When should you begin studying for the MCAT? What was your best study method for the MCAT?

[medschooldream9098]

Rocky GPA, NEED a high MCAT score. I want to begin studying now but I know it's early. Just feel anxious.
What tools, books, study programs, anything, did you use to study for the MCAT and get a high score?

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[deleted972488]

Lots of people have written advice posts on here and on the MCAT subreddit, but you need to find whatever works for you and do it. The most important thing is taking the four AAMC practice tests and using all the other AAMC materials (question packs, section bank, official guide questions). I also found UWorld to be helpful.

 

[medschooldream9098]

Lots of people have written advice posts on here and on the MCAT subreddit, but you need to find whatever works for you and do it. The most important thing is taking the four AAMC practice tests and using all the other AAMC materials (question packs, section bank, official guide questions). I also found UWorld to be helpful.

Oh sorry I’m still a little lost on this site lol. Thank you for answering I’ll check out the MCAT subreddit

 

[JohnDenver]

Oh sorry I’m still a little lost on this site lol. Thank you for answering I’ll check out the MCAT subreddit

IMO reddit is full of dweebs, check out the materials offered in the MCAT sub-forum here.

 

[deleted972488]

IMO reddit is full of dweebs, check out the materials offered in the MCAT sub-forum here.

Dweebs who do well on the MCAT.

 

[wb100]

Like others stated, the 509+ thread on SDN and reddit have good write-ups. I've posted in the 509 thread but I typed up a little snippet below.

I REALLY liked the EK books. I started with Kaplan and it was so overly detailed that it made me postpone because I was overwhelmed. I took a year off and tried to start studying with a friend, who happened to have the EK books. I glanced at some of her chapters and was sold. I bought an EK set and I was able to learn the content without feeling overwhelmed.

I was studying (very) part time for a couple of months with only 1 month of full time in the end. I scored a 514 (128, 125, 129, 132). I focused on high yield topics and doing a lot of practice. I definitely had content gaps on test day so I probably could have scored higher if I had more time. I recommend the following:

- EK books minus the P/S and verbal. The reddit 86 page P/S document is GOLD. Verbal is just practice but I def chocked on test day. EK could do a better job at biochem, so use YT and Khan academy for this.
- Next Step 1-4 (they were much harder than AAMC stuff)
- ALL the AAMC material. I went through all the section banks 3x. FL's reviewed 2x. Did the other question packs at least 2x.
- Uworld is hard but well worth it. I highly recommend it for P/S (I went from 126 in the last two weeks to 132 on the real thing).
- Premed HQ on Youtube is sooooo underrated. I would say they are 100x better than KA because it's straight to the point and concise. KA is way too detailed sometimes and I would lose focus.

 

[PapaGuava]

Thread moved to the MCAT forum.

 

[medschooldream9098]

Like others stated, the 509+ thread on SDN and reddit have good write-ups. I've posted in the 509 thread but I typed up a little snippet below.

I REALLY liked the EK books. I started with Kaplan and it was so overly detailed that it made me postpone because I was overwhelmed. I took a year off and tried to start studying with a friend, who happened to have the EK books. I glanced at some of her chapters and was sold. I bought an EK set and I was able to learn the content without feeling overwhelmed.

I was studying (very) part time for a couple of months with only 1 month of full time in the end. I scored a 514 (128, 125, 129, 132). I focused on high yield topics and doing a lot of practice. I definitely had content gaps on test day so I probably could have scored higher if I had more time. I recommend the following:

- EK books minus the P/S and verbal. The reddit 86 page P/S document is GOLD. Verbal is just practice but I def chocked on test day. EK could do a better job at biochem, so use YT and Khan academy for this.
- Next Step 1-4 (they were much harder than AAMC stuff)
- ALL the AAMC material. I went through all the section banks 3x. FL's reviewed 2x. Did the other question packs at least 2x.
- Uworld is hard but well worth it. I highly recommend it for P/S (I went from 126 in the last two weeks to 132 on the real thing).
- Premed HQ on Youtube is sooooo underrated. I would say they are 100x better than KA because it's straight to the point and concise. KA is way too detailed sometimes and I would lose focus.

Thank you for your response!! I’ll look into all of these! I appreciate it