Please Help, How Did You Study For The MCAT?

[JapaneseSakura]

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Hi! I'm new here, nice to meet you ^&^.


I'm planning to take the MCAT this summer 2010 so I'm preparing now. I'm going to take the Kaplan class, but like I said, I want to study before that. How did you guys study for it? Do you pick a subject every week (Biology, verbal reasoning,etc)? What was your study plan? Any help will be appreciated please, Thank You!!! ^&^ ♥

 

[DRMRL]

Exam krackers

 

[JapaneseSakura]

Thank You Very much Guys! <3

Yeep, I have the Exam Krackers. Excellent Book! Especially Chemistry and Physics. 👍

 

[Brocimus]

Exam krackers

Loved it. The audio CD's are a great supplement too.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Kaplan class first (did nothing for me) -> EK verbal (plus my own strategies from lots of practice) + Berkeley Review for PS + combo of Kaplan/my own school material/EK for BS ... second take turned out good.


The biggest thing, in my opinion, is to take practice tests and review them carefully to fix mistakes before taking another one.

 

[DRMRL]

ya jaggerplate is correct. take a plethora of practice tests!!! 🙄

 

[da Vincis World]

Exam Krackers and then practice, practice, practice.🙂

 

[GraceEuphoria]

The biggest thing, in my opinion, is to take practice tests and review them carefully to fix mistakes before taking another one.

DITTO. This is the absolute best thing you can do to improve your scores in my opinion. However, a good review of the material throughout your time of studying will obviously also help with this. What I did was basically take the recommended ExamKrackers study schedule and made my own calendars on the computer...I worked backwards from a few days before my exam and adjusted their schedule to fit what I felt I could cover in a given day. This gave me an idea of when I needed to start really studying (it took me about 4 months to fit this all in to my schedule of 4 classes and working 5 days a week about 25 hours a week). I usually did about 2-3 sections a day with practice quizzes afterward and 1 or 2 audio osmosis sections, which help a ton. I also scheduled in a practice MCAT off the website at least every other week. Good luck!

 

[HimeMomo]

I had to enroll myself in a Kaplan class because of peer pressure but I am a better independent studier than actually going to class.

I remember the times I had questions in Kaplan class and the tutor didn't know how to answer it. I figured the answer out myself most of the time. They do make me feel smarter after going to class.

Just know your weaknesses, and focus on them. As for the things you think are easy, don't skip it, review it again as well. And on test day, just know that it's not about what you know but how you apply what you know to the questions. They are all suppose to be easy questions masked under confused paragraphs and twisted words.

 

[Cybii]

I took a Kaplan course for my first real MCAT, and then I studied with Examkrackers for my second MCAT. For my "restudying" I focused my attention on the easier subjects first, and the subjects I had a harder time with before my second MCAT so they were fresh in my mind. Good luck!

 

[JapaneseSakura]

Thank you guys for the useful information! I really appreciate it!

👍😀

 

[JapaneseSakura]

DITTO. This is the absolute best thing you can do to improve your scores in my opinion. However, a good review of the material throughout your time of studying will obviously also help with this. What I did was basically take the recommended ExamKrackers study schedule and made my own calendars on the computer...I worked backwards from a few days before my exam and adjusted their schedule to fit what I felt I could cover in a given day. This gave me an idea of when I needed to start really studying (it took me about 4 months to fit this all in to my schedule of 4 classes and working 5 days a week about 25 hours a week). I usually did about 2-3 sections a day with practice quizzes afterward and 1 or 2 audio osmosis sections, which help a ton. I also scheduled in a practice MCAT off the website at least every other week. Good luck!

Sorry for Double posting @_@.

Thank you very much! I will try it! Where is the ExamKrackers schedule? I'm sure it explained that in the books, I'm probably not looking hard enough. I have to ExamKrackers books for Chemistry, Physics, and Verbal Reasoning. I still need to get Biology.

 

[wiiturtledove]

Wow, I cant believe you guys like EK so much. I have it but it seems to be basic. What it does, it does well in making things easy to understand. I am not sure if that is all you need to know. I always thought BR was the best one.

I have an old 08 EK. Is that a relic or should I pony up for a new 2010 edition? I have a bunch of old AAMC mcat exams too...from my older bro. He used it before getting into med school 6 yrs ago.

 

[Booster]

for my first mcat, i went through the kaplan book, and took the class after going through the kaplan book. i didnt take the class that seriously, especially since the person teaching us was a kid i studied with over summer for the mcat. needless to say, i scored mid 20s with verbal being the lowest score by far.

second time around, i studied off and on for 2 months, and studied pretty hardcore for 3 months (about 30-40 hours a week). i used EK. I would study one subject's chapter, do the associated quizzes, and take the 30 min practice test at the end of the chapter. the next day i would do about half of the associated problems for that chapter out of the 1001 problem book from EK (about 150 problems for each chapter in each subject), and i would take half of a practice verbal exam from the EK verbal 14 practice tests book (under timed conditions of course!). i would rotate through subjects (do a chapter of physics, then do a chapter of bio, and so on). my last 3 weeks i would only do practice mcat exams and review the areas i was having most problems with.

my second mcat scored low 30s. with a point higher in my physics and bio, and a big improvement in my verbal.

biggest way to improve your score is to 1.) obviously review material that is covered through the mcat and 2.) practice mcat style questions to get used to how the exam is (under timed conditions) and 3.) learn to prioritize your time on the exam, by knowing when to guess and move on, and when to take your time answering questions.

 

[Emerald84]

Exam krackers

+1. Get the audio osmosis and start listening to that a bit everyday.