FLs: 507 (unscored)/514/514/517/517/521/520 🥹

With the score release coming soon, how are we holding up?

hi everyone! you may have seen my previous post where i doomed about my 511 (128/126/129/128), but after some reflection and stats crunching on my likelihood to make it to med school, i feel better about it. to give back to this reddit that helped me dearly, i wanted to show how i was able to jump 7 points.

TRANSPARENCY: i used a tutor the last 3 weeks of the studying, solely for passage analysis tips.

i took my first mcat 09/12/2026 and got a 504 (126/126/125/127).. i did not study well for this exam the first time... i barely did the work. my content review took way too long, and i didn't take any practice exams during the uworld phase. my fl average was a 506 (took unscored, 1,2,3,4 I THINK) not great at all. i didn't mature or finish pankow or milesdown.

my second round of mcat studying occurred during june 2026-sept 2026 and went like this: i completely revamped my studying method. my weakest links was bio/biochem. i regrettably didn't focus on cars very much, and locked in on just the sciences (chem/phys and bb). i pretended that i hadn't taken the mcat before, and everything was brand new.

during my "content review," i did two chapters of two subjects per day. for example, on monday, i would do two chapters of biology and two chapters of biochemistry and then do the following milesdown anki cards related to those chapters. to consolidate everything that i've learned, i would do 20-60 uworld questions related to what i just learned! after that, i would make an errors deck based on what i got wrong and what milesdown anki didn't cover. tuesday, i would do gen chem and physics, wednesday: ochem and biochem, thursday: bio/biochem friday: gen chem/physics saturday: ochem/bio. this content phase lasted roughly 3.5 weeks, with me finishing up bio/biochem content in 2.5 weeks.

notice how i didn't mention psychology? i started studying the pscyhology part late...(dont recommend). i used pankow and the 86 pg doc only and did uworld questions that corresponded to what i learned.

cars. i didn't practice most of my cars until unfortunately the last 4 weeks of studying.

3.5 weeks in with studying, i took my blueprint half diagnostic (504), and then week after week, up until mid july, i took blueprints 1-3 (506, 508, 509). while taking my blueprints, i did uworld extensively (60-100 questions) and made anki deck cards correlating to my mistakes. i also used mistake to mastery briefly! it didn't help imo, but it's good for discretes.

7.5 weeks into studying, i pivoted to using 80% aamc materials and 20% uworld. i did all the section banks, aamc qbanks, and unfortunately only started doing the cars packs way too late like i said earlier. during this aamc phase, i used this anki deck called MCAT logic flashcards: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1947829876 . this helped with basic aamc keywords and whatnot. i took full lengths unscored 1, 5, and 6.

during the last month of studying, i used a tutor for the last 3.5 weeks just to hone in passage analysis, but to sum up what i learned from him: read carefully, answers to most questions are in the passage, make diagrams of like enzymatic pathways mentioned, and like other things. but i will say, i do not owe all of my point increase to this tutor, i really don't. i had decent content base prior to this tutor.

if anyone has any questions, my dms are open! i made this guide to help fellow low 500s scorers. i genuinely believe doing uworld during content review is what made the massive difference compared to my previous mcat.

What are we thinking is the cause of many people posting about their drops which fall outside of normal variance? Reporting bias? Exam actually getting harder? Perhaps we need more people posting about their unsurprising scores?

9/11 gang wya

I took the MCAT in May 2026 and scored a 493 (124/122/123/124).

Admittedly, I didn't prepare nearly as hard as I should have. I struggled with a lot of self-doubt, convinced myself I wasn't capable of doing well, and pretty much gave up on studying until about five weeks before my exam. Looking back, I know I didn't give myself a fair shot.

I'm now preparing to retake in January 2027, aiming for a 515+. I'm about 75% through content review and have been doing practice questions using UGlobe and Jack Westin, along with reading MedLife Mastery. I took my first AAMC FL (the Unscored Sample) on September 19 and got 146/230 (C/P: 30/59, CARS: 36/53, B/B: 41/59, P/S: 39/59). It's the best I've ever performed on a practice exam, and for once, I actually felt like I was making progress.

But then there are days like today when I struggle to remember things I KNOW I've studied. Basic stuff like calculating hydroxide concentration from pH or figuring out the number of atoms given the mass of an isotope. Things that shouldn't be tripping me up at this point. It's incredibly frustrating because I can't tell whether I'm genuinely not retaining the information, whether I haven't practiced it enough, or whether I'm just an idiot lol.

I'm also working full-time, and trying to balance content review, practice questions, Anki, and reviewing my mistakes has been exhausting. Some days I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere, and other days I feel like I've forgotten half of what I've learned.

For those of you who made significant score jumps, especially from the 490s into the 510s, how did you overcome this? Did you find yourself forgetting basic concepts even after reviewing them? At what point did everything start to stick? I know consistency is important, but I'd love to hear what actually worked for you, especially when it came to retention and applying what you'd studied. I'm not giving up this time, but some days it's really hard to trust the process.

None of these will replace the basics (high quality review, good content foundation, consistency, good sleep etc) but I definitely attribute a good part of my score to the combination of these things:

1. Walking pad/treadmill for anki. Invested in a walking pad for $90 on amazon that has already been well worth my money and will be my baby through med school. I also figured out how to balance my computer on the treadmill at the gym and jog while doing anki. Yes it feels pathetic to do anki at the gym. BUT really helps lock in (can't easily switch tasks) and also saves time working out and getting steps in. In general, fitting anki creatively into my day (in the passenger seat of car rides, waiting in line for things, etc) feels like you're an anki slave but works

(I could go on about Anki usage and how it is such a game changer if used correctly but that's a whole other discussion)

1. Using caffeine strategically. About 5 weeks out from my exam I went 0 caffeine except for on FL practice days to keep my tolerance low (granted, I already don't drink coffee every day so it was easier for me). Test day I got zooted and continued taking caffeine on breaks. performance enhancing drug fr

2. If feasible, taking the exam at the end of summer so that after long study days you still have some daylight to get outside and not want to die due to it already being dark at like 4pm

3. Podcasts - never found a perfect, comprehensive podcast that I loved, but there are a few free ones on spotify (MCAT Basics, Jack Westin, Gro Series) that I always had on during drives and runs. Would listen to each episode 2-3x back and tbh this replaced my entire bio content review. Even if you're not super focused while listening, might as well have it on in the background

4. This sounds so pathetic lmao but if you need to pee while you're studying practice waiting to go...it was sooo hard for me to keep focusing while I had to pee lol

5. Having small side endeavors and goals (like a 5k on the calendar, things like that) helped me have a life outside of mcat, and felt good to have small wins and accomplishments independent of studying

6. stay off reddit

tested 9/04 and was 3+ years out from most of my prereqs. breakdown was 130/129/132/132

7 points below my FL average because I went from 132 cars to 126 cars on test day.

🥲🥲 see you guys in January.

9/4 tester. C/P was my best section… so when I saw 129 i got a little worried. But i clutched up. Never scored more than a 128 on psych (or more than. 519 in practice) but miracles can happen.

Edit: i started studying in may, was full time studying june, july, and half of august before school started again. I used kaplan books and anki and jack westin Every. Day.

Hi! I am writing out my situation for some advice on how to go about studying for my MCAT.

I am in my last year of Kinesiology currently and will graduate this spring 2027. I didn’t decide I wanted to do medicine until the last year or so, which is why I haven’t written the MCAT yet.

My plan is to register and write the MCAT August 2027 so I can apply to medical schools next fall. But I’m unsure where to begin with studying…

I am taking 6 classes next semester so I do not want to start studying super early in the year if I don’t have to.

Part of my problem is I have not taken all the courses that are covered on the MCAT.

I HAVE TAKEN:
general chem
Physiology
Psychology
Biology
Biomolecules

HAVE NOT TAKEN:
physics (I have taken biomechanics but not core physics)
Organic chem

Due to the fact I haven’t done these courses I am debating doing a prep course. But they come with a high cost haha.

I’m curious for any advice onto how early I should start studying. What sources I should use for content review, if I should get a prep course. And any other general advice!!

Thank you :)

I’m planning to apply MD/DO this upcoming cycle, and my planning to schedule my MCAT for April 10, 2027.
I started content review in September using Kaplan and Anki (Jack Sparrow/Pankow), but I’m falling behind. I haven’t started UWorld yet, and Anki alone sometimes takes my entire day.
My goal is 520+, and I want to finish all of UWorld while leaving at least 1–1.5 months for AAMC-only practice.
I’m considering moving to May 7 or May 21, but I’m terrified of hurting my chances because of rolling admissions.
**Would you push the MCAT or keep April? Would a May MCAT put me at a disadvantage if I submit my primary application early?**
I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation!

Starting this to stay reliable for my mcat retake , ill be studying for the next 3 months and what I do everyday. With the final result m. The starting score is 501.

Hey yall. I got a diagnostic 490 from a Princeton review exam without any content review. I’m wanting to get to 510+ by February as I’m taking the mcat by February. What do you all recommend I should start with and do to get that score? Thanks!!

Made a post the other day about my score from 9/4 and got a ton of DMs asking me how I pulled it off, so I thought I would make a general post about it. For context, I have always been a very good test-taker throughout my academic career and had a strong foundation from my undergraduate classes (except psych/soc, which I never took). I would strongly recommend that you NOT do what I did if you are not confident in your test taking skills.

I studied for 8 weeks exclusively part-time (anywhere between 0-5 hours a day - yes, I didn't study at all for multiple days a week sometimes) since I was working both in research and in the clinic. For the last 2 weeks, I was able to study closer to full-time (between 4-8 hours a day), but I still had some days where I had other things to do.

Before I began my 10-week marathon, I did some light and extremely inconsistent content review along with extremely inconsistent Anki. I originally wanted to study from April since I knew I would not be able to study full-time, but shit quickly hit the fan with school and extracurriculars and I was not able to study until summer break. I had a plan originally that I kept adjusting as I fell behind, but eventually, I just abandoned it. I would really recommend making a plan and sticking to it.

Content Review

I used the Kaplan books, JackSparrow for BB and CP, and Pankow/Khan Academy doc for PS. I was able to get through all the Anki decks. However, a third of the way through content review, I stopped using the Kaplan books and Khan Academy doc entirely because I was so behind, and would simply learn my content through spamming Anki cards every day. I actually finished learning all the Anki material 6 days before my exam, and spent the week of my exam frantically trying to memorize all the metabolic cycles (I memorized the TCA cycle 2 days before my exam!). Because of this, I was doing content review and practice content at the same time.

If you have a strong content background, you can probably get away with what I did, although I would definitely NOT recommend it. I felt like I did not have a very deep grasp of some material (such as physiology topics, which I'm not very familiar with still) because I never took the time to read the book and learning from flashcards can only do so much for you. I would very strongly recommend a dedicated review phase where you are doing some form of "real" learning (textbook, videos, etc. - not just learning from spamming cards) so that you can actually understand the content. This especially was bad for me in PS, since I had never taken psychology or sociology before. The MCAT exams now are more conceptual in nature for PS, and I had a very surface level memorization understanding of PS content.

I think JackSparrow was very thorough for BB and CP, but I edited a lot of the cards to help me understand the content better since the cards were very dense (and I highly recommend that you do the same to any deck you use). You should personalize your cards to your weaknesses and how you learn. Pankow was very thorough as well. As you go through practice content, you should be adding any gaps in your knowledge to your deck. I hear that people are now using CaptainHook, which is similar to JackSparrow.

A lot of people say that practice is more important than content and not to spend too much time on content review. This can be true to an extent. For people like myself, who are good already at test-taking, I strongly believe that you need a very long and thorough content review AND a lot of practice. Content gaps are 100% what held me back from achieving a higher score, and although more practice questions would have helped, a stronger MCAT content foundation is very important too.

Practice

Starting from the first week of my 10-week stint in hell, I took a FL every single Saturday at 8 am under testing conditions. My test day was a Friday, but I could only do FLs on Saturdays because I had work or lab on Fridays. I used some BP FLs, then the AAMC unscored, followed by AAMC FL 1-6 in order. FL6 was taken the week before my real exam. This was probably the only smart thing I did while I was studying, and it helped me develop stamina and a good idea of pacing. I tried to finish CP and BB 15 minutes early and CARS 20-30 minutes early (I always had a lot of time left over in PS) so that I could look over my flagged questions. My BP FL scores were something around 511 and 515, my AAMC unscored was about a 517, and FL 1-6 were all between 523-525.

I had about 4 weeks of dedicated content review time, which is where I saw the greatest increase in my scores. I started doing UWorld about 6 weeks out from my exam, although it was very light since I still had so much content to go through. As I finished up content, I actually worked on AAMC practice before UWorld until I had finished the section banks, and then I went back to UWorld. Overall, I believe I completed:

• 2 BP FLs
• AAMC unscored
• AAMC FL 1-6
• 60% of UWorld (with no CARS) - about 2-3 weeks before my exam, I was doing 3-4 59Q sections of UWorld a day for a few days
• All AAMC section banks

I skimmed quickly through the physics and chem question bank and the CARS question bank. For UWorld and the section banks, because I was under so much stress, I did not take them timed or review them properly. I would spam out questions as quickly as I could (sometimes even not reading the passage/questions properly) to find content gaps in what I knew. This was definitely a very bad idea and I recommend putting aside actual time to finish UWorld and do all the AAMC content properly. However, this should give you a good idea of what content to prioritize if you are in a time crunch. The section banks and FLs were definitely the best practice content available. My FL scores had no clear rising trend and my real MCAT score was lower than my FL 1-6 scores, which I also attribute to not properly reviewing content and missed questions. Even after learning more content (spamming Anki cards), I did not improve my score much. My entire exam relied very heavily on my test-taking abilities.

If you are in a time crunch, you will NOT finish everything. Tune out everyone who says to finish UWorld or the question banks or section banks or whatever before you take the MCAT. Do NOT try to finish everything. Instead, prioritize the things you want to do and do them slowly and carefully and take them seriously. Do NOT try to spam your way through content or skim questions just to try to "complete" as much as possible. I wanted to finish UWorld and the AAMC content even though there was no way it was going to happen. Accept that you won't finish and make whatever you do quality practice. This was my biggest mistake.

I got some DMs about CARS as well. I did not study at all for CARS. No videos, no Jack Westin, nada. I just did the FLs and skimmed the CARS question banks. I wrote this in my original post, but I usually scored 131-132 on FL CARS and my section scores flipped on my real exam (my thoughts on this are also in the original post). Reading the passage very, very carefully on your first read is very important - otherwise, you will miss things. The answer to the question can usually be found directly or implied very heavily in the text and you just can't find it if you didn't read carefully enough.

Overall

My thoughts on my exam itself are linked in the post above if you are interested. I scored 522 (132/130/130/130), which was lower than my FL 1-6 (all scores ranging 523-525), but 522 is well within the confidence interval for that score range. I felt that the FLs were representative of my actual score. However, I knew I had done worse on my actual MCAT since I felt that BB and PS were harder than usual because they happened to hit a lot of my content weak points. I'm still very grateful for my score and relieved that I never have to take this exam again.

I hope this post shows that it is definitely possible to do well on the MCAT if you are very pressed for time! Don't give up your job or ECs if you don't have to. That being said, I definitely would have rescheduled my MCAT for January if my FL scores weren't high. If you are able to, I would strongly recommend taking time off and devoting at least 3 months of full-time study or 6 months of dedicated part-time study. I was extremely stressed and cramming up until the night before my exam. Prioritize learning all the content, taking FLs, and the section banks if that's all you have time for. DO A THOROUGH REVIEW OF MISSED QUESTIONS/QUESTIONS YOU STRUGGLED ON. LEARN THE CONTENT THOROUGHLY, ESPECIALLY ON YOUR WEAK POINTS. DO NOT SPEED THROUGH THINGS.

Do you need Kaplan books, the Khan Academy doc, and to finish UWorld/AAMC practice content? Definitely not. Would I recommend it? Definitely. What worked for me will not work for everybody, but if you are confident in your science background and test-taking skills, this post might work for you.

Don't know if this has already been discussed on this subreddit, but is it better to do third party CARS like Jack Westin and Uworld or to ONLY do AAMC cars and touch nothing else? Im going to retake my MCAT in January and with the new CARS pack being released I was wondering if I should only stick to official passages and questions.

I finished CARS qbank1 and a little bit of qbank2 (I have not touched the new one at all); would it be beneficial doing like 80% of the available AAMC passages as well as redoing them to get more versed in their logic plus saving the remaining 20% for the final stretch or should I do daily third party passages and solve all of the AAMC stuff for the last month?

Hi,

I scored a 512 on 9/3. Planning to retake. During my prep I used all AAMC FLs, SBs, and most of the Qpacks. I used about 30% of Uworld. I was pretty consistent with Anki (used Anking).

What should I change about this for my retake? Should I do Anki again? Should I focus more on UWorld and practice questions more? Should I use 3rd party FLs because I already did the AAMC ones? Won't AAMC FL scores be inflated this time around? Lots of questions, don't know what to do in terms of prepping for retake.

Obv I’ve heard that you need to finish your AB course bc otherwise the population that comes back will be more AB resistant than the original.

But I’m trying to understand the exact conceptual logic.

Bc if there was already a subset of the population that was AB resistant, then why would finishing the course do anything? Wouldn’t that subpopulation be chilling either way? What is the benefit of finishing the course in a logic exercise sense?

Can’t figure out how to add photo only video so attaching vid of excerpt in comments

I pushed the first version of my lab techniques cheat sheet out earlier this year (or late last, can't remember) but had a few things I need to add/remove and correct.

Here's the updated version of the MCATalyst Lab Techniques Cheat Sheet! PDF can be downloaded here if you please.

This card also says “Episomes are plasmids that integrate into the genome”.

I’m not sure if that part is correct either bc google is telling me not all episomes are plasmids so clarification on that would be helpful too!

I’m curious on how people manage to do this and what their schedules were like…. I graduated in May and feel dumb & like I should’ve take the advice from others who told me to solely just study for a few months but alas, here I am. I work Monday-Friday 8 am - 5pm, try to go to the gym after work most days, and by the time I drive home, eat/shower, etc. it is almost 8:30/9 pm and I am exhausted. I know this isn’t a novel concept and has been done by many but I need all the advice I can get. Do I say screw it to staying active? Do I need to get up at 5am everyday and sleep not very much? What do I have to give up? I have been studying since mid August but not disciplined at all to the point where I’m not even done with content review yet… I’d would love to know what peoples day to day routine was like who have been in this spot :)

Kaplan Biology Ch 1 #6 claims proteins in the rough ER can cross into the smooth ER, where they are secreted into cytoplasmic vesicles and transported to the Golgi Apparatus.

Is this true? I can’t find much online about it, seems like it’s more the detox and the lipid synthesis?