How I Scored in the 97th Percentile on the MCAT6 min read

The MCAT signifies to medical school admissions boards that you are ready for the academic rigor of medical school. The MCAT, tied with GPA, is the most important metric for your medical school application.

I knew I had to do well if I wanted to get into my top choice medical school, so I developed a 98-day plan to do the best I possibly could.

I spent an embarrassingly long time on crafting my excel sheet study plan, I have linked it here in hopes it will help others formulate their own plan!

My Study Plan Spreadsheet

Study Plan

My plan combines MCAT Jelly’s schedule and NextSteps’s 100 Days to MCAT success guide, adjusted to 98 days.

Materials

Core Materials:

• Examkracker’s Full Set
• The Berkley Review 10-Book Set
• 4 Examkracker Full-Length Exams
• 2 Next Step Exams (Now Blueprint prep)
• AAMC MCAT Official Prep Online-Only Bundle***
• Khan Academy – This goes away in September 2021 🙁
• Amino Acids YouTube Video

Optional Materials (I didn’t use these, but they are new and recommended):

• Anki Deck (premed95) or MileDown’s Deck
• UWorld
• Reddit Resource Compilation
• EK 101 Passages
• TPR 2015 Psych and Biochem (Honestly they were “ok,” I would not get these and instead use the Anki decks and Reddit resources)

Typical Study Day

I aimed for 6 – 8 hours a day, mimicking the test timing, so what does that mean? I study exactly how the test is actually administered:

1. Study 90 mins at 8 am (when most testing centers MCAT exams start)
2. 10 min break (like the MCAT)
3. Study 90 mins (like the MCAT)
4. 30 min lunch break (like the MCAT)
5. Study 90 mins (like the MCAT)
6. 10 min break (like the MCAT)
7. Study 90 mins (like the MCAT)

My day usually ended around 4 pm.

This was my life for 90 days over my summer break. I committed that entire summer to the MCAT, and it paid off.

7 hours of study per day X 90 Days = 630 Hours of Studying

Learning Content

Overall, I began with content review, going through every chapter of Examkrackers (EK), and coordinating those chapters to practice questions in The Berkeley Review (TBR). It took me forever to coordinate each chapter in Examkrackers to TBR sections, which is laid out in my excel sheet.

Next, after doing all EK and TBR I went into just question banks from the AAMC.

The AAMC resources are the best resources for preparing for the MCAT because it comes from the MCAT test writers.

Then, at the end, I took as many Full-Length practice tests as I could.

How to Approach Every Examkracker chapter

The key idea is reviewing each EK chapter three times on three separate days. Each review you are trying to accomplish something different.

X.1 (Day One): First Pass of the Material

I casually read the chapter as if I was reading through a magazine. I am not learning at this point. Just looking at the pretty pictures and diagrams and getting a general feel for the content. This process should not take longer than 30 minutes.

Next, I go through and learn all of the boldfaced words. I make sure I understand every word that is bold. If I do not understand I look it up on Wikipedia, you can’t understand the content if you do not understand the words being used.

Read through the chapter slowly and carefully. Do not write in the book. I want to be able to come back to the chapter later if necessary. This pass takes a decent amount of time. This is where I am actually learning this content. I make sure I know every diagram. This pass of the content is the most important.

X.2 (Day Two): Skim and Test

I wait one day and then come back to the chapter. This is practicing spaced repetition.

Next, I skim through the chapter, reviewing diagrams, bold words, pictures, and then answer the questions in the chapter and the questions at the end of the chapter.

These questions are important, so I make sure I understand what the question is asking and, if I get it correct, I take the second step of seeing if I could explain this answer to a friend. This is the Feynman Technique.

Any question I get wrong, or any topic I don’t understand, I make a flashcard for.

At the end of every day, I would go over my flashcards. Each flashcard was then put into one of three piles:

1. Don’t Know
2. Kinda Know
3. Know Cold (Answered correctly at least 3 times in a row)

X.3 (One Week Later): Redo Incorrect Questions

One week after X.2 I come back to the chapter for the last time. I am NOT rereading any content. I am just redoing all the questions I got wrong. If I got a question wrong a second time, I am making sure I have a flashcard for that piece of information.

So let’s look at my first week of studying.

Example Week

So look at day 11 it says:

Phys 2.1, bioS 1.2, chem 1.3

That means that day I am doing:

• First pass of EK Physics chapter 2
• Skim and test EK Biology systems chapter 2
• Redo incorrect questions EK Reasoning Skills chapter 4

There is a column on the right of that picture that I left out, this is that column:

On that same day, after I do the left column, I move to the right column. That column has sections identified in the TBR with related practice questions. This took me forever but helped me solidify the information with practice questions.

One key point, I would review each question after each small section (about 7 questions.) This is because I want to learn as I go. I am still new to this material. Therefore I want to review the content immediately and apply it to the next questions.

Practice Testing

At day 45, I switched to full length exams and question packs.

Make sure you do every single piece of AAMC content.

One day was usually taking the test (mimicking test conditions) and the next day was reviewing that test.

When I was reviewing that test I would make a flashcard for every question I got wrong. The flashcard wasn’t the question, but the content from that question that I was unsure of, which was the reason I got that question wrong.

Here is an example week below. FC is flashcards.

My Practice Test Scores

[Test] (Score) [C/P] / [CARS] / [B/B] / [P/S]

1. NS 1/2 diag (500) 123/127/125/125
2. AAMC Sample 71%/77%/73%/75%
3. AAMC Bio Qpack 1: (83%) |AAMC CARS Qpack 1: (81%) |AAMC CARS Qpack 2: (85%) |AAMC Phys Qpack: (86%) |AAMC Chem Qpack: (87%)
4. EC 1: (64%) 50%/77%/67%/65%
5. NS 1: (511) 128/127/128/128
6. AAMC Sec Bank Chem (61%) |AAMC Sec Bank Bio (72%)| AAMC Sec Bank P/S (69%)
7. EC FL #2 (72%) 66%/68%/70%/83%
8. AAMC 1: (510) 129/127/127/127
9. NS 2: (512) 128/128/128/128
10. EC 3: (72%) 73%/72%/68%/71%
11. AAMC 2: (513) 131/126/129/127
12. EC 4 (73%) 76%/57%/73%/85%

That’s it! You can, and will, beat this test.

Have a plan before you start studying. Stick to your plan. Remember why you are studying so hard for this test (to become a doctor!!!!) and you will do fine.

I had a goal of 512 and thought I would score around there, I ended up scoring a 518 (130/128/130/130). Hard work will pay off, put in the time and you will get the score you want.