Last Minute Tips for the MCAT

MCAT
 peary-arctic-expedition_10496_990x742.jpg
Ready for your big expedition? photo source:  National Geographic

Although everyone will approach the MCAT slightly differently, a bird's-eye view of studying will often show a predictable pattern. Typically, when students start studying, they get overwhelmed by the amount of material they need to cover and they don't necessarily know how to approach it. After they form a study plan - either by themselves, with a tutor, or as part of a class - they tend to become comfortable in their rhythm of targeting the material on a regular basis and methodologically completing content review and practice problems, with intermittent practice tests. In the weeks just prior to the test, however, the test looms and panic sets in as students start to question their preparation.  

However, this is one of the most important times in your studying -- you have to stay positive and confident but also make sure to utilize your time wisely. Although most of your preparation is behind you, there are a few things you can do last-minute to relieve your nerves and make sure you perform your best.

Week before the exam

Pay attention to your mindset

To best get a handle on test anxiety, check out my other post about mental strategies to conquer the MCAT. In brief, your last week before the exam should focus on using your support system to stay positive and help destress, and believing in your preparation.

In many professional or high level sports, athletes will take a taper period leading up to a major event. 

Think of your last week as a 'mental taper.' You definitely shouldn't be taking any practice exams, and should try to ease off the practice questions and really difficult content review as well. Your brain needs time to consolidate and synthesize all of the information you've taken in. After preparing for months, it’ll be unlikely that you're going to uncover something you've never seen before in the days immediately leading up to your exam.

Take care of yourself physically

The worst thing to happen would be to be well prepared, hitting targets on your practice exams, and then getting an awful cold two days before test day. The exam is long enough, but can be made way longer If you're coughing and sniffling the entire time without tissues. Pay special attention to getting enough sleep and eating well. No all-nighters to try and get in last minute review!

1-2 days before the exam

Try to dedicate the last day or two to a 'high-yield review.'

It's likely that you made review sheets of your own through your notes while you were studying. If not, many test prep books or websites offer 'cheat sheets' or reviews for each test section that are pretty short (under ten pages). In the week before the test, dedicate at least two days to reviewing these high-yield points. The AAMC also provides a ‘topic outline’ for each section -- talking yourself through each of these outline points is another way to review. Make sure you are familiar with the concepts mentioned, and if there's anything that you feel you've forgotten or are still shaky on, take a little bit of time to go back to your books and re-read that section. If you've studied well, it will be a nice way to see most of the material again and shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours per section. If you're still feeling shaky, it's still a way to re-see the information and have at least the big highlight topics in your head on test day. This review should be pretty passive; this means you shouldn’t be answering new questions or wracking your brain for lost information -- you should just be trying to absorb anything you haven’t already and re-establishing your knowledge base. This should make you feel more confident! If you find yourself feeling stressed about the review, make sure you’re focusing on broad, basic concepts as opposed to tiny details.

During the exam

If you struggle with pacing, first answer the questions you can.

Generally, you shouldn't be messing with your test strategy in the middle of an exam. However, if you're still consistently not getting to every question on the exam, you want to do everything in your power to make sure you see all of the questions. To try to save some time, in the science passages, go through the individual questions and try to answer them based on your background knowledge. You'll often be able to answer more than half of them right off the bat. When you read the passage, look only for information that is pertinent to the questions you've seen. Go back and answer any passage-based questions, and then verify that the answers you previously picked make sense in context of the passage. This can shave off some time by focusing your passage reading and minimizing the amount of time you need to spend going back to the passage for each question.

For more specific tips about approaches to questions and passages that can raise your score, check out this post. Otherwise, sit back and rest assured that all of your preparation is about to pay off!

Learn more about MCAT tutoring

For more relevant reading, check out:

MCAT Statistics Crash Course: What Do I Need to Know? (Part I)
Gametoegensis on the MCAT
Getting an MCAT Study Buddy

Looking to work with an MCAT tutor to help you get in shape? Check out our MCAT tutoring services! Cambridge Coaching offers private in-person tutoring in New York City and Boston, and online tutoring around the world.

 

Nikita earned her BA in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts (summa cum laude, Tau Beta Pi) and her MD at Boston University. She is now a senior resident at the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics.

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills medical school admissions MCAT SAT college admissions expository writing strategy English writing MD/PhD admissions LSAT physics GMAT GRE chemistry academic advice graduate admissions biology math interview prep law school admissions ACT language learning test anxiety personal statements premed career advice MBA admissions test prep AP exams homework help creative writing MD study schedules mathematics computer science Common Application history research summer activities secondary applications philosophy organic chemistry economics supplements admissions coaching dental admissions 1L grammar statistics & probability PSAT psychology law legal studies ESL reading comprehension CARS PhD admissions SSAT calculus covid-19 logic games engineering USMLE admissions advice medical school mentorship Latin Spanish biochemistry parents AMCAS English literature case coaching verbal reasoning DAT STEM adjusting to college dental school excel genetics political science skills French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity astrophysics chinese classics freewriting gap year letters of recommendation mechanical engineering technical interviews units Anki DO Social Advocacy algebra amino acids art history artificial intelligence business careers cell biology cold emails data science diversity statement finance first generation student geometry graphing kinematics linear algebra mental health pre-dental presentations quantitative reasoning revising software engineering study abroad tech industry time management work and activities writer's block 2L AAMC DMD IB exams ISEE Japanese MD/PhD programs MMI Sentence Correction algorithms analysis essay argumentative writing athletics business skills executive function fellowships functions genomics infinite information sessions international students internships logic networking office hours outlining poetry proofs reading recommendations research fit resume scholarships science social sciences statement of purpose trigonometry 3L ADHD Academic Interest ChatGPT EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian JD/MBA admissions Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine boarding school brain teaser burnout campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chem/phys chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service competitions constitutional law consulting cover letters creative nonfiction curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism embryology entropy escape velocity evolution extracurriculars fundraising harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite series