For many pre-meds and aspiring doctors, the MCAT may seem like a daunting, maybe even an impossible task to overcome. But, take it from someone who was equally as nervous, you can get through it, and you can do well! I wrote the MCAT for the first time in August, and I’ve compiled some tips that I learned to help you along the way!
1. Make a schedule
Sit down and dedicate some time to plan out the next few months. What days will you do content review? What days will you do a practice test? Most importantly, make sure that you schedule your breaks too because, trust me, when you’re elbow-deep in material, you won’t remember to come up for air as often as you should.
A typical day for me would start at around 9:30 am: I would do my content review for the day and corresponding practice questions until about 3:00 pm, with a couple of 10-20 minutes breaks over that period of time. Once I finished, I would take a longer 1-2 hour break to eat, workout, shower, and do whatever I had to do that day. When I was ready to get back to the grind, I would sit back down, do a few content quizzes and call it a night. I would also set aside two full days every week: one to write a practice test and another day to review that test, plus any topics I was struggling with.
2. Start practice tests early on!
It may seem counterintuitive to start doing practice tests before finishing all the content review, I certainly thought that, but the MCAT is not entirely based on memorization. There will be times where all the information you need is in the passage. Let yourself have access to notes on new material that you’ve recently covered but challenge yourself to recall material that you’ve already studied. This strategy will help you determine what information you know and what information you have trouble with. Once you’ve covered all the content, start doing the practice tests without any aid.
3. Make time to workout!
Most people set aside two-three months to study for this test. That’s a LOT of time sitting at your desk, and, by the end of those few months, you’ll probably start to feel burnt out. Scheduling in time during your week to get up, get active or go outside will do wonders for your focus, mental health and overall well-being. You also retain more information after you’ve worked out, as mentioned here in this article from Harvard Health. Ergo, exercise helps you study! I felt much better on the days that I made time to workout, and I was much more productive.
4. Give yourself a day off each week.
It can be very overwhelming to look at all the content that you have yet to learn. It may even make you feel like you cannot afford to ever leave your desk again. But, if you don’t, you won’t cross that finish line. You’ll be so overworked and tired that all your time and effort will go to waste. Don’t feel guilty about giving yourself a break every now and then. You’re human, and you deserve it. And when you’re a doctor, you’ll deserve that time too. Everyone needs that time to rest and recuperate; love yourself enough to take that time. On my rest days, I would go for lunch with some friends or do something to pamper myself like a relaxing pedicure!
5. Practice doing the test on the computer
This may seem like a strange one, but hear me out. There are several places to buy books that contain practice questions and tests. However, there are also online practice tests you can purchase an access code to on the AAMC Website or from companies such as Altius. I prefer to use the online tests, and here’s why: when you’re in that exam, you won’t be able to annotate the questions like you may usually do because the test is online! You need to practice reading, interpreting, and answering the questions on a screen. The last thing you want is to be thrown off your game because now, all of a sudden, you’re face to face with a computer, and you’ve never taken the test in that format before. That’s a shock you don’t need to have on your big day!
There you go, a few of my best tips that I learned along the way. Remember, believe in yourself, take it day by day, and you will get there. I believe in you!
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