Category Archives for MCAT Score Increase Strategies

There comes a moment in every premed journey where they are overwhelmed with not knowing how to remember everything for the MCAT.

We know because we've been there ourselves. Over the years, we've discovered many (extremely common) ways most MCAT writers are putting themselves at a disadvantage with the way they're trying to remember all the content.

The good news is that once all of these 'MCAT prep disadvantages' are taken care of, many find themselves remembering more content easily and see their MCAT scores increase as a result!

A lot of these MCAT prep mistakes are specific to the MCAT itself, others are specific to studying overall. Regardless, top scorers always addressed both types.

As a bonus, top scorers carried these insights with them to med-school, to dominate there as well. It is our knowing that once you understand and implement these insights for yourself, you too will be well equipped to do extremely well in med-school once you master the MCAT 🙂

With that said, in this article we want to cover a common study mistake we see a lot of students making when it comes to the way they try to remember everything for the MCAT.

Are you considering joining or creating an MCAT study group? Are you already in one and want to find a better one? Or do you want to learn how to better utilize the one you're already in? If so, then this article was written for you.

Our focus at MCAT Mastery is on one thing; how can you hack your MCAT studying. In other words, what are those few key things you can do to get maximum results in your MCAT score.

This is why we've interviewed and researched 90+ percentile MCAT scorers over the last 6+ years, constantly refining our understanding of the highest yield paths to a top score. 

And guess what? Being in an MCAT study group is a great hack (IF you know how to create/choose and utilize one to its full potential).

When she first took the MCAT in her junior year of undergrad, Annabella didn't know how to study for the MCAT and ended up scoring a 496.

A year later, she gave herself 10 weeks to study while working full time. 

3-4 weeks in, her score hadn't really improved. However in the next 6 weeks she managed to improve her score by 19 points and achieve an awesome 515 MCAT score! 

How did she do it? What did she do differently the second time?

We're about to find out 🙂

Imagine this...

You take your baseline test at the beginning of your MCAT prep, and you score a 500! Not bad right?

In fact, you're kind of pumped because you have 4.5 months before you write your MCAT! That's a lot of time to improve your score by 10 or more points! Especially since you're investing in a big-name MCAT prep company to help you study...

So you take the exam 4.5 months later, you get your score and you can't believe your eyes when you see that you scored a 501! Just a ONE point score increase from your baseline test!

This is the true story and situation of today's featured top scorer, Jennifer Nedimyer...

Is your Bio/Biochem score suffering on the MCAT? Did you recently do a practice exam and were surprised at how low your Bio/Biochem score was? Do you need to increase it as soon as possible? 

If so, you're in the right place...

Maybe you know all amino acids and most of the content, but you feel like something isn't connecting. Maybe you've asked people for advice and all you hear is "just do more practice passages".  Maybe you're worried that you haven't taken a Biochem course and won't know how to do well in this section.

We've heard it all and we have your solution...

What you need are PROVEN tips, strategies, and thought processes on how to approach B/B passages. 

Over the years, we’ve helped thousands of MCAT test takers increase their scores to competitive levels. As we research and interview 515+ scorers and their strategies they used to dominate the MCAT, we also single out those who score over 130 (we usually single out 132 scorers) in particular sections and try to drill down on the most powerful strategies they used for those specific sections.

In this post, we’re going to provide you with some of the most effective 130+ Bio/Biochem MCAT scorer strategies which you can apply right away to increase your B/B score fast and get over that 130 level yourself.

Timing is a huge issue for a lot of MCAT test takers and it's something we want to address in this article.

The most counterproductive thing to do is to be taking your exam while worrying about time; constantly checking the clock and calculating how much time you have left and how much you’ve already used up. 

That pressure alone is enough to cloud your thinking, making it harder to remember what you studied, and overall make you less effective during the exam.

To overcome this hurdle, top scorers used some specific MCAT timing strategies. We’ll share a few of them here with you... 

Hey future doctor!

Picture this...

You've given yourself 8 weeks to crush the MCAT and get a 510+ score.

Beginning of your MCAT prep, you score a 498...

But that's no problem because you start studying extremely hard. You know if you spend the time and energy, you can achieve your goal...

4 weeks later (halfway through your MCAT prep), you do another practice test...

And you get a 499!

At this point you're panicking, you're demotivated, you're confused, and don't know what to do next.

All that work for a 1 point score increase!

This is exactly what happened to Troy Dolmetsch, today's featured MCAT Master:

Be honest…

Before you began studying for the MCAT, you thought it wasn’t going to be so bad…

You figured you’d have a good shot at getting a 510+ or a 515+ MCAT score if you just spent enough time memorizing the content…

But then you got your first practice exam score back and…

Ouch! Reality hits you in the face like a ton of MCAT prep books!

That’s what happened to Peter Kim, our featured top scorer in today's MCAT Master Interview.

Peter's goal MCAT score was a 515, but when he was 75% of the way into his MCAT prep, he did a practice test and scored a 499. 

Extremely discouraged, Peter knew something had to change. 

Most students know the importance of achieving a balanced MCAT score. You don’t want there to be one ‘problem’ section that sticks out.

If Psych/Soc is a problem section for you, you’re in the right place…

Throughout our ongoing 90+ percentile MCAT scorer research and interviews over the years, we've come across many non-traditional MCAT test takers. 

We find their MCAT success stories especially inspiring because they're often struggling with additional pressures and challenges that the average MCAT scorer doesn't face.

Recently, we interviewed Valentina Viertel...

A graduate student and a stay at home mom who was pregnant for almost her entire journey as she was studying for the MCAT!

In fact, she was 24 weeks pregnant when she took the MCAT!

Not only that, but as you'll find out in her interview below, it had been 5 years since Valentina graduated college and almost 10 years since she took some of the pre-reqs!

The most amazing part? 

Even with all of these additional barriers...

Valentina managed to increase her MCAT score by 19 points and achieve a 514 (91st percentile) MCAT score.

The highest score you can get on the MCAT is a 528.

In this article, we're about to show you how you can go about achieving the closest score you can possibly get to that elusive 528. We're going to show you how you can achieve your maximum MCAT score.

Achieving your maximum MCAT score isn’t a result of just studying “harder” or studying more. It’s about studying better and studying smarter. 

If you’re not seeing your score progress, it’s because there's something missing from the way you're studying for the MCAT, or there's something you're doing that's holding your score back.

If you want to get your score as high as it possibly can be, you need to raise the effectiveness of your current MCAT study habits, mindset, and strategies...

If you're like most premeds, the effectiveness of your MCAT prep is probably much below 70% and with some simple tweaks and changes to your MCAT prep style, you can maximize your efficiency, and consequently, your MCAT score.

In this article, we're going to cover proven ways to maximize your MCAT prep mindset, habits, strategies, and more, so that in the next week or two, you can start seeing tremendous progress...

When you’re just beginning to prep for the MCAT and creating an MCAT study plan, a lot of feelings show up...

On the one hand, it’s kind of exciting to get the only remaining barrier to med-school out of the way. It’s just one exam – and you’ve written many exams before!

On the other hand, it's also kind of scary! There’s a lot riding on this one exam. It holds A LOT of power in whether or not you get called for an interview.

Plus, it’s extremely comprehensive of the sciences, with subjects like CARS and Psych/Soc thrown in there. Not to mention it’s a whopping 7 ½ hours long…

So we can understand why so many students come to us feeling stressed, worried, frustrated, confused and lacking in confidence, when it comes to preparing for the MCAT.

If you’re feeling any of these things, don’t worry, it’s normal and you’re in the right place...

By the time you’ve reached the end of this article, you'll know how to create the most optimal MCAT study plan, plus you’ll have everything you need to approach this beast of an exam from a place of calm, confidence, and clarity 🙂

Don't worry, we gotchu!

This top scorer MCAT case study is jam packed with a lot of valuable information, so we highly suggest you read it all the way through to the end.

You'll very likely pick up on one or two golden nuggets of information that will help you in your MCAT prep.

With that said, in this article we'd like to introduce you to Kayla S., a 511 scorer...

We've come across a lot of MCAT test takers who struggle to know for sure if they can achieve a competitive MCAT score while maintaining a part time or full time job during their MCAT prep...

Some people quit their jobs and don't want to risk it. Others don't have a choice and have to keep their jobs. 

In this MCAT success case study article, you'll hear from a top scorer who not only worked for an average of 30 hours a week during her MCAT prep, but also managed to increase her MCAT score by 12 points...

All in the same amount of prep time that it generally takes the average student studying full time for the MCAT!

With that, we'd like to introduce you to Morgan Saiko, a 511 scorer...

As we continue to research and interview 90+ percentile MCAT scorers, in order to bring you the best and the most proven MCAT prep strategies in the world, here's one of the biggest insights we've had...

When 510+ scorers first take the MCAT and get a disappointing score, there are two main benefits that they usually gain from it...

Perspective and motivation.

This MCAT success story will show you how a 510+ scorer we interviewed, leveraged those two benefits to transform her MCAT prep mindset and strategy, to gain a 12 point score increase in just 6 weeks. 

In this article, we'd like to introduce you to Taylor Evangelisti, a 511 scorer:

Recently, one of our MCAT Mastery Community members wrote in to us and expressed their biggest frustration with the MCAT...

My biggest challenge is timing. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get it down and that is when my anxiety kicks in, and it all goes downhill from there. My biggest fear is that this will be the one obstacle that will keep me from going to medical school. I am hoping to increase by around 25 points.

Someone else wrote in and said...

I am a slow test taker so timing on the exam is what really stresses me. I have a very competitive GPA and resume but I fear that my MCAT score will hold me back in the admissions process. I need about a 10 point score increase.

Timing is one of the biggest frustrations of students writing the MCAT and we completely get it.

Nothing can be worse than not being able to finish passages or having to guess on answer choices that you intuitively know you can answer correctly.

After years of researching the MCAT prep strategies of top MCAT scorers, we've discovered the solutions to the 'MCAT timing' problem.

It takes a little practice, but you can get to the point where you finish the MCAT with extra time left over to double check all your flagged answers. 

So let's begin...