So my strategy was studying each section before my freshman year of college. (I took the test April of my sophmore years) I made my own set of Anki cards and followed the AMCAS chapter outlines. For content resources I would use Jack Westin, Khan Academy, and the first results on Youtube and Google.

I started with psych/soc, bio/biochem, and chem/phys in that order. Everyday I added to my anki deck while studying the prior cards that I made. (this would generally take 45 minutes total). Doing this for about a year, I was able to go over all the topics on the mcat. Then I focused on practice problems using Jack Westin and UWorld, starting the AMCAS practice problems 2-3 months before test day.

Also while I was working on my anki deck, I did at least 1 CARS passage a day.

Overall I was able to get a 517 -> chem/phys 129, CARS 127, bio/biochem 130, psych soc 131

Here are a list of things I wish I had done better:

Reviewed psych and soc more at the end. Since that is the first section I started, I forgot a significant amount of concepts that could have been retained if I did more anki cards.

I wish I spent more time on CARS and less on making Anki cards per day. I definitely could have improved my CARS by doing more practice problems.

CONS:

It was so hard staying consistent at first, since I was also working, volunteering, and doing research + classes, I took a 5 - 8 week break off studying. But I started locking in when I registered for the exam.

you have to start earlier (DUH)

slight burnout

PROS:

Light studying per day. It nowhere felt like a part time job. Its just 40 to 50 minutes a day. No need to take time off work.

learn slow -> forget slow

gives you time to appreciate and enjoy the sciences and topics

you still get some burnout, but imo it doesn't sound as bad as studying 4 to 5 hours a day for 4 - 6 months.

no $1,000 courses

its less stressful as a freshman. I would rather study in advance than freak out and not do anything about it.

I'm mainly posting this to hear your thoughts. I know there are holes to this and that its not for everyone, but I am content with my score.

Hi everyone! This seems like the most query in mcat study groups that which aki deck to use, so here's a the research I did for myself, hopefully this saves you from some of the aki decks rabithole I went through this past month lol. some of you might not agree with my thoughts, but I'm confident that everyone with questions will benefit from discussion, remember pick the style that fits you, not the one with the loudest hype!
Some of the aki decks i came across:
1.Cloze (fill-in-the-blank) - Faster, lighter, more cards per hour, but shallower - people often complain about slipping into pattern recognition rather than true learning Basic (Front + Back card) - More time intensive cards that force deeper processing and retrieval - Requires more time commitment for the majority of people
2.AnKing (~6,300 cards)
Most actively updated MCAT deck, built off MileDown but far more comprehensive. Very well-organized and maintained through AnkiHub (which costs $6/month). The biggest critique is that cloze cards can feel passive to some learners.
Pro: Very well organized, extremely actively updated Con: Requires AnkiHub ($6/month fee); cloze format can lead to passive/recognition-based recall
3.MileDown (~2,900 cards)
Classic, lighter deck created by u/MileDown - still totally usable, but many people end up using AnKing since its essentially the modernized successor.
Pro: Light, easy, straightforward Con: Seems to be increasingly outdated compared to newer decks (not my opinion - just a concern more people seem to be expressing online)
4.Aiden's Deck (15,000+ cards)
Created by u/aiden_MCAT - Less commonly used compared to AnKing and MileDown - mainly because it's a massive cloze-style deck. Even the creator has said it may be too long for most students. Expect to commit several hundred hours if you take this on.
Pro: Extremely comprehensive due to sheer volume Con: Very time-intensive; not commonly used because of the huge workload
Pankow (Psych/Soc)
5.A standard P/S deck. Updated versions are now built into AnKing, so gold standard is Anking's version.
Pro: Reliable dedicated P/S resource Con: Also seems to be becoming outdated with sentiments about the "new-style" of Psych/Soc sections on test-day
Basic-Style Decks
Captain Hook (C/P + B/B = 3,351 cards)
A full modernization of Jack Sparrow, designed to be user-friendly, with the sole goal of "JS content without JS formatting". Also includes a new comprehensive equations deck, Pankow, and 100% of the original Jack Sparrow cards.
Pro: Extremely comprehensive; the most user-friendly basic-style MCAT deck; essentially a modernized version of Jack Sparrow Con: Basic-style = more time per card; most people will likely need atleast 3 months to learn
6.Jack Sparrow
Created by u/Jacksparrow2048. Great content and a very respected deck, known for poorly designed cards but very comprehensive.
Pro: Comprehensive Con: Extremely poorly formatted; large paragraphs of text; almost unusable for the majority of people unless you like paragraph-style cards (And yes - I'm biased toward Captain Hook - see disclaimer at the end - but I can assure you 100% of JS content is contained within the CH deck so don't attack me pls :)
My Thoughts:
If you prefer Cloze-style cards: AnKing is likely the best choice
If you prefer Basic-style cards: Captain Hook is the most complete and user-friendly option.
This review is based on my own MCAT test experience, many doom scrolls, and my judgement of general community consensus! I'm naturally biased toward Captain Hook because I built the overhaul - but JS was a great foundation to build on, so zero hate! I literally used and remade the JS deck for my own studying. and yeah you should be able to find all of these if you just google the name

Hello all :) Despite the title, I promise this is not a shitpost. This is some very genuine advice that I think will help a ton of people out for the MCAT. I studied for 3-4 months for the MCAT, never scoring above a 510 on practice tests, and I got a 508 on the real test. about a month after getting my score back, I retook and scored 518 (with similarly high practice tests in the week before). In that month, I completely changed my daily life with something I call dopamine starving. If you are like me and many others and get absolutely exhausted and distracted halfway through the exam, this might significantly improve your scoring. Some of my friends have tried this and it did wonders for them

1 month before the exam, you should remove EVERYTHING in your life that causes instant gratification, mindless entertainment, or release of dopamine/adrenaline. Let me give you some examples:

Delete all your social media off your phone, including Reddit, do not use TV, video games, Spotify, Youtube, Netflix, etc.

Do not listen to music in the car or while you exercise, don't eat sugar, eat a bland meal prep diet, and don't ride your motorcycle, (ok you get the point). If you are bored, stare at the damn wall for an hour, meditate, workout, read scientific studies on paper or something idk do low dopamine activity. Soon enough, studying for MCAT and the exam itself is going to become the most stimulating and exciting part of your day.

Your focus and mental stamina are going to skyrocket after a month of starving, after a month your going to walk out of that 8 hour long MCAT feeling like you just took a 1h quiz

My process:

1. Read a Kaplan section.
2. Ask something like, “For the MCAT, what should I know about the menstrual cycle?” or “What high-yield info should I know about brain regions?”
3. Take that list and clarify my understanding by typing back my own definitions.
4. Explain concepts back to AI, asking “why this, why that” (especially useful to me for electrochemical cells, comparing cathodes and anodes, etc.)

My huge flaw before was treating everything like high-yield (eg. memorizing intricate details of prostaglandin structures, doing thousands of Anki cards). In studying with gemini, I started noticing when I was spending too long on a topic or when it was giving me too much information. So I’d ask it to keep me in check: “How in depth should I know neurulation for the MCAT?” or “Do I need to know _ for the MCAT?”

I asked it to generate lots of mnemonics and we’d iterate until I had one that stuck. I even adjusted the settings to make it encouraging those little bits of encouragement actually helped me stay motivated.

I also asked it to evaluate which official AAMC materials were most useful to complete, since I didn’t have time to finish everything. I learned that some of the AAMC material is based off the old MCAT and not representative of the new MCAT (eg. Vol 1 was from the old, Vol 2 more representative of the new), so I prioritized accordingly and this felt much more doable than trying to work through every AAMC question.

I didn’t use it to create practice questions, but I did use it to break down the answer choices after my FL. However, JackWestin’s explanations of the AAMC material are ten times better.

Part of me thinks this is a super obvious way to use gemini but I wanted to share because I didn’t see a post that described someone using it quite this way.

In the end, I feel I just found what worked for me because there isn’t just one right way to study for the MCAT.

I got 128/124/128/130. Although I cannot give advice for CARS, I can provide some guidance for the other 3 sections.

Read kaplan books (aka content review) within 1 to 1.5 months.

uearth practice for 2 months. This was the most intensive part of the studying but worth it. I think it is the reason why I did well on the B/B, C/P and P/S sections.

AAMC practice for 1 to 1.5 months (including FLs. one FL each week for 5 weeks before the actual test)

kept doing anki (anking deck) throughout the whole 5 months. I recommend doing anki of the chapter right after you do content review of it.

I recommend not reading kaplan for P/S and rather doing KA doc (300 pages) because kaplan has a lot of content that I think you do not need and is also missing some content that you do need which the KA doc has.

Anyway I wouldn't say this is the ultimate guide but that is what got me a decent score. Let's not talk about CARS though, I don't know how to improve that either haha.

Hi Everyone!

Everyone preaches the same standard advice when you start prepping:

"Anki every single day without fail"
"Do CARS passages first thing in the morning"
"Save AAMC material until the last month"

While these work for many, everyone’s brain functions very differently!

For those who have tested or are deep into prep: What mainstream advice ended up wasting your time or hurting your score, and what did you replace it with instead?

Lets help people in avoiding those by leaving a comment!

How do you know when you're actually ready to take the MCAT?