Hi there. Long-time lurker here; this is my first post. I’ve gotten so much great information off of this site, I figured I was long past due to give back.
[I should note here that I’m much older than your average pre-med — 39 — and I think this conveyed both advantages and disadvantages, which I’ll try to touch on at the appropriate time.]
1)
Your individual scores and composite score
PS: 127
CARS: 132
BS: 131
Psych: 132
Total: 522 (99th percentile)
2)
The study method used for each section
All sections: I did every practice test I could get my hands on,
especially the stuff released by the AAMC.
As well, a few friends and I did a course here in LA called Swartwood. I do NOT recommend this course. They are incredibly disorganized, paranoid, and outright bizarre. None of us — not one of us — was glad we took this course. (I do think that their method makes sense for CARS, though. I’ll explain below.)
PS: This has always been my Achilles heel (due to various reasons including the fact that I have some weird mental problem with basic arithmetic… I’m quite capable of adding 2 + 3 and getting 6). So, I pushed myself harder in this section than in any other. Luckily, it was more conceptual and less math-y than I expected, though you do have to have those equations memorized, because you never know which one will come up!
I made flash cards for the equations. The physics stack was huge, but I just made myself drill it (alone as well as with friends). The gen chem stack was not so big. I also glanced over solubility rules and such just to make sure I remembered them, but didn’t memorize them flat-out.
Other than that: practice practice practice. I went back over anything that felt rusty from my classes, and really tried to avoid plug-and-chug. What do I mean by this? I mean that, tempting as it was at times, I never allowed myself to just throw in an equation and get a result without knowing
why that was the result. This is very very important for the MCAT style of reasoning.
Also (and this applies to both PS and BS), I memorized the **** out of the amino acids. I used a couple of ipad apps — both entitled “Amino Acids," helpfully — and tried to be able to recognize them whether they were drawn in bond-line, 3D, “old-school” Lewis-ish notation, etc. As well, there are some unique features to certain amino acids, such as glycine being achiral and ambivalent, or proline causing kinks in peptide chains. Know those. And
know the single-letter codes! I messed up on that.
CARS: This is one of the places where I think my age came in handy. I’ve been a lifelong reader, so I had a sort of store of “crystallized knowledge” upon which to draw. Other reading-oriented friends (though younger) had a similarly good time with CARS. I’ll admit to not really studying for this section, other than by doing the practice tests.
A passing familiarity with a wide variety of subjects is a boon, but it’s admittedly difficult to learn “a little about a lot” without having time. With that said, however, there is a method (gleaned from Swartwood) that can help those among you who don’t have time for a lot of casual reading (and as pre-meds, that’s probably most of you):
Keep it stupid!
I took notes that were really, really dumb. Like, first paragraph: “guy likes Rembrant.” Second paragraph: “Other guy thinks first guy sux.” Literally, I wrote stuff like that. Just try to boil each paragraph down to its essential characteristic, in the most childish, unremarkable terms possible.
Also, If you find a metaphor used over and over again in a passage, hone in on that. It’s probably important.
For some context, I have a super math-oriented friend who hates reading, and using the stupidity method, he was able to boost his scores considerably over time. He just had to stop trying so hard.
BS: See above regarding the amino acids. Applies to both sections. Other than that, I refamiliarized myself with cellular stuff, DNA/RNA, basic physiology. The kidney can be kind of complex, make sure you understand what's going on there. Also, know what actions take place in which part of the digestive system. I was a psych major, so I already had a passing familiarity with neuro stuff, but they definitely seemed to like this topic as well.
But definitely,
definitely study a lot of biochem. They went hard on it. Know the essentials: which steps of glycolysis are irreversible, for example. Anything unusual or that ”sticks out,” try to memorize.
We made flash cards for the hormones, cell types, and steps in spermatogenesis and oogenesis.
Psych: I was a psych major (having completed my major only two years ago), so I was kind of ”psyched” on this section.
I did the practice tests and made sure to memorize key terms (as laid out in the ExamKrackers books).
3)
What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, TBR, etc)
As mentioned above, we did every (relevant) AAMC test. They put out bundles collected from older tests; we did those. The 120 questions; we did those. The “actual” practice tests; definitely did those. Some parts we did twice, just in case.
Otherwise: The ExamKrackers books were great, though I feel they were a bit lax in the biochem department. Also, they seemed to be guessing a bit in psych, but I think that was the case with everybody. As time goes on and more tests are released, prep companies will get a better feel for what that section looks like.
We also had some tests from Swartwood, which were… okay, I guess. They were riddled with typos and often had wrong answers. Also, they couldn’t get their act together in time to give us computer-based tests, so we did them on paper. And out of order. With long-ass breaks. And sometimes not all the same sections on the same day. Kind of wack, but it got us thinking about the material, so it was still sorta useful in that sense.
Khan academy has some great info and good practice tests, but they’re
way too broad in scope. They need to narrow it down a bit (which I’m sure will happen with time). But I found their stuff useful for finding out more about specific topics about which I was confused or felt under-prepared. In other words, come to Khan somewhat primed and be targeted, otherwise you could get lost in the mountain of information.
Princeton has one free test, and we did that. It was horrible. Horrible! Demoralizing. Awful. And 90 times harder than the real MCAT. Like, it was crazy.
One thing that was useful was that we combined material to simulate test conditions. So, we’d take 52-ish questions from an old AAMC Physics section, same from old Verbal and Bio sections, and combine them with ExamKrackers psych to make a “whole” test. It was a way to not only study material, but to get the timing down. More about this later.
4)
Which practice tests did you use? (Optional: include scores)
Oops. See above.
I don’t remember my scores. I feel like they were decent, but lower than on test day overall, with the possible exception of the 120 questions. Those were hard.
5)
What was your undergraduate major?
Psych, with a few extra neuro courses thrown in for good measure.
6)
Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
Yes:
I think that some of the prep companies may be overestimating the complexity of the questions on the MCAT. They’ve all been racing to catch up to the new format and stylistic changes (some small, some big), and it’s a bit chaotic out there. But one thing I noticed was that most of their material was harder than the actual MCAT. So, don’t be discouraged if your practice scores are less than you want/expect.
Stay strong and keep working! You CAN do this, it’s doable. And you may just be surprised by the outcome.
My exam had a heavy biochem emphasis in both the PS and BS sections. Study that ****. If you haven’t taken a course in it, you;ll be at a disadvantage, but can probably still learn the essentials.
Definitely memorize the amino acids!
I definitely think that some random “experimental” problems turned up. If it’s not covered in the practice materials (or the AAMC syllabus, which I barely touched), try quickly and move on. For example, if something were to show up about (hypothetically) about diffraction gratings where they don’t give you any equations (hypothetically), I wouldn’t sweat it.
Also, remember: On test day, everyone is just as nervous as you are! So even though the test is not “curved” as such, your percentile may end up being higher than you think.
I found that the psych threw a lot of people off. I think as more universities acclimate to this new MCAT, they’ll put more premed-oriented psych classes in place. In the meantime, focus on the terms, and the rest is critical thinking. And a lot of common sense.
(Actually, that may be a good thing to focus on: Figure out what parts of psych
diverge from common sense, and make sure you remember those.)
PS: I never took a sociology course, nor did I take social psych. Ain’t necessary.
Watch out for fatigue during CARS. Have a small snack beforehand, even if you’re not hungry. Pee, even if you don’t think you have to.
And speaking of that stuff, have a good breakfast, lots of protein. I had eggs and a piece of fruit. Little bit of caffeine. (I had too much caffeine during lunch and was over-jacked on the bio section, so be careful)…
This is important: If your test is at 8am, get up early way in advance! I wanted to make sure I had zero “fuzz” on the brain at 8am, so I practiced getting up earlier and earlier as time went on. By the week before the test, I was waking up at 5:30 every day. it sucked but I think it helped, because I was well into mid-morning by the time 8am came around, and had had time to eat properly, shower, and feel generally as fresh as possible.
GET THERE EARLY. Rushing will throw you way off, emotion- and stress-wise!
Also, and this is very important (IMHO)…
review your tests with your friends/study buddies! We went over everything that any of us (3 or 4 of us) got wrong, and it was immensely helpful. Guaranteed, someone in your group will see something differently, have some insight, or otherwise be able to point out something you missed. And it will stick.
One last thing: The highlighting was slightly different on the real test. You have to click an extra time to highlight and de-highlight things, for some reason. Not a game-changer, but slightly annoying.
7)
How long did you study for the MCAT?
Prep course Feb-May (took it May 22nd), ramped up big time towards the last week. Then barely studied on the second-to-last day before the test, other than to go over some equations. Day before, went to the movies, relaxed.
taken Jan 2015
