r/MCAT2

Hello everyone this is the 3rd time i am that i studying for the mcat. I scored 490 the first time after 3 months of studying and i retook it in february after a month and scored 488. Now i have been studying since the start of june and i dont even know my score i took the practice test 2 two weeks ago for the 3rd time and scored 497, last week i did 59 questions from each section in the question bank 2 and 53 from cars volume 3 and calculate my score on a website and scored 498 so i dont even know my score but i really need to score 500+ on my test in september what should i do i am desperate for any help

I've been studying for about 2 months now and have less than one more month until my actual test date and was wondering if anyone has any tips on what i can do during the next couple of weeks to improve my score (trying to get it above a 515, preferably closer to a 520). I'm going to be focusing the next couple of weeks on making sure i fully know the content in the anki and doing the AAMC Qpacks to get a better grasp of the logic. Would appreciate any advice anyone has! Thanks

Here's what my FL scores have been looking like:

https://preview.redd.it/ceab5y036fkh1.png?width=1084&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8b184d52f3b67f7df4a1f2dad52213f6b364078

Study schedules, mcat/life balance, tips, and in general what has gotten you such a high score in comparison to others

hey guys i am part of the people dying from studying mcat this summer too! I desperately need help with improving my score and breaking the 510s! For reference, I got a 509 on AAMC FL 1 last week (127/125/129/128) and then today I took AAMC Unscored and got a 511 ish I think based on scales online (127/130/126/128). So far I have done some of the AAMC Qbank materials and completed the CARS Diagnostic, CARS Vol 1, Biology Qpack 1, Chemistry Qpack, and almost done with the Physics Qpack. Also have done about half of the Uworld questions.

My exam is on 9/12! And I review my exams and try and fix issues by practicing with UWorld and reviewing Aiden Anki decks! But every exam I improve in like two sections and bomb the the other two/the topics I study don't come up! Does anyone have any advice on how TO INCREASE SCORE FAST!! Also if my goal score is a 520+ on my September MCAT is that possible?

(also if anyone has tips for PACING ALSO pls share!)

Done Pankow deck and feel comfortable with it, had a minor in psychology. Testing in January although, any advice on what to do next for psych soc

Took my MCAT twice first score was a 486 and the second was a 481. I have a 3.4 gpa and a 3.98 masters gpa. I have been studying for my third retake on 9/12 and hoping to score a 505+ but im feeling like my chances at a MD school are ruined ? Any thoughts or advice?

Testing on Friday (like so many people it seems here on Reddit). Kinda wanted to see what to primarily focus on for the next two days. Here's what I've found to be high yield from AAMC stuff only but feel free to add to help others also (their guide is vague which makes sense because you don't know what will be tested). If anything, I think these concepts are GUARANTEED to show up in some way.

C/P:

* Acids/bases

* Thermodynamics (delta G)

* n = CV or m = nM because they LOVE those formulas

* Something on pH where they give ion concentration in a very weird indirect way

* Functional groups

* E = hf or E - hc/lambda

* HALF-LIFE!!!!!

B/B

* Amino acids (this one is obvious) but mainly properties; acidic, basic, what can be phosphorylated, hydrophobic etc

* Immune system!!! AAMC seems to love putting stuff on B/T cells or macrophages (I'm not complaining because I'm an immunology minor)

* Enzymes and inhibition (there's always an indirect question on kinases, hydrolases or phosphatases)

* Genetics (especially those punnett squares which thank goodness are simple compared to undergrad)

* Central dogma (DNA --> mRNA --> protein)

* Chromatography

* Organelles and their functions (especially the Golgi, ribosomes, plasma membrane and ER). Also remember rough ER to Golgi to vesicles because that always pops up somehow

P/S

* Sociological terms (conflict theory and symbolic interactionism are the most common two I've seen, functionalism also)

* Somethin on SES and health because they love passages on those

* This is moreso bio than psych but cortisol and stress. They disguise it either as skin conductivity or what happens in the SNS

* Piaget and/or Erikson (maybe Freud)

* Attitudes (the ABCs: affective, behavioral, cognitive)

* Those terms you easily mix up (role strain/role conflict, front stage/back stage, social capital/cultural capital, me/I, etc). Not saying it's those exactly but usually the ones that sound similar)

* Classical and especially operant conditioning (reinforcements and punishments) and/or something related like extinction, generalization, discrimination and shaping

* Memory (short-term/long-term)

* Senses but it's usually vision, hearing rarely pops up

* Something social (social stratification, social interactions, agents of socialization, social facilitation, social loafing, etc)

* Some sort of bias (confirmation seems to be the main one followed by selection and observer)

* Emotion theories (Cannon-Bard, Shatter-Singer, James-Lange)

What I've learned is AAMC can be predictable in a sense with what they put especially for B/B which is why they love graphs and figures that test those concepts with weird convoluted wording.

 have been studying for the MCAT for 5-6 months unfortunately lots happened in these months and I do work fulltime so could not focus too much. My uworld is not even done 30% of questions and my averages are like 50% only. I have my exam scheduled for 05-09 but I feel pushing it back is the best option for now. I am starting again, and could use all the help. I did do a Full length from 3rd party to see where I stand last month was around only like 482. Please help how to plan this with work, I need to make it till 515 atleast.

I’m stressed out. I don’t know how I will balance GPA (studying for classes), studying for mcat, and doing a clinical job, and this doesn’t even include volunteering hours yet. I feel like it is going to be impossible to balance all 3 let alone 4. Clinical jobs are competitive and scarce so I may have to do overnight shifts at a place like an 1 hour away during school or maybe I won’t be able to get a clinical job- I don’t know how I’ll complete the training for a job between my classes. The premeds I know did overnight shifts, but it definitely took a toll on them and I saw them struggle with doing well in classes and they were not even studying for the MCAT at the same time. I plan to take the MCAT in January. My family told me that overnight shifts will ruin my MCAT sand GPA studying ability and I know they are right. Not to mention decreased ability to regulate emotions and manage stress and I know I will be stressed out even if I do manage to get a clinical job and just trying to balance everything. Everything feels overwhelming right now and classes have not even started. I basically do not have clinical hours (like 10) and it is my senior year. I feel like it is inevitable that my grades will dip and even though I am taking a lighter course load credit wise, human anatomy is known to be extremely difficult course where I am at and self study based and I am worried about combining it with the other courses I am taking. The rate my professor reviews are very disheartening to say the least. My GPA is decently high (~3.8), but if it dips too much, I feel like will lose my biggest application advantage- GPA given that I have not taken the MCAT yet. I feel like I am low on volunteering hours too even though I have not tallied them all up yet, but it is definitely less than 200.

The reason I am so stressed is that I only have one chance to get into med school next cycle. Pushing it back by a year is not an option for me. Reapplying is not an option for me. I get one shot and that is it. If I do not get in 2027-2028 cycle that is the end of my family’s financial and all support, and I will never be a doctor unless I take out loans myself or something and find somewhere else to live. This is not an exaggeration, this is what my family has told me. They do not like the idea of me being a doctor, but they give me limited support because they know I really want to do this. I would have to somehow find a different job from the one I have been striving towards my entire college life if I do not get in. I want to help people and learn how to diagnose and treat diseases and be a doctor that makes people feel heard. I cannot imagine wanting to do anything else besides a doctor. I am stressed about my future. I am unsure of how I will handle being a doctor when this issue of balance seems overwhelming presently. (Maybe Caribbean or DO would accept low clinical hours/volunteering and maybe low MCAT since I do not know how I will balance studying??? I wish I had more clinical hours and experience to draw from as I think it is needed to write a good personal statement.) Does anyone have any advice or have been in a similar situation or success stories?

https://preview.redd.it/lf9qu2fox4kh1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=af45e111caac073bfc12b049e18260e11c2cc77c

I feel like I have done everything I can for CARS and i have an 85% average on CARS Vol 2 (finished 75/120 questions) but am still scoring very low on FLs. I am starting to just give up on cars and want to get my other scores a little bit higher to compensate for cars. I have finished both sections banks on AAMC but i didn't really do the question packs. I finished ~80% of UGlobe.

Any tips on how to get a little bit higher and hopefully a 515+ this weekend?

I recently just cancelled my test date for 9/11. I was planning on studying 3 months. Month 1 was mostly content review using Prof. Eman videos and pairing with MilesDown Anki. Month 2 I started UWorld and wanted to get through as much of it in that month. In an ideal world I wanted to aim for 59 questions a day. Month 3 would have been AAMC bank and full lengths. I only got to starting UWorld before feeling overwhelmed and my mid results on the question banks made me feel like I was not prepared content wise.

I’m seeking any advice on what I should change to my study plan. I plan on registering to test at some point in January, so if I really need to I can retake again late April before next years application cycle.

What resources are best for helping generate a comprehensive schedule because that’s where I think I got off on the wrong foot?

Is it okay that I get a lot of questions wrong on UWorld at first? Does that mean I’m wasting them and I should do more content review first?

What resource is best for tracking mistakes?

Any other advice for me as I gear up to finally go all in?

Went down 7 points :/
505 —> 507 —> 509 —> 509 —> 511 —> 504

I think I’m just burnt out. Testing 8/22 and feeling like shit❤️

I’m about 2 weeks out from my MCAT and honestly starting to freak out a little. Actually like a lot. I just took AAMC FL5 and got a **501 (127/122/125/127)**. FL4 was a 502. My goal is at least a **506**.
This will be my **3rd attempt**, so I really really want this to be my last time taking this test. I’ve been studying for hours every day, doing AAMC material, reviewing my FLs, keeping track of my mistakes, etc., and I feel like I’m putting everything I have into this but my score just isn’t moving the way I thought it would.
CARS is obviously killing me, but I’m also frustrated because I’ve done better in B/B before and dropped to a 125 on FL5. It was a 128 on FL4 for context. I feel like I know way more than my score is showing, but clearly something isn’t translating on test day.
Has anyone been around **500–502 two weeks out and gotten to 505/506+ on the real thing?** What did you change during those last two weeks? At this point I don’t want to just study more hours. I need to figure out what I’m doing wrong and use these last two weeks as efficiently as possible.
Please be realistic with me, but I would really appreciate actual advice and not just “reschedule”

Hey everyone! So I decided to push my Aug 22nd MCAT to January (I’m just going to void) , and I’m trying to figure out how I should structure my studying between now and then.
For reference, I got a 511 on AAMC FL2 (126/128/128/129).
I’ve already finished UWorld, so I was thinking of doing an Altius FL once a week until December, and then starting to go through the official AAMC materials in December.
I also use AnKing, but I’m not really sure what I should be doing during the week. Should I do Jack Westin passages, keep up with AnKing, or somehow go through content review again? I feel like my C/P and B/B content isn’t super solid, but I’m not sure if I actually need to review content again or if I just need to do more practice questions.
I’ll also be in school during this time, if that makes a difference.
For those who have studied for a longer period of time, how would you structure the weeks between FLs? Would love any advice!

Hey, everyone! My exam is coming up in 2.5 weeks, much like some of you, and I'm really struggling with improving my CARS score. I keep getting a 125-126, and I'm aiming for at least a 128. I notice that I usually only miss around 2-4 questions on the first 4 passages but then miss 10 or so questions on the remaining five due to timing and the 2 or so really difficult passages they tend to throw in. Does anyone have any tips for improving? I review my answers and don't struggle much with comprehension, but I just can't seem to improve on timing/accuracy on this section. Thanks for any help/advice!

For reference I have been studying all summer and passively during the last semester school year and did a whole content and practice phase with uworld and Kaplan material. I completed uworld and now finishing up with the section banks. I scored unscored 509-510/FL1 510/ FL2 510 and I plan to take the other 4 before test date. I finished section banks and my sciences and psych seem to be around 129-130 except on FL2 127:( for psych. My cars has been consistently bad 123/124 with 126 on unscored but I heard that’s inflated. I have about 17 days left and I’m really trying to improve my CARS to 127+ how can I efficiently do this and is it possible? Btw I just finished cars diag tool with 66% and started qback 1 with a notorious 38% 28 questions in. I feel like cars logic is so hard for me to wrap. Any advice from people comfortable with this section would be helpful.