The New MCAT: How I Studied

Hey friends!

As you all know, the new MCAT exam is a totally different beast compared to the old one. It's scored differently, it's longer, it has a completely new psychology/sociology section, and a much heavier emphasis on biochemistry, just to name a few of the key changes. Nevertheless, I found in comparing how I studied for the old vs. new MCAT exam not much changed in the way I approached things.

However, before I go further into exactly how I studied, I would like to start off with a big, important preface: this is what worked for me. The key to doing well on this test is staying in your comfort zone and minimizing the amount of stress, anxieties, distractions, etc. that are bound to come with preparing for such an important exam. So if what I say works for you, fantastic, I'm happy that the tips I offer are of use. If my methods are not conducive to how you learn best, do not worry. Everyone learns in different ways, whether its through reading, repetition, writing out notes, typing out notes, verbal instruction, visual instruction, studying in groups, studying alone, etc. All I can offer is what worked best for me and a few tips that, after two go-arounds and plenty of heated discussions with my fellow pre-med friends, I think are of use to the majority of people studying for this exam.

So, without further ado, here is how I studied for the new MCAT!

For the old MCAT, I did the standard classroom course with instructors that come with practice tests and a mountain of books. For the new one, I decided to do online self-study using The Princeton Review. I did this because in my opinion, the benefit of an in-person classroom setting is getting the insider tips and tricks on how to master the exam, i.e. how the timing works, how to recognize traps and patterns, process of elimination methods, etc. Having already done it once, it didn't make sense to do it again for my 2nd test. However, for anyone taking the new MCAT for the first time, I highly suggest not doing self-study and taking an in-person classroom course. Even though they often covered material I already knew, it was beneficial in learning the tips and tricks and having a knowledgeable group of instructors I could ask questions to (which you can't get with online/self-study).

In terms of actually studying, I started by using the provided class schedule that TPR provided to study. Each day had an assigned topic with reading, online problems, amplifire (only a TPR thing) and book problems. I started with this schedule but then strayed to my own schedule about halfway through my studying because 1) I had less time (2 months) than most people set aside for studying and 2) I had already covered a lot of the material from my past studying for the old MCAT and therefore focused on the new psych/sociology material that was completely new to me. However, for anyone taking this the first time, I recommend just sticking to the schedule your course provides you with, it'll make things much easier and less confusing than if you try to do it on your own.

Here is how a sample day of studying looked for me. I would get up around 9-10am and head to campus to study. I didn't get back to my apartment until usually 10-11pm at night or later, with my only breaks being for lunch/dinner and usually a quick 45m-1h at the gym. My goal for each day was to either finish that day's assigned topic or to do/review a practice test (more on that later). I first started with reading the assigned chapter and taking notes by hand in a spiral notebook (I recommend one for each subject, keeps things more organized). In my note-taking, I used different colors to highlight different important things. For example, I used black for regular notes, blue for definitions, green for formulas/diagrams/reactions, etc, and red for the practice problems that were interspersed throughout the chapter. This way, it was easier to find things later when looking back and reviewing my notes, without the usual excessive highlighting that we all sometimes get carried away with.

**Quick soap box tangent alert** I am very opinionated about this last point in reading the chapters before doing problems. Many of the instructors I had for my 1st course said that doing the reading was not important and that doing as many practice problems as humanly possible was the best way to prepare. In my humble opinion, that's just plain silly. If you're doing problems without any knowledge of the material, what good is that? Is how you do on those passages really a fair representation of how well you know the material when you haven't even read the material? No, of course not!! If you read first, you won't have to keep re-reading the chapter like you would if you did problems and found things you had never seen or hadn't learned before. So, do what you will, but if you take anything I say to heart, let it be this: read the darn books! That's what they're there for and that's what you're paying an insane amount of money for!

Anyways, after taking notes, I would do as many practice problems as I could for that day, usually setting a deadline of 10:30-11pm as my "stop and head back home" cut-off. I always tried to do each passage without using my notes, then while going through and reviewing the practice passages, use a different color pen from all the others (like purple) to write in the margins of my notes. Here, I would write anything that didn't get touched on in the book's chapter, things I got wrong, topics/formulas that appeared fairly often, etc. to supplement my notes. I found that in doing this, I was basically creating a master study guide, and over time once I started doing practice tests, my notes were getting less and less "purple" because my notes were so detailed/strong that I didn't need them anymore.

I usually would head back home by 11pm and try to be in bed by 2-2:30am, in between finishing up any more problems I missed or cleaning up my notes. I tried to stick to as strict of a schedule as possible though (ie be on campus by 10ish, be back by 11ish, be in bed by 2ish) because it gets you in a good routine.

Finally, as daunting as this all sounds, I did give myself at least one/sometimes two "cheat days" where I took the afternoon or morning off to do whatever I darn well pleased, whether it was sleeping in or going for a hike or going out for drinks with my friends. This exam tests your sanity, and while you're going to be overcome by your inner pre-med monster telling you you need to study every waking minute of every day, that cannot and should not happen. You should try to treat this like a full-time job, but realize that you're human and you need time to decompress, and in the long run going to see a movie or going bowling one or two nights a week isn't going to be the difference maker between getting a 500 and a 532.

So, that's that for how my typical day of studying went! I'll talk much more detail about practice tests and other study topics (like how and who to study with, breaks, etc) in later posts. And if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment or email me!



~You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great~