Hi all,

I have a psych and social work background. I graduated with my MSW in 2022 and am already burnt out after working as a school social worker.

I’ve been entertaining the idea of going the premed / psychiatry route and need to take my sciences classes. I’m planning on taking them over the next year. When I quickly skimmed through the MCCAT, both science heavy sections I had no idea what was going on.

What courses do I need to take to best prepare so I have a shot at this?

When should I get/start using uworld? Would it be after content review ? Or before. I’m testing in April so I’m trying to figure out a timeline.

Well, my test date is Jan 24 and I’ve been studying since September. I’m doing MileDown’s Anki + AAMC + Kaplan + Uworld. Unfortunately, I haven’t put enough time into Uworld or Kaplan question banks (not NEARLY enough) and I’m starting to feel very underprepared. I don’t study daily as I have work, and other times I only study for 2 hours before I start to burn out. My AAMC FLs are as follows: 514, 515, 514, 517 ***(plan to take the 5th this Saturday). What’s throwing me off is UWorld. I keep getting questions that have new concepts/ideas mentioned, despite me finishing most of my content review and Anki. I have a little less than 2 months now and really want a score ~520. Is this possible? Should I extend my date? Any suggestions that might help improve my chances of obtaining something near my goal?

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

I’m using the Aiden deck for my other sections but I’m not sure if I should Aiden or pankow for p/s.

Which do you guys recommend? I’ve heard a lot of good thinks about pankow but I’ve also heard that Aidan is more comprehensive.

My test is in April so I’m hoping to get started asap.

Genuinely never expected to make this post but after taking my first FL today I felt the need to. Being a doctor is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life and I don’t think I can do it anymore. I’ve been studying 7-8 hours every single day since June. Yes JUNE. And it’s really been on my mind to just drop it so I can be happy again. I don’t know if I’m just genuinely mentally slow or what. I don’t understand why I’m having such a hard time with this. Even with anki and Uworld I’m so slow getting through everything. I sit for hours doing anki and I just lose focus because it’s all i do and I just want to be done and do something else. It takes me forever to get through anything I do because I feel so sluggish. I guess I just have a hard time grasping concepts even when repeatedly going over stuff. I don’t know why I can’t remember anything. I’m studying CONSTANTLY there’s literally no reason I can’t be doing well. This exam is the one thing holding me back & it’s slowly ruining me. I just don’t know what to do anymore

Ok so I’m testing 1/16 and I took a my first FL (unscored) about a week ago and got a 502. I started studying the last week of August and I guess moved through content review too slow because I started dialing into UWhirl last month. I’m up to 823 questions. 55% into ANKING with all chem/orgo/biochem/bio unsuspended. I just started section bank vol 1 today and was completely pummeled by C/P. My original goal score was 515 but that feels way out of reach now. My first FL I didn’t even have enough time to finish the last 3 C/P questions and I made stupid mistakes due to math or reading errors. I’d try to grind this last month and half but I have holiday obligations that will probably take some time away and I work 3 days a week study for 4 days. I was thinking of taking the Free FL this Saturday and coming to a decision if I made a significant change. What do you guys think?

What's the best way to review the questions I get wrong? People have told me they use Anki, but is this a good way? I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I'm scheduled to test 1/11, but I'm super stressed and don't know if I'll finish getting through everything and get close to the score I want. I am still in content review (kind of) because I have been doing it along with practice, but I only took one FL about 3 weeks ago and got a 509, but my goal score is.515+ (dreaming for a 520 but that seems further away) I've been sick a lot the past few months which has really slowed down my progress and I want to reschedule, but the waiting lists for most of March and April in my area are full so I would have to push my exam back to May and hope that I can move it up to the date I want.

Everyone around me says they think I can do It, but I don't know if rushing and getting a decent score is better or if I should push it out so I can get the score I want. Would love to hear from people who have done both (taking it the day they scheduled and pushing it back) and what you think!

Quick question if anyone can help me! I posted in r/premed but figured I’d post here too. I got gifted a full set of Kaplan books (2024 addition I believe) and am just wondering if that’s okay or if I should get the Kaplan set that’s on sale right now that comes with online questions and 6 practice exams?

Hello everyone! I graduated undergrad in 2019 with a bachelors of science in biology. I recently took the kaplan prep course and for my first baseline test I got a 488. My tutor said it’s really not as bad considering how many years it’s been since I graduated undergrad but I’m not convinced and it’s been eating me away. I struggle with slight adhd and am not on, and do not plan on taking, any medication for it. Which only makes my studying habits, procrastination issues, and anxiety for the test worse. I keep telling myself what if I do bad and keep pushing off studying now and am considering pushing the Mcat back again. I was planning on taking it in March. I’m just looking for anyone that can relate to this situation and ended up overcoming it. Can I hear your stories ?

Hey everyone so for P/S I’m literally stressed because I don’t know if I should use pankow or Aidan for P/S section. I used pankow and I went from 119 to 123-124. But I wasn’t really taking Anki too seriously with pankow but now I am! However I was going to do Pankow again because I kinda of just bs anki the first time. However I’m not tryna sound lazy but I really don’t see myself going over 3904 cards JUST for Psych and soc using Aidan. I like Aidan deck but for P/S I don’t like it. I prefer Pankow. So is it bad to do Pankow? Aidan is already a lot I think I’ll die doing P/S Aidan tbh. I think Pankow had better examples bettter layout and better pictures.

Completely finished with Bio and P/S and I am feeling a bit down. To no ones surprise, they were my best subjects too. Its only down hill from here. After 5 months of review/anki/uworld, I would think I would be scoring a lot better. Any advice on how to improve? (about to start chem)

Im in the process of gathering all the info I can for my accommodations. I have a neuropsych evaluation scheduled and I’m sorta just wondering what I can do to make sure I have the best shot possible at accommodations.

I suggested by my first grade teacher and school counselor/therapist to get tested for ADHD. I was diagnosed at 8 years old but never continued treatment because mother thought it wasn’t necessary. I continued without accommodations and meds until 21 when I began meds but never asked for accommodations. I’m 28 now. I’ve consistently shown low scores in many standardized testing for reading in and have some minimal (one sheet a the moment) documentation showing that I extra time was useful for me in school.

They will 100% deny me if I don’t have a solid argument. Is there anyone that successfully got extra time despite not having documentation of early diagnosis? (My records have all been destroyed by my the private practice I was seen at as a child)

Hey everyone, I just took the unscored AAMC FL last Saturday and my score breakdown was: (43/44/46/42) I'm not sure exactly what this translates to but is it feasible to get to a 515 by my test date?

What does your blueprint dashboard look like? I logged in and now none of my progress is loading on the dashboard but it shows completed

I have seen so many tips/advice saying 'know your units' as it's really helpful for physics/math questions where you might not ~understand~ the exact relationships between concepts but can basically figure it out using units -- does anyone have any tips on how I (not a physics-brained person) can do this?

Like, how are y'all just remember/knowing that N/kg = m/s^2 or N/c = V/m or V = J/C etc. etc.

- like yes, if I knew all my equations like the back of my hand I could figure it out, but I feel like there's this secret language here that if I understood units better I'd be able to unlock

This is going to sound super dumb but I've always been confused with simple mathematic "rules".

If something is for example .75% NaCl solution I understand from practice problems this means .75g NaCl/ 100g H2O. But I am getting confused when it comes to what .75/100 actually equals. It equals 0.0075, what does this whole number tell us? It isn't the amount of grams of NaCl as that is of course .75g per 100g water. TLDR, whenever we have a percentage and we divide by a 100 to get it into its fraction what does that number actually mean/equal? As in what does the 0.0075 of .75g NaCl/100g H20 mean?

Does anyone know where I can find a free half-length MCAT diagnostic test?

I’m about to start studying for the MCAT and want to identify the areas I need to focus on the most. Most of the practice exams I’ve come across are either full-length (which feels too time-consuming for a diagnostic) or aren’t free. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all,

I'm now going through the U-Universe digital textbooks (really like it so far), but it keeps saying 0 of x amount of lessons complete. So it doesn't show any progress. Are there questions per chapter that need to be completed? If so, where do I find them?

Thanks in advance

I felt that the Kaplan books prepared me well for the Orgo and Gen Chem UWorld sections. It was humbling but when I’d go back and read the section I stumbled on, there was the material I needed

I’m going through the Biology section now though and I feel like the Kaplan books are insanely watered down for the questions in UWorld. Any one have this experience and if so what did you use to supplement for review material?

I find the AAMC CARS explanations to be confusing and found the JW extension to be more straightforward and timesaving. Would using the JW extension instead of focusing on the AAMC explanations hurt me in trying to understand AAMC's CARS logic?

Currently in need of a UPlanet account that expires late January, or that I can extend until then, please let me know if anyone has one!

Does anyone else think the aamc question banks are not at all similar to the questions on the section banks? Especially section bank 2 VS the question banks. I was wondering how representative the question banks actually are to the real test

Testing 1/16. With 6 weeks left, is it more efficient to mix UW + SBank + CARS Qpacks/Diagnostic or swap UW with the AAMC science Qpacks? I was planning to do a 59q block one day of UW one day, followed with AAMC material the next day, and switch back and forth. I am currently ~30% done with UW averaging 70% (no CARS). I love the explanations and think its very equipped to screw content and challenging practice into me, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by ignoring the science QPacks. Help please!

I’m currently in NYC. Signed up for the MCAT exam at the “Pearson Professional Centers-Baltimore MD Pearson Professional Centers-Baltimore MD 3108 Lord Baltimore Dr Suite 103 Baltimore, Maryland 21244 United States” in late January. Chances of getting off the waitlist? I signed up two days ago. Every other area around me in nyc is full 😭

So I took the MCAT in March. I got a 507. Haven’t had any II this cycle. My plan is to start studying this month and take the MCAT late April. I’m looking for advice! I’m gonna tell you where I went wrong last time and tbh it was a lot. So it my senior year. I was captain of my team. I had a full course load with two lab courses. I did 10 hours a research a week. And 2-10 hours volunteering/shadowing in the hospital each week. So I uh shouldn’t have even taken the MCAT till summer cause I didn’t have time but I really didn’t wanna take two gap years oops my bad I was stubborn. I’ve made peace w having to take two gap years now okay. Anyways. I only did like half of anki. And didn’t finish content review until a week before the test. I think I only took two or three practice tests? I did a lot wrong I know I know. Now that all I have to do it work 40 hours a week and I actually have a lot of downtime at work where I could fit in 2-4 hours of studying while at work I have some questions.

What should I use for content review? I used the Jack Westin thing before. I actually kinda liked it but I just like…. Probably should’ve finished it not a week before my MCAT. But what do you guys think is best?

I’m gonna actually finish anki this time I swear. And do jack Westin CARS everyday I also swear.

Is Uworld worth it? And when should I start it?

Should I do content review then start anki or just start anki right away while I’m doing my content review?

When do I take my diagnostic?? Like right away right now or after content review?????

Considering how bad a studied the first time I’m pretty optimistic about my chances this time around just dreading having to do it. Of course last time I had a lot of moments of wanting to reschedule my test. Why didn’t I? Again the didn’t wanna take two gap years thing. And also my friend and I were taking the test the same day at the same center and I felt to guilty to do that to her. Stupid I know. I KNOW. Anyways any advice is very much appreciated. Wish I had Reddit last time I started preparing that was my other mistake lowkey.

How long does it take to finish AAMC material?

Does anyone have any creative places to study? I’m on month 8 and am so tired of home, library and coffee shops.

Kinda freaking out and considering rescheduling my 1/11 exam. Someone told me I’ll be at a disadvantage since it’s the first exam of the year and others are likely more prepared than me, hence a smaller curve for that day. Also wondering if this is true?