I'm applying right now. First interview in 8 days. Yikes!
Lysis said:
I'm just curious since MCATs have been made easier and more frequent.
Not easier, just shorter. Which helps A TON, but otherwise it is just as difficult.
I'm nervous as hell, so if there is anyone who has taken it recently since the format has changed I'd really like to hear it. I think it would help others who are planning to take it.
Here's an email I sent a friend of mine who is getting geared up for the MCAT.
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Success with the MCAT is based on lots of different factors.
Basically to do well, you need to know how to effectively, carefully
and critically read passages (both science and verbal), know one hell
of a lot of science, how to apply that knowledge and do it for about 4
hours straight. Oh and you've gotta write an essay.
Yikes.
Just thinking about it gets me all riled up and glad not to ever have
to take that beast again.
Before you can even consider studying you've got to know WHAT to
study. Having a coherent plan is key to this endeavor. Fortunately
the MCAT people prepare a list of every topic that could possibly come
up on your exam. Download it here:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/start.htm (at the bottom
where it says 'test sections'). To be honest, only about a third of
this material will appear on any given exam, but in order to guarantee
a good score you need to know it all.
Go through this list and take an inventory of what you know, how well
you know it and what you don't know. This will give you a better idea
of what you have ahead of yourself. You should have a pretty good
idea of how you study and how long it will take you through the
material.
I budgeted myself about 4 months time of pretty hardcore studying to
prepare myself. During this time I had only a part-time job and no
other commitments (I did take a microbio class during this time, but
that is at least partially related to mcat, so I don't count it). I
pretty much considered the MCAT my full-time job and probably spent
about 30-40 hours/week on it.
I think the real key to success on this exam is taking many practice
tests. Unfortunately you can't really re-take any of the exams, so
you've got a limited number of tests available to you (AAMC have put
out several, and there are several by other test companies). I don't
recommend taking these until you've covered about 70% of the possible
material. It doesn't make sense to try taking an exam until you at
least have some sort of basis for taking the exam.
When I felt that I had learned enough material, I started taking
practice tests. I took one every week for about 2 months. For the
last 2 weeks I took one every 2-3 days (by this time you really
shouldn't be studying material, just be practicing passages). After
each practice test I would grade it and look for problem areas (both
subject areas and problem 'types') and create a new list of study
areas.
Between practice tests I would continue my studying by whittling down
my study lists until I started taking tests more frequently. This
allowed me to gauge how ready I was as the test came up. My two
mottos for studying:
1. It is just a test.
2. I can always void or retake.
Keep those in mind.
Let's talk about individual sections.
Physics and G Chem: You need to know every equation. Even when your
understanding of a topic isn't so great, by having your equations
memorized you can often work out a solution by recognizing key words.
Easy points are available by learning how to do circuit diagrams and
knowing your kinematics inside out. Also, knowing how to manipulate
units is incredibly helpful. Look for crossover between the chemistry
and physics (eg. EMF can be calculated using the Nertz equation and
then used in circuitry problems)
Verbal – good luck. I used the examcrackers method: read the whole
thing in one go. keep in mind overall topic and tone. don't take
notes. answer the questions confidently and assertively. imagine
you're and editor and the writer is trying to prove something to you.
answer and move on. I practiced this section SO SO SO much and
managed to move my scoring between 8-10 to 9-11. Ugh.
Bio: Pretty daunting, but completely doable. I had almost no bio
experience when I went into this and came out scoring higher in BS
than in any other section. Again, look for the crossovers between bio
sections. Memorize everything, especiall all the endocrine stuff and
physio stuff. For organic chemistry you don't need to know
*everything* but you need to have a good idea of how reactions work
and predict how stuff happens.
To succeed you need to memorize all of this insane information and
then UTILIZE it in an appropriate way. Memorization is not enough.
Being smart is not enough, you need to do both.
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Also, anyone recently get accepted into a school? scores and gpa?
FWIW 35S, 3.8
I've been pre-writing on it for 3 weeks, have a draft that I don't like, and want to start over. I have good ideas but can't seem to form them into anything resembling flowing sentences. AND, I'm an Oregon resident so the pressure is on for me to impress (it's my #1 choice). 
