GUEST BLOGGER: How to Study for the MCAT Without Tearing Out a Tree Stump by My Brother Dan

Happy Sunday morning! So happy to have my brother, Dan, write a little piece on how he studied for the MCAT. I hate to admit this as an older sister but my brother has always been an inspiration to me. No matter how much advice I'd given him for applying to medical school, he always reassured me that he would do it his way and would succeed- and he was right. Despite not having been accepted the first round of applications, he took the opportunity to beef up his resume, get married to the love of his life, and enjoy the perks of a gap year.

I have to admit, when I was reading this last night (before the inevitable daylight savings clock change), I was laughing by butt off by how humorous and real this was. My brother plans on writing another blog on how he applied to medical school. Hope you guys enjoy a little humor on this Sunday morning!

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My favorite photo I've ever taken of my brother

Studying for the MCAT is not unlike studying for other tests. There’s tons of material to know, multiple choice questions to comb through, and Netflix when you inevitably give up on working on the first two. My goal was to try to gather the cheapest and most effective group of study materials I could find. If you asked Past-Dan why he couldn’t afford more expensive study materials, he might say something about how college is so expensive, but Present-Dan will admit that the new Pokemon game just came out and that was obviously the better purchase. I’ve probably sunk more time into that game than I spent studying, but I digress.

Background: I’ve studied and taken the MCAT twice during the lead-up to medical school, which I will begin this fall. The first time was the old format in spring of 2014 and the new format in spring of 2016. I scored a 29 on the old test (roughly the 78%) and a 512 on the new (roughly the 88%).

That MCAT grind during college

What is the MCAT and why is it so important?

• The MCAT is the entrance exam for medical school, similar to how the ACT/SAT get you into undergrad. It’s roughly 7.5 hours or 1.40 seasons of Sherlock.
• The old format was out of 45 with a median of 25 and a good score in the 28-32 range. A standard deviation is about 6 points. The test was based on biological science, physical science, and verbal reasoning.
• The new format is out of 528 with a median of 500 and a good score in the 504-512 range. A standard deviation is about 10 points. The test was based on the three sections above with the addition of psychology/sociology and a greater emphasis on biochemistry, anatomy, and ethics.
• Factored in with the GPA, these numbers allow medical schools to screen for applicants quantitatively.

How I studied: Round One

I originally began my studies about 4 months before my 2014 exam while in the spring semester of my junior year of college. Some may think that’s too short of a time period while others may say that’s too long. I thought it was just enough time for me to put on a blond wig and crawl into bed with some bears. I studied mostly out of a hand-me-down Examkrackers books given to me by my sister, but supplemented the holes in my understanding with class notes from the semester prior. The majority of the studying was done in the evenings and weekends between classwork and crying. I spent my time reading from the books and materials and paraphrasing the info into another notebook. I skipped practice exams until about a month and a half before the exam to avoid psyching myself out.

How I studied: Round Two

With the format change occurring after I took the first exam, I took my sweet ol’ time with prepping for Round Two. The new exam involved significantly more material, so I was going to take significantly more time to study for it. I actually liked the idea that there was more material to know if only because that indicated there was less of an emphasis on the nitty-gritty details of acid-base redox. I was carrying a full-time job and a part-time job, so I decided 8 months was the Goldilocks time. Was all that time necessary? No. Did my Bulbasaur need EV training? Yes. My primary resource was Khan Academy.  I was fortunate enough to have two jobs that allowed me to watch videos in the background. I would then try to repeat the information in my head until I had a chance to mentally regurgitate a childish interpretation of the material into my notebook. I took a practice exam 3 weeks before and 2 weeks before. The main thing I changed between my first and second exams was the emphasis I put on practicing passages. Even though I felt I knew the material, the challenge was in integrating my knowledge with what the exam was asking of me.

Main Resources:

• Examkrackers book set: individual books for each section of the test and a few practice tests.
• Khan Academy: hundreds of videos and practice sections on all of the topics. This resource at the time was the only one officially supported by the AAMC. (and was also free online. Thank you, Sal Khan. If you’re ever in town, let me buy you a sandwich.)
•  Social support: Don’t underestimate how valuable talking to someone is. I’m talking about anyone and not just other people studying for the test. I spent a lot of time talking to my wife about the material and she doesn’t study the sciences. It was just nice having someone there to give me cookies.
• Pull-up bar: I got really distracted and I thought it would be a good idea to get ripped while studying. I couldn’t do many pull-ups, so I strategically spent less time being distracted.
• Study Tip: Don’t listen to advice on the internet. Aside from consulting a school’s website for a general score range, don’t put too much focus on other people’s experiences with the test and admissions. How can I say to not listen to advice on the internet and proceed to give you advice over the internet? I’ll tell you right now that listening to me might not do you any good. That’s ok. Relax and you’ll do fine. Or not. What do I know?

Using Khan Academy

Many students studying for the MCAT struggle with where to begin and how to keep momentum moving. For that reason, online Kaplan courses have been popular for having students adhere to a schedule and giving structured guidance to the process. Khan Academy offers you a similar structure in studying, but for free. I set loose deadlines for when I wanted to complete each segment of videos and took the corresponding sections of practice passages whenever I felt my confidence level was too high and I needed to be knocked down a peg. There were plenty of practice passages, and more than enough material to drown me in science. I placed my focus on understanding the passage rather than focusing completing passages within the recommended time range. While Khan Academy lacked full-length exams, both Kaplan and AAMC offered truncated practice exams for free that I found more stressful than the actual exam. If for whatever reason you felt there wasn’t enough material on Khan Academy, the AAMC also offers practice passages for a small fee.

Test time advice

• Plan your study schedule to finish early. I finished studying the material two months before my exam and spent the remaining time practicing passages. I avoided studying the day before the exam and spent my day disc golfing.
• Get a full night’s sleep. I went to bed a full 9 hours before I needed to get up. Unfortunately I let my nerves get the best of me and only had two quality hours of sleep during that time. Don’t do that. I must’ve slept for 4 hours after that test, though.
• Test morning should involve no surprises. I woke up, had some eggs and tea for breakfast, and packed a ham sandwich for the exam. Easy. The exam building was down the street from my house and I visited the place the day before. The most surprising part of my morning was listening to The Martian on audiobook and finding out Mark Watney killed Dumbledore.
• Take your time. You may finish some sections early. You may not use your full break time. You may decide you peed your pants already and don’t need to take that bathroom break as planned. I would recommend working up until the last minute with everything and relaxing if there’s a spare moment. I ended up meditating before going into my final two sections after lunch. I walked back into the test room feeling rested and confidant and knocked the last sections out of the park.
• Pretend someone who doesn’t think you know what you’re talking about is reading the critical reading section to you. Try it. As soon as you imagine someone doubts your ability to get the right answer, you’ll feel the need to prove him/her wrong. It works best with someone you’re trying to impress. For me, that was my wife. She’s so smart.

 

Conclusions

Preparation for this test may be the most challenging thing you’ve ever done. If that’s the case, then you might need more challenging experiences to dilute the pool. While this test was made to be a tape measure for your qualifications as a medical professional, it should become increasingly apparent that it is more a measure of your ability to manage stress and make progress. Yes, the test is difficult, but to believe you are anything less than capable only hinders your growth as a scholar. Smile and relish the challenge because there’s nothing unusual about yelling at your computer.