How hard is the MCAT?

[medisforme]

perhaps this is a dumb question but i am putting this out because i have yet to read a thread where someone scored less than 28 on the MCAT which is about the top 10 percent or so (and rarely less than M or O on writing). How hard is the MCAT compared to say, final exams in your degree year (i am guessing the MCAT is easier but there is more stuff to know). I registered to take it in june, which will give me seven weeks to study (i will have just finished the pre-reqs like physics, organic chem, cell bio etc. so i will not be starting from scratch). Is this enough time?

I am also aware of the fact that those who are proud of their score are advertising it while those who are not so proud are keeping it to themselves.

[A-Stark]

Hard. Like impossibly hard.

 

Heh.

 

Anyway, this forum is full of keeners. If you're just finishing the pre-reqs now, that should ensure that everything is fresh in your mind, so reviewing everything from scratch is not necessary - there's little cell bio on the MCAT, though. Still, seven weeks ought to be enough - just try to practice as much as possible, and be disciplined about using those seven weeks to their utmost.

[Jamer]

The MCAT material is easy. There's nothing there your average 1st year science student wouldn't know, really. There's just a lot of it and a small percentage of it is tested on. In addition to that, more often than not you will be pressed for time. I always finished the biosci section with 10 minutes to spare at least and the physical with a few minutes to spare (on my actual MCAT I had 26 minutes left because it was ridiculously easy besides 1 passage), but verbal most people struggle to complete well (if you're not a strong/quick reader like me, verbal will make you want to cry). Writing becomes more of a step by step procedure that you repeat more than anything if you practice enough, so I found it to be the easiest section and a nice break in the middle.

 

Most of the test (all of verbal + most of bio+physical) is based on reading passages and figuring things out, so realistically, a very smart person could go into the MCAT after briefing the background material for a week and do very well (32Q+).

 

That said, I studied for about 2 months and I found that I overstudied. Better to overstudy than understudy though, I suppose.

 

Summary: I know people who studied for 2 weeks and got 99+ percentile and people who studied all summer and didn't even reach the 90th percentile. It's really all about your ability to critically read.

[tallguy408]

Jamer says it all. Study your brains out for as long as you can, but remember that test experience is as valuable as content experience. You need to know the content, but also need to be able to manage time and pick apart MCAT-style passages. Best of Luck!

 

Word.

[futuredoc]

Is it advisable to study for the MCAT during the summer (with a prep course) with a full time research position (~42hrs/wk) and volunteering (~2.5 hours/wk)?

[Jamer]

I studied under literally the exact same conditions. Fortunately, my job had me doing experiments where I had to wait hours for things to incubate/centrifuge/whatever so I got to do plenty of MCATing during work fortunately. Regardless, taking a summer off doesn't make much sense...the test isn't that difficult/that big of a deal.

[futuredoc]

What if you can't do much studying during work? Any comments?

[register]

Then work hard when you're at work. And study hard when you're off. If you're doing it and find you can't manage, you can either quit your job halfway, or ask for a 1 week leave before the test to study more.

[webshy]

Is it advisable to study for the MCAT during the summer (with a prep course) with a full time research position (~42hrs/wk) and volunteering (~2.5 hours/wk)?

 

I studied for the MCAT while working one full time (~60 hrs per week) and one part time job (~10 hrs per week). I also had to learn the material, rather than just review it, as I hadn't taken many of the usual intro science courses.

 

Studying was doable; however, I will admit that there were days where I didn't want to study, but had to force myself to. I used the Examkracker 10 week schedule, but took about 15 weeks go get through it due to my work schedule.

 

It is doable! Best wishes to you.

Elaine

[futuredoc]

I studied for the MCAT while working one full time (~60 hrs per week) and one part time job (~10 hrs per week). I also had to learn the material, rather than just review it, as I hadn't taken many of the usual intro science courses.

 

Studying was doable; however, I will admit that there were days where I didn't want to study, but had to force myself to. I used the Examkracker 10 week schedule, but took about 15 weeks go get through it due to my work schedule.

 

It is doable! Best wishes to you.

Elaine

 

May I ask how you did? I have actually been thinking about using Examkrackers (apparently it is very good?) instead of the prep course. PM me if you would prefer.

[Perdoc]

May I ask how you did? I have actually been thinking about using Examkrackers (apparently it is very good?) instead of the prep course. PM me if you would prefer.

 

The prep course isn't necessary. Depending on how well you know the material, I would suggest the following:

 

PS: Examkrackers, NOVA Physics, Berkeley Review (physics and general chem)

BS: Examkrackers, Berkeley Review (organic chem only)

VR: Examkrackers & EK 101

 

and of course lots of practice tests including every AAMC one.

[webshy]

May I ask how you did? I have actually been thinking about using Examkrackers (apparently it is very good?) instead of the prep course. PM me if you would prefer.

 

I got a 32R - PS12, VR10, BS10. Prior to studying, physical sciences was by far my weakest area, since I had never taken physics at university, and my one year of high school physics was in 1993-4. I took first year university chemistry back in 1995, and no chemistry since then. I found the EK books were excellent at teaching the material, and I was quite confident that I was going to do very well in the PS section.

 

I really liked the 16 Mini MCATs book, as it allowed me to do practice passages throughout my studyng. The practice passages were on material that I had convered, rather than material I hadn't yet learned. That book was probably one of the best tools I used.

 

Best wishes to you!

Elaine

[sbrugby]

Jamer is pretty spot on

[kimjyhello]

I got a 32R - PS12, VR10, BS10. Prior to studying, physical sciences was by far my weakest area, since I had never taken physics at university, and my one year of high school physics was in 1993-4. I took first year university chemistry back in 1995, and no chemistry since then. I found the EK books were excellent at teaching the material, and I was quite confident that I was going to do very well in the PS section.

 

I really liked the 16 Mini MCATs book, as it allowed me to do practice passages throughout my studyng. The practice passages were on material that I had convered, rather than material I hadn't yet learned. That book was probably one of the best tools I used.

 

Best wishes to you!

Elaine

 

Oh, really?

I'm kind of in a similar situation.. I haven't taken any university physics, and I only took gr.11 physics in high school. I already have the EK books, but haven't started studying for it yet, and was thinking maybe I should study physics using the textbooks first and then use EK.

So do you think it would be possible for me to "learn" the materials with just the EK books?

[webshy]

Oh, really?

I'm kind of in a similar situation.. I haven't taken any university physics, and I only took gr.11 physics in high school. I already have the EK books, but haven't started studying for it yet, and was thinking maybe I should study physics using the textbooks first and then use EK.

So do you think it would be possible for me to "learn" the materials with just the EK books?

 

I did. The EK books were all I used, and I got a 12 on the PS section. I took one year of high school physics back in 1993-94, and no university physics. I found that everything I needed to know was covered extremey well in the EK Physics review book.

 

Best wishes to you!

Elaine

[sars]

Do you guys think its OK to just study off of the Gold Standard? I'm working full time over the summer, taking a course, and also volunteering, so I won't get much time to study. However I've just taken physics/chem/etc so everythings fresh in my mind and I just need to review. The only section I'm worried about is the Physical Sciences.

Also, is there a new version of the Gold Standard every year? Would it be OK if i used an older version to study?

[register]

Use something other than Gold Standard, I personally found it too bogged down with unnecessary information.

 

TPR and Kaplan is good. ExamKrackers better. AAMC tests best.

 

Plus versions/edition of books don't matter. Unless they're from ten years ago, the test hasn't changed that much, maybe except in format, but not in subjects covered.

[solocup]

The MCAT is more about how well you can reason and less about how much you know. The sciences are pretty trivial and intro physics/chem/bio is more than what you need to know. Use Princeton Review or Kaplan MCAT Guides and do as many AAMC practice test (under simulated conditions) as possible. The others (Kaplan tests) are okay but not quite as good as the AAMC tests. Med schools typically look for 30+ but the average for the top schools are around 34-35.

[Jamer]

Besides U of M, the MCAT is generally weighted such that it really doesn't make a massive difference as long as you get 30P+. Of course getting a 38+ will make you stand out, but the difference between a 30P and a 34R is pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things (at least based on their grading scheme). Unless of course you don't meet the cutoffs, but that's a different story.

[sars]

Aitz, thanks guys!

[Rock*]

U of C makes the MCAT a big factor for OOP applicants. For the initial cutoff equation, each point in verbal is worth the equivalent of .25 out of a 4 point GPA scale and each point in BS is about .12.

 

Honestly, if your grades are borderline, your MCAT is your best shot at getting an interview. Personally, if I were to write the MCAT, I'd concentrate solely on studying for it to get as high a score as possible. I wrote it twice in the summer--once while doing research and volunteering and again while doing nothing else except study for 2 months. My score jumped 7 points into the high 30s and my WS went from a P to an R the second time around.

[human instinct]

U of C makes the MCAT a big factor for OOP applicants. For the initial cutoff equation, each point in verbal is worth the equivalent of .25 out of a 4 point GPA scale and each point in BS is about .12.

 

Honestly, if your grades are borderline, your MCAT is your best shot at getting an interview. Personally, if I were to write the MCAT, I'd concentrate solely on studying for it to get as high a score as possible. I wrote it twice in the summer--once while doing research and volunteering and again while doing nothing else except study for 2 months. My score jumped 7 points into the high 30s and my WS went from a P to an R the second time around.

 

Hey...thats a nice jump...Did you improve on your verbal also. What strategy did you use for the verbal? And how the jump from P to R? Was it by using better examples or following the Thesis Antithesis Synthesis model more closely.

Thanks.

[Wolvenstar]

So I was bored of studying for my finals last week, and since all my friends were in full study mode, I bought a couple of the old tests off the MCAT website...the ones they used in the past, and my lowest overall score was 29 (not sure about the written as the computer cant mark it for me), my lowest scores were in physical science, mostly physics questions.

 

So as an overview, not that hard, but still study for the real one. I figure the actual will be more difficult but not overly so, especially if one does prepare for it.

[Rock*]

Hey...thats a nice jump...Did you improve on your verbal also. What strategy did you use for the verbal? And how the jump from P to R? Was it by using better examples or following the Thesis Antithesis Synthesis model more closely.

Thanks.

 

For verbal, I tried both EK and Kaplan's techniques and found that a combination of both was best. EK focuses on gleaming info from the question stems but I didn't find it enough so I also added Kaplan's underlining approach (which EK trashed repeated) and suddenly I was scoring 11-13 from my old range of 8-9.

 

With the WS, I totally just went with the TAS model but also spent a couple of days trolling on wikipedia learning about random junk like the impressionist masters, the bolshevik revolution, and other non science subjects to use as examples.

[lostintime]

Be creative with your examples for the WS! It's so fun! =D I love making up names of people and villages hehe....

 

Good luck MCATers summer 2008!