MCAT Strategy Guide: Studying, Practice, Reviewing Mistakes, CARS, Timing, AAMC, and more
Naman Baraya
7,474 views
If you’re in the middle of MCAT studying right now, I know it can be a lot. I hope this video gives you something useful, and I’m wishing you the best and praying everything works out for you.
I scored a 524 on the MCAT, and after going through medical school and spending more time thinking about learning and test-taking, there are a lot of things I’d approach differently if I were studying again today.
The biggest idea in this video is that the MCAT makes more sense when it’s treated as a reasoning and skill-based exam, not an endless content-memorization exam. The science foundation matters, but so do passage reading, experimental interpretation, elimination, timing, and learning from mistakes.
A simple study loop that I think captures a lot of the process is:
Practice → Review → Identify the mistake → Repair the weakness → Repeat
The review step is probably the most important part of the video. When a question goes wrong, it can help to ask:
• What was the question actually asking?
• What information in the passage mattered?
• What concept was being tested?
• Why was the correct answer correct?
• Why were the other choices wrong?
• What made the wrong answer tempting?
• What lesson can I carry into the next question?
I also go through six broad mistake types—content, passage interpretation, reasoning, elimination, carelessness, and timing—and how noticing patterns can make studying much more targeted.
For the overall study plan, I talk through three broad phases:
1. Build a functional content foundation while starting questions early
2. Shift into practice-heavy training with deep review and targeted content repair
3. Finish with official AAMC material and full-lengths to calibrate timing and test logic
We also cover resources, Anki, CARS, full-length review, timing, guessing, experimental passages, figures, high-yield science and psych/soc topics, and test-day mindset.
A few ideas I especially hope are useful:
• Points are points. try not to let one brutal question steal time from easier ones.
• A lot of wrong answers are true statements that simply don’t answer the question being asked.
• For dense passages, it often helps to understand the experiment’s purpose and overall relationships first, then go back to the details when the question calls for them.
• Anki can be great for memorization-heavy material, but it doesn’t need to replace passages, practice questions, and review.
And probably most importantly: the MCAT is important, but it is not a measure of your intelligence, your worth, or what kind of doctor you’re capable of becoming. Bad practice tests, plateaus, and awful passages happen. None of them have to be permanent.
Take whatever ideas in this video are useful, experiment with your studying, and keep paying attention to what actually helps you improve.
It’s really nice to be back making videos again. I have a lot more MCAT content coming, especially passage and question walkthroughs where we can work through the reasoning together.
If there’s something you’re struggling with or a topic that would make studying easier, feel free to leave it below. I’ll use those questions to help decide what to make next.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your studying, take care of yourself, and I’ll see you in the next one.
CHAPTERS
0:00 The MCAT Mindset That’s Helpful
0:52 The MCAT Is a Reasoning Exam
2:25 Why MCAT Students Plateau
3:29 Content Knowledge vs. Test Logic
4:41 The MCAT Resource Strategy I Recommend
7:31 AAMC Materials & the Core Study Workflow
9:15 The 6 Types of MCAT Mistakes
11:56 How to Review Every Missed Question
13:34 How to Build an MCAT Error Log
15:00 The 3-Phase MCAT Study Plan
17:11 How to Use Anki + Build CARS Skills
19:09 Phase 2: Practice-Dominant Training
21:07 Phase 3: AAMC Full-Lengths
22:12 What NOT to Do During Content Review
24:26 MCAT Timing & Pacing Strategy
25:15 Guessing Strategy + AAMC Answer Logic
26:45 How to Read MCAT Passages & Figures
28:42 High-Yield Science Topics
31:42 High-Yield Psychology/Sociology
32:31 CARS Strategy
33:42 Test-Day & Lifestyle Advice
34:35 The Final MCAT Mindset
14 Comments
Biochemistry Foundations (29:00 - 30:11):
Amino Acids: Structure, charge, polarity, special cases, and pKa logic.
Enzyme Kinetics: Michaelis-Menten, Km, Vmax, inhibitors, and Lineweaver-Burk, intuition.
Protein Structure: Primary through quaternary structures and bonding interactions (H-bonds, disulfides, hydrophobic, ionic bonds
Metabolism: Glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, TCA cycle, electron transport chain, beta-oxidation, ketones, and fed/fasted states.
Molecular Biology: DNA/RNA, replication, transcription, and translation.
Lab Techniques: PCR, gel electrophoresis, Western blot, and ELISA.
General Biology: Cell membranes, transport, signaling pathways and receptors, and organ systems (endocrine, cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, GI absorption).
Immunology: Innate and adaptive immune systems, antibodies, cytokines, inflammation
Genetics: Mendelian patterns, linkage, Hardy-Weinberg, gene expression, evolution, and population principles.
Chemistry Foundations (30:12 - 31:07):
General Chemistry: Acid-base chemistry, pH, buffers, Henderson-Hasselbalch(strong and weak), equilibrium (Le Chatelier's Principle) and keq, electrochemistry, redox reactions, solubility, common ion effect, colligative properties.
Kinetics: Rate laws, activation energy, and catalysis.
Organic Chemistry: Nucleophiles/electrophiles, leaving groups, acid-base, functional groups(reactivity), carbonyl chemistry, basic substitution and elimination reactions, and stereochemistry (chirality, diastereoisomers, enantiomers)
Lab Techniques: IR, NMR, Mass Spectrometry, and chromatography.
Physics Foundations (31:08 - 31:42): Units!!
Mechanics: Dimensional analysis, Newton's laws, kinetics, work and energy relationship, and power.
Fluids & Waves: Pressure, buoyancy, circuits (Ohm's law), bernoulli intuition, waves, and sound.
Other: Electrostatics, magnetism, gas laws, and thermodynamics.
Psychology & Sociology (31:43 - 32:23):
Research Methods: Types of studies, bias, confounding variables, validity, and reliability.
Foundations: Sensation, perception, learning, and memory (classic/operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement).
Motivation, emotion, and stress
Identity, self, and personality frameworks
Social psychology: conformity, groupthink, attribution, stereotypes, and prejudice
Sociology foundations:
Social structures and institutions, Stratification and demography
Health disparities: access culture, social determinants of health
Sociological theories: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism
MCAT Strategy Guide: Studying, Practice, Reviewing Mistakes, CARS, Timing, AAMC, and more
Naman Baraya
7,474 views
If you’re in the middle of MCAT studying right now, I know it can be a lot. I hope this video gives you something useful, and I’m wishing you the best and praying everything works out for you.
I scored a 524 on the MCAT, and after going through medical school and spending more time thinking about learning and test-taking, there are a lot of things I’d approach differently if I were studying again today.
The biggest idea in this video is that the MCAT makes more sense when it’s treated as a reasoning and skill-based exam, not an endless content-memorization exam. The science foundation matters, but so do passage reading, experimental interpretation, elimination, timing, and learning from mistakes.
A simple study loop that I think captures a lot of the process is:
Practice → Review → Identify the mistake → Repair the weakness → Repeat
The review step is probably the most important part of the video. When a question goes wrong, it can help to ask:
• What was the question actually asking?
• What information in the passage mattered?
• What concept was being tested?
• Why was the correct answer correct?
• Why were the other choices wrong?
• What made the wrong answer tempting?
• What lesson can I carry into the next question?
I also go through six broad mistake types—content, passage interpretation, reasoning, elimination, carelessness, and timing—and how noticing patterns can make studying much more targeted.
For the overall study plan, I talk through three broad phases:
1. Build a functional content foundation while starting questions early
2. Shift into practice-heavy training with deep review and targeted content repair
3. Finish with official AAMC material and full-lengths to calibrate timing and test logic
We also cover resources, Anki, CARS, full-length review, timing, guessing, experimental passages, figures, high-yield science and psych/soc topics, and test-day mindset.
A few ideas I especially hope are useful:
• Points are points. try not to let one brutal question steal time from easier ones.
• A lot of wrong answers are true statements that simply don’t answer the question being asked.
• For dense passages, it often helps to understand the experiment’s purpose and overall relationships first, then go back to the details when the question calls for them.
• Anki can be great for memorization-heavy material, but it doesn’t need to replace passages, practice questions, and review.
And probably most importantly: the MCAT is important, but it is not a measure of your intelligence, your worth, or what kind of doctor you’re capable of becoming. Bad practice tests, plateaus, and awful passages happen. None of them have to be permanent.
Take whatever ideas in this video are useful, experiment with your studying, and keep paying attention to what actually helps you improve.
It’s really nice to be back making videos again. I have a lot more MCAT content coming, especially passage and question walkthroughs where we can work through the reasoning together.
If there’s something you’re struggling with or a topic that would make studying easier, feel free to leave it below. I’ll use those questions to help decide what to make next.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your studying, take care of yourself, and I’ll see you in the next one.
CHAPTERS
0:00 The MCAT Mindset That’s Helpful
0:52 The MCAT Is a Reasoning Exam
2:25 Why MCAT Students Plateau
3:29 Content Knowledge vs. Test Logic
4:41 The MCAT Resource Strategy I Recommend
7:31 AAMC Materials & the Core Study Workflow
9:15 The 6 Types of MCAT Mistakes
11:56 How to Review Every Missed Question
13:34 How to Build an MCAT Error Log
15:00 The 3-Phase MCAT Study Plan
17:11 How to Use Anki + Build CARS Skills
19:09 Phase 2: Practice-Dominant Training
21:07 Phase 3: AAMC Full-Lengths
22:12 What NOT to Do During Content Review
24:26 MCAT Timing & Pacing Strategy
25:15 Guessing Strategy + AAMC Answer Logic
26:45 How to Read MCAT Passages & Figures
28:42 High-Yield Science Topics
31:42 High-Yield Psychology/Sociology
32:31 CARS Strategy
33:42 Test-Day & Lifestyle Advice
34:35 The Final MCAT Mindset