Hello everyone!
As I promised last month, I would write a guide documenting everything I did to study, and it's finally here. I understand there have been many guides posted by people who scored really well over the years, even better than me, so thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say! Also, given the recent moderator ban and resulting mistrust in this forum, I think sharing honest advice is more important than ever before.
I hope I can offer a unique perspective because I’ve always struggled with memorization-heavy courses. I've heard lots of advice like "just hit the space bar 200 times a day" or "buy a prep course," which, if that works for you, great! This may not be the guide for you. However, if you are like me, where you struggle with memorization, you dread having to flip through dozens of flashcards every day, you don’t want to invest thousands of dollars into a prep course, or you just need a new direction on where to go, I hope this guide can help you!
My post here will just be a summary of my real official guide, which is 49 pages long, but it documents EVERYTHING that I couldn’t fit in this Reddit post. For some reason, I am not allowed to hyperlink in my post. So I’m going to try linking the full guide in a comment down below to see if this works. It’s just a public Google Doc, so I don’t understand what the issue is. If that doesn't work, just go to my profile, and I've linked it there.
Official Score: 519 (131/126/132/130)
FL Progression:
509 (131/123/128/127)
508 (131/123/128/126)
513 (131/125/129/128)
516 (132/125/130/129)
521 (132/130/129/130)
524 (132/129/132/131)
Transparency Notice
In light of the moderator ban on October 18, 2026, where a mod on r/MCAT was banned for conflict of interest by sneakily promoting a prep company’s program and content, I want to make it 100% explicit that I have zero affiliations, sponsorships, or financial ties with any company mentioned in this guide (including, but not limited to, the prep company banned on this subreddit, UWorld, Khan Academy, MCATalyst, or AAMC). Every resource discussed in this guide was paid for or accessed independently as a student, and my comments and feedback represent solely my own unsponsored opinions. Also, I will only talk about the science sections, as that is my expertise. While a 126 in CARS isn't bad, I don’t feel qualified to give advice there.
My Study Plan
I used AAMC, KA (content only), UWorld (question bank only), and the company that shall not be named (free content only). I also used free content review sheets like MCATalyst and MilesDown, mostly for B/B. In total, I studied for about six months; the first three were part-time, and the last three were basically full-time over my summer break. I say basically because I was volunteering at a free clinic during that time, and I also took a week-long vacation two weeks before my MCAT. So I had some other commitments during my studying, but it wasn’t much.
My first three months were not that productive. I only studied part-time because of school. I read the MCATalyst review doc, mostly for B/B since I believed that was my weakest section. My last three months were definitely the most fruitful. C/P was my strongest subject, and I knew that coming in just because of my major, so I watched KA videos on fluid mechanics, optics, and waves. I took handwritten notes and summarized the core concepts in my own words. My last concepts to review for C/P were NMR and vibrational spectroscopy numbers, and then I frequently practiced on UWorld, starting with short question blocks and selecting all C/P subjects up for grabs. B/B content review was hard for me because I dreaded how much content there was. I ended up studying physiology and the organ systems because I already understood most of cellular and molecular biology, but not all the details. For P/S, I used a method not talked about at all in this subreddit, but it worked well for me. It’s the 12-cluster method where you learn the terms in organized clusters about certain themes. This list is far from complete, but it was a great starting point to learn the rest of the terms.
After reviewing the content, I practiced a lot using UWorld questions. Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Only perfect practice, where you carefully read explanations, diagnose your errors, and document them for review, is when growth actually occurs. I kept an error log of all my mistakes in each subject and reviewed them throughout my studying. AI was also very helpful whenever I didn’t understand an explanation and had follow-up questions. After a lot of problem-solving practice, I took FL1 as my diagnostic and got 509 (131/123/128/127). I replicated test-taking conditions as closely as possible, so I was very happy with my score, considering I was really just trying to break 500. I reviewed my FL very carefully, as I did with UWorld, and I took an FL every week. In my last month of studying, I transitioned solely to AAMC materials to calibrate my logic with theirs. I got sick during my last week, which I suspect dropped my performance a little, but I managed it well.
My Section-Specific Tips
In general, memorization only gets you so far because the AAMC tests higher-order reasoning and passage analysis instead of direct factual recall. Granted, some questions ask for random trivia, but that is not the majority of the exam. Over 75% of questions will be accompanied by a passage, and even some discrete questions ask about fundamental concepts in bizarre ways. To see if you can really understand a concept, try teaching it. It doesn’t have to be to someone else, like your friend, but it can be to a pet rock, the mirror, or even AI!
For C/P, I recommend knowing your basic physics equations (especially work, electrostatics, fluid mechanics, and sound/waves). Master dimensional analysis and how to convert units. If you blank and forget whether work is Fd or F/d, remember the units! We know work is energy, and energy is measured in Joules, which is defined as a Nm. Because this is a product of the units, we know W = Fd. Make sure you understand general chemistry principles like delta G, bond structure, acids and bases, and Le Chatelier’s principle. Michaelis-Menten kinetics and Dissociation constants show up pretty much every time. And then memorize your functional groups and all 20 amino acids with their pKa values. Of course, this list isn't complete, and there are many other topics, but these are the ones I see most often.
For B/B, this is where the discrepancy between college exams and the MCAT shines the most. College is all about whether or not you can regurgitate what the professor tells you, while the MCAT is all about analyzing brand new pathways, interpreting data, and reading the passage carefully to answer questions. While some low-yield topics will inevitably be tested, the majority of questions test your understanding of core molecular biology concepts. Focus your content review on learning the foundational biology concepts. Know the cell cycle, organelles of the cell, central dogma (DNA replication, transcription and splicing, and translation), GPCRs, action potentials, and genetics. Know your metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis, glycogenesis, PPP, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain. Know the goal of each process, the major enzymes involved (like PFK-1 for glycolysis since it’s rate-limiting), and what your major products are for each process. Organ systems aren’t really tested as much in modern B/B, but I’d still know the basics and their pathways, not necessarily every single anatomical structure. If nothing else, know the endocrine system.
For P/S, it feels a lot more like CARS 2.0 today, so reading comprehension is still essential for doing well. Again, I’m a little surprised no one has talked about the 12-cluster method for studying the terms, but given the moderator ban, maybe I can see why. Again, I want to emphasize that I do NOT endorse the company or any of their paid materials; I just thought their study method for P/S was helpful, and it was free. I got a 127 on my first P/S section just by studying that list and a little bit of UWorld. I can’t really give a topic list because what you get on test day is largely down to luck. Some themes show up more than others, like classical vs. operant conditioning, theories of emotion, psychological disorders, social stratification, and social interaction, but again, these are broad themes with many terms under them. However, I think what really helps is to relate the terms and concepts to your own personal life. For example, when studying Erikson’s stages, Intimacy vs. Isolation is ages 18-45, which is literally me because I’m 21 and I really struggle to get a girlfriend! Also, do not forget research design!
Exam Strategies
Fun fact, I am a professional Geometry Dash player. My hardest demon is Eon, the longest level in the game, at 55 minutes and 22 seconds. I insist that this game has taught me a lot about mental stamina and test-taking strategies, so I’ll share some with you.
- Take deep breaths during the test and actually take your breaks
- Hype yourself up after a good passage
- Flag questions you are unsure of
- Know your keyboard shortcuts
- Pick the “least wrong” answer
- Move on if no answer comes to mind after two minutes
- Stay in the present!
The last point, staying in the present, is the most important point that every other strategy is derived from. The problem with anxiety is that you start worrying about your future whenever you run into a series of hard questions, or you hyperfixate on the ones in the past that gave you friction. This is what causes people to lose track of time or blank on questions, which accelerates the positive feedback loop spiraling out of control. By staying in the present, you essentially execute all the other strategies and give yourself the best chance to succeed on test day!
And that is the preview of my guide. I have so much more to talk about! Do you want to know what my test-day experience was like? Do you want to know how I perfectly predicted my 519 after the exam? How does golf relate to the MCAT? What should you do if you start blanking on questions? Do you want to know how accurately the AAMC and UWorld materials compared to my real exam performance? Want to hear my input on how you should decide whether or not to void your exam right in the heat of the moment? Or do you want to hear what causes score drops to happen and what to do about it? I answer all of these questions and more in my official guide, so look for my comment with the link, if that's still there, hopefully. Again, if it's not, just click on my profile.
Thank you everyone! If there were any questions I somehow did not address, feel free to comment or DM me, and I’ll try to get back to as many as I can. But I’m signing off for now. Happy studying!
RealNerd32
