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5 Things I Wish I Knew About the MCAT - YouTube
Channel: Med School Insiders
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the dreaded mcat is the most important
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test in determining whether or not
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you'll have the opportunity to attend
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medical school and
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become a doctor with this weight comes a
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great deal of myths and misconceptions
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that continue to be perpetuated today
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here's what i wish someone had told me
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about the mcat
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dr jubal med schoolinsiders.com most
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students believe that
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more studying will result in more
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knowledge and therefore
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a better score but that isn't always the
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case
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i've seen countless students plateau
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with their score despite spending
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several additional months dedicated to
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mcat studying
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the reason is that while you can learn
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and retain information at a certain rate
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you'll also forget information at a
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certain rate there are certain tools and
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strategies that you can use to increase
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the rate of learning and decrease the
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rate of forgetting
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but the fact remains that at a certain
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point you will plateau with your score
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it's for this reason that i find the
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best results from my tutoring clients
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when they are able to dedicate a few
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months of full-time
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high-intensity studying to the mcat this
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will maximize information acquisition
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and retention
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and minimize for getting learned
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information in most cases
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three months of high-intensity dedicated
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mcat studying will beat out six months
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of
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medium intensity studying while taking
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other college courses
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in fact i've seen this play out time and
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time again
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certain students will take 6 months 12
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months and
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sometimes even longer preparing for the
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mcat but their score is usually worse
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than those who remained focused
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at high intensity for shorter periods
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there is no
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perfect time to take the mcat but the
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best time for most students is the end
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of summer
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by taking the mcat around september you
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have the entire summer to dedicate fully
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to the test
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this means at least 12 weeks and
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sometimes more
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to throw yourself at mcat prep day in
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and day out
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by eliminating distractions and
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remaining focused this time is often the
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best shot you have
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at achieving your score potential there
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are downsides to this approach
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if you are applying during that medical
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school application cycle
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that begins in june then you'll be far
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behind the curve to be taking your mcat
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in september
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by the time your score is released and
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application is fully processed
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it will be october and you'll be at a
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substantial disadvantage in your medical
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school application
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for this reason taking the mcat at the
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end of summer only makes sense
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if you are applying any future medical
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school application cycle
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for example if you are going to take a
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year off between college and medical
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school
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then you'll need to apply to medical
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school at the end of your senior year
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right as you graduate in this instance
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you may want to take the mcat
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the prior september this will give you
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enough time to also ensure all of your
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prerequisite courses are complete too
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which is helpful for the mcat if you are
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not taking a year off between college
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and medical school
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it's a bit trickier to navigate you'll
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need to apply to medical school at the
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end of your junior year
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during the summer before your senior
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year you should still take the mcat
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the prior september meaning you would be
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studying during the summer after your
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sophomore year
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but this raises a potential issue most
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students will not have taken
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all of their medical school prerequisite
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courses after just
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two years of college i took the mcat at
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this time without having taken
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my biochemistry course and instead
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studied biochemistry from my
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mcat prep materials i ended up scoring
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strongly and
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missing that course didn't hold me back
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however this
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isn't best for everyone and will
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ultimately be a personal decision based
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on two primary factors
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first the subject in question and two
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your strengths and weaknesses
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certain sections like psychology and
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sociology are
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more memorization heavy on the mcat and
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many students are able to self-study
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without taking the corresponding college
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course
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other subjects like physics may be more
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limiting on the mcat without having
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taken the prerequisite classes
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second you need to be honest with
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yourself as to how you self-study
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if you are a stronger student or you
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feel you can learn and
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grasp concepts learning from a textbook
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without an instructor you may not need
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to take the prerequisite course
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but if you are struggling with certain
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subjects or find it difficult to
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self-study
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it may be best to first take the
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corresponding class successfully
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studying for
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and tackling the mcat is one of those
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instances where it pays dividends to
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develop an intelligent plan of attack
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and stick to it worrying about what
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others are doing and deviating from your
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plan
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will more often than not hold you back
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you may be curious how
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your fellow classmate or friend is
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studying which resources are they using
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how many months are they studying for
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how many hours per day
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how many practice tests these are
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important decisions to make
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prior to beginning your mcat prep the
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issue in changing them midway
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is your plan will be compromised as
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you're making adjustments guided by
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emotion and fomo not from a calm place
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of logic and centeredness
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this plays out in several different ways
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one is the student
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who fears they aren't using the latest
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and greatest resource
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and tacks on more resources than they
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can handle getting halfway through a
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dozen resources
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is not going to provide you with a
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better score compared to focusing on
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just a couple that
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are high quality remember you don't have
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to know every single insignificant fact
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to get a top score on the mcat
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part of your score is based on your
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knowledge and part of your score is
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based on your ability to apply knowledge
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and reason your way to the best answer
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choice this leads us to another common
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mistake
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which is focusing too heavily on content
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review and not enough on practice
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questions
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and practice tests i've made a separate
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video on how to best approach practice
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questions and practice tests
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link in the description remember that
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they aren't just a good tool to practice
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test taking strategies
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and application techniques but with
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proper review they are also powerful
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learning tools
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that's right you can learn and
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consolidate important information
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through practice questions
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not just through content review
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resources a big part of sticking to the
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plan
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comes down to accountability it's
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natural to deviate slightly from your
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mcat plan but
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you want to minimize that deviation
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accountability is a powerful tool to
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keep you on track
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if you are studying with your friends
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you can be each other's accountability
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buddies
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i even encourage some friendly
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competition so long as you can
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make sure it's friendly and it serves
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everyone for some
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competition may lead to toxicity
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accountability can also come in the form
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of a tutor who can not only craft a
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custom tailored mcat study plan
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but also hold you accountable to that
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plan and help you overcome any issues or
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challenges with concepts
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test taking strategies and even test
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taking anxiety
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you can learn about our industry-leading
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mcat tutoring on medschoolinsiders.com
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last understand the value of your time
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and the opportunity cost to spending it
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in sub-optimal ways
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i was so obsessed with optimizing my
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time during my mcat prep
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that for the last four weeks leading up
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to my test i went back home to my mom's
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place and studied there
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after all i would save time not having
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to prepare my own food or do my own
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laundry or buy my own groceries
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i could truly dedicate myself fully to
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the mcat day in
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and day out i see students wasting
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precious mcat study time
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in a variety of ways most notably using
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poor study strategies that rely on
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passive techniques
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over far more effective active ones
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reading
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and highlighting in your content review
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book or watching videos passively
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are not good uses of your time it's far
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better to practice
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active learning strategies such as
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spaced repetition with active recall
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practice questions or even synthesis
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questions that i cover
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in my evidence-based study strategy
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video when it comes to space repetition
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with active recall
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the best way to implement this is
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through flashcards but even with
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flashcards
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there's the good bad and the ugly making
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your own flashcards is an active
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learning strategy
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so you will learn by doing so but there
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are three problems with this
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first spending 60 minutes making
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flashcards won't teach you as much as
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going through and studying high quality
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flashcards instead
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second the overwhelming majority of
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students don't make good flashcards
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despite using flashcards for medical
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school and residency
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it was only after continuing to refine
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and practice my own flashcard creation
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strategy in the last couple years
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that i realized where the deficiencies
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were and how subtle and nuanced the best
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flashcards
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are and third to create the best
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flashcards on a given subject you need
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to have mastery of the subject at hand
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you must understand related concepts
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that contrast with the topic
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whether that concept is high medium or
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low yield and how the concept is tested
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on the mcat
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as a pre-med studying for the mcat by
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definition you don't have mastery of the
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subjects
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otherwise you wouldn't be studying for
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the test mem is the answer to these
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problems
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through mem we've developed a better way
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to use flashcards and review sheets to
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accelerate mcat learning
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the average mcat user scores a 514.3 on
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test day which is
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a 90th percentile score and we've had
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countless students write to us who have
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tried alternatives
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like anki but found it clunky and they
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thought flash cards just weren't for
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them
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but once they tried mem things just fell
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into place and their scores started
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improving
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i've linked some interviews with our
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users down in the description so
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you can hear their stories first hand
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you can sign up for mem with a 7 day
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free trial or
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use the coupon code wish21 for 10 off
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your subscription
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if you enjoyed this video check out my
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mcat playlist for more mcat study tips
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and strategies
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much love and i'll see you guys there
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