Tips While Taking The MCAT

[Legacy87]

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1. Ten minutes before you take the MCAT, please pee. You'll be going into your sympathetic mode and I will guarantee that your bladder will be filled up by Passage 7 on your physical science section. Pee at every break.

2. When you sit down in front of your computer screen, you will see your name and a tutorial button. Do not click on the tutorial button just yet. Use your scratch paper, and write down all the physics formulas you have ingrained into your head after months of preparation. Why? Because this will set your mind to doing physics and gchem problems (especially if your taking the morning MCAT). For example, I'll write down on my scratch paper:

Kinematics Equations
Bouyancy Equations
Electric Field and Voltage Equations
Resistance (series/parallel) Equations
Capacitance (series/parallel) Equations
Optics (90% you will get a discrete optic question) Equation
etc.

Electrochemistry
Anode (oxidized) and Capacitance (reduced)

Here's the beauty of it, you will have your equations in front of you when you need it, and it is not against the rules to write anything before you start your test. If the proctor wants you to begin immediately, then click on the 10 minute tutorial. You will have then 10 minute to write all your equations down and start the PS section on a good note. If you want to see the tutorial page, take an AAMC practice test. Every minute counts!

3. Take all your breaks! Stretch outside for 5 minutes (pee + eat snack + drink a sip of water). Go back in after 5 minutes.

4. Don't talk to anyone in between your breaks. This is your time. Focus on the next section at hand.

5. In case anybody is interested in writing section, the day before the test, I looked on wikipedia to find some important historical dates and examples (Hitler, Yosemite Park, atomic bomb, etc.) During my essay section, I also used some stats and relevant information from the VR passages for supporting and counterexamples. It works!

 

[FutureScaresMe]

Get to the testing site early! You can start up to 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment. This is important, because you don't want to be part of the last set of people going into the exam, otherwise, during your verbal section, everyone in the room will be clicking away on their writing section which is very distracting when you're trying to focus on reading.

 

[creativekat]

Bring those foam earplugs and see if they'll let you use them (some apparently don't?). They did for me (after checking that I hadn't written any formulas on them, of course 😛) and those were amazinggggg. The difference was like night and day--I took them out for a break and it sounded like a rock concert in a room of buzzing computers and 2-3 people starting on their writing sample, haha.

Just because you're rushing on the test doesn't mean you need to rush to scarf down that granola bar during break...I almost choked on it.

If you decide not to take a real break, stretch in your seat and look around the room to stretch your neck muscles. Then start the next section and forget about how badly/well you did on the last section.

 

[badapplestix]

2. When you sit down in front of your computer screen, you will see your name and a tutorial button. Do not click on the tutorial button just yet. Use your scratch paper, and write down all the physics formulas you have ingrained into your head after months of preparation. Why? Because this will set your mind to doing physics and gchem problems (especially if your taking the morning MCAT). For example, I'll write down on my scratch paper:

Kinematics Equations
Bouyancy Equations
Electric Field and Voltage Equations
Resistance (series/parallel) Equations
Capacitance (series/parallel) Equations
Optics (90% you will get a discrete optic question) Equation
etc.

Electrochemistry
Anode (oxidized) and Capacitance (reduced)

Here's the beauty of it, you will have your equations in front of you when you need it, and it is not against the rules to write anything before you start your test. If the proctor wants you to begin immediately, then click on the 10 minute tutorial. You will have then 10 minute to write all your equations down and start the PS section on a good note. If you want to see the tutorial page, take an AAMC practice test. Every minute counts!

I like that idea 😀

 

[swamprat]

I think a great idea especially if you are taking the 8AM administration is to set a sleeping schedule up for approx a week before the test. That is what I did. I would wake up at 7AM every day for a week. It actually is kinda nice, none of my roomates were up, it was just getting light out and I could watch the morning news like a normal human while drinking my coffee and eating breakfast. Anyway, after like 2 days my schedule was set and I was going to bed by 11 usually. This is key IMO because the MCAT is so mentally draining as the days creep closer that you need any extra sleep you can get. I remember right after I was done with the test I felt like I had got hit by a truck. I was exhausted mentally and physically (of course I still went out that night )

 

[dualityim]

My best advice - get at least 9 hours of sleep and RELAX (or the security guy will laugh at you while you struggle to get a fingerprint)
Arriving early could be a blessing or a curse depending on the test center. I arrived at 7:30 and during my PS section, all I could hear were names being called in the room next door.
Also, at that point in the game, most of the formula's you crammed into your head the day before are not going to show up on the test (just how the MCAT is designed), so I wouldn't freak out if you're not sure about SN1 vs. SN2 or can't remember the difference between adiabatic and azeotropic.

 

[ksmi117]

I think a great idea especially if you are taking the 8AM administration is to set a sleeping schedule up for approx a week before the test. That is what I did. I would wake up at 7AM every day for a week. It actually is kinda nice, none of my roomates were up, it was just getting light out and I could watch the morning news like a normal human while drinking my coffee and eating breakfast. Anyway, after like 2 days my schedule was set and I was going to bed by 11 usually. This is key IMO because the MCAT is so mentally draining as the days creep closer that you need any extra sleep you can get. I remember right after I was done with the test I felt like I had got hit by a truck. I was exhausted mentally and physically (of course I still went out that night )

👍 Def. agree. I did not do this, and could not fall asleep the night before. I do have class at 7:30 on Fridays (I took my test of a Friday), so getting up early wasn't unusual for me, but my class is Weight Training, so it doesn't require much thought. The news idea is awesome - not only do you get caught up on the current events, it also wakes up your brain early to think. Getting up and doing mindless things won't help as much as engaging your cranium in the early hours of the AM. 😀