MCAT Prep and Future Directions

[aspiringdoctorbigdreams]

Hi guys,

I am freshman, currently on the pre-med program. I do have a few questions regarding MCAT prep and just any advice/motivation is welcomed.

I know this is a little too early to start full MCAT prep as I wouldn't be actually taking the test until my junior year and also because I haven't even had a chance to attend all the prereq courses yet. But is there anything that I could start doing at this point to prep for the MCAT? I do not want to push it to last minute because my SAT performance was not that great and I do not want to end up in the same situation with the MCAT for obvious reasons. So how can I go about beginning my prep now or what is the best course of action that you suggest?

Also, what is the reason that MCAT retakes are frowned upon? I saw several replies in the forum that strongly advised against retaking the MCAT. Why exactly is that an issue?

Looking forward to gaining some clarity, thank you in advance!

Regards.

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[rball]

The best advice that I can give you is to just go all out in your classes right now. Go all in, seek to truly understand and master everything you come across. Dont worry about just doing enough to get an A, focus instead on true mastery of the material. Shoot for 100s on everying, and regardless of your grades, critically appraise and attack any knowledge gaps you have. By doing this, you’re killing 3 birds with one stone - you’ll get better letters of rec, you will protect your gpa, and you will be well prepared for the mcat.

Id also recommend taking at least one or two upper level bio courses (maybe cell bio, molecular bio, even cancer bio), and taking a few literature based bio courses (ie where you learn how to read/analyze scientific papers), provided you think you can ace these courses. Dont take them all at once - spread them out throughout your undergrad to make it more manageable. The reason I say this is because the MCAT has become a biochem heavy, passage based exam that often requires you to quickly read and interpret journal-style passages.

Finally if you have time, you can buy a review book and casually follow along w/your classes. Maybe during the summers, practice CARS a bit (since this is the one section that is not content driven) and do a few practice questions from the subjects you just took in school. But do not let this come at the expense of mastering the material in your classes - it is this true mastery that will prepare you best for the mcat.

As far as motivation goes, please do not let anybody convince you that gpa/mcat do not matter too much, or after a certain point it stops mattering, or you wont get in anyways, or theres no point shooting for the top schools when you can just go to your state school, etc. The most important thing you can do is to kill your gpa and mcat, and the higher the better. That will help open up doors at the top med schools, which will in turn keep your future career options open and prevent any doors from being shut.

 

[aspiringdoctorbigdreams]

The best advice that I can give you is to just go all out in your classes right now. Go all in, seek to truly understand and master everything you come across. Dont worry about just doing enough to get an A, focus instead on true mastery of the material. Shoot for 100s on everying, and regardless of your grades, critically appraise and attack any knowledge gaps you have. By doing this, you’re killing 3 birds with one stone - you’ll get better letters of rec, you will protect your gpa, and you will be well prepared for the mcat.

Id also recommend taking at least one or two upper level bio courses (maybe cell bio, molecular bio, even cancer bio), and taking a few literature based bio courses (ie where you learn how to read/analyze scientific papers), provided you think you can ace these courses. Dont take them all at once - spread them out throughout your undergrad to make it more manageable. The reason I say this is because the MCAT has become a biochem heavy, passage based exam that often requires you to quickly read and interpret journal-style passages.

Finally if you have time, you can buy a review book and casually follow along w/your classes. Maybe during the summers, practice CARS a bit (since this is the one section that is not content driven) and do a few practice questions from the subjects you just took in school. But do not let this come at the expense of mastering the material in your classes - it is this true mastery that will prepare you best for the mcat.

As far as motivation goes, please do not let anybody convince you that gpa/mcat do not matter too much, or after a certain point it stops mattering, or you wont get in anyways, or theres no point shooting for the top schools when you can just go to your state school, etc. The most important thing you can do is to kill your gpa and mcat, and the higher the better. That will help open up doors at the top med schools, which will in turn keep your future career options open and prevent any doors from being shut.

Wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate the feedback. I will most definitely perform well in my classes and I have upper level bio classes scheduled within my degree plan. Hopefully, it goes well.

I was skeptical about prep books at this point because I felt it was too early and I wasn't exactly sure which ones were the best in the lot. But I will buy a couple of books and aid them along with the classes that I'm taking.

And I'll definitely look into practice for CARS, I am sure it mimics the SAT and I would need all the practice I can get to master that completely. I just don't want to end up making the same mistakes I did for the SAT.

Thank you so much for the motivation too! I will do the best I can!

 

[rball]

Awesome, best of luck. It's a grind, but if you believe in yourself and just try to enjoy the process, you'll do well. Don't forget to have a little bit of fun too in college. There's def time for that too

As far as prep books, they've def changed from when I took the MCAT, so I don't really have any advice about which ones are best. I'd talk to upperclassmen about that.

Best of luck, and glad to help. You'll do great, just gotta work hard and believe in yourself

 

[aspiringdoctorbigdreams]

Awesome, best of luck. It's a grind, but if you believe in yourself and just try to enjoy the process, you'll do well. Don't forget to have a little bit of fun too in college. There's def time for that too

As far as prep books, they've def changed from when I took the MCAT, so I don't really have any advice about which ones are best. I'd talk to upperclassmen about that.

Best of luck, and glad to help. You'll do great, just gotta work hard and believe in yourself

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Good luck on your medical career too!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Great advice from rball. Last year, as a sophomore, I made the decision to lightly think about the MCAT while taking physics and organic chemistry. Despite most people telling me to relax and focus on grades and volunteer experience, I went ahead and borrowed some MCAT prep books to look at over Christmas Break. When I returned for Winter quarter I decided to not only keep looking at them concurrently with the topics I was studying at the time, but to use them as a learning resource. Thanks to my big sib and her friends, I had the chance to look at everything ever made for the MCAT. It was overwhelming at first, but then I found the one that was a perfect fit for what I needed. They were so good that I ordered their science books (not CARS or P/S) and used them for physics and organic chemistry classes Winter and Spring quarters and then for my MCAT studying last summer. I am 100% convinced that is the main reason I got an MCAT beyond my wildest dreams, and got A's and a deeper understanding taking those courses. No matter what anyone says, it's never too early to look at class material through MCAT glasses.

 

[aspiringdoctorbigdreams]

Great advice from rball. Last year, as a sophomore, I made the decision to lightly think about the MCAT while taking physics and organic chemistry. Despite most people telling me to relax and focus on grades and volunteer experience, I went ahead and borrowed some MCAT prep books to look at over Christmas Break. When I returned for Winter quarter I decided to not only keep looking at them concurrently with the topics I was studying at the time, but to use them as a learning resource. Thanks to my big sib and her friends, I had the chance to look at everything ever made for the MCAT. It was overwhelming at first, but then I found the one that was a perfect fit for what I needed. They were so good that I ordered their science books (not CARS or P/S) and used them for physics and organic chemistry classes Winter and Spring quarters and then for my MCAT studying last summer. I am 100% convinced that is the main reason I got an MCAT beyond my wildest dreams, and got A's and a deeper understanding taking those courses. No matter what anyone says, it's never too early to look at class material through MCAT glasses.

Wow, thanks so much for this input! I have also already started looking at prep books to go along with my classes as rball mentioned and I'm glad to hear that it worked out for you! Good luck for your medical career! And if it's okay with you, could you please share what company books you used and found helpful?

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

For the sciences (biology, chemistry, organic, and physics) I used TBR. For P/S I used TPR, Khan, and the 300-page document. For CARS I used TPR and EK.

While I was taking physics and organic chem, I worked through the TBR books and found them super helpful at simplifying what my professor and TA could not.

 

[aspiringdoctorbigdreams]

For the sciences (biology, chemistry, organic, and physics) I used TBR. For P/S I used TPR, Khan, and the 300-page document. For CARS I used TPR and EK.

While I was taking physics and organic chem, I worked through the TBR books and found them super helpful at simplifying what my professor and TA could not.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this!!