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:
More...
Click image to enlarge.
That's right... He ended up scoring a 512!
And no, he didn't push his exam date.
Which means he managed to figure out how to boost his score from a 499 to a 512 (by 13 points) in less than 30 days! It took him 3.5 weeks to be more precise.
Clearly something clicked for him while he was panicking with that 499...
Want to know how he did it?
You can find out by listening to the full interview on YouTube - BUT we also recommend spending a few minutes and reading Troy's key written points below.
In this interview, we go deep into Troy's MCAT journey, his thought process, his MCAT study schedule, the resources he used, his highest recommended strategies, his biggest mistakes, what exam day was like, his med-school admission tips, and so much more.
Check it out and make sure to leave a comment letting us and Troy know your thoughts and how much his insights have helped you!
By the way, Troy is now in his goal med-school! He talks a lot about med-school applications towards the end of the interview.
Key Points From His MCAT Experience
We asked Troy to write a few lines for you highlighting how he prepped for the MCAT, what materials he used, and any recommendations/advice he has for you.
Here are Troy's quick tips for you:
"Success on the MCAT is a mindset more than anything.
Too many people are discouraged and develop poor attitudes around the exam that prevents them from succeeding before they even write the exam.
To score like I did, take care of yourself. Sleep for eight hours a day, meditate often, exercise regularly (including long distance cardio which has been shown to enhance brain-derived neurotrophic factor), eat well (no gluten or refined sugars, get healthy fats and lots of vegetables), and study early in the morning to get in habit for test day.
I studied for the MCAT for eight weeks (not a long time), but I integrated reading content from books for a few hours a day with doing practice problems for a few hours.
Strategies that helped most was writing down the reasoning behind why I got each practice question right or wrong, and then using those reasons as a study tool to reveal patterns in my test-taking.
For Chemical and Physical Foundations I used the Kaplan Physics MCAT book, practice exams and questions, flashcards of important equations, and supplemented concepts with YouTube videos.
For CARS I used the Kaplan CARS books and practice exams and questions.
For Biological Foundations I used the Kaplan books in Biology and Biochemistry, used flashcards of amino acids, practice exams and questions, and supplemented concepts with videos on YouTube.
For the Psychology section I used the Kaplan Psychology MCAT textbook and practice exams and questions.
My turnaround was pretty remarkable: my lowest score was a 499 and improved it to a 512 in only 3 ½ weeks. After achieving mediocre and stagnant results in my practice exam one month before test-day, I was panicking and by an act of grace found your MCAT Mastery program to turn it around."
We're thankful to Troy for sharing his advice with you and the MCAT Mastery Community.
Even though we see these huge jumps all the time from MCAT Mastery members, these kinds of results still get us thinking and feeling "Wow!".
It always just confirms the power of discovering and applying top scorer MCAT strategies 🙂
What we love about Troy's advice the most, is the focus on all the things that most premeds deem irrelevant...
Things like mindset, attitude, and ensuring the optimal performance of your mind and physical body.
This is truly what differentiates Troy and most other top scorers from the average MCAT writer. It's the focus on these aspects.
Most of us think that the MCAT is all about learning. Which it is - but only those who are preparing smart know that it's also about creating a foundation for learning.
When you optimize your mind and your body, you're creating a foundation to ensure you're able to learn at your maximum capabilities.
An analogy we like to give is that you could have the most amazing idea for creating a website. But if your computer's operating system is not up to speed, if you're using an old computer, creating that website is going to be extremely difficult (especially if you have a time constraint or a deadline).
However, someone with a upgraded, faster, and more optimized operating system will create that website so much faster and so much better, even though you have the capability to do it better than them!
The worst part is that over time, because the decline is so gradual, we barely realize how slow our computer has become. So you think you're performing at an efficient level but you're not.
In the same way, if we don't take care of our mind and body, we think we might be functioning at our best capacities but we're not...
And thus, we're not retaining as much information when we study, or we're not able to stay focused, or we're not able to deal with the anxiety that keeps showing up and paralyzing us from studying and making progress.
We can't recommend it enough: please take care of your mind and physical body during MCAT prep.
How? Do what Troy said...
Take time to meditate (even if it's just 10-20 minutes per day). Exercise (even if it's 10 - 20 minutes per day). Sleep properly. Watch your diet (stay away from refined and processed carbs and sugar and watch the difference in energy that you feel). Keep your attitude positive.
Making time for these things might feel like it's taking time away from more important things like studying...
But honestly, there is nothing more important than doing these things because this will contribute to a lot more productivity, efficiency, and results, than if you were to ignore them.
Please please please incorporate them all into your lifestyle and let us know the difference it makes in your MCAT prep.
Also if you want to use the same top scorer MCAT strategies that Troy used to increase his score by , here's how Troy said he used the Top Scorer MCAT Strategy Guide to achieve his 512 MCAT score...
"The MCAT Mastery Strategy Guide is what I turned to when my practice exam scores stalled and my self-studying needed to be revamped. The strategies offered through MCAT Mastery made total sense to me, yet I had not seen these sort of tips offered in other study resources.
After reading my MCAT Mastery resources I immediately restructured my mindset and my study habits, which made the difference in obtaining a desirable score on test day.
This MCAT Mastery Strategy Guide is applicable for all types of students with strategies that are both easy and worthwhile to implement; my only regret is not getting the guide sooner!"
The MCAT is a wild beast. But with these top scorer strategies, we know...
You got this,
The MCAT Mastery Team
Your "MCAT Success" Mentors
P.S. Med-school admission is closer than you think 😉
P.P.S. If you enjoy case studies like this from real VIP MCAT Mastery members, you can get a lot more when you join the free top scorer MCAT Strategy Email Course! To be the best, learn from the best.
P.P.P.S. If you want to work with Troy one-on-one in increasing your MCAT score, you can sign up to get tutored by him here!
To help you achieve your MCAT score to the competitive mark quickly, we have collaboratively created these 