Choosing the best MCAT prep route depends on your learning style: structured live classes for accountability, self-paced courses for flexibility, and tutoring for personalized guidance. 😊

Early and often.

Prep courses are generally a waste of money. The same classic resources that are always recommended will hold out: textbook + Anki + practice questions.

i don’t think prep courses are necessary. i used kaplan books, JackSparrow anki, and practice questions for a very high score. you can check out the r/MCAT sub for a better idea

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I would avoid prep courses. They are largely unnecessary and super expensive

jack westin daily cars passages for free !

I graduated 2019 and started studying last year of May. Given I have kids and work, my hours of studying per day ranges from 2-3 hours. I read the Kaplan books for content review and took me 5 months. And then uW for practice with anki. Then AAMC practice. But if I have to redo it all over again, I would use uW for content review along with anki and practice test after finishing a section. Reading for content review was very passive and waste of time.

I also took 6 months to study and got a 522, here’s what I did:

2-3 months content review using Kaplan books: Monday-psych, Tuesday-Genchem,Wednesday-Biochem, Thursday-Ochem, Friday-Biology, Saturday-physics, Sunday - rest and some light review on weak chapters for all subjects. I highly recommend making your own notecards contrary to most people saying to use an online Anki deck. Making your own deck will allow you to word concepts in a way that makes sense TO YOU, this will help since you’ve been out of school pretty long too. I personally didn’t use the CARS book, but if you find it helpful by all means use it. I would also do a daily JW passage as soon as possible, wish I did this.

UWorld - 2600 questions excluding any CARS passages. This is how you will get your CP/BB up. I worked my way up to doing 59 question tests with every science subject selected. A mixed bag of questions this will keep you focused longer. Review everything thoroughly, make a card on every question you got wrong and explain exactly why you got it wrong (content gap, miscalculation, overthinking, etc) and how you won’t make the same mistake again. Also look at the other answer choices and explain why they would be incorrect, and what concept they ACTUALLY connect to.

Last ~45 days. Only focus on AAMC materials. You will want to start planning taking an AAMC CARS passage daily way before this though. I took an FL every week until my last one a full week before test date.

Last week until test day: rest, meditate, go for a hike. Just get in your element and do some light review as necessary.

What sort of learner are you? Kaplan has good and detailed textbooks that you can explore on your own. I'm not really a wide reader and I'm also super lazy so I just went for Wizeprep which has lessons that are broken down into simple terms

This is like exercising, the best MCAT prep is the one you'll actually do. Get Anki, get uworld, get some books, try different things to see what sticks and then take practice exams and refine how you are learning once you see gaps.

First thing I would recommend is to buy content review books. I personally used Kaplan ($150) and thought they were good in terms of breaking down the content. I would also recommend investing in UWORLD question bank ($250) to get used to the MCAT interface and to solidify your review. If you have money left over I would also recommend to buy practice exams. I’m using NextStep (~$100). The final thing that I would recommend is the official AAMC material. If you qualify for the Fee Assistance Program you can get this for free. Use Anki pre-made MCAT flashcards from premed95 to also drill the information. This material is free and available online.

I bought the one with everything included, flash cards, tests, etc. You def don't NEED everything, only the FLs, SBs, and q packs were strictly necessary imo. Also, If you're getting Uworld, the q packs might be somewhat redundant. I ended up using Uworld far more than the q packs.

If you're looking for a comprehensive content review Kaplan is a solid choice. The drawback is that they don't offer a lot of insight into the test itself (Exam Krackers would be your best bet here) but then again that's what practicing AAMC materials is for. Hope that helps.

uworld and aamc materials for sure. There's a free altius and NS full length, and kaplan material can be found as ebooks if you yar har har.

Premed95 is a reddit user who posted their Anki cards online. A lot of members use them as a study aid. See the link below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/5xdg6i/by_popular_demand_the_anki_deck_i_used_to_get_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

The AAMC bundle and Uworld are pricy but essential. Any 3rd party for content review will suffice. I personally used Kaplan books and it was good enough.

UWorld, all AAMC Material, NextStep FL 1-4

Honestly, no. The 2015 version will prepare you for the content on the new MCAT (post 2015) . The difference between the 2015 edition and newer version is minuscule since the topics and the science hasn’t changed since then. But I do have a personal preference to use newer editions.

Uworld, AAMC FLs, Examkrackers imo

Blueprint. Then try to get a free trial of Altius. Hardest practice exams, best explanations. I even got a free session with a tutor to virtually go over part of a section of my choice.

The Princeton one isn’t as bad, I would say that they are a lot mainly bc when I did it over the summer, I was working a full time research job and everyday after work I have my three hour lesson. In addition to that there’s hw due before each class and practice exams almost every weekend so I would say there are times that I was so burned out that I couldn’t focus in class and does not feel motivated at all. If you are doing full time studying it would be a lot more manageable. I would say eventually you will need to find yourself a way that makes yourself accountable rather than relying on other tutor programs bc the class only last so long, and they might not last long enough for you to feel prepared for the exam, which you eventually have to study by yourself at the end.

Hi, did you register? I'm also consider considering the Brem Method course

Have you tried making a study group? I know it sounds basic but just being in a social environment like that where everyone shares a single common goal helps you focus

Using Princeton Review. 14 pt increase from diagnostic so far We will see what happens in 3 weeks. I did the 4x a week course but they have up to 6x. 3 hour classes. Tons of practice. Daily additional topic sessions and extra help sessions. You could literally be in class all day everyday if you wanted to be live with a professor.

The 'correct' answer is something like the following: Everyone is different so different study strategies will work better for different people. I think the grain of truth in this blanket statement is that you should be aware of your learning style and try to take advantage of that by using the appropriate resources as you study for the MCAT. Kaplan is more popular and people say that their content review and practice exams are more similar to the official MCAT than Princeton. However, before you spend thousands of dollars on a course (which you may not even have time for), I would recommend self-study using ONLY official AAMC practice resources.

It depends on the sections. For most of the MCAT, everyone uses Uworld. For CARS the best resources that I found helpful were JW and Booster’s card games.

aamc + uworld all the way, and really digging into full length reviews is what boosts scores most.

I would let everyone know what you consider exceptional! :) everyone has a different definition for it. Like I could definitely give you advice but my sub 515/520 may not be enough for you to consider it credible

A central theme you may find among high-scoring students is their use of question banks, full-length exams etc. that range from representative to harder than the official AAMC exam. UWorld, for example, does a good job at this.

I would probably suggest that u do a practice exam first that way u know what to focus on on. I would also suggest u to do this as early as u can. Then reassess from there. If your CARS is low I would suggest that you start studying for CARS ASAP because it’s the hardest to raise and it’s valued in Canada. Then I would go through textbooks and do review, spend max 1.5 months total on this part. Then go through uworld for at least BB and CP. u could try it for PS but I think it’s too harsh for PS. Then move onto AAMC

This question gets asked a lot so I'd encourage you to look through the history of this sub for more detailed info but tl;dr most prep resources are fine (Kaplan, Princeton, Khan Academy, etc), generally avoid prep COURSES (not worth), and AAMC official full length practice tests are the most important resources to complete as they are extremely representative of the real MCAT and give you a score which is predictive of the score you'll receive on the real MCAT also.

One thing I'd like to advocate for that I don't see recommended enough is to do one of the AAMC practice tests VERY EARLY into your preparation. The question format of the MCAT is quite unique and it's important to be familiar with it. There are four or five official tests so you can save the others for later in your study and you don't need to worry about "wasting" one of the tests by doing it when you haven't finished content review.

I see a lot of people on this sub asking things like "I'm scoring xx percent on uworld for CARS, what can I expect on the real MCAT?" or "I've only done the first half of the Kaplan books but my MCAT is in 3 weeks, am I screwed?" or "I didn't take a psych course in uni, do I need to do special prep for psych/soc?". No one really knows the answers to these questions. AAMC FL practice tests are your best indicators of your progress. So do them all and do at least one practice test early!

Sorry for not really answering the question, but please let me know if you don't find any leads on this sub about specific prep resources, I'm happy to help.

pm if u wanna chat about it!

I recommend Miledown Anki, Mr.pankow Anki for psych soc, UWorld for practice questions, and blueprint FL’s for the early practice taking full lengths. Then 1 month or so before the real exam, switch to AAMC section banks, question packs, and full lengths. Check if your university has a discount code!! Mine did and I saved like $100+ on AAMC materials

Main 3 outside resources are Kaplan, Anki, UWorld. Then AAMC material and exams

In hindsight, I wish I did Miledown for anki but pankow for psych. Miledown was great for the sciences but I wish I had a more comprehensive psych deck

Also something I’ve realized is that there are countless Reddit posts detailing how people got a 520+. A lot are similar, and I followed one of those formulas (Kaplan + anki + uworld + AAMC). It’ was effective for me as it is for many people. I think the tough part is actually sticking to it and focusing on quality prep. I truly believe if you stick to one of these plans and follow through as people describe it (high quality review of FLs, dedicated practice, actively reading and working through problems unassisted) you can do well. It’s when we try to take shortcuts that our practice is compromised. Anyways, that’s my two cents! TLDR: when you decide what you’re going to use, stick to it and give it your all! The tools are there, it’s up to you to use them.