MCAT Preparation 2023: Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is an exam taken by students aspiring to study medical science in the United States and Canada. Most medical schools in the U.S. and Canada require MCAT scores as a part of their admissions process. To accomplish an excellent MCAT score, it is imperative that students create a strategic preparation plan for the exam. The MCAT exam is administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
Students are advised to assess their own strengths and weaknesses in the various skills and content areas that form a part of the MCAT syllabus. Candidates need to design their MCAT preparation strategy by effectively evaluating the available time and allocating time slots to the topics that need to be focused upon the most. Firstly, it is crucial to be thoroughly familiar with the MCAT exam pattern and syllabus.
The MCAT exam consists of four sections, which are, critical analysis and reasoning skills; biological and biochemical foundations of living systems; chemical and physical foundations of biological systems; and psychological, social, and biological foundations of behaviour. Students will benefit from practising from the AAMC practice exams which are available on the official website of AAMC. Candidates will be able to evaluate their areas of strengths and scope for improvement in the various sections and topics by practising from the AAMC practice exams.
MCAT Preparation 2023
The AAMC practice tests are helpful from MCAT exam preparation point of view as they give a detailed breakdown of the student’s correct and incorrect answers. Students will be able to understand their level of competency in terms of the different concepts, skills, and disciplines by analysing their performance in the practice tests. By identifying the areas which have more scope for improvement, students can focus on content areas that need more study, preparation, and practice.
Also Check: MCAT Pattern
The practice exams give the students an opportunity to experience giving the exam under actual testing conditions. This enhances students’ exam readiness and is an essential exam preparation strategy. Students are encouraged to engage in active learning by practising and applying the concepts and ideas that they have learned while studying.
MCAT Preparation Tips
Evaluate Your Current Level: Before creating a preparation strategy, candidates are advised to measure their current level of knowledge and understanding of the various concepts and disciplines, and their proficiency in the skills assessed in the exam. By evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, students will be able to design a preparation plan that gives due focus to content areas in which the student needs improvement.
Utilise Available Resources: Two types of resources are required for MCAT preparation. The first set of resources will be the ones that focus on studying the various content areas. The second set of resources will be for practising and applying the knowledge components. Students are encouraged to utilise both study and practice resources parallelly in order to reinforce their knowledge as well as apply it.
Active and Passive Learning: It is recommended that students create an active study plan wherein they are not merely consuming knowledge through videos, textbooks, and notes, but also reinforcing and applying their knowledge. Active learning strategies include summarizing and explaining the absorbed knowledge in one’s own words, and applying the concepts to real-world contexts.
Create a Study Plan : Students firstly need to evaluate their schedule and the available time that they can dedicate to exam preparation. Secondly, they need to strategise on which content areas they need to study and when. Students are advised to create a study schedule that is in accordance with their strengths and weaknesses and makes maximum utilization of the available time.
Revise and Review : It is recommended that students regularly review and revise their previously absorbed knowledge and concepts in order to retain the concepts and facts learned. Revision is helpful for retention of the content areas in memory and it is a useful practice to revise small portions of information that has been studied and practised the previous day.
Explore Different Study Strategies : Since the MCAT exam assesses a candidate’s ability to analyse connections between different disciplines, students are encouraged to study varied topics in one study session so as to form connections and integrate different concepts and principles. Another study strategy is to create flashcards and vocabulary lists.
Summarise : Students can summarise what they have learnt by creating flowcharts, mind maps, comparison charts and tables. They can later check the accuracy of their summaries by verifying the information with their textbooks and notes.
Ask and Clear Doubts : Students are advised to clarify their doubts by reaching out to their professors or advisors in the office hours. Students can also join online discussion groups to ask and answer questions related to the concepts and content areas of MCAT.
Form a Study Group : Students are encouraged to form a study group to teach each other, share notes and discuss concepts and content areas with each other. Students can create questionnaires and quiz each other on the topics and content which has been studied and discussed.
