Advice Needed: Pre-Med Advice for Rising Seniors Prepping for the MCAT
Hi Pre-Meds and Pre-Med Faculty!
We just wrapped up an awesome Healthcare Connect networking webinar! Two rising seniors prepping for the MCAT dropped some great questions, and I wanted to bring them to the community to get your collective wisdom and advice.
- Student 1: Their biggest hurdle right now is the science section. They’re currently trying to do a deep-dive into content review before touching practice questions, but they're wondering if that’s the best approach, or if they should start mixing in practice sooner.
- Student 2: They’ve been taking mock MCAT exams since freshman year and seeing improvement. What’s your best advice for getting the absolute most out of the post-exam review process?
Would love to hear your thoughts, strategies, or what worked best for you!
Comments
-
Dropping this advice post here:
4 -
Happy to provide my two cents!
Student 1: Their biggest hurdle right now is the science section. They’re currently trying to do a deep-dive into content review before touching practice questions, but they're wondering if that’s the best approach, or if they should start mixing in practice sooner.
I did this too, and from experience, the issue I had when I split the content and practice is that I had a lot of facts in my head, but I didn't know how to use it. Learning the content FROM the practice ties those two steps into one. You're seeing what you don't know (and know!), you're seeing the context, and what parts of that content topic is important. Follow up any content topic review with the practice to help you reinforce as well as expose additional content holes.
Student 2: They’ve been taking mock MCAT exams since freshman year and seeing improvement. What’s your best advice for getting the absolute most out of the post-exam review process?
It's super common for students to talk about how long it takes for the review, and maybe even think that the review is a waste of time. I actually think the review is the most important part of the whole process! Ideally, review all questions, correct and incorrect. In addition, and this is the part many students skip, review at the section level - what patterns are you noticing, both content and strategy for the whole section? The second review is really what fuels most action steps, so content dives, practice focused on adjusting specific aspects of your approach etc. Once you've run through your steps, it's time for another practice test! I've got some tips and a template here if you want more guidance.
4
