Time needed to finish AAMC material, things to push into 520ish range?

Question

Hey all Been studying for 2.5 months so far and have gone through typical stuff - kaplan books, KA notes, premed95 anki deck, and have been taking FL's as well. I have essentially all day every day available for march to study MCAT and was wondering how long it would take to finish the Q pack in the AAMC material. I was going to use it to cover any gaps in content. I'm testing March 29th and goal is 520+, but haven't felt totally confident about being able to reach that goal. Been brushing up a lot on content review to cram in the low yield remainders, but so far my FL's have averaged around 510 on NS and Kaplan. Any advice on how to spend the next 300 hours of studying to push my score up? I know 3rd party exams are deflated but I've seen that most 520+ scorers will at least get a 513/4 on one of their FL's, whereas my highest has been 511.

Answer 1

Hi,

Great question. Towards the end of your MCAT preparation there will come a point, if you've prepped thoroughly, where your scores will begin rising after a seemingly insurmountable plateau. The key is to be methodical and vigilant about questions you get wrong and topics you are unsure of. Every time you get a question wrong, write down the topic and come back to it the same or next day. This is critical. To get 520+ the mentality I'd recommend is to assume that you need to know everything. Weak subjects have to be confronted and should not be avoided in the hope that it might not show up on the MCAT. The idea is to shoot for the moon and land amongst the stars. Yes, stars are farther than our moon but you get the gist of it. Those high scores are differentiated by fewer and fewer correct responses given that the test is scaled. Also be sure to do every single AAMC practice question. This is the best resource available. 3rd party tests are either too easy or too hard. The AAMC tests and practice questions seemed to fit into a goldilocks level of difficulty.