509+ MCAT Study Habits

1) Your individual scores and composite score:
Total: 517 PS: 129 CARS: 129 BS: 130 Psych: 129

2) The study method used for each section
PS: HEAVY use of Khan Academy. This was my weakest area when I took the AAMC Official exam 2 week into studying. As I did for every section, I did content review and question right from the start. I probably watched more videos for this than any other section. Khan is a huge help for this section, as it's mostly conceptual.
CARS: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Seriously. Do at least 3 passages a day, 7 days a week. Use different materials. I used EK, TPR, Next Step, and AAMC materials. I probably did a full section once a week for the last two months of my studying. Some weeks I did two full sections. Review every single problem. Especially for the AAMC material.
BS: Lots of scientific reasoning here. Be sure you understand experimental methods. I did lots of flash cards for weak areas, and used Khan for some Biochem stuff, same as every section- lots of practice problems.
Psych: I definitely put the least effort into Psych. I did Khan videos when I was too tired to do anything else that required a lot of thought. Focus on passages that emphasize experiment design. Know the basic psych terms. Most likely when you take this on the real thing you're going to feel like you're failing... horribly. I don't normally like to say this in academics, but common sense helps a lot here.

3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, TBR, etc):
PS: Heavy use of Khan and EK. Khan mostly for videos and some practice. EK I used the 1001 books on top of their content review books.
CARS: Literally anything I could get my hands on. Especially AAMC material.
BS: Lots of Khan questions, to a lesser extent Khan videos. Most EK again. I did some NS question books (they're infuriating, though), and TPR questions.
Psych: Um... I guess I did Khan videos, I also did all of EK stuff. I used the AAMC official outline to "study." Anything that tests research design is good.

4) Which practice tests did you use? (Optional: include scores):
EK1, EK2, EK3: I scored around 70% on each. These are the best exams other than AAMC
AAMC FL: Two weeks into studying I took this, 64% Chem, 73% Bio, 85% CARS, and 64% Psych.. something to that effect. I retook it three days before the real deal and scored >90% on each section except PS which was high 80's.
TPR1, TPR2, TPR3: Scored 502 on each of these. Did poorly in PS each time, average BS and CARS. Psych was always high.
AAMC Official Guide Questions: 70% Bio, 80% CARS, 86% PS...I forget my Psych score. This test was hard compared to the official FL.
I also used ALL AAMC question packs. They come as packets of 120 questions. I did 60 questions at a time, timed. Treat these like a FL. I scored around 80% of CARS, 93% for Bio, ~85% for chem, ~75% for Physics,

5) What was your undergraduate major?
Biology. I have a degree in nursing as well.

6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?

Practice from the start. Used a mix of practice materials if you can afford it. Use Khan, it's free, it's good, and it's affiliated with AAMC. Use all AAMC material available. No excuses here.

Time everything.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN. It's on every section other than CARS. Know it. Be comfortable interpreting graphs. Be aware: AAMC likes to trick you on data interpretation. Know how to find a confounding variable, ect...

CARS every day.

Take notes when you read.

Read through your chapters at least twice. especially areas you're uncomfortable with
.
Make a word document called "lessons learned." Make notes on what you got wrong, how you can get to the right answer, and facts associated with that subject, and tips. review this at least once a week. By a month into study, you'll have a huge word doc. It helped keep me focused on my weak areas.

Don't study stuff you know more than once.

On the flip side, study stuff you don't know. I can't tell you how many times I googled redox reactions, electrolysis, galvanic cells.. etc. I hated it, but I was weak in it. You need to master the things you aren't comfortable with.

Practice> Review. Towards the end I wasn't reading any books except for specific questions. I used Khan videos, and google. Almost all my time was spent doing practice problems, timed practice problems. When you get a question wrong, guessed, or weren't sure, you then lookup the answer and more importantly, understand how to get it correct next time.

Take some time to do what you like. This test, and moreso studying for it, are emotionally taxing. There will be a day where you feel stupid, and that's okay.

Know your amino acids. Cold.

Did I mention experimental design?

7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
Three months, taking 11 credits. Working 24 hours a week, and Volunteering. Please do not do this to yourself. It sucked. I'm surprised I got the score I did with how much other stuff I had to worry about. I studied 6 hours a day during the week (yes, including school days) and did Khan videos during the weekend after my shift ended. The last month was crunch time as I was out of school. Probably 10 hours a day, five days a week.

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509+ MCAT Study Habits