Hi everyone! I'm incredibly grateful and excited to share that I recently got accepted to medical school after scoring a 528 on my MCAT earlier this year. Since this community has been such an amazing source of support, I'd love to pay it forward and help others on their MCAT journey, especially during the holiday season! For background, I actually took the exam while still completing my prerequisites - I hadn't yet taken psychology, sociology, biochemistry, or physics at the time. Whether you have questions about study strategies, time management, specific content areas, or just need some encouragement, I'm here to help! Please feel free to ask anything in the comments below. We're all in this together! \ud83c\udf89

didn't think too much of it but my s/o seems to be impressed & suggested I share it with others

I saw that one post on Reddit that Tik tok dramatically improved this persons CARS score. The strategy was to take less time reading the passage (2-3 minutes) & to only highlight important things.

I did that for my Blueprint CARS practice and WOW!!! I don’t think I’ve ever scored so well on Blueprint CARS.

Hello guys!! I am a fellow MCAT survivor, and I owe a lot of my success to this sub (as well as my family, friends, and God). So, I wanted to give back to y'all and some of my friends who are in the thick of MCAT studying right now. I am currently making a MCAT Question Tracker Spreadsheet so that people can log their mistakes. just wanted to get some feedback from you all to see what I can potentially improve on this tracker. It is a work in progress. Thanks so much! (I couldn't include the link because reddit kept removing my post)

n = 73

Mistake #1 – using passive learning strategies that take too much time during content review (e.g. taking extensive notes during content review).

Taking notes/writing out everything you need to know for an undergrad exam is a good study strategy. However, this strategy is not great for comphrensive exams like the MCAT or exams you take in medical school. This is because the MCAT truly just has too much content to cover. For those who take extensive notes over a Kaplan chapter (or something like that), just the act of taking detailed notes will probably 4x – 5x the amount of time you need to read through it.

"How am I supposed to remember the material if I don't take notes." In the first place, you will likely NOT have time to go back and look at your notes... once again, since there is just too much content to cover. So what do we do instead? Anki. Use a comprehensive deck that covers all the material that is in the chapter you just read (I always recommend aidan's deck; I've had multiple students move to 520+ range on AAMC material and attribute the deck to this). Skim the reading for 1–2 hours to get a big picture understanding of how the material fits with each other; and then do the associated anki cards to memorize the details. The purpose of reading, imo, for a monster exam like the MCAT is to see where the puzzle pieces fit together... and then to memorize the low yield details with anki.

Mistake #2 – not implementing practice questions soon enough.

People get really comfortable with content review since it "feels good" that you are learning something. But how do you actually assess your learning? The only way to really do this is practice questions. People have likely heard of resources like UWorld that have high quality practice questions. However, in the content review stage, I primarily recommend looking at specific categorical questions from free sources (e.g. Jack Westin, YouTube, your books, TPR science workbooks, etc) to just reinforce the high yield stuff. For example, say you just read the cardiovascular system, you could look up "MCAT cardiovascular system questions" and find several examples (even if just content based) to reinforce knowledge and ID weak spots. Save Uworld for the near the end of content review since their passages tend to cross chapters a lot (e.g. you'll click a passage under "molecular biology" but it will ask questions about the cardiovascular system).

Mistake #3 – taking on too many other commitments during MCAT dedicated period.

It sucks in some regards, but the MCAT is the most important aspect of your medical school application (despite what some people may try to argue). However, it's also a good thing since the MCAT is one of the only truly objective measurements of talent in this process (GPA is somewhat subjective per school, etc). If you are studying for the MCAT for a small number of months, you really should be dedicating most of your day to prep for this exam. I have seen students overload on extracurricular (not because they needed money) and then end up getting burned with a low score on the MCAT. Then, they have to take even more time to re-study and prep again. Plan for the next time you take the MCAT to be the last time to take the exam, and if that means saying "no" to some opportunities then so be it.

Mistake #4 – not saving enough time for UWorld/AAMC material

I feel everyone knows that the AAMC material (qpacks, section banks, CARS diagnostic tool, FLs, etc) are the most important resource to get through. However, you would be surprised how many people do not finish all these resources. Block out time in your schedule, at the very least, to take ALL 6 AAMC full lengths, and also the SECTION BANK V1 and V2. The question packs are less helpful in my opinion, but you should still do them. Section banks and FLs are the most important though.

UWorld is 3000 questions (2600 if you do not include CARS). For most people, it is highly recommended to get through UWorld before AAMC since it is the most helpful 3rd party resource for this exam (med students will testify that it is the gold standard for the USMLE, too). The explanations are surprisingly lengthy, and I feel most people (including myself, initially) underestimate how much time it actually takes to go through these. Make sure to save the month before your exam for AAMC material, and the month(s) before that for practice questions with UWorld.

Here's a sample schedule that some students may use here (in this case, somebody who is studying for 5 months in the school year), although of course it's not cookie cutter.

Months 1 & 2 – content review, do related anki cards from a comprehensive deck like aidan or jacksparrow

Month 3 & 4 – UWorld

Month 5 – AAMC.

Mistake #5 – being afraid to push exams back

You should fully expect your AAMC FL average to be your real exam score. People will tell you "the FLs are not like the real exam at all anymore!" and while it's test-dependent, I find that many people will agree that their score closely matched with their average.

With that being said, if you take the unscored FL, FL1, and FL2 and are averaging a 490, that probably means you should push your test back (this is also situationally dependent). I've seen people who are afraid to push it back/cancel (out of pride, fear of being judged by family member, etc). But your AAMC tests are saying "you will score a 490." Would you be happy with that? You have to be real with yourself and give yourself some tough love. It's MUCH better to push your exam back and get an awesome score than it is to take your exam anyway and THEN have to re-prepare to retake the exam anyways (which would take more time).

Honorable mention – taking the SCORED sample exam from the AAMC first.

The "scored sample," also known as FL5 on this reddit, is the most recent full length exam that the AAMC has put out. You should take this exam last, not first. You should take it last since FL5 is the most representative to the real exam. Therefore, your real exam score will be very similar to whatever you scored on FL5.

If you want a diagnostic exam from the AAMC, I often tell students to take the official guide questions from the AAMC (120 questions; 30 from each section) as a half-length practice test to see generally where you are at.

Thats my spiel on the MCAT, again.

Post anymore in the comments and I'm happy to clear them up. 2023 and on P/S sections are becoming filled with 50/50 questions, and I have borrowed a list of terms from previous reddit posts that people commonly get confused, and will write a brief explanation for all of them. Original 50/50 list by u/assistantregnlmgr, although I created the explanations circa 7/28/2024

1. collective vs group behavior – collective behavior is more about deviance, short term deviations from societal norms (examples of collective behavior that khan academy sites include fads, mass hysteria, and riots). There are three main differences between collective and group behavior. #1 – collective behavior is more short term while group behavior is more long term. #2 – collective behavior has more open membership than group behavior. #3 – group behavior tends to have more defined social norms while collective behavior is moreso up in the air. For instance, think of a riot; the riot is pretty short-term (e.g. a few days), has more undefined social norms (e.g. how do people in the riot dress/act? they probably haven't established that). Moreover, anyone who supports the cause can join the riot (e.g. think George from Gray's anatomy joining the Nurse strike). Group behavior is much more long term. E.g. a country club membership – people can enter the "club" but only if they pay a big fee (more exclusive), it's more long-term (life-time memberships) and there is more norms (e.g. a rulebook on what clothes you can wear, etc).
2. riot vs mob – Riots are groups of individuals that act deviantly/dangerously, break laws, etc. They tend to be more focused on specific social injustices (e.g. people who are upset about certain groups being paid less than others). Mobs are similar, but tend to be more focused on specific individuals or groups of individuals (e.g. a crowd of ultra pro-democracy people who are violent towards any member of congress)
3. [high yield] escape vs avoidance learning – both of these are forms of negative-reinforcement, since they are removing something negative, making us more likely to do something again. Escape learning is when we learn to terminate the stimulus while is is happening, avoidance learning is when we learn to terminate a stimulus before is is happening. For instance, escape learning would be learning to leave your dentist appointment while they are drilling your cavity (painful) while avoidance learning would be leaving the dentist as soon as they tell you that you have a cavity to avoid the pain.
4. perceived behavioral control vs self-efficacy vs self-esteem vs self-worth vs self-image vs self-concept – these are really tough to differentiate. Perceived behavioral control is the degree to which we believe that we can change our behavior (e.g. I would start studying for the MCAT 40 hours a week, but I have to work full time too! Low behavioral control). Self-efficacy is moreso our belief in our ability to achieve some sort of goal of ours (e.g. "I can get a 520 on the MCAT!"). Self-esteem is our respect and regard for ourself (e.g. I believe that I am a respectable, decent person who is enjoyable to be around), while self-worth is our belief that we are lovable/worthy in general. Self-image is what we think we are/how we perceive ourself. Self-concept is something that is related to self-image, and honestly VERY hard to distinguish since it's so subjective. But self-concept (according to KA) is how we perceive, interpret, and even evaluate ourselves. According to Carl-Rogers, it includes self image (how we perceive ourselves), while self-concept is something else according to other theories (e.g. social identity theory, self-determination theory, social behaviorism, dramaturgical approach). Too broad to be easily defined and doubtful that the AAMC will ask like "what's self-concept" in a discrete manner without referring to a specific theory.
5. desire vs temptation – desire is when we want something, while temptation is when our we get in the way of something of our long-term goals (e.g. wanting to go out and party = temptation, since it hinders our goal of doing well on the MCAT)
6. Cooley's vs Mead's theory of identity – Charles Cooley invented the concept of the looking-glass self, which states that we tend to change our self-concept in regards to how we think other people view us [regardless of whether this assessment is true or not] (e.g. I think that people around me like my outfit, so my self-concept identifies myself as "well-styled).
7. [high yield] primary group vs secondary group vs in-group vs reference group. Primary groups are groups that consist of people that we are close with for the sake of it, or people who we genuinely enjoy being around. This is typically defined as super close family or life-long friends. Secondary groups are the foil to primary groups – they are people who we are around for the sake of business, or just basically super short-lived social ties that aren't incredibly important to us (e.g. our doctor co-workers are our secondary group, if we are not super close to them). In-groups are groups that we psychologically identify with (e.g. I identify with Chicago Bulls fans since I watched MJ as a kid). DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE ARE CLOSE TO THEM THOUGH! For instance, "Bulls fans" may be an in-group, and I may psychologically identify with a random guy wearing a Bulls jersey, but that doesn't mean they are my primary group since I am not close to them. Out groups are similar - just that we don't psychologically identify with them (e.g. Lakers fans) Reference groups are groups that we compare ourselves to (we don't have to be a part of this group, but we can be a a part of it). We often try to imitate our reference groups (when you see a question about trying to imitate somebody else's behavior, the answer is probably "reference group" – since imitating somebody's behavior necessitates comparing ourselves to them). An instance would be comparing our study schedules with 528 scorers on REDDIT.
8. [high yield] prejudice vs bias vs stereotype vs discrimination – stereotypes are GENERALIZED cognitions about a certain social group, that doesn't really mean good/bad and DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE ACTUALLY BELIEVE THEM. For instances, I may be aware of the "blondes are dumb" stereotype but not actually believe that. It may unconsciously influence my other cognitions though. Prejudice is negative attitudes/FEELINGS towards a specific person that we have no experience with as a result of their real or perceived identification with a social group (e.g. I hate like blondes). Discrimination is when we take NEGATIVE ACTION against a specific individual on the basis of their real or perceived identification with a social group. MUST BE ACTION-based. For instance, you may think to yourself "this blonde I am looking at right now must be really dumb, I hate them" without taking action. The answer WILL not be discrimination in this case. Bias is more general towards cognitive decision-making, and basically refers to anything that influences our judgement or makes us less prone to revert a decision we've already made.
9. mimicry vs camouflage – mimicry is when an organism evolutionarily benefits from looking similar to another organism (e.g. a species of frog makes itself look like a poison dart frog so that predators will not bother it), while camouflage is more so when an organism evolutionarily benefits from looking similar to it's environment (self-explanatory)
10. game theory vs evolutionary game theory – game theory is mathematical analysis towards how two actors ("players") make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, without information on how the other "players" are acting. Evolutionary game theory specifically talks about how this "theory" applies to evolution in terms of social behavior and availability of resources. For instance, it talks about altruism a lot. For instance, monkeys will make a loud noise signal that a predator is nearby to help save the rest of their monkey friends, despite making themselves more susceptible to predator attack. This is beneficial over time due to indirect fitness – basically, the monkey that signals, even if he dies, will still be able to pass on the genes of his siblings or whatever over time, meaning that the genes for signaling will be passed on. KA has a great video on this topic.
11. communism vs socialism – self explanatory if you've taken history before. Communism is a economic system in which there is NO private property – basically, everyone has the same stake in the land/property of the country, and everyone works to contribute to this shared land of the country that everyone shares. Socialism is basically in between capitalism and socialism. Socialism offers more government benefits (e.g. free healthcare, education, etc) to all people who need it, but this results in higher taxation rates for people living in this society. People still make their own incomes, but a good portion of it goes to things that benefit all in society.
12. [high yield] gender role vs gender norm vs gender schema vs gender script – gender roles are specific sets of behavior that we expect from somebody of a certain gender in a certain context (for instance, women used to be expected to stay at home while men were expected to work and provide). Gender norms are similar, except that they more expectations about how different genders should behave more generally (not in a specific scenario) (e.g. belief that women should be more soft-spoken while men should be more assertive. BTW I do NOT believe this nonsense just saying common examples that may show up). Gender schemas are certain unconscious frameworks that we use to think about/interpret new information about gender (e.g. a person who has a strong masculine gender identity doesn't go to therapy since he believes that self-help is a feminine thing). Gender scripts are specific sets of behavior that we expect in a SUPER, SUPER SPECIFIC CONTEXT. For instance, on a first date, we may expect a man to get out of his car, open the door for the woman, drive her to the restaurant, pay for the bill, and drop her off home).
13. quasi-experiment vs observational study – quasi-experimental studies are studies that we cannot change the independent variable for – and therefore they lack random assignment. A quasi-independent variable is a independent variable that we cannot randomly assign. For instance, a quasi-experimental design would be "lets see how cognitive behavioral therapy implementation helps depression men vs women" – the quasi-independent variable is gender, since you cannot randomly assign "you are male, you are female" etc. The dependent variable is reduction in depression symptoms, and the control variable (implemented in all people) was CBT implementation. Observational studies are studies in which a variable is not manipulated. For instance, an observational study involves NO manipulation whatsoever of independent variables. For instance, "let's just see how women/men's depression changes over time from 2020–2025 to see how the pandemic influenced depression." The researcher is NOT actually changing anything (no independent variable) while at least in a quasi-experiment you are somewhat controlling the conditions (putting men in one group and women in another, and implementing the CBT).
14. unidirectional vs reciprocal relationship – a unidirectional relationship is a relationship where one variable influences the other variable exclusively. For instance, taking a diabetes drug lowers blood sugar. Lowering the blood sugar has NO IMPACT on the dose of the diabetes drug. It's unidirectional. On the other hand, a reciprocal relationship is when both things influence on another. For instance, technology use increases your technological saviness, and technological saviness increases your use of technology.
15. retinal disparity vs convergence – retinal disparity is a binocular cue that refers to how the eyes view slightly different images due to the slight difference in the positioning of our left vs right eye. Stereopsis refers to the process where we combine both eyes into one visual perception and can perceive depth from it. Convergence is a binocular cue that refers to how we can tell depth from something based on how far our eyes turn inward to see it. For instance, put your finger up to your nose and look at it – your eyes have to bend really far inward, and your brain registers that your finger is close due to this.
16. [high yield?] kinesthesia vs proprioception. Proprioception is our awareness of our body in space (e.g. even when it's dark, we know where our arms are located). Kinesthesia is our awareness of our body when we are moving (e.g. knowing where my arms are located when I swing my golf club).
17. absolute threshold of sensation vs just noticeable difference vs threshold of conscious perception. Absolute threshold of sensation refers to the minimum intensity stimuli needed for our sensory receptors to fire 50% of the time. The just noticable difference (JND) is the difference in stimuli that we can notice 50% of the time. Threshold of conscious perception is the minimum intensity of stimuli needed for us to notice consciously the stimulus 50% of the time. Woah, these are abstract terms. Let's put it in an example. I'm listening to music. Absolute threshold of sensation would be when my hair cells in my cochlea start depolarizing to let me have the possibility of hearing the sound. The threshold of conscious perception would be when I am able to consciously process that the music is playing (e.g. "wow, I hear that music playing") the JND would be noticing that my buddy turned up the music (e.g. John, did you turn up the music?!?). I've heard threshold of conscious perception basically being equivalent to absolute threshold of sensation, however, so take this with a grain of salt.
18. evolutionary theory of dreams vs information processing theory of dreams/memory consolidation theory of dreams – the evolutionary theory of dreams states that #1 – dreams are beneficial because they help us "train" for real life situations (e.g. I dream about fighting a saber-tooth tiger, and that helps me survive an attack in real life), or that #2 – they have no meaning (both under the evolutionary theory, conflicting ideologies though). The information processing theory of dreams/memory consolidation theory of dreams are the same thing – and basically states that dreaming helps us to consolidate events that have happened to us throughout the day.
19. semicircular canals vs otolith organs (function) – semicircular canals are located in the inner ear and have this fluid called endolymph in them, which allows us to maintain equilibrium in our balance and allows us to determine head rotation and direction. Otolithic organs are calcium carbonate crystals attached to hair cells that allow us to determine gravity and linear head acceleration.
20. substance-use vs substance-induced disorder – substance-induced disorders are disorders where basically using a substance influences our physiology, mood, and behavior in a way that doesn't impair work/family life/school. For instance, doing cocaine often makes you more irritable, makes your blood pressure higher, and makes you more cranky, but doesn't impact your school/family/work life – that's a substance-induced disorder. Substance-use disorders are when substances cause us to have impaired family/work/school life – e.g. missing your work deadlines and failing your family obligations cuz you do cocaine too much
21. [high yield] Schachter-Singer vs Lazarus theory of emotion – these both involve an appraisal step, which is why they are often confused. The Schacter-Singer (aka TWO-factor theory) states that an event causes a physiological response, and then we interpret the event and the physiological response, and that leads to our emotion. (e.g. a bear walks into your house, your heart rate rises, you say to yourself "there's legit a bear in my house rn" and then you feel fear). Lazarus theory states that we experience the event first, followed by physiological responses and emotion at the same time (similar to cannon-bard, but there is an appraisal step). For instance, a bear walks into your house, you say "oh shoot there's a bear in my house" and then you feel emotion and your heart starts beating fast at the same time.
22. fertility rate vs fecundity – total fertillity rate (TFR) is the average number of children born to women in their lifetime (e.g. the TFR in the USA is like 2.1 or something like that, meaning that women, on average, have 2.1 kids). Fecundity is the total reproductive potential of a women (e.g. like basically when a girl is 18 she COULD have like 20 kids theoretically).
23. mediating vs moderating variable – blueprint loves asking these lol. Mediating variables are variables that are directly responsible for the relationship between the independent and dependent variable. For instance, "time spent studying for the MCAT" may be related to "MCAT score", but really the mediating variable here is "knowledge about things tested on the MCAT." Spending more time, in general, doesn't mean you will score better, but the relationship can be entirely explained through this knowledge process. Moderating variables are variables that impact the strength of the relationship between two variables, but do not explain the cause-effect relationship. For instance, socioeconomic status may be a moderating variable for the "time spent studying for the MCAT" and "MCAT score" relationship since people from a high SES can buy more high-quality resources (e.g. uworld) that make better use of that time.
24. rational choice vs social exchange theory – I want you to think of social exchange theory as an application of rational choice theory to social situations. Rational choice theory is self-explanatory, humans will make rational choices that maximize their benefit and minimize their losses. Social exchange theory applies this to social interaction, and states that we behave in ways socially that maximize benefit and minimize loss. For instance, rational choice theory states that we will want to get more money and lose less money, while social exchange theory would talk about how we achieve this goal by interacting with others and negotiating a product deal of some kind (wanting to get the most money for the least amount of product).
25. ambivalent vs disorganized attachment – these are both forms of INSECURE attachment in the Ainsworth's strange situation attachment style test. Ambivalent attachment is when we are super anxious about our parents leaving us as a kid, cling to them, and feel super devastated when our parents leave. Disorganized attachment is when we have weird atachment behavior that isn't typical of kids and isn't predictable (e.g. hiding from the caregiver, running at full spring towards the caregiver, etc). Just weird behavior. I'll add avoidant behavior is when we lack emotion towards our caregiver (not caring if they leave or stay).
26. role model vs reference group – role models are 1 specific individual who we compare ourselves to and change our behavior to be like (for instance, we change the way we dress to behave like our favorite musical artist). Reference groups are when there are multiple individuals who we compare ourselves to and change our behavior to be like (for instance, we change our study plan when talking to a group of 520+ scorers).
27. type vs trait theorist – type theorists are theorists who propose that personality comes in specific "personality archetypes" that come with various predispositions to certain behaviors – for instance, the Myer's briggs personality inventory gives you one of 16 "personality types". Trait theorists describe personality in terms of behavioral traits – stable predispositions to certain behaviors. For instance, big five/OCEAN model of personality is an example of the trait theory
28. opiate vs opioid – opiates are natural (think Opiate = tree) while opiods are synthetic. Both are in the drug class that act as endorphin-like molecules and inhibit pain (opium).
29. [high yield] Deutsch and Deutsch late selection vs Broadbent Early selection vs Treisman's attenuation. – these are all attentional theories. Broadbent's early selection theory states that we have a sensory register --> selective filter --> perceptual processes --> consciousness. So we have all the information go through our sensory register, the selective filter takes out the unimportant stuff that we are not focusing on, and then perceptual processes essentially take the important information from the selective filter and send it to consciousness. Deutsch and Deutsch says something that is reverse. Information goes from sensory register --> perceptual process --> selective filter --> consciousness. According to the D&D theory, all information is processed, and THEN the selective filter says "this info is important" and sends it to consciousness. Treisman's theory is a middleman; it states that there is a sensory register --> attenuator --> perceptual processes --> consciousness. The attenuator "turns up" or "turns down" important and unimportant stimuli without completely blocking it out. Here's applied versions of these: basically, in a task I have to listen to only the right earbud while ignoring the left earbud. The broadbent's selection theory would state that I completely tune out the left earbud and "filter it out" – so that only the right earbud is processed. The deutsch and deutsch model states that I process both ears, but my selective filter then can decide that the left ear is unimporant messages and then tune it out. Treisman's theory states that I can turn down the input of the left ear, while turning up the input of the right ear. If something is still said that was in the left ear that is important, I can still process it, but it would be less likely.
30. temperament vs personality – temperament is our in physical, mental, and emotional traits that influence a person's behavior and tendencies. Personality is the same thing – but it's less focused on "being born with it" like temperament is. Basically, we acquire our personality through things we have to go through in our lives (e.g. think Freud and Erikson's theories about how we develop).
31. drive vs need – these are both part of the drive reduction theory. A need is a deprivation of some physical thing that we need to survive (food, drink, sleep). A drive is an internal state of tension that encourages us to go after and get that need (e.g. a need is water, a drive is feeling thirsty and getting up to open the fridge)
32. obsessions vs compulsions – both are in OCD. Obsessions are repetetive, intrusive thoughts that are unwanted, but still keep popping up in our head. E.g. an obsession could be like feeling that your oven is on even when you know you turned it off. A compulsion is an action that we feel like we must take to cope with the obsession. For ex, a compulsion would be driving home to check if the oven is on, and doing this every time we feel the obsession.
33. cultural diffusion vs cultural transmission – cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural values, norms, ideas, etc between two separate cultures (e.g. Americans picking up amine as a common thing to watch) while cultural transmission is the passing down of cultural values/norms across generations (e.g. teaching your kids about the American declaration of independence and democracy)
34. general fertility rate vs total fertility rate – general fertility rate refers to the number of children born per 1000 child-bearing age women (ages 15–44 are counted). TFR, as explained earlier, is the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime.
35. sex vs gender – sex is biologically determined, while gender is the sex that we identify as or that society represents us as.
36. desensitization vs habituation/sensitization vs dishabituation – habituation is a non-associative learning phenomenon in which repeated presentations of the stimulus result in lowered response (e.g. I notice the clock ticking in the room, but then stop noticing it after a while). dishabituation is when we return to a full aware state (noticing the clock ticking again). Sensitization is when we have an increase in response to repeated stimuli presentations (e.g. getting more and more angry about the itchy sweater we have on until it becomes unbearable). desensitization is when we return to a normally aroused state after previously being sensitized to something.
37. self-positivity bias vs optimism bias – self-positivity bias is when we rate ourselves as having more positive personality traits and being more positive in general than other people. Optimism bias is when we assume that bad things cannot happen to us (e.g. assuming that even if all of our friends when broke gambling, we will be the one to make it big!)
38. sect vs cult – sects are small branches/subdivisions of an established church/religious body, like lutherinism or protestantism. A cult is a small group of religious individuals, usually those who follow some sort of charismatic leader and usually do deviant stuff (e.g. heaven's gate).
39. religiosity vs religious affiliation – religiosity is the degree to which one is religious/the degree to which regigion is a central part of our lives, while religious affiliation is simply being affiliated with a certain religious group. Religioisty would be like "I go to church every day, pray at least 7 times a day, and thank God before every meal" while religious affiliation would be like "yeah, I was baptized."
40. power vs authority – power is the degree to which an individual/institution influences others. Authority is the degree to which that power is perceived as legitimate.
41. [high yield] linguistic universalism vs linguistic determinism (opposites) – linguistic universalism states that all languages are similar, and that cognition completely determines our language (e.g. if you cannot perceive the difference between green/blue, your language will not have a separate word for blue/green). Linguistic determinism states that language completely influences our cognition (e.g. you will not be able to tell the difference between two skateboard tricks a skater does if you do not know the names for them)

Drop and 50/50 or tossup psych terms below and I'll check periodically and write up an explanation for them. Okay, I need to stop procrastinating. Time to go review FL2.

After spending months and months studying, trying out different prep courses and tutors (I can make an MCAT journey post after my 1/17 exam), I just want everyone to know that spending $20 a month on the ChatGPT plus level has saved me. You can preload tons of notes as a knowledge base and customize your own GPT tailored for MCAT studying. I use it for study planning, review sheets, explaining questions to me in a super simple way, etc. The more info you load into it the smarter it gets. You can even paste reddit links into the GPT if you're reviewing AAMC material and want to use Reddit explanations as a reference, etc. Feel free to ask me questions below. It's been saving me and I don't want the rest of you to lose out!

Hello!

I watched all of the Science Simplified Physics videos and composed all of my work into a PDF that I thought I would share. These notes helped me tremendously when it came to studying. Just for reference, I had no basic knowledge for physics when it came to studying for the MCAT. I was getting 30-40% on all my UWorld practice banks (the ones I got right were luck). After watching the videos and taking notes, as well as creating an Anki deck for my notes, I finally got into the 60% for practice questions. I hope this helps some people!

Good luck everyone!!

PS. sorry for any typos and other things I might've added to my notes lol :)

I'm not sure how to paste the pdf of my notes into reddit, so just comment if you would want it!

Do NOT tell people you’re taking or took this test, every coworker and person in your family will nonstop ask you how you did.

Seriously… don’t do it especially if you work in a hospital.

First off: the title is clickbait. CARS isn’t easy, per se, but it’s significantly less complicated than a lot of testers believe it is.

The MCAT is ultimately a standardized test, which means that the questions they present and the correct answers they choose must be held to some standard of accuracy. I’ve seen many people claim that there isn’t any consistent logic to what makes a CARS answer correct. This flat out isn’t true. Just ask someone else who got a question you missed correct, and usually, they’ll have some form of explanation for how they arrived at that answer.

A lot of the common tips out there — find textual evidence to support your answer choices, avoid any answer choice with extremely strong language, first read the title of the article at the bottom to orient yourself — will go a long way to raising your CARS score.

I think one factor contributing to this perception of CARS as the paragon of difficulty is the prevalence of third-party CARS resources as practice. Those types of CARS questions are hard, and often operate on unsound logic. And the worst part is, if you familiarize yourself with third-party logic, then it’s very likely you’ll do very bad with the AAMC logic.

This might be blunt, but I think people are shooting themselves in the foot when they treat CARS as an unclimbable mountain. Like why set yourself up for disappointment from the beginning?

Please let me know if I am missing anything major.

I wanted a 1 page sheet (double sided) that had all the information needed for essential equations, and couldn't find much that satisfied this requirement which incorporated both C/P equations so I made my own!

If anyone finds this useful, I can provide a link to download. If there are any other CAD users I can also provide a .dwg file so you can edit it (don't ask why lol). Also happy to amend to make it more useful and re-upload if needed. Please overlook any spelling mistakes, I don't have time to learn how to spell at the moment.

Edit 1: I have asked the mods to let me post the link - it seems I can't post it atm. In the meantime, trying to reply to everyone as best I can!

Edit 2: This is getting more attention than I thought. FYI - it's meant to be a higher-level overview, and is mostly based off the u/MileDown essential equations and the Kaplan Quick sheets for what was included. There will be some equations not included, but I do want it to be useful, so if you think there is anything essential missing, please let me know :)

Edit 3: Hi! I am back - My account was suspended for "spamming" people with the link. I still haven't heard back from a mod yet. I have followed up, but while I wait I am adding in some requested equations. There is also a small error as pointed out for equation Q=AV, the v is the velocity of the fluid, NOT the volume. Unfortunately, I don't want to get suspended again, so I won't be sending out any more links, but please share if you can!

Jack Westin just released their 5th free full length practice exam. They’re treating us 2025 test takers so well, honestly no point in buying any third party full length exams.

• Histidine is neutral at physiological pH

• Adenine and cytosine has NH2 groups, Guanine, Thymine, and Uracil have carbonyl

• Guanine has 2 H bond donors, Cytosine has 2 H bond acceptors

• Bowman’s capsule is responsible for filtration

• Fisher esterification, oxygen comes from the alcohol

• Calcitonin is the opposite of PTH. Vitamin D works with PTH

• Threonine, Serine, Tyrosine are amino acids that are phosphorylated

• All nucleic acids are synthesized from 5-3 but are read 3-5

• Longer wavelength = lower energy

• ROYGBV: Red is the longest wavelength and has the lowest energy

• Ionizing radiation includes gamma rays and X-rays

• Order from longest to shortest wavelength in the EMS is: Radio waves, microwaves, IR, VL, UV, X-rays, Gamma rays

Yall post some

Did it in 3 months while working full time, part time and volunteering. Felt so alone almost as a non-trad student, facing all the 100s of things that Kaplan didn't include but everyone else seemed to already know. For all my fellow non-trads, i just wanna say as long as you know yourself well enough, never let anyone else tell you what you can or can't do. You can do well. (Also, use ubooks over kaplan) Good luck!

Yo Im cooked my mcat is on May 4th what do I do. Uworld im 53% complete averaging 56% correct and aamc i finished all section bank averaging 60% roughly all sections. I took all the fl except 5 which I plan on doing a day before. My highest was a 504 on fl 3

Posting this to give some hope to everyone studying right now! Yes, you can improve your score a lot from your diagnostic! I genuinely feel like a very average student I don't have a 4.0 and clearly from my diagnostic I was humbled by this test at first. My highest full length was 519 so definitely I did have a bit of luck getting a 523 but just put in the time, study smart, and you got this!!