MCAT - The best way to study?

[alda1921]

Hi all,

With a little bit less than a month to study before taking the actual MCAT I've been doing okay, but I feel like I could do better, the only problem is that I'm not sure how to approach it.

I mostly get all of the independent questions correct, and I feel like my theory is good but when it comes to passage based questions sometimes I just feel like that either I don't know the theory, or I am not understanding the passage.

I've been focusing more on studying the theory, than practicing the questions so I would like to know if I'm making a mistake? Should I be focusing more on practicing ALL the section banks and questions packs on AAMC site, than on trying to study theory every day. I feel like there is so much that everyday even if I learn something new, I forget something that I've already learned. I hope that I'm not the only one 🙁

I appreciate all the feedback.

Thank you.

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[mk04447]

If you feel like you could do better, I'd say triple, maybe even quadruple your effort. If you aren't pulling an all nighter at least once a week you'll crash and burn in medical school. Ok, some guys don't, but the vast majority do. Unless you have script for adderall, then you're golden.

 

[alda1921]

If you feel like you could do better, I'd say triple, maybe even quadruple your effort. If you aren't pulling an all nighter at least once a week you'll crash and burn in medical school. Ok, some guys don't, but the vast majority do. Unless you have script for adderall, then you're golden.

I'm a night owl so I do pull all nighters at least 3 times a week. I wish I had script for adderall as I've heard that it helps a lot, but again I don't know.

 

[I'mJustCurious]

I usually look at it this way:
1. Content
2. Passage analysis
3. Passage analysis + content

Your best bet is to identify which you’re having the most difficulty with and focus on it. Base on your post it sounds like you might need to keep doing passages or full length to get better with passages.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Use anki so that you constantly refresh things you've already learned. I started out not using anki and by the time I would finish 2 review books I would forget what was in the first one. So I went back through and made anki cards of all the notes I took and it has helped significantly.

 

[Examkrackers]

If you feel like you could do better, I'd say triple, maybe even quadruple your effort. If you aren't pulling an all nighter at least once a week you'll crash and burn in medical school. Ok, some guys don't, but the vast majority do. Unless you have script for adderall, then you're golden.

Speaking both as an MCAT instructor and as a current M1 at a top tier MD school, this is honestly horrible advice. Not only is it not true (you don't need to pull all nighters regularly to succeed on the MCAT nor in medical school. The science is quite clear, adequate rest improves performance, while lack of sleep diminishes performance. If you wouldn't recommend a behavior to your patient, why would you recommend it to yourself as a study strategy?

 

[mk04447]

Speaking both as an MCAT instructor and as a current M1 at a top tier MD school, this is honestly horrible advice. Not only is it not true (you don't need to pull all nighters regularly to succeed on the MCAT nor in medical school. The science is quite clear, adequate rest improves performance, while lack of sleep diminishes performance. If you wouldn't recommend a behavior to your patient, why would you recommend it to yourself as a study strategy?

I feel like I qualified my statement sufficiently. "Speaking both as an"... you sound naive and a bit wanting. I recommended trying harder IF he has the gas in his tank. Damn, I'm green when it comes to medicine, but spare me the patient analogies until you've seen a few. Reread what I wrote, Top Tier.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

If you feel like you could do better, I'd say triple, maybe even quadruple your effort. If you aren't pulling an all nighter at least once a week you'll crash and burn in medical school.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

If you feel like you could do better, I'd say triple, maybe even quadruple your effort. If you aren't pulling an all nighter at least once a week you'll crash and burn in medical school.

In case that was too subtle: The above is terrible advice. If you're zombie studying, you might as well eat the pages instead of reading them as you're not going to retain anything.

It's a bit like saying: "If you want to bulk at the gym, work the same muscle everyday as hard as you can with no rest days." <- Stupid

Flashcards are a good idea to refresh content. I like to make my own cards so I can tailor them to what I know I'm likely to forget. Also, I write my own notes on the content and phrase it in a way that such that I'll absorb it again quickly when I need to refresh.

 

[FriedLemon]

I usually look at it this way:
1. Content
2. Passage analysis
3. Passage analysis + content

Your best bet is to identify which you’re having the most difficulty with and focus on it. Base on your post it sounds like you might need to keep doing passages or full length to get better with passages.

That’s good advice. If you have content review books, they’ll usually break down what type of questions are on the exam for you. What I do remember is that ~30% of questions will be purely explicit memory questions; you either get it or you don’t. The VAST majority (~50% to almost 70%) are passage-based but require knowledge of a concept, and I think that’s what most people struggle with. Very few are explicitly passage-based (wouldn’t that be nice). Within passages there are also discrete, memory-based/solely concept knowledge questions peppered throughout.

 

[mk04447]

In case that was too subtle: The above is terrible advice. If you're zombie studying, you might as well eat the pages instead of reading them as you're not going to retain anything.

It's a bit like saying: "If you want to bulk at the gym, work the same muscle everyday as hard as you can with no rest days." <- Stupid

Flashcards are a good idea to refresh content. I like to make my own cards so I can tailor them to what I know I'm likely to forget. Also, I write my own notes on the content and phrase it in a way that such that I'll absorb it again quickly when I need to refresh.

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone, what safe space did all the idiots crawl out of. Get into medical school and then tell me what situations come up. I realize you're just defending your mental masterbation partner, but you have no idea what you are capable of until you are in the situation. Medical school isn't always ideal, sometimes there simply isn't time. Nothing is difficult, there's just a lot of it. Eventually you get pretty good at handling the volume. Have fun being superior to everyone who's actually been accepted to medical school and had to sacrifice sleep to meet a deadline.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone, what safe space did all the idiots crawl out of. Get into medical school and then tell me what situations come up. I realize you're just defending your mental masterbation partner, but you have no idea what you are capable of until you are in the situation. Medical school isn't always ideal, sometimes there simply isn't time. Nothing is difficult, there's just a lot of it. Eventually you get pretty good at handling the volume. Have fun being superior to everyone who's actually been accepted to medical school and had to sacrifice sleep to meet a deadline.

Time to zip up there, bud - your insecurity is showing.

Sometimes, sleep loss is unavoidable. If you're doing it as a regular, planned event, your time management needs work.