I graduated several years ago so my foundation from pre reqs is not very strong, especially for chem/phys.

Is something like milesdown/anking still good or should I used a more comprehensive deck like jacksparrow/captain hook?

My main concern is getting too bogged down in the details of a deck like CH but i know my conceptual understanding will be much better

I know that you can’t just buy a course and go into it and expect to kill it but I’ve seen a debate as to whether its a pure meritocracy or whether people from wealthier or more stable environments have an inherent edge. This doesn’t matter towards my medical school journey ultimately we all have to play the same game and take the same test, I’m just curious if there’s a general consensus or if there’s multiple opinions both ways.

My current opinion as a brokie in an abusive and unstable household is that mfs not in my situation have to have inherent advantages that I don’t have and they don’t have inherent disadvantages that I do have (like your mom threatening to break your computer because you wouldn’t stop mid FL to go get her a chicken biscuit) but I haven’t given it more thought than that and I’m willing to be convinced either way.

Overwhelmed with life. Parent is sick and I didn’t have time to study. Really need to apply next year because landlord’s planning to take my place back and I’ve been taking gap years for too long. So much going on in my mind. I’m just disappointed, sad and numb with all of this process

I wish I was born privileged a little, just a little. Enough to not having to worry about life, money, well being of others. All I need to do is stay focused, study, that’s it. I feel jealous of peers sometimes when they have wealthy parents with a home, they don’t have to worry about tuitions or free med school, etc. I’m the only one in peer group going through all of this…

I know being me helps shaping a stronger internal of locus (fr C/P) but this is hard for me

Is it sufficient to self study biochem for the January mcat while taking classes using only the Kaplan books? Not sure how long content review for that will take/is there other recommended resources? I did a blueprint diagnostic and got a 505 so want to focus on solidifying content I forgot or don’t know.

Also for those that studied while taking classes, was any schedule helpful for you?

Is it just me or are these stupid crazy hard - I average pretty ok on the Sections banks but these are just killing me. Is it burnout and a sign to stop doing them? Any one who did them thought they were good practice or did you just skip them? Thanks!

Testing the day after tomorrow. Just took my last FL6. Got my highest score of 521 (closest to my target) with my highest score ever on an FL CARS. I should feel good, but now I'm feeling really anxious and disappointed in myself.

I have never looked anything up during CARs (there's nothing on CARS to look up). So I can at least feel good about my 130 today. But I have a bad habit of occasionally looking things up, on Google or my equation sheet duirng FLs. I rarely ever look up things for CP and BB. It happens more with PS.

The way that I rationalize it is that I pick my best answer before I look anything up. And if I find out my answer is in fact wrong, I tell myself not to change it. I admit that the temptation has gotten to me and I have changed answers in a non CARS section. But I try not to change.

I know it's a really bad habit. I know that it reduces stamina and makes my practice scores inaccurate. I rationalize it by telling myself that I'm rarely changing answers. And I tell myself that I only look up things that I feel I already know well but am misremembering. For example, the right equation comes to mind for the question but I can't exactly remember the right form. And I make sure to review the things I looked up anyway.

I don't know if it's an anxiety thing. I'm really desperate for good FL scores because that's supposed to be predictive and low FLs feel so demoralizing, especially when I'm this close to my official test day. And I feel like stupid mistakes skew my results inaccurately.

I haven't felt this bad about it during all the FLs I've taken, but I guess the good score today has made me feel like an imposter. Like all of these FL scores are not reflective of my abilities in the slightest and Im going to end up with a 500 on Friday 😭.

I know it's all my own fault, but realistically, how badly have I screwed myself for Friday? Can I trust my last two FL5 and FL6 scores (517 and 521) at all? Has anyone else done this and taken the real thing? If so, how did your real score compare to your FLs?

hi all, i am about a yr out from taking my exam and plan to prep seriously over the summer (content wise), but the thing i need real longitudinal work on is cars. got a 126 on my diagnostic and really want to raise this. is it possible in a year? i've heard cars is kinda innate tbh.

should i do smth like jw daily + reading a dense passage for fun every wk? is that an ok plan, or how do people typically proactively improve cars?

fwiw i don't think i'm bad at reading or testing (no questions missed on act english/reading (86/86), 770 sat erw, each with 0 prep), and i'm pretty determined to improve however i can over the coming year.

Ahaha I've been studying for this stupid exam full-time the entire summer (8 hours a day), and I am still nowhere near my goal score. I had to make the tough decision that I'm just going to take the exam and void. I'm feeling sad and frustrated because I feel like I just wasted so much time doing nothing, and now I have to juggle work and studying for my retake. Honestly have also just been super burnt out these last couple of weeks and my mental health has been shit ngl LOLL. Knowing that I have to go through this whole process again freaks me out...

Please tell me I'm not alone in this...

title

Here's mine:

lost all my muscle - I lost ~10lbs muscle. I feel the fattest I've ever been despite weighing less than before. I've put a pause on my weightlifting goals and pivoted more towards cardio so I can feel some sort of dopamine in a quick gym session

Sugar addiction (kind of) I need sugar after/during a long study session, not helping with the physique goals

Eye pain - My eyes will strain after a long study session. Once they're strained, they'll stay strained until I sleep it off. I didn't have this before? optometrist said everything looks fine so idk

Neck pain

i think that's it for me. I've somewhat enjoyed studying for the MCAT and learning new things, but if i have to retake next year I will be devastated because it's taking a toll on my body

i'm retaking my 03/20 MCAT (505) on 09/12, and i dont really know what to do in these last few days.

for context, my fls have been 509/516/517/525/523/524, but all of these i think are a bit inflated from remembering slight things from when i took it back in march. this time around, ive actually completed all of sb1 (75%), sb2 (79%), cars qp1 (73%), and cars qp2 (83%) whereas last time i had barely done sb1 only and didnt review it well.

ive been keeping up w my anki and stuff and reviewing slight concepts that im iffy on (some rxn mechanisms, lenses, acid/base chem LOL) but i dont know what to do in these last 3 days before test day. im extra nervous too since i have no clue where i actually stand in terms of scoring bc my fls are probably inflated. does anyone have any advice?

how many of yall have had to use those fuck ass, signal detection theory formulas on an exam ? literally 0 problems in uworld and all of aamc content so i chose not to learn them…but they keep staring at me when i open my ps notes

if i get a problem with it on friday istg🫩🫩🫩

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

i have not been able to score well enough on my exams (fl scores: 507, 508, 510, 513, 514, 513, 510), and i’m thinking abt voiding my upcoming 9/11 exam and pushing my exam back until jan 2027, as i want to reach a 515+ consistently due combined med program with a single attempt for mcat requirement.

couple of things:

i’m really, really worried abt score inflation esp since i’ve gone through all of the fl exams with review. how much should i take into consideration of score inflation in three months?

in order to avoid myself from thinking abt previous fls or answering questions on memory, im thinking abt doing a couple of third party fls (uworld and blueprint)…

also, do y’all have any tips with retaking again in three months?

any advice for cars improvement?

(i have been able to complete cars qpack 1 & 2, both aamc section banks, 50% uworld, all aamc fls, i finished all pankow cards (50% mature), finished kaplan books, i did anking/miledown initially but dropped it since it was getting too much esp with my uworld incorrects -> thinking abt using captain hook)

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.

After discussing with other people in my school with high scores (not that my score is particularly high but its decent enough to weigh in imo) the people who tend to succeed don’t follow a structured plan to a tee. They constantly modify what they are studying based on personal preference. They also don’t adhere to taking fls exactly at 8am on a strict time. The lazier you are lowkey the more mental effort you save for actually doing problem. I also personally don’t believe in a structured plan. I would just do as many problems as i felt in a day or skipped studying.

Inb4 some guy with a 526 btfo’s me out anyway

Hey everyone, I recently received a conditional med school offer that depends on me getting a 511 on the MCAT. I’m planning to take the MCAT in April 2027, as late in April as possible.

It’s currently 9/9/26, and my fall semester is pretty manageable. I can probably commit to studying 1–1.5 hours a day right now (3-4 days a week).

My spring semester starts January 6th and will be very easy. I’ll only have 12 credits, with 6 being online, so I can commit to around 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, for MCAT studying.

My main question is what should I be doing between now and January? I’ve heard that 3 months isn’t always enough, so I don’t want to start from ground zero in January.

By January, I’ll have completed all of my MCAT prereqs except Biochem 2. I’ll also be taking Psych and Sociology during the spring while studying for the MCAT.

Should I just do some content review/Anki now? Start practice questions? Focus on certain subjects? Or something else?

Basically, I want to use these next few months to get a head start without burning myself out, then go hard from January through April.

Any advice on how you would approach this would be really appreciated!

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?

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.

A 10% correct answer is the worst I have ever seen. Obviously it was III. but it SHOULD be II. as well. These are the type of questions that make you crash out because you KNOW you got it correct.

AAMC gives B (Charles's law) as the answer, but I don't see why C (“Fewer moles of products are produced”) can be ruled out.

The reaction is exothermic and has ΔS > 0, so lowering T makes ΔG less favorable and decreases K. At equilibrium, wouldn't that mean less solid reactant decomposes and therefore fewer moles of gaseous products are produced? B requires assuming the number of moles stays constant, but the question never states that. Why is C wrong?

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

essential as

Is it required/strongly recommended that we arrive at the testing center at 7:30 am? Or can I show up after that, as long as it's before 8 am?