A Brown Girl's Guide to Medical School Admissions
My Journey From 505 to 521: Introduction
If you’re reading this, you’re either getting ready to plan out studying for this exam, in the midst of studying, or trying to find articles that will help provide you with last minute tips and strategies to ace the exam you’re taking in a week. Wherever you are in the process is okay! I’m not an expert, but I am unfortunately very familiar with the MCAT. As someone who took it three times (yes three times), I have learned a lot in a painful way. I want to share what I learned so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.
The first thing to realize is that it is possible to improve on the MCAT (and I’m saying that based on my own experience). Personally, I took the MCAT three times – August 2022 (505 – 128/127/124/126), August 2023 (510 – 126/130/127/127), and January 2024 (521 – 131/132/128/130). So let’s talk through the whole process, but first, take a deep breath. It will be okay!
Some Final Thoughts
- The MCAT can feel extremely isolating especially if you are studying alone. If you have friends that are studying for it at the same time, it can be comforting to do study sessions together or even just find time to rant about the exam together.
- I think the biggest piece of learning I had is that for passage questions, the answer will be in the passage, even if you think it’s not. If you feel like you are thinking too hard and trying to draw on additional concepts, you are probably overthinking it.
- The best way to improve is to keep doing problems and looking at the explanations. You will start to see patterns in their question asking techniques.
- CARS is the only section I didn’t have to spend time studying for because reading comprehension came naturally to me. If you enjoy reading, I recommend this as a stress busting activity because it helped me improve my reading comprehension and have fun. It was like studying without actually studying.
- Ultimately, you have to trust your preparation and not second guess yourself. Any moment of doubt can harm your clarity of thinking during the exam and prevent you from performing at your best.