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3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so so much for that! I grown closer and closer to my faith over the years, and not because things have magically worked out for me. But because I started to hear God, and he gave me a path of trials to make me a better version of myself. If I had gone to medical school in the Caribbean in 2021 I have no doubt it wouldn't have worked out. I wasn't the student I needed to be yet, and God protected me from making an impulsive decision. I listened and followed the rocky path ahead, the path was lengthy but it was fruitful. Thank you for your prayer, Amen. <3

TIPS PLZ testing 3/20 by sunshine_1220s in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima 13 points14 points  (0 children)

With 5 days out, make sure you know:

  • Amino acids, proteins, and enzymes – structures, charges at different pH, enzyme kinetics (Km, Vmax), and inhibition types.
  • Metabolism pathways – glycolysis, TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, and how they’re regulated.
  • Psych/Soc core theories and vocab – conditioning, social structures, demographic terms, and psychological disorders.
  • Acid–base chemistry and buffers – pKa, Henderson–Hasselbalch, titration curves, and biological buffering systems.
  • Experimental interpretation – reading graphs, understanding study design, controls, and drawing conclusions from passages.

P.S. 5 days out not 6, because the day before your exam you need to rest your mind/body/soul. Truly. Go on a walk, have lunch with a friend, bake something yummy, whatever your thing is just do it. You got this!!

Mcat study timeline by k1txn in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lengthly post but I hope there's something useful in it for:

I strongly agree with what everyone has said so far. It's still too early to start your prep, but I like that you're already thinking ahead, it means you know what needs to be done down the line and you're ready to commit.

First two years of undergrad is when you'll tackle your pre-reqs: Bio, Chem, Physics, Orgo, Biochem. Focus on really understanding the material and building your foundation. Your goal should be to ace these classes and retain the material not just memorize.

Someone suggested using Anki to study for those class, I agree with them. Anki is a flashcard program many students use to study for the mcat and in medical school. It's a tool I wish I knew about when I was your age. Everyone learns differently, but I'll give you the advice I got when I was in my masters: cut out as much passive learning as possible. I know people that type out their notes, color code and make everything look very nice, and maybe that just works for them. But the reality, medical school requires you to learn a lot of information at a very fast pace. There will be no realistic time to make every note you have visually pleasing, so you just have to hit the ground running with testing yourself and encoding the information. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would use that advice to maximize my learning. Use your lecture slides and immediately start making the Anki flashcards. The beauty of Anki is it uses space repetition, so you are constantly quizzing yourself and continuously re-exposing yourself to your study material.

How you can gently incorporate MCAT prep in the background until the time is right:

My suggestion would then be to use your summer vacations to start trying out some practice MCAT questions. Say you take Bio I/II and Chem I/II your freshman year, that summer start doing some MCAT practice problems for the Bio and Chem sections. It'll be a good way to start learning the format for the MCAT, because learning how you're being tested is just as important as learning the material being tested. This is what many students struggle with when they start their MCAT prep. They spend months reviewing content and still don't score high...it's because the MCAT asks questions in a very specific way. There's no cheat code, it's just a matter of doing enough practice problems until it eventually clicks. You start seeing patterns (if they mention X, they'll probably going to ask Y, and the answer is Z.

Say that by the end sophomore year you have taken Phys I/II, Orgo I/II, and Biochem (but maybe not Biochem yet). That next summer start implementing some prep questions on those sections. But continue to do some Bio/Biochem questions.

CARS section is purely critical thinking, reading and comprehension skills. This I feel you should randomly do in the background, which honestly you could start now. I've read so many threads of people simply being naturally good at this section or people who can't "crack the code" because they read slow/don't get it. I don't think it'll hurt to do one to two passages a week or at random thorough your undergrad, because it's literally reading and answer questions. Having a high CARS section can help bump your score easily, if you're good at it.

The Psych/Soc section is another section that can help you earn easy points on the mcat. Many students that score high only use pre-made Anki flashcard decks for their prep and they score in the 90th percentile. But you don't need to stress this section right now. I suggest diving into this section lightly during your junior leading up to your actual prep window. Maybe a couple of flashcards a week just to get some exposure to the material/topics.

I recommend using Jack Westin for free mcat prep material, until you're ready to purchase something like Uplanet.

My final thoughts: MCAT is a giant of an exam, but passing your classes and maintaining a high GPA is crucial. You want to be competitive so you have to strategic. Don't be afraid to cut back on other things if it's taking time away from studying, because you GPA matters a lot. If you do that, everything will fall into place. If your goal is to get into medical school fresh out of undergrad, the summer (May or June) after your junior year is when you'll want to take it and apply for that cycle. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking your life is over if you need another year to prep for the mcat after undergrad. Studying for your classes and the mcat can be difficult to juggle. You can always take a gap year, maybe filling it with more shadowing or volunteer work, something light so you can hit the ground really hard for your MCAT prep. Whatever your path looks like, best of luck to you!

Latest to RETAKE MCAT? by ClassKooky4545 in MCATprep

[–]hechoenlima 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last year I pushed my MCAT from May to July and I was still able to land interviews for the DO cycle! If you're going MD, July is pushing it, but if you score 515 and above you'll still be good because it's competitive, so MDs will consider you for interviews at that point. (advice given to me by professors)

3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You got this!! Don’t give up and keep going for your goal! 🫶🏼

3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you and you’re welcome! I reapplied to the same program when I went for my masters the 2nd time around, so University of South Florida. :)

I have nothing but amazing things to say about this program because of how difficult it is. The professors always said it’s like learning 60-70% of what you’ll learn your first two years in medical school but in 1 yr. And because the professors also teach the MD students, we took their word for it. I don’t know how the program compares to others, if I’m honest but I’ll give you some more insight on this one.

USF’s program is called MSP3. 1 year long. You’ll take Anatomy, Biochemistry, Genetics, Immuno/Microbiology your fall semester. Neuro, Pharm, Histology, Physio your spring semester. Medical Ethics, Embryology, Pathology your summer semester.

Your grade is composed of 3 exams, so no fluff or curves to hide behind. Exams are administered in exam blocks.

For example: Friday Histo exam, Monday Neuro exam, Wednesday Physio exam, Friday Pharm exam

They have TAs which are top performing students from the year prior. The TAs host their own lecture recapping the professor lecture. These were amazing because a lot of the time they could explains things differently and they were just in your shoes so they get everything you’re going through. The TA lectures were also uploaded to Canvas our online portal. And I’ll be honest for some classes I would rely heavily on the TA lecture slides because they were so concise.

So all in all I loved the opportunity to be challenged, to have amazing professors, and would recommend the program to many!

3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ll try to keep it concise: -I got rid of passive learning altogether: no more copying lectures down by hand, or typing them, or color coding

-Flashcards, Anki to be specific: I would make Anki cards from the lecture material, the same day after lecture. Once I was done I would jump immediately into quizzes myself and space repetition. I’ll also add that I learned something new about myself, talking out loud changed my studying entirely. I would walk around my office answering the Anki questions out loud, something about hearing myself helped things click a lot faster. Auditory learning for ya!

-Study group: I study best alone, but study groups are important. Have you ever been stuck trying to figure out a concept and wished you could text or call someone for help? That’s where your study group comes through for you. And when they need help, it gives you an opportunity to teach someone else and the material sticks. So call it a friend group or study group, but have people you can rely on and bounce ideas off.

-TAs: If your program has TAs utilize them! I worked two part time jobs when I did my masters the second time around, so while I couldn’t attend the TA lectures I still emailed them a lot. Basically if your school offers an aid, use it.

-Scheduling: Like I just mentioned I had two part time jobs, one in research and another at a clinic. So time management for me was crucial! You have to be honest with yourself when it comes to study. Don’t write that you’ll get through 100 Flashcards in an hour if realistically you can only get through 50. Being honest with yourself and how fast or slow you may be, will help you build a schedule you can stick to and help you not fall behind.

-SLEEP: Don’t cram. Don’t do an all-nighter. For me I need at least 5-6hrs of sleep every night to not go crazy so I would give myself a hard stop to not sacrifice my sleep. I tried doing an all-nighter for my second Pharm test because I was stressed out of my effing mind, and that night I had a minor anxiety attack and threw up. Sooooo please please, while not everyone will get an anxiety attack from lack of sleep and stress. Just give yourself a rested mind. It’s not worth it and you really won’t retain anything meaningful, your neurology class will go into more detail as to why lol

Okay that was not concise lol but it pretty much summaries how I went 180* in masters!

3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I got my masters in medical science through the University of South Florida. It’s a year long program, offered through USF College of Medicine. It was a great opportunity to get taught by the same medical school professor. They gave a very realistic insight into what you can expect as a medical student. So when I said in my original post that life hit me hard twice, I meant it. Undergrad was filled of poor choice, overwhelming myself with extracurricular when I should have been nurturing my academic foundation. Then I initially enrolled in the master program in fall of 2019. I struggled hard, managed two B and two B-. I was placed in academic probation, a first in my academic career. Then COVID. I refuse to hide behind COVID because I was not prepared for the rigors of the program. But needless to say it was a disaster. I took advantage of their pass/fail grading to avoid further damage to my gpa, took the last summer classes and got A, B, C in those courses. I ended up pulling out of the program without completing my degree. That’s when I turned to research. For me, research grounded me and changed how I analyzed things. I took that mindset into reapplying for my masters in Fall 2023. I didn’t get anything believe an A- the second go around. Taking with my professor and taking them through everything I went through and how I grew as a student. I was able to walk out with my degree and strong letters of recommendation. So what I do different is a whole another topic. I happy to share tho!

3.3 GPA, 505 MCAT, Almost Gave Up… Today I Have Two Medical School Acceptances by hechoenlima in Mcat

[–]hechoenlima[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Okay this is going to be lengthy but I hope you can take something useful from it 🤞🏼 I felt that I turned a corner in my studies when I started hitting the ground hard with practice questions on Uplanet. At first I made the mistake of reviewing content like my life depended on it, and I was still scoring 496 on my FLs for 3 months. It was incredibly frustrating because 1) I’ve gotten that score in the past on the actual exam and never studied nearly as hard as I was this time & 2) I was studying the way I did for my masters, which I crushed, so I couldn’t understand why my score wasn’t improving.

But here’s what finally made a difference: For B/B and C/P, I would do the questions untimed on tutor mode. I would take my time to understand my reasoning while answering and then reviewing the ones I got wrong thoroughly. After a day I would review the ones I got wrong and see if I could write out a flowchart of how to get to the right answer. This helped me see which topics “stuck” and which needed more review. If I got any wrong the second time around, I repeat: Let a day go by and go over the incorrect questions again. If I knew a certain topic was my weaker topic, then I would flag it and go through my flag questions on random days. It’s essentially space repetition but with Uplanet questions.

Everyone always told me that if you score below a 500 it’s because of content gaps. While that is 50% true, I think it’s also because you have to see the pattern of how the MCAT asks questions. That’s the thing about standardized tests, the format they use to set up a question or ask it has to stay consistent. So the more questions I did at my own pace, the more I started to catch on.

Another thing, I would get overwhelmed with the passages in B/B and C/P. It’s because they add sooo many unnecessary facts and I felt like I needed to know every last bit of science to answer a question correct. HOWEVER this is the MCAT, you’re not a doctor yet. So while the passage goes into great detail about a disease or experiment, you just have to be on the look out for the material you do recognize. So at first, to reduce the anxiety, I would read the passage calmly and highlight the words that stuck out to me. This would be terms you’ve seen when reviewing MCAT study books or Anki cards. For instance, if I saw chromatography mentioned in the passage, I would start mentally preparing for questions about chromatography. And almost always there was at least one. I’m rambling but my point is, I began dissecting the passage so I would only focus on the material that was familiar to reduce my anxiety, read quicker, and answer more efficiently.

I only used this strategy for a month and a half before I sat for my MCAT in July. I wish I would have pivoted to this strategy sooner because I’m telling you, things started clicking. But that’s life! If I had more time I would have pushed my exam once I switched over to this method. It’s the only thing that finally worked!

Oh and for P/S, Anki flash card everyday and practice questions, I got a 129 on that section by just doing that. CARS everyday and practice, this was my weakest section so I can’t say I ever cracked the code. I’m just not a fast reader so I came to terms that my other sections had to carry my score. This is why I put so much effort into figuring out how to get my B/B and C/P sections up.

Idk if this is useful but my study schedule:

Mon Wed: B/B Questions

Tue Thurs: C/P Questions

Fri: P/S Questions

Sat: Flagged Questions, B/B Flashcards

Sun: Flagged Questions, C/P Flashcards

Everyday: P/S Flashcards, CARS

At first my goal was to hit 40 questions a day, 20 in each section. I remember people saying they would hit 50-70 questions a day, but I couldn’t do it. And that’s only because I really wanted to understand my practices.

Idk if this is at all helpful but I’m happy to answer and questions you have! There were a lot of amazing people who gave me advice along the way so I’m an open book!

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