MCAT...Where do I start?

[mrf618]

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Currently I am an incoming sophomore. I have heard the all about the dreaded preparation for the MCAT and I would like to be proactive and begin prep early. Are there any books that are better than the others or certain online tutor sites? Is it a good idea to enroll in a Kaplan/Princeton Review class? Any pointers are greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Frazier]

Currently I am an incoming sophomore. I have heard the all about the dreaded preparation for the MCAT and I would like to be proactive and begin prep early. Are there any books that are better than the others or certain online tutor sites? Is it a good idea to enroll in a Kaplan/Princeton Review class? Any pointers are greatly appreciated. Thanks

There is a whole forum for this... ironically called "MCAT Discussions".

Everyone has their own methods. Mine happened to be "wait until the semester is over, then go all out with self-studying kaplan material for a little over 5 weeks" (i.e. opposite of prep early). Worked out okay.

 

[WorldChanger36]

there is a whole forum for this... Ironically called "mcat discussions".

+1

 

[BlueLabel]

First of all, I recommend the Barron's prep book with the CD for content review and practice exams. It served me very well. Not only did I feel prepared, I also felt that their practice exams were very representative.

If you are a poor test taker and/or were <90%ile on the SAT/ACT, a prep course might be a good idea. Personally, I think they are a tremendous waste of money and that they excel at terrifying pre-meds. Nevertheless, if nothing else they do provide a solid regimen of designated study time and give you deadlines to meet, and so on. I imagine that if you had over a thousand bucks on the line you would take your MCAT prep seriously. If you think you will have significant problems focusing on your MCAT studies, I highly recommend a course. Some people have the cash on hand and if you're in that situation, why not? My main point is that if you are a competent test taker, are on a budget, and have taken the prereqs, don't feel bad about skipping it altogether.

I will also copypasta some MCAT advice I posted in a thread a few minutes ago. This is probably a good time to let you know there is an excellent search tool on this forum and it will do you a lot of good to take advantage of it before posting a new thread.

I am by no means an expert on this process so I really can only speak from my own experience and how I felt about the one test I have taken (which I managed to do reasonably well on - for me at least).

I think it would be a mistake to test before completing the prereqs. I am sure this is very common, but top notch scores are not very common. Personally I'd rather do what the top 10% of scorers do than what "most people" do. Not only will this dramatically streamline and facilitate your prep for the exam (it is much easier to review than to learn for the first time), it will give you a sort of knowledge base safety net. Even if you didn't explicitly study the concept behind some off the wall question, you are significantly more likely to have some clue how to approach it if you have spent time listening to a prof three times a week, studying for exams, and working out homework problems on top of studying for the MCAT as opposed to just the latter. I think this safety net would be particularly valuable on the PS section, which is relevant to your situation.

Naturally, I think this depends on your own ability to perform well in a relatively easy class like university physics. If you don't totally blow it off and actually learn something, it can be a tremendous asset to your MCAT endeavors.

A final word of advice: don't psych yourself out about the MCAT. Other premeds and certainly the ravenous, cash-hungry test prep companies do a great job of generating a palpable atmosphere of MCAT terror. Study hard and, more importantly, study smart and you will earn an excellent score. Just my two cents.