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The MCAT is a make-or-break test. If you do well on it, you're
almost certainly going to get into medical school. If you don't,
you've got to scramble.
MCAT
Question Bank
MCAT
Classroom Course
MCAT
STAT: Science Online
The MCAT isn't the hardest
part of becoming a doctor, but it is a necessary evil. It pays to
prepare for this exam professionally. That means you need to be
disciplined and focused. Sometimes the amount of material you have
to know seems overwhelming. In fact, it's a finite, and relatively
small amount of information - well, small compared to what you'll
learn in your first two years of medical school, anyway.
Having taught MCAT prep for several years, here's my take on the
best way to prepare for the MCATs:
1. Make a study plan. You don't want to spend your whole
life studying every synthesis reaction or every variant on Kirkhoff's
Laws, so you need to make a general outline of your long-term
(2-month) study plan. Set specific study goals for each week.
2. Continually test yourself with MCAT type practice questions.
The MCAT has specific ways of asking about certain topics -
do as many MCAT practice questions as you possibly can. Kaplan
has an excellent MCAT
Question Bank
- use it. A friend of mine spent a whole summer doing question
banks and Kaplan review materials, he truly aced the MCAT. When
I interviewed at Harvard, I was slightly pissed off to be asked
about him and his phenomenal MCAT scores. He got in, I went
somewhere else. It pays to do well on the MCAT!
3. Learn test-taking skills. When your stuck on a question,
it's important to have techniques to quess intelligently. When
I taught MCAT prep I used to give a demonstration: I had half
the class read the text, read the questions, then answer the
questions. The other half skipped the text entirely and answered
the questions. The second half of the class did almost as well
as the first half - in much less time. An even more surprising
demonstration was to have half the class read just the answers
(not the questions or the text) and try to guess the correct
answer. These students didn't do as well as the first two groups
- but they did much better than chance. As any test-taking pro
will tell you, a lot of information can be found in how the
answers are phrased. Try it while you take a practice test -
guess the answers without reading the question first, then answer
again after having read the question.
continued: MCAT
preparation
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