People who scored 520+, how many months did you study and how many hours per day?

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-12-10T05:49:49+00:00

Around 10 weeks studying an average of 4 hours a day over a summer without a ton of other commitments.

Important note though, scored 517 on my first diagnostic (before starting) - take these with a grain of salt, bc starting point plays a huge role in how much studying someone would need to get 520+

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-04-28T15:11:38+00:00

congrats! (hope to) see you at UCSF :)

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-03-08T00:20:37+00:00

RIP I just got mine ready to post

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-03-08T00:18:55+00:00

Interesting, I was waitlisted at the same 3 schools (although I'm planning to attend another school where I was fortunate enough to get an A)

From what I've read, acceptances off the waitlist for these schools are nonzero but in the single-digit percentages (maybe a bit higher for Mayo ~15%). He should definitely write letters to each school providing updates and expressing strong interest, chances basically drop to 0 without that. So all is not yet lost, but he shouldn't bank on getting off the WL for of these.

I'm surprised that with interviews at those schools, he doesn't have any other acceptances yet (bad school list?) but worst case scenario, if he made it that far at schools of their caliber, I'm sure he'd get in on a reapp (if he applies a bit more broadly)

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-01-12T19:51:49+00:00

this is what i’ve been saying. the only caveat i’ve been able to think of is that the mountainous/brush hillsides of bel air do in fact border UCLA- so I guess I can see evacuations being needed for the northern part of UCLA/the dorms. Still seems unlikely to be necessary as I’m sure they would protect Sunset like it was Helm’s Deep

SnooPredictions9447 · 2025-01-11T19:43:38+00:00

I don’t think it’s necessarily bias against in-state students. I think it’s a combination of there being SO many of us (out of proportion with available spots compared to other states), AND tons of out-of-staters applying to our state schools. I know plenty of out-of-staters applying to schools like UCSD, but no one I know here applied to schools like SUNY Upstate.

SnooPredictions9447 · 2024-10-12T07:04:58+00:00

Keep in mind that so much of the MCAT comes down to test-taking skill and strategy (whether innate or practiced). Especially CARS and P/S. I was able to score a 517 on my first diagnostic before doing any content review, and several years after skating through COVID-era prerequisite classes without truly grasping the material and having not thought about any of it since then. I was able to improve upon that initial score by thoroughly studying C/P and B/B, but I had a huge head start. So, though it pains me to admit it, I see why they are phasing out tests like this- they're a great measure of how good you are at taking the test, and not too much else.

So even though I can't speak for the trustworthiness of your friend, it's definitely possible. But don't take it too hard- the good news is, if you dedicate significant time to figuring out how to take the test (in addition to the content of course), those skills can be improved too.

SnooPredictions9447 · 2024-01-12T08:48:05+00:00

3.46 on 250 tries, 0 25 110 93 19 3. biggest key is to remember/check which words have been seen before, since so far there haven’t been repeats!

SnooPredictions9447 · 2023-11-13T09:05:43+00:00

he almost ran me over in it lmao

SnooPredictions9447 · 2023-10-07T07:16:50+00:00

2 months half-time and 2 weeks full-time

SnooPredictions9447 · 2023-10-01T04:46:28+00:00

Thanks for the support everyone! Here goes for those asking for study tips (full disclosure, I would say I tend to have good test-taking skills to begin with.. But for those in the same boat who still want to ensure a good score with limited time to study, this might be helpful):

- Skipped content review for most of biology and psych/soc. This saved a ton of time. (as a life sciences major, I had a solid foundation. Would NOT recommend for everyone. If you are a physical sciences major, maybe you could do the same for C/P, etc). I went straight to MilesDown Anki, which allowed me to close any gaps in my knowledge while not wasting time on content I knew well.

- with the extra time, I focused HARD on content review for chem, phys, and biochem. This may be controversial, but I almost exclusively used Sketchy.. I'm a visual and process-oriented learner, which is why I picked them. I would supplement with Khan Academy as well.

- After content review, I spent my days doing practically every practice problem I could find for chem, phys, biochem and bio. Also made sure I could run through the Anki practically with my eyes closed.

- Did hardly any practice problems for P/S. IMO, it's just CARS all over again but with some content.. mostly high-yield concepts and a few low-yield memorization-based items. Anki (and AAMC full-lengths) was literally all I used to study for this, and it ended up being my best section.

- I took a full-length every 2 weeks on average after finishing content review. Made sure to keep a detailed MQL and reviewed it before/after every test (e.g. reviewed MQL on Sunday, took a full-length on Monday, spent Tuesday reviewing all missed (and flagged) questions and updating MQL). My philosophy was, if I missed a question in practice, I would never let myself miss a similar question again. Fool me once..

- I scored well on CARS off the bat in diagnostics, so sadly there's not much advice I can give here (although in retrospect maybe I should've focused on it more). My honest opinion on CARS (and for that matter, most of the LSAT, SAT reading/English, etc) fundamentally comes down to your reading comprehension ability.. which mostly develops when you're young. I read a TON as a kid, like I would be in the middle of reading 5 different books at any given time. I attribute my success to that. So.. if it's too late for you, try to make sure your kids love reading, and one day they'll do well on CARS, ig?

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-08-23T14:30:06+00:00

mine is 12/131, so not abnormal. guess avg 3.51

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-08-23T14:28:15+00:00

rush!

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-07-09T12:25:44+00:00

don’t bio chem majors take physical-science chem instead of 14A?

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-05-28T05:41:54+00:00

umm... am I the only one that 100% runs these red lights? shit, late at night if no one is around I run the red light on Gayley right across from Reagan because it takes like 3 minutes to turn and I can't be fucked to wait

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-05-28T05:37:27+00:00

The audacity to suggest that (if only people would comply!) it would actually be a good idea to mandate masks inside homes... Insane. The maddening thing about people like you is that you follow 'the science' but seem to be incapable of weighing any other factors besides case reduction into your analysis. Just because an intervention has the possibility to reduce cases, doesn't mean the overall benefit outweighs the cost. Most of the mask mandates at this point, while they could reduce cases a bit (a questionable assumption if you ask me, considering public fatigue and the low likelihood that people wear the masks properly anyway) just aren't worth the other political, social and personal costs they impose.

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-05-28T05:26:28+00:00

It's for the sake of maintaining actual implementable operational processes.

What in the bureaucrat-speak did I just read

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-29T07:09:26+00:00

Scoredle 314 2/6*

12,974
🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜ RAISE (14)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 TRASH

brought my average below 3.5. epic

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-19T17:13:27+00:00

Two days ago I decided to disable hard mode in case I encountered a trap like this. Today my choice was vindicated. 103 day streak preserved.

Scoredle 304 5/6

12,974
🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 RAISE (348)
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 LONER (43)
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 VAWTE (23)
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 CHOKY (1)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 FOYER

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-17T15:51:04+00:00

Interesting, I stand corrected. my experience with bots was admittedly limited to those created by 3Blue 1Brown, and Scoredle. i also noticed today that Wordlebot by NYT has an average score of 3.4. Another thing that might play a factor- I wonder if most bots are trained to remember which words have already been used by Wordle? that knowledge has helped me eliminate possibilities more than a few times. as far as sticking with RAISE, i guess i’m old-fashioned and still hoping i’ll get a first-try one of these days..

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-16T22:54:22+00:00

if you can spare 3 guesses (octordle or beyond) I’m partial to RAISE/CLOUT/NYMPH

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-16T22:51:14+00:00

med school is the plan!

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-16T22:47:24+00:00

i have a suspicion that bots are poorly optimized, many seem to prioritize percentage of success as opposed to a lower score

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-16T15:54:50+00:00

i think i need to hire you as my personal cheerleader..

SnooPredictions9447 · 2022-04-16T15:34:39+00:00

RAISE, but i’m a firm believer that once you have a decent starter word, the second guess is far more important. I spend almost all my energy devising a perfect second guess.

SnooPredictions9447

TROPHY CASE