Need advice from you expert MCAT'ers

[bigdreamer#1]

Thanks for reading this first of all, since your obviously past this stage, (MCAT). I'm tired of attempting to learn from undergrad pre-meds in the MCAT forum of the SDN for advice on studying for this challenge, when they have not yet accoplished the task. I'd very much appreciate a response(s) from those of you who have accomplished 30+ on the MCAT. Specifically, I'm curious to learn/emulate your strategies, including hours daily, practice tests, and any details that may seem extraneous to you now but would help me tremendously.

In advance...Thank You!...so very much for your reply, I appreciate your advice.

P.S. I'm not in any prep-course, nor do I want to be. I've been preparing thus far and there are 8 weeks to go.

Thanks again!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Silvertip]

For what its worth- practice test, practice test, practice test! I took a practice MCAT every Saturday for 8 weeks, and earned a 32 O a couple of years ago. Also, I took the Kaplan course, but because there isn't a center near here, I watched hours of WORTHLESS instructional videos in the basement of our library. The materials that they provided were great, however. Get a set of used study materials from someone. Best of luck!

 

[gizzdogg]

i'll give you the strategy that worked really well for me. I got a 12V, 13P, 14B.

I spent a good week or so studying the the fat science review book. Every time i came across something i didn't know or would likely forget by the test date, I made a notecard for that part. By the end of the week i had a fat stack of notecards. I'd say each section's stack (bio, physics, ochem, gen chem) was about an inch thick. I didn't like the commercial flashcards. I think homemade cards are better suited to one's weaknesses. Of course this took time at first, but the investment paid off hugely. The idea is to be able to repeatedly review each science section in short amounts of time (i.e. without having to reread the science review book).

After i had this stack, i'd review at least one section per day by going through the flash cards. Each review took between 1 and 2 hours (this actually gets cut down to 15 minutes close to test date as you really learn the cards well).

So after this week (or two) of making note cards, pound the practice material. I sort of didn't believe people when they told me to spend as much time possible practicing passages. I thought it was most important to 100% learn the science first, and then to practice. But i quickly realized that the only way the memorization/science review sticks is by taking practice tests. So once you have at least brushed up on the science, start practice tests/passages. I think you can buy a buttload of material off of ebay or whatever. Try to get Princeton Review/Kaplan and definitely AMCAS practice tests.

With the flash cards, you can easily review a section if a particular practice test reveals some weaknesses. But don't just focus on the science sections. Try to get your hands on the Princeton Review Verbal Workbook or some equivalent. The passages in there are ridiculously hard!! I think it's so hard that some of it is just crap, but it is great practice for the real thing. By practicing for the verbal section first, my reading comprehension/critical thinking skills were honed---this was later vital for success in Physical and Bio. These are the most important skills you can take into the MCAT. By practicing passages, you develop these skills.

Here was my schedule (i started 8 weeks before the test):
1-2 weeks Science review/flashcards
1-2 weeks verbal practice
5 weeks V/P/B tests

I spent between 20 and 25 hours a week studying. I think I could have gotten by on 15 or so. After 5 weeks i had definitely peaked out. My scores stagnated after that--i just tried to make sure my scores stayed high.

By the way, i think the only advantage the PR and Kaplan people have over you is access to practice materials. But if you are resourceful, you can easily compensate for this disadvantage. So don't worry about that. I took PR, but really feel that my time in class would have been better spent studying on my own. But again, the materials were great.



I hope this helps.

 

[bigdreamer#1]

Silvertip, thanks for your advice, I appreciate that! Yes, I have obtained an ass-load of practice tests....kaplin, and all AAMC.

Gizzdogg...Outstanding strategy, that sounds very reasonable! I think that I will apply those strategies immediately! Thanks a million for your time in explaining your total plan....that's the advice I was looking for! Well... off to study more....! Thanks a pant load!

 

[fang]

I was very happy with my score on the mcat (won't post it here though!)-- I improved about 14 pts from the 1st practice test to the real thing. My strategy was to review the material in the kaplan review books first (about 2 mo. in advance) and then do nothing but practice problems.

I think the prep classes are an advantage because they distill down the information into a managable size based on research of previous tests. If you try to re-read all your old texbooks you'll learn a lot of stuff, but it may not be relevant to the mcat. If you choose to use practice tests from other places, the closer you can simulate the actual test when you do the practice problems, the better... time yourself, do an entire section in one sitting, don't eat or drink while you do it... do a test in a noisy, crowded place so you can handle distractions.

Good luck to you!!!

 

[shag]

Unlike many here, I took the MCAT a few times...

1st time: 25 (9v,8b,8p) -- excuse: no studying at all + hangover

2nd time: 25(9v,9b,6p)-- excuse: moved to South Florida to "find myself"; Found a great scene, wonderful friends, and lots of beer; had every intention to study, but went out way too much... at least no hangover

Last time: 32 (11v,11b,10p)-- excuse: moved to a tamer local, rounded with the trauma team at a local hospital and absolutely LOVED it, got serious, cut back on going out, and studied.

I paid the big $$ for the Kaplan "classroom course", which includes books and full use of their test library. I studied for 7-8 weeks.

For the sciences, I used the review books as my primary source of info (didn't waste time on the verbal book). After work on weekdays, I would take practice tests at the Kaplan Center for 2hrs on material read the previous day then read for 2 - 4 hrs. I would tack note cards with gen chem and physics formulas around my desk and review them while on hold or doing mindless tasks. On weekends, I would read for most of the day, go into work for awhile, and take some time for myself.

For verbal, the only thing I found useful was to take test, after test, after test, etc. I would take a few short tests/day while concentrating on the sciences. For 1 week, almost all I did was take verbal tests.

I did not waste time on the actual Kaplan classes because I could get much more out of the time by reading and taking tests.

I went out on weekends but toned it down.

Be careful what books you buy. I bought one of the "big books" at B&N which was hyped as "Full MCAT Review" and "1000 MCAT-like" questions. It looked good at a glance, but ended up being incomplete with many inaccuracies. The Kaplan books were lean, but accurate and for the most part complete.

Take full practice tests at Kaplan or use other reliable tests for assessing your timing and study progress. Don't slack-ass it like I did where the first 2 tests I took were a waste of $$$ and provided less yield than practice tests on the market.

 

[Plinko]

The only thing I might add to what has already been said is to read at least three newspaper articles each morning in preparation for the verbal reasoning section. If you are able to find someone (perhaps another examinee) to practice relaying the information in the articles to, all the better. This will enhance your recall abilities of information just read which is of considerable importance during such a time intensive exam as the MCAT--e.g. you don't have any time to back up and review the passages you just read. This allowed me to go from a 6 to an 11 for the VR portion of the exam.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck on exam day.

 

[mpp]

I also agree with the practice, practice, practice. I took as many practice tests as I could get my hands on (there are plenty of used MCAT stuff available on ebay) and took the tests under real timed conditions. Then I would go over every single answer. For the ones I got wrong I would be sure to add that to my "need to review this stuff" list. But I also made sure I understood why the ones I got right I got right. This also helped with the time thing as a common problem is that people cannot finish the section in time. On test day I had at least 10 or 15 minutes to spare on each section. Don't forget to also practice the writing section. I didn't spend much time practicing that and ended up with a lowly 'M'...still got me in though.

 

[Plinko]

In respone to the previous post, I'm not sure how much time you would want to spend, especially at this late date, on the writing section. My premed advisor told me most schools don't pay it much attention. In fact, he said the AAMC was thinking about throwing it out all together. I didn't put much stock in his comments, but when I got a T on the WR section, and it subsequently seemed to go all but unnoticed by addcoms (not one person ever mentioned it in an interview despite numerous comments about my markedly improved performance on the other three sections), I definitely found myself agreeing with him in the end. If you only have eight weeks before the test, by all means, try your best not to bomb the WR section, but don't waste any time studying for it.

 

[shag]

The reason I didn't list the written score in my first post is b/c I forgot about it... seemed pretty irrelevent to me. My scores in order were p,p,m.

so... I got in with a "lowly 'M'" as well

 

[bigdreamer#1]

Hey! Thanks for all the new replies! Yes, I have actually been applying all of those strategies to a certain degree. I also have all of the Kaplin course stuff (not in the course, got it from a friend), and I have all AAMC tests, and all Kaplins. I'm feeling pretty good with the subject content, but am now working on speeding up, (can't yet finish sections in time). I'm going to now try practice on short timed passages very often (every day).

I really appreciate all the replies so far, they are very valuble to me, since I want to get to the stage that you all are now! Any additional comments on increasing my testing speed would be appreciated!!

 

[cchoukal]

I'll add that there's a huge degree of variability in the degree to which published practice tests mimic the actual MCAT. In my experience (35 O), Kaplan and PR were by far the best. Barron, Arco, REA were pretty awful.

 

[UCLA2000]

I studied for the MCAT for 4 months. I took the hyperlearning course.

For the first two weeks I was putting in 2-4 hours outside of class. (4 hours in class).

After two weeks I kicked it up to around 5-6 hours outside of class. Eventually it got to the point where I was putting in 10-15 hour days on average. (you should really work up to this because it takes alot of stamina).

The most important thing you can do is take TONS of practice tests. Take as many as you can get your hands on. The AAMC ones are the most important.

 

[scrub monkey]

my rec for mcat studying is to make sure you carefully go over all your mistakes on the practice tests, study it carefully, and make sure you don't make the same mistakes twice.

take lots of practice tests. but don't feel like you just need to finish and jump to the next test. make sure you go over all your mistakes!

it worked for me. got a 37.

 

[Enkindu]

First recommendation: find what works for you! There are as many successful strategies out there as there are successful test takers. If you're doing well on one section, stick with your strategy (If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

Second : Do a lot of practice tests under test conditions. Stamina is a huge issue here- even knowing that my entire career was on the line wasn't enough to keep my mind from wanting to wander at the end....

Third : Read a lot of dense material...every day. Learn to glean information from intricate language. Philosophy and narcissistic literature are good resources here.

Fourth : Learn to MOVE! Don't let yourself bog down on questions you aren?t going to get. Better to concede a few than not finish the section!

Fifth: Don't take the test until you have a solid grounding in all the material. Wait if you need to. Do an intensive review of the material that you already know starting at least 2 months head of time. (I put the test off for a year..smartest thing I ever did)

Sixth: If you don't take a prep course, find some way to learn what and what not to study. I took Kaplan, blew off the classes after the second meeting, used their practice tests, and followed their recommendations on what to study. You do not need to know everything in that 4-foot high stack of textbooks you are looking at....find out where to focus your energy.

Seventh : (use this advice with caution, it has always worked for me) Convince yourself....I mean really convince yourself...that the test doesn't matter before you go in. By the time my test started last April I had decided that I didn't want to go to med school, didn't care about my MCAT score, and I was going to move to Key West with my guitar and open a beach bar. You may hate me for saying this, but I actually enjoyed the MCAT...when the stress was gone it was more like a big puzzle I was solving for fun. (By the way, I decided to go to med school after all)

To lend credibility to my somewhat bizarro ideas, my score was V 13-15 P 12 B 11 WS O.

To all you April MCATers- good luck! Go buy a Jimmy Buffet CD and crush the MCAT! I recommend the album A1A....