Once school ends in a few weeks, I start on my MCAT prep as my new job. Yes, I know a late summer MCAT isn’t the best, but that’s how timing is going to work for me.
The only MCAT courses available in my area are online, so I’ve elected not to go that route. I plan on going with a few MCAT books:
MCAT Premier (Kaplan)
MCAT Verbal Reasoning Mastery
MCAT Elite:Strategies for a 45 (haha)
I haven’t decided on any others. Tossing around buying the Examkrackers books. Any opinions vs others?
Other than setting up a daily routine, I don’t have much more strategy than that. I’d love to here how you studied. Trying to psych myself up for this. I’m hoping that just having finished some core classes will help overall.
If you take the online course you’ll get individual subject area books from kaplan. I really liked the examkrakers problem books, especially the VR one. I have the Kaplan MACT 45 book but never really used it so I don’t know how usefull it is.
Setting up a routine and sticking to it is key. I found I had to get away to the local library to get my best study sessions in. You’ll also want to take practice tests with increasing frequency as the test day approaches.
Good luck with the studying.
I’m using a combo of books/programs:
Verbal: EK 101 and TPR for strategies
Bio: EK Bio books with practice passages
Chemistry: Berkeley Review and EK 1001 for practice
Physics: Berkeley Review and EK 1001 for practice
O. Chem:Berkeley Review and EK 1001 for practice
EK16 EK mini-MCATS
Kaplan practice MCAT tests
And of course the AAMC MCAT exams (1-10)
I’m sure it’s overkill, but I have lofty goals and need a KILLER score!
First, you don’t have to take the MCAT in August, you can take it later, although that does mean that you will probably miss next year’s application cycle.
An acquaintance of mine, an MD/PhD student, scored 43 on the MCAT. He did not take any professional courses; rather, he took as many practice MCATs as possible, under conditions as close to the real one, and then corrected his test. Anything he didn’t understand, he then looked up. He went along this way for six months.
Recent (2008-present) psychological research has shown that repeated test-taking improves test-taking recall and performance better than just reviewing notes and flash cards. Although this acquaintance was unaware of that research when he studied for the MCAT, he is proof that those principles work – at least for him.
I couldn’t agree more, datsa! I know that lots of people benefit from courses and reviewing content notes, flash cards, etc… so I’m certainly not downing that study method. But for me, personally, practice tests are where it’s at!
I did that even when I was doing ACT prep back in high school–and it gave me a 34 out of 36 and a full ride to college. I had a computer program, and I actually just started taking practice tests for “fun” (yes, I’m that kid…) in the 8th or 9th grade. When it was time for the real thing, it was just another run of it, you know?
Figuring out how you best study and learn is absolutely a critical step to prepping for an exam like this. It would be such a waste of time, for example, to take a prep course for weeks…spend all the money…and realize at the end that it’s not really the way you learn the best. Just because it works for one person doesn’t mean it will work for you. (This is common sense, but sometimes we get really caught up in the ferver of doing everything we can to prepare…when everything won’t really help us!)
As I begin to prep for this test, I’m keeping that strategy EVER at the front of my thoughts. Study smart, not hard. Study smart, not hard. Study smart, not hard. 
(Although I have a feeling that it will soon be “study smart, but study hard!”)
The trick is to figure out what studying “smart” for you looks like.
Good luck, everyone!!
As you saw in my post under Community Colleges,
I know 2 people who both got 43 on the MCAT.
One did her pre-reqs at at community college, took an MCAT prep course, got a 43 on the MCAT, and went to UCSF medical school, where she is now a professor.
The other studied for the MCAT as described in my post above.
In both cases, each took steps to find the learning environment and the test-taking strategy that best suited herself or himself. And it worked.
But it may not work for everyone. You may have to take the MCAT more than once. But don’t let that deter you. Case in point:
Another co-volunteer that I knew, took the MCAT 3 times and got progressively better scores: 34, 37, 39. Despite a sub 3.0 science GPA, he also went to a top 10 medical school, and is now in a Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation residency.
Test-taking and identifying deficiencies are definitely important for improving test scores. However, these are only two methods of several. I know SDN is sometimes a 4-letter word on here (trust my math,) but it does have some great FAQs and sticky threads by people who’ve been there, done that, scored well, and shared their knowledge. It goes beyond just taking practice tests - that is useful, but there are also other methods that can specifically improve test-taking skills. The links are plainly visible on the SDN MCAT FAQ but I can post them here if anyone wants.
Like a few others in the MCAT threads, I am using SN2ed’s study strategy for an MCAT date of August 18th at 1pm. Here’s the link:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=6…
Best wishes to all!
While the MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) isn’t exactly a straight comparison to the MCAT, it has similarities (in that it’s computer-based testing and there’s piles and piles of study material available for it). And, at least in that case, the “read material through once or twice and then practice test until your eyes fall out” method worked like a charm for me. I finished it in 5 months of self-directed study when most people were spending twice that time and taking multiple re-tests.
By the time I sat the test it was all old hat-the exact details may have changed, but there are only so many basic formats for questions that can exist and being comfortable with them (while keeping an eye out for the occasional trick question, which you’ll also learn to recognize after multiple repeats) does wonders to raise your comfort level and allow you to just focus on the specifics for each question.
YMMV, of course, but practice tests will be a large portion of my personal strategy when the time comes.
I would admit that two semesters back to school have not allowed me to exactly nail down my best study strategy, I have found a few things that work. For something like the MCAT, the idea of going by the practice tests actually seems like a good fit for me. I already have a baseline of knowledge, and as you say, getting used to the format of the questions is probably the most difficult hurdle to be faced with when the clock starts. It looks like there are about 10 of them available. Not cheap, $35/each, but given what some people spend on a Kaplan course, cheaper.
I could see getting into a routine of taking a practice test once a week for example, and then spend the rest of the week working on areas that came up deficient. I certainly wouldn’t bother to sit for the actual exam until I was consistently scoring in my accepted range. This would be to allow a little score decay if the test I get happens to hit some weak areas I hadn’t stressed by that point. I would think that 10 or so tests would show where you needed some additional help.
I know that some exam questions I looked at in one of my books were not questions I would have been able to answer with my biology classes alone. I’m glad I took micro and biochem as well. I think there are a few other classes I wish I had taken after looking at some others. Will make for a lot of learning this summer.