Preparing for the MCAT is no piece of cake! If you’re here, then you know it’s a rigorous and demanding review process that pushes prospective med students to their limits. Even more daunting is that every second of exam prep counts, and, with most MCAT tutors recommending 300-500 hours of study time before the exam, there’s not a minute to waste!
Whether you’re prepping for the first time and you hope to earn your goal score without a retake, or you want to harvest some extra points the next time around, organizing such a massive study plan and maintaining the focus required all by yourself can be challenging. Especially if you’re not sure how to structure your prep based on your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll end up wasting time and energy instead of building for test day success.
That’s why we recommend investing in private MCAT tutoring. With the guidance of a professional who has helped test-takers just like you achieve their goal scores, you can prepare with confidence knowing that you’re spending time on only what you need and nothing that you don’t.
Considering MCAT tutoring but unsure what to expect or if it is right for you? Read on! Written based on an interview with Marks Education MCAT tutor, Aparna Kishor, this blog is here to help you learn what to expect during a session with us.
Initial Assessment and Personalized MCAT Prep Strategy
No matter what stage of the process you’re in, the process will usually start with a discussion of your abilities and knowledge base. Establishing your starting point is important because this allows us to create a targeted and intentional prep plan.
If you’ve taken the MCAT before, the evaluation will include time spent together analyzing your previous study approach and scores. If this is your first time preparing, we will discuss your academic performance overall and critically evaluate your comfort level with the different subjects. Regardless, the initial plan is designed to be flexible so that we can tailor it to your personal progress as you move forward.
Phase 1: Building a Foundation and Focusing on Content Mastery
Early on in our sessions, we’ll focus on building a strong foundation in science and the other content areas on the test. We’ll use our tutoring sessions to fill in your knowledge gaps and use resources that will help you learn. As a result of our sessions being personalized, we continually monitor your progress. If it looks like you’re mastering a certain content area sooner than expected, we’ll change paces to make sure we’re using your time effectively.
Phase 2: Practice and Strategy Development
As you continue to improve, we’ll move on to more applied practice and strategy development in our sessions. During this stage, you’ll work through MCAT style questions with your tutor.
Your tutor will help you ensure that you are extracting the most out of each question so that you build your confidence and test-taking acumen. Our tutors are experts at identifying missed questions that resulted not just from a lack of knowledge, but also from misreading prompts, falling for intentional distractors, or not applying the discussed test-taking strategies to your advantage. Our team emphasizes that the MCAT is as much about test-taking skills as it is about content knowledge. There are so many questions on the exam–test designers can’t expect any candidate to be able to answer every single one based on previous content exposure alone. However, MCAT takers can learn how to be strategic in answering questions they don’t know the answers to, and that’s often where your tutor comes in.
Phase 3: Full-Length Practice Tests and Prep for Test Day
In the final month before test day, you will be ready to transition to taking one full-length official AAMC practice test per week–done under actual exam conditions. Because the MCAT is a seven-hour exam, these practice tests evaluate both your knowledge and mental endurance. During this phase, we’ll suggest ways to refine your approach based on practice test performance, address any weaknesses your MCAT tutor notices, and build confidence. This preparation will help you walk into the testing center feeling prepared, confident, and focused.
Making a representative effort on AAMC practice tests is your best opportunity to predict your test day score. At Marks Education, we always recommend that test takers adhere to test day conditions as much as possible when taking practice exams. That extra leniency you give yourself when grading or the couple of extra seconds you let slip at the end of a section won’t be there on exam day and can lead to a difference between your projected and actual score. Practice exam scores typically fall within three points of your actual score results.
Why Marks Education for MCAT Tutoring?
Hoping to learn more about MCAT tutoring and meet our tutoring team? Schedule a FREE consultation and walk away feeling confident that we can help you design and follow a plan tailored to you and your growth.
Not only do we hope to limit MCAT retakes, but we’ll also help you develop skills that will stay with you through med school and beyond. While the MCAT is an incredibly challenging exam, you can do this! Contact us to learn more!