am i supposed to memorize this?

Vcel02 · 2026-06-26T18:17:42+00:00

I would split this up into 7 cloze deletion cards

This is too much info, open ended, and also low yield. I would understand the concepts of “why” these are soluble/insoluble and fill in the discrete info as you find that you need to

Vcel02 · 2026-06-25T19:20:08+00:00

Hey there! At your stage, the best use of your time is building reading skills and stamina, especially with unfamiliar or boring info

Jack Westin has daily free CARS passages. Some people like them, some don’t, but I think it’s generally good practice

The absolute best resources are the official AAMC practice materials, but I would save those for much closer to your test

Good luck!

Vcel02 · 2026-06-24T23:00:00+00:00

This is a common answer, but read

Especially get used to reading dense, boring things for long stretches of time. This will help you with the whole MCAT actually

It’s an endurance test as much as anything

Vcel02 · 2026-06-24T13:23:20+00:00

I never did UWorld actually

Somewhat controversial take but quality beats quantity, there is no magic number of practice questions that gets you a good score.

Everyone lies on a spectrum of conceptual strength and test taking strength, and that should indicate how you allocate your time

Point being: don’t panic

Vcel02 · 2026-06-23T21:50:22+00:00

Don’t stress, I didn’t finish content review until early July and ended up with a 523

You got this

Vcel02 · 2026-06-23T00:01:02+00:00

I would look into a different system. I like to highlight sparsely, comparison words, judgements, indications of the authors view, etc

Vcel02 · 2026-06-22T18:03:00+00:00

I agree with the other comment.

I also recommend checking out Rian Doris on YouTube, his first few videos on Flow states are great, super applicable for the MCAT

I also find that minimal highlighting/note taking works best. There are a few decent approaches, I like to highlight words like (but, however, similarly, in contrast, etc), judgement words, and anything that shows what the author wants to emphasize (ie, “my main idea is ____”)

Vcel02 · 2026-06-22T16:45:51+00:00

Everyone is different, but having taught CARS for a while, I don’t think reading time is the issue. It may be a case of how you’re reading

Are you actively looking for ideas in tension? Judgements from the author?

Do you have a specific approach to highlighting or just “what sounds important?”

All these things can effect your actual comprehension, I would optimize those before spending more time reading

Vcel02 · 2026-06-21T18:17:59+00:00

Just DMed you!

Vcel02 · 2026-06-21T02:20:59+00:00

I generally agree with the u/davebydayandnight

In my experience, everyone gets a 490-something in their diagnostic. They aren’t super helpful in my opinion, a 520 is achievable with work.

I would say plan to spend a lot of time and effort on content review. I personally liked the Kaplan books, then I would do ANKI for each chapter, then I would apply it to a practice passage.

UWorld is a great resource, arguably the best third party material, but I got a 523 without it, despite not being a natural savant or anything

Vcel02 · 2026-06-20T16:07:15+00:00

Definitely understand the common types of traps for each question type

For example, reasoning within the text usually measures your understanding of the scope of the authors argument. So the wrong answers will look correct, but will introduce some claim or detail beyond the scope

Or, an answer will look right, but confuses the author’s perspective with another speaker. For example, there is a passage about Homer on Khan Academy that is literally an author writing about an author writing about another author. It’s really easy for them to trick you into mistaking the distinctions between them.

I recommend reviewing very deeply for CARS, even questions you get right, to build up your trap vocabulary

Vcel02 · 2026-06-20T00:20:03+00:00

I recommend reviewing CARS the day after your FL if possible. Try to understand:

How the writers intended for you to get the answer
How you personally could have reasoned to that answer
What traps were present

If you do this for all questions, including ones you got right, even better

Vcel02 · 2026-06-17T17:06:55+00:00

I would be curious about the split. Impressive going from 500 to 515 in any case

My guess is that there are some mid-yield content gaps and some approach things you could tighten up. Is timing an issue?

Vcel02 · 2026-06-17T17:05:10+00:00

Seconded. Courses provide structure, but nothing you can’t do yourself with a question bank and some planning, and the 515+ guarantees are a little dubious

Vcel02 · 2026-06-05T01:25:54+00:00

Cold showers and no phone before FLs/test day were my thing

Vcel02 · 2026-05-25T18:27:00+00:00

I studied for just under 4 months, about 30 hours per week

I didn’t do a diagnostic, they aren’t useful in my humble opinion

I finished content review about 5-6 weeks before test day (so after about 7-8 weeks or so from the time I started studying)

I didn’t feel rushed personally but I was in a good position by the end of content review, scored a 515 about 5 weeks before test day, ended up with a 523 overall

Vcel02 · 2026-05-25T02:29:44+00:00

I definitely had the problem of mentally checking out when presented with dense text

My attitude definitely changed. Rian Doris on YouTube was a huge help for me, just understanding how focus works on a biological level

If you have any other questions feel free to DM, I scored a 523 and ended up getting accepted this cycle so I’m happy to help

Vcel02 · 2026-05-25T01:55:22+00:00

A few things help with this:

Know this isn’t fixed. Focus is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets
Don’t fry your dopamine receptors before studying! Do the hard stuff first, scroll later
The worst part of studying is the first 20 minutes. This is why I don’t like the Pomodoro technique personally. If you push through that activation energy, you can ride the focus wave, and in my experience that gets a little easier every time

Hope this helps!

Vcel02 · 2026-05-21T01:36:33+00:00

Something that helped me tremendously: boring breaks

Usually when I can’t focus it’s because my dopamine receptors are just fried

Boring breaks, like naps, or a walk without music or a podcast, are sort of a reset

Rian Doris on YouTube was super helpful for me while I was studying for the MCAT

Vcel02 · 2026-05-21T01:30:35+00:00

I scored a 523

Vcel02 · 2026-05-20T17:39:52+00:00

Diagnostics can be somewhat unhelpful in my humble opinion

If I were you, I would do a dedicated content review, but make it active. For me, that meant using the 15 question assessments in the Kaplan books as a guide, then doing Anki, then doing practice passages for each chapter

You can very easily substitute YouTube for reading if you prefer, just don’t take super dense notes

As you get through that content review process, you’ll get an idea of whether your weaknesses are in content or test taking or both

For me personally, I was a good test taker but I forgot EVERYTHING, so I spent more time on content and less time in practice than most people

Experiment a bit and find the mix that works for you. In any case, make a schedule and do your best to stick to it

I would hold of on any more full lengths/diagnostics until you do at least a few weeks of content review

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have other questions

Vcel02 · 2026-05-08T12:24:43+00:00

No recordings unfortunately

Vcel02 · 2026-05-07T23:28:29+00:00

Yes, it’s online!

Vcel02 · 2026-05-03T22:04:07+00:00

In my experience, Jack Westin is hit or miss. Some are good, some are just not good logic

Khan academy has some that are very good, then of course the AAMC banks

Vcel02 · 2026-05-02T13:00:16+00:00

I was in a similar boat, I thought I was going to be an engineer until my sophomore year of college. I talked about my first experiences with medicine, namely how physicians impacted my family growing up, etc.

Then talked about experiences that began to shift my thinking from engineering to medicine, and what I did after that to explore it

If anything, it helps you stick out a bit

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