I’m fortunate enough to say that I scored in the 99.9th percentile on the MCAT. It was
a grueling 10 weeks of preparation, with 10 hours of studying 6 days per week, and minimal
time off on the weekends. There were certain things I did correct, but several things that
made the journey much more painful than it needed to be. Had I resolved some of these
issues, I would have been able to secure the same score, but without such a struggle. Here’s
what you can learn from my MCAT journey. Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
There were a handful of things I did right that facilitated rapid knowledge acquisition
and score improvement. While this isn’t a comprehensive list, these are the key factors
I urge other MCAT examinees to prioritize in their own study approach.
The Critical Analysis and Reasoning Section, or CARS, is unique from the other sections
and therefore requires a unique study approach to perform best. Unlike the other sections
of the MCAT, it requires no outside knowledge to answer any of the questions. The test makers
want to assess your ability to comprehend, analyze, and reason through material that
you read. For many, including me, it’s the least favorite
section of the MCAT. It feels tedious, boring, and more of a formality than a true assessment
of skills necessary to become a competent future physician. While it’s not a perfect
assessment, it turns out CARS is indeed relevant, but that’s a story told another time.
The key in dominating your CARS section comes down to regular practice – think low duration
but high frequency. For the MCAT science sections, you do the opposite – higher duration in
a single sitting, but lower frequency. With CARS, I did at least 30 minutes every
day, 5 days per week, for close to 2 months straight. This was the key element in slowly
but surely driving up my score. Sure, at the beginning I focused a bit on techniques and
strategies with CARS, but ultimately the biggest driver of my score improvement came down to
getting the reps in – a little bit every day.
I often compare CARS to training your abs in the gym. The abs are a unique muscle group
in that you can train them quite frequently, at relatively lower intensity compared to
other muscle groups, yet see hypertrophy and strength improvements without overtraining.
Similarly, CARS is best approached with shorter, intense study bouts every day, rather than
dedicating a single “CARS day” once per week. If you attempt to sit down and work
on CARS for hours on end, you’ll quickly find yourself burned out and experience a
rapidly diminishing quality of your studying. In MCAT circles, practice questions and tests
are primarily saved in the latter half of a student’s MCAT prep. The line of reasoning
being that you need to first learn the content through content review resources, and then
do testing later to understand question styles and timing for the test.
This strategy is suboptimal and leaves several points on the table. In my own MCAT prep,
I focused on a higher than normal volume of practice questions and practice tests. Within
the first 2 weeks, I took one full length practice test. In hindsight, I should have
started even sooner. Every 1-2 weeks after that, I was consistent in taking another.
In the final month prior to my exam, I did at minimum 3 full length practice tests every
week. The key isn’t just to get through the practice
test, but also review all the questions appropriately. Only if I was very confident in knowing a
question and all its answer choices did I breeze through it. Every incorrect answer
had to be thoroughly reviewed, as did every question I got correct by guessing or getting
lucky. Practice testing is useful not only later
in the study period, but is also a highly effective way of learning content early on.
I focused on CARS practice passages daily, and the occasional full length practice test
every week or so. In hindsight, it would have been even more effective to purchase a question
bank subscription, such as one with UWorld, and get through additional practice questions
several days per week from the beginning. We tend to focus on the strategies during
the MCAT study period, but the importance of the preceding coursework is often overlooked.
When I took my first practice test 2 weeks into studying, I hit a 67th percentile. This
was approximately 2 months out from my test date, giving me plenty of time to build and
improve upon this foundation. Having a strong foundation from college coursework
elevates the starting point when you begin your dedicated MCAT prep. In doing so, you
raise the ceiling for your ultimate score. Had I goofed off in my first two years and
scored a 20th percentile on my first practice test, there would be a much larger gap to
fill in order to get a satisfactory score. In my first two years of college, during which
premeds focus on their medical school prerequisite courses, I made it a point to apply myself
fully in every course. Rather than cramming last minute, I made it a point to study at
least a little bit 5 days per week. Spreading out the studying in this manner not only helped
me achieve straight A’s in these classes, but also consolidated the facts to my long
term memory. Had I crammed, much of the information wouldn’t have stuck around to MCAT prep
time. Although I’m happy with my score, there
were several possible points of improvement in my study approach. Had I implemented these
changes, I would have been able to achieve the same score with less effort, less time,
and less pain. It wasn’t until medical school that I learned
about proper implementation of active learning, which is far more effective and efficient
that passive means. When I was studying for the MCAT, I primarily relied on passive learning
techniques – passively reading content review books, highlighting, and rereading those highlights.
In doing so, it took me longer to learn and consolidate key facts to my long term memory
for test day. I only occasionally incorporated active methods.
Since my two roommates were also studying for the MCAT simultaneously, we made it a
point to use the Feynman technique occasionally, particularly when we were facing a difficult
concept or getting tired studying on our own. My use of practice tests, with in depth review,
was also an active learning method. My mindset in preparing for the MCAT was to
learn too much information rather than too little. I acknowledged that it would require
more time and effort on my part, but I figured it was a price I was willing to pay to achieve
a top score. After all, it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.
I remember spending a full evening memorizing every step of the sound conduction pathway
from the pinna, or external ear, all the way to the cochlear nerve. This was not something
I needed to know for the MCAT based on how it tests these concepts. However, it was in
my content review book, and I figured I should know everything within it cold.
This may seem harmless at first, but this approach leads to massive opportunity cost.
That full evening could have been better spent focused on reviewing content that would show
up on the test, practicing CARS, or even relaxing and recharging.
One common misconception amongst premeds, including my former self, is the importance
of low yield information. I thought that knowing these low-yield details would be the difference
between a good and exceptional MCAT score. In reality, this is not at all the case. Much
of the “low-yield” information in review books is beyond the scope of the MCAT and
contributes zero to scoring higher, which is tremendously costly. Additionally, the
main differentiating factor for top percentile scorers is almost always their in-depth mastery
and precise recall of medium-yield concepts rather than their ability to remember some
esoteric piece of information. When I took the MCAT, there weren’t YouTubers focused
on teaching evidence-based study principles to future doctors. In fact, it wasn’t until
I got to medical school and was forced to drink from the proverbial fire hydrant of
medical knowledge that I was forced to learn a better way to study. Had I implemented those
evidence-based learning principles in college, I would have been able to get stellar results
in class and on the MCAT, but with far less time and effort.
In short, the two primary evidence-based study principles you should focus on are (1) practice
questions and practice tests and (2) spaced repetition with active recall. These are the
two most effective methods in not only memorizing information, but also learning them deeply
such that you can apply that knowledge effectively on test day.
If I could do it all over again, I would focus on four key principles:
Focus on only the necessary content – some people say to focus only on high-yield content,
which isn’t exactly best practice. There is some medium and rarely some low yield content
that you will be tested on. Since you won’t know what will and will not be tested on the
MCAT, it’s critical to find high yield resources that have done the heavy lifting for you,
so that you don’t over- or under-prepare. Incorporate active learning methods – the
bulk of your time spent studying should be spent on (1) practice questions and (2) spaced
repetition with active recall. Content review resources are useful to first learn and understand
the information, but after that, save them as a reference for when you don’t understand
something that comes up in your practice questions or flashcards. You should not do multiple
front-to-back passes of your content review resources as a study technique. This is a
highly time consuming and inefficient way to strive for content mastery.
Follow a sustainable study schedule – I was lucky in that I didn’t burn out despite
having a grueling 10 week study schedule. Had I pushed my test date back at all, I would
have certainly burned out and my score would be compromised. Remember that the quality and
strategy of your studying is arguably more important than the quantity of your studying.
You’ll end up with a better score through high intensity, intelligent study approaches
for 5 hours per day rather than medium intensity, passive study approaches for 10 hours per
day. Use the best quality resources - if the goal
is to get the highest score possible, then it doesn't pay to be overprepared. You want
to only study what you need to study, and spend extra time honing your test taking skills.
If I could do it all over again, I'd heavily rely on Memm, an evidence-based and highly
effective MCAT study tool I had the pleasure of co-founding.
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If you enjoyed this video, check out my other MCAT videos, and go check out Memm. You won't
regret it, I promise. Much love, and see you there.