How to Study for the MCAT Like a Med Student
In med school, when studying for Step 1, I learned all of the things I did wrong while studying for the MCAT.
If I was studying for the MCAT now, this is what I would do. It comes down to 3 simple steps:
1. Learn content
The MCAT has ENDLESS resources. Everyone and their grandmother have created an MCAT guide/video.
And so so so many people waste all day trying to find the best resources.
And honestly, this would be fine if they found one or two resources and stuck to them.
But, even the smartest people I know, often will spend hours finding the best guides on Reddit and then 2 weeks later find an “even better one.”
When it comes through your first pass-through on content, you should use 1 of 2 resources.
- Khan Academy (if you like video)
- Kaplan Textbooks (if you like books)
The Khan Academy MCAT video series is fantastic (and free).
The Kaplan books are on Amazon, but just get them from a friend/buy them used.
BUT HOLD UP.
I need to make something clear: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not just start going through this content and making detailed notes.
In school, we are taught to take notes in lectures. We then go through our notes multiple times to “study” for the exam.
This does not work for the MCAT. Even the most concise notes still take up an insane amount of time and turn into a useless asset. Your notes are not your knowledge.
But, how else will I remember everything? I gotchu. Step 2 time.
2. Do Anki on content
So, if you are not familiar with Anki, it’s basically a better Quizlet. Here is a quick video — just watch the first 2 minutes.
Now, luckily for you, people have gone through both the Khan Academy and Kaplan resources and created flashcards on the content.
My job is to show you the best ways to use them.
The best deck currently available is the AnkiHub MCAT deck. Before, I share the link with you, let me help you save a bunch of money here.
This AnkiHub has this monthly subscription that you can buy for $55/yr or $5/mo.
The reason it is a subscription is because it is updated sometimes. Guess what?
You don’t need the updates.
Science doesn’t change fast.
If you learn what is already available, I promise you that you will be fine.
So, what you should do is:
- Sign up for the AnkiHub link under the $5/mo option.
- Download the MCAT deck
- Then immediately cancel your subscription (and delete the addon).
This will save you $50 dollars.
Okay, so you now have downloaded the deck. If you look, there should be about 5200 Anki cards.
That’s a lot.
But luckily, we med students have some hacks to decrease the number of cards.
It's much easier to show you than to describe so I recorded a quick video for you.
Okay. Now, that you watched the video, you have everything set up.
Which brings us to the hardest part of Anki. It’s not that any card is hard.
The hard part is doing it every day.
But, the good news is that med students have a hack for this too. Med students live and die by the anki remote.
Basically, it’s a small hand-held remote that you can use to get through your Anki cards faster and more comfortably.
You should use the $50 you just saved to cover the cost of the Anki Remote and still have money left over.
It’s not necessary, but I promise you that you won’t regret it. The last thing you want is to have the perfect Anki setup but not be able to get through the Anki cards.
You can buy one here.
Once you have it, just flip over the box and scan the QR code to get started. Setup will take literally 30 seconds.
3. Do questions on content
So, there are 2 types of questions.
- Quick Questions
- Integration Questions
Quick questions are like the ones in Khan Academy or end of a Kaplan chapter. I used to think quick questions were useless.
But, I have changed my mind.
They test your ability to recall in specific info you just read. They are good. Don’t skip them. They make the next type of question easier.
Integration questions are those in UWorld and full lengths (FLs).
These questions are largely testing your ability to distinguish one concept from another.
This means you need to know the individual info to appropriately differentiate topics.
There is a lot more that could be said about questions, but I have hit my word limit.
If you want more tactical advice on how to approach the MCAT, check out howtopremed.com and sign up for the free weekly email.
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