How should I study for the MCAT?

Question

The MCAT is a weird test. It requires you to know a lot of information but at the same time be able to apply that information to think critically and problem-solve. Yes, it requires a lot of practice and learning. And yes, there is a right and a wrong way to study for it.

Answer 1

Long post, because I have lots of opinions on this! Please note that different things work for different people, but this strategy is a generalized one that will focus more on active rather than passive studying.

Studying for the MCAT begins during your undergraduate courses. By the time you take the MCAT, you should have completed the majority of the required courses for medical school - especially Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics. 

Then, a dedicated study period of 2-6 months before the exam will help ensure that you have the appropriate time to study, yet do not get burned out and forget information. The length of this study period will depend on how many hours per day you can devote to studying.

I recommend spending no more than a third of your dedicated study period on content review. Begin with an overview of what materials are on the MCAT, as described in the Official AAMC Content outline. Then, work through each subject area. Using a set of books is a route that many people choose - but there are many other options, including free videos online. I highly recommend using Anki, beginning in this phase and throughout your entire study period.

Then, begin with questions. You may want to take a ‘diagnostic exam’ - likely a third-party, free exam - to get a feel for what the exam is like. If your score on this is much lower than you would like - do not panic! Much of preparing for the MCAT is based on being prepared for the types of questions you will see. 

The question period should be structured around blocks of questions and very focused review of the questions you have completed. Keep a running list of questions and concepts that were difficult. You may occasionally spend an hour or two reviewing a specific piece of content that is difficult for you - for example, fluid dynamics. In the last few weeks before your exam, be sure to use all of the AAMC questions and take each full length in test-like conditions.

Tutoring can be very useful for all of these periods! Having someone to guide your study schedule, keep you accountable, and help you understand difficult questions, can ensure that your study time is used effectively.

Answer 2

LONG POST ALERT

Hi Everyone, I just got my MCAT score after retaking it and went from a 506 to a 522. As a result, I decided to write down the things I did differently this time. Before I go on, I just wanted to say everyone is different, what worked for me might not work for you.

1. For the sciences:

-Find the syllabus on their website and concentrate and learn on what they test for instance there is no projectile motion on MCAT

-80% of the answers are in the passage, always go back to the passage to see what they said before using your own knowledge. TRUST THE PASSAGE. PASSAGE>YOU

2. For CARS

- Read Very Very Slowly. It would take me on average 6-7 minutes to just read the passage. However, it took a lot of practice to get to that. I worked on CARS for 6 months and started from 15 minutes per passage.

- I made notes on the paper, but that is because I have a poor memory

- Act like a reporter, try to find the answers to the Why (Why he did that), What (What is most important), When, How and etc. Do this while reading and summarize it in your head when you read that sentence.

- At the end of each paragraph summarize it in your end like" so they started like this but because of x, y and z it became like this.

- The last paragraph is a goldmine when going through the q-pack look at where they got most of their answers or traps. Every passage had one or two questions from the last paragraph.

- The q-pack is old MCAT and have the hardest passages ever, you might see 1-2 of them.

- Most importantly when answering questions do two things, ONE: summarize the question in your own words, and try to find the answer that answers it. TWO: Don't look at the words of the answer choices, look at the idea. Sometimes they might phrase it like the passage, but the answer has a different meaning. So I tried to summarize the answer choices as well to find their ideas.

-btw I’m an ESL, so everyone can do it.

**- One thing for CARs is that try to tackle one thing at a time. For instance, first work on your timing, when you happy with that then try summarizing questions then etc.

In addition, if you can take the exam and void to get the test day feeling and how everything happens. It greatly reduces stress.

**THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT HELPED ME WAS WHEN YOU READ THE PASSAGE OR READ A QUESTION ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW, DO NOT PANIC, IT IS NOT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T STUDY ENOUGH IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT. THE PASSAGE WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. FOR INSTANCE, IF THE PASSAGE TALKS ABOUT ZELTA GAMMA RAYS (DOES NOT EXIST) DO NOT PANIC, YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW THAT, THE PASSAGE IS TEACHING YOU.**

Answer 3

While everyone learns differently, there are a few fundamentals that are required for studying for the MCAT. The test covers a large number of topics and requires an understanding of them to a great extent. However, it is easy to get absorbed into the trap of content-heavy studying that doesn't actually yield results on the test. The MCAT wants you to apply that knowledge, not just have it. Therefore, practice needs to be the priority. Balancing your content learning as well as your personal time, you must place your main focus on practicing. This will train you to effectively answer questions in the allotted time while also enabling you to actively learn in the process.