*The Official MCAT January 2018 Thread*

[mariposas905]

Hey guys! Now that the new test dates are out, I figured I'd start a thread for all the January 2018 test-takers prepping for (and most definitely, slaying) this beast! This is a retake for me, but I'm aiming high! Who else is taking it in January?

I'm sure that sharing insights and support on SDN will make this journey all the more worth it. I have a feeling 2018 is off to a great start! Good luck everyone and may the odds be ever in our favor.

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[CAFFEINE!]

+1 taking a January MCAT; likely 1/19

 

[teenyfish]

January 25 here!

 

[CAFFEINE!]

Best News EVER: The AAMC will publish a third full-length MCAT practice exam some time in October!!

Edit: I just realized that I'm a nerd for getting excited about this.

 

[teenyfish]

That's awesome! More practice for us
I wonder if it will be included with the practice bundle, if so, I'll wait to purchase it.

 

[kylelc]

I am excited to hear AAMC will be putting out a 3rd full-length practice exam, I'll take all the extra practice I can get.

 

[Pavlov'sDawg]

Hi friends. Taking it 1/19.

 

[Dr.ATS]

Taking it 1/20 in Texas!

 

[SteyrFWB]

You all registered for January exam already?

Went into the AAMC registration site, it said registration shut down for website remodeling until late October?

 

[dangerranger]

You all registered for January exam already?

Went into the AAMC registration site, it said registration shut down for website remodeling until late October?

I had the same problem. I think everyone is just anticipating testing on those dates, as it should be open to register sometime in October. I'm planning to test 1/25. Best of luck to you!

 

[tutorthepeople]

Question for those taking the exam in January. If you are currently a full-time student, how are you going to balance MCAT studying with your day-to-day academics? Will you use the flexibility of winter break to study full-time during that period, and part-time during school?

 

[Zenabi90]

Question for those taking the exam in January. If you are currently a full-time student, how are you going to balance MCAT studying with your day-to-day academics? Will you use the flexibility of winter break to study full-time during that period, and part-time during school?

This is usually the approach. Very light review work during the semester, like glaring weaknesses, or pure memorization of formulas/cycles/amino acids, and daily CARS work. Then lots of practice passages and FLs over winter break.

 

[texas0628]

I plan on taking it 1/25! Anyone using a prep class? I started a Kaplan course today!

 

[Pavlov'sDawg]

Anyone enrolled in a TPR course? I just took TPR's review test #2 and holy S**T I got annihilated

 

[Zenabi90]

Anyone enrolled in a TPR course? I just took TPR's review test #2 and holy S**T I got annihilated

Not surprised. I generally see lots of comments that TPR/Kaplan FLs are crap and only serve to crush your hopes and dreams to make you study harder.

Look into Altius/NS for better FLs. Search function helps here.

 

[Pavlov'sDawg]

Not surprised. I generally see lots of comments that TPR/Kaplan FLs are crap and only serve to crush your hopes and dreams to make you study harder.

Look into Altius/NS for better FLs. Search function helps here.

I'll probably buy NS 1-4 instead of doing the rest of my TPR exams. I heard good things about NS

 

[etp123]

Aiming for 1/25 over here, unless I get cold feet and push it back to April. I'm in a test prep course right now and surprisingly they're making the material fairly manageable so hopefully I can keep up and feel adequately prepared in time for January. Spent the last 2 years doing a postbac and it feels almost surreal this is the last major academic hurdle before apps...

 

[tutorthepeople]

Aiming for 1/25 over here, unless I get cold feet and push it back to April. I'm in a test prep course right now and surprisingly they're making the material fairly manageable so hopefully I can keep up and feel adequately prepared in time for January. Spent the last 2 years doing a postbac and it feels almost surreal this is the last major academic hurdle before apps...

Nice! Have you started practicing at all? Because knowing the content is absolutely the first step, but effectively applying the content to real practice questions is the next hurdle.

 

[Shotapp]

Aiming for 1/25 over here, unless I get cold feet and push it back to April. I'm in a test prep course right now and surprisingly they're making the material fairly manageable so hopefully I can keep up and feel adequately prepared in time for January. Spent the last 2 years doing a postbac and it feels almost surreal this is the last major academic hurdle before apps...

What prep course are you using?

 

[etp123]

Nice! Have you started practicing at all? Because knowing the content is absolutely the first step, but effectively applying the content to real practice questions is the next hurdle.

Yes I'm currently in a prep course and we are simultaneously covering content and doing practice problems to reinforce them

 

[etp123]

What prep course are you using?

Swartwood, they're based in LA and as far as I know that's their only location. They seem to have a lot of successful student testimonies however they also have a large class size so it's difficult to say if their successes are due to some magical way they teach or just a factor of having a large class size (i.e. if Kaplan has 15 students and 3 successful students, and Swartwood has 80 students and 16 successful student, 16 > 3 but statistically they're both at 20%).

I will say that so far that our instructor is pretty great and helps condense concepts into something more approachable and efficient. So maybe it's a little of column A and a little of column B

 

[prairiemusic]

Ahhh can't believe it's time to start studying! Registered for 1/19 today

 

[notofimportance143]

Registered for 1/20 today! I started studying with Kaplan a month ago but fell off the wagon. Now its time to get serious

 

[Jewels86]

January 20th!! ~ Rescheduled to May; need more time to study

I hope everyone rocks it on the Jan MCAT!!

 

[deleted600623]

Looking at January 20th as my test date. Finished content review with TPR in July but was still only scoring 504-506 with NS exams. Goal score is 510-512. Spent the past couple of months going through AAMC packs to narrow down weaknesses which were mostly Chem/Phys and CARS based on my previous FLs. I've now done a quick run through of EK books that I was given so now I'm going through NS strategy and practice books for passage and timed section practice. Plan on working through SB's in November while taking 2 NS exams and then taking AAMC 1, 2, and 3 in December and January. Anyone have any other advice?

 

[Cheerfulcheeto]

Also registered for Jan 19! It's time to conquer this beast--once and for all.

 

[Cheerfulcheeto]

Looking at January 20th as my test date. Finished content review with TPR in July but was still only scoring 504-506 with NS exams. Goal score is 510-512. Spent the past couple of months going through AAMC packs to narrow down weaknesses which were mostly Chem/Phys and CARS based on my previous FLs. I've now done a quick run through of EK books that I was given so now I'm going through NS strategy and practice books for passage and timed section practice. Plan on working through SB's in November while taking 2 NS exams and then taking AAMC 1, 2, and 3 in December and January. Anyone have any other advice?

If you're done with content, I would say you're on the right track with working on strategy. Just my unqualified opinion here

 

[Sheiko]

Just signed up for 1/20! Location TBD..

 

[Dia20]

Aiming for 1/25 over here, unless I get cold feet and push it back to April. I'm in a test prep course right now and surprisingly they're making the material fairly manageable so hopefully I can keep up and feel adequately prepared in time for January. Spent the last 2 years doing a postbac and it feels almost surreal this is the last major academic hurdle before apps...

Which prep course are you taking?

 

[Pavlov'sDawg]

Just did AAMC FL 1 to see where I am, scored a 500. Anyone else think this is deflated? For the same % correct, I would've gotten 502-503 on TPR's tests...

Oh well, I guess I have 3 months to bring my score up...

I know most of you haven't taken AAMC FL 1 yet, but let me know if you guys agree that the score is deflated compared to the full lengths from other companies

 

[etp123]

Which prep course are you taking?

I mentioned this a few posts earlier so sorry for the repost but: Swartwood, they're based in LA and as far as I know that's their only location. They seem to have a lot of successful student testimonies however they also have a large class size so it's difficult to say if their successes are due to some magical way they teach or just a factor of having a large class size (i.e. if Kaplan has 15 students and 3 successful students, and Swartwood has 80 students and 16 successful student, 16 > 3 but statistically they're both at 20%).

 

[TheLeadSeed]

Registered for the 1/20 test date! Good luck to everyone!


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[Dia20]

I mentioned this a few posts earlier so sorry for the repost but: Swartwood, they're based in LA and as far as I know that's their only location. They seem to have a lot of successful student testimonies however they also have a large class size so it's difficult to say if their successes are due to some magical way they teach or just a factor of having a large class size (i.e. if Kaplan has 15 students and 3 successful students, and Swartwood has 80 students and 16 successful student, 16 > 3 but statistically they're both at 20%).

Thank you. Sorry i posted my question in hurry and i later went back to read your post.

 

[teenyfish]

Anyone else here studying while working full time? Almost done with content and moving on to practice soon!

 

[prairiemusic]

Just did AAMC FL 1 to see where I am, scored a 500. Anyone else think this is deflated? For the same % correct, I would've gotten 502-503 on TPR's tests...

Oh well, I guess I have 3 months to bring my score up...

I know most of you haven't taken AAMC FL 1 yet, but let me know if you guys agree that the score is deflated compared to the full lengths from other companies

I could be completely wrong but I've heard that AAMC FLs are the most accurate to what the test will be like and maybe a little deflated? I think prevailing wisdom here is to act like the scores aren't that deflated and be pleasantly surprised by your real score. Like you said, you have 3 months! You've got this

 

[deleted600623]

Anyone else here studying while working full time? Almost done with content and moving on to practice soon!

Yep. Currently putting in about 2 hours per night during the week and then 6-8 hours on the weekend.

 

[NaomiM]

I’m also on the full time employment train, plus finishing up my grad school coursework. Currently doing discrete questions every night for an hour before doing Anki flash cards. Once mid-November hits I’ll switch to doing timed passages and discretes.

 

[Sheiko]

Anyone else here studying while working full time? Almost done with content and moving on to practice soon!

Yep. Currently putting in about 2 hours per night during the week and then 6-8 hours on the weekend.

I’m also on the full time employment train, plus finishing up my grad school coursework. Currently doing discrete questions every night for an hour before doing Anki flash cards. Once mid-November hits I’ll switch to doing timed passages and discretes.

I'm with you on this. Finished content review a couple weeks ago (and amassed ~2700 Anki cards doing it). Finished most of the Q packs and 2/3 of the section banks so far. Going to take one of the NextStep practice exams this Saturday to start working on timing since all my practice has been untimed so far.

What do y'all do for work?

 

[jamechi88]

Hey guys, I'm taking the exam 1/20! Good luck with studying everyone!

On a side note, how long has everyone been studying so far, if you don't mind me asking.

 

[Sheiko]

I’m an adjunct bio instructor, which is kinda useful because every class is content review for me How about you @Sheiko ?

I was a postbac at the NIH for a couple years after undergrad, but decided to explore my interest in service and started my year of AmeriCorps service about a month ago! I work as a case manager with homeless folks now.

 

[Sheiko]

Hey guys, I'm taking the exam 1/20! Good luck with studying everyone!

On a side note, how long has everyone been studying so far, if you don't mind me asking.

About 7 months, getting in ~2 hours a day during the week and ~6 on the weekends.

 

[deleted600623]

I'm with you on this. Finished content review a couple weeks ago (and amassed ~2700 Anki cards doing it). Finished most of the Q packs and 2/3 of the section banks so far. Going to take one of the NextStep practice exams this Saturday to start working on timing since all my practice has been untimed so far.

What do y'all do for work?

That sounds like a solid plan. So you did the SB's untimed? I'm starting those now and am torn between doing them timed vs untimed. Since there's only 300 total questions, I may run through them 2x since I can knock out a whole SB in a few hours. I work for an Ophthamologist as a ophthalmic technician. Small, 1 doc practice so its a fairly easy 8-5 job with some Fridays off which helps my studying. What about you?

 

[Sheiko]

That sounds like a solid plan. So you did the SB's untimed? I'm starting those now and am torn between doing them timed vs untimed. Since there's only 300 total questions, I may run through them 2x since I can knock out a whole SB in a few hours. I work for an Ophthamologist as a ophthalmic technician. Small, 1 doc practice so its a fairly easy 8-5 job with some Fridays off which helps my studying. What about you?

I wanted to use the question/section banks as a learning tool, so I did them untimed and made a word document detailing my thinking process for each question. Took forever to do, but it definitely helped me see where my weaknesses were and some patterns that were making me get questions wrong.

As for what I do for work, I'm a case manager at a non-profit that works with homeless folks.

 

[Sheiko]

Just took NextStep practice exam #1 and got 514 (130/127/129/128), it definitely seemed a bit too easy though. What are some good resources for improving CARS? I have the NextStep CARS practice book which I plan to finish in the next couple months, but more resources wouldn't hurt. I think I'll read through the Khan Academy P/S notes over the next couple weeks to get more comfortable with that too.

Pretty happy with the score overall though. I'm only taking the exam because my 34 from the old test is expiring, so I want to beat that and score in the 516-518 range.

 

[NaomiM]

Have you bought the CARS questions from the AAMC?

 

[Sheiko]

Have you bought the CARS questions from the AAMC?

I bought all of the official AAMC material. I got 78% on the first Q pack, I'm going to do the second one in a month or so. I've heard good things about this post here but I haven't read through it yet. I should read through before I take another exam.

 

[NaomiM]

@Sheiko Wow. That was long! But pretty useful in breaking down and explaining how to analyze CARS passages. Thanks for sharing.

I’ve been using the AAMC CARS question packs, the EK 101 Verbal Reasoning books, and then once I finish those I’ll probaly end up using LSAT prep books.

 

[Sheiko]

@Sheiko Wow. That was long!

Exactly why I haven't read it yet! what's the consensus on the EK 101 CARS book? If I ever run out of passages from the Next Step book I might pick up a copy, but I've got 85 passages left so that seems unlikely.

 

[Sheiko]

How's everyone's studying going? I just took the AAMC sample test and got 93%/89%/93%/92% which is supposedly ~520 according to a couple of score converters here and on /r/MCAT. I'm pretty hyped to say the least. Going to save the other 3 AAMC exams and official guide for when I'm a month out and do a few of the Next Step exams in the meantime.

 

[MoDiddy]

How's everyone's studying going? I just took the AAMC sample test and got 93%/89%/93%/92% which is supposedly ~520 according to a couple of score converters here and on /r/MCAT. I'm pretty hyped to say the least. Going to save the other 3 AAMC exams and official guide for when I'm a month out and do a few of the Next Step exams in the meantime.

Nice progress, great scores keep it up. Taking NS FL 1 next weekend (First FL). Finished CARS Q packs (85%) and Bio I Q pack (91%). Save those last 3 AAMC for the last month!