MCAT study tips.

QofQuimica is currently a second-year allopathic medical student. After college, she went to graduate school and earned her M.S. in medicinal chemistry. She then worked as a lab tech and in a doctor’s office before returning to school to earn her PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry. In August 2004, Q took the MCAT and scored a 43S. She began giving MCAT advice on SDN when she joined as a member in October 2004. Q joined the SDN staff in June 2005 as an advisor for the MCAT Study Questions subforum and later became MCAT forum moderator. She now oversees all of the SDN premedical forums. Recently, SDN spoke with Q to get her input on preparing for and taking the MCAT.


1. What did you do to prepare for the MCAT?

I was still in graduate school when I started studying for the MCAT, and I was also working for Kaplan as an MCAT instructor. I used Kaplan’s online prep course, mainly because it was available to me as an instructor. I was able to teach for Kaplan while I studied for the MCAT because I had taken the MCAT once before while in college. I received a 34P on my first attempt. I did all of the homework assignments for physics and most of the biology ones too. I didn’t do the chemistry or organic assignments since I was teaching chemistry and organic at my university. I also took the five proctored full length practice tests along with my MCAT class. It was a pretty crazy time; I was still working full time in the lab and teaching 3-4 nights per week. During the week, I was able to get in studying time by waking up early to read for half an hour in the morning, and reading again for half an hour in the evening before I went to bed. I’d spend most of Saturday and Sunday studying, maybe eight hours per day, unless I had to teach. This was my schedule for about ten weeks, and then I started burning out.

2. What were the best and worst parts of your experience with the MCAT?

The best part was walking out of there and finally having it over with. While you’re studying, the MCAT kind of takes over your life, you know? And, of course, the day I got my scores was a great day. The worst part was that my test date actually got delayed for two weeks because of Hurricane Charley hitting Florida on the weekend when the MCAT was scheduled. I was totally burned out and more than ready to get it over with, and here I had to wait another two weeks!

3. Were you surprised by your score, or did you expect to do that well?

I was aiming for a 40. That’s what I got on my Kaplan diagnostic, and my practice full length tests ranged from 37-41. I figured I’d probably get a 38 or so on the real thing, but I would have been happy with anything over a 35. So yes, I was pretty surprised; I expected to do well, but not that well.

4. How did other people react when they heard about your score?

My mom and I were talking on the phone when the scores came out; when I told her what I got, we both just started screaming. When I told my PI, his response was, “Gee, I knew you were smart, but I didn’t know you were THAT smart.” Interestingly, my old PI for my M.S. had almost the same word-for-word response. My Kaplan manager said that she had never heard of anyone getting a score like that. Maybe only my MCAT students weren’t surprised. The funniest response was by one of my Ph.D. committee members, who asked me if I was going to retake the test so that I could try to get a perfect score. No freaking way!

5. Which section of the MCAT do you think is the hardest or easiest, and do your scores reflect that?

In general, VR is definitely the hardest section. It’s the hardest section to study for, and it’s the hardest section to do well on because the curve is so much stricter than on the other sections. You have to get a much higher percentage of questions correct to get a high scaled score on VR than you do on the science sections. Plus, the subject material tends to be things that most premeds don’t read about very often, like philosophy, literary criticism, and economics. In my case, I think I was most worried about PS because it had been so long since I had taken physics. I really studied physics like crazy. So I guess I’d have predicted that BS would be the “easiest” section for me, and in fact BS was the section that I got the 15 on. I’m not sure that you can read so much into my scores though, because I don’t think there is very much difference between a 14 and a 15. We might be talking about a difference of one or two questions.

6. You said that VR is the hardest section; how can a person raise their VR score?

VR is one of those things that you can only improve with practice, and lots of it. You might have to experiment with different techniques until you find one that works well for you. I used the Kaplan VR techniques, and they worked really well for me. I’ve had some students who swore by other techniques that they read about in other books. The important thing is to pick a technique that works well for you and really practice it like crazy. Starting several months before you plan to take the test, try working through two passages a day and reviewing the explanations. The key though is not to just do a zillion passages and questions, but to really pay attention to the types of questions that you tend to miss. Practice doing more questions like that. Also, if certain types of passages give you trouble, start reading more articles in those subjects. A lot of students hate reading philosophy or literary criticism passages; they need to go to their school library and start reading philosophy and literary criticism on a regular basis until they get comfortable with reading them. The other tricky thing about VR is that you have to be pretty fast. A lot of people tend to spend too much time reading the passages and not enough time working on the questions. Again, improving timing is something that comes with practice. There isn’t any shortcut for improving on VR, unfortunately. You have to just put in the time to improve your weak areas.

7. You mentioned working to improve your weak areas—what were your weak areas?

Physics and physiology. I took intro physics and biology in 1993 as a college freshman, so I forgot a lot of stuff by the time I started studying in the summer of 2004. Actually, I never learned physiology in college at all; what little physiology I knew before I started medical school I learned from Kaplan.

8. How well do you think that a person’s MCAT score predicts their medical school performance?

Honestly, I don’t know the answer to this. Logic suggests that there must be some amount of correlation between MCAT scores and medical school performance, but it’s really hard to separate out the influence of hard work versus natural talent. I think that most people who do well in school and on the MCAT work very hard for those accomplishments. The lazy genius who aces the MCAT and is the top student in the class is something of an urban myth, in my experience.

9. Do people score really well on the MCAT more because of natural ability or hard work?

I was asked at one interview whether I thought that anyone could score in the 40s on the MCAT. I hadn’t ever thought about it before that interview, but I have to say that the answer is no, and the main reason doesn’t have anything to do with either natural ability or hard work. The thing is that the MCAT is a curved test, and the system is set up where most people can’t score 40+. It’s very difficult to score in the teens on any one subsection, and in order to get a 40, you have to independently score that high on all three subsections. Very, very few people manage to do it. The AAMC told me by email that for the August 2004 test administration, there were eight 42s, two 43s, and zero 44s or 45s out of nearly 35,000 people who took the test nationwide.

I do think that test-taking is a skill, and like every other skill, some people are naturally better at it than others. However, even people who are “average” at the skill of taking tests can improve to become above average with hard work. So I wouldn’t say that people score really high on the MCAT due to either natural ability OR hard work, but rather because of a combination of natural ability AND hard work. The other thing about people who do well on tests like the MCAT is that they read quickly with comprehension. Remember that the MCAT is a timed test. If you could spend as long as you wanted to take the test, then a lot more people would get significantly higher raw scores because one of the factors limiting most people’s MCAT performance is running out of time. In contrast, people who score really high on the MCAT are people who finish early because they are fast readers, and giving them more time wouldn’t be particularly helpful.

10. How much are admissions committees impressed by seeing MCAT scores over 40?

Not as much as you might think. When I was interviewing, I had several admissions folks practically gloating to me about the high-stat applicants that they had rejected because those applicants were arrogant and acted like they were entitled to a medical school seat based upon their stats. Sorry, but that isn’t how the medical school admissions game works. Stellar stats will only get you so far. I think for the MCAT that once you hit the mid-thirties range, say 35+, then scoring even higher on the MCAT doesn’t really do much to improve the overall strength of your application. A 35 already puts you in the top 5% of all test-takers. If you apply with a 35 MCAT, no adcom is going to doubt your academic ability based on your MCAT score.

11. How much does your MCAT score matter once you’re accepted to medical school?

It really doesn’t matter at all. Once you’re in, you and all of your classmates are more or less on equal footing; the school wouldn’t have admitted you if they didn’t think you were capable of completing the program successfully. I’m getting ready to start my second year this fall, and I can tell you that we’re all thinking a lot more about taking Step 1 next spring than we are about the MCAT!

12. What advice do you have for people who do poorly on the MCAT and need to retake it?

It’s really important to figure out why you didn’t do well so that you can take steps to correct your deficiencies. For example, if your problem is that you run out of time because you spend too long reading the passages, then you need to practice getting through the passages faster. If you weren’t prepared enough, you need to make sure that you prepare properly for your next attempt. And so on.

13. What are some of the most common mistakes that people make when preparing for the MCAT?

One common mistake that people make is taking the test before completing all four pre-req courses and/or without adequately studying. Keep in mind that the MCAT is a curved test, and you’re taking it against a lot of very smart people who have completed all four pre-reqs and taken a test prep course besides. It isn’t a good idea to skimp on the preparation; those classes are called pre-requisites for a reason.

Another mistake people make is not taking enough practice tests. You want to be very familiar with the test format before you ever set foot in that room. Most test-prep courses have students take about five or six practice tests, and I think that’s a good number. You can get practice tests from the AAMC website at www.aamc.org that are very good. These tests are old MCATs that have been released by the AAMC; one of the tests (3R) is offered for free. In addition, some test prep companies like TPR and Kaplan offer one free practice test each on their websites. It’s probably worth your while to take advantage of those resources. Make sure to take the tests under strictly timed conditions, and review all of the answer choice explanations after you’re done.

But the most common mistake I see is that people do not set aside enough time to really study for the MCAT. If you are already working full-time, taking classes full-time, or a combination of both, and now you want to study for the MCAT on top of it all, something has to give. If you’re a full-time student, take a slightly easier load the semester you take the MCAT, and make studying for the MCAT like one of your classes. If you’re working and have outside responsibilities like childcare, cut back on your work some so that you have enough time to study for the MCAT. You can’t do everything, so give yourself the time that you need. You have to actually carve out the time in your schedule; you won’t find that time lying around somewhere waiting for you.

14. Do test prep courses make enough difference to be worth the extra cost versus self-study?

I’ll start this question with the caveat that I’m a long-time instructor for Kaplan. But my most objective opinion is that test prep courses are most helpful for people who need a kick in the derriere to study effectively. In other words, if you’re a highly motivated person who will make a study schedule and stick to it on your own, you probably don’t need a test prep course. But if you’re the kind of person who tends to start out with good intentions and then quickly gets off track, it might be worth the money to take a course because it helps to hold you accountable. One of my jobs as an instructor is to keep pushing my students to complete the assignments and keep up with the study schedule. I also think that there can be some psychological comfort from taking a test prep course, especially for older students who have been out of school for a while and aren’t really sure where to begin. But as to whether you MUST take a test prep course in order to do well, the answer is no.

15. As a nontraditional student, what advice do you have for other nontrads who are preparing for the MCAT?

There are no special preparation methods for nontrads that are different than what the younger students need to do. Nontrads have some disadvantages in that they have often been out of school for a while, and they have to get back into study mode to prepare for the MCAT. But the process is pretty much the same for us as for the trads; first take the four pre-reqs, take 2-3 months to study, take plenty of practice tests, etc. I think that sometimes nontrads tend to want to rush through the process; they feel like they have to make up for lost time since they are older. But I look at it this way: you aren’t going to be 22 as an M1 no matter what you do. It’s better to take an extra year to do things right the first time and not have a poor first MCAT score to overcome along with other potential deficiencies in your academic record. I was 31 when I started medical school, and I’m far from being the oldest medical student on SDN.

16. When do you think is the best time to take the MCAT?

You should take it whenever you’re prepared and feel that you can do well. Ideally, take the MCAT no later than May or June of the year when you plan to apply. If you take a very late MCAT, consider applying the following year instead. For example, I took the MCAT in August 2004, but I didn’t apply until June 2005 for the 2006 entering class. That way, instead of being one of the late 2004 applicants, I was the very earliest 2005 applicant. I had my AMCAS submitted on June 1 and verified by June 15. Now that the test is computerized, there are more choices of test dates, and you’ll get your scores back faster. But, it’s still not ideal to take the test in September of the year you plan to apply, because many schools are already interviewing people by then. By the time you get your scores back in October and are ready to finally begin applying, some of the earliest applicants will already be getting their first acceptances.

17. What advice can you give about the new CBT MCAT?

Some of the test day strategies are a little bit different since the test is on a computer now instead of being done with pencil and paper. But overall, the preparation required is about the same: take the pre-reqs, study for the test, and take several timed practice tests on a computer. It’s also a good idea to go to the AAMC website and take the computer tutorial before you go to take the real test. You don’t want to waste valuable time on test day because you aren’t familiar with the computer interface. These tips and more are available in the MCAT subforum in the General Questions sticky thread.

18. Tell me more about the SDN MCAT Study Questions subforum.

The MCAT subforum is intended for students who are studying for the MCAT and other pre-health tests like the DAT, OAT, and PCAT. There are two series of threads there. The Explanations threads are the ones that are stickied at the top of the subforum. There is a separate Explanations thread for each MCAT subject except biology, which has two of them. There is an additional General Explanations thread. These threads are for didactic posts that explain difficult concepts and offer advice. Regular members should not post in them; these threads are kept locked for this reason.

The second series of threads are the Question threads. Again, there is a separate thread for each subject, two for biology, plus a general question thread. These threads are open for students to ask questions about concepts or study problems they are having. All questions should be asked in the appropriate Question thread; the MCAT mod staff will remove all new threads that are started by users.

[Editor’s note: the MCAT subforum is located at http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=134]

19. Why are you and the other staff so strict about not letting the members post MCAT questions or answers on SDN?

The AAMC is very serious about protecting the integrity of their tests, and they actively monitor SDN. We want to continue having SDN as a free community with as little outside oversight as possible, which means that we need to police ourselves. In addition, we want to protect our users. Users who violate AAMC copyrights could theoretically be prosecuted by the AAMC. Finally, although SDN has a policy of never releasing any user’s personal information, this website is not totally anonymous. It is good advice to never post anything on SDN that you wouldn’t want attributed to you in your offline life.

20. What role do you play on SDN, and what made you decide to join SDN and give MCAT advice?

I'm overseeing the premedical forums now, but I joined the SDN staff two years ago as one of the original two advisors. (Shrike was the other one.) Lee Burnett created the MCAT subforum, and Shrike and I set it up. Last year I became mod of the MCAT forum, and then one day last summer I was promoted to smod. I've continued modding MCAT, and I also advise in the Physician Scientist forum. Another staff member, gridiron, is now taking charge of the MCAT subforum, and a new MCAT mod will be promoted soon.

It’s difficult to explain the attraction and addiction that SDN has been for me. Briefly, I was a pharmaceutical chemist in my former life, and I also taught classes for the university where I was doing my PhD. One of my students told me about SDN, and the night I got my MCAT score back, I decided to join. I basically realized after I called my parents and the manager at Kaplan that I didn't know another soul on this planet who would even understand what my test score meant, let alone care.

What I like so much about SDN is the community we have here, especially for those of us who are older students. You tend to be isolated from other premeds when you're out of college, and it's nice to know that you're not the only crazy "grown-up" going through this process. I have met several friends on SDN, including some of my current medical school classmates and the other SDN staff. I have to say though that I’m glad I didn’t join SDN before I took the MCAT because it’s easy to spend too much time on SDN when I should be studying!

MCAT Topics & Explanations by QofQuimica and Shrike