MY Way to Study/Strategy/Raise your Score!!

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whitcoatsyndrom

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Hey Everyone,

Before I start, I just want to say that this is how I decided to study for the MCAT. This is by no means the best way for everyone, but I do feel like it will give most people some distinct advantages.

I am an average student with an average to low GPA from a top tier undergraduate university. I am a self-proclaimed terrible test taker. So, if you feel as though standardized tests are not your thing, this may work for you.

I just took my exam in Jan., 2011, during my senior year. I began by taking a Kaplan course the summer after my junior year. I'll hit this topic right now: the Kaplan classroom course is not necessary so long as you have the wherewithal to study on your own. The problem is that even if you are meeting every day of the week (and most programs do not) that is still not enough problem solving and studying. The classroom only covers larger topic or topics that students notoriously have trouble with. That's great, but for people like me to get a solid score, its not just the big picture we need, its every brushstroke. That being said, the classroom at least ensures as constant exposure to the material. Personally, I gained much more from the studying I did outside of the classroom, for at least 2 hours 6 days a week.

READ THE BOOKS: Take a run through all of the Kaplan books, even if you are not taking the class. Highlight and ensure that you have a general understanding of the topics.

DO THE PROBLEMS: After reading and highlighting, go back and do the problems at the end of each chapter. Doing the problems immediately after you read is indeed helpful, but it does not ensure that you can read it, move on, and then recall it from the memory as the MCAT requires us to do.

READ OTHER BOOKS: To get a different perspective on things, get yourself another set of books. I used ExamKrackers. I found that these books did better with the larger umbrella explanations but more poorly with the minute details. At times these books told me I didn't need to memorize something that Kaplan was emphasizing that I needed to memorize. The point is that another look at the material from a different source is necessary, Kaplan is not writing your MCAT.

DO THE OTHER PROBLEMS: Do all the problems from your second set of books.

Okay, so now you have sufficiently beat the material into your head. Hopefully as you were doing the problems you went back and re-read what you got wrong, and learned why you got it wrong--this is essential.

If you have access to a Kaplan on-line syllabus: Do ALL the options on it. Seriously, I know that is a lot, but it is worth it because it is one of the most helpful things you can do--constant exposure!

Secondary Practice exams: I can sufficiently say that I did every practice MCAT I could get my hands on. Even if you don't have a Kaplan syllabus, you can purchase their practice exams at a reasonable price...do all 10 of them. This is essential to timing and material, it serves to bolster your comfort level, too. I also bought books full of practice mcats written by other organizations, this will help your speed and confidence.

AAMC practice exams: DO ALL OF THEM. Most importantly, do not go onto these forums and read about the exams before you take them. Learning that 90 percent of people got a 35 on exam #4 (i just made that up) will not help you take the exam, but only serve to make you think about things other than the material itself.

After all practice exams, go over every problem, even the ones you got correct. We all have to guess on a few problems each exam, if you simply go back and look at the ones you got wrong then you neglect what you got correct simply out of luck.

EQUATIONS: I made a list of necessary equations for physics, general chemistry, and organic chemistry (although there aren't many for that one). These equations came out of the readings or from the end of the chapters I read. Also, for biology I wrote up the exact sequences of cellular respiration from glycolysis on, including locations and amounts of energy in and out. Along side of that I would recommend writing up the female cycle with specific hormones, a list of digestive enzymes with their locations, and the circulatory pathway for blood (with valves) starting from the right atrium. I took all of this information and stuck it on my closet doors. I did not read them every day, but being able to quickly look up an equation when you randomly say to yourself, "Damn, I cant remember...", was helpful to my memorization. I read these all twice the night before my exam.

If you haven't realized it by now...this process takes a very long time. I made this plan for myself to continuously learn, leave, and return to each topic multiple times. There are so many minute details in each exam that we need to be able to quickly recall. I feel that the only way I could train myself to do this was to constantly bring up past topics over and over again. I did the Kaplan course over the summer after my junior year, spent the first semester of my senior year spending all of my free time studying (you can do it, its only one semester!), and took my winter break to take all the AAMC practice exams before the Jan. exam. By the time my exam rolled around, there was literally nothing left for me to study.

My diagnostic exam from Kaplan was a 25, my Kaplan prac scores were somewhat high due to their large curve but ran the gamut from 24 to 36, and my aamc scores at towards the end of my studying ranged from 31 to 34. My final score on the real exam was a 37R with 13PS, 12BS, 12VR. Also, this was my first and only time. With this plan, by the time you roll into your test center you are so calm, cool, and collected that it just seems like another practice. Keeping my nerves in check was the most important thing for me on test day. Hyperventilation and shaking will not help you dive into passages coherently.

The key for someone who is a terrible test taker to get a HIGH score is to study study study study study and take every practice exam you can possibly get your hands on. I managed to do all of this while keeping a social life and girlfriend all in check. The point is that if people like me try the "study for 2 months" method, its will not work and you will have to retake it. Take it once, take it correctly. Coming from an average student: study that material for a long time and study it constantly...there is no magic for the MCAT.

I sincerely hope someone finds this book helpful. Best of luck to everyone reading this and considering the MCAT, it will be over soon!

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I did this because sticky posts get swallowed up within an hour or two, never to be seen again. If a moderator feels strongly about its location, then by all means move it and you won't hear a peep from me about it! Thanks for the heads up though. Also, I did not mean that there were any novel ideas in my passage, but that it was a novel by length. I edited it to avoid misunderstandings.
 
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How long did you study for? That is awesome! Congrats!

Also how did you go about preparing for the Verbal section? I am in the same boat as you and have been using EK ( all books and 1001 questions to make sure I know the content), TPR ( for more passages), and TBR ( for very difficult passages). I plan to do at least 80% of ALL the passages and finish all the EK 1001 questions. My mentor was telling me practice is key and I think you are a great example of how successful an individual can be once they become dedicated to studying the most efficient way for them.

Best wishes!
 
The verbal section was by far my lowest section for each exam I took. Actually, I never recall an exam where VR wasn't the worst for me. You're absolutely right in practicing that over and over. Since there is no great way to study for that, doing sections is the only possibility. Kaplan recommends passage mapping and I did do that for the first half of my studying, at which point I read the EK book on verbal and took to their method. I simply could not absorb a sufficient amount of detail while constructing a map to get through in the time limit. Definitely take a counted 10 sec break between sections, but be sure to keep that the only mental relaxation you give yourself...50 min isn't too too long. I found that Kaplan's sections were harder in general and a good timing preparation, sciences included, but they are much more lenient with their scoring so the scores are somewhat realistic. Practice is definitely key for VR, nothing to memorize :)
 
Amazing advice!

How exactly did you split up the studying? Did you focus only on Kaplan in the summer during the course and then focus on EK and others during the fall semester? I'm looking to take the test in next January.

Thanks for the great post!
 
I did this because sticky posts get swallowed up within an hour or two, never to be seen again. If a moderator feels strongly about its location, then by all means move it and you won't hear a peep from me about it! Thanks for the heads up though. Also, I did not mean that there were any novel ideas in my passage, but that it was a novel by length. I edited it to avoid misunderstandings.

Dude you're seriously my hero!
 
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