Martin Koch scored a 519 on the MCAT, with a 132 in Bio/Biochem, six years after the last time he sat in a physics or general chemistry class.
He was two years out of college and already one career into his adult life. He had started a cancer biology PhD at Columbia and stepped away from it before committing to a lab. When he began studying he had to relearn general chemistry, physics and organic chemistry from close to nothing.
For most of that year he was also working full time.
This 519 MCAT scorer interview is the whole arc, in his words. Where he started, what he tried that did not work, the one change he credits the score to, and how he studied each section. If you are coming back to science after a few years away, his prep looks more like yours than a full-time student's does. Our guide for non-traditional students covers the strategy in the abstract. Martin is one person's version of it.
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About Martin Koch
Martin was born in Mendoza, Argentina and moved to the United States young. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2023 with a degree in microbiology, spent two years in research through the Marks Scholars Program, and went straight into a cancer biology PhD at Columbia.
He left before joining a lab, to be sure that biomedical research was the right career. He worked at UCSF's Helen Diller Cancer Center, then at a mid-size Bay Area biotech, and in late 2024 he moved into a scribe and clinical translator role at a community clinic.
Eighteen months of that is what turned him toward medicine, and primary care in particular. He started studying for the MCAT in June 2025 and sat the exam in March 2026.
A 132 in Bio/Biochem is the 100th percentile. He built it out of Anki decks he wrote himself and a review habit he describes in detail at 18:04.
What he tried first, and why it stopped working
His first pass was content review against a checklist. He worked through a stack of second-hand Kaplan books, marked off each topic as he covered it, and quizzed himself with free Khan Academy questions to decide what had stuck.
That got him moving. It stopped short of getting him points.
“I finished this section. Let's move on, just to check it off my little list that I had made for all the content gaps I needed, and I wasn't truly understanding the content.”
By the autumn he was studying after work until the library closed and putting eight hours into each weekend day. His practice scores sat in the low 510s and stayed there. Working harder had stopped producing anything.
The decision he credits the score to
In early November he went to his supervisor and explained how much weight the MCAT carried on an MD application, and how committed he was to medicine. She agreed to move him from five days a week to three.
That bought him four full study days, and a clear head on the three days he did work.
“I was able to work instead of five days a week now down to three days a week. So I had two days off. So now I have four full days of content review.” He says outright that the score does not happen without it.
Neither half of that is about hours. He asked, having first worked out what he needed and why, and he treated the shape of his week as something he was allowed to change. Our guide to studying around work and school makes the same argument in the abstract.
What tutoring changed for this 519 MCAT scorer
Even with four study days he was stuck around 513, guessing on more questions than he was comfortable with and unsure how he had done after each practice exam. He pushed his January test date back because he knew he was not ready, and looked for a tutor.
He met his mentor once or twice a week for two months. The sessions were mostly CARS, and what he describes getting from them is not content.
“The main thing that helped me was being able to talk through my thought process with someone who could help guide it. She also really helped me get my timing down through increasing in confidence.”
Copy the habit that came out of it. He kept a notebook of his own reasoning, question by question, writing down how he approached each one and where in that reasoning he went wrong. Not the right answer, and not a flashcard. The thinking that produced the wrong answer.
What he wrote afterward
He left this review after his score came back. It is printed here word for word.
★★★★★
After maxing out at 513 with months of content review and practice questions done, I reached out to MedLife for an MCAT tutor and selected Anna as my personal 1:1 tutor. Anna supported me through consistent constructive feedback delivered in a personable way that never made me feel down on myself, even when I wasn’t improving at first. Over 8 sessions, she helped me pinpoint my weaknesses in content gaps, timing, and test taking strategy to greatly increase my confidence going into the exam. My AAMC practice scores increased substantially under her guidance, and after establishing specific test-taking strategies for each section, I walked into the exam room feeling confident. I ultimately received a score of 519 on my MCAT, and am very grateful to Anna for helping me on this journey.
His CARS went from 127 at intake to 128 on test day, and his Bio/Biochem from 129 to 132. He says the tutoring moved him seven points overall.
How he studied each section
Bio/Biochem, where he scored the 132
Deep Anki decks he wrote himself, and a review pass where he redid the question from scratch before reading any explanation.
CARS, his hardest section
Daily Jack Westin passages, then the notebook. He worked on identifying question types, and on catching himself early when a passage was pulling him under.
Chem/Phys
Units. He checks what the answer has to be dimensionally before working anything out, which narrows the options before the arithmetic starts.
Psych/Soc
Stamina, and definitions. He goes through every answer choice and cancels the ones he can define as wrong.
“If you know the three wrong answers, then you also know the right answer.”
Test day
He could not leave the floor of the testing center, so he jogged the hallway between sections and did jumping jacks in the corridor. He ate, drank water, and kept moving after sitting still for that long.
Then he went into CARS reset. He builds the check-in and check-out time into the plan, because it eats into the break.
Topics discussed
- [00:40] Where he was starting from
- [05:25] Relearning three subjects from nothing
- [07:43] The decision that changed the score
- [09:23] When studying harder stopped working
- [15:06] Getting help, and what changed after it
- [18:04] How he studied for the 132 in Bio/Biochem
- [20:43] Staying organized without burning out
- [24:55] Test day, and what he did between sections
- [30:48] What he would tell you, depending on how far out you are
Memorable quotes
“I remember seeing arrow pushing mechanisms again for the first time in three years, and my heart sank.”
“I finished this section. Let's move on, just to check it off my little list that I had made for all the content gaps I needed, and I wasn't truly understanding the content.”
“I was able to work instead of five days a week now down to three days a week. So I had two days off. So now I have four full days of content review.”
“The main thing that helped me was being able to talk through my thought process with someone who could help guide it.”
“I have this little notebook right here next to me that is full of notes. It's really my thought process behind each question, how I approached it, and where in that thought process I went wrong.”
“I did a little bit of jogging down the hallway, a little bit of jumping jacks just to get my blood flowing and reset.”
“If you know the three wrong answers, then you also know the right answer.”
Martin's written answers
From his Top Scorer Interview application, in his own words.
What was your lowest MCAT score on practice or the real MCAT? How long did it take to get to your highest score?
“501, on a JW practice test, which I took 7/2025. I finished my last practice exam with 519, taken 2/24/2026.”
Tell us about yourself and your MCAT journey
“Being born and raised in Argentina, I've had a long journey to medicine. I am a non-traditional MD applicant, making my MCAT prep non-traditional as well. I started studying for the MCAT in June 2025, now 2 years out of college and 6 years after my last physics or general chemistry course. I had to re-learn most general chemistry, physics, and ochem, and started to get serious about my studies in July 2025.”
“However, I was working full time and found it impossible to sustain the mental and physical stamina to prepare myself for the score I wanted. After some low initial practice exams, I thought all hope was lost. However, after allowing for a 1 week break from any studying, I decided to go part time and work 24hrs per week, in early November 2025. This made a massive difference, allowing me to now dedicate four full days a week to studying, and being able to rest my mind after working my full clinic shift 3x/week.”
“At this point, I was done with content review and only doing practice problems, primarily UWorld and Jack Westin CARS. However, I still found myself stuck at around 513, guessing on many questions and finding myself unsure about my performance after each practice exam. I originally planned on a Jan. 2026 test date, but needed to push it back because I recognized I wasn't ready yet.”
“That's when I knew I needed help, and reached out to various tutoring agencies, eventually selecting MedLife Mastery based on good reviews and their helpful podcast. Over the next two months, I met 1-2x/week with my tutor and my score escalated to consistent 518/519. It was a big boost to my confidence and to my score, and I ended receiving a 519 test score on my exam, which I took March 7 2026, with a 132 in Biology, my strongest subject.”
What are you most excited to share with students who are preparing for the MCAT right now?
“Persistence beats resistance. Allowing yourself to have a realistic time frame and being willing to seek out help from others is key to increasing your score. Never give up, because the MCAT is doable no matter how impossible it seems at first.”
Resources mentioned
- UWorld. His main question bank once content review was done.
- Jack Westin. Daily CARS passages.
- AAMC official materials. He treats the official full lengths as the accurate ones and saves them for the end.
- Khan Academy. Free practice questions while he was relearning content.
- Anki. Deep decks for Psych/Soc, where he defined every answer choice.
- Used Kaplan books. Second-hand copies a few years old, for the first relearning pass.
- MedLife Mastery free MCAT resources. He says the free material is what made him choose us, because it showed him how the team worked before he had signed up for anything.
- MedLife Mastery 1-on-1 tutoring. Two months, one to two sessions a week. He credits it with seven points.
Where to go from here
If you are coming back to the sciences after a gap, the thing to take from Martin is that he changed the shape of his week before he changed anything about his studying, and that he went looking for someone to check his reasoning rather than more content.
You can read the rest of the MCAT success stories, meet the mentors who scored 515+, or start with the free MCAT strategy course and our free cheat sheets.
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