MCAT studying...What next??

[medschoolhopeful!]

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Hello! I am studying 12 weeks total for mcat in august. I have just finished my first pass through the kaplan books for content review. It took me three weeks but I took minimal notes and did not do end of chapter questions. I basically went through and made sure I UNDERSTOOD everything and did not stress about learning details or committing info to memory. I took the AAMC sample FL after these three weeks and scored a 502 according to a converter.

My question is: where do I go from here? I am planning on taking more FLs and working through question banks, etc but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed...should I go back into weak areas and do a closer reading of the books? watch videos? drill questions? (I also have the EK books which I have not used yet and was planning to fill in content gaps with)

Please excuse my -all over the place question- (Having my mini freakout moment I guess) I just want to make sure I spend the last 2 months preparing in the most efficient way possible! I am scared I may have to move my test date but I am hoping not as this is all I am doing this summer!

 

[Dr.Gains]

Hello! I am studying 12 weeks total for mcat in august. I have just finished my first pass through the kaplan books for content review. It took me three weeks but I took minimal notes and did not do end of chapter questions. I basically went through and made sure I UNDERSTOOD everything and did not stress about learning details or committing info to memory. I took the AAMC sample FL after these three weeks and scored a 502 according to a converter.

My question is: where do I go from here? I am planning on taking more FLs and working through question banks, etc but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed...should I go back into weak areas and do a closer reading of the books? watch videos? drill questions? (I also have the EK books which I have not used yet and was planning to fill in content gaps with)

Please excuse my -all over the place question- (Having my mini freakout moment I guess) I just want to make sure I spend the last 2 months preparing in the most efficient way possible! I am scared I may have to move my test date but I am hoping not as this is all I am doing this summer!

I'd recommend investing in UWorld. They have 1900+ questions, and excellent explanations.

 

[Cornfed101]

You need more of a specific plan. It sounds like you did a very passive review of the Kaplan books. Personally, I hate textbooks. If I can find a video to teach me a concept I would much rather do that because I am a very visual learner. I used MCAT Self Prep for content because they organize all of the different concepts into Khan Academy video playlists. 6 weeks before the MCAT I got 507 on AAMC FL 1. I just got my score back for the real thing and got a 516. You should expect a big increase in the last month or two if you are using the practice exams correctly.

Don't freak out. You have time.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

@medschoolhopeful! I think the biggest key for your improvement is going to be doing more active studying. So, you probably picked up a good bit of information from spending time with the content material and I can see that from your practice score. However, to reach the next level of scores, you need to make sure you understand how to apply the information as well. That ability comes from doing a large number of practice problems from question banks and also practice exams. Doing the problems alone isn't enough though! Make sure you thoroughly review these problems to see 1) what content you need to further review and 2) how to make the connections between the passage and questions they're asking.

Doing this active learning is going to help you retain the information better and then also obtain the skill of being able to decipher information from the passage and apply it to the questions. I would advise to not do any more AAMC material until you're a bit closer to your exam (about 1 month out), but work out the kinks in your strategy and deficiencies in your content knowledge through third-party material and then after you have done that for some time, you'll be ready to tackle AAMC material head-on.

I hope that helps and please let me know if you have any questions at all!

 

[medschoolhopeful!]

@medschoolhopeful! I think the biggest key for your improvement is going to be doing more active studying. So, you probably picked up a good bit of information from spending time with the content material and I can see that from your practice score. However, to reach the next level of scores, you need to make sure you understand how to apply the information as well. That ability comes from doing a large number of practice problems from question banks and also practice exams. Doing the problems alone isn't enough though! Make sure you thoroughly review these problems to see 1) what content you need to further review and 2) how to make the connections between the passage and questions they're asking.

Doing this active learning is going to help you retain the information better and then also obtain the skill of being able to decipher information from the passage and apply it to the questions. I would advise to not do any more AAMC material until you're a bit closer to your exam (about 1 month out), but work out the kinks in your strategy and deficiencies in your content knowledge through third-party material and then after you have done that for some time, you'll be ready to tackle AAMC material head-on.

I hope that helps and please let me know if you have any questions at all!

thank you so much!

 

[medschoolhopeful!]

@medschoolhopeful! I think the biggest key for your improvement is going to be doing more active studying. So, you probably picked up a good bit of information from spending time with the content material and I can see that from your practice score. However, to reach the next level of scores, you need to make sure you understand how to apply the information as well. That ability comes from doing a large number of practice problems from question banks and also practice exams. Doing the problems alone isn't enough though! Make sure you thoroughly review these problems to see 1) what content you need to further review and 2) how to make the connections between the passage and questions they're asking.

Doing this active learning is going to help you retain the information better and then also obtain the skill of being able to decipher information from the passage and apply it to the questions. I would advise to not do any more AAMC material until you're a bit closer to your exam (about 1 month out), but work out the kinks in your strategy and deficiencies in your content knowledge through third-party material and then after you have done that for some time, you'll be ready to tackle AAMC material head-on.

I hope that helps and please let me know if you have any questions at all!

You need more of a specific plan. It sounds like you did a very passive review of the Kaplan books. Personally, I hate textbooks. If I can find a video to teach me a concept I would much rather do that because I am a very visual learner. I used MCAT Self Prep for content because they organize all of the different concepts into Khan Academy video playlists. 6 weeks before the MCAT I got 507 on AAMC FL 1. I just got my score back for the real thing and got a 516. You should expect a big increase in the last month or two if you are using the practice exams correctly.

Don't freak out. You have time.

Wow. thank you so much this made me feel a lot better

 

[medschoolhopeful!]

You need more of a specific plan. It sounds like you did a very passive review of the Kaplan books. Personally, I hate textbooks. If I can find a video to teach me a concept I would much rather do that because I am a very visual learner. I used MCAT Self Prep for content because they organize all of the different concepts into Khan Academy video playlists. 6 weeks before the MCAT I got 507 on AAMC FL 1. I just got my score back for the real thing and got a 516. You should expect a big increase in the last month or two if you are using the practice exams correctly.

Don't freak out. You have time.

did you also follow the study plan that self prep recommends including the bootcamp the last four weeks?

 

[Cornfed101]

did you also follow the study plan that self prep recommends including the bootcamp the last four weeks?

I extended it over 8 weeks and it worked out just fine

 

[medschoolhopeful!]

I extended it over 8 weeks and it worked out just fine

thanks so much for your input! congrats on being done!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

It comes down to doing passages and learning from your mistakes. AAMC materials are awesome, but their explanations straight up suck. I'd recommend you find books (not Kaplan) with hundreds of passages and explanations that take their time to explain why the right answer is right. Once you finish with those, move on the AAMC.

Good luck.

 

[Cornfed101]

It comes down to doing passages and learning from your mistakes. AAMC materials are awesome, but their explanations straight up suck.

Yeah AAMC explanations are awful. Most are along the lines of “this answer is right because it is”. If you don’t understand an AAMC answer look it up. Someone has asked about it before. I did this for hundreds of AAMC questions and I would totally recommend it.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I looked up AAMC questions in the SDN Q&A forum and it was super helpful.

You are right that you can look things up, but I got spoiled by my review books that explained literally everything in the answer key. It was hard going to the AAMC materials after that.

 

[medschoolhopeful!]

I extended it over 8 weeks and it worked out just fine

Sorry to bother you again but we seem to have been in similar positions (just got a 505 on a practice so the videos seem to be helping!) But would you recommend MCAT self-prep's advice to just to flashcards and practice exams in the last month? Also, what did you use for CARS prep?

 

[Cornfed101]

Sorry to bother you again but we seem to have been in similar positions (just got a 505 on a practice so the videos seem to be helping!) But would you recommend MCAT self-prep's advice to just to flashcards and practice exams in the last month? Also, what did you use for CARS prep?

Yeah I just did flashcards and practice exams over the last month, but I did my own flashcards. I didn't really spend any time doing the ones they provide during the last stretch.

For CARS prep I did the CARS q packs 2 times and I would recommend doing that. I also tried Jack Westin for a while, but I found it to be a little different than the AAMC stuff. You need to make sure you understand how to answer every single question from the CARS q packs. Know why every answer is wrong and why every answer is right. At some point, with enough practice, it should click how the AAMC works. There is a pattern that I can't really explain, but that you can get with repetition.

 

[BlueB]

It comes down to doing passages and learning from your mistakes. AAMC materials are awesome, but their explanations straight up suck. I'd recommend you find books (not Kaplan) with hundreds of passages and explanations that take their time to explain why the right answer is right. Once you finish with those, move on the AAMC.

Good luck.

Which books do you recommend that has great explanations?