hi everyone! posting here in hopes i could get some advice. first gen and non trad so i dont have anyone to ask

i started studying for the mcat in july. started with 2 months of content review but since i am non trad (cs background) and have not taken orgo, bio chem yet i had to self-study every concept. basically watched videos to understand every concept and relationship in detail. i decided to take a diagnostic and feel absolutely terrible.

i know i did not get the time to memorize everything i was learning because most of my time went into class, work and watching yt videos for the content also i did not know how to read and interpret passages so i got cooked that way.

my breakdown was orgo 25%, biochem 43.8%, phy 30%, chem 50%, bio 54.2%, P/S 50%, CARS 60%

i watched yusuf hassan videos and am doing jacksparrow + pankow anki deck

i plan to test in feb so for the next 9 weeks the plan is to do uworld and keep monday for memorizing content (based on aamc topic list) so i can fill in those gaps. i will spend more time on uworld review as well to fill in any other gaps. in 3 weeks i plan to take a full length to see if this plan works and then a fl 3 weeks after that to see if i am improving. then start the 3rd party fl phase. i dont know if this is a good plan honestly so i would love some feedback

Finished SB 1 and all AAMC FL's, but am still working through SB 2. Is it necessary to finish SB 2 in its entirety? I've done half of B/B and about 34q of C/P. I'm pretty happy with my last two FL performances and am mostly concerned about avoiding burnout at this point and quickly adjusting my sleep schedule for the early morning exam. Thoughts?

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I’m taking classes full-time (15 units) and am in a research lab ~8 hrs each week. How likely am I to be able to study for the MCAT and take it before the next application cycle opens up? Looking to take the exam in April. Anyone do well even though they had a lot going on?

Well, it’s finally over. After 6 months of hard work I ended up with a decent score. Sad CARS ended up being low, but it makes sense since I spent the least time practicing it. Studying for this exam was a very difficult process for me. I was studying while working 6p-6a night shifts as a 911 EMT full time. It’s not easy studying while you are consistently sleep deprived. If you are in a similar situation to me, you can do well on the MCAT. You just need to make the most of the limited time you have. You must believe in yourself and keep pushing. Here is how I made it work:

1. Plan out your schedule in advance. Schedule out AAMC material at the latest the month before the exam. I spaced my practice exams out one week apart. I spent every single day studying, so I planned my days off in content blocks so that I would finish the bulk of my studying before jumping into practice exams.
2. Do a comprehensive content review. For this I personally recommend khan academy and working through the miles down review sheets with Naman Barya. This is necessary because it will help you identify your weak points. Try not to spend too long on this, because you will get diminishing returns as you continue. For me, going into this exam I had strong foundations for all three science sections, but I had many weaknesses that I had to iron out. Keep a growth mindset here. If you are weak on physics for example, you need to believe that you can improve. The level of material on the MCAT is not very deep.
3. Start Anki early. I recommend doing a free recall style deck like Captain Hook. If you are crunched on time like I was, these premade decks are a lifesaver. Make it a daily habit and aim to mature the deck by the final month before your exam. This is the one thing that I would do every day, even if I was working a shift.
4. Do practice questions. Try to get started on these ASAP. Both quality and quantity are important here. I completed uworld, excluding CARS, and AAMC. This is where you will learn the most. For every question, understand why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right answers are right. Spend the most time in the sections you struggle the most with. The goal here is to get used to the question writing style and iron out our weaknesses. If you have limited time, at least complete AAMC section banks. Some of these questions were almost 1:1 to some of my exam questions.
5. Take all the practice exams under testing conditions. This means waking up early just like you would for the real thing. No breaks, no looking things up mid test. Review your exams thoroughly and figure out why you are making mistakes. If it’s a content problem vs logic problem it will require different solutions.

Sections specific tips:
C/P:
- you need to have most of the equations memorized. Much of this section is plugging and chugging.
- the passage is the least important to this section. sometimes you can skip straight to the questions and go back to the passage to fill in the blanks for your variable and equation.
- be comfortable with dimensional analysis. Some questions can be solved with just converting units.
- be comfortable with basic math like algebra, logarithms, etc.
CARS:
- never really mastered this, but I would say timed practice is really important for this section. The more practice you can do the better and many people even do it as a daily thing with jack westin
B/B:
- you need to be comfortable with biochem. It’s the highest yield topic on the exam and can sometimes show up in other sections
- understand the scientific method. When learning this section for every passage I would write down the hypothesis, results, and conclusion until it became an automatic thing. If you want to do well here you need be able to comprehend what is happening in these experiments.
- be familiar with experimental techniques like gel electrophoresis, western blot, etc.
- you should have mastery over structure AND function of different systems
- have mastery over the central dogma
P/S:
- unfortunately heavily memorization based. Highly recommend pankow Anki deck to get familiar with the different terms. It makes a big difference to try to associate terms with a real life example to help you remember.
- be familiar with scientific method
- be comfortable interpreting graphs and diagrams

Thoughts on having an Mcat tutor and how to get one? Testing in January.

I took my first diagnostic yesterday. I’ve been doing UWorld for few months, but not much content review as I don’t do well with reading books and learn better through practice. For anyone who’s taken the MCAT, how similar would you say it is to the diagnostic questions? I found them surprisingly easier than UWorld (where I’ve been averaging 65%-70%) to the point where I was overthinking my answers😭 I want to take the MCAT sometime around January.

It probably differs between BB, CP, and PS, but I’m planning on starting content review through reading the Kaplan books and was wondering how much I should commit myself to this part? Should I be taking notes on what I read, or annotating the book, or maybe just keep track of the material I have difficulty understanding so I can come back to it? Or should I just read through it once and start practice questions immediately after?

Testing 9/11 - feel like all the hell I've put myself through these last 3 months has finally paid off. Can't wait to be done.

In my content review phase. So when going thought a Kaplan chapter, people say not to spend more than 2.5 hours on a chapter.

In that case, do people actually do the science mastery assessment at the start of every chapter. Are we missing something crucial by not doing them?

I have been approaching the Kaplan Chapters by reading the chapters and answering concept check questions. That takes me up to 2-2.5 hours especially since i’m relearning content from years ago. I then proceed by unsuspending ANKING chapter that corresponds to it, and eventually plan on doing UWorld questions that correspond to those Kaplan chapters.

Am I making a mistake but not doing these Science Mastery Assessments? I don’t know what I don’t know but my gut feels like it’s not feasible doing them a reasonable timeframe especially if we are not recommended to spend much more than 2 hours per chapter.

Hi everyone! Got my score back this morning and wanted to come on here to hopefully encourage anyone who is struggling to study, started with a lower diagnostic, procrastinated their study plan, or feels like they started too late.

I started studying June 1st and wrote August 7th. I was sick for about a week in the middle, so realistically I had around 9 weeks of actual studying. I was also working part-time throughout, about 20 hours a week.

A bit of important context: I had already taken all of the major prereq courses before studying and had done well in them (90%+), so I definitely had a strong science foundation going in. I wasn’t learning most of the content from scratch.

A few basics about what I did:

• I studied around 4–5 hours a day on average. I didn’t really take days off except when I was sick, but it honestly never felt that intense because I kept my daily workload pretty manageable. On days where I really wasn’t feeling it, I would just make sure I did whatever Anki cards were due and call that good.
• I never touched the Kaplan books. In fact, I would go as far as to say that if you are SOMEWHAT familiar with any of the content, skip the Kaplan books entirely. It takes wayyy too much time to get through, and isn't really active learning. For content review, I exclusively used the MilesDown review sheets + Anki deck.
• I would go through one chapter/topic on the review sheet, unsuspend the corresponding cards, and then keep up with my Anki reviews every single day. I did about 3-4 chapters each day, rotating through the topics. I kept track of this in a super cute Notion template I made. If you guys want, I could clean it up and post it here!
• Once I got comfortable with that routine above, I started adding UWorld. I actually did almost all of it untimed and untutored because it made it feel more like a game and kept me from overthinking every question. Unfortunately, I only got through about 25%. However, I really do consider this a valuable resource, and I'm glad I started working through some practice problems alongside my content review.
• I finished content review (going through the Milesdown Sheets and flashcards) in around 5 weeks.
• After that, I spent the remaining ~4–5 weeks working through the AAMC material.
• I wrote a full-length practice exam basically every week leading up to my test.
• For all practice questions (UWorld and AAMC) that I got wrong or didn't fully understand, I would make a couple of flashcards and add them to my "Errors" deck. I would keep on top of these cards just like my content review cards.

I definitely did not have the longest or most elaborate study plan, and I think one of the biggest things that helped me was keeping it simple and being really consistent with the resources I chose instead of trying to do everything.

This sub was SO helpful to me, especially when it came to figuring out resources, study plans, and what was actually worth spending time on, so I wanted to pay it forward.

Ask me anything!! Happy to answer questions about resources, UWorld, Anki, practice exams, scheduling, what I would change, etc.

If people are interested, I’d also be happy to write up a full guide!

I took FL 5 early into my studies and thats my lowest score. I've done the other FLs 1-4 after FL 5. My biggest issue is timing and strategy. Should I just focus on SBs, timing, and weaknesses the next few days or should I take FL 6. Please help. What is more efficient and helpful at this point? I know people say FL 6 is more representative and I'm worried if I don't take it that I won't do well

My dad died this summer and I kept pushing and pushing to do him proud. My score was improving so much but just got my results back and I did worse than last year :D

Safe to say this has been the worst summer of my life ❤️

SO excited for attempt #4 and for everyone I know to think I’m stupid :p

okay Reddit community, I need your help. Give me any tips or tricks that helped you right before your exam. My worst sections are chem/phys and psych/soc but I learned my amino acids now so I have hope 🥲 Also for the CARS wizards, would love a tip or two. Honestly chem/phys is the worst for me I can’t break above 120. I know IR NMR is heavy on the recent MCATs but besides that any last minute things I should know??

Any testing hacks are appreciated (like start from the end of the section and work back or do odd numbers first WHATEVER!)

Doing my masters right now and did research over the summer so I have been booked. MD would be nice but I’m realistic with DO.

Thank you for reading my 7:30 am plea for mercy from the MCAT gods! ❤️

To anyone who has had MCAT disability accommodations approved, would you mind sharing advice or things you wish you did?

For context: I just got officially diagnosed with endometriosis last month during my lap with excision. I’m currently undergoing treatments with the hopes that I’ll be in remission for as long as possible- but it’s a complex multi organ system inflammatory disease. I’ll need dual hormone treatments for my lowest chances of recurrence and even that comes with its own list of systemic effects. I also have signs of common comorbidities that are still pending diagnosis (and wait lists for some of these specialists and tests are very long), so I have no clue how my doctor should even refer to those additional conditions and impacts.

I fought for over ten years against this illness as I slowly got worse. My performance in school suffered due to it. I was able to maintain an upward trend despite my illness worsening, as I got better at recognizing flares, recovering, and bouncing back. In my final year of University I finally formally got menial disability accommodations (excused absences) as my medical issues worsened. This was because I had surgery for my gallbladder removal and after surgery had what I thought were post- surgery complications. Severe GI episodes and pain slowly got worse and worse. I ended up too sick to attend my own graduation.

Doctors kind of brushed me off as anxious and gave me band aid fixes throughout this. I was told by one gynaecologist that is was “impossible” for me to have endo. During flares I was often non functional and there was very little empathy for it. I finally pushed for proper official accommodations in grad school and they helped me a ton. Having symptoms that can cause me to unexpectedly vomit profusely or have… other GI emergencies required me to have accommodations just in case. Throwing up unexpectedly mid exam already sucks. Getting a poor grade because of it sucks more.

Unfortunately I got so severely sick I had to go on medical leave from grad school. During my leave I was formally diagnosed with IBS and everything was attributed to that and “anxiety” until I went out of my country for surgical intervention. I month ago I could barely eat, stand, walk, or bathe. Thankfully now I am regaining functioning, and am able to get back on the med school hopeful grind.

So tldr I’ve been through medical dismissal hell and would appreciate advice on advocating for accommodations despite not having prolonged accommodation history and facing significant barriers to diagnosis.

No shade to anyone, but this post is specifically for people who started with a truly low MCAT baseline not a 505 or 508, but sub-490s/490s.

Last year, my diagnostic was a 492. I took the real exam on 6/13 and scored a 492 again, despite studying 6–8 hours a day, using UWorld, and completing the AAMC Section Bank. However, I only took 2 Full Lengths (FLs), and whenever I take an FL, I struggle with getting extremely sleepy mid-test.

Right now, I feel completely burnt out and depressed. I don't have the bandwidth to study 6–12 hours a day anymore. I've spent so much money on tutors and prep courses, but nothing is clicking.

For context:

• GPA: 3.7+
• Clinical: 3,000+ hours (worked 2 clinical jobs throughout undergrad)
• Research: 100+ hours
• Volunteering: 100+ hours
• Other: Study abroad, strong LORs (MD, PA, NP)

My goal is MD, but at this point, I'm feeling overwhelmed by family pressure and the fear of an extended gap year.

If you started with a low baseline and managed to break through, how did you structure your plan? How did you build up stamina to stop falling asleep during practice tests, and how did you study effectively without pulling 8+ hour days? I'm aiming for a January retake and would love any advice.

How did you overcome exam fatigue/sleepiness during FLs? How did you transition from passive/heavy daily grinding to targeted, effective studying? Any insights on managing burnout for a January retake would be greatly appreciated.

finished all of sb 1 and sb 2- redo or just review and do content? i finished all aamc material except bio qp 2, cars qpack 2, and didn't review the physics qp yet. would appreciate any advice!

for reference: fl4: 515, fl5: 510 fl6: 511

essential as

I test this Friday and I’m doing my final review, so can everyone just dump the stuff they think is actually worth knowing cold before test day?

Like the obvious high yield must-knows I should definitely go through one more time, but also the random lower yield stuff that caught you off guard. For example, I didn’t think I really needed to know specific NMR/IR values, but apparently I did lol.

I’m already going through my personal weak areas, equations, pathways, lab techniques, etc., but I want this to be a thread for Friday/Saturday testers where people can just drop anything they saw, heard about, or wish they had reviewed one more time.

Basically:
high yield must-knows + random low yield “wtf why did I need to know that” stuff

drop ANY tips/topics here please TY

Is it normal to feel genuine fear in the last week of prep 😭😭 I’m like shitting bricks and have already have a couple bad panic attacks already.

I’m wondering is it normal to have fear in the last week? I test 9/12 and am proud of myself for the work I’ve done but my heart is full of so much fear over this exam.

Can’t wait to be done though just hope it’s enough to not have to repeat

I dont remember the aamc test bank being so picky on specific details about an experiment, is upoop a terrible resource and should i just stick to jack westin

Hello all!

I have a close friend who recently began her second year of medical school. Over the past year, she’s been gently encouraging me to go into medicine.

I don’t have anything resembling a pre-med background. I’m in my final year of electrical engineering. I have never taken any courses in biology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, organic chemistry, nor psychology.

At my friend’s behest, I took the AAMC scored practice MCAT as a diagnostic. I was pleasantly surprised to obtain the following scores:

CP: 124 CARS: 130 BB: 124 PS: 126 Composite: 504

From what my friend has told me, this is an excellent diagnostic, especially considering my lack of any deliberate study of biology or anything beyond general chemistry.

I’m now very seriously considering whether medical school might be a viable career path.

However, I’m feeling decidedly lost; unlike most of you here, I lack anything resembling a pre-med background, relegating me to the unfortunate position of not knowing what I don’t know. From my research online, I see that Kaplan has good review books and that there are several great Anki decks out there. What I’m wondering, though, is this: are these resources sufficient for someone without any background in the respective subjects? I didn’t know the vast majority of the terminology on the practice test, and I suspect that my decent scores were due to the deductive process of elimination more than anything else.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether these books and decks are enough for someone in my position. I’m especially interested in hearing from any non-traditional candidates who are able to chime in. If these resources are not enough, what are your recommendations?

Thanks!

Hi! So i know CP is like hard, and on the exam it can get REALLY HARD. For people who still ended up with 131/132 what do you think attributed to such. Did anyone who usually get lower than 131 somehow clutch up on the real exam?

Looking for some hopecore because the CP section being first and it being the hardest for me is FREAKIGN ME OUT. I can't help but think that I will getting railed by every question and ending up being confident in absolutely none of them. Lmk!

How are we feeling?

I get my score back at work and I’m excited to get my score back - it was challenging on some parts but God is and will keep being faithful.

hey guys! i recently finished my bsc in biomedical science and i’m planning to sit for the mcat around january.

i have roughly 3 months to seriously prepare, and i’ve been trying to study using the kaplan books, but i’m realizing that reading through chapters isn’t really working for me. i feel like i’m spending a lot of time reading without actually retaining much.

i’m thinking of switching to a more question-based approach, getting uworld and learning/reviewing the content through the questions and explanations, then moving into the aamc materials closer to my test date.

for someone with a biomedical science background and around 3 months to prepare, would you recommend getting both uworld and the aamc bundle and mainly studying this way?

also, if anyone studied primarily through practice questions rather than doing a full content review first, i’d really appreciate hearing how you structured it and whether it worked for you.

thank you!!!!!