Thus far all of my Chem instructors have told us not to worry about memorizing the periodic chart. Should I go ahead and do this anyway in prep for the MCAT?
You are provided with the periodic chart on the MCAT - there is a small link on the bottom right of your screen that opens a chart.
Instead, remember the trends traversing a group and a period in the chart - electronegativity, IE1 IE2, atomic size, etc.
Don’t worry about the Lanthanides and Actinides - just remember that they are there though.