❓️Ask Us Anything❓️- When are you "done" with content review? 📖
Moderator
🚨As an instructor, I hear a lot from students about their MCAT study plans, past and present, and there's always a question that comes up.
"If I set aside 4-6 months for MCAT studying, how much of that should be dedicated to content review?"
And it's a valid question! Since the MCAT covers SO much ground, the number one concern for most students is cranking through all of that material. The tried and true method of getting through the content first, and then doing some practice leading up to the big day might be just fine for undergraduate classes, but I don't know about you, no undergraduate exam ever tested this breadth of knowledge. And speaking as someone who did just that—all the content first, then practice—I learned some pretty important lessons about what NOT to do.
First up, I'm of the opinion that content review doesn't really end, which I know, sounds terrible. But the reason why you want to go from practice → content is that it points you in a direction. Even if the content in your practice is something you haven't seen in ages, completing and reviewing that practice will help you hone your focus—now you have an action step. Instead of thinking you have to know everything in chemistry 🙃, perhaps your action step points you towards identifying nucleophiles and electrophiles!
Second, that knowledge is important to track, because otherwise, you'll start hamster-wheeling your way to reviewing content → forgetting content → facepalming🤦♀️ when you realize you forgot that content. The further you go in your studies, the more time you want to dedicate to what I call maintenance rehearsal. That could be reading over notes, working through flashcards, looking over diagrams. Carve out that time in your regular study plan!
Third, you absolutely cannot forget about how the MCAT is wayyyy more than a knowledge test. Developing your ability to solve problems (aka doing the doctor thing) can help you answer questions even if you don't know/forgot the content. And that's not a "lucky guess" or "cheating"!
Now, I am presuming that you're either doing a college degree, or you've recently graduated. If you're a super-duper non-traditional student like I was, give yourself some grace to ramp back up on the content. I'm not at all ashamed to say that I took about a year to study for the MCAT. I still wouldn't change the above advice, but plan for more time to (re)familiarize yourself with the content that's tested.
I'd love to hear from you—what resources are you using to help you gain the content background necessary for the MCAT? What questions do you have about your own studies?
Comments
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Hi Ae-Ri! Reaching out to you as a fellow non-traditional student, someone who has taken courses back in AP high school days and since then (10+ years) have not looked at a chemistry / biology / etc textbook! Is it necessary to take pre-requisites for subjects that you have never learned before, e.g. organic chemistry? Or is there another way to do it through this course or other self-learning? Appreciate it, thanks!
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Hey Sarah! Nice to meet you. I think those pre-reqs serve two purposes: first, to ensure that you've got the necessary science background to able to understand the science tested on the MCAT and in medical school, and second, depending on the medical schools you're applying to, maybe be required to apply. I believe most MD and DO US medical schools have that requirement, and as far as I'm aware, there's a few schools in Canada that do not, but most of them also do require those pre-reqs. That being said, if you're applying to schools that do not have pre-reqs, self-studying is doable, but I'd make sure you're budgeting a lot of time to get that done. It's not just one course, but cumulatively two years worth of coursework packed into this one exam. Some students have enough foundation from what they learned in the past to build on that knowledge, whereas others might need more structured studying.
Our course is more designed for those students who have completed those pre-reqs. It's possible to still make it work though. It creates a specific study plan based on the number of hours you have per week and your test date, and schedules modules that vary the topics. The modules include practice questions and videos, and here's where I'd deviate a little based on your information: give yourself more time per week (so if you have 20 hours of time to study, only put on 10 hours) and for each of the modules, do the necessary content review and background using the Kaplan books to help you understand the questions. It's very important you're sticking close with the content in the questions though, and not reading every single chapter in the books.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
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Hi Ae-Ri! Thank you so much for your thoughtful answer. As I have worked through the content refresher and begun the application phase of this course it does seem like it would be beneficial to have greater background knowledge. As briefly mentioned I have taken AP Psych, AP Biology, AP Chem and Physics 12. Surprisingly, these have served me well as I have gone through the first phase of this course but there are definitely gaps, such as organic chemistry. I am considering doing the org chem course on khan academy and brushing up on my background knowledge before starting again on this Kaplan course. Do you think that's a viable option? Curious to know what people have done in my scenario. Thank you so much!
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Hi Sarah
Ah, ok I wasn't sure if you were a student with us. If you found that first phase doable, I don't see why you can't continue to progress with self-learning, to be honest. Organic chemistry is probably the smallest content area tested on the MCAT. I'd be familiar with nomenclature and nucleophilic reactions, and maybe a small amount of stereochemistry, but that's about it. If you feel like using additional outside resources is good, definitely go for it! We do have more resources on organic chemistry, including the Workshops on organic reactions (three sessions) - check out the recordings in the activity library, or attend them live when they come up.
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Hi Ae-Ri, super helpful - thank you!
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