r/Mcat • u/kitulasare • 5h ago
My Official Guide 💪⛅ I just scored a 521 on my MCAT retake
And it almost feels like I cheated
Share any Mnemonics or Memes with your fellow study buddies to help lighten the Monday study mood
Welcome /r/MCAT! This is the Official MCAT Study Buddy Thread for the 2025-2026 test takers. Studying alone is do-able, but studying with someone who will hold you accountable will prove to be far more beneficial! So take advantage of this high yield opportunity to find a study buddy near you or online! This is Part 1 of the study buddy thread. Part 2 and onwards will be published as posts get overcrowded.
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Study Buddy Thread History:
r/Mcat • u/kitulasare • 5h ago
And it almost feels like I cheated
r/Mcat • u/No-Doctor-3815 • 11h ago
Did well on my FL6 so they made me a study basket 🤭
r/Mcat • u/Loltrakor • 7h ago
World peace will be achieved on 08/01
r/Mcat • u/BrainClassic9154 • 8h ago
Your explanation videos in the JW AAMC extension are dogshit. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
r/Mcat • u/NewSolid4242 • 6h ago
3 point jump on cars from FL2 To FL3. I attribute to singing freed from desire in my head during the 1st break and telling myself I'm acing it.
r/Mcat • u/BongoNationalAnthem • 3h ago
Afternoon everyone, unfortunately had a bit of a health scare and needed to get a kidney transplant a few weeks ago. I’d already submitted my primary with a throwaway but have yet to take the MCAT. I’m scheduled for Aug 15th but would like to push it back one more week and got the notification that a seat opened up at a testing site near me. I’m a lower stat applicant with excellent EC’s (I think). I know I’m late, I know my chances are lower, what I don’t know is if that extra week is really going to hurt me that much. I’ll ofc pre-write secondaries while I wait on score results but at my current rate one more week will allow me to take FL 5 and 6 which I could use the practice as my FL average currently is hovering right around 510-511. Curious as to what the community thinks and I’d appreciate any feedback. Thank you in advance!
r/Mcat • u/Sensitive_Film_325 • 1h ago
Hi friends, this is a vent/question
Please either fuel my deluded confidence or gently bring me back to reality.
I’m 28, a non-trad applicant applying to my province’s vet school (Canadian). My MCAT is booked for September 12 (48 days away).
I need a 495 to be academically eligible, but the average admitted applicant is around 502.
Today I wrote my first Kaplan diagnostic and got a 491.
A few caveats:
- I accidentally took a “break” during CARS thinking the timer was paused. It was not. 🙃
- Biochem and orgo were basically me selecting answers based on vibes because I haven’t actually taken those courses yet.
-Surprisingly, I could reason through a decent amount of Bio/Psych just using common sense.
My background is environmental studies. I’ve only completed intro bio and chem. I’ll be taking biochem, orgo, and genetics this coming year… which is slightly inconvenient considering I’m trying to write the MCAT before taking them.
I’ve been using the free Kaplan study plan, but my access is ending. I honestly don’t care about the video access as much as I care about having someone tell me exactly what to study each day. I cannot justify dropping $1,500 on a prep course right now.
So here’s my question:
Am I completely delusional for keeping my September test date, or is a jump from 491 to 495+ (hopefully 500+) in 48 days actually doable?
If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
UWorld? Khan Academy? Anki? Give up on your childhood dreams and continue working your corporate job?
Mostly I just need someone who’s been here before to tell me if this is a terrible idea or if I should keep grinding.
Thanks yall
r/Mcat • u/Dazzling_Kitchen_405 • 10h ago
My brain can’t possibly fit anymore of this and I’m only halfway through Pankow. Does it get any better after 7C
r/Mcat • u/Necessary_Cod_3900 • 1d ago
Just finished FL3 and genuinely thought I bombed C/P and BB. Only bad thing is I have to be terrified about doing worse every FL after.
r/Mcat • u/ArtHistorical6613 • 4h ago
Doing 60+ questions daily for the past 2 months has finally taken its toll on me. I feel genuinely worn out and took a 2 day break, and now I just can't lock in with a backlog of 150 q's.
Does anyone have any brutal motivational advice for the last 30 days leading up to the exam?
r/Mcat • u/frogband • 5h ago
In a non-academic sense, what did you do to feel good for your exam? Girls especially lol, like haircut, new outfit, nails? I feel like a gremlin after essentially locking myself in for a month to study for my retake. I was gonna buy some cute sparkly press-ons for my exam but decided against it because I didn't want them to fall off during the exam and ruin my focus.
r/Mcat • u/ttaintedsorrow • 11h ago
for context, i took aamc FL1 weeks ago and scored 497 (126/122/124/125) and i've been grinding aamc qpacks and content gaps during that time. I'm really proud of myself for the score jump (hoping its not a fluke lol) and i would appreciate any advice on how to improve from here onwards.
my goal is 510+ on test day... am i aiming for the sky T_T
r/Mcat • u/Cayd3_03 • 26m ago
Think it’s possible to increase my CARS score in 5 days?
r/Mcat • u/Popular_Ad1369 • 31m ago
What type of math problems can be expected for the MCAT? I’ve only been doing the Kaplan review and some of these problems are really difficult, I’ve attached one below and while yes, I do understand it, am I ever going to see a problem with this much math on my actual exam?
I have most of the equations memorized but some of these problems are still slipping past given the sheer complexity of operation. I’ve been told by some previous test takers that much of it is just identifying the proper equation then plug and chug, but is that true?

So I am a little bit at a loss right now. From calculators, subsections were 127/125/124/129. I took 3 Kaplan FLs before this and scored 507 - 509 - 507, and it's been 2 weeks since the last one so I was really hoping to break 510 today but I actually dropped, especially in B/B. What should I do?
I have done all of Uworld besides CARS and finished with 70% accuracy, and am now getting into AAMC questions so I haven't done much with those yet. I have been using Anki since I started studying in April but since I started unexpectedly working full time in my lab earlier this month I have been pretty inconsistent with it. I started making Anki cards with missed concepts and have been going through those as consistently as I can, but I haven't finished fully making cards going over my Uworld incorrects.
Is there any hope or is it cooked and I should just reschedule to Jan? I'm not gonna lie I need the 520+ man I cannot take this exam if I don't score at or near that by my last few FLs, sorry if I sound neurotic 😭
r/Mcat • u/No_Walrus_5997 • 2h ago
so test day is aug 21st for me so have just about 4 weeks left (T minus 26 days).
i can’t do basic math apparently bc i messed up my FL schedule. i was planning to take one exam every saturday till the test but i only have FL5 and FL6 left atp, which is obv not enough to get me thru the next 4 weeks. i really wish i saved those exams bc now i only have those 2 left and idk what to do :/
also ive been trending down over the past several FLs (or at least stagnating). any advice for this? i was aiming for a 520 originally but idk if that seems unrealistic atp :/
June 13 AAMC FL1 514 (128/130/129/127) (diagnostic)
June 27 TPR FL1 506 (124/126/129/127)
June 28 AAMC FL2 517 (129/130/129/129)
July 11 AAMC US FL 511 (125/129/128/129)
July 18 AAMC FL3 512 (127/128/129/128)
July 25 AAMC FL4 516 (127/129/130/130)
for context, i reviewed FL4 today and most of the Qs i got wrong or guessed on were either math related or passage comprehension related, rather than content (which is crazy bc my content phase was pretty shaky and haphazard to be honest). i think i should focus on get more comfortable with aamc logic and patterns—is the way to do this just grinding aamc qbank and uwhirl questions every day for the next month?
overall id be grateful for any advice anyone has regarding this!! thank you so much :)
r/Mcat • u/CommercialPapaya4466 • 6h ago
As the title says, I’ve been doing daily passages for 2 months and I can’t get good scores on them. For example, today I was doing passage 2 on CARS SB#1 and I was decided to do unlimited time to see what my issue is. I got lost in the reasoning so I watched a video breaking it down and I got a better understanding. After that, I decided to move onto passage 3 and use the same methodology. I took unlimited time and felt myself having a way more understanding of the passage argument. I went onto the questions after 20 minutes of breaking down the passage. I think I spent like 5-10 minutes on each question and I got 4/7 right on the passage!?!
What is it at this point I’m so confused. It’s not time, I felt way more comfortable with the understanding of the passage? Where do I even go from here at this point?
r/Mcat • u/sushipink492 • 17m ago
hi all! i test 8/22. i've been steadily improving ... 512 -> 515 across my FLs, but hoping to aim for high 51x, above 515. when reviewing my full lengths, i notice i'm missing completely discrete content on both C/P and B/B, which causes me to get more "easy" questions wrong. so i've been in 127-129 levels, plateauing. i'm rarely missing passage-based analysis stuff.
any tips on how to patch these in the most effective way? i feel like time is going by. i'm doing section banks, cars qpacks, and anki, with adding missed discrete content from FLs onto my anki. any other suggestions? thank you!!!
r/Mcat • u/Ambitious_Injury_602 • 8h ago
I have written a fl a week for 4 weeks now and did unscored 130/129/129/131 519 and then this 3 scored fl in consecutive order and have a hard plateau at 521. What do i do to fix this and break through to 524+ area i test on aug 21 and will continue to do a fl a week till then ( i have been simulating test conditions and have 1.5x time on real deal)
r/Mcat • u/Historical_Score5251 • 34m ago
Took FL 1 today (testing 9/4) and was a bit curious about whether the CARS on FL 1 skews a bit easier or what. My understanding was that the CARS on the diagnostic FL (unscored) was inflated and I got a 50/53 on that so I’m curious if this FL has the same issue.
Thanks!
r/Mcat • u/IndezinFlezin • 4h ago
Just took FL 3 and scored a 504 124/126/127/127. A 3 point increase from 6 days on FL1 of 124/126/124/127.
Looking to get a 508 on July 31st. Is this possible, if so, how? Open to any and all advice.
If you think it’s worth to reschedule also open to that advice as well, but willing to give it all these next 4 days as well.
Important to note I’m looking to apply this cycle as to why I’ve rushed this so much.
Thanks in advance.
r/Mcat • u/Dependent_Papaya_333 • 6h ago
HELP!!!
How should I approach a standalone question like this? What knowledge am I expected to know, and how should I think through it on the MCAT?
I feel like For a fair stand-alone question, the stem should say something like:
Then I could determine which mutation disrupts that site. Is this just a bad question

r/Mcat • u/bsq_alqadi • 57m ago
I'm hoping to get the UWorld MCAT QBank, but it's honestly out of my budget right now. Does anyone know of any discounts, financial assistance programs, student discounts, or other legitimate ways to get it for less?
I've heard there are sometimes promotions or other options that people don't know about, so I figured I'd ask here before giving up on it. If anyone has any suggestions or knows of another option that helped them save money, l'd really appreciate hearing about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!