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Summary:
Non-traditional MCAT student takes the MCAT, after taking all of his pre-reqs in one year. He thought C/P was hard but you need to trust in your knowledge. CARS was easy for him. B/B was random. Khan Academy saved P/S for him.
His strategy: 'I used and like the Kaplan strategy for every section except for CARS: click through the questions, take note of the discretes, answer all the discretes, then move on to the passages.' Hirai ken sentimentalovers rar download.
Zanki (if you don't already know) is a very popular flashcard deck option for students studying for USMLE Step 1. If you're at the beginning of your dedicated study period and haven't selected a flashcard resource yet, we strongly advise you to check out our flashcard resource reviews to help you weigh your options before reading this post. Moved NBME or UWorld question screenshots from the Extra field to the Additional Resources field. Added this deck off reddit which contains a lot of information from UWorld and AMBOSS Qbanks that is not currently in the deck. Added a!Shelf tag that combines everything needed for specific shelf exams.
His recommended materials:
- Kaplan lectures
- Examkrackers books
- UWorld qbank (use it to learn, but not to predict your score)
- AAMC qbanks and section banks
- Khan Academy for P/S
- AAMC full lengths for the last 3 weeks leading up to his exam
from https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/99gbaf/from_496_to_521_a_story_of_redemption_through/
Full-length post
To the good folks of r/MCAT:
I'd like to begin by acknowledging the lunacy of this whole endeavor. In most ways, the MCAT is an unreasonable exam, expecting — as it does — a breadth and intensity of recall that spans the entirety of the spectrum between merely unfair and totally impossible. This should be acknowledged, and then it should be promptly forgotten. Repress it. Force it out of your mind insofar as you're able to.
What I can promise you right here and right now is that you can succeed at this test if you want to, and you can do so without spending (as some claim) three months studying around the clock. The path to MCAT success begins with a mindset, grows into a routine, and culminates in an act of faith in yourself.
More than any other piece of advice I'd like to offer in this post, the most important piece of advice I have is this: take care of yourself. At the end of the day, this is what becoming a doctor is all about, this is why we learn obscure scientific facts, to learn how to help others take care of themselves. If you can take care of yourself, you can help others do the same. Don't radically restructure your life to prepare for this exam. Maintain your friendships. See a therapist. Exercise. Have a couple of beers every now and then. Catch a movie. Buy yourself a Nintendo Switch. Go on a weekend hiking trip. Give yourself permission to NOT study when you're not studying.
The counterpart of this advice is just as important: when you're studying, do the best you can every single day. Find a way to walk away from your desk feeling like you made a little bit of progress, however that progress manifests. Trust in yourself, and trust in your progress. You can do this. Hang in there.
OK. Onward. Let's talk about specifics. I am a nontraditional/Post-Bacc student. I was formerly an English major, and did a bunch of different things after I graduated. To all my fellow Post-Baccs out there: yo. The disclosure that's important to make is that I had just taken all of my pre-reqs in an intensive year, from Chem I all the way through Biochem I. To be sure, this is an advantage. As new as these concepts were, they were somewhat fresh in my mind as I began my studying. I attribute some degree of my success to this reality. Alas, some of my fellow classmates were in the same position and did not do very well on the MCAT, so I believe the studying component is equally as important.
Resources I Used and Blurbs About Them:
Kaplan Online Practice Materials –> I hate Kaplan. I also love Kaplan. If you use Kaplan, know what you're getting yourself into. Everyone will tell you that their practice test scores are deflated. This is absolutely true. I took Kaplan FL #1 a week before I took AAMC FL#1, and my score jumped from a 506 to a 518. Do not put stock in your Kaplan scores. Just don't do it. That being said, they have phenomenal recorded lectures that cover high-yield material. Some of their teachers (John, especially) are excellent. Whenever you get bored doing practice questions, grab a LaCroix and watch a couple of the recorded lectures on 1.5x or 2x. Quite a few things that were mentioned in these lectures stuck in my head and came up on my exam. Some of their acronyms and study tips are helpful, others are not. Make that decision for yourself. I'd also recommend that you take timed SECTION tests (not FLs) with their material. The downside of Kaplan is that it's expensive, and if you have a limited budget for practice materials, it might not be worth the $.
Examkrackers Books –> Especially if you're a Post-Bacc student, buy these books. Moreover, anyone who feels like they have a solid, relatively recent foundation in the pre-medical sciences, go EK. For gen chem, orgo, bio, biochem, physics, and CARS, there is no better resource. I began my studying by reading through all of these, sometimes taking notes, sometimes just soaking it all in. It's a great, relatively cursory review of almost everything you'll need to know. They do a good job of identifying what's essential to know, and what's not as important. Salty is my boy. Their P/S book, even the most recent edition, is garbage, and not worth spending your time on. Look elsewhere for P/S, and know that you'll have to fill in some gaps with other material.
UWorld QBank –> I'm angry with UWorld for murdering r/MCAT, but their material is superb. Use it. Learn from it. Pay whatever it costs. Their answer explanations make AAMC material look like it was written in crayon. Only good things to say about UWorld. A cautionary word: don't pay any attention to the weird and irrelevant analytics they give you about what % of other people are answering questions correctly. I found them totally unhelpful. The less you can compare yourself to others, especially anonymous others, the better of you'll be. UWorld is a tremendous digital teaching resource, not a predictive practice exam. Use it to learn. Use their flashcard function. Look at their diagrams. Ignore the stats. I'm going to start downvoting people who ask what a good UWorld % looks like.
AAMC QPacks and SBS –> This is a no-brainer. Some people don't know this, but if you buy a Kaplan subscription, it includes all the AAMC materials. I had a classmate who re-purchased the AAMC stuff because the Kaplan website is terrible and non-intuitive. I did all their stuff. The Q-Packs. The SBs. It's all good and helpful. I used it only in the last 3 weeks of my studying (I studied for 5 total weeks full-time), and felt that was appropriate.
Khan Academy P/S Videos / Reddit Printouts I have no P/S background, so I needed some help. When I was watching the KA videos, I was absolutely miserable. They seemed pointless and ridiculous. They weren't. They are the best resource out their for P/S, hands down. Put your faith in Sal Khan for P/S and you will be rewarded. If you watch all those videos, make a bunch of flashcards, do some practice sections, etc., you'll be totally fine. P/S is a bullshit section and we all know it. Don't let it intimidate you.
Anki –> I go back and forth on Anki. I used it at first, and then fell off with it. If you like Anki and already have some experience with it, I think it's an appropriate tool to use for MCAT studying. If you've never used it before, the learning curve is pretty steep, so I'd recommend using Quizlet, or paper flashcards (my own preference).
AAMC FLs –> This is the KEY. Do the FLs. I took them all in the 3 weeks leading up to my test date. I was nervous about it at the time, but I'd recommend that schedule. I got around the same thing on all of them (FL1: 518; FL2: 517; FL3: 517) and my official test was a 521. People kept telling me to 'believe in my FL scores,' and I didn't. I truly believed that every single one of them was a fluke. Trust in your scores. If you're doing consistently well on them, you're on the right track. Review them carefully. Use them as an indication of what you don't know. I actually found them to be fundamentally similar to my test day experience. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I felt that they were excellent preparation for what I encountered.
Comments on Sections: 1) C/P –> This section is brutal. I have no advice. I was truly shocked that I did as well as I did on it. Just do a huge amount of practice, trust in what you know, make logical inferences. If you're getting stuck, either you don't know the answer in which case you should guess, or you're missing something obvious. I really believe those are the only two possibilities. No single question is as hard as it seems. Don't let the passage/phrasing intimidate you. Trust in your basic knowlege.
2) CARS –> I'm naturally good at CARS, so I didn't do very much practice. If you're struggling, I really think the EK book does the best job of presenting a helpful/viable strategy. For advice on this section, I think there are others who would be more helpful.
3) B/B –> I always enjoy this section. The passages are interesting, and the questions are easier than C/P on the whole. I never took notes while I was reading any of them. I just tried to pay attention and figure things out the best I could. If you struggle with reading figures, it's worth spending some time on figure-based questions. There will be plenty of them on test day. B/B has the most random information of any section. Sometimes the discretes felt super obscure to me. Just make a good guess and move on. Try not to let the weird facts stress you out.
4) P/S –> Fuck P/S. We all know this section is pointless. I don't even want to address it. Just watch the KA videos and you'll be OK.
2) CARS –> I'm naturally good at CARS, so I didn't do very much practice. If you're struggling, I really think the EK book does the best job of presenting a helpful/viable strategy. For advice on this section, I think there are others who would be more helpful.
3) B/B –> I always enjoy this section. The passages are interesting, and the questions are easier than C/P on the whole. I never took notes while I was reading any of them. I just tried to pay attention and figure things out the best I could. If you struggle with reading figures, it's worth spending some time on figure-based questions. There will be plenty of them on test day. B/B has the most random information of any section. Sometimes the discretes felt super obscure to me. Just make a good guess and move on. Try not to let the weird facts stress you out.
4) P/S –> Fuck P/S. We all know this section is pointless. I don't even want to address it. Just watch the KA videos and you'll be OK.
Overall Strategy: –> I used and like the Kaplan strategy for every section except for CARS: click through the questions, take note of the discretes, answer all the discretes, then move on to the passages. I don't think this is an objectively superior way of donig things, but I really liked it, if only because it gave me the feeling that I had some control over the process. I actually answered the last discretes first, and did them in reverse order. I don't know why. I started doing this and just never stopped. Experiment with a few things, then pick the strategy that works for you and stick with it.
Last Thoughts and I'll Wrap This Up: –> I love r/MCAT. I owe you all a great debt of gratitude. Some people were very kind and helpful to me. The resources are excellent, and the collective wisdom exceeds any test prep company. So: thank you.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you have. I'd be so glad to offer any advice/guidance. Apologies that this post is long and rambly. I can assure you that I did not expect to get the score that I did. I was convinced I'd get a 508 or less. Before you know it, this experience will be over, and you'll move forward from there.
My last point is that science is amazing. As someone who spent 25+ years not knowing a single thing about it, I think we as a community often forget what a privilige it is to have access/insight to this information. If you can remember how truly fucking mindblowing the material is while you're studying it (except P/S…fuck P/S), I think you'll do well on this exam. I really do.
TL;DR: Take care of yourself. Be reasonable. Don't get too hung up on anything other than AAMC FL scores. Science is cool. Hang in there.
Target: 255+
Score: 273
First of all, we have to talk about the foundation of basic subjects in medical school. I did basic sciences for the first 2.5 years in my med school and I passed an exam similar to step 1 in the end. So I had to review my basic sciences a couple of times. In addition, I knew I would eventually have to pass USMLEs when I entered medical school so, in addition to the big books (like Robbins and Guyton) that we studied there, I would also supplement some Pathoma, Kaplan or Goljan to build more USMLE-specific knowledge. Therefore, my foundation was good because I had done some of the USMLE review books here and there besides my big textbooks and overall I was a pretty good student.
Because of that, I never did relatively large review books for my actual Step 1 prep (like Kaplan and Goljan, which include a lot of low-yield information), except for some small subjects.
One thing that was a little bit of a challenge for me was lack of extra time besides my med school so I didn't really have much chance of working solely on step 1 until 5th year which for me started in September 2018. Even then, I had to do step 1 with clinical rotations. At the end of 5th year, I had to pass an exam similar to Step 2 CK in my med school so I had to drop all my Step 1 prep and study for that. I also had to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities. So I had a huge gap from May 2019 to October 2019.
At the end of October, I had to do some med school stuff too but it was a lot lighter than before. So that's when I did some real studying. I started my dedicated period in December and wrote the exam on March 12th, 2020.
Now I will break down the study process. Before I get into it, I want to say that for me, learning medicine always had two parts – understanding and memorization. There is no point in memorization until you have understood the concept.
Complete Uworld Qbank For USMLE Step 1
Sources used for USMLE step 1:
Uworld Anki Deck Reddit
- BnB (everything except for what I did in Kaplan)
- Kaplan (Biochemistry, Molecular, Genetics, Immunology)
- Pathoma
- Sketchy (Micro)
- Anatomy Shelf Notes
- UWorld
- FirstAid USMLE Step 1
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2020 PDF Direct Download
Anki Decks used for Step 1:
- Zanki (Biochem, Immunology, Basic Pathology, Reproductive)
- Lolnotacop (Follows sketchy micro and uworld micro)
- Lightyear (everything else – follows Boards and Beyond and FA)
- Dorian's Anatomy Deck
I am separating Anki altogether because if I had to separate one source that helped me get this score, it would be Anki. Those of you who don't know about it, it's a flashcard platform that automatically organizes patterns of spaced repetition (frequency by which you see each learned card after you have studied it). It can be used on PC, Mac, Android, iOS. You can search it on YouTube, there are tons of tutorials on how to use it. The best thing is, you don't even have to make your own cards, there are pre-made Step 1 decks available on MedSchoolAnki and Reddit. I have listed the decks that I used above.
Studying process for USMLE Step 1:
I didn't really have any fixed schedule because of other things I had to do along with step 1. I would watch as many videos as possible in the time I had each day and I would review them via PDFs the next morning. In the case of Kaplan, I just read through the PDFs, those videos are too slow for me. I love BnB videos though. They are quick, thorough and always get right to the point. When I was done with the subject/system in BnB/Kaplan/Pathoma, I would review it with FA. All this time, I also did Anki (New cards in the evening, after studying and reviews in the morning). Always do Anki. Seeing those concepts multiple times throughout your prep time is what locks them in your brain.
In my dedicated 3 months, I did Uworld and Anki along with Self-Assessments. I would get up at 8 am, take an hour for the morning routine and then a whole day of studying until 10 pm. After 10 pm I would watch some Netflix and go to sleep at 12.
Now I know a lot of people start using Uworld right away along with other study materials to primarily study from it and they don't really care about the scores they get on it. I have nothing against that, it's a proven method and it works. I personally didn't touch Uworld until I covered everything before my dedicated period. For me, it was kind of an assessment tool besides a learning tool. That made me look forward to each block I wrote. I would write one block (random, timed – makes it feel like the real thing) in the evening and review the questions the next day (both correct and incorrect, there is so much that I learnt from the questions I answered correctly). I made my own Anki cards from the information that I wasn't familiar with in those explanations. I also did my Anki reviews (like I said, always do Anki. Make sure you don't forget anything).
Anki 2.1 Addon
So, my dedicated was 3 months of UW, Anki, Self-assessments. Many people use FA with UW but I ended up reading FA just once in my whole prep. Anki replaced it for me.
Self-assessments for Step 1:
- NBME 18 – 257 (2.5 months out, UW 30% done)
- UWSA1 – 277 (1.5 months out, UW 60% done)
- NBME 23 – 252 (1 month out, UW 80% done. Tough one.)
- AMBOSS Self-Assessment – 266 (2 weeks out, UW almost done)
- UWSA2 – 277 (1 week out, UW done)
- Free 120 – 90% (3 days out)
- NBME 24 – 269 (2 days out)
- Uworld First (and only) Pass: 92,3%
Uworld Anki Addons Reddit Pirate Bay
I was pretty nervous before the exam but it all went away once I started writing the test. It wasn't tiring at all during the process but I felt how exhausted I was after the exam ended. I marked 10-15 questions per block but I tend to mark many questions. If I'm not 100% sure about the answer, I mark it.
Uworld Anki Addons Reddit App
The test itself was harder than UW and NBMEs. The stems were long and the answers – vague. They didn't really give you buzzwords like they do in Uworld tests. Definitely do at least one of the new NBMEs. The real thing was abundant in ethics and weird anatomy questions, just like new NBMEs.
The 3 week waiting period was the worst, especially because of the COVID-19 lockdown. I didn't think I did well compared to my self-assessments because there were a lot of questions that I wasn't 100% sure about. I thought I was in the high 250s or low 260s but I didn't really imagine 270s. I thought it was almost impossible on the real thing. Therefore, you can imagine my reaction when I found out.
Thank you if I didn't bore you and you made it this far 🙂
Uworld Anki Deck Reddit
Good luck on your exam!