How I prepped for a 526

[otterxavier]

So, I took the new MCAT in April and got a 526 (proof). Since then, I've gotten lots of messages on SDN asking about study strategies. Rather than answer the same questions over and over in a thousand different places, I figured I'd compile all of my advice into one thread.

My goal in sharing this is not to say that this is the way to do well on the MCAT, nor do I think that the way that I studied is hugely innovative. Rather, I want to give people some hope that with commitment, discipline, and a solid head start, it is possible to do very well on the MCAT even if you:
- are not a hard sciences major
- are a nontrad balancing work and school
- have a limited budget for prep materials, and do not have the time or money for an MCAT course
- are not following an extremely detailed day-by-day schedule
- haven't finished your prereqs (although I don't recommend this!)


My background:

I've been out of college for three years. I double-majored in humanities/social studies in undergrad and took some chem and stats, but no bio, physics, psychology, or sociology. (When I took the MCAT, I still hadn't taken psych or soc, had just started biochem, and was 2/3 of the way through physics.) I started a postbac last summer knowing that a) I'd be taking the MCAT within a year and hopefully applying immediately afterward, and b) I wouldn't be able to take time off from school or work to prep full-time. So my goals were:
1. retain what I learned in my prereq courses so I didn't have to waste time relearning things
2. start studying ridiculously early and do a little bit every day (~2 hrs/day over 9 months rather than ~8 hrs/day over 2-3 months)

This is different from how a lot of people do the MCAT, so I'm not sure how well my experience will translate. However, the general principle holds for anyone: study early, slowly, and steadily. If you study 2 hours a day for a year, you've put in the same amount of time as someone who studies 8 hours a day for a single summer. But you'll probably have a more solid grasp on the material, and much lower stress levels.

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[otterxavier]

Hello! Do you still use Anki during medical school? Have you changed your method at all?

I do still use Anki in med school. During my first year I made Anki cards for my classes much the same way that I did in undergrad. That earned me good grades, but it took a ton of time, and I ended up with decks that were closely tailored to lecture content but not necessarily reflective of what's most clinically significant or high-yield for the boards. I'm about to start second year and think that instead of making all of my own cards, I'll mostly use a premade open-source deck that's geared toward Step 1, like Zanki. On Reddit, r/medicalschoolanki is a fantastic resource for this stuff.