3 Things You Should Know Before You Register for the MCAT:
Knowing when to register for the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) exam is a tricky thing. You need to be wise because it is an expensive test ($320) and is only administered around 30 times per year. It also takes careful planning because it costs an additional $95-$165 to change a test center or reschedule the test.
You want to register for the MCAT as soon as you can once you select your test date.
You want to register for your chosen MCAT test date months in advance because seats fill up quickly. Sometimes registering a couple of months in advance may not be early enough to get the MCAT test date and testing center location you originally hoped for. There are two time periods when MCAT registration opens: October and February. The registration in October is for tests that are administered from January to May. The registration in February is for tests that are administered from June to September. If you know you are going to take the test in May, don’t take any risks, sign up as soon as registration opens in October. The same goes for the February registration.
You should complete the pre-requisite courses for the MCAT before your exam.
The prerequisite courses of the MCAT include the following:
2 semesters of general biology
2 semesters of general chemistry with lab
1 semester of organic chemistry with lab
2 semesters of physics with lab
1 semester of biochemistry
1 semester of introductory psychology
1 semester of introductory sociology
You should try to complete these classes before you take the MCAT so that the material on the exam is review rather than new to you. If you haven’t completed all the necessary classes before studying for the MCAT, it’s possible to learn new content as you go but this means your study period should be long enough to accommodate learning new material.
Khan and AAMC's free resources are excellent tools. There's also videos from John Wentzel (the Wikipremed guy who started a new free resource that is excellent). There are plenty of great videos, which are way better than podcasts. The problem with podcasts is that they don't offer visual stimulus, which is essential in studying for the MCAT. You have to practice and actively see things (just like the actual exam). You can't just listen and learn... that has been tried in many different forms over the years, and it fails every time.
Years ago EK put out what can described as a podcast before they existed, and given their quality it was superb. John and Jordan are excellent teachers. I guarantee that Audio Osmosis is way better than any podcast created since then, but even as good as their teaching was, it was not effective by itself. I'd strongly suggest shying away from anything that is just audio, especially when there are literally hundreds of audio/visual sources for free. The idea of passively learning while you commute is one of those absurd myths that gets disproven by learning specialists repeatedly. Podcasts are cool for passive entertainment, but not for actual learning, especially something as important as the MCAT. If it worked, then Audio Osmosis would have taken over when it came out.
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