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General Premed questions relating to CV and MCAT


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Hi, I just completed my 2nd year in biochem in ON and have a few questions about medical school applications and preparing for that. 

 

1. As someone with somewhat of a science background, which prep books are the best to prepare for the MCAT ? I am leaning towards ExamKrackers but I've read about how it's riddled in errors. 

2. Are MCAT prep books useful for CARS prep ? If so which ones did you find useful ?

3. To preface, unfortunately as someone will minimal ECs after high school (2 long term activities and 3 short term jobs), I know it's going to extremely hamper my chances of getting into medical school. It's been quiet demotivating applying to multiple executive positions at uni and being consistently rejected. I also feel like my volunteer experiences are more of me just helping out where I can and I haven't really had the opportunity to display any leadership (which I have read medical schools look into). To get into my actual question, up to when do medical schools look into volunteer experience, if I choose to apply in fourth year ? Do they only look at everything till 3rd year as you apply for med school in the fourth or do volunteer experiences in fourth year count ? 

Insight is greatly appreciated. 

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1. It doesn't really matter that much. Kaplan is common, but that might be due to how they "bribe" club executives with discounts and freebies... I used Kaplan and Princeton Review books and it was fine, there were areas I think Kaplan was better, although on the whole the Princeton Review book appealed to me more. The only indispensable resource is UWorld and the AAMC tests+question packs. 

2. Not really. Kaplan's CARS strategy is laughably bad, as are most prep books. I used someone who has a website who has the initials JW, and who's full name is *ack *estin (since automod deletes it)'s (free) passages+AAMC and it worked. I hesitate to say it, but "read more" is good advice. Go read newspaper articles/non-fiction, you'll get better at cARS, although this takes awhile. 

3. Schools will only let you list hours until the application date, or earlier for some schools like UBC (they cut you off the June or July of the application year when the deadline is in August or September). As far as ECs, try and branch out. There are easy ways to find "leadership" ECs in the community, you need to look for them. One problem though is that very few organizations will let someone simply slide into a leadership role, you typically need to pay your dues first, which can take years. 

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1. I studied from ExamKrackers when i took the MCAT, they had no errors that I could see and were very helpful. They differ from Kaplan and Princeton in that they only cover the material you need to know for the exam vs the other two have a lot of extra stuff. Examkrackers I would say is designed more for someone who already has a background in the subjects (took some physics, took some orgo etc) vs the other two can teach someone who is either new to the subject or hasnt seen it in a long time.

2. Yes, absolutely practice for CARS, one of the biggest myths is you dont need to study for CARS. It's important to get used to the style of questions they ask and learn the tricks. ExamKrackers comes with a CARS book that is very very helpful. The practice passages are honestly harder than the MCAT passages so by the time you do CARS for real you'll be set.

3. Depends on the school you are applying to, some schools have a cut off date of eligible experiences like UBC (usually like that summer that you are applying) but for the most part there is no cut off. You cant put future dates i.e things you will be starting after you submit your application but they look at everything you put in the app. You can display "leadership" in any activity or job it doesn't have to be cookie cutter I was president of X medical society. You could be a captain of an intramural team or help train a new employee etc it's all about how you present yourself on your app. The most important thing is that you involve yourself in activities that you are passionate about and want to do. 

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