- Hi everyone.
I'm Vikram Shaw,
MCAT expert in 528 score.
Today, I'm gonna tell you how to study for the MCAT.
We'll go over the exact same strategies
I used to achieve a perfect score on the MCAT.
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Your MCAT score is a critical component
of your medical school application.
If you're applying to medical school,
you must take this exam and scoring well in the test
will greatly increase you admissions odds.
But the secret is, there's more to scoring well in the MCAT
than just being really really proficient in the sciences.
In this video, I'll share seven high-yield study strategies
so you can achieve your best score on the MCAT.
Tip number one.
Develop a study schedule early.
The first thing that I did when studying for the MCAT
was build a comprehensive study schedule.
On average students spend about three months studying
for the exam and you should build your study schedule
as soon as you've selected your test date.
Many students wonder,
why is it so important to build a study schedule?
Building a study schedule is important for two reasons.
One, it holds you accountable
and two, it provides a day by day,
week by week and month by month roadmap to your test prep.
This means, you won't need to spend extra energy
figuring out what material you should be focusing on
each time you sit down to study.
Accountability is important when studying for the MCAT
as it is often easy to fall behind.
Once you've committed to a test date,
you can build a study schedule that will ensure
you're prepared, come test day.
The roadmap is important in your test prep
so that you can see how far you've come
and where you still need to go.
At the end of each week,
you can look back at what you've accomplished that week
and have clarity on what you'll need
to tackle the following week.
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Tip number two, build flex days into your study schedule.
Burnout is very common among premed students
who are studying for the MCAT.
For that reason it is absolutely necessary
that when you study for the MCAT,
you build flexibility into your study schedule
so that you can catch up when life, school or work
inevitably get in the way.
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There are a couple ways to do this.
Option one, build a flex day into every week.
Designate a day of the week
that you don't plan any MCAT studying.
If you fall behind on studying during the week,
you can use this day to catch up.
If you stayed caught up all week,
you can use this day to relax and take a short break
from the test so that you can come back
reinvigorated the next week.
Option two is to leave one to two open weeks
at the end of your study schedule before your test date.
In other words,
pretend that you're taking the MCAT one to two weeks earlier
than your scheduled test date
so when life gets in the way,
you can adjust your study schedule to take advantage
of that flexibility time.
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When I studied for the exam,
I treated it as a nine to five job for eight weeks.
Importantly, I didn't treat it as a 24/7 job.
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This helped me stay focused during the eight hours
of productivity during the day
while giving me a break in the evening.
In addition, I did not study for the exam most weekends
and this allowed me to approach the exam refreshed
and ready each week.
Though many people study for the exam
while juggling other responsibilities,
it is still very helpful to specifically outline
the amount of time that you will study.
No more and no less.
Again, this will help improve your efficiency
and prevent burnout so you can achieve your highest score.
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Tip number three.
Value perfect practice over practice.
A famous football coach named Vince Lombardi once said,
"Practice doesn't make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect."
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Practice on the MCAT involves taking
as many passages as you can.
Perfect practice involves taking passages,
reviewing your mistakes,
writing down what you need to learn
and most importantly, studying to make sure
you don't make those same mistakes again.
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I can't emphasize this enough.
Thoroughly tracking, writing down and studying your mistakes
is the single best way to improve your MCAT score.
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As a general rule of thumb,
you should spend almost as much time reviewing the passage
as you spend taking the passage.
You should also spend time studying what you missed,
which is a key step that students often forget.
You should approach each test with a new body of knowledge
in a solidified understanding
of what you have missed before.
So, before taking your eighth full-length exam,
make sure that you've gone through the previous seven,
written down what you missed
and study that information carefully.
Tip number four.
Emphasize practice and study content
based on what you miss in practice.
One of the biggest mistakes that students make
is studying low-yield content that is unlikely
to show up on the exam.
For example,
you are better off knowing
the 20 amino acids backwards and forwards
than knowing how to solve a projectile motion problem
involving a rock flying off of a cliff
The MCAT is more likely to ask questions
in a biological context
so be aware of where you're spending your time,
especially if you're studying on a tight schedule.
As you progress further in your medical training,
you'll begin shifting your test preparation attitude
from studying content to completing practice problems.
In fact, USMLE step one and step two preparation
relies almost exclusively on completing practice problems
and then reviewing the content.
The MCAT is very similar in this regard.
Students who complete practice problems
and then study what they missed
tend to do very well compared to students
who rely too heavily on content review.
Before you take the MCAT,
you will have taken hundreds of practice problems,
many of which come from the people
who write the test also known as
the American Association of Medical Colleges or AAMC.
As a result, you will have a good idea of the topics
that you tend to miss questions on.
For example, if you keep missing questions
on thermodynamics, then go back to the book
and study thermodynamics
so that you approach your next full-length
with an understanding of both the topic
and how the MCAT likes to ask questions on that topic.
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Tip number five.
Go through all of the AAMC materials at least once.
I often recommend saving the AAMC materials
for the final phase of a student's test prep.
This does not mean however,
that you should be rushing to complete
all of the AAMC question packs in the week
leading up to your test.
Rather, you should schedule the AAMC resources appropriately
so that you have time to complete them without rushing,
while also going through all of the questions at least once.
Make sure to give yourself enough time
to make it through these resources.
Since the AAMC writes the exam,
these are going to be the most test-like questions
you will complete during your practice.
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Tip number six.
Simulate real testing conditions
when taking full-length practice exams.
I often hear stories of students scoring
in the 515, the 520 range on their AAMC practice exams
and then scoring 5 to 10 points lower on the real thing.
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Many students score very well on their AAMC practice exams
leading up to test day
and then score a few or several points
lower on the actual test.
There are a few reasons why this happens.
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First, it is very important
that you simulate test-like conditions
on your practice AAMC full-length exams.
Try to find a quiet location
where you will not be disturbed while taking the exam.
In addition, make sure you begin the exam at 8:00 a.m.
You should take all of your breaks
both when you practice and when you take the real exam.
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The breaks are a time for you to use the restroom,
fill up on snacks and water
and recharge for the next section.
In line with simulating real testing conditions,
it is very common for students
who are excited to see their score
to rush through the Psychology and Sociology section,
which is the final section of the exam.
You should not rush through this section on test day,
so there's no reason for you to rush through it
when you're practicing.
Remember, Psychology and Sociology
make up 1/4 of your overall score.
Additionally, you should not have the mindset,
I will just guess on this question
since it is a practice test and review it
after I submit the exam.
Part of taking the exam is encountering questions
that you might not know how to approach.
Treat these questions
like they're happening on the actual test
and approach them as you would any other question.
By trying to reason through these more difficult questions,
you begin learning how to answer them
despite maybe not knowing exactly what the right answer is.
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Tip number seven.
Stick to your strategy on test day.
Students often find the first section of the MCAT,
Chemistry and Physics
to be the most difficult section of the exam.
On test day if they get a difficult Chem/Phys section,
that may throw them off for the rest of the exam.
So here, I'll make a football analogy.
It is often said that, the quarterback of a football team
must have a short memory,
so that if he throws an interception,
it does not rattle his confidence
the next time he has the ball.
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In the same way, you should have a short memory
while you're taking the MCAT.
If you are spending 10% of your brain power
during the second section of the exam,
thinking about the first section of the exam,
that is valuable brain power that you could be spending
on the second section of the exam.
In other words, don't dwell on a difficult previous section
and allow it to hurt your score on the remaining sections.
In addition, students often deviate
from the strategy they practice with
when they take the real exam.
Test day is not the day
to stop using your strategy or change strategies.
Stick with your strategy
even if it feels like it is not working.
By simulating test day more closely
during your other practice exams,
you can build the confidence
to stick with your strategy on test day.
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And that's how to study for the MCAT.
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