My Schedule and Approach to a 526 (lots of passages, not too much Anki)

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mcatmatt

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This is from my blog (www.mcatmatt.com).

This was my approximate day-by-day study schedule from last year. You can download my schedule in Excel by clicking here (and a blank schedule template is available by clicking here). In reality I ended up approaching my schedule week-by-week, checking things off as I went, but I think it helps provide structure to list tasks by day. Some days I did slightly more, some days slightly less, and I ended up spending many of my scheduled “break days” playing catch-up. I didn’t stick to this schedule exactly, but by the end I had completed almost all of my scheduled tasks. I spent 15 weeks studying, and I don’t think I would have felt prepared had I condensed that further.

Content Resources (with lots of practice built in)

I relied on The Berkeley Review for the bulk of my content review and practice passages for Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry (organic and inorganic), and Physics. I think the general consensus is accurate that TBR is more detailed and covers more information than is generally covered on the MCAT. However, I was aiming for a top score, and I credit TBR in large part for my success. Their passages in particular are outstanding, providing ample opportunities for practice along with thoughtful and in-depth explanations. I used 2013 editions of TBR’s books, and found them to be great. They have since released updated editions that I’m sure are great as well.

For psychology and sociology, I primarily used Kaplan, and occasionally referenced Princeton Review when I found Kaplan to be lacking in a particular area. I found TPR’s sociology sections to be better than Kaplan’s, but found Kaplan much more readable and engaging otherwise.

I purchased the Examkrackers complete 2015 book set, but I found most of the content to be too superficial for me. I did use EK’s organic chemistry sections, because I knew I only needed a light review. Having gone back now as a tutor, I think that their physics and chemistry books are actually very good, and I probably didn’t need to know much of the material that TBR covered on those topics. Still, I am happy that I was over-prepared for those sections. Overall, I still think that their psychology/sociology and biology sections are too concise. However, the Examkrackers Biology section on Laboratory techniques was excellent, covering topics like NMR, IR, UV, Gel Electrophoresis, and others very well.

The 30-minute exams at the end of each Examkrackers chapter were excellent, and they gave me much-needed practice interpreting graphs and reasoning about experimental design. I think they’re worth purchasing for those passages alone, especially if you need some work in those areas.

Practice Passages and Full Length Tests

In addition to the many Berkeley Review and Examkrackers passages that I used, I did all of the official AAMC materials that were available at the time: the full-length Sample Test (no scaled score), the Official Guide Questions, and the 120 Question packs in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and CARS. They were all great, especially the CARS, since no other CARS resources truly resemble the real thing. Since then, the 300 question Section Bank and the scored Official Practice Test have become available, and like the other AAMC materials, those are essential for anyone studying now.

I also did full-length practice tests from Examkrackers, The Princeton Review, and the Berkeley Review. They are all lacking in certain areas compared to the AAMC’s tests (since then, I have also reviewed Kaplan exams through tutoring, and found those to be overly-detailed as well), but Examkrackers were the best of the bunch, and they are the only exams from third-party companies that I recommend to my students. I discuss my thoughts on these materials in more depth in this post.

I think there are probably only marginal benefits to doing more than 6-8 full-length exams for most students, and the combination of burnout and opportunity costs (in terms of time spent studying) can actually make additional full-length tests a net negative. Spending more time on targeted practice passages and thoughtful review is a better use of time, in my opinion.

Daily approach

My day-to-day approach to studying was pretty simple: read the new content, do 3-5 passages related to the new content, review them in-depth, and address all of my questions and mistakes by re-visiting the content and/or searching online. I discuss my approach to reviewing practice passages and practice tests in more detail in this post. I didn’t take notes on content, but I did log my mistakes and questions in a notebook, where I also logged the relevant explanations and answers for my own reference. I periodically reviewed this notebook to make sure I still understood the underlying concepts.

Each week I would also “loop back” on content covered in previous weeks, doing additional passages to make sure I still understood the material. I didn’t follow a set schedule for these review passages, but I tried to re-visit every content area within 1-2 weeks of initial exposure (with targeted periodic re-visiting after that).

For psychology and sociology, I made Anki flashcards and tried to review a batch every day. I did this because there weren’t as many passages available for me to practice, and most of the vocabulary was new to me, so I wanted to at least have the vocabulary down cold. For other subjects, I did not use Anki or any other form of flash cards. I still think flash cards can be a good approach if you are unfamiliar with the psychology and sociology vocabulary, but now there are more practice passages available to integrate as well. Some of the Khan academy passages are good (and they’re free), but they tend to focus on the details covered in the Khan lectures, and they are not very representative of AAMC style questions.

If you look at my schedule you’ll see that I did very little CARS review. Other than the AAMC CARS question packs, I did hardly any CARS practice. I relied on my full-length tests for CARS practice, and supplemented those with the AAMC materials.

Lifestyle

It’s normal to be fatigued by the grueling preparation that is necessary to succeed on the MCAT, so it’s extremely important to make a conscious effort to rest your mind and body in the days leading up to the test. If you’re too tired and stressed on test day, you won’t perform as well as you can. I think an important aspect of my success on the MCAT was being relatively well rested, well fed, and energetic on test day.

However, for the 15 weeks leading up to those last days, I made the MCAT my number one priority, studying for 6-8 hours every day. It was sometimes hard to keep going, but I wanted to be able to look back afterwards and know that I gave it my best shot.


Let me know if you have any questions about my approach or about how to build a custom schedule!

-------------------

Update (4-28-16) - I posted my annotated schedule (notes in bold) below so that you don't have to download in excel. Each paragraph is one day.


TBR General Chemistry 1 - Stoichiometry and passages. For all new content (and for subsequent review of that content 1-2 weeks later), I did 3-5 practice passages with in-depth grading/review.

TBR Biology 1 - Nerve and Muscle and passages; make amino acids flash cards. I reviewed amino acids flash cards often until I had memorized structures, three-letter abbreviations, and one-letter abbreviations. Also, I reviewed the TBR Biology books in order, but were I to do it again, I would start with Book 2, which focuses on cell biology and biochem, and then do Book 1, which focuses on physiology.

TBR Physics 1 - Translational Motion and passages. (I did passages on the new content for every section below, so I won't continue to note it below.)

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 1 - Biology and Behavior, Anki for new terms. I reviewed some Anki Psych/Soc flash cards almost every day. If I found a Kaplan explanation to be confusing, I used the Princeton Review to clarify or, more often than not, just used wikipedia. I did the discrete questions for each Kaplan chapter and also mixed in the TPR passages.

TBR General Chemistry 2 - Atomic Theory

TBR Biology 2 - Heart and Lung

TBR Physics 2 - Forces, Circular Motion, and Gravitation

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 2 - Sensation and Perception. At this point I started doing passages on the previous weeks' topics, fitting them in where I could amid the new stuff. I continued this throughout my course of study.

Break Day

TBR General Chemistry 3 - Equilibrium

TBR Biology 3 - GI and Kidney

TBR Physics 3 - Work and Energy

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 3 - Learning and Memory

TBR General Chemistry 4 - Acids and Bases

TBR Biology 4 - Reproduction and Development

Break Day

TBR Physics 4 - Momentum and Torque

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 4 - Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

TBR General Chemistry 5 - Buffers and Titrations

TBR Biology 5 - Endocrinology and Immunology

TBR Physics 5 - Periodic Motion and Waves

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 5 - Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

Break Day

Examkrackers Chem Ch. 2 - Intro to Organic Chemistry and 30-minute exam; Examkrackers Chem Ch. 3 - Oxygen Containing Reactions (basically continuation of Organic Chemistry) and 30-minute exam

TBR General Chemistry 6 - Gases

TBR Biology 6 - Structure and Function in Cells and Viruses. This is where I would start with bio now.

TBR Physics 6 - Sound and Doppler

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 6 - Identity and Personality

Break Day

TBR General Chemistry 7 - Phases and Phase Changes

TBR Biology 7 - Metabolic Components

TBR Passages on previous topics and in-depth review

TBR Physics 7 - Fluids and Solids

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 7 - Psychological Disorders

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack; 60 questions, timed, from the AAMC Biology 1 Question Pack. I spent a lot time reviewing the questions I missed, reviewing content I had already covered, and making note of content I had yet to cover. Were it available, I would have started using the AAMC Section Bank (with 300 Qs) around this time in order to practice biochem and psychology/sociology. These are more important questions to do than the other AAMC Question Packs.

Break Day

60 questions from the AAMC Chemistry and Physics Question Packs

TBR General Chemistry 8 - Thermochemistry

TBR Biology 8 - Metabolic Pathways

TBR Physics 8 - Electrostatics and Electromagnetism

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 8 - Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behavior; and 9 - Social Interaction. For all of the remaining Psychology and Sociology sections, I was using Princeton Review in conjunction with Kaplan. Not the most efficient way to do it probably, but by the end I felt pretty good about all the content.

TBR General Chemistry 9 - Kinetics

Break Day

TBR Biology 9 - Genetic Information

TBR Physics 9 - Electricity and Circuits

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 10 - Social Thinking; and 11 - Social Structure and Demographics

TBR General Chemistry 10 - Electrochemistry

TBR Biology 10 - Expression of Genetic Information

AAMC Official Sample Test

Review test and address weaknesses. Please see my post on how to review practices passages and practice tests for more information on my methods.

Review test

Review test

Review test

TBR Physics 10 - Light and Optics

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 12 - Social Stratification; Examkrackers Biology chapter on Laboratory Techniques. I didn't use a lot of Examkrackers content (I did use all of their 30 minute exams), but I thought that their two Organic Chemistry chapters and their Laboratory Techniques chapter were excellent. You can get a lot of easy points on the test just by knowing the lab techniques.

60 questions from the AAMC Biology Question Packs, and 60 questions from the Chemistry Question Pack

Break Day

60 questions from the AAMC Physics Question pack; and 9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Packs

60 Questions from the AAMC Official Guide, with thorough review

60 Questions from the AAMC Official Guide, with thorough review

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness

The Princeton Review Full Length Test. I would not use the Princeton Review full-length tests again. Were I to take the test now, I would do the AAMC Official Practice Test (the scored one) at this point.

Review test. While reviewing, I started working in relevant passages to practice areas of weakness. I did this for subsequent tests as well.

Review test

Review test

60 Questions from the AAMC Biology Question Packs

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics. By the end, I had done all of the Examkrackers 30 minute exams, and I found them all to be really helpful.

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #1

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

Break day

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #2

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

Break day

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #3

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

TBR Biology Practice Test (from the back of the TBR Biology Book I)

TBR Biology Practice Test (from the back of the TBR Biology Book II)

TBR Full Length #1. I found the test to have some good classical science passages, but it lacked newer, research-based passages, which are emphasized on the official AAMC full lengths. The CARS section was terrible, and the psychology section was a mix of re-purposed, psychology-themed verbal passages and new psychology and sociology passages. Overall it wasn't as good as EK, but was probably better than the Princeton review. If I were studying again, I would take Examkrackers Full Length #4 in its place.

Review test

Review test

60 questions from the AAMC Biology Question Pack

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack

Review AAMC Sample Test. I re-read all of the passages and reviewed some of the questions/answers.

Continue reviewing AAMC Sample Test

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack

Review big-picture psychology and sociology topics, high-yield physics formulas, and other random topics. No new passages.

Break day (although I studied a little)

Break day

Test Day

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That sounds like a similar mix of resources to what I used, so you could take a look at my schedule and adjust that as you need to. I think that using TBR as your main content and practice source and supplementing that with the passages from EK's 30 minute exams is a solid approach. As far as content that you're missing, if it's only Physics 2, you'll probably be ok. TBR and EK both cover physics in sufficient depth for the MCAT.
Thanks for the advice. I also have TBR psych book. I believe that should be sufficient for covering psych but how should I cover sociology?
 
Thanks for the advice. I also have TBR psych book. I believe that should be sufficient for covering psych but how should I cover sociology?

I'd recommend the Princeton Review for sociology review. They do a pretty good, condensed overview.
 
I can't really say what you should be doing. I will say it's probably a good idea to integrate full-lengths sooner rather than later if you haven't already, since those are the most important practice resources. Feel free to private message me if you have more detailed questions.

60-70 on TBR passages is pretty solid. They're really hard, I think I probably averaged about 75-85% on them, but there were definitely some 1/7 or 2/7 passaged mixed in there. I would say try not to get discouraged and just focus on what you can learn from each passage.

^^^ THIS!!! ^^^

I got massacred by some passages and averaged about 75% on the sciences passages and 80% on the pscyh passages. While I didn't get a 526 like you, I wasn't too far behind (a slightly above average CARS held me back). I think part of the TBR experience is learning from your mistakes on the chapter passages. I felt horrible at some points, but kept on plugging away. It paid off nicely in the end. It's a similar story for most of the good scores I've seen.
 
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Hey everyone, I modified @mcatmatt 's schedule for the 2015-16 TBR book set (excluding their psych and verbal books). It came out to ~10 days longer because I included the new Orgo books instead of the two EK chapters that cover orgo. It's still his schedule, I just swapped/replaced (from his recommendation in his schedule) a couple FLs, added some orgo chapters, started with TBR Bio 2 instead of 1, and moved around some of the days to fit my needs. I'm probably not going to follow the schedule exactly as it is because of other life commitments but its definitely giving me guidance and structure. I also included the EK reasoning, research, and math book in the beginning because it gave me a lot of useful information for approaching research based passages, verbal strategies, math skills, etc. I also have been doing 2-3 verbal passages from TPRH verbal book because I felt like I needed more practice than whats in mcatmatt's schedule for CARS.

The only thing I didn't modify that matt recommended was including the new AAMC section banks which he says are more important than the AAMC question packs. When I get to content review, I'll prioritize the section banks over the question packs but if time permits then I'll definitely try to do both.

Left it attached as a PDF file.

Again, this is not my schedule. It is simply a modified version of @mcatmatt's schedule and you will notice a lot of the notes in mine are straight up copy and pasted from his schedule. I take no credit for this.
 

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^^^ THIS!!! ^^^

I got massacred by some passages and averaged about 75% on the sciences passages and 80% on the pscyh passages. While I didn't get a 526 like you, I wasn't too far behind (a slightly above average CARS held me back). I think part of the TBR experience is learning from your mistakes on the chapter passages. I felt horrible at some points, but kept on plugging away. It paid off nicely in the end. It's a similar story for most of the good scores I've seen.

I'm glad you had a similar experience and result! I definitely agree that making mistakes in the passages (and throughout the course of studying) is part of the learning process, and while it sounds like a cliche, every missed question really is an opportunity to improve.
 
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Hey everyone, I modified @mcatmatt 's schedule for the 2015-16 TBR book set (excluding their psych and verbal books). It came out to ~10 days longer because I included the new Orgo books instead of the two EK chapters that cover orgo. It's still his schedule, I just swapped/replaced (from his recommendation in his schedule) a couple FLs, added some orgo chapters, started with TBR Bio 2 instead of 1, and moved around some of the days to fit my needs. I'm probably not going to follow the schedule exactly as it is because of other life commitments but its definitely giving me guidance and structure. I also included the EK reasoning, research, and math book in the beginning because it gave me a lot of useful information for approaching research based passages, verbal strategies, math skills, etc. I also have been doing 2-3 verbal passages from TPRH verbal book because I felt like I needed more practice than whats in mcatmatt's schedule for CARS.

The only thing I didn't modify that matt recommended was including the new AAMC section banks which he says are more important than the AAMC question packs. When I get to content review, I'll prioritize the section banks over the question packs but if time permits then I'll definitely try to do both.

Left it attached as a PDF file.

Again, this is not my schedule. It is simply a modified version of @mcatmatt's schedule and you will notice a lot of the notes in mine are straight up copy and pasted from his schedule. I take no credit for this.

Hi @dboyhaaan, that's great, I'm glad that my schedule was helpful as a template. I think it's a great idea to modify it to meet individual needs, and also to reflect new resources that weren't available when I was studying (some of which I make note of, but I'm sure there will be more as the AAMC and the test prep companies continue to refine their products).
 
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@mcatmatt hey Matt, I plan on using your schedule template to study for the mcat, but I do not know if I should take the mcat next January or next April. If I take it in January, should I study content over the summer and during the semester before integrating exams in during winter break or just cycle through your schedule twice? Or would it be better to take the mcat in April and just follow your template for studying over the summer and then from winter break until the exam? Please let me know what you think would be most effective.
 
@mcatmatt hey Matt, I plan on using your schedule template to study for the mcat, but I do not know if I should take the mcat next January or next April. If I take it in January, should I study content over the summer and during the semester before integrating exams in during winter break or just cycle through your schedule twice? Or would it be better to take the mcat in April and just follow your template for studying over the summer and then from winter break until the exam? Please let me know what you think would be most effective.

@b.nguyening Just sent you a private message.
 
Hey, just wanted to say that I've been following your schedule (more or less) since May and am really happy with it. My goal was a 520 at the start and I'm starting to believe that I have a real shot. I think this program is ideal for someone who wants to get a top score, not just squeak by. I'm almost tracking your EK scores: 70% on EK1 and 75% on EK2 so far. I certainly hope that I can continue to do that up to a 526!

I think my only critique is that I much prefer the EK chapters on some subjects: I really didn't retain much from the TBR Electricity chapter. EK is just so much more lively and engaging, with direct text that seems to get right to what we need to know. On some subjects (Biochem, the thermodynamics of a refrigerator??) TBR felt like massive overkill and I skimmed it to avoid getting lost in the weeds.

Chem and physics seem to be a major weak-spot for me: on EK2 I got a 58% in chemical, but ~80% on the other 3 sections. My plan right now is to go through the EK Chem and Physics books to try and address this. If you have any advice on how to improve on CP specifically I'd greatly appreciate it.

Again, thanks for all your work on this: it's been essential for me and I appreciate it tremendously.
 
I think you're right, the EK content is better in some areas, including the ones you mentioned. I think the TBR practice, even in those chapters though, was very helpful.

I don't really have any other advice other than to just do as much practice on those subjects as you can. I would re-visit the AAMC section bank and full length CP sections, since that is the kind of chem and physics you're most likely to encounter. Even though the EK FLs are good practice, in the end their percentages probably don't have much predictive power for the real thing, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Good luck, and I'm glad the schedule was helpful!
 
@mcatmatt Thanks so much for the schedule and your advice regarding the exam. I have already bought the Kaplan 2016 study set along with all of the AAMC materials, but I feel as if TBR is the best content review source at the moment? Do you think it's worth spending the extra bucks for the TBR books? I have finished all the pre-reqs but it's been a while, several years now, so in-depth content review will ideal. Thanks for your time!
 
@mcatmatt Thanks so much for the schedule and your advice regarding the exam. I have already bought the Kaplan 2016 study set along with all of the AAMC materials, but I feel as if TBR is the best content review source at the moment? Do you think it's worth spending the extra bucks for the TBR books? I have finished all the pre-reqs but it's been a while, several years now, so in-depth content review will ideal. Thanks for your time!

Glad you've found it helpful.

I don't think the Kaplan books are that good. They're certainly not very concise. TBR is great, I think if you can afford it, it certainly won't hurt. But see above regarding some areas where EK is better.
 
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Glad you've found it helpful.

I don't think the Kaplan books are that good. They're certainly not very concise. TBR is great, I think if you can afford it, it certainly won't hurt. But see above regarding some areas where EK is better.

Thanks for the reply. For the EK book set, did you only use them for the 30 min passage questions or for content review for the second time after going through TBR? And, I guess for the CARS section, you prepared mostly from the AAMC materials?
 
Glad you've found it helpful.

I don't think the Kaplan books are that good. They're certainly not very concise. TBR is great, I think if you can afford it, it certainly won't hurt. But see above regarding some areas where EK is better.

Quick question shout your schedule. So you'd finish a TBR chapter in a day and then do 3-5 passages that are provided at the end of the chapter? Typically they have from 13-15 passages at the end of each chapter. Therefore you'd finish those passages when you go back to do your review of that chapter?

Hopefully that makes sense.

Also did you use TPR SW? What about Khan passages? I did most of TBR passages a while ago, but I plan on redoing them just because it's been so long. But because I've already done them I'm looking for fresh material.
 
Content Resources (with lots of practice built in)

I relied on The Berkeley Review for the bulk of my content review and practice passages for Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry (organic and inorganic), and Physics. I think the general consensus is accurate that TBR is more detailed and covers more information than is generally covered on the MCAT. However, I was aiming for a top score, and I credit TBR in large part for my success. Their passages in particular are outstanding, providing ample opportunities for practice along with thoughtful and in-depth explanations. I used 2013 editions of TBR’s books, and found them to be great. They have since released updated editions that I’m sure are great as well.

I can't thank you enough for posting this message. It is very insightful and will benefit many future test-takers. I am honored that you felt our materials were a big part of your success. We take great pride in making the best answer explanations of any resource, because the reality is that you improve more going over explanations than anywhere else.

Because we put our new books out so much later than everyone else (we made our changes after April 2015 because we wanted to make useful changes), we have lost our market share. While the drop in volume resulting from our late updates (compared to other books that were released in 2014, over a year before the new MCAT was actually given) has been a setback from a business perspective, the satisfaction of how students have been doing on the new MCAT (with our new books as well as like you with out older books) is very satisfying. Our classroom students have been getting scores that make us very proud. The people (like you) who used our books for self-study have been getting great scores. Letting us know this makes all the hours of writing and editing worth it. Thank you for the inspiration.

I suspect that over the next year people studying for the MCAT will realize what people knew prior to all of the hype about the new MCAT. It comes down to how you think. Your post will help them greatly.
 
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Quick question shout your schedule. So you'd finish a TBR chapter in a day and then do 3-5 passages that are provided at the end of the chapter? Typically they have from 13-15 passages at the end of each chapter. Therefore you'd finish those passages when you go back to do your review of that chapter?

FYI, for the new chemistry and physics books, the passage layout for phases II and III have been changed rather significantly from the older books. There are now 15 passages per chapter, but for physics and general chemistry the phase III sections are set up as 9-passage practice exams that cover some material from other chapters mixed in with the chapter to which they correspond. This has been working really well based on the scores from this first round of test takers using the new books.
 
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This is very helpful, thanks. I wonder if you (or anyone else) could give me some thoughts on how to best intersperse practice passages with content review, since you seem to have a good grasp on that.

I am planning to do EK for baseline content review while I check off all the topics in the Official Guide and supplement as needed with other materials (including old TBR). I was considering doing the 30-minute EK exams for each chapter right after reading them, or possibly the day after, but now I'm wondering whether I should just do a section of the exam (ie 15 minutes) right after reading, then do the rest of it 1-2 weeks later like in your schedule. I think I like your method of doing just a few passages after reading a chapter, and then looping back 1-2 weeks later and doing a few more. However I'm worried that I wouldn't retain as much information as I could if I did all of that chapter's passages right after reading it, since I presume you would be tested on a more limited amount of information if you don't do all of the passages.

I have access to the old TBR, so I could do practice passages from there after reading the EK chapters, and save the EK 30-minute exams for when I start more in-depth practice. But I'm not sure how well the old TBR practice passages correspond to the new EK content chapters. Any thoughts?

Edit: The following daily approach schedule just occurred to me, adapted from your own -

1) Read an EK chapter and then do corresponding 30-minute exam. Review the questions and answers in-depth, taking note of all mistakes and areas of confusion as well as explanations and answers. Supplement with other sources in addition to EK as needed for full understanding.

2) 1-2 weeks after reading a chapter, loop back on it and do several corresponding practice passages from old TBR to make sure you still understood the material.

Repeat until finished reading the entire EK book set and all topics in the official guide have been covered.
 
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Edit: realized I was confusing this with something else... went ahead and bought it.
 
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This is from my blog (www.mcatmatt.com).

This was my approximate day-by-day study schedule from last year. You can download my schedule in Excel by clicking here (and a blank schedule template is available by clicking here). In reality I ended up approaching my schedule week-by-week, checking things off as I went, but I think it helps provide structure to list tasks by day. Some days I did slightly more, some days slightly less, and I ended up spending many of my scheduled “break days” playing catch-up. I didn’t stick to this schedule exactly, but by the end I had completed almost all of my scheduled tasks. I spent 15 weeks studying, and I don’t think I would have felt prepared had I condensed that further.

Content Resources (with lots of practice built in)

I relied on The Berkeley Review for the bulk of my content review and practice passages for Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry (organic and inorganic), and Physics. I think the general consensus is accurate that TBR is more detailed and covers more information than is generally covered on the MCAT. However, I was aiming for a top score, and I credit TBR in large part for my success. Their passages in particular are outstanding, providing ample opportunities for practice along with thoughtful and in-depth explanations. I used 2013 editions of TBR’s books, and found them to be great. They have since released updated editions that I’m sure are great as well.

For psychology and sociology, I primarily used Kaplan, and occasionally referenced Princeton Review when I found Kaplan to be lacking in a particular area. I found TPR’s sociology sections to be better than Kaplan’s, but found Kaplan much more readable and engaging otherwise.

I purchased the Examkrackers complete 2015 book set, but I found most of the content to be too superficial for me. I did use EK’s organic chemistry sections, because I knew I only needed a light review. Having gone back now as a tutor, I think that their physics and chemistry books are actually very good, and I probably didn’t need to know much of the material that TBR covered on those topics. Still, I am happy that I was over-prepared for those sections. Overall, I still think that their psychology/sociology and biology sections are too concise. However, the Examkrackers Biology section on Laboratory techniques was excellent, covering topics like NMR, IR, UV, Gel Electrophoresis, and others very well.

The 30-minute exams at the end of each Examkrackers chapter were excellent, and they gave me much-needed practice interpreting graphs and reasoning about experimental design. I think they’re worth purchasing for those passages alone, especially if you need some work in those areas.

Practice Passages and Full Length Tests

In addition to the many Berkeley Review and Examkrackers passages that I used, I did all of the official AAMC materials that were available at the time: the full-length Sample Test (no scaled score), the Official Guide Questions, and the 120 Question packs in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and CARS. They were all great, especially the CARS, since no other CARS resources truly resemble the real thing. Since then, the 300 question Section Bank and the scored Official Practice Test have become available, and like the other AAMC materials, those are essential for anyone studying now.

I also did full-length practice tests from Examkrackers, The Princeton Review, and the Berkeley Review. They are all lacking in certain areas compared to the AAMC’s tests (since then, I have also reviewed Kaplan exams through tutoring, and found those to be overly-detailed as well), but Examkrackers were the best of the bunch, and they are the only exams from third-party companies that I recommend to my students. I discuss my thoughts on these materials in more depth in this post.

I think there are probably only marginal benefits to doing more than 6-8 full-length exams for most students, and the combination of burnout and opportunity costs (in terms of time spent studying) can actually make additional full-length tests a net negative. Spending more time on targeted practice passages and thoughtful review is a better use of time, in my opinion.

Daily approach

My day-to-day approach to studying was pretty simple: read the new content, do 3-5 passages related to the new content, review them in-depth, and address all of my questions and mistakes by re-visiting the content and/or searching online. I discuss my approach to reviewing practice passages and practice tests in more detail in this post. I didn’t take notes on content, but I did log my mistakes and questions in a notebook, where I also logged the relevant explanations and answers for my own reference. I periodically reviewed this notebook to make sure I still understood the underlying concepts.

Each week I would also “loop back” on content covered in previous weeks, doing additional passages to make sure I still understood the material. I didn’t follow a set schedule for these review passages, but I tried to re-visit every content area within 1-2 weeks of initial exposure (with targeted periodic re-visiting after that).

For psychology and sociology, I made Anki flashcards and tried to review a batch every day. I did this because there weren’t as many passages available for me to practice, and most of the vocabulary was new to me, so I wanted to at least have the vocabulary down cold. For other subjects, I did not use Anki or any other form of flash cards. I still think flash cards can be a good approach if you are unfamiliar with the psychology and sociology vocabulary, but now there are more practice passages available to integrate as well. Some of the Khan academy passages are good (and they’re free), but they tend to focus on the details covered in the Khan lectures, and they are not very representative of AAMC style questions.

If you look at my schedule you’ll see that I did very little CARS review. Other than the AAMC CARS question packs, I did hardly any CARS practice. I relied on my full-length tests for CARS practice, and supplemented those with the AAMC materials.

Lifestyle

It’s normal to be fatigued by the grueling preparation that is necessary to succeed on the MCAT, so it’s extremely important to make a conscious effort to rest your mind and body in the days leading up to the test. If you’re too tired and stressed on test day, you won’t perform as well as you can. I think an important aspect of my success on the MCAT was being relatively well rested, well fed, and energetic on test day.

However, for the 15 weeks leading up to those last days, I made the MCAT my number one priority, studying for 6-8 hours every day. It was sometimes hard to keep going, but I wanted to be able to look back afterwards and know that I gave it my best shot.


Let me know if you have any questions about my approach or about how to build a custom schedule!

-------------------

Update (4-28-16) - I posted my annotated schedule (notes in bold) below so that you don't have to download in excel. Each paragraph is one day.


TBR General Chemistry 1 - Stoichiometry and passages. For all new content (and for subsequent review of that content 1-2 weeks later), I did 3-5 practice passages with in-depth grading/review.

TBR Biology 1 - Nerve and Muscle and passages; make amino acids flash cards. I reviewed amino acids flash cards often until I had memorized structures, three-letter abbreviations, and one-letter abbreviations. Also, I reviewed the TBR Biology books in order, but were I to do it again, I would start with Book 2, which focuses on cell biology and biochem, and then do Book 1, which focuses on physiology.

TBR Physics 1 - Translational Motion and passages. (I did passages on the new content for every section below, so I won't continue to note it below.)

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 1 - Biology and Behavior, Anki for new terms. I reviewed some Anki Psych/Soc flash cards almost every day. If I found a Kaplan explanation to be confusing, I used the Princeton Review to clarify or, more often than not, just used wikipedia. I did the discrete questions for each Kaplan chapter and also mixed in the TPR passages.

TBR General Chemistry 2 - Atomic Theory

TBR Biology 2 - Heart and Lung

TBR Physics 2 - Forces, Circular Motion, and Gravitation

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 2 - Sensation and Perception. At this point I started doing passages on the previous weeks' topics, fitting them in where I could amid the new stuff. I continued this throughout my course of study.

Break Day

TBR General Chemistry 3 - Equilibrium

TBR Biology 3 - GI and Kidney

TBR Physics 3 - Work and Energy

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 3 - Learning and Memory

TBR General Chemistry 4 - Acids and Bases

TBR Biology 4 - Reproduction and Development

Break Day

TBR Physics 4 - Momentum and Torque

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 4 - Cognition, Consciousness, and Language

TBR General Chemistry 5 - Buffers and Titrations

TBR Biology 5 - Endocrinology and Immunology

TBR Physics 5 - Periodic Motion and Waves

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 5 - Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

Break Day

Examkrackers Chem Ch. 2 - Intro to Organic Chemistry and 30-minute exam; Examkrackers Chem Ch. 3 - Oxygen Containing Reactions (basically continuation of Organic Chemistry) and 30-minute exam

TBR General Chemistry 6 - Gases

TBR Biology 6 - Structure and Function in Cells and Viruses. This is where I would start with bio now.

TBR Physics 6 - Sound and Doppler

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 6 - Identity and Personality

Break Day

TBR General Chemistry 7 - Phases and Phase Changes

TBR Biology 7 - Metabolic Components

TBR Passages on previous topics and in-depth review

TBR Physics 7 - Fluids and Solids

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 7 - Psychological Disorders

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack; 60 questions, timed, from the AAMC Biology 1 Question Pack. I spent a lot time reviewing the questions I missed, reviewing content I had already covered, and making note of content I had yet to cover. Were it available, I would have started using the AAMC Section Bank (with 300 Qs) around this time in order to practice biochem and psychology/sociology. These are more important questions to do than the other AAMC Question Packs.

Break Day

60 questions from the AAMC Chemistry and Physics Question Packs

TBR General Chemistry 8 - Thermochemistry

TBR Biology 8 - Metabolic Pathways

TBR Physics 8 - Electrostatics and Electromagnetism

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 8 - Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behavior; and 9 - Social Interaction. For all of the remaining Psychology and Sociology sections, I was using Princeton Review in conjunction with Kaplan. Not the most efficient way to do it probably, but by the end I felt pretty good about all the content.

TBR General Chemistry 9 - Kinetics

Break Day

TBR Biology 9 - Genetic Information

TBR Physics 9 - Electricity and Circuits

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 10 - Social Thinking; and 11 - Social Structure and Demographics

TBR General Chemistry 10 - Electrochemistry

TBR Biology 10 - Expression of Genetic Information

AAMC Official Sample Test

Review test and address weaknesses. Please see my post on how to review practices passages and practice tests for more information on my methods.

Review test

Review test

Review test

TBR Physics 10 - Light and Optics

Kaplan Behavioral Sciences 12 - Social Stratification; Examkrackers Biology chapter on Laboratory Techniques. I didn't use a lot of Examkrackers content (I did use all of their 30 minute exams), but I thought that their two Organic Chemistry chapters and their Laboratory Techniques chapter were excellent. You can get a lot of easy points on the test just by knowing the lab techniques.

60 questions from the AAMC Biology Question Packs, and 60 questions from the Chemistry Question Pack

Break Day

60 questions from the AAMC Physics Question pack; and 9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Packs

60 Questions from the AAMC Official Guide, with thorough review

60 Questions from the AAMC Official Guide, with thorough review

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness

The Princeton Review Full Length Test. I would not use the Princeton Review full-length tests again. Were I to take the test now, I would do the AAMC Official Practice Test (the scored one) at this point.

Review test. While reviewing, I started working in relevant passages to practice areas of weakness. I did this for subsequent tests as well.

Review test

Review test

60 Questions from the AAMC Biology Question Packs

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics. By the end, I had done all of the Examkrackers 30 minute exams, and I found them all to be really helpful.

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #1

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

Break day

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #2

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

Break day

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

Examkrackers Full Length #3

Review test

Review test

Review test

Review test

TBR Biology Practice Test (from the back of the TBR Biology Book I)

TBR Biology Practice Test (from the back of the TBR Biology Book II)

TBR Full Length #1. I found the test to have some good classical science passages, but it lacked newer, research-based passages, which are emphasized on the official AAMC full lengths. The CARS section was terrible, and the psychology section was a mix of re-purposed, psychology-themed verbal passages and new psychology and sociology passages. Overall it wasn't as good as EK, but was probably better than the Princeton review. If I were studying again, I would take Examkrackers Full Length #4 in its place.

Review test

Review test

60 questions from the AAMC Biology Question Pack

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

TBR Passages on earlier topics and areas of weakness; Examkrackers 30 minute exams on various topics

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack

Review AAMC Sample Test. I re-read all of the passages and reviewed some of the questions/answers.

Continue reviewing AAMC Sample Test

9 passages, timed, from the AAMC CARS Question Pack

Review big-picture psychology and sociology topics, high-yield physics formulas, and other random topics. No new passages.

Break day (although I studied a little)

Break day

Test Day


Question: were you working or in school when you studied? Seems impossible to commit 6-8 hours a day with a job. Did you just take 15 weeks off to study?
 
I bought the Kaplan series originally. I using Kaplan but also got the Berkely books from someone later. Any advice for me? I'm thinking about using Berkely for the problems and to review areas I do not do well on.

I do not have the Biochemistry book though if there is one. Any advice?
 
... also got the Berkely books from someone later. Any advice for me? I'm thinking about using Berkely for the problems and to review areas I do not do well on.

I do not have the Biochemistry book though if there is one. Any advice?

The biochemistry is split between the biology book (Metabolism chapter), the general chemistry book (part of the titration chapter), and the organic chemistry book (chapters 5, 7, and 8.) You'll also see some electrophoresis in the physics book as well. A lot of the biochemistry is incorporated into other subjects.
 
I bought the Kaplan series originally. I using Kaplan but also got the Berkely books from someone later. Any advice for me? I'm thinking about using Berkely for the problems and to review areas I do not do well on.

I do not have the Biochemistry book though if there is one. Any advice?

GET THE BIOCHEM BOOK. There are pathways in there that you need to know unless you recently took biochem undergrad and have it down 100%
 
What's helpful in TBR biochem? Just the pathways? I know someone who has the new books
 
What's helpful in TBR biochem? Just the pathways? I know someone who has the new books

The structure material in the second Organic Chemistry book is very useful (many tricks for working through folding and linkages in macromolecules faster.) The pathways material is found in the second Biology book. The most important thing is that you do all of the passages for biochemistry, which amounts to about 80 total between the various books.
 
I heard TBR is for top scorers and not really everyday people. If you want a 518 or higher do them.
 
I heard TBR is for top scorers and not really everyday people. If you want a 518 or higher do them.

While it's an honor to be thought of so highly, I think that number is a bit unrealistic. Probably want to lower that by at least 10. When we write our passages and strategies, we are aiming at the middle of the upper half of the curve, meaning we write to the 507s and 508s, hoping to give them enough tricks and so many passages that they get 512 or above. If you are a 518 or above, the reality is that you need to be a passage-doing machine and probably should be using multiple sources. But I will agree that if you are aiming for a 500 to 502, the amount of passages and work we expect to complete our books might be a bit excessive.
 
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mcattmatt, how did you learn all of the organic chemistry content? Since you didn't set aside any days to study that section specifically, did you relearn it all through practice tests? I just feel nervous now studying the TBR organic chem books using your schedule, like I might get close to the exam and realize I know only a fraction of the organic chem material that I should. What was your strategy?
 
I've heard only need to do Quicksheets for Kaplan
I hope that's true, but even if it is, I was hoping to find a way to re-learn all that content in an active (i.e. practice questions) way so that I can confirm I actually know it. Is there some happy medium between the quicksheets and the full TBR bookset that can test my knowledge more effectively without wasting my time? Are practice tests enough?

Also, I heard TBR books for organic chem have valuable biochem material in some sections - so maybe it's worth reviewing those books simply for that material? Idk, what do you guys think?
 
Hey Matt, your blog is down. Any chance post that schedule you used as well in the excel format again? I can't seem to find it since I changed computers.
 
The biochemistry is split between the biology book (Metabolism chapter), the general chemistry book (part of the titration chapter), and the organic chemistry book (chapters 5, 7, and 8.) You'll also see some electrophoresis in the physics book as well. A lot of the biochemistry is incorporated into other subjects.

The structure material in the second Organic Chemistry book is very useful (many tricks for working through folding and linkages in macromolecules faster.) The pathways material is found in the second Biology book. The most important thing is that you do all of the passages for biochemistry, which amounts to about 80 total between the various books.

I've been doing these chapters in the new TBR books and they're pretty great in terms of the passages. However, the content review I do find to be lacking in a lot of ways. I would recommend using Lehninger's Biochem book which I'm sure anyone could find a pdf of online easily.

Some minor gripes I have are that there are no explanations for the discrete questions for the Bio books. #6 in Section VIII is about ketone bodies, yet none of these particular ketone bodies are ever covered in the books - I've searched through everywhere. Also #20 from that same section asking about which lipoprotein contains dietary lipids - the answer just says "This is not in the passage... The rest comes down to memory." I wish that the chapter topic introductions like for gluconeogenesis were better at summarizing its roles; the answer explanation for #88 explains gluconeogenesis better than that entire chapter.

That being said, TBR is still my top choice and what I am currently using. I'm still on Section VIII Metabolic Pathways and it's really ****ing hard. Though, I am learning a lot.

Thanks for the advice. I also have TBR psych book. I believe that should be sufficient for covering psych but how should I cover sociology?

This is also a major problem. The TBR Psych book only covers Psych and there is no Sociology. It's fine if you're aware of it and can find other resources, but they should really mention it since they are basically advertising the set as all you need.

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I don't know if I'll be using much of the Physics books. Is there anything particularly useful in them with regard to biological applications? I say this as a Physics major, so I don't know if I should bother. I'm going to skip most of Gen Chem and CARS too, unless someone can change my mind.
 
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