MCAT Resources

*note: I will continue updating and adding resources to this post as I come across them!

What resources do I NEED to purchase?

You absolutely should purchase all of the Official AAMC materials: Practice exams, question bundles, guides, etc. All of these resources are made by the same people who make the MCAT so they are the most representative of the actual exam! Some of the questions are actually from previous MCAT exams. These will be the most accurate predictors of what you will see on test day. If you can only select one, go with the practice exams. The AAMC also has a financial assistance program that significantly reduce the cost of both the actual exam and the AAMC materials.

See this short post about how to effectively use the AAMC materials.

Another paid resource I would absolutely recommend is the UWorld question bank. I found their explanations exceptionally helpful and detailed.

Which test prep company books should I use?

Most prep books will be useful. This and this website provides a strong comparison of each set of books.

Free Resources

My Favorite Free Resources

1. Kahn Academy Videos

   1. KA MCAT Database: This spreadsheet changed my life. It categorizes and links ALL KA videos so you can easily find them

2. Jack Westin CARS Passage of the Day: Fantastic free resource for CARS! Daily passages are sent to your email for practice. Great way to start off your morning and get in the grove of studying.

   1. AAMC MCAT Interface by Jack Westin: Google Chrome extension which makes AAMC practice material appear in the MCAT interface format!

3. I Want A High MCAT Score Lab Techniques: An 18 page document summarizing high yield lab techniques

Review Sheets

1. MilesDown 90 Page Review: This 90 page document contains extremely condensed review sheets that contains all of the principles and equations that you need to know for the MCAT. I highly recommend annotating these sheets with more information about each principle as you read.

2. Kaplan Quicksheets: These 24 sheets contain every major subject you may encounter on the MCAT. If you can explain everything on these sheets in your own words and understand how the ideas connect, you are golden.

3. I Want A High MCAT Score Lab Techniques: Goes over all lab techniques. SUPER important to fully know and understand all of these lab techniques for passage based questions!

Premade Anki Decks

1. MilesDown: Contains 2,900 cards with information covering all MCAT sections.

2. The Ortho528 Deck

3. RebopBebop's Deck: Based on Kaplan Books

4. u/lecompositor's Biochemistry Anki Deck: 390 card deck containing everything Biochemistry!

Free Diagnostic/Practice Exams

1. Kaplan Half Length Exam

2. Princeton Review Free Full Length

3. Next Step Full Length

4. Altius Free Half Length

5. Magoosh Full Length

6. BluePrint Full Length

7. Gold Standard Half Length

Note that scores on third party practice exams aren’t always accurate for your test day score- so don't get too down on yourself for score. See this article (or this summary video) for additional information. Keep in mind that there is It isn't always true that you will do better on your actual MCAT. Definitely use the average of your AAMC practice tests as your best estimator of your score!! For me, I was scoring in the 503-509 on Princeton Reviews earlier on in my studying, 515 average on AAMC material close to my test, and 514 on the real deal!

Question of the Day

1. Kaplan Question of the Day

2. Varsity Tutors Question of the Day

3. BluePrint Question of the Day

General Youtube Channels

1. Pre-Med HQ

2. MedSchoolCoach MCAT Prep

Bio/Biochem

Visuals

1. Metabolic Pathways Visual

2. Renal System Diagram

YouTube

1. AK Lectures

2. Organic Chemistry Tutor: Specifically helpful for Macromolecules

3. Van Does Chemistry: helpful for biochemistry

4. Armando Hasudungan: helpful for immunology related topics. I find the physiology playlist helpful!

5. Moof University

6. Science Simplified: Metabolic pathways

Other

1. Varsity Tutors Biology

Chem/Phys

Youtube

1. Chad’s Prep: Orgo/gen chem/physics summary videos

2. Lea4Sci: Organic Chemistry ROYALTY! Also fantastic for learning to do MCAT math without a calculator.

3. Organic Chemistry Tutor: Organic chemistry

4. Van Does Chemistry: MCAT Chemistry and Physics Information

Other

1. Varsity Tutors Physical

Psych/Soc

Guides

1. Med School Tutors P/S outline

Other

1. Varsity Tutors P/S

For specific topics

1. Memorize Erikson's 8 Theories of development fast phycology test prep

For P/S stuff: Bozeman Science, thetrevtutor, handwritten tutorials, psychexamreview, crashcourse, neuroscientifically challenged.

I also like dr Matt and dr mike for anatomy/physiology stuff (I listen to their podcast as well.)