How I got a 526 on the MCAT as a non-science major who couldn't afford a prep

course
Back when I was studying for the MCAT and anxiously reading Reddit threads by high
scorers at 2:00 a.m. while ingesting unholy amounts of chocolate, I promised myself
that if I scored above 520, I would do a post about my study habits to pass on the
good karma. These threads were so helpful to me as I prepared—without a prep
course, I originally felt like I didn’t even know where to start. Hopefully this
post can offer some guidance to other self-studiers (or those who are taking a
course and are just looking to supplement).

Final score: 526 (132, 130, 132, 132)

A caveat: My experience is not a blueprint! When I first started studying, I read

so many pieces of advice along the lines of “Whatever you do, make sure you _____.”
In the end, I didn’t have time to do all the _____ that people swore was absolutely
necessary, and it caused me a lot of anxiety in the weeks leading up to the exam.
There is no one-size-fits-all way to approach this exam. If my advice doesn’t ring
true, feel free to ignore it. At the end of the day, you know yourself better than
anybody, so don’t be afraid to pick and choose strategies from here and other
places.

Background: I majored in art, which for me was a fantastic decision. However, this
did mean that I didn’t have as strong of a science background as some pre-meds once
I decided medicine was the path for me. For instance, my biochem course didn’t
cover metabolism, so I had to teach myself from the MCAT prep books. It is possible
to do this without being a science major!

I took my exam in April and started studying seriously in September the previous
year. I know some people like to cram the entire thing into a summer and treat it
like a full time job, and originally, this was my plan; however, when I started
studying in June, I realized that my brain simply turns off after about four or
five hours of studying. I wanted to give myself plenty of time, so I decided to
study over a longer period while taking classes and working a part time job. For
me, this was the best option. I studied in small doses at first, skipping days if
things got too busy and taking frequent vacations, and worked my way up to a more
strict study schedule.

Materials used: Kaplan 7-book set, TPR Psych/Soc, All AAMC material, One EK
practice test, Khan Academy

Practice Tests (score breakdowns in longer explanation): AAMC FL 1 in February –

522. TPR 1 in March – 513. Section Bank C/P untimed in March – 76%. Kaplan FL 1 in
March – 513. Section Bank Bio untimed in March – 83%. Section Bank Psych untimed
end of March – 77%. AAMC Sample FL in March – 96%. TPR FL 2 in April – 516. Kaplan
FL 2 in April – 520. Examkrackers in April – 75% Chem, 90% Bio, rage-quit halfway
through. AAMC FL 2 in April – 526.

Total Full Lengths: 7.5

Schedule:

September–January: I bought the Kaplan set and TPR Psych and Soc book (mostly to
get their free practice exams). Over these first few months, I did nothing but
content review. Some people say you should take a diagnostic at the very beginning
to see where you stand. Personally, I knew that taking a diagnostic at this point
would just get inside my head and make me feel overwhelmed, knowing I was
completely unprepared in a number of subjects (all of psych/soc, much of bio, and
metabolism, mainly). I decided to hold off until I had gone through the content.
During this time, I went through five Kaplan books (Bio, Biochem, Physics, Gen
Chem, Ochem) and the TPR book (Psych/Soc). At any one time I was working on two
books, usually alternating every other day to keep things fresh. I took extensive
notes and drew diagrams in three sketchpads (one for Bio/Biochem, one for
Psych/Soc, and one for Gen Chem/Ochem/Physics). I learn best when I study things in
my own handwriting, which is why I chose to take notes like this. During this time,
I aimed for one chapter a day, although I often didn’t hit this goal. I would say I
averaged half a chapter a day over five months (January included, keeping in mind
that I took days off). At the end of each Kaplan chapter, I reviewed my notes
before taking the 15 discrete practice questions and checking my answers. With TPR
book, I aimed for half a chapter per day, and similarly, I did the questions at the
end of each chapter when I got there.

In January, I picked up the pace a bit, trying to study for at least 3 hours every
day, skipping days less frequently. By the last week of January, I had finished
going through all the material except CARS, and I had a pretty extensive set of
handwritten notes. If anyone wants to see photos, send me a message and I will send
them.

January–February: At the end of January and beginning of February, I did one big
pass-through of all the notes I’d taken. During this pass-through, I worked on
memorizing equations and facts that I didn’t know before, and I used highlighters
to highlight each section in various colors (one color for chapter headings,
another for subsections, another for equations, another for vocab/terms). I also
started taking a few practice passages here and there, mostly from Khan Academy and
the AAMC Official Guide (book version). I tried a couple Q-packs, but didn’t make
it through an entire one. I mostly just used these passages to get a sense of the
material. I timed a few of them, but I wasn’t super strict on this. During this
period I probably studied four hours a day.

I devoted some extra time to the subjects I hadn’t studied in my premed classes,
especially metabolism. Kaplan was comprehensive for this, I felt. It covered
everything I needed to know. Same with physiology (I had never learned about any of
the organ systems, so a lot of Bio was new to me).

February: Took my first practice exam, AAMC FL1. I started with an AAMC full length
because I wanted an accurate representation of where I stood. Scored 522. Clearly I
was very happy with this score…I think getting a very solid foundation in the
content beforehand definitely helped.

I never worried about timing individual passages, but I did give myself an overall
timing scheme (Bio and Psych were never an issue, but C/P and CARS were sometimes
iffy). For the science sections: I aimed to have 20 questions done by 1:05:00, 30
done by 50:00, 40 done by 35:00, and then theoretically I would finish the section
with a 00:05:00 buffer. With C/P this never actually happened (I was always down to
the wire), but it gave me a sense of where I was at, since some passages are just
harder and take longer (for me, timing individual passages didn’t work). For CARS,
I aimed to have three passages done at 1:00:00, six done at 30:00, and nine done at
00:00.

The next two days, I reviewed this exam. I made a word document called “What I got
wrong” and I went through every question. I think “every question” is key…even the
ones you got right. Make sure you know why you got them right. For any question I
wasn’t sure on, I wrote up an explanation of the question, my line of thinking, why
I chose the answer I chose, the right answer, and why the right answer was the
right answer. If there was a fact I didn’t have memorized, I jotted it down. This
document ended up being 60 pages single spaced by the end of my studying. Sometimes
I had to Google to really understand. Here’s an example:
Question 6, question about steric hindrance – I thought that the reason 2-pentanol
would have slower rate of substitution than 1-pentanol was because of a competing
elimination reaction, but it’s actually due to steric hindrance. Elimination takes
place in both primary and secondary circumstances, and although it’s higher in
secondary alkyl halides, there is no strong base present to facilitate this
mechanism.

Question 19, when used in place of spHM, which peptide would be most likely to
achieve the same experimental results? spHM is phosphorylated FLGFTY with the
phosphate group on the threonine. I answered FLGFQY, because I thought replacing
threonine with another polar noncharged amino acid would be best; however, I
misread the part about it being phosphorylated. The answer was FLGFEY, because the
negatively charged glutamic acid would best mimic the charge and size of
PHOSPHORYLATED threonine.

March: I did my third (and final) review of content, studying only from my
highlighted notes (at this point I completely ignored the test prep books). Took
practice tests, alternating TPR and Kaplan (these I broke down into two days). I
also did the section banks in March. THE SECTION BANKS ARE YOU BEST FREAKING
FRIEND. I did these untimed and then reviewed them as thoroughly as I reviewed the
full lengths. Finally, took the AAMC Sample at the end of March. I took all my full
lengths under timed testing conditions, although some I broke up into two days as
indicated. I reviewed them all thoroughly. I tried for one a week, but there were a
couple weeks when I didn’t have the mental energy to do a full length (I took a
vacation for a week in March to see friends out of state), and I didn’t push
myself. I know a lot of people take a huge number of practice tests. Although this
may have helped me, it started to make me feel burnt out, and I felt like I didn’t
have enough time to review them thoroughly and still brush up on content. This is
super important! Don’t take so many full lengths that you don’t have time to review
them. During this time I also read through parts of the Kaplan CARS book, but
eventually gave up because I found that passage mapping wasn’t for me. I usually
ended up reading the passage, jotting down a sentence at the end with the main
idea, then reading the questions. If I could go back and do it again, I would’ve
made time to do the CARS Q-packs, which I didn’t do.

April: Crunch time. Stress eating time. Took one practice test per week. At this
point, I only reviewed content I felt like I didn’t know well, using my own notes
and Google/Khan Academy as supplement for things I didn’t fully understand. On the
second to last week I tried to take an Examkrackers test, thinking I could manage
two full lengths in a week. For me, this was a huge mistake. I felt so burnt out
and exhausted partway through that I stopped, only finished two sections (Chem and
Bio). For what it’s worth, though, based on these two sections alone, I thought EK
had the best experimental passages of the three third-party test prep companies I
tried. It’s important to know yourself and listen to your body. I got so caught up
reading posts about people who took 15+ practice tests that I tried to force myself
to take more, even though it ended up being too much. Remember, the MCAT is about
physical stamina as well as mental. You have to build up the physical stamina
without burning out. I gave myself a break, and it was the right choice for me. I
took my final practice test a week out from the actual exam: AAMC FL 2, scoring
526. The subsection breakdown was different, but this is the same score as my final
exam. I took 7.5 practice tests total.

In the week leading up to the exam, I mostly focused on last-minute content review
and doing the AAMC flashcards. I tried to make it through the Khan Academy
Psych/Soc 100-page document, but I didn’t have time. Likewise, I didn’t have time
to do the Q-packs. I wish I had done the CARS Q-packs, as I felt like the real CARS
was harder than the practice materials. I also went through and read my entire
“What I got wrong” document from start to finish, focusing on AAMC full lengths and
Section Bank material. I memorized some last-minute stuff (numbering of nucleotide
bases, etc), and I made a condensed sheet of physics and chem equations that I
could refer to. I bought a cheap whiteboard on which I copied the amino acids and
drew the heart chambers and such.

The night before the test, I let myself sob from the stress for about ten minutes.
This was actually quite helpful, because I feel like I got out my panic and was
calmer the next day. I know people say you shouldn’t study the day before, but I
did, because I couldn’t stop myself and I still felt like I hadn’t memorized
everything I should. I only slept an hour the night of the exam because I was
anxious…anticipating this, I had tried to get extra sleep in the days leading up to
it so I would have some sleep reserve. Again, this comes back to knowing yourself
and knowing how you handle stress. I brought lots of snacks and a nutritious lunch.
I was lucky in that my exam proctors were very kind, and the building was quiet.
Part of me was afraid I would totally lose my head and have a panic attack during
the exam, but fortunately, although I was jumpy through the first C/P passage, I
soon went into clutch mode and stopped overthinking it. Came out feeling like I had
no idea how I'd done.

Overall, I think Kaplan covered all the content necessary and then some. The only
place where I encountered terms that I truly hadn’t heard of was in Psych/Soc, but
I’m not sure if that’s TPR’s fault, of if it’s just due to the fact that the
section is so new and nobody quite knows exactly what it tests. I had no trouble
learning all the metabolism material and extra Bio material from the Kaplan books
with Google to supplement. I didn’t end up doing much for CARS…I wish I had
practiced this a little more, because all the full length passages I got (from AAMC
and test prep companies) were easier on CARS than the real thing.

In terms of practice tests, I thought EK had the best experimental passages besides
AAMC. Kaplan and TPR are similar to one another…the scoring is way off. I would use
these to pinpoint content weaknesses and to build stamina/get a sense of the timing
of the exam, but I didn’t pay much attention to the scores outside of trying to
improve from one Kaplan/TPR test to the next. They are not really representative of
the style of the real thing. I’m glad I did tests from a variety of test prep
companies, because I feel like each one has their strengths.

Absolute must-dos: Section Banks and all three AAMC Full Lengths. THESE ARE THE
MOST USEFUL! Especially Section Banks. If I had had the time, I would’ve redone
them. They are gold.

Anyways, this is a ridiculously long post, but if anybody has questions, feel free
to shoot them my way. Once again, this is just what worked for me...know your own
study habits! I took insane notes and made my own handwritten study guides because
I knew the process of making them would help me memorize the material. I didn't use
flashcards because they take me forever to make and I don't find them useful enough
to justify the time. There's a ton of material on the MCAT...just go day by day,
bit by bit, and eventually you'll get there. Good luck!

Edit: And thanks to all those who shared their experiences on Reddit in the past.
I'm a long-time lurker, and reading these posts really made all the difference and
gave me a much better sense of how to approach this exam.