490s to 520 MCAT: Matthew’s 90-Day Turnaround

MCAT Mastery Podcast: Show Notes

"If this is what you want to do, and this is the only thing stopping you, you will find a way to get it done."

Ever feel like you're doing everything right but your MCAT score just won’t budge?

That was Matthew. Balancing a full-time lab job while studying, he was:

• Scoring in the 490s just 3 months out,
• Locked into content but stuck in the 120s on Bio/Biochem,
• Sacrificing social life and still feeling overwhelmed,
• Unsure how to pivot when reading more wasn't working.
  
  

He even missed his January MCAT sign-up from a time zone mix-up and had to delay until April.

Fast forward: he scored a 520.

The best part? Well there are 3 "best parts"...

1. He's sharing his journey and insights with you on a new podcast episode! You've got to listen to it. 

2. He joined a 6-week live MCAT strategy course back in Jan. In those 6-weeks, his score skyrocketed.

If you need a score increase, there are still spots left in the next course that starts soon (Sign up here!)

3. Matthew just joined the team as a MedLife mentor Like the rest of us, he's excited to give back to the community!

A Few Key Takeaways

 Listen Now

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro + Matthew’s Initial Score Struggles
01:04 – Welcome and Episode Overview
03:03 – Guest Introduction: Matthew’s Background
04:18 – Transitioning from Bioengineering to Medicine
07:29 – What Inspired Matthew to Pursue Medicine
11:06 – How He Felt About the MCAT Before Studying
14:41 – Starting MCAT Prep and Recognizing Gaps
19:10 – Setting a Target Score and Creating a Plan
22:58 – Crafting an Effective Study Schedule
24:50 – Struggling with the Chem-Phys Section
27:09 – Overcoming Plateaus with a Strategy-Focused Tutor
28:51 – Key MCAT Strategy: Focus on What You Know
31:05 – Test Day Strategy and Handling Nerves
34:11 – Matthew’s Advice: Focus on Strategy, Not Just Content
38:12 – Studying for the CARS Section
44:17 – Mastering the Chem-Phys and Bio-BioChem Sections
47:21 – Tackling the Psych-Soc Section
50:38 – Test Day Morning: Managing Test Anxiety
55:15 – Advice for Handling Burnout During Prep
56:34 – Reflecting on What Could Have Been Done Differently
59:11 – Waiting for Scores and Managing Anxiety
01:00:44 – Reaction to the Final Score: A Dream Come True
01:02:08 – Future Plans: Medical School and Beyond
01:03:05 – Closing Remarks: Encouragement for Future Test-Takers

 About the Guest

Matthew is a bioengineering graduate turned medical school applicant. After facing initial setbacks with his MCAT prep, he used strategic studying, personalized tutoring, and expert advice to raise his score by 30 points, achieving a 520. Matthew is currently applying to medical schools with a focus on primary care and hopes to make a positive impact in rural healthcare.

Resource Mentioned

MedLife Mastery Resources

• MedLife Mastery Free MCAT Library: Offers free resources like cheat sheets, checklists and practice passages as well as free courses to support your MCAT prep.
• MedLife Mastery Daily Dose Emails: Daily emails featuring a practice question, memory hack, top scorer tip, success habits checklist, and motivational boost.
• MedLife Mastery MCAT Mentors: Personalized mentoring from top scorers who help analyze your prep, identify what's working, and guide strategy improvements.

AAMC Resources (Recommended)

• AAMC Materials: The official AAMC prep bundle and practice materials, highly recommended for realistic MCAT practice and review.
• AAMC Fee Assistance Program: A discount program for eligible students to access AAMC prep materials affordably.

Other Resources

• Khan Academy Videos: Free, detailed videos that simplify complex topics like physics, making them crucial for understanding difficult concepts for the MCAT.
• Kaplan & Princeton Review Textbooks: Comprehensive study materials with in-depth content review and practice questions. Kaplan is highly recommended for overall prep, while Princeton Review supplements with additional subject-specific material.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - Matthew

Pretty much stopped playing any game on my computer. I didn't stop going to social events entirely, but if it wasn't of a certain importance, I didn't go out and do it. I ran out of prescriptions from my contacts at one point, and I had to reorder those. 

That was a bit of a mis-sight. But I think balancing with working a full-time job and still wanting to do other things, the time came down to about a month in which I realized it was okay to take a day off once in a while. 

And if I did take a day off, it really did have to be a day off where I was not thinking about the test because otherwise it didn't do me any good. If this is what you want to do, and this is the only thing stopping you, you will find a way to get it done. It's okay to have those doubts after the test is done. 

Before a test, be confident in yourself. You studied for a long time, and if you really are seeing good results on your full-length tests, then you will do well on the actual test.

[00:00:58.080] - Meghan

Hey, Future Doctor! Quick reminder before we dive in. Did you know we've got a full library of free MCAT resources waiting for you? We're talking cheat sheets, checklists, practice passages, free courses, and more. All made by real top scorers. Head to medlifemastery.com/mcat/free and grab what you need.

[00:01:22.660] - Meghan

Hi, everyone. I'm Meghan McCarthy, and I am going to be the host for today's conversation. I'm an MCAT tutor and mentor for MedLife Mastery. I was also... My name is Kat. I'm a previous TopScore interviewee, and I am super excited to be chatting with Matthew Tucker today. 

Our goal in these conversations is to connect with top MCAT scorers, dive into their journeys, unpack strategies that help them reach their goals, and we try to hopefully inspire you in what can be really boring MCAT prep. Everyone hits roadblocks when studying, even people that crush the exam like Matthew. And so we're trying to break down how top scorers get awesome scores, and also how they adapt to setbacks.

 So today we're speaking with someone who did exactly that. And I'm excited to introduce Matthew Tucker. Matthew, thank you so much for joining tonight. About three months out from his test day, Matthew found himself scoring in the 490s on a third-party practice test.

[00:02:21.660] - Meghan

We asked him to give us a number, and he said he had about 80% of his content locked down, but he wasn't seeing tons of that translating into his MCAT score, and he was at about a 120 on the bio-biochem section. He realized that knowing content wasn't enough, which I learned that sooner in my journey. 

So he needed to learn how to use knowledge effectively under test conditions while he still had a couple of months of studying left. So he took a hard look at what wasn't working. And like most top scorers do, he made a strategic shift, which hopefully we're going to learn a lot about in this episode. 

So fast forward to test day, and Matthew got a wonderful 520 on his test, which is amazing. We're test score twins because I also got a 520. And he went from a 120 to a 132 on bio-bio-chem. So that's pretty rad. He's an excellent example of how far you can progress when you start studying strategically. 

In just 90 days, he increased his score over 20 points, which is awesome. So we're going to get started and get into it. Matthew, before we start on the MCAT side, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself so they can get to know you better?

[00:03:42.680] - Matthew

Thank you for having me. I live in Seattle, Washington, and I got my undergraduate and graduate degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2022 and 2023, respectively. 

And since then, I traveled for a little bit because I had a feeling I needed a little bit of time before potentially embarking on this huge studying crusade and four years of med school. And that steamrolled into working in another lab job, studying aging pathology for all of my undergrad and grad school. 

And then I went and did neuroscience, which I still do right now, about year two in neuroscience. Still at the University of Washington, just in another lab. I'm currently applying for medical schools right now, and there's a wonderful selection of those that are here and in Oregon and California. 

So we're hoping to stay on the coast. Right now, a lot of my extracurriculars have all wound down since I'm so, what, two, three, almost three years now that I've been out of college. So a lot of my time is spent. I still volunteer at the local food bank that I started volunteering at. Until recently, all of my spare time was doing the MCAT.

[00:04:46.960] - Matthew

So I'm one of the many people now that are just trying to figure out what to do with all that extra time.

[00:04:50.760] - Meghan

Nice to have extra time, isn't it? It's weird once you finish your test, at least for me, it was, like, "What is my life now outside of this?" So that's super cool. I worked at a memory center for several years on aging research stuff. 

So I'm an East coaster, so that's not similar, but maybe some aging stuff is. What's your why in terms of wanting to become a doctor? What's the inspiration behind that?

[00:05:15.520] - Matthew

Yeah. So I got involved with bioengineering with hopes of doing some early detection microfluidic devices with marginal interest. And that really involved me starting to actually get involved with some shadowing purposes in rural settings, because it's important to see how technology is implemented not just in cities. 

And that led me down a rabbit hole of where the support in our healthcare network actually needs to be. I determined for me personally, I valued more of my time outside of a lab or engineering software and with people. 

And I believe that there was a better career path for me to get involved in being a rural physician than it was going to be for me to be a bioengineer. I was weighing some options there back and forth. That sparked my interest in primary care.

[00:06:00.000] - Meghan

That's awesome. And also, we need more primary care doctors. So I'm sure many med schools are going to be really excited to see that in your application. So if you could describe the MCAT in one word, I know this is tough because there's probably a million things you could think of. What would it be and why?

[00:06:17.860] - Matthew

I would probably say surprising because for me, a lot of the studying of the MCAT, I really fell in love again with organic chemistry and how everything in the body can be broken down just into processes on the organ axes, into reactions, into leaving groups, into different electron movements. 

It all boils down to everything being broken down into really simple terms. And I found that was super interesting. And it's something that I took all my classes that are MCAT relevant forever ago at this point, like 2019, 2020. And so revisiting all the information for me reminded me of why I wanted a career in science to begin with. So I found that very rewarding. 

Also surprising because you really think you know the material really well and you get a question about it on the test. You can sit there for a second and be like, "Man, I have no idea what this is talking about." When you review the answers, it's like, "Oh, shoot. 

It was about the pituitary gland. I don't know how I missed that." It's really being truthful with yourself about what you even don't know. And that often is, unfortunately, surprising, and not in a good way sometimes.

[00:07:21.740] - Meghan

Yeah, the worst. When you think you've crushed a passage, and then you're like, "Whoa, I got 30% accuracy." But we've all been there.

[00:07:29.560] - Matthew

And it didn't happen. Those AAMC, Greshian Banks, those are brutal.

[00:07:33.980] - Meghan

They're really hard. Yeah, the Greshian Banks are really hard. But okay, love that. Like positive and some realistic aspects to the word. But I think that's a really unique one. 

So where were you in life as you were starting to prep for the MCAT and before this journey started? Obviously, you've been out of school for a few years, which is cool, and you talked about that. But walk us through where you were beforehand.

[00:08:01.260] - Matthew

Of course, it's pretty simple. I was scared of taking the MCAT. It's so daunting to see an exam be worth as much, or if not more, than four years of my life studying. And I knew, looking at this test, that it was going to take a lot of my time. And I'm someone who was very busy in college. 

And so I tried studying a couple of times around COVID and not COVID. And I figured out my research was demanding that I take an additional time and do a master's to finish my projects I was working on. And it's like, "Okay, I've got more and more time." And then the years kept rolling on until eventually, last September, I attended my really good friend who still lives in Seattle still. 

I attended his white coat ceremony at Udub. Just a super cool moment. I've known him for eight years now at this point, and he was also interested in medicine and was part of the reason, helped me decide medicine is what I wanted to do. He got into Udub, which was wonderful. And I went to his white coat ceremony, and I was like, "Dang, I keep putting this off."

[00:09:00.800] - Matthew

I realized this is the point in my life where I have to buckle down and start studying for this test.

[00:09:04.860] - Meghan

I think you wouldn't be human if you weren't a little scared of the MCAT, but I appreciate you saying that because I think it's just a given that we have to take it, that sometimes it's hard to then say you're scared. But I think everyone listening to this or someone on the other side who's taken it, I'm sure, has felt the exact same thing. 

I felt very scared the whole time, honestly. But yeah, okay, that's really cool. I'm glad that that ceremony reminded you of the reason you mentioned earlier. Okay, what was your goal score when you were starting? And how did you come up with it?

[00:09:42.040] - Matthew

Yeah, I wanted, actually, everyone else wants above a 510. All the medical schools that are Harvard or Yale or Columbia, et cetera, et cetera, all these East Coast schools for the most part that require 520 as their average entrance. I looked around for a while and saw that around 512, 511 was the average entry score for all of these cohorts of future doctors. 

And so I knew that I wanted my MCAT to speak more highly than my grades did. I'm not ashamed of my grades, but I know that if I wanted to be distinguished, I needed something that wasn't just average for entry. I need something a little bit above. So I really wanted to get a 512. 

So that was something I clung on to. And believe me, the day the MCAT scores came out, I was just hoping for a 505 at that point. You really just start making margins with whatever's possible just to scrape by with the sense of the impending score coming out.

[00:10:42.320] - Meghan

I know. I felt the same, so I got it. But obviously, you did great. So that's awesome. How did you plan your MCAT study schedule? I think that's a really daunting part of the process because there's so much to go over. How did you go about planning it?

[00:10:58.420] - Matthew

Yeah, I had the Kaplan books, and I had the Princeton review, I think, a large yellow book. It's like a thousand plus pages. I inherited both of those from various people in my life that either burnt out or my good friend went to medical school. 

And I knew that was a good base content-wise to start from. So I knew I was going to have to read all of it. So I brought this big old calendar I got from Target, and I started writing delegating chapters of this giant Kaplan collection of books, spreading them out, trying to even out based on how big the chapters looked in the table of contents and evening out based on how much I remembered from each book. 

So I knew I was going to need to spend more time doing physics. Even as an engineer, I hate physics, but less time doing biology, I thought, in the beginning. So I tried to invest to balance that from what I thought was going to work. One of the best tips I got when I started studying about study plans is that it's really important to revisit it a second time and just see how things are working.

[00:12:03.120] - Matthew

I did that. I realized if I was going to really get a good saturation of knowledge, Kaplan was not going to be enough. But Princeton wasn't going to work the same way because it was just the same thing; it was reading texts. 

So I started implementing Khan Academy videos. That was probably around October, November, where I was about halfway to three-quarters through some different books. I remember sitting like Veterans Day weekend, sitting for my brother and reading about noble gases and Ideal Gas Law in two different books at the same time and trying to be like, "This is going to be a pain." 

I really wanted to implement different ways besides reading. So I ended up making, I think, five feet worth of handmade flashcards. Any time a term came up, that was my deal. I read on a flashcard, and I constantly was going through those at any free time I had. And that allowed me a little more flexibility with my schedule. If I was missing certain terms, I'd plan to review for certain chunks of content. It was like my wellness nice counter for content.

[00:13:01.680] - Meghan

So for listeners, you've probably heard that, right? He said five feet of flashcards. So basically, Matthew built a small person in his content review. But that's awesome. I love handwritten flashcards as well. And I also totally agree with you that pivoting and being willing to pivot in your study journey is so important, and at least for me, because I had to retake it. 

I was scared to do that because you get stuck in a routine, and it's a little scary to switch something and not know, "Is it going to work? Is it not going to work?" But I think that a pattern amongst really successful MCAT people is that they're willing to mix things up and check in with themselves on a regular basis. 

So I agree with you that that works really well. What were your challenges while studying? And this could be content stuff. This could be scheduled stuff. This could be the mental headspace side. So that could be like anything you want to say. And then how did you overcome them or address them in your study journey?

[00:14:07.180] - Matthew

Yeah, I'm sure everyone else, the biggest challenge is just acknowledging the scope of what you have to know. Everyone always says you have to learn an ocean, like a mile wide, an inch deep content review. 

But then it gets more complicated with certain topics, and gets more and more involved. And I found balancing how much I actually had to know to be very difficult, particularly when I was determining when was the right time to make the switch from the 80% content, 20% testing to 80% questions, 20% content. 

And that was a dilemma I struggled with, having the December and a January period. There were definitely lots of things that I wanted to do with my time that I couldn't do. I pretty much stopped playing any game on my computer. I didn't stop going to social events entirely. But if it wasn't of a certain importance, I didn't go out and do it. 

I ran out of prescriptions from my contacts at one point, and I had to reorder those. That was a bit of a mis-sight on my part. But I think balancing how much I had to know with working a full-time job and still wanting to do other things. It really came down to about a month in me realizing it was okay to take a day off once in a while. 

And if I did take a day off, it really did have to be a day off where I was not thinking about the test because otherwise, it didn't do me any good. I'm sure you experience something similar where on the days off, you just feel stressed about what you're not doing and feel like you should be using that time. But it boils down to you not being able to run the engine that is your brain if you're out of gas.

[00:15:37.400] - Meghan

Yeah. I also worked full-time while studying. And so it was really hard to figure out a schedule balancing both of those things. But then also, if I wasn't studying, I'd feel guilty almost if I should be studying and whatever. 

But my cousin runs marathons, and she said, the MCAT is like, I could run two marathons in the time you do an MCAT. I was, first of all, whoa, because I can't run a single marathon. But also it's so true that it's a very arduous task for your brain. 

And so, yeah, I needed time off where I wasn't thinking about it. And for me, literally just getting out of the space I was studying in is what I had to do, because otherwise it was really easy to just associate my house with... It was hard for me to watch a show, for example, but going to the gym and getting out of the house was a much easier way for me to separate the MCAT and everything with it.

[00:16:37.760] - Matthew

I was super fortunate. I had a friend who was pretty diligent about getting me to go out to the gym every day. And I'm incredibly fortunate to have a job working in a lab where my hours can be flexible. I work right now and started working before the MCAT. I work at 6:00 in the morning.

I leave by 2:00. That way, if I get home at 2:30, 3:00, I still have a good potentially 3-4 hours of time that I could be studying with, which some days is enough, some days is not, what you're doing. But that allowed me to have a hard cutoff where I would stop thinking about the MCAT after dinner. It gave me enough time where I didn't feel like I was going to be interrupting anything or be interrupted by other obligations.

[00:17:17.300] - Meghan

Yeah. That's such a nice schedule. It's nice that your lab is accommodating or flexible enough in that way to do that. That's awesome. Any other challenges or things that you wanted to talk about?

[00:17:29.460] - Matthew

I think one last challenge I had, which is self-reflected, is I got the time zone difference mixed up on MCAT signup day. And so I logged on an hour too late. And I was originally supposed to take the test in January. It was my goal, January 27th, I think. 

And that simply was not going to happen in Washington. There's only three testing places to take it. And they were booked out until March. So I ended up signing up for April fourth, which was my test date, and essentially realizing that six months is much more time, great. 

However, if I don't do well, I'm not making it in time for this application cycle, which is a little bit of a relief, but also a little bit more pressure. I wish that I had been fortunate enough to either start studying earlier. 

I don't wish I had less time. I'm really happy that I had six months. I already recommend that for people that have full-time jobs or feel like they can't dedicate more than three hours a day to studying. Unless you're really getting everything out of it in three hours, it wasn't working for me to do that short of a time span.

[00:18:29.320] - Matthew

I'm really glad I had three months to go over question banks and practice exams. I wouldn't have had that if I'd done it based on my original time schedule.

[00:18:37.080] - Meghan

Yeah, that totally makes sense, although it sucks about the time difference. But it all works out in the end, obviously. But I get that's a lot of pressure. And yeah, people listening, mark your clocks for the right time. So little pivot then. 

You've talked about Kaplan and Princeton and everything, but people listening are going to want to know exactly what you used to recreate it. And the PSA is that we're all different learners, people, so we could do the exact same thing Matthew did and not do as well. 

But, or do better, who knows? What materials and resources exactly did you use throughout your prep? And then with a candid side to it, which ones were worth it and which ones do you think weren't so worth it?

[00:19:25.110] - Matthew

I got the 2010 issue of Kaplan, I don't know if those are even the most current. I had a friend who tried to do the MCAT five years ago and crashed out pretty quickly in terms of his plans. And so he had always had a set that I was fortunate enough that he gave/loaned me that in the course of my procrastination, I loaned out to several people and it got back. 

And so it's an eight-set of people who have used these books at this point. And that's definitely where the core of my content base came from. I definitely looked at the Princeton book for two subjects. I didn't really love the way that they phrased a lot of their end-of-topic summaries. We'd like that Kaplan had questions and had ways for me to really assess what I was knowing. 

I already mentioned flashcards. I have so many flashcards. It's ridiculous. And I color-coded them based on every day, every other day, and once a week. And that helped me cycle through cards really quickly on new content. I started with the amino acids and with the cranial nerves and went from there.

[00:20:23.920] - Matthew

That was the biggest use of my time that wasn't in a book. I did use Khan Academy, particularly for physics problems, because I found their videos to be very thorough. And that's something I actually got from attending the Monday office hours for MedLife, actually, is a lot of the tutors there that donate their time on the Mondays that office hours are at really do use a variety of different sources for their own problem sourcing. And a couple of sessions in a row, they used Khan Academy physics problems. 

I really found that to be the best indicator of testing friction coefficients and the type of map I was going to have to do in my head in particular. I did buy three or four things off Amazon. I bought the Kaplan study cards, flashcards. Never used them. Got the whole thousand set of them. Made my own instead, didn't touch them. 

I was planning to use them at the very end to keep things fresh in my brain. Never worked out that way. They are still shrink-wrapped in my room. That's just how it goes. I bought the third-party book of tests from MCAT Prep.

[00:21:29.320] - Matthew

They were a bit hit and miss. I think there was a little bit of grade deflation from them on my scores. Probably not a lot, considering I was missing 15 questions per section. I don't regret buying it because I think it was really good for me to sit down and actually have a frank conversation myself about what I was doing well or not. 

Well, it's actually worth your time if you're looking to get tests done. It was seven tests for 20 bucks. Pretty great. However, no content is ever going to touch AMC in terms of their—they make the test, you should always get their content if it's feasibly financially affordable for you. I also got a mnemonics book and a book of practice problems from Amazon, and the book would be very helpful, but I also am very much an audio learner, and so having mnemonics, my girlfriend would quiz me in a car on mnemonics. 

We were driving places, and that was helpful for me to remember things and did save me a couple of times during the test in bio in particular. Practice problems were great. It was a great way to remember things I didn't know.

[00:22:29.160] - Matthew

And then lastly, of course, I did do the MCAT Mastery 6-week program starting in late January. And then I think in late February, I bought the AMC Complete Bundle when it was on sale. So all their full-length tests, all their section banks. 

It was really... It was like almost half off or something. It was really on sale. And so I'm like, I need it. I need it now. So I got it. I know it's a long list of lots of stuff I used. And like Bing was saying, not everything is going to work for what you want to do. 

But I found the best—the fastest, I suppose, solution to determine what worked for me was to try a lot and just stick with what worked because I was working with enough money that I could make those choices. But if I didn't, I probably would have just stuck with the class. My original Kaplan books and the AMC material, probably been the best use of my money.

[00:23:18.360] - Meghan

Yeah, AMC stuff is like, Holy Grail for MCAT. Okay, awesome. I agree with writing your own flashcards. I always have to make my own just because my brain thinks a certain way and words and the way they're formatted. So I get it. How did you hear about MedLife Mastery and what were motivating factors for you in joining the live course?

[00:23:42.280] - Matthew

Yeah, I did a pretty extensive Google search about course options. And it was, of course, Kaplan has their own, I think Princeton has their own. Those cost $4,000 or something, if you want to have them, especially if you want a one last minute that is very tightly paced, it would require more hours per day in a virtual class or in-person class than I could commit as a full-time employee. 

I also didn't really have $4,000, which is probably hyperbolic, to spend on that course, even if it did have a 15-15 guarantee. And I was reading a blog from an MS3 student who was talking about different content options. They mentioned MedLife Mastery because it was a lot more of an affordable option. 

And I won't lie, the price was a big selling point for me. What was probably what sealed the deal is that they had a class that was going to start in less than a week. It was six weeks. And the tutor that was leading it had a great score and had good reviews. 

It seemed like everyone liked what she had to say. It seemed like the program was not sketchy. It didn't seem like anything. It seemed like the money I was spending was going to be worth it because the class had a lot to offer because it really stressed a strategy portion of taking the test, which is something I really felt like I was lacking.

[00:24:48.480] - Matthew

Yeah, great factors in making that choice. Talk to me about your experience with it, and you can be honest, and what was good and what was bad. But what do you think helped the most from the course in changing your study journey up a little bit?

[00:25:16.080] - Matthew

Yeah. My biggest PSA is if you are going to take a study course, you have to be willing to engage in it. I'm a little frustrated that a lot of people in my particular class didn't really seem like they were there to actually learn something. 

A lot of people did engage. And a lot of the basis of the class is presentations from students about topics we share our strengths, what we know content-wise. And presentations from our tutor who is running the class. And then working over passages to learn passage strategy and sharing your thoughts about what it was. And they're like half the people in my class just didn't seem to be willing to do that. 

It's like they were doing something else. And maybe that's just how people function in a classroom environment. Maybe people will focus better when they split their attention. I would argue no, at least for myself. I really hope that if you do a course like this, you really do give it what you think you're going to get out of it because you're going to take this and you're expecting it to do all the work for you. It's not what's going to happen.

[00:26:14.220] - Matthew

However, I really enjoyed our dissections of passages and how to get the most from it. I routinely take our practice test, and have about 10 to 30 minutes or more left on every section. And that meant to me that I was going too quickly over questions and I had more time to spend really pulling stuff out. 

And that was something that was really stressful in the course that I really enjoyed. Lots of other people taking the course that we would go to office hours or we'd meet on our own, that we met each other in office hours and we would have our own additional time talking about stuff. 

And they all had insights to share from their own journeys, which I found really helpful, particularly because not everyone's expert on everything. And I never took a psychology class, and psych was a low point for my scoring for a long time as well. Having that balance the class offers of essentially creating an environment that you can create your own study plan based on the tools they give you was very useful. 

And I also appreciated that we could do assignments that feedback was given. We would model how to break down a passage in our quote unquote homework, and that would get feedback, and it would be honest feedback.

[00:27:22.080] - Matthew

If you're happy at it, they tell you. So I found that to be pretty helpful as well.

[00:27:28.500] - Meghan

Hitting pause real quick. Our Daily Dose emails have been a game-changer for thousands of students. Every morning, you'll get a practice question, a memory hack, a top scorer tip, a success habits checklist, and a motivational boost, all in one short, focused email. Totally free at medlifemastery.com/mcatdailydose. 

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[00:28:39.340] - Meghan

I was a student in the COVID era where we had Zoom classes when the world shut down, and similarly, you're not going to learn anything just sitting on your screen and doing nothing. So that totally makes sense. 

But I'm glad to hear that it sounds like you had a community forum with your group and other tutors and mentors. And that's awesome. Obviously, it paid off because you got a perfect score on BioBioCom, which was my hardest section. Consistently. Although I didn't end up scoring the worst on it. I scored worse on ChemFiz, probably because I spent more time on BioBioCam because it was my worst.

[00:29:06.280] - Meghan

But talk to me about how you studied for BioBioCam, specifically, and what advice you would have for students who maybe are struggling with that section?

[00:29:50.520] - Matthew

Yeah, I delineate the difference between chem and bio based on the use of formulas, mostly. I know it's not a perfect way to distinguish what content is more likely to appear in which section. Studying for bio-bio really hit its stride about a month before my test, a month and a half. 

I started going to the library after work for about 4-8 hours, depending upon what time the library would close, and it kicked me out. And I started using AMC content, my notes. I started taking crib notes on things. I really started to compile my own little encyclopedia of everything I thought was important for bio-bio. My big sticking point was metabolism processes. 

When is it more likely for leukoneogenesis to happen? And what would happen if this one part of it is altered? Or what's the patient presenting with this more likely to have? 

Because I felt like that was going to be the most likely point where I could make up points that I wasn't going to see anywhere else because of how frequently it was appearing in all the practice tests that I was seeing. I think it was well worth my time sitting down to really master the concept because it really modeled what I did with the rest of my bio-bio content.

[00:29:58.200] - Matthew

Organ axes, hormones. There is stuff that I just couldn't get by with memorizing that I needed to see and write down scenarios of what that was. And that involved me rolling an MCAT, read it, looking for sheets on things, looking at notes that my good friend took for his MCAT prep, looking at online at Khan Academy, whatever had any source of knowledge, I went and tried to find the specific answers to the gaps of knowledge I didn't have.

[00:30:25.000] - Meghan

Yeah, that totally makes sense. Our listeners are probably happy to hear that Reddit helped you with something instead of just making... Reddit's so funny to me because sometimes it's comforting, and other times I'm like, oh, my gosh, I have to get off. 

So glad you could use it for something helpful. Walk me through the same thing for Psycho. So you mentioned you didn't take any psych classes. You got a 131, which is awesome. How did you tackle that section, specifically? Same thing, any advice you’d have for students with that one?

[00:30:56.540] - Matthew

Yeah, I feel the context probably I should be giving for these sections is I am very good at cars. I've always been very good at CARS style problems, even for just how my brain works. I'm very good at setting up. However, that doesn't translate well. I have to bring in my own information, like for all the passages. 

So I was able to really cheat in a way where I didn't have to spend pretty much any time practicing cars beyond the strategy I learned in the MedLife mastery course. I was pretty much routinely hitting 130, 131 on that, on the AMC practice tests. So it really freed up some time to really memorize so much site content. 

I had a trip that I took in late February, early March to Guatemala because I thought I was going to be done with the MCAT by then and already bought tickets. So I didn't want to study the whole time. I didn't want to bring too many books. I took a ton of photos of my books on my phone. I downloaded a podcast from this guy called MedLife Coach or Med Student Coach or something.

[00:32:01.320] - Matthew

It's a blue logo with a stethoscope. It was the only podcast I could find on Spotify that I could download on my phone. And it just started when I found him. By the time I landed in Guatemala, he had 18 episodes. I really focused on the psych ones. 

And it was constantly listening during all of our long travel times. So really sitting down listening to all these different types of experiments and then repeating the same thing I did for bio, where I really aggressively sought out answers that I didn't know, particularly for 

There were types of experiments that were on the test, different types of case control versus experimental variables. I really struggled with monitoring versus mediating variable types, stuff like that. It was more about the experimental design, but stuff I really struggled with in particular. 

I guess my ultimate advice with that section is it's probably one that used to be a lot more memory-based, and now it's closer to how the others are set up, at least from how I understand the progression through all the free tests. So I really recommend, if you don't have a background in psych, flashcard it.

[00:33:00.480] - Matthew

And then once you have the flash card knowledge base, then isolate what you don’t know and move from there. Everything can be done systematically if you have the time. I did find myself having a lot of extra time during all those sections. 

And so learning not to panic, being at this thing, that’s I’m guessing my answers was also a big step I had to take, particularly for that section. I can even tell you how many times I sat staring at this one question with two answers crossed out, tapping my fingers against my head, staring at the screen, before selecting something.

[00:33:29.340] - Meghan

I know. I always had a lot... No, I was opposite because I was a psych major in college, so I had a bunch of extra time. And that also freaks me out. But I agree with you in terms of content review being just so important. 

And what really helped me was just using my extra time to my advantage of reviewing things, but not second-guessing. I would review to make sure I wasn't missing, but as long as I wasn't missing, I'd move on. 

So I totally agree. You mentioned you're good at cars. Sounds like we're similar test takers because Cars was my favorite MCAT section. I, too, I think in my first practice, I scored a 130, and I was like, now, let me say this is not a common occurrence. This is a very chance thing because pretty much everyone hates cars. 

However, do you have any advice for cars specifically? And it's fine if you don't as much and you're just naturally good at it.

[00:34:33.120] - Matthew

I mean, it's not my favorite section. I got 124 on my first CARS practice test. To me, it seemed really similar, the type of problems they'd have on the ACT and SAT, where they really were just trying to get you to be guided to an answer. 

And so I found that myself and many other students were really good at crossing off one or maybe two answers just from a quick cursory glance of the text. Really increasing my yield to move that 124 starting base to a regular 130, 131 on that section came down to learning how to highlight well. 

This is the only section I really did aggressively highlight besides the formulas or values that I as you guys would see in the chemfiz section. I probably over highlight what most people would consider to be normal levels for the cars section. 

But I found that any time any word was used that seemed descriptive or trying to invoke an emotion, I would highlight it. And it was really helpful to narrow things down from there. I also found it sometimes, as I had to turn my brain off. Everyone who's doing the MCAT, probably, I'm going to generalize, has read a lot of books.

[00:35:43.410] - Matthew

If you find the MCAT means you are in the process of completing college or have completed some program, and that means you've taken English as a requirement for that, you took it in high school. So I know that you know that there's a lot of books you have to read. 

I read those same books. And because of that, you have lots of opinions on writing. And sometimes you really feel, looking at one of these, that there's two answers, and one could be probably true. 

This one could also be true under this set of circumstances. They're not looking for this set of circumstances. Looking for the probably true. You're going to psych yourself out from the right answer, trying to contort your way of thinking to fit that answer. 

Instead, you should really just be looking at what the text is saying, what the answers have, and move from there. And that's the best advice I can give for cars. Some people who may struggle for time should I'd probably really put all your eggs in 10 of the 11 passages, so to speak. But if you don't struggle for time, then really do take a second to breathe.

[00:36:40.100] - Matthew

Cars can induce a lot of panic. It's a Picasso passage from AMC that's very particular to what everyone else talks about, because you'll be lucky to get half, because when you talk about art, art can really throw people off. It's not as cut and dry as other passages can be. So I recommend that you really take a second, play to your strengths, and go from there.

[00:37:25.260] - Meghan

I think that that is very solid advice. And yes, that Picasso passage is infamous, I think, in the MCAT student community. Talk to me then through chemfiz, which I think was your lowest, But still a great score. But talk me through your experience with that section and any advice you'd have reflecting back on it.

[00:37:55.420] - Matthew

This section was definitely the tightest I ever had on time practicing for the MCAT. I would regularly have 8 to 12 minutes left. For me, it's enough time to go back and check all my answers, particularly if there's something I was unsure of or use a lot of math or I've used multiple formulas or any conversion between formulas. 

So I really wanted to make sure I had time to handle all that. Unfortunately, I'm very happy with 520. I'm not as pleased with a 127 on this section because it's the lowest I got in this section from any AMC material. I regularly was at least 129 on and what ended up happening is I ran out of time checking my answers on the test. 

And there's a couple of them that had a lot of equation work to do. And I just simply had to prioritize the ones where I knew if I spent an extra second, I would get it, versus ones that required more time. 

And I definitely put an answer down for everything, but I had, I think, six minutes to check 59 answers. Some of those required checking, but I think I had 25 flags they wanted to go back to and look at just to double check my math.

[00:38:28.600] - Matthew

And I simply did not have time to do that. I really do attribute that to the lower score I got on there. In terms of studying for cars, for chemfiz and for spending your time, it's such a broad category. Things are going to happen here. 

You could have a light equation, or you could have an equation that deals with kinetics for a reaction. It's such a broad spectrum that studying all the same way is not going to work unless you have found this exceptional, perfect way of studying for yourself. 

And then I say, no bully for you. Go nuts. But I found looking at different examples to be more fruitful. I think it's a very common thread that I talked about. 

Probably I'm almost talking to death already at this point, is that the wider you go in accessing the content you look at, for both questions, content itself, ways to shortcut your way through problems, the more equipped your toolkit is going to be when test day rolls around. Feeling very bad about that car, that chem section really did rattle me. That's the only break I took that was pretty close to the actual full break length.

[00:39:29.200] - Matthew

I really did walk test day feeling pretty bad, particularly because I really felt that section really had me by the throat there. So if you want to prevent that hysteria on test day, I really do recommend making sure that you are very comfortable with all the different ways equations can fit together. 

The voltage equations of, what is it? Voltage, force. It's like an electric field force, potential energy can all be interconnected to each other really easily. And it's the secret way to get five questions right in the test every time, guaranteed. 

It's so useful and stuff like that for other things, really helpful. But I think it really did probably short change myself studying for this section. If I'd spent more time, I probably would have had a little more toolkit options to use in the test that would have given me more time, so I would have to check more answers.

[00:40:16.360] - Meghan

Yeah, that totally makes sense. And I think for a lot of students, chemFiz is the section with the most variable amount of extra time because it is so dependent on what they've tested you on and what equations are comfortable with versus not. So I had the same variability. When practicing, it was always the tightest and then also the most variable on how much time I had. 

So I get it. But you still did well. It's just relative to you doing exceptionally well in the other ones. We can pivot to maybe something more fun to talk about, or maybe less fun, depending on a reliving test day for you. 

But walk us through your actual day of the MCAT. So the day has arrived. How did you feel the morning you woke up? And if you had anxiety, how did you deal with that?

[00:41:09.340] - Matthew

If you don't mind, we'll back up probably 24 hours. I, like many people, took the day before the MCAT off, didn't do anything, didn't study. Here, I recommend you do it. I cooked a very nice dinner for myself and my girlfriend and just relaxed. 

In the morning, I went to bed. I'm really surprised I didn't struggle to sleep that badly. I went to bed really early. I already go to bed at 9:30 because I get up at 4:00. 

I'm a little bit of a vampire in that manner. I went to bed fairly early and woke up at 5:00, 6:00. I was lucky enough to live a quarter mile from the testing location, so I knew I was going to need much time to get there. And of course, I still left with a half an hour extra time because we all have that test day anxiety in the morning. 

I cooked myself eggs, had a soup of peanut butter, and then I sat down and played Balder's Gate 3 on my computer for 2 hours. And then I went to the test. I think for me, that was the one way I knew I wasn't going to be looking at materials.

[00:42:04.140] - Matthew

I even left my big spiral notebook with all my notes in my car in the secret little tire iron department in my trunk. So I knew that I was not going to look at the test morning. It was not going to do me any good so I was trying to cram anything else in my brain because I felt like if I shoved anything else in, something else was going to fall out. 

And the way things were is the way things were going to be. So I found something to distract myself with, give myself plenty of time. I already packed myself for lunch. 

I am not a person who drinks coffee or takes caffeine. But for the month before the test, I really religiously drank caffeine ice, like sparkling ice, like drink derivatives. It's like 70 milligrams of caffeine in it. But for someone who doesn't take caffeine at all, it was the clearest cut of adrenaline I've ever had. 

So I read four of those a day for the test. And I had one in the morning of the test, and I had them with the lunch of the test because I really wanted to keep myself focused during the test itself.

[00:42:57.220] - Matthew

I took breaks. You should take breaks. I went out, ate a sandwich and an apple, drank some ice water, went to the clock, got with the test examiner that was there about what the tests were being tested on that day. A little bit of an internal cry and then went back in and kept going.

[00:43:11.920] - Meghan

The only way out is through on test day. So yeah, it adds up. And kudos, too, for not being a huge coffee drinker. I wish I could say the same. If someone studying for the MCAT feels burnt out, frustrated, overwhelmed, all of those negative emotions that can snowball all, what would you say to them?

[00:43:33.440] - Matthew

If this is what you want to do, and this is the only thing stopping you, you will find a way to get it done. The commencement speaker for the white coat survey I went to used the maximum of MCAT trials. 

They took seven MCAT tests. It took them five years to get into med school, and they are the top of their class of the MS4s that are graduating. She gave a speech over the white coat ceremony. 

She was the presiding person. It was the longest journey I've ever heard of to get to where things are, and she made it. And that, for me, was very inspiring. I really hoped it wouldn't take me seven tries. I was lucky enough that it's just going to take me one, ideally. There's lots of people online that will go to the MCAT Reddit. 

We all do it. We all see the 524. We all see the 520. Then we all see the 480s on test day. And we're like, oh, man, that's going to be me. I'm going to do really poorly. And I think it's okay to have those doubts after the test is done because you did it.

[00:44:30.820] - Matthew

Before a test, be confident in yourself. You studied for a long time, and if you really are seeing good results on your full-length tests, then you will do well on the actual test unless something crazy happens. 

And then when something crazy happens, you can take it again. It's not the end of the world. I know it's very rich for me to say I took it once and was very happy with my score, but I didn't get a 520 in my practice test. I got one 519 a month before my test. Before that, it was like I got 515, a 516, and two 511s. 

And I really felt like that 516 that I got was because I really, really knew the chem and biochem content that was on both the main sections for science. I really felt that I only did well because I got lucky on content. 

And I was afraid it wasn't going to happen. And when Testa came around, I did not know the content was not in my favor. And I still did well. So if you set yourself up to succeed, you can do well. But if you don't do well, it's not the end of the world.

[00:45:26.950] - Matthew

This is not the metric of who you are. It's a metric of what you can become.

[00:45:30.000] - Meghan

Very well said. And I can attest as a three-time MCAT test taker, it is not the end of the world if you have to retake it, not once, but twice or three times or however many times. So yeah, I totally agree with you. I'm going to be cognizant of time. So I have two more questions, and then I will be done. First is, okay, you've taken the test. Great. How are you feeling waiting? And then how did getting your score back feel?

[00:45:59.360] - Matthew

I was an absolute mess. I had a work conference the weekend before my scores came out in May, and so I was fairly distracted. I also, until that week, was a little confused on the day my scores actually came out. 

I thought it was that Sunday. In terms of, it was that Tuesday. So I took that Tuesday off. I didn't check anything till 2:00. It was an absolute mess most of the day. I was physically, like trembling all the time. Part of it was probably adrenaline from waiting. Part of it is the anxiety and always the what if. So if I don't do enough, I feel I'm not taking it, but everyone tells me that that's just how you feel. 

But if I am the one who gets the bottom barrel for 76 on this test, it is formed as a bell curve. I was afraid that I was not going to be good enough. I think we all struggle with a sense of being good enough when we're trying to do something like this that's so high intensity. And I, unfortunately, can't give you super good advice about feeling better about it until you see that score.

[00:46:56.060] - Matthew

I did not... I first thought the score said 512. I opened it up, just two and just assumed, but it just took me a second. I saw a 520, and I was frankly pretty speechless. I never imagined I would get this high. 

I think I'm a pretty smart person. I pursued a pretty difficult degree at a pretty good school, but I did not think that I was good enough to do this well. I hope that you at least give yourself more of the benefit of the doubt than I gave myself and trust yourself to do well on this test if you think that you can, because you will always do better than you think you're capable of.

[00:47:25.520] - Meghan

Yeah, I love that. For our listeners, you are very capable of exceeding your expectations. And I had the same experience when I opened my 520. I did not think it was going to be a 20 when I saw the two. Okay, awesome. The last question then. This can be any answer, but what are your plans long term, short term from now, you're applying to med school grade? When you see yourself in the short term and then 5, 10 years from now, where do you want to be?

[00:47:57.780] - Matthew

Well, based on what this is, what late May when we're recording this. So I'm going to send in my application within the next 2-3 weeks, probably. And then it's just, fingers crossed, I get some secondaries. I'm applying to a lot of West Coast schools. 

So I'm really hoping to get into University Washington because it is very heavily focused on primary care. I really love to stay close to where my friends and family are before potentially residency or something else takes me away. I would like to say in five years, I am graduating from medical school. 

My math works out pretty well in the five years there, so that's pretty ideal. In 10 years, it's hard to say. I like to say that I know what I want to do, that I want to be a rural primary care physician somewhere in Washington that needs me. 

But I went into college thinking I was going to make chips to put in people. Who knows what's going to happen? Ten years is a long time. I just hope that I'm happy and that I feel fulfilled by what I do. And I can't really ask for more than that.

[00:48:52.680] - Meghan

I think that's a wonderful explanation. Thank you, Matthew, for all of your time and your advice and also your honesty. It's hard to, one, relive the MCAT journey because it is mixed emotions, I think. And then I also just think that being vulnerable, especially with a stranger, is hard to do. 

And hopefully for our listeners, it makes them feel less alone in what can be a really isolating process. So thank you so much for your time. I wish you so much luck in applying. You're going to do great. And yeah, thank you. I am so appreciative of your time tonight.

[00:49:30.000] - Matthew

Of course, it was my pleasure to come on here. I don't know what contact information gets put out with this, but I'm always more than willing to listen to emails of people who need advice or want help or get cetera. Medicine, like everything else in life, is a team sport. So you got this. 

[00:49:55.380] - Meghan

Before we sign off, remember, the path to med school isn't always smooth. It's full of setbacks, doubts, and days that feel like you're not getting anywhere. But that's part of the process, and it's one every doctor you admire has gone through. Don't stop now. You got this. 

And if you're looking for someone to actually look at your prep and help you figure out what's missing, what's working, and what needs to change, you can work with one of us. We personally pair you with the most ideal top-scoring mentor for your MCAT situation. Learn more at medlifemastery.com/mcatmentors.

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