been turned into a nearly 300 page document at this point so that'll be something to scan through for sure. How did you go about facing the question packs? I'm a bit apprehensive about touching them especially since they can only be opened a handful of times.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I take Anki notes on the TPR chapters but just read the Kaplan pages so it isn't as bad especially over the course of a day. I'm checking out the reddit page now with that document and its been turned into a nearly 300 page document at this point so that'll be something to scan through for sure. How did you go about facing the question packs? I'm a bit apprehensive about touching them especially since they can only be opened a handful of times.

So actually the 300 page document was condensed into 100 pages, which was further condensed into 86 pages (bless their soul) I'll attach it here. KA P/S - The Lazy OCD 86 pg. Version • r/Mcat Its the best thing to use for psych/soc.

So for the question packs here is what I did- I ended up doing 1 a day (you seem like you could do two) after I finished one, I reviewed only the wrong answers and then continued to review other material not related to the question back. Then the next day I would do an in depth review of the previous day's question pack (Personally I liked spreading it like this because the material goes into your head twice). During this review I would write down anything I found difficult or any useful information in bullet point format on a google doc. I would then review this google doc ~ once a week. Then I would do another question back and review it the next day etc etc.

By the end of it, I had multiple google docs separated into sections (1 for aamc material, 1 for psych soc (where I would add kaplan and EK), one for chem/phys etc. And I reviewed these docs once a week before my full length tests.

The only thing I can add is make sure you thoroughly go through the section banks twice, and don't be disheartened if you don't do as well as you hoped, those are some of the toughest questions ever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
@SpectreDoc @Doctor or bust

3-5 chapters a day? Are Kaplan and TPR chapters shorter? How long did content review take you? I'm using EK now with TBR passages and 5 EK chapters is the whole book! Just curious about how long you guys spent on content review, I'm trying to be through because I just want to rush through it but I know I shouldn't. I could do practice passages all day but I despise content review. Although I JUST finished my pre-reqs (currently in biochem) so maybe that's why I don't like it.
 
So actually the 300 page document was condensed into 100 pages, which was further condensed into 86 pages (bless their soul) I'll attach it here. KA P/S - The Lazy OCD 86 pg. Version • r/Mcat Its the best thing to use for psych/soc.

So for the question packs here is what I did- I ended up doing 1 a day (you seem like you could do two) after I finished one, I reviewed only the wrong answers and then continued to review other material not related to the question back. Then the next day I would do an in depth review of the previous day's question pack (Personally I liked spreading it like this because the material goes into your head twice). During this review I would write down anything I found difficult or any useful information in bullet point format on a google doc. I would then review this google doc ~ once a week. Then I would do another question back and review it the next day etc etc.

By the end of it, I had multiple google docs separated into sections (1 for aamc material, 1 for psych soc (where I would add kaplan and EK), one for chem/phys etc. And I reviewed these docs once a week before my full length tests.

The only thing I can add is make sure you thoroughly go through the section banks twice, and don't be disheartened if you don't do as well as you hoped, those are some of the toughest questions ever.
An 86 page document will certainly by much easier for me to go through than the other paper, thank you for that! Are the question packs just one big pack for each subject or are there subpacks within each subject? I don't plan on touching them until after I finish content review though for sure.
@SpectreDoc @Doctor or bust

3-5 chapters a day? Are Kaplan and TPR chapters shorter? How long did content review take you? I'm using EK now with TBR passages and 5 EK chapters is the whole book! Just curious about how long you guys spent on content review, I'm trying to be through because I just want to rush through it but I know I shouldn't. I could do practice passages all day but I despise content review. Although I JUST finished my pre-reqs (currently in biochem) so maybe that's why I don't like it.
Kaplan chapters are about 30 or so pages long and TPR chapters vary more but are generally about 40 or so pages long. Over the course of 7 or 8 hours though going through 5 chapters isn't unreasonable, especially when done throughout the day as opposed to all in a row. I'm planning on doing about 1.5 months on just content review and then I'll start diving into the question packs and FLs.
 
@SpectreDoc @Doctor or bust

3-5 chapters a day? Are Kaplan and TPR chapters shorter? How long did content review take you? I'm using EK now with TBR passages and 5 EK chapters is the whole book! Just curious about how long you guys spent on content review, I'm trying to be through because I just want to rush through it but I know I shouldn't. I could do practice passages all day but I despise content review. Although I JUST finished my pre-reqs (currently in biochem) so maybe that's why I don't like it.

I would definitely do all content review first and then leave a good 2 months for practice passages etc. That's the way I liked it. You will need more than EK for content - I recommend going through two sets of books, if you go in depth in one, then only do the questions in the other, otherwise it's a waste of time. I would recommend EK and either Kaplan or Princeton (I haven't looked at berkley but they are probably good too). I know you could deff torrent an online pdf version of a set of books if you don't wanna spend. You could also do EK and Khan academy but that would take you forever. I also was anal af, I went through the kaplan books cover to cover 3 times before I started practicing (I had the time). Took a while for sure.

An 86 page document will certainly by much easier for me to go through than the other paper, thank you for that! Are the question packs just one big pack for each subject or are there subpacks within each subject? I don't plan on touching them until after I finish content review though for sure.

Kaplan chapters are about 30 or so pages long and TPR chapters vary more but are generally about 40 or so pages long. Over the course of 7 or 8 hours though going through 5 chapters isn't unreasonable, especially when done throughout the day as opposed to all in a row. I'm planning on doing about 1.5 months on just content review and then I'll start diving into the question packs and FLs.

So the question packs are 1 big pack for each subject. The Q packs are: Bio 1, Bio 2, Cars 1, Cars 2, Chemistry, Physics. They are 120 questions each and I believe you have to do all 120 question before you can score them. Many people split it up so they would do 60 from one and then 60 from another and then the next day finish both but I liked going sequentially and doing all 120 in one day (with a break in between of course). They have a mix between passages and stand alone questions (spread is similar to the real test). They are all easy as hell (except for cars 1) and I would go through them first (out of the aamc material). Good for brushing up on content review.

There are also something called the section banks, these are subdivided into 3 sections - 2 for biochem and 1 for psych soc. The bio divided as 1 biochem experiment based and 1 biochem chemistry based I think. They are 100 questions each. All 3 of these are hard af, save for last. Review them 2x. If you are scoring above 70% you're doing well. above 80% and you're probably ready for the test.

Also the AAMC practice full lengths are the best predictor of your actual score (most people score within 1-2 points of their practice test on the actual).

You're timeline doesn't seem too bad. I saved about 1 month for all of aamc and khan academy psych notes and I felt as though I was ready. Also, the aamc explanations for answers are lacking sometimes, if you don't understand something on a section bank or question pack you can just google it: someone most likely has already posted about it on reddit/mcat or sdn.
 
Last edited:
I'm using EK now with TBR passages and 5 EK chapters is the whole book! Just curious about how long you guys spent on content review, I'm trying to be through because I just want to rush through it but I know I shouldn't. I could do practice passages all day but I despise content review. Although I JUST finished my pre-reqs (currently in biochem) so maybe that's why I don't like it.

Content review is overrated unless you have forgotten everything. If you are doing well on passages and reading answer explanations methodically, then you are both reviewing content (found in the explanations) and learning test strategies (a critical skill that it seems many people have been missing). The plan you describe above, focusing on passages all day with some light review as needed, has been the staple of the best scores you'll find at SDN.

Stay the course. There are many people in the 509 and above thread that used your method with great success!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Content review is overrated unless you have forgotten everything. If you are doing well on passages and reading answer explanations methodically, then you are both reviewing content (found in the explanations) and learning test strategies (a critical skill that it seems many people have been missing). The plan you describe above, focusing on passages all day with some light review as needed, has been the staple of the best scores you'll find at SDN.

Stay the course. There are many people in the 509 and above thread that used your method with great success!

Would you say 3-5 chapters is a good goal for TBR daily?
 
Firstly you must be a wizard if you can do 5 chapters a day. I topped out at like 3 a day. I don't recommend taking notes because it just slowed me down but everybody is different.

My advice: Do everything else first before you do the AAMC material. I recommend saving the AAMC material for last (starting it ~3-4 weeks before your actual exam).

Also for psych soc, make sure you read the 100 pg khan academy document on reddit. My only regret for psych/soc is that I wish I had read that document sooner. It has everything you will ever need to know for psych soc for the mcat.
I am new to reddit, how can I find that khan academy doc??
 
Top