Preparing to be Successful on the MCAT

The MCAT is a beast. There are no two ways about it. I’d be fooling you to say anything otherwise so I won’t waste your time. I believe that the first step to preparing for the test is seeing it for exactly what it is! Getting a good MCAT score is most people’s biggest barrier to being accepted. You’ll probably hear, if you haven’t already, that Black students typically fare worse on this test, similar to other standardized tests. While that’s well-documented and unfortunate, you still have to take it. One day it may no longer be in the criteria for admission (folks are seriously lobbying for this), but right now it is. You may take it once and get the score you need to be competitive. You may have to take it three times. I did, and still got in, obviously, so don’t let anyone tell you having to take it multiple times is an automatic disqualifier. I review applications all the time where applicants took it more than once. If you are having a steady upward trend (not of one point, I mean a decent upward trend) then that’s perfectly fine and shows improvement.

What you don’t want to do is to underestimate the exam or take it without being prepared.  Because unless you’re some super genius incredible test-taker, doing so will directly result in a poor score. And the admissions committee will see that poor score on your application. And you will have wasted money. The current cost of the MCAT is $320. That’s about 40 burritos from Chipotle, in case you need a reference and are as obsessed with Chipotle as I am… 

My MCAT journey.

Everyone’s journey is different. More of us than not have to take this thing more than once. I think, as a mentor, it’s important to be honest and share my MCAT journey—either to keep you from making the same mistakes I did, or to let you know that there is life (and by life, I mean a white coat) after not getting the score you need the first time!

Attempt 1: I took the MCAT the first time in my Senior year, when applications were already being accepted in the cycle I planned to apply in…basically I was late to the party from the start, problem #1. I can’t even remember what I did to study and prepare for it, which is problem #2. My roommate and some of my line sisters had taken it before me and done well so I strolled in there and took mine too, problem #3. I may as well have gone and flown a kite that day instead of taking that exam. All I did was weaken my pocket and fatten someone else’s. 

Attempt 2: After that horrific first score and the timing, I pretty well knew that I was going to have to take a year off between undergrad and medical school. I needed time to prepare and that was going to knock me out of the current cycle. I took a Kaplan in-person course over several weeks. The person who taught it had made a perfect score and was a good teacher. I saved up the money to pay for it out of my own pocket because I knew if it was my money that I’d worked for, I would actually go to the class and take it seriously. The course helped so much with filling in the knowledge and preparing me for the questions. What it didn’t prepare me for was the self-doubt and pressure I put on myself due to having to re-take it. I remember like it was yesterday sitting in that exam room the second time, this time wishing I had gone and flown that kite instead. I cried every time I took a bathroom break, cried all through the lunch break, and just wasn’t there for it. It was bad. I had psyched myself out so much that regardless of what I knew, there was no way I would get the score I needed. And I didn’t. 

Attempt 3: I did better on the second test and was only a few points away from what I needed. It’s funny that I honestly can’t even remember how many points—another sign that this test and your score will one day be a distant memory! So, at this point, I finally had the combination. Before the last attempt, I knew I needed to stay up on the knowledge and I needed to get my head right. I was so prepared and felt so much more confident taking that exam. When I finished, I felt like Sanaa Lathan in Love and Basketball (you’d better know that movie, if not, go watch it today!) when she shot the 3-pointer and walked back down the court with her arm up, still in the shooting motion. Gimme my points! I knew I was good. And I was. 

Here are a couple things to keep in mind when preparing to be successful on your MCAT:

Make sure you’ve taken the pre-req courses

The MCAT is laced with biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. Listen. If you haven’t taken these classes whyyyy are you sitting for this test?!?! This goes back to making a good course schedule, there’s a reason why that’s important. Yes, you can use prep material and possibly teach yourself what you need to know, but who’s really trying to teach themselves orgo when people with a whole PhD should be teaching it to you!! Your prep should be somewhat of a refresher of stuff you’ve already learned…or at least seen before! 

Use prep materials

There are flashcards, books, question banks, practice tests, videos, in-person classes, private tutoring, you name it. There are so many options. At a minimum, you need books that break down the information and question styles and practice questions similar to how they will be on the exam. Reading a textbook or your class notes is not enough. Half of the battle is deciphering the questions, that’s what prep materials help greatly with. Explore the options and reviews. I’ve stuck with Kaplan for everything, but there are many other good resources out there too!

Make a study schedule

This is so important. I love a good schedule to help you stay on task with studying and your exam timeline. The last thing you want to do is cram for this exam. That’s a waste of your time and money. This isn’t an “I’m going to study for 2-3 weeks and I’ll be ready” type of test. Make a good schedule of when you can dedicate time to studying and what you will tackle when…and stick to it!

Take practice tests

The MCAT is a 7.5-hour test. Count ‘em, because you’re probably gonna feel the entire 7.5. This exam requires stamina. And the best way to get the true feel of it is by taking practice exams. The longer the practice test and more like the actual exam, the better. And take it as if you were actually in the exam. Sit upright at a desk, put your foam earbuds in, take the breaks, prepare you a lunch, really get into it. By the time I took that third one, I ate the exact same thing for snacks and lunch during my practice tests that I was going to eat on the day of the exam. (I’ve packed the same bag for every board exam since then: an apple, a Snickers bar, a “light blue” Gatorade, a Sprite, a 6in ham and turkey sub from Subway, and plain Lays chips). You want your body to feel like that day is normal, like it’s been there before, not something that it should be freaked out by. If you’re taking your practice tests all in 2 hour sessions on your sofa with Alexa playing Cardi B in the background, you’re gonna be in for a rude awakening at that testing center. 

Rally your troops

I think I’ve said this in a previous post, but you need to find somebody in your life who can get a prayer through. If life hasn’t taught you that already, the MCAT will. I was a first-generation college student. My parents and grandparents didn’t know what an MCAT was. I don’t think I even told them about the first attempt (that never should’ve happened) and I was probably too shame to tell them about the second one because I’d already psyched myself out to believe I couldn’t pass it. But by the time I was studying for that third one, babyyyyy, you would’ve thought these people wrote the test the way they were reassuring me that I would pass. I was closer to home and my family and friends in my new town really came through. I was honest with them about my need to study and do well and they grocery shopped for me, cooked food and left it at the front door, slid positive notes under the door, left prayers on my voicemail; it was magical. And also, I’m convinced, a big reason I did so much better that time. If you tell your people you need to study and they stay with the distractions or make you feel bad about missing out, find you some new friends. Ones who care about you getting a white coat! 

—

No one can take the test for you; it’s all on you! Will it be tough? Yes. Can you do well? Yes! Look at all these doctors out here that took it before you! But it does require work and planning on your part. You don’t have to be like me and take it once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the Holy Spirit. Set yourself up to be successful by following the suggestions above and go in there and knock it out on the first try. If you don’t get the score you need the first time, evaluate what you did the first go-round and right away make a plan for how you can better prepare for the next attempt. More exams will follow the MCAT on your path to becoming a physician and even when you are a physician. I have never had to repeat a Step exam or board exam after that MCAT. Learning how to appropriately prepare a test of this magnitude now will serve you well in the future. You’re smart enough to do well on this test, but it takes more than smarts.

Remember, your MCAT score won’t be stitched into your white coat beside your name. It won’t be on the medical degree on your wall, and your patients won’t ask you what you scored. It’s a hoop. Jump through it and let’s go.

Do you have suggestions for others on preparing for the MCAT? If so, please include them below? If you have private questions or concerns, feel free to shoot me an email!