How I Scored 520+ on the MCAT | My Study Schedule & Templates

In this video, I discuss how I prepared for the MCAT, from resources I used to test-taking strategies. If you decide to view the free written guide that Anuva and I wrote, please leave this video playing on mute in the bg for the ~algorithm~! Good luck studying. :-)

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TIMESTAMPS »
0:00 Intro
1:27 Science Background, Scores
3:01 Basics of the MCAT
5:25 Resources I used
7:06 Total costs $$$
8:18 Fee Assistance
8:39 CARS Practice
9:48 Scheduling the exam
11:39 Making the schedule
12:29 Getting started
13:25 Timeline
18:24 Improving your score
20:48 Closing advice

FAQ »
School? – Brown University, Class of 2021
Concentration (major)? – Public Health (pre-med track)

CAMERA GEAR »

MUSIC »

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Higher education should be accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy. Click to learn more about Collab Culture and why I started it.
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BUSINESS INQUIRIES:

[MayGao]

There is a FAQ section where I answer most of your q's. If you still have a lingering question, especially if it's about your personal situation, please dm me on instagram @mayzgao.
Thanks for the kind comments, and happy studying :-)

[alexwyler]

Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants do not have to take physics. However, since we are travelling through space on a rock at 100k km/hr, i want my MD to have taken physics. The body is chemistry, biology and physics and you need math to describe it.

[ahmedalkaabi]

Got a 527 mcat score thank you much for the tips, now I am at Stanford med:)

[aries]

I've been looking for a more detailed vid on studying for the MCAT and YouTube recommends this to me. I really wanna cry this is the best one

[anikasaxena]

Hi May!! I followed your study schedule and made a 520+ . Took the test on 6/4 :) thank you so much for this amazing video/resource. I can’t thank you enough!!

[michaelpark]

"The MCAT is hard and the MCAT is important" ahahaha I see you

[Fatima-bhsq]

I’m a whole junior in high school... and don’t even want to major or work in the medical field. I don’t know why I just watched this whole video

[soufassi]

May, I am currently a student at Stanford and I just watched this video and read the entire guide. First of all, thank you for the time you both put into everything. I have been studying for months concerned I was wasting too much time doing handwritten notes and laughed when I saw your comment on it. I'm just reading now and retaining way more. Congrats on crushing it, taking it in January so hopefully I join you on that score haha.

[aroundtheworldgirl]

I have been getting this video in my recommendations for weeks now. When I first saw it, I saved it to my Med School playlist. But after seeing someone in my fb premed group recommend it, I decided to watch it tonight. Let me tell you, you are an MCAT angel. This is amazing! I'm not even going to begin studying for the MCAT until January of '22, but this video made me excited to study for the MCAT. Most detailed and useful video I have ever seen. If I had premed friends I would have definitely shared your video with them. Bless you for all of your hard work. You are going places and any med school that gets you is going to be very lucky to have you. Great job on the video and your awesome MCAT score.

[MayGao]

Thank you for watching! Don’t forget to leave a like if you found the guide/video helpful and share this with a friend. 💞
Also if you're not premed and you still clicked on my video just to support me you're a real one HAHA–comment what I should name my plants!!

Edit: Thank you for all the kind comments! Makes me so happy that you all are finding this useful :)

[medcatmcat]

As someone who's tutored the MCAT for a while, I have to say: this is an extremely solid and well-done video! ⭐Only thing I would recommend is maybe 2 weeks for third party and 6 weeks for AAMC—the AAMC problems take a lot longer than you'd think, as you have to factor in review time.

[MrWood-qdkr]

It’s been a few years since I’ve graduated. I am studying for the MCAT but I also work full time. With SO MANY GUIDES, it makes me nervous as to where to start so thank you so much!

[shamyaharris]

SIS, I’ve been following your study plan and I’m on my second month of studying and I just finished my content review. My score on my first FL has literally went up 8 points compared to my diagnostic score. THANK YOU SO MUCH. This just gave me that little teeny ounce of hope of I needed to keep going.❤️❤️❤️

[ellajument]

I’m not taking this exam but I’m so excited for you that all your hard work paid off! Go May and Anuva!!

[monicology]

520+ OKAY GIRL WE SEE YOU 💞💞💞
i'll be taking this soon, and i appreciate this SO much!

[mcatbros]

glad our 300 pg notes were able to help you!

[DeepSeas..]

Idk why I’m watching this because I’m already in med school. Lmao Anyway, here’s my best advice for CARS:

Please, don’t be a fool and think that rushing through the passages to get to the questions faster will help you out in any way. You need to read the passages at a comfortable pace to understand the author’s tone, the main idea of the passage, and just general characteristics of it. By understanding the general theme of the passage and the author’s intent, you’ll be able to answer most of the questions very quickly and confidently. Truly great readers will be able to pick up all these general aspects of the passages within a couple minutes, but for most people it can take up to 5 minutes (or even longer for the harder passages), which is okay because you’re given an average of ten minutes per passage. Lastly, keep track of how many questions you’re getting per passage. When I took it, the section was front loaded with passages that had 5 questions, then there were a few hard passages with 6 questions, and then the last two were intermediate and had 7 questions. You really don’t want to be taking a full 10 minutes on the easy passages with 5-6 questions because you might need 11-12 minutes for the hard passages and the passages with 7 questions. Each version of the exam is different, but you definitely don’t want to get sidetracked and then not have enough time to finish completely doable passages at the end that have 7 questions each because you’ll be giving up loads of points needlessly.

[Grogu]

Wow, thank you!!! This is amazing!
I’m planning on taking the MCAT in the spring and I’m definitely going to use your guide!💜

[darrellhardie]

As a parent, this video was so helpful in my research that I pass it on to my son that wants to take the MCAT. That’s when I found.

[carluy]

I'm a recent graduate RN trying to wrap my mind around studying for the MCAT, especially because I didn't take ochem, physics, biochem, and soc during nursing school. This video is super helpful and reassured me that I'm on the right track. I just have to give myself a LOT of grace in order to learn new content for the first time. Thanks May!