Everything you need to know for the best MCAT prep!

You will need to put in the work for your MCAT prep, however, by studying smart, not just studying hard, you can get the best score possible. It all comes down to preparing for the MCAT intelligently.

Preparing for the MCAT is Twofold

There are two parts to your MCAT preparation. You need to study the material first and make sure you have a strong grasp of all the key concepts. Second, you need to practice and test how well you have a grasp of all the pre-req material by taking as many practice exams as possible.

First, Study!

Students have the misconception that all they need to do is study the material and they will do well. This test doesn't do that. It's a different kind of beast. The test makers designed the test in a way to test if you can take concepts and apply it in different situations. If you take upper division biology courses, or any upper division science courses for that matter, you will apply all concepts from your lower division courses in more advanced ways. That is what this test does. So it is critical that you do well in your pre-reqclasses and not slack off.

The best way to study the material is get your hands on some good review books. I suggest getting the Princeton Reviewbooks for Biological Science and Physical Science. They are very detailed, but they do an awesome job of emphasizing key points. I obtained mine by taking a Princeton Review course. You can get it that way, or if you have friends, borrow theirs. If you don't know anyone, go on Craigslist or Ebay and try to buy them. I also, recommend Exam Krackers. They are not as detailed as Princeton Review (PR), but they get the point without wasting words and they also have mnemonic devices that help you to remember material.

*(you can buy books by clicking on the image. It will send you to Barnes & Noble. I believe they have the best price)

Practice Makes Perfect

The best way to practice the material is do the practice problems in the Princeton Review and Exam Kracker books. Now this is for the Physical Science section and Biological Science section. For the verbal, you can't study for it. You can only practice for it, so make sure you get ExamKracker 101 Verbal. They are very good! Their practice tests come very very close to resembling the types of verbal question that are asked on the actual test.

*(you can buy books by clicking on the image. It will send you to Barnes & Noble. I believe they have the best price)

For the Physical and Biological science, you just have to practice as many problems as you can. There's no short cut foryour MCAT prep. On the other hand, the Verbal section is very difficult to do well, especially if you are not a proficient reader. The reason why the verbal section is so difficult is because the passages are very difficult to understand and you don't have much time to answer all the questions.

Use the ExamKracker Verbal strategy to approach the Verbal section. In a nutshell, the Exam Kracker explains that the bestway to slay the Verbal section is to read for the main idea. Don't try to memorize all the details in each passage. Rather, skim and try to get the gist of the passage. Once you have an idea of the main point, use the main point is answer the questions. This requires a lot of practice and it is the section that always troubles students.

I suggest that every weekend, you take a practice MCAT exam to assess how your mcat preparation is going. Obtain AAMC practice exams and simulate as if you're actually taking the test. For example, if you are taking the test on Saturday morning at 8AM, then wake up on Saturday mornings by 8AM to take the practice exams. This way, you get used to what it feels like to take the exam in the morning.

About the Writing Section

If you noticed, I haven't really mentioned the writing section. The reason is that admissions committee don't really pay attention it unless you did very poorly. As long as you get an average score, that's all that matters. If you get a perfect score, it doesn't really help you, so don't stress too much on this section.

Concluding Thoughts

In my opinion, in order to maximize your MCAT prep, it is best to take this test after you finish your pre-reqs because the material on this exam will be from your pre-req classes. The material will be fresh in your mind. The longer you wait, the more you risk forgetting having to re-learn the material. However, taking a few upper division biology courses can be beneficial for you, but not necessary. I would suggest you take genetics, biochemistry, and physiology. These classes were very helpful for me when it came reinforcing the concepts from my lower division courses.

Good luck on your MCAT prep!

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