Dear MCAT taker,
I scored a 39 and a 42 on my MCAT. PS/VR/BS 13/11/15 and 14/13/15.
A close friend asked me how I studied for the MCAT as well as tips so I wrote him an email. Below is the e-mail with certain links and names redacted. I am posting it hoping it helps some of you fellow future physicians out there. Good luck, don't give up, stay calm and happy studying.
The following is what I did.
Most important was having a schedule. For content review, I counted the chapters in each review book and then figured out how many days this would take. This is important because I wanted to avoid a situation where I had a month left and hadn't even started problems. I also wanted to avoid burnout, studying MCAT intensely for more than 3 months will 100% result in burnout so I aliquoted my time appropriately.
Long term schedule was made on a calendar. i.e. June 1: Chem (ch.1) , Orgo (ch.1) , Physics (ch.1), Bio (ch. 1)
Short term schedule for that day. I only gave myself two big projects to do in any given day, splitting my day in the morning and afternoon. When I was doing content review: Morning (watch Chem/Orgo/Physics videos) 1 - 2 hour lunch outside for fresh air was followed by Afternoon/Evening (Read Chem/Orgo/Physics chapters).
When I was doing problems: Morning (Do Every 3rd EK 1001 problems for Chem/Orgo/Physics/Bio ch. 1), 1 - 2 hour lunch, Afternoon/Evening (Review EK 1001 problems from the day before, not the morning's problems)
I of course changed my long term schedule constantly. Some chapters were longer than others, half way through I realized my schedule was unrealistic and humanly impossible so I relaxed it, one weekend Rosa and I went to DC to visit Michael. One thing I learned here was to not beat myself up over not completing a day's task or falling behind. It's silly to do so because it's not the end of the world, everyone screws up and there's no perfect way to do something.
Here is what I used for content review. I always tried to find those "cheat sheets" put out by the companies: coursesaver, kaplan, berkley, EK. Why? Because this is where the high yield information is, all the stuff in the textbook/videos is only for your background knowledge and how to apply the formulas and important information on the cheatsheet. The only thing you have to actually memorize is the stuff on these cheat sheets. Unfortunately, no, one company has a complete cheat sheet which is why I used multiple resources.
For videos I used Chad's coursesaver videos. I only used his videos for Physics/Chem/Organic Chemistry, I did not use them for Biology or verbal. I would recommend Chad's videos for the new MCAT as well. I would also recommend finding videos for the new sections but I'm not sure where you can get them, Khan Academy is probably okay on 1.5x or 2x speed, but Khan Academy is not "test prep" videos but straight up lectures, you want a lecturer who knows the hacks and shortcuts specific to the MCAT questions. This is where Chad excels, he gives you shortcuts and MCAT relevant information only.
I didn't use videos for Biology. I used our knowledge from Biochemistry TAing, and Robert Scott (ThinkMCAT's) audio lecture.
For Books I used Berkley for Chem/Orgo/Physics content review. And I used EK for Biology. Looking back I would probably just use EK for everything, and if there were particular sections giving me a hard time, I would check out other books.
Whenever I came across information in the videos or books that I felt was important but not found on my primary "cheat sheet", I would write it on my "cheat sheet". The plan is to never go back to the videos or the books because that's time consuming and just reading information doesn't facilitate learning the material needed for MCAT. Practicing questions does. I will however say that for Robert Scott's biology audio, I listened to it for one hour every morning while working out and probably more if you include my commutes. So, by the end of the three months, I had listened to the recordings about 10 times each and could almost recite the tapes verbatim, they are worth it.
So if I had taken the MCAT right after reading I would have done shit, wouldn't have broken 25. Where I did the most learning was by using EK 1001. They haven't updated it for the new MCAT so it's going to be a tiny bit trickier for the new sections, but the old EK 1001 still (90%) applies for the new MCAT.
This is the important part of how I studied. Get questions wrong and Be honest with what you don't know.
Trust the EK company, they know what concepts are high yield and they won't waste your time with extra stuff like Kaplan or Berkley. EK 1001 gives 3 questions for every high yield concept they feel is important for the MCAT.I went through each of the EK 1001 books three times while doing every 3rd problem every iteration. I printed out three sheets of paper for each EK 1001 book the first was numbered 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16.... the second was 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 and a third 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18. For EK Bio it's a bit different since they are passage questions and not discretes, so I just did every other passage for EK Bio. I've uploaded the sheets I used in the drive linked above.
I tried to do one chapter of problems from each section (Bio/Physics/Orgo) a day. I did every third problem like stated above and worked in 70 minute sessions, then I went to the bathroom, drank some water and started again for another 70 minutes (mimicking testing time intervals).
As I did each problem, before I answered it, I identified the formula or key information the problem was testing and I wrote it down next to each number. This was before I solved the problem. The MCAT does NOT test a lot of material, it's the same shit over and over again. People get shit wrong on the MCAT because they can't identify what high yield concept the question is testing. So they look in the passage and it's not going to be there. The point is to apply high yield concepts to new situations you haven't seen before, so you need to be able to quickly identify what the problems are asking. This is how I practiced that, before I solved a question, I always wrote down the formula or key information needed to solve the problem. And I tried to be succinct, no more than 3 words. "bernoulli's principle" or "velocity average = (v2 + v1)/2"
Second, while I did the problems, whenever I didn't know a question I circled it and moved on. Even if I kind of knew it, if I felt I wanted more practice, I circled it. For the smallest thing I circled it. If it took a little too long to identify how to solve it, circle. The question sounds a bit funny,circle. This is good practice for how you should be "marking" questions on the MCAT. Don't be afraid to mark a shit ton of questions. Sometimes I circled every question in a chapter, i.e. redox, I didn't get it in gen chem so I had to really work on it for the MCAT and finally got it. After I wrote the high yield concept, if I circled the problem I would either skip or try and solve.
After I solved the questions, I would check the answers the next day. I never reviewed on the same day because repetition is important. Not slogging away for 5 hours on the same topic but seeing the same topic in different situations on 5 different days for one hour each.
I just quickly checked the answers and marked the ones I got wrong on my paper. I then went back to EK 1001 and figured out why I got the problem wrong. If it was a silly error, arithmetic or didn't read the question, I just told myself I was silly and wrote that next to the problem as well, i.e. "didn't read question". If it was because I royally just didn't know shit, then this is the time to go back and read the one or two relevant paragraphs in the EK book, I didn't go crazy and read the chapter and watch a ton of videos, that would be a waste of time, I just read enough to be able to answer the question. For the problems where it wasn't a silly mistake, I made a flash card. On the top left I wrote the topic and question number: Phys 953. I then wrote the question I got wrong on the front, and on the back I wrote the answer and some information I felt would help me personally if I forgot how to solve this question. I did this because I knew that I wasn't going to remember this information I just learned the next day let alone 3 months from now. I also knew that you need to repeat what you understand to make sure it sticks. For the flash cards, I would look at them during my commutes, or whenever I was bored, by the end of my studying I had to have about 500 flash cards and they were well used, I had done each flash card anywhere from 2 - 10 times each over 3 months. (I got so many problems wrong, some sections in physics, chem and orgo, I just got whole chapters wrong, meaning I didn't know shit).
For the problems I got wrong in EK1001, and for the problems I circled because I had trouble, I would do a few problems above and below that problem. So if I got 953 wrong, after reading and making the flash card, I would do 950 - 957 or as many as I needed to feel comfortable with solving these types of problems.
For some sections, i.e. redox which I just did not get, I decided to go ahead and do every single problem in the entire chapter as my review and read multiple books and watch multiple videos. And for other sections, I barely did anything, do whatever you have to.
So that's what I did for EK, I would suggest doing the same for any other test problems you come across. I know the EK content books have some problems as well. Always first identify what you need to do or know to solve the problem, if you can't identify it immediately, circle it and move on. Then solve it and if you get it wrong make a flash card/review similar problems.
I went through the first 1/3rd of EK problems, with flash cards, review, doing extra problems above and below questions I had trouble with. (This took 2 - 3 weeks)
I then did the second 1/3rd of EK problems doing the same thing. (This took 1 week).
I then did the third 1/3rd of EK problems doing the same thing. (This took < 1 week).
I then redid every problem I got wrong and every problem I circled in all of those problem sets. (This took < 1 week).
At this point, I felt pretty good. I knew I had seen everything the MCAT could throw at me at least once. I knew all of the formulas and how to apply them, most of the tricks that I ended up using, and scott robert's audio was embedded in my head.
After only using EK 1001 I took my first AMCAS. I rushed through it, no double checking, I wasn't confident so I just took it thinking I'd screw up. I got a 37.
Then a week later I took it again but "marked" prolifically and carefully double checked using all the time I had and got a 43.
Identify the high yield concept, do problems, repeat things you get wrong, be honest with what you can and can't do.
At this point I was 2 months into my studies. And I took 1 - 2 AMCAS practice exams a week under very strict conditions, reviewing problems i got wrong the next day.
By strict conditions I mean, only in the computers at Hunter, using a different computer every time. I also wore the same earplugs I ended up using, brought my snacks and water and used exactly 10 minutes to eat/drink/stretch/bathroom between sections. Mimicked test conditions including the time of the test (8AM) as well as sleeping well the night before.
Some tips for the actual MCAT exam. "Mark" questions you're unsure about prolifically. If you can't identify how to solve a question immediately, mark and skip it, let it mull in your mind as you do the other questions. After you go through the test once, you will be calmer and can go back to those skipped questions with a peace of mind that will allow you to figure them out. I did this for almost every math question on the Physics and Chemistry section. I don't like doing math under pressure so I always skipped them the first time around if I couldn't answer it in 5 seconds.
On the old MCAT we had 70min per section and 60min for verbal. After the PS section, I always had 20 - 25 min left. After the verbal, I had 10 - 15 min left. After the BS I had 30 - 35min left. So there is plenty of time to double check.
People who don't have enough time are people who aren't able to quickly identify how to solve the problems. This is usually because they didn't practice identifying the high yield concept. The other reason is being unable to tell the difference between a problem they need to use outside information for and those that require passage information. So they waste time going to the passage, or waste time trying to think of the relevant formula/concept.
Some other random tips...
You do NOT need to do any math on paper, all MCAT math should be done in your head.
Memorize some basic math stuff: log 2, log 3, fraction --> decimal equivalents (from 1/2 to 1/11), learn the test prep EK/berkley method of adding, subtracting, multiplying... When you estimate always remember if you used numbers that would result in an estimate slightly larger or slightly smaller than your actual answer.
Give MCAT 100% for 3 months and be done with it, don't drag it on while doing other crap like working or studying for other classes.
Don't reread books/videos, Do more problems.
Always repeat problems, it's okay to do the same problem 10 times.
Keep it chill, I always took 1 - 2 hour lunch breaks and stopped studying after 8pm.
Exercise every day! I went to the gym for 1 hour every day.
Study in blocks of time equivalent to time allotted for MCAT, making sure to piss and drink in the 10 min. break times.
I also did all of the Princeton Review Hyperlearning science questions but I think it was a waste of time, EK 1001 is enough for learning all your high yield concepts. If you're sucking at passages then do old MCAT AMCAS stuff. Kaplan sucks, Berkley is okay.
I haven't touched verbal because I didn't study verbal. I didn't know how, which is why i got an 11 on it the second time I took it.
My advice is to just bash your head against the wall that is verbal everyday for at least 30 minutes, do 3 - 4 passages and review the ones you did the day before identifying how you could solve it better and eventually that shit might click. Also do the verbal assessment given by AMCAS that shit is gold. I actually got the same passage from my assessment on my actual MCAT.
Also on the actual MCAT, there were times where I didn't get the entire passage for whatever reason, maybe I was tired. When that happened I skipped it and moved on. Always know that you'll have time to go back so don't reread passages your first time around.
Go back to it, when you read it the second time it will make sense. That's also why double checking is important, double checking jumped my score by 6 points. Do it quickly the first time and aim to not make silly preventable mistakes on the second go around.
Don't worry about score or percent right or any shit like that when studying, always just try to not make silly mistakes. You can't help it if you just don't know the shit but you better not get wrong the stuff you could have gotten wrong. Don't aim for a score, Do aim to not get stuff wrong, if you get it wrong, aim to not get it wrong next time. If you aim for a score you're limiting yourself.
Don't listen to what other premeds are saying, they don't know crap, believe in yourself because you've got this. I've known you for like what, 3 years now? You can get a better score than me if you follow this and spend exactly 3 months only doing MCAT.
Let me know if you need anything else, I've seen the new EK books and kaplan books floating around the internet.
Best,
QuotidianScience
