MedLife Mastery Podcast: Show Notes
About The MCAT Master Interview Series
Welcome to the MCAT Master Interview series!
We’re on an ongoing mission to put together THE formula for achieving a top MCAT score.
We’ve been doing this by gathering the most effective MCAT study strategies from verified top scorers, and then we bring them to you in the form of blog articles, daily emails, YouTube videos, strategy courses, through tutoring sessions and anything else that can help you along on this journey to reach YOUR maximum MCAT score.
We’ve been researching and holding interviews with top MCAT scorers for many years now, until recently we thought "Why not let you all in and give you a seat at the table during these interviews!”.
So, that’s what this series is for?
We hope by listening to these interviews, you learn proven MCAT study strategies you never thought of, that you can start implementing right away!
And most importantly, we hope you feel an increase in inspiration and motivation because the MCAT journey can be very tough and it can be easy to fall into negative mental cycles...
But as you’ll learn from these success stories, every top scorer had to deal with the struggles, the challenges, and through perseverance, through strategy, through mindset work, they all made it to the top score that was right for them.
We have a real treat for you for our first MCAT Master Interview episode!
In this episode you'll meet one of our MCAT strategy mentors here at MedLife Mastery who is also a 100th percentile scorer, Priya Swaminathan!
About Priya Swaminathan
At the start of her prep, Priya was overwhelmed by the MCAT. She majored in Spanish and never took any science classes beyond the requirements. After a lot of frustration and stagnant scores, she decided she needed to push her test date back.
With additional time to revamp her approach, she focused on improving her mindset and strategy, which led to a steady upward trend in her score.
She stuck with it and took her score to a 524 (100th percentile!) by test date (with a 99th percentile CARS score!).
Priya scored in the 100th percentile, which is incredible, and in this interview, we’re going to launch into exactly how she did that!
We’re going to learn more how Priya studied and increased her score, how she kept herself motivated, how she scheduled her prep, what strategies she used for each section, and so much more…
Topics Discussed
Memorable Quotes
Priya’s Written Answers
What was your lowest MCAT score on practice or the real MCAT? How long did it take to get to your highest score?
509, about 3 months
Was this your first time writing the MCAT or did you retake? If your retook, tell us a little bit about the first time you wrote - what happened, what did you score, etc.
First time
How long did it take you to go from your lowest score to your highest score? What are your biggest pieces of advice and strategies for helping someone increase their score like you did?
February to July, but I was only studying for less than 3 of those months. Best advice: Review the AAMC material exhaustively & get as much out of it as possible. In my opinion, most people don't spend nearly enough time reviewing the AAMC material. The most important part of doing practice is the review, not just answering the questions! When reviewing, make sure you are examining each question and answer choice deeply, not just reading the AAMC's explanation. I would often look up other explanations online. Also, I would make sure I learned any unfamiliar terms or concepts that came up in any of the questions and answer choices. I would spend days reviewing each FL using this method. Also, make flashcards! I used Anki so that once I learned something, I wouldn't forget it!
Please share more about your journey to MCAT success! What were some of your struggles and how did you overcome them? What advice do you have for other premeds who would love to achieve a score like yours? What materials did you use and which would your recommend?
I started casually studying for the MCAT last summer. I was a Spanish major in college, so I only took the minimum premed requirements, and I had to take biochemistry, physics 2, organic chemistry 2, and labs all simultaneously my final semester this spring. I was taking an additional course in anthropology and planning on taking the MCAT in March. I was also trying to draft my personal statement for medical school to meet deadlines for a committee letter at my university. I was feeling so overwhelmed, and I pushed back my MCAT date to the end of June. I had taken one AAMC practice test at that point and had gotten a 509. My Chem/Phys and Bio/Biochem sections were not looking too good. I gave myself a break from MCAT studying and focused on my classes. Once I was done with my classes in May, I took a few days to work on my primary application, then I turned all my focus to the MCAT. I had less than 4 weeks until my test. I went through AAMC material, drew out concept maps, and made a bunch of Anki cards from what I learned. I didn't read through the Kaplan books; I would just reference them when I came across something I wasn't sure about. I also didn't memorize every single equation out there. I saw my practice scores improve as I got through the AAMC material. I got a 516 on the AAMC Sample test, a 513 on AAMC test 2, and a 518 on AAMC test 3, in that order. Then, my test got cancelled 4 days before I was supposed to take it. I managed to get my test rescheduled for July 18th. I was a little upset that I would have to study for three more weeks, but was also a little bit relieved because I hadn't gotten through all of the AAMC material yet. I took a few days off (up to that point I had been studying 5-7 hours a day with no days off) and then got back to studying. A few days before my test, I got a 521 on the final AAMC test. I was really happy about that. Then, when I took the real thing, I thought it went fine, but not as well as that last practice test. I was expecting a score from 514 to 520. I didn't think it was likely that I would hit 521. So when I opened my score report and saw a 524, I was blown away. I was so happy about this score and it made me feel much more confident about my application.
Materials: I focused my study around the AAMC material. Whenever I needed to review content, I referenced Kaplan books and just looked around online. I think watching videos to learn can be helpful and a nice break from reading. I drew out study guides for myself and made my own Anki cards and reviewed them daily. I took the AAMC FLs in strictly realistic conditions, and reviewed them thoroughly afterwards.
Keeping my life balanced w/ exercise and social interaction as well as keeping a very positive and confident mindset really helped me. Even when things were not going well, I did my best to stay positive.
How did you study for C/P? What advice do you have to students who are struggling the most with that particular section?
Read the question first, then go back to the passage if you need to. Don’t worry about reading the whole passage, just the parts you need to answer the questions.
Practice understanding graphs. Make sure you know what each axis represents. Understand the AAMC’s conventions for statistical significance, e.g. on bar graphs, if error bars are overlapping, there is not a statistically significant difference between the two bars. Read the legend that goes with each figure. This applies to B/B and P/S sections as well.
Feel comfortable manipulating units and their prefixes, scientific notation, and logarithms. Dimensional analysis can get you very far. Rounding in calculations can also be helpful.
How did you study for B/B? What advice do you have to students who are struggling the most with that particular section?
Recognize commonly tested topics or facts and make sure you know them really well – Anki can help with this.
Try different strategies for approaching passages and see what works for you. I would often read the question first before reading the passage. Also, sometimes I would diagram out pathways described in the passages.
How did you study for CARS? What advice do you have to students who are struggling the most with that particular section?
Do a thorough read of the passage first.
I generally wouldn’t recommend writing too much down during the CARS section. It takes too much time. You can highlight when the author illustrates a point with a concrete example, dates, proper nouns, or when somebody is quoted.
A good way to practice improving accuracy:
Read the passage very carefully, untimed, stopping at the end of each paragraph to think of the main idea and of the author's opinion or tone.
Then, at the end of the passage, make sure you have a clear idea of the author’s overall tone, opinion, and main idea.
Next, read the title of the work where the passage was sourced from (in tiny font in between the passage and the questions). This can sometimes give you more insight into the main idea of the passage.
Now, on to the questions. Read the question stem, but NOT the answer choices. Based on the question stem and your existing understanding of the passage, make a prediction of what the answer might look like. Then, read each answer choice. Eliminate the ones that are obviously wrong based on your understanding of the passage. Try to limit referring back to the passage unless necessary. If you are having trouble deciding between 2 options, try not to waste your time going back and forth, but remember that there is always evidence in the passage to support or refute each answer choice.
How did you study for P/S? What advice do you have to students who are struggling the most with that particular section?
Recognize commonly tested topics and make sure you know them really well, for example, Piaget's stages.
When reviewing AAMC material, make sure you learn the definitions of the terms appearing in EVERY answer choice.
It is helpful to organize your thinking in terms of the theories, like functionalism, conflict theory, social constructionism, etc.
Resources Mentioned
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Additional Reading -- MCAT Success Stories:
- How Jennifer Increased Her MCAT Score By 10 Points In Less Than 30 Days
- A 17-Point MCAT Score Increase: 496 to 513! (ft. Stephanie Hayes)
- From 490 To 511 On The MCAT: His 21 Point Score Increase
- Siraj’s 3-Month 523 MCAT Study Plan As A Full-Time Student
- From 485-495 Plateau + 4 MCAT Attempts To 514 (1.5 Years Later!)
- 41-Year-Old Accountant and Father Dominates The MCAT With a 520!
- Noah’s MCAT Success Story: From 496 To 510 On The MCAT In Less Than 30 Days!
- 19 Point MCAT Score Increase In 6 Weeks While Working Full Time
- From 500 Plateau to 516 in Less than 30 Days (ft. Abbi Shrontz)
- How I Went From 500 To 513 on the MCAT In 4 Weeks
- From 501 Plateau To 513 On The MCAT
- From 499 to 512 on the MCAT in 24 Days
- Melissa’s MCAT Scores Kept Going Down, But She Didn’t Give Up
- How Tanmay Scored 514 On The MCAT In Just 3 Months!
- How Peter Went From 499 To 513 On The MCAT In 8 Weeks
- From 494 (2015) to 502 (2019) to 513 on the MCAT (ft. Jennifer Nagel)
- From 498 To 514 WITH A Busy Schedule!
- From 499 To 511 In 4 Weeks On MCAT Retake!
- From 500 To 512 (Exact Goal Score) In 30 Days!
- From 500 To 514 On The MCAT (2.5 Years Later)
- From 501 To 514 In The LAST 2 WEEKS Before The MCAT!
- From 64th Percentile To 98th Percentile On The MCAT In Less Than 30 Days
- How He Increased His MCAT Score From 499 To 512 In 3 Weeks
- How Kayla Scored 131 In Psych/Soc on the MCAT (MCAT Case Study)
- From 489 To 509: How Miriam Improved Her MCAT Score By 20 Points
- 6 Point Score Increase In the Last Week Before the MCAT
- How Melanie Increased Her MCAT Score By 12 Points (From 505 to 517)
Interview with a 519 Scorer, Re-Taker, and MS1: Julia Meguro
- Best MCAT Bio/Biochem Strategies – Top Tips From A 131 Scorer
- From 499 To 515 On The MCAT In 7 Weeks!
- Hope’s MCAT Retake Story: I Went From 500 to 514 In 6 Weeks!
- How Oleksandra Retook The MCAT and Scored 510
- How Suman Scored Over 510 The Second Time
- From 503/505 To 511 In The FINAL 2 Weeks!
- How Sara Scored 522 On The MCAT
- Taylor's Secret To Scoring 131 On CARS and 511 on the MCAT
- Tara’s MCAT Study Advice Based On Her 510 MCAT Score
- Jenny's Motivational MCAT Success Story: From 499 To 511 In 3 Weeks?!
- A Non-Traditional Applicant’s 514 (91st Percentile)
- How Lindsay Scored 513 On The MCAT While Working Two Jobs
- How Morgan Improved Her MCAT Score From 498 To 511 While Working Full Time
- 10-Point MCAT Score Jump in 2 Weeks: From 503 to 513!
- Can You Have A Social Life During MCAT Prep? (ft. two 515+ scorers!)
To help you achieve your goal MCAT score, we take turns hosting these 
