Our advice for the MCAT test covers the following
topics:
The MCAT will be the single most important test that
you will take up to this point of your career.
Students are partially ranked by admissions committees
on the basis of their MCAT exam scores. From the admissions
committees' point of view, the MCAT is the only way
to objectively compare you to applicants from other
undergraduate schools.
It deserves to be treated with at least the same amount
of preparation that you would use to prepare for any
other test. Far too many students don't bother to prepare
for this important exam and they cite various reasons
such as lack of time and the perceived impossibility
of reviewing 4 one-year science courses: biology, physics,
chemistry, and organic chemistry. (Introductory calculus
is not tested on the MCAT, although some med schools prefer their
applicants to have a firm grasp of calculus. Joint
MD/PhD applicants in particular should certainly have
a thorough understanding of calculus.)
We advise our clients to take the MCAT
in the spring of their junior year of college – and
lighten up on their course load in that semester if
at all possible. The sophomore year summer and winter
holiday break also provide some additional time for
preparation. Try at all costs to do well on the test
the first time you take it. It is much better to answer "one" for
the question "Number of MCATs taken" on the
AMCAS form. The admissions committees will notice that
the first time you took the exam you did horribly and
then you did average or better than average the second
time.
The choice between taking a review course or self
studying should be made based on your self discipline.
In other words, if you can stick to a schedule on your
own and you have good materials to help you stay
organized and focused and you fully understand the
answer explanations to the practice questions, you may fare as well as if you
took a review course. Granted, that is a long list of
"ifs," but the downsides to a traditional review course
are that (1) the pre-specified times and locations
will decrease your flexibility and (2) you may want
to allot more or less time to a particular part of
the test than the course dictates. It's worth noting
that the advent of online MCAT courses has made a review
course much more flexible in terms of both time and
location.
There are many tips and strategies
that you can, and should, employ for this test. The
best way to do this
is with a book of previously-asked MCAT questions and
an "unofficial" guide that prepares you for
the different test sections. Practice taking this test
under the actual test conditions. Simulation is a very
powerful technique.
Most test takers report that their biggest difficulty
is answering questions within the time
limits. Recall that medical school is primarily challenging
due to the voluminous information you must absorb each
year. Additionally, if you are working in an emergency
room, you must think very quickly to
diagnose a problem and determine the proper course
of action. As a result, it should not surprise you
that the MCAT is designed to reward those students
who can complete the problems accurately and
rapidly.
We also have some
MCAT book
reviews you may want to peruse.
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