Planning Your MCAT
All pre-med students dread taking the MCAT, a test that comes with pressure, importance, and difficulty in the context of medical school admissions. Usually, students dedicate months to the exam and even then it can cause delays in applications, causing future physicians to take a gap year, if not multiple. However, with proper planning and preparation, the MCAT can be used as something that makes an applicant stand out, instead of being a dreaded exam.
It is recommended that pre-med students plan to take their MCAT the fall before their application year. This means that if you are aiming to go to medical school without a gap year, study “summer between sophomore and junior year [...] to give yourself the greatest number of testing options going forward.” However, it is likely that you may need to take the MCAT multiple times. In this case, “you should plan to take the MCAT for the final time between January and April of your application year,” or your junior year for concurrent enrollment into a medical school. Registration is also a complicated process. MCAT registration opens up twice per year, once in October and in February. However, the system is first-come first-served, so MCAT locations, dates, and seats can depend on demand.
There are many possible ways to study for the MCAT, all depending on what ways you like to learn best. However, there are some key things that all students should do for proper preparation. First, practice tests are great ways to measure your baseline knowledge and get a feel for what your actual score may be. Furthermore, “full-length practice exams are the best way to identify potential areas of weakness,” allowing a student to improve at all sections of the MCAT. Next, students need some form of content review, whether that is in the form of flashcards or MCAT books. In fact, the best resources to learn content that will be tested can be found here. Lastly, a consistent and proper routine is key to get ample review time before the test date. Oftentimes, this depends on the student: how much time they can contribute daily, when their MCAT will be, and how far away they are from their target score.
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Dr. Shemmassian. “Shemmassian Academic Consulting.” Shemmassian Academic Consulting, 12 Sept. 2024, www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/when-to-take-the-mcat#:~:text=You%20should%20plan%20to%20take,no%20later%20than%20April%202025. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
Chae, Allison. “How to Register for the MCAT | MCAT Study Blog - Blueprint.” Blog | Blueprint Prep, 3 Sept. 2024, blog.blueprintprep.com/mcat/how-to-register-for-the-mcat/#:~:text=You%20should%20know%20what%20MCAT,and%20then%20a%20testing%20location. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
itslifebymaggie. “Blog Home Page.” Itslifebymaggie, 27 May 2024, itslifebymaggie.com/mcat-study-schedule-3-months/mcat/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
Dr. Shemmassian. “Shemmassian Academic Consulting.” Shemmassian Academic Consulting, 25 Sept. 2024, www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/best-mcat-prep-books. Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.
