How to destroy the MCAT with minimal study time (Part 5- Reviewing Strategies & Answers to comments)

Update (7/18/2014): Commenting has been disabled- it's been more than 4 years since I wrote the MCAT & I don't think I should continue giving out random advice & the new MCAT will render a good chunk of my MCAT-related writing obsolete. Good luck to everyone, regardless.

Hi folks,

I've been way too busy with work to answer recent comments/emails regarding the MCAT- but here are answers to some frequently asked questions:

Q: What material should I be using for BS/PS/VR/etc?

A: In my previous posts, I've cited Kaplan as the best for science sections (due to sheer difficulty) and EK for VR. However, there are alternatives that will serve just as fine- here's a list of material that you can really choose from and still do well on the MCAT:

BS, PS- Kaplan, Berkeley review, Princeton Hyperlearning (and regular Princeton), EK 1001
VR- Examkrackers (101 passages & strategy book), Princeton Hyperlearning, Berkeley review

The above are consistently cited for their effectiveness- really, any one (or multiple) should be fine. Don't be too concerned by which prep material you use- it's more about how you study & review. More on that below.

Q: Where do I get all this material?

A: I think the Kaplan practice tests I used were old, outdated ones made into pdfs... but like I said, you don't have to use Kaplan- you can use any set of practice questions and still do well.

Q: How do I improve at verbal?

A: In my opinion, no one can really tell you how to do well on verbal. There is, of course, a lot of bs flying around (especially on premed101) regarding verbal tutoring and such- but this is ridiculous, each person's critical thinking process/language capabilities/prior experiences/etc are different and what works for one person may not work for another. This is really a self-teaching process. See below for my general reviewing strategies.


Q: What was your actual schedule like?

A: I don't think knowing what my actual schedule was like would help anyone. Your schedule should depend on your own timeline (i.e. days left until MCAT), your studying habits, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. There's always a big caveat when following any advice online (yes, even on premed101)- what worked for others may not necessarily apply/work for you. In my posts, I try to emphasize specific strategies (that I and others found very helpful) that you can generalize and use them for yourself- for example, my strategy for coupling cumulative reviewing & tons of practice questions.

In any case- this is roughly how my 18 days of studying went, I have trouble remembering now:

Days 1-10: Material review (PS, BS) for 5-6 days, sectional practice questions for the rest (8-10 hours per day).
Day 11: Kaplan practice MCAT- PS 7/BS 10/VR 7. PS practice tests (~12?) for the rest of the day (10 hrs).
Day 12: Kaplan practice MCAT- PS 13/BS 9/VR 10. PS practice tests (3-4?), started on VR and BS as well (total 9-10 hours).
Day 13: Kaplan practice MCAT- PS 8/BS 6/VR 9. BS practice tests (10+ until it started to feel like bleeding in my brain) (10+ hours).
Day 14: Online (free) practice MCAT- PS 9/BS 7/VR 9. BS & PS practice tests until rest of the day.
Day 15: Practice MCAT (Kaplan full-length), VR for rest of the day.
Day 16: AAMC MCAT #10 (I completely forgot these scores- probably around PS 12/BS 13/VR 10) & 2 VR (Examkrackers) tests.
Day 17: AAMC MCAT #8 (PS 11/BS 14/VR 10) & 3 VR tests.
Day 18: 4 VR tests (not a good idea).

...and of course, I always spend a lot of time reviewing (see below). The practice tests above refer to some convoluted mix of 10 full-length tests, 8 sectional tests for BS, PS, VR (all Kaplan on paper), and 12 EK verbal tests. Practice MCATs are full-length tests that I did online- 3 Kaplan, and a couple of other random free sites I found.

The bottom line is:

1. Lots of practice tests, as many as you can possibly handle.
2. Thorough, continuous, cumulative review of all practice tests and the material as needed (see below).
3. Focusing on your weaknesses one at a time and deriving realistic strategies to overcome them.

The Average Korean premed's Review strategy for the MCAT- Cumulative reviewing of concepts & practice tests

This is a strategy that I found most effective- for both science sections and improving at verbal. I always say that you can only improve by thorough practice & review, and I think this strategy is the best way to go about improving at any section. 

For Verbal- EK's strategy is almost always cited as the best strategy for verbal. However, you do need to tweak these strategies to fit your own style. I would first start off by:

1. Learn & follow EK strategy thoroughly. Don't cheat/skip steps/cut corners- every bit helps imo. The EK verbal strategy book (Verbal Reasoning and Mathematical Techniques book) has some great practice questions for learning the strategy.

2. After each practice test, review every single answer- even the ones you got right. Try to understand where you went right/wrong (you might have gotten lucky) in your reasoning by referring to the answers. This is a painful process, but crucial.

3. If you've done things right, you should be able to see where/how you can improve. Tweak the strategy/your thinking process to make it work best for you. At some point, you may need to stop changing your strategy and just stick with what you have (the best one hopefully).

4. Repeat 2-3. Space your tests apart to maximize efficiency. For example: 

Day 1: verbal practice test (strictly timed, always) & review

Day 2: review Day 1 verbal test

Day 3: another verbal practice test & review

Day 4: review Day 1, 3

Day 5: practice test & review

Day 6: review Day 1, 3, 5

You can space them apart more (depending on your schedule)- but definitely something like once every 2-4 days. I've used this sort of cumulative reviewing for the science sections as well- which really helped. For science sections, I would do something similar:

Day 1: BS + PS practice tests

Day 2: BS + PS practice tests & review Day 1

Day 3: BS + PS practice tests & review Day 1, 2

Day 4: BS + PS practice tests & review Day 1, 2, 3

...where the amount of reviewing I need to do increases every day. Similarly to verbal, I reviewed everything- even the questions I got right. 

This is, in my opinion, the best way to improve at any section- maximizing practice & retention of concepts, and effective for use with large amounts of practice tests (see How to destroy the MCAT with minimal study time (Part 4- Putting it All Together).

Matt

How to destroy the MCAT with minimal study time (Part 1- Study Material and Strategies)

Update (7/18/2014): Commenting has been disabled- it's been more than 4 years since I wrote the MCAT & I don't think I should continue giving out random advice & the new MCAT will render a good chunk of my MCAT-related writing obsolete. Good luck to everyone, regardless.

Prior to writing the MCAT after my second year (summer, 2010), I had been researching on the MCAT and its “secrets” for over a year. It was almost as if I knew I would have very little time to study for it—which was fortunate, because I really did have very little time to study due to previously unforeseen circumstances. All the prep I did prior to actual studying helped minimize the amount of time needed to do well on the MCAT, which is why I always stress the importance of research.

“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.”

Best Study Material

Using the most effective study material is probably the most important factor in studying for the MCAT (other than actually studying). There are significant differences between major test prep companies and their materials, with some obviously being better than the others. After thorough, thorough research across premed forums (SDN, premed101), I was able to determine optimal material for each section of the MCAT as well as corresponding study strategies.

***Important to note: You will not succeed on the MCAT by memorizing all the facts, formulas, minute detail in prep books. Understanding the concepts outlined and correctly applying them on the test material is the only approach you should be taking—to do that well, you need ample practice with the best material.

But wait, why should you listen to me?

Good point. Short answer is- I studied for exactly 18 days before my MCAT. My scores were in the top ~2% percentile. I will elaborate on my story in a later post- it is a thrilling tale; I wish to do it justice.

Learning the Material

This really depends on your background—if you have an extensive background in the sciences, use Kaplan to review concepts you’ve learnt before as the Kaplan prep books are not overtly detailed and provide a good general overview of the concepts. If your background is not in sciences, I would recommend Princeton Review (Or even Berkeley Review, but those are hard to come by) for their detailed outline of the material. As long as you understand the concepts, you should be fine.

Practice for Physical Sciences (PS), Biological Sciences (BS)

For the two science sections, Kaplan practice tests are the way to go. In terms of difficulty (on average):

Kaplan PS, BS > Actual MCAT >>> AAMC practice tests

Other test prep companies fall somewhere below the actual MCAT. Kaplan is consistently cited as having the most difficult practice tests—by the time you get to write the actual beast, the PS and BS sections will seem so much easier because you’ve spent all your time tackling passages and questions that were significantly harder.

Study Strategy

• Work through as many practice test as you possibly can.
• After a few practice tests, you should do all your practice under strict timed conditions.
• For every question you answer incorrectly, read the solutions manual and completely understand the concept behind the question before doing any more practice.

In my case, I worked my way through about 10 practice tests each for PS and BS. On the actual MCAT, I had a decent run through PS, breezed through BS. After endless hours of ripping through countless practice tests, I found that I understood the concepts much more clearly and could easily see through the passages and questions to find the answer.

Verbal Reasoning (VR)

Practice. Only practice, and learning from your mistakes & adjusting your strategy accordingly will help you here. However, the gold standard for VR practice is the Examkrackers 101 Passages, as well as their VR strategies book (Verbal Reasoning and Mathematical Techniques). Every other test prep companies fall way below EK with regards to difficulty, accurate representation of the actual MCAT and quality practice questions.

Strategy

This is the EK strategy for approaching VR:

(adapted from premed101)

1. Read the passage critically (attack it like you are a professor reading a student's work)

2. Take a 5 second break before each passage, including the first one. This helps you to maintain focus on the passage.

3. Read every word.

4. Try not to go back to the passage so much (they recommend doing a few passage questions without reading the passage at all, to show that you can gain a lot of info from the question stems and answers themselves)

5. Do the passages from start to finish. You have to read every single passage and attempt to answer them.

6. Don't get caught up on the hard questions - if you aren't finishing on time, then you have to learn to give up and move on.

The above strategies are excellent (and has worked very well for many people), but eventually you will find your own personalized method of tackling VR passages. In terms of studying:

• Do not use more than one practice test in a day—there are only ~14 (golden) EK practice tests available, you want to maximize their use by spreading them out.
• After each practice test, look to see what questions you answered incorrectly, assess what you’re doing wrong and make adjustments to your strategy to improve. Continue making adjustments until you’re scoring at a consistent range (10-11).
• Learn to have the framework of the entire passage in your head before answering the questions.

Part 1- End. My score breakdown: 12/11/14/R (PS/VR/BS/WS)

Part 2 will discuss the Writing Sample (WS) as well as general advice.

Matt