How to pick your MCAT resources

Before you even start planning and prepping for the MCAT, you should be aware of what resources are out there. We know that you want to pick the best MCAT resources for your learning style and budget, so here's a rundown of the main prep components. No pressure or sales pitches here, just pure expert advice.

Self-prep vs comprehensive

Let's start with the first big separation between prep programs in the MCAT world: self-prep versus comprehensive-prep programs. Treat these like a fork in the spectrum and know that one is not superior to the other. They are simply different camps that meet different needs.

First up, self-prep. If discipline is your middle name, this path is for you — especially if you don't feel like you need someone else to guide you or have everything laid out. Perhaps you have a really solid foundation in the sciences, or maybe you've already taken a diagnostic exam and have a good sense of what you need to do to achieve your goal score.

On the other hand, if that doesn't sound like you, consider comprehensive. Are you the classic procrastinator? Or maybe you have more content area weaknesses and have no clue where to begin. Whatever the reason, you may just prefer more guidance, structured classes, and coaching to keep you motivated.

If you are a self-prepper, there are plenty of communities at your school or online, along with other accountability mechanisms like making one big study plan at the start of your prep. For some, having a solid study calendar is super motivating — and knowing that you saved a lot of money is icing on the cake.

In the end, don't let the kind of program you choose dictate the resources and practice you ultimately do. Variety is the spice of life, and you may prefer different techniques to get you through the most difficult parts: a Qbank from one place, some fun content review and a full-length exam from another.

Diagnostic exam

Taking that first full-length practice exam may seem scary, but we highly recommend taking that first deep dive at the very beginning — what we like to call Week 0. It's also known as a diagnostic exam because it helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses before you get into the weeds. It may also help determine how long you really need to study. Did you have your mind set on three months? Consider whether a six-month window might give you the flexibility you need. When in doubt, always give yourself more time than you think to tackle your pain points or account for unplanned events.

During this time, it's also important to build the habit of self-reflection, or self-summarizing, where you go back and review your results. What did you do well on? What areas need work? Were these results as expected? How can you use them to be as efficient and effective as possible?

Don't underestimate the power of this exercise. It's tempting to cut it out of your schedule, especially if you're cramming — but it's a key step in your MCAT prep because it helps you actively choose what resources will best suit your needs going forward. Smaller cycles make the entire prep period more manageable and you'll learn exactly what you need.

Content review and practice exams

You're going to start off with a lot of content review, and that will naturally taper off as you become more comfortable with the material. It's tempting to want to check off all content review before you take more full-length practice exams — after all, that's what you're used to in college. But the MCAT is a different beast. You want to sprinkle in practice exams throughout, even if you haven't covered certain topics yet. Review and revisiting content is part of memory rehearsal and ensures that you can retrieve information in a timely manner, which is critical on exam day.

For more information on how to create an MCAT study schedule that works for you, check out that post.

Qbanks

Quiz questions and mixed practice are your golden opportunity to find and address gaps in your performance and get into MCAT mode without a 7-hour commitment. Feel free to configure quizzes to focus on certain content areas sometimes, and to mix it up at others. And when we say Qbanks, we also mean AAMC Q-Packs and Section Banks.

CARS

What drives your CARS score isn't your experience with CARS questions — it's your experience with the kind of reading you'll see on the exam. Honestly, there aren't enough CARS passages on earth to give you enough reading practice. If you want to improve your CARS score and your reading comprehension skills, seek out complex CARS-like writing every day. Make it part of your daily commute. It may not be your favorite task, but it's good for you — like kale and avocado salad good for you.

If you're struggling to find materials, ask research friends for articles or go to sites like PubMed or those maintained by a community of philosophers. You can get away with reading just a few pages. And with that extra time, you can read this post to spend even less time reading and more time kicking CARS to the curb with your newly uncovered creative powers!

Full-length exams

Full-length exams become your primary focus during the second half of your prep. Consider taking at least five, including your diagnostic, before your real test day. For each one, devote an entire day and use the next day to review it. Take notes on what went wrong so you can strategically incorporate that into your practice during the week(s) that follow. One week it may be a specific content area; another week it may be passages or figure analysis.

Make sure that by the end of a given week, you would have gotten every question right that you got wrong the previous week. Oftentimes, that means revisiting a full-length multiple times.

Review + revisit = retrieval. That's a formula for success on exam day.