this is dope advice, didn't know about the reddit doc that would've saved time haha. i also crushed; if you're having trouble with CARS, HIGHLY recommend nextstep's 108 passage book. CARS is all based on practice, improving comprehension and speed and learning what the examiners are actually looking for in a right answer, and the hardest thing for me was reconciling with the "correct answers" that I disagreed with, so I basically had to condition myself to not have any opinions whatsoever while reading those passages, and in doing so, you learn how to pick the right answers based solely on the information being presented in the passage and nothing else. Also in each group of 9 passages, there's usually 1 or 2 hard ones (0-3 correct or less than 50%), 2 or 3 easy ones (you should be getting 99% of the questions right on these), and the rest are so called medium difficulty (4-5 correct out of 6). The key is to remember that each passage is worth the same points +/- 1 because of the # of questions for that specific passage. When you're taking a test (practice or real), learn to identify the hard passages and skip them immediately. They're usually philosophy themed for me, and can depend on the person taking the test, but if you skim the first paragraph and think wtf did I just read, skip immediately. Go get easy points from the easy/medium passages first. Once you finish 7 passages, you should be left with 1 or 2 hard passages depending on how many you decided to skip. Take whatever time you have left and salvage what you can. The goal is to spend time and maximize points on easy/med passages (high yield passages that you're getting 75-99% correct) first rather than spending 15-20 min on a hard passage early on (where you probably won't get half of the questions anyway). I can elaborate further but this improved my CARS and I eventually plateaued at a 130 and kept it on test day and that was my worst section. if you run out of practice tests, gold standard had some good ones, they're crazy hard and demoralizing but it'll translate on test day. good luck everyone!
tymd130 how did you do content review? Taking notes is so time consuming and it doesn’t seem like things are sticking as well as they should. It’ll take me about 3-4 hours to read over a chapter then go back and take notes on it. That time doesn’t even include practice questions...
Not only are you very talented, you go out of your way to share those talents with others. Thank you. What I really want to know you became the person you are today.
One of the most realistic, comprehensible, and humble videos about how to prep for the MCAT, thanks Michael. Just watched a girl brag about how she got a very high score in just 2 months of studying... working while studying, reading her 7 prep books 12 times, taking a ridiculous number of full length exams, studying/covering all the material in all sections, doing practice, also taking videos in real time for youtube to document her study sessions... lots of comments wondering whether her day had more hours than normal...
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υ I really don't want to drive more traffic to her video by giving you the name, because I'm sure it's monetized. It was just ridiculous. She was obviously bragging about it, while many students watching that video will get the false hope that it can be done and end up rescheduling or failing the exam. God forbid to end up with someone like her in your class, and sad to have such future doctors who lie along the path of becoming physicians... Being dishonest and hurting other people just to bust one's ego and to make some money on youtube is not the way to go. This video of Michael sharing with everybody else the hard work a highly intelligent student had to put into the preparation for the MCAT is the reality every student out there should expect when preparing for this difficult exam.
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υ I don't know, I would have to check her channel again and I don't want to do that. Why do you want to find out who she is? It looks like you really interested in her :-)
You're a stud. Congrats on an amazing score and thanks for taking your time to help out the rest of us on our journey to take it soon! Looking forward to following and supporting your channel :)
Congratulations! You worked really hard and earned your score. All the best future-Dr. Gongwer. I think you'll do well explaining concepts to your patients well. ;-)
Hey man, great job on this video! Very practical advice that will help a lot of people structure their study plan. Totally will recommend to my friends!
Also helpful is the Kaplan course. Little pricey but worth it. My score went up 10 points from it. Best way to learn 'how' to take the test. What to look for in questions, pacing, etc
I am really starting to see a pattern watching all these prep MCAT and the tools they used. It's no coincidence they did well one video had a girl in the 99 percentile. I really appreciate both videos giving us a plethora of knowledge and getting us ahead already. I haven't been on khan academy in years and its changed vastly never could have guessed they have an entire section dedicated to the MCAT and other things always assumed it would only be basic highschool and intro college material. So huge thanks! Not sure if a pre-med psych major is the best path but I'd imagine just means I need to focus on the other spectrum of the MCAT. edit: having gone and actually looked at the khan academy notes it seems the psychology section of the notes that I saw would be from a physiological psychology course, which I highly recommend taking it.
Congratulations on the score of your test and thank you for the valuable information you provided. I only have one constructive comment related to your video. I think if you speak in a little lower speed will be fantastic. You will be able to keep the attention of a higher amount of audience. Great job!
Good morning! I was just wondering how you went about doing content review. Did you take notes from the books? I’ve found it to be very time consuming and not efficient enough for the amount of material there is. People say use Anki but isn’t that only good for definitions or memorization? Isn’t the MCAT about applying knowledge rather than memorizing it ?
The mcat is so different now from when I took it in 2010. With writing lol wonder if anyone remembers that. Well keep it up! It’s a long road! But fun! -Jaskar, M.D.
Hey Michael! There are lots of timing strategies for CARS and science sections. I've come across a strategy that for the science passages (Chem/Phys, Bio/Biochem, and Psych/Soc) you have 8 min per passage, and 1 min for stand-alone questions. For CARS the strategy suggests you have 4 min to read each passage and 1 min per question on the passage. For example, if you have 5 questions on a CARS passage, then you would have 9 min for that passage. What was the timing strategy you used on the MCAT?
I would focus less on the exact timing of everything. The most important thing you can do is understand the passage the first time you read it. If you do that, the questions will go much more quickly. So I guess my timing strategy was to spend most of my time reading the article for the first time and less time on individual questions
It honestly came from having been in a research lab and thoroughly reading a ton of journal articles so I understood the background. This forced me to look up all the words I didn't know (which at the beginning there were a lot) and taught me how to be efficient in connecting information in the body text of the article with the information in the figures. If you want to have a place to start, I recommend choosing a cell biology professor at your school, looking her/him up on PubMed Central, and thoroughly reading through a few of their papers until the process feels easier and starts going faster!
Hey Michael! These tips you shared are GOLDEN! I just saw your study schedule and realized that you only took practice tests from AAMC and their section bank. What other sources would you recommend taking practice tests from if you have more time to take practice tests (I have about 2 months)? Thanks a ton!
@@kevincorrigan1754 I don't know why they are removing it. I'm guessing its because they don't have the funds and resources to keep it updated. If you go on the website for MCAT it will say we are removing it.
Hey Michael. What is your undergrad GPA, if you don't mind sharing. I wanna know if you're just ridiculously smart so the process was easier for you, or if I can still follow these steps with a 3.4 GPA and still hope for a similar outcome.
You are right in that your performance in science classes will have an effect in how much you'll need to study. As of now, I have a 4.0 (still have one semester left though), and having done well in those classes and already knowing the information well certainly made the process easier. However, you'll notice in the video that I really emphasize figuring out what you do and don't know. So if you struggled in a certain course, you will likely need to spend more time learning the material better than you did the first time, but that all falls under the category of information you don't know, so I would say that these tips should still work even though the process will look different for each person!
How do you study those 4/5 weeks prior to the exam for those hours while taking classes? I am truly curious because I would love to follow your amazing schedule but not sure how it would work with college classes in the spring?
I was not in classes at the time; I took the month of May off to study, so my schedule probably won't work for someone who is in classes. That being said, you could still at least set your sleep schedule to consistently waking up at 6:30 (or whenever you will need to wake up) and working on MCAT-related stuff until your first class. You could do practice tests on weekends or other days when you don't have class following the same sleep schedule.
I know you said start getting your mind and body ready for the strain of the MCAT by waking up at like 8-3:30 and doing work then but what if you have classes during that time? If it wasn’t like that for you could you recommend me a way to find out how this would work?
I was not in classes at the time; I took the month of May off to study, so that made it easier. That being said, you could still at least set your sleep schedule to consistently waking up at 6:30 (or whenever you will need to wake up) and working on MCAT-related stuff until your first class. You could do practice tests on weekends following the same sleep schedule.
Thanks Michael for sharing this. I think I have watched this video like 10 times. I am preparing for the MCAT now. I am hoping to get above a 95th percentile score. I just started the preparation, and I know that I have a long way to go. DO you have other recommendations to crush the MCAT?
Which book did you use? Kaplan or TPR? Did you also take any of their courses or self-studied? When you were doing your MCAT, were you already familiar with the content or was it completely new to you? I would really appreciate it if you could answer this one...
I haven’t taken physics, does that put me at a disadvantage ? Is it still possible to just study from the kaplan books and practice problems and be fine?
If you've never taken a physics class (even in high school), then it would put you at a disadvantage since learning to think in a physics-minded way is a process. However, that's not to say it isn't possible to do well on that section without having taken physics. Personally, I would recommend watching the Khan Academy videos and doing those practice problems since they go into more depth about why you use the equations you do.
Congrats on such an amazing score!!! What was your social media usage like during your studying? Did you limit your usage or completer ignore social media altogether?
I definitely didn’t use it as much, but I didn’t delete it or anything. In hindsight it probably would have been a good idea to delete it for that month haha
Hey Michael, amazing video! You mentioned that you took the mcat in may of your junior year, (which is what I'm planning to do) however, i've heard that that is sort of late if I want to apply to med school this year. What are your thoughts? Or did you take a gap year?
I feel good in Psychology , Biology, and physics. Not so much chemistry, since it’s been so long since I’ve taken chem. This upcoming semester I’m taking biochemistry and physics 2. I’m going to start content review around spring break and as soon as the semester is over, May to mid August... I will be in non-stop study mode. 😅 lol I’m so scared.
Hey Michael! Thanks for the helpful video, do you recommend using Kaplan or TPR books when studying for the MCAT? I haven't taken courses like physics, o-chem, psychology/sociology, biochemistry or biology (but I did take cell biology). Did you self study or study with a group or enroll in one of the prep courses? Any recommendations for which prep courses to enroll in? Thank you!
I think either set (or another brand) could work equally well, but if I were to go back and start over I'd probably rely primarily on the Khan Academy content. I studied almost exclusively by myself since that's always what has worked best for me. As for a prep course, I don't really recommend doing that because it causes you to spend a lot of time on content you already know - plus it's really expensive. A better strategy would be to make sure you have taken all those courses at your college before you take the MCAT since you'll have to take them anyway as prerequisites for medical school. Then you can focus on learning the information that wasn't covered in those courses through whatever method you think would be best for you (Kaplan/TPR books, other books, Khan Academy, etc.).
Thank you! Which review books did you use? Kaplan or TPR? A lot of people say that TPR contains more info and will better prepare you for a top score whilst Kaplan is more compact but will lead to a plateau. I want a 90+ percentile score and don’t care about being over-prepared. Which set should I buy? Again, thanks!!!!
I'm a Junior right now in High School. What should I start preparing? Also, where can I find the scientific papers to start early? (I'm not a native english speaker, so I've always struggled with comprehension)
Hi, congrats on the score! Did you do all of the 15 discrete practice questions after each Kaplan chapter? I’m doing them now and it takes me so long to do them. I want to be finished with all of the content review books in 2 weeks but the questions at the end take up too my time. Should I skip them and just read the chapters or did you do the questions?
I never did those questions, but I know people who did, and they found them helpful. If you don't think they're actually helping to solidify your memory of the information, then it would probably be okay to skip them!
Hey, based on your video, it seemed like you didn’t take psychology. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on taking the MCAT without taking an introductory level psych course.
Thank you so much for such an informative video!! I was wondering if you were taking classes while studying for the MCAT? (if you mentioned it already i’m sorry- i watched your video a while back bookmarked it but just had the thought to ask you if you did)! But i am currently taking 5 classes and want to take the MCAT in May.. what do you think about that as well? Thank you again!
Yes, I was taking classes at the time! The classes finished in late April and I had the month of May to study full-time. It's definitely doable as long as you're disciplined and make studying for the MCAT a priority.
What I don't understand is that the MCAT is standardized. I thought the highest it went was 99th + percentile. Because the percentiles aren't scores they are telling you how much better you did than other test takers at the time. Intrinsically, if you can't compare your exam to itself it's impossible to get 100th percentile. Is that the adjusted score that you get after the scores settle (I took the MCAT back in 2016 and remember the score adjustments that came after the original release of the scores)?
@@elookah3337 while AAMC considers 99.9 to be the same as 100th percentile, by convention a percentile by definition is " measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations falls." So by definition, if a person is in the population that is being considered then it is impossible to be in the quote "100th percentile". I am not saying that Michael is lying because I have seen the AAMC reports where anything from a 524 to a 528 is considered "100", but just because they call it that doesn't mean they are using correct statistical nomenclature. That's all I was saying lol.
You're right, it's not technically correct statistically because you can't score better than 100% of people. However, the AAMC has labeled it as the 100th percentile - likely so medical schools recognize the difference between a 521-523 and a 524-528, which would both technically be 99th percentile.
This is great, thank you for posting. Question - would you recommend taking a PR course in conjunction with the other study methods you discuss? I'm a non-trad applicant and so I've been out of this world for a bit. I have 3 months to prepare and was planning on the course + Khan + AAMC bundle and the reddit resources you mentioned. I thought the course would help make sure I covered every topic + include a dedicated 3 hours/day in addition to the other study time I spend each day (planning to average 5 hours/ day). I've also read that EK can be useful? Thanks!
If you really feel like you remember nothing from any class, a course might be okay. But I almost never recommend courses (and I personally didn't use one) because they are so expensive and you spend equal time on information you are and are not familiar with. Realistically, if you want to improve your score, you should be spending much more time on the information you do not know, and prep courses can get in the way of this. That being said, I'm sure some courses are really beneficial so don't feel bad if you went that route!
Being aware of what you don't know, the best statement ever and I think what makes the best students, congrats on the insane score man.
Seems like a brilliant person, must be in residency now
One of the few 527's I've seen, truly an amazing score. Congrats man!
this is dope advice, didn't know about the reddit doc that would've saved time haha. i also crushed; if you're having trouble with CARS, HIGHLY recommend nextstep's 108 passage book. CARS is all based on practice, improving comprehension and speed and learning what the examiners are actually looking for in a right answer, and the hardest thing for me was reconciling with the "correct answers" that I disagreed with, so I basically had to condition myself to not have any opinions whatsoever while reading those passages, and in doing so, you learn how to pick the right answers based solely on the information being presented in the passage and nothing else. Also in each group of 9 passages, there's usually 1 or 2 hard ones (0-3 correct or less than 50%), 2 or 3 easy ones (you should be getting 99% of the questions right on these), and the rest are so called medium difficulty (4-5 correct out of 6). The key is to remember that each passage is worth the same points +/- 1 because of the # of questions for that specific passage. When you're taking a test (practice or real), learn to identify the hard passages and skip them immediately. They're usually philosophy themed for me, and can depend on the person taking the test, but if you skim the first paragraph and think wtf did I just read, skip immediately. Go get easy points from the easy/medium passages first. Once you finish 7 passages, you should be left with 1 or 2 hard passages depending on how many you decided to skip. Take whatever time you have left and salvage what you can. The goal is to spend time and maximize points on easy/med passages (high yield passages that you're getting 75-99% correct) first rather than spending 15-20 min on a hard passage early on (where you probably won't get half of the questions anyway). I can elaborate further but this improved my CARS and I eventually plateaued at a 130 and kept it on test day and that was my worst section. if you run out of practice tests, gold standard had some good ones, they're crazy hard and demoralizing but it'll translate on test day. good luck everyone!
So true...
tymd130 how did you do content review? Taking notes is so time consuming and it doesn’t seem like things are sticking as well as they should. It’ll take me about 3-4 hours to read over a chapter then go back and take notes on it. That time doesn’t even include practice questions...
@@shaunanigans3364 If the content isn't sticking I'd suggest trying ANKI out.
Thank you for this, I bought that book and I didn’t know it was that helpful. Taking advantage of it now.
Congratulations on the fantastic MCAT score and I was able to get a 526 score using some of these tips thank you soooo much!
Pls drop a study tip
Not only are you very talented, you go out of your way to share those talents with others. Thank you. What I really want to know you became the person you are today.
Wow, legend 👏👏
Fucking everywhere
Dude, I think we get about exactly the same recommendations hahaha
@@fynnsvideos Lmao same see this guy on all the med related videos
Dude I see you everywhere lol
you're everywhere omfg
I swear you are literally everywhere
This video is so thoughtful and kind of you to make. I hope you become an amazing physician at whatever specialty you choose.
This is gold! Thank you for the advice and the links. I will be implementing these in my study routine. Congrats on your score. Cheers!
Wow, never seen some one this smart, the mcat it's self is a beast but you conquered it like is no big deal. Congrats
That's awesome! Congratulations!
This info coming from someone who scored this well on the mcat is gold! I hope you keep making videos. Thanks!
One of the most realistic, comprehensible, and humble videos about how to prep for the MCAT, thanks Michael. Just watched a girl brag about how she got a very high score in just 2 months of studying... working while studying, reading her 7 prep books 12 times, taking a ridiculous number of full length exams, studying/covering all the material in all sections, doing practice, also taking videos in real time for youtube to document her study sessions... lots of comments wondering whether her day had more hours than normal...
what's her name ?
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υ I really don't want to drive more traffic to her video by giving you the name, because I'm sure it's monetized. It was just ridiculous. She was obviously bragging about it, while many students watching that video will get the false hope that it can be done and end up rescheduling or failing the exam. God forbid to end up with someone like her in your class, and sad to have such future doctors who lie along the path of becoming physicians... Being dishonest and hurting other people just to bust one's ego and to make some money on youtube is not the way to go. This video of Michael sharing with everybody else the hard work a highly intelligent student had to put into the preparation for the MCAT is the reality every student out there should expect when preparing for this difficult exam.
@@laylastipsandtricks9817 Is she a big medtuber ?
@@Ονομαεπίθετο-ξ1υ I don't know, I would have to check her channel again and I don't want to do that. Why do you want to find out who she is? It looks like you really interested in her :-)
LaylasTipsandTricks lol I know EXACTLY who you’re talking about and I agree she came across as bragging.
ooh Boy!! congratulation. Your advice is deep and more genuine. Bless your Kind heart. Thanks for making this video at this time.
You're a stud. Congrats on an amazing score and thanks for taking your time to help out the rest of us on our journey to take it soon! Looking forward to following and supporting your channel :)
This is the best MCAT help video out there! Thank you so much, Michael! 🙌🏼
Congratulations! You worked really hard and earned your score. All the best future-Dr. Gongwer. I think you'll do well explaining concepts to your patients well. ;-)
I think so too he is very talented in breaking down information
One of the clearest and most in-depth MCAT videos I've come across. Congrats on your insane score & thank you for what you do! Subscribed.
Wow. Im first year undergrad student. This really is an eye opener to how seriously people take the MCAT
100th percentile on the MCAT is cool and all but, how do I get teeth that white?
Eric clean your teeth every day and you’ll be good
That is really mean comment
@@anissahuseinbaraf322 how....
@@ownthispwn She likes yellow
Also the lips😍
Good, good advice. Thanks for making this vid and congrats on that awesome achievement!
Number one tip is.....choose the right parents.
Hahahahaha omg goood advice
So much truth here.
@@chadrichards4681 Only if you can ( :
Oh my gawt. Like a sumbooody giving the great advice. @choysum
Matt o Try telling that to all the special ed kids.
I’m so glad I came across this video! Thank you for sharing
This is great advice! I love the authenticity. Will be looking forward to your future videos and thank you for the resources in your description!
Hey man, great job on this video! Very practical advice that will help a lot of people structure their study plan. Totally will recommend to my friends!
Dang that's impressive! Nice video also!
Much info. Such tips. So good. Wow.
Doge? Is that you?...
Thank you Michael! Very cool! I will be sure to remember these tips, even though I am not taking the MCAT :(
Thank you for posting this. Every tip is important
This is so inspiring wow!! Congrats Michael and thanks for the video!
Great tips and really inspirational! Gonna start getting ready for my projected January 2023 exam.
Thanks, man! Great work on earning that score. I look forward to following you through the application process!
Thank you so very much for taking the time to share your advice, you are a saint!
This video is absolutely gold 🏆
This is SOOO helpful!!! Thank you for posting. Congrats on your score!
Thank you for making this video. You are brilliant!
Thanks so much for the tips and resources. Best of luck in med school man !
Took it in august got a 505, retaking it and hoping for at least a 520. Wish me luck yall
Ishmael Moh unless your GPA is really low, a 505 would have been enough to get you into good, well established DO schools!
How did u do?
good luck!
Why go to a DO when you can go to a regular med school?
Keep us updated with your next score ;)
Godspeed, Michael.
Also helpful is the Kaplan course. Little pricey but worth it. My score went up 10 points from it. Best way to learn 'how' to take the test. What to look for in questions, pacing, etc
Great job! Advance medicine for mankind, and have a good life.
Thanks very much, man! Your tips are helping a lot!
I am really starting to see a pattern watching all these prep MCAT and the tools they used. It's no coincidence they did well one video had a girl in the 99 percentile. I really appreciate both videos giving us a plethora of knowledge and getting us ahead already. I haven't been on khan academy in years and its changed vastly never could have guessed they have an entire section dedicated to the MCAT and other things always assumed it would only be basic highschool and intro college material. So huge thanks! Not sure if a pre-med psych major is the best path but I'd imagine just means I need to focus on the other spectrum of the MCAT. edit: having gone and actually looked at the khan academy notes it seems the psychology section of the notes that I saw would be from a physiological psychology course, which I highly recommend taking it.
Awesome tutorial AND you shared this with us for free!
Thanks 👍
Thank you so much for your advice!!! It was very helpful
i am crying at your MCAT score i wish i can be like you!!!
thanks for putting this info out for all. Appreciate it
This is great. Thank you so much! Marla
THANK YOU for this very helpful video!
Can you give us an estimate of how much it cost you to prepare with all the materials you recommended?
tysm for this you’re a god send
Congratulations on the score of your test and thank you for the valuable information you provided. I only have one constructive comment related to your video. I think if you speak in a little lower speed will be fantastic. You will be able to keep the attention of a higher amount of audience.
Great job!
Congrats on ur score!!!
Could you make a video about how you studied for the CARS section, please? Your video is awesome thank you!
Nice strategic explanation
Awesome video bro
Thanks for this. Will be using this advise. Taking it May as well.
Good morning! I was just wondering how you went about doing content review. Did you take notes from the books? I’ve found it to be very time consuming and not efficient enough for the amount of material there is. People say use Anki but isn’t that only good for definitions or memorization? Isn’t the MCAT about applying knowledge rather than memorizing it ?
The mcat is so different now from when I took it in 2010. With writing lol wonder if anyone remembers that.
Well keep it up! It’s a long road! But fun!
-Jaskar, M.D.
That's so interesting; what was the writing portion like?
God bless you sir
You're so humble
Thank you so much. This means a lot 🤗🤗❤️. Can’t wait to be an OB!!
This is very helpful thank you 😊
Wow congratulations
Hey Michael! There are lots of timing strategies for CARS and science sections. I've come across a strategy that for the science passages (Chem/Phys, Bio/Biochem, and Psych/Soc) you have 8 min per passage, and 1 min for stand-alone questions. For CARS the strategy suggests you have 4 min to read each passage and 1 min per question on the passage. For example, if you have 5 questions on a CARS passage, then you would have 9 min for that passage. What was the timing strategy you used on the MCAT?
I would focus less on the exact timing of everything. The most important thing you can do is understand the passage the first time you read it. If you do that, the questions will go much more quickly. So I guess my timing strategy was to spend most of my time reading the article for the first time and less time on individual questions
Great Job! What were the scientific publications you read to help you decipher graphs and charts better ?
It honestly came from having been in a research lab and thoroughly reading a ton of journal articles so I understood the background. This forced me to look up all the words I didn't know (which at the beginning there were a lot) and taught me how to be efficient in connecting information in the body text of the article with the information in the figures. If you want to have a place to start, I recommend choosing a cell biology professor at your school, looking her/him up on PubMed Central, and thoroughly reading through a few of their papers until the process feels easier and starts going faster!
Thanks so much! I appreciate the feedback and please keep us updated on your progress
Michael Gongwer awesome!
Very helpful. Thank you soo much
Hey Michael! These tips you shared are GOLDEN! I just saw your study schedule and realized that you only took practice tests from AAMC and their section bank. What other sources would you recommend taking practice tests from if you have more time to take practice tests (I have about 2 months)? Thanks a ton!
Khan academy is removing the MCAT course on September 2021. Start studying NOW! and save all the info.
Why are they removing
wait what? ill be taking it around then, but why?
@@kevincorrigan1754 I don't know why they are removing it. I'm guessing its because they don't have the funds and resources to keep it updated. If you go on the website for MCAT it will say we are removing it.
@@rileymoran7475 ^
UPDATE: They are keeping it for 5 more years with support of AAMC
Hey Michael. What is your undergrad GPA, if you don't mind sharing. I wanna know if you're just ridiculously smart so the process was easier for you, or if I can still follow these steps with a 3.4 GPA and still hope for a similar outcome.
I pretty sure if you have a very good Macy score you’ll be a strong candidate it might possible even out your gpa and science gpa
You are right in that your performance in science classes will have an effect in how much you'll need to study. As of now, I have a 4.0 (still have one semester left though), and having done well in those classes and already knowing the information well certainly made the process easier. However, you'll notice in the video that I really emphasize figuring out what you do and don't know. So if you struggled in a certain course, you will likely need to spend more time learning the material better than you did the first time, but that all falls under the category of information you don't know, so I would say that these tips should still work even though the process will look different for each person!
Short and informative thanks for saving time from watching 30 minute videos
You’re awesome!
Thank you so much for sharing!
How do you study those 4/5 weeks prior to the exam for those hours while taking classes? I am truly curious because I would love to follow your amazing schedule but not sure how it would work with college classes in the spring?
I was not in classes at the time; I took the month of May off to study, so my schedule probably won't work for someone who is in classes. That being said, you could still at least set your sleep schedule to consistently waking up at 6:30 (or whenever you will need to wake up) and working on MCAT-related stuff until your first class. You could do practice tests on weekends or other days when you don't have class following the same sleep schedule.
Oh no the link to Reddit Khan Academy Notes doesn't work. Does anyone have the doc?
I know you said start getting your mind and body ready for the strain of the MCAT by waking up at like 8-3:30 and doing work then but what if you have classes during that time? If it wasn’t like that for you could you recommend me a way to find out how this would work?
I was not in classes at the time; I took the month of May off to study, so that made it easier. That being said, you could still at least set your sleep schedule to consistently waking up at 6:30 (or whenever you will need to wake up) and working on MCAT-related stuff until your first class. You could do practice tests on weekends following the same sleep schedule.
Thanks Michael for sharing this. I think I have watched this video like 10 times. I am preparing for the MCAT now. I am hoping to get above a 95th percentile score. I just started the preparation, and I know that I have a long way to go. DO you have other recommendations to crush the MCAT?
Hello Michael, It's a great video.
What course you completed prior to your MCAT. Is it Bachelor of Science or something else
Which book did you use? Kaplan or TPR? Did you also take any of their courses or self-studied?
When you were doing your MCAT, were you already familiar with the content or was it completely new to you?
I would really appreciate it if you could answer this one...
I haven’t taken physics, does that put me at a disadvantage ? Is it still possible to just study from the kaplan books and practice problems and be fine?
If you've never taken a physics class (even in high school), then it would put you at a disadvantage since learning to think in a physics-minded way is a process. However, that's not to say it isn't possible to do well on that section without having taken physics. Personally, I would recommend watching the Khan Academy videos and doing those practice problems since they go into more depth about why you use the equations you do.
Michael Gongwer I took grade 11 physics but it was never a strongpoint for me, thanks for replying !!
@@MrBololicious You should verify that the medical schools you are considering do not require a physics class or two.
Congrats on such an amazing score!!! What was your social media usage like during your studying? Did you limit your usage or completer ignore social media altogether?
I definitely didn’t use it as much, but I didn’t delete it or anything. In hindsight it probably would have been a good idea to delete it for that month haha
Thanks for sharing. I will try this recipe. I joined you and thumps Up
Hey Michael, amazing video! You mentioned that you took the mcat in may of your junior year, (which is what I'm planning to do) however, i've heard that that is sort of late if I want to apply to med school this year. What are your thoughts? Or did you take a gap year?
Would you mind sharing your score to your first practice MCAT exam?
I believe my first Kaplan test I took before any dedicated MCAT studying was around a 505 or 506
@@michaelgongwer Thanks for the response it motivates us, even more, to hit the books hard !!
I feel good in Psychology , Biology, and physics. Not so much chemistry, since it’s been so long since I’ve taken chem. This upcoming semester I’m taking biochemistry and physics 2. I’m going to start content review around spring break and as soon as the semester is over, May to mid August... I will be in non-stop study mode. 😅 lol I’m so scared.
Hey Michael! Thanks for the helpful video, do you recommend using Kaplan or TPR books when studying for the MCAT? I haven't taken courses like physics, o-chem, psychology/sociology, biochemistry or biology (but I did take cell biology). Did you self study or study with a group or enroll in one of the prep courses? Any recommendations for which prep courses to enroll in? Thank you!
I think either set (or another brand) could work equally well, but if I were to go back and start over I'd probably rely primarily on the Khan Academy content. I studied almost exclusively by myself since that's always what has worked best for me. As for a prep course, I don't really recommend doing that because it causes you to spend a lot of time on content you already know - plus it's really expensive. A better strategy would be to make sure you have taken all those courses at your college before you take the MCAT since you'll have to take them anyway as prerequisites for medical school. Then you can focus on learning the information that wasn't covered in those courses through whatever method you think would be best for you (Kaplan/TPR books, other books, Khan Academy, etc.).
Thank you! Which review books did you use? Kaplan or TPR? A lot of people say that TPR contains more info and will better prepare you for a top score whilst Kaplan is more compact but will lead to a plateau. I want a 90+ percentile score and don’t care about being over-prepared. Which set should I buy? Again, thanks!!!!
Just do both of them...... Be prepared no matter whatever is asked
Best of luck..... Tell me your results later 👍
When you do practice test daily how many mcqs are correct from practice test
I'm a Junior right now in High School. What should I start preparing? Also, where can I find the scientific papers to start early? (I'm not a native english speaker, so I've always struggled with comprehension)
Would using both Khan Academy and Kaplan books be too much redundancy in information or is worth going through both?
Hi, congrats on the score! Did you do all of the 15 discrete practice questions after each Kaplan chapter? I’m doing them now and it takes me so long to do them. I want to be finished with all of the content review books in 2 weeks but the questions at the end take up too my time. Should I skip them and just read the chapters or did you do the questions?
I never did those questions, but I know people who did, and they found them helpful. If you don't think they're actually helping to solidify your memory of the information, then it would probably be okay to skip them!
Thank you!
Thank you so much
Thank you so much 🙏
Hey, based on your video, it seemed like you didn’t take psychology. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on taking the MCAT without taking an introductory level psych course.
Thank you so much for such an informative video!! I was wondering if you were taking classes while studying for the MCAT? (if you mentioned it already i’m sorry- i watched your video a while back bookmarked it but just had the thought to ask you if you did)! But i am currently taking 5 classes and want to take the MCAT in May.. what do you think about that as well? Thank you again!
Yes, I was taking classes at the time! The classes finished in late April and I had the month of May to study full-time. It's definitely doable as long as you're disciplined and make studying for the MCAT a priority.
What I don't understand is that the MCAT is standardized. I thought the highest it went was 99th + percentile. Because the percentiles aren't scores they are telling you how much better you did than other test takers at the time. Intrinsically, if you can't compare your exam to itself it's impossible to get 100th percentile. Is that the adjusted score that you get after the scores settle (I took the MCAT back in 2016 and remember the score adjustments that came after the original release of the scores)?
If you do better than 99.9 percent of the people who took the test, that's still considered 100th percentile
@@elookah3337 while AAMC considers 99.9 to be the same as 100th percentile, by convention a percentile by definition is " measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations falls." So by definition, if a person is in the population that is being considered then it is impossible to be in the quote "100th percentile". I am not saying that Michael is lying because I have seen the AAMC reports where anything from a 524 to a 528 is considered "100", but just because they call it that doesn't mean they are using correct statistical nomenclature. That's all I was saying lol.
You're right, it's not technically correct statistically because you can't score better than 100% of people. However, the AAMC has labeled it as the 100th percentile - likely so medical schools recognize the difference between a 521-523 and a 524-528, which would both technically be 99th percentile.
Do you think taking the schedule from your last month and stretching it over 6-8 weeks is overkill?
how did you remember the content review over a few months, did you make notes or use Anki or something else?
This is great, thank you for posting. Question - would you recommend taking a PR course in conjunction with the other study methods you discuss? I'm a non-trad applicant and so I've been out of this world for a bit. I have 3 months to prepare and was planning on the course + Khan + AAMC bundle and the reddit resources you mentioned. I thought the course would help make sure I covered every topic + include a dedicated 3 hours/day in addition to the other study time I spend each day (planning to average 5 hours/ day). I've also read that EK can be useful? Thanks!
If you really feel like you remember nothing from any class, a course might be okay. But I almost never recommend courses (and I personally didn't use one) because they are so expensive and you spend equal time on information you are and are not familiar with. Realistically, if you want to improve your score, you should be spending much more time on the information you do not know, and prep courses can get in the way of this. That being said, I'm sure some courses are really beneficial so don't feel bad if you went that route!