Feel free to post any general and/or specific MCAT advice in this thread. It could be very helpful for those who are studying/will study for it.
Hey all, apologies for the long post but following up on Lawper's advice, here is my guide to MCAT success on test day:
1.) To be efficient and effective in your study time, the most important thing you can do when studying for the exam is to consider how far removed you are from the relevant courses. Yes all of the different testing companies have their own content books but in all honesty, as long as you're familiar with most of the material, I would avoid reading them cover-to-cover. Above anything else, the two most important ways you can prepare are taking practice exams and reviewing them to learn. Before you even begin studying, I'd recommend taking a full length or half-length as a diagnostic to get a sense of where you're at. Look at what you got right and wrong every week to make yourself a sort of weekly study list for focused content review.
To use myself for an example: I'm a neuroscience major with a minor in psychology. Needless to say, I felt pretty darn comfortable with the psych section in my diagnostics. I barely cracked the Kaplan psychology book except when it was to review certain concepts I'd gotten wrong in my practice exams. Despite the little effort towards this section, it wound up being my highest score with a 132. In short, recognize and emphasize your strengths while focusing the bulk of your energy on minimizing your weaknesses.
2.) Based on my advice above, definitely consider give yourself at least one or two days/ week to relax. The day-to-day review is unnecessary if you're being efficient with your study time and while it might seem possible now, a fully-loaded schedule is likely to cause burn out. Mental health is just as important as knowing the content and the strategy on test day. If you're fried mentally, it just won't work. Similarly, I'd recommend you take a maximum of one-two full length exams a week, even in the weeks leading up to the actual test. Don't burn yourself out. If all goes well, you'll actually find yourself feeling good/ comfortable about the actual test which is admittedly a bizarre feeling. In the last two weeks or so I found myself with quite a bit of cognitive dissonance where I felt good about the exams but I felt obligated to study. If you find yourself feeling that, don't worry! It means you've done a good job preparing!
3.) Regarding the AAMC testing materials, if you have access to them I'd recommend that they should be saved for the weeks close to test day. However, I would advise that you actually take the AAMC exams 2-3 weeks before test day rather than the week before. The reason for this is that these are the most accurate representation of what you'll see on test day. While the Kaplan and EK and PR full lengths are incredible practice tools,
they aren't made by the testmaker. That being said, if you encounter a knowledge gap in the AAMC materials, taking the practice exams 2-3 weeks out gives you adequate time to review and master anything you've missed in your prep.
Similarly, I'd advise pretty much the same with the official test guide questions. That being said, I wouldn't put nearly as much weight on them. From what I remember, they were substantially harder than the majority of the practice exam questions I encountered or for that matter, the exam itself. I was definitely a little freaked out when I had been doing pretty well on the practice exams and then I took the "official test guide" questions and was absolutely stumped. Don't worry, if they feel harder than usual, it's because they are!
4.) As general advice, don't worry if your practice exam score (at least with Kaplan's FLs) is 5 or even 7 points below what you're shooting or on test day. Two factors will contribute to raising your score on test day:
One, Kaplan (and I'd assume the other test makers) purposefully make their exams a little harder than expected. This allows the exam to behave like strength training for your brain and you'll feel more comfortable on test day. Prior to my 521 I believe my highest Kaplan score was a 508.
Two, with a reasonable study schedule and the above advice, you're going to be an expert at taking the exam on test day. Many a psychology studies has showed that under pressure, experts perform better than usual. On the flip side, novices perform worse. This is where taking all of those practice exams really pays off.
