Best Of

Community Spotlight: Jason B. Ingerick

Hello Pre-Med community! We're excited to feature Kaplan MCAT Prep alumnus and community member, Jason B. Ingerick, who recently achieved an impressive MCAT score of 526 after starting with a diagnostic score of 497 and aiming for 520.

We interviewed @Jason_Ingerick to learn about his journey, his insights, and his advice for all of you. Read about his experience and join us in congratulating him in the comments. Feel free to share your own stories and questions as well!

Thank you, Jason, for sharing your journey and wisdom with us! Your experience is incredibly valuable and inspiring!

What was your MCAT prep journey like, including your feelings before, during, and after the exam and when you received your scores?

Jason:
"My MCAT preparation was long and consistent. I had a diagnostic score of 497 and a goal of 520 that felt, at first, impossibly distant. Facing a gap that wide, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. I made a point to focus on manageable increments. I never really made a plan that detailed how I’d get there; I made a list each week of things that I could do to help me get closer. A series of small steps rather than any incredible leaps.

The morning of the test, I felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement. I tried my best to view the exam less as a hurdle and more as an opportunity to confirm what I was capable of achieving. Twenty minutes into the first section, I started smiling because I realized that the questions, while in no way trivial, felt manageable. That confidence didn’t erase the difficulty, but it did help me remain steady, accept uncertainty, and keep moving forward.

When I saw my final score, I felt relief more than triumph. Relief that my results adequately reflected my efforts. The numbers are only part of the story; what mattered most to me was being able to look back and honestly say I had given everything I could."

What was the most important factor in your MCAT success, and what was the biggest surprise or challenge you faced during preparation?

Jason: "The most important factor of my success was learning from my mistakes. It doesn’t really matter how many questions you get wrong during your preparation, so long as you don’t get them wrong on your actual test. With that framing, losing points on practice tests felt like a gift: an entire collection of questions the AAMC would’ve stumped you with, and now they can’t.

The biggest challenge during my preparation was making sure I did the small daily things I had to do, even when I didn’t want to do them. Finding a way to hold yourself accountable is different for everyone, but I always did it by putting on a pointy wizard hat pretending I was having a fun time."

What advice would you give to someone beginning their MCAT studies and to future test takers in general?

Jason:

"I would try to avoid reading any anxiety-fueled internet posts about the test. You can find posts from as far back as 7 years ago saying that the P/S section is changing to be more like CARS. The materials that Kaplan provides are good, and you can trust them. 

I’d suggest finding a way to chart your progress that makes sense to you. Focusing on your weak spots is the easiest way to see changes, and to do that, you need to be able to identify exactly what your weaknesses are. When I started taking practice tests, I’d chart my correct and incorrect questions by AAMC foundational concept category and spend my time focusing on the ones that I both missed frequently and were asked frequently. I saw big changes in the beginning by doing that."

Thank you. As far as my shadowing experience goes, do you believe that it's still possible to get enough hours to be in competitive standing with other students?

Hello,

I would like some advice on how to proceed with my Pre-Med journey. I'm currently a junior going into my senior year of college, but I'm starting to do more research on what I need to do to get into medical school, and I'm realizing that I'm really behind and at a disadvantage due to the grades I've received in my previous courses. My GPA is well below the average for most medical schools, and I only have about 30 hours in volunteer experience and 25 hours in medical experience. I will be retaking the courses in which I received a low grade in and working to find more shadowing opportunities this summer, but I would like some advice on how to improve my acceptance if possible.

Also, has anyone had experience using Khan Academy's MCAT prep? Was it useful?