A Brown Girl's Guide to Medical School Admissions

Planning

Many people have different planning resources and schedules, so you may be confused about which one to use. There’s really no right or wrong answer (I know this is frustrating to hear, but it’s true) – it’s about what works best for you.

The first time (August 2022) I spent 1-2 months content reviewing and then the last month doing practice questions and AAMC question bank problems. I would NOT recommend this. Doing practice questions and taking exams is the most effective way to study and just reading the content does nothing. The third time (January 2024), I signed up for Blueprint tutoring. I watched their videos for content review, but mostly I focused on doing their Q bank questions, AAMC Q bank questions, and UWorld. The last month before I took the exam, I was taking 2-3 practice exams per week (both Blueprint and AAMC exams).

After all these experiences, this is how I would approach MCAT studying if I had to do it all over again (assuming I have four months before I take the exam):

  1. Take the AAMC 1 as your diagnostic exam. Do this before you do any content review because it will help you understand how long the exam is and what sections you may need more help in than others. For me, it helped me know that CARS was one of my stronger sections so I could spend less time studying for it.

  2. Content review for 2-3 weeks at most. If you can do it for two weeks, do that. Treat this as a way to get a high level summary of all the content on the exam, but don’t feel the need to know it well. Make a note of the topics you know less well and will need to review, but don’t go too in depth. I personally liked the Kaplan books more than the Blueprint books, but I liked the Blueprint question banks, exams, modules, and tutoring options.

  3. Question banks for the second month. If you chose Kaplan, then use their question banks and if you chose Blueprint, use theirs. Make sure you also purchase the AAMC question banks. Additionally, get UWorld. I cannot emphasize enough how life changing UWorld was for me. I didn’t use it the first two times I took the MCAT, and it had a large part in helping my score improve so much. Just remember that Kaplan, Blueprint, and UWorld questions will be harder than the actual AAMC questions so don’t feel too disheartened. The goal should be to complete 3,000 questions (exam + question banks) before you take your MCAT.

  4. Take practice exams for the third month. In the third month, take practice exams. I would try one per week. If you don’t see your scores improve or if you’re struggling with practice questions, then consider tutoring. I received tutoring through Blueprint (16 hours) and having someone help me understand how to take the exam was very helpful. Also continue content reviewing any topics that you keep making errors on to better understand it and start focusing on memorizing key topics.

  5. For the fourth month, take it easy but still take exams, memorize, and do question banks. The month before the exam, be careful not to burn yourself out. For the first week, feel free to take a break and reset. Then take the AAMC official exams (save at least two for this month). It helped me to also continue doing the AAMC official question banks, but not the third party question banks. I also stopped content reviewing and started reviewing the information I needed to memorize for the exam.