How I Scored in the 100th Percentile on the MCAT (527) - My Tips & Study Schedule

I made this video to give some insight into how I studied for a 527 (100th Percentile) on the MCAT. I hope it's helpful! If you’re going through the medical school application process or interested in what it takes, feel free to subscribe!

Note that a lot of people don’t take the full 4-6 months to do the initial content review and do it in a month or two instead, so don’t panic if you don’t have that much time!

Instagram: @michaelgongwer

MCAT prep links mentioned in video:

My Study Schedule for the Last 4-5 Weeks:

Official AAMC Resources:

Khan Academy MCAT Series:

Reddit Khan Academy Notes:
***original link no longer works, see pinned comment from MCAT Bros!***

CARS Tips from Reddit (pardon the language):

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[samuelsmithmed]

Being aware of what you don't know, the best statement ever and I think what makes the best students, congrats on the insane score man.

[samuelsmithmed]

One of the few 527's I've seen, truly an amazing score. Congrats man!

[saika]

Not only are you very talented, you go out of your way to share those talents with others. Thank you. What I really want to know you became the person you are today.

[ahmedalkaabi]

Congratulations on the fantastic MCAT score and I was able to get a 526 score using some of these tips thank you soooo much!

[tymd]

this is dope advice, didn't know about the reddit doc that would've saved time haha. i also crushed; if you're having trouble with CARS, HIGHLY recommend nextstep's 108 passage book. CARS is all based on practice, improving comprehension and speed and learning what the examiners are actually looking for in a right answer, and the hardest thing for me was reconciling with the "correct answers" that I disagreed with, so I basically had to condition myself to not have any opinions whatsoever while reading those passages, and in doing so, you learn how to pick the right answers based solely on the information being presented in the passage and nothing else. Also in each group of 9 passages, there's usually 1 or 2 hard ones (0-3 correct or less than 50%), 2 or 3 easy ones (you should be getting 99% of the questions right on these), and the rest are so called medium difficulty (4-5 correct out of 6). The key is to remember that each passage is worth the same points +/- 1 because of the # of questions for that specific passage. When you're taking a test (practice or real), learn to identify the hard passages and skip them immediately. They're usually philosophy themed for me, and can depend on the person taking the test, but if you skim the first paragraph and think wtf did I just read, skip immediately. Go get easy points from the easy/medium passages first. Once you finish 7 passages, you should be left with 1 or 2 hard passages depending on how many you decided to skip. Take whatever time you have left and salvage what you can. The goal is to spend time and maximize points on easy/med passages (high yield passages that you're getting 75-99% correct) first rather than spending 15-20 min on a hard passage early on (where you probably won't get half of the questions anyway). I can elaborate further but this improved my CARS and I eventually plateaued at a 130 and kept it on test day and that was my worst section. if you run out of practice tests, gold standard had some good ones, they're crazy hard and demoralizing but it'll translate on test day. good luck everyone!

[valroe]

This video is so thoughtful and kind of you to make. I hope you become an amazing physician at whatever specialty you choose.

[l-dv]

100th percentile on the MCAT is cool and all but, how do I get teeth that white?

[samzuro]

This is gold! Thank you for the advice and the links. I will be implementing these in my study routine. Congrats on your score. Cheers!

[friendly]

Wow. Im first year undergrad student. This really is an eye opener to how seriously people take the MCAT

[mahimusicals]

This is the best MCAT help video out there! Thank you so much, Michael! 🙌🏼

[jorgezuniga]

You're a stud. Congrats on an amazing score and thanks for taking your time to help out the rest of us on our journey to take it soon! Looking forward to following and supporting your channel :)

[marianarivera]

This info coming from someone who scored this well on the mcat is gold! I hope you keep making videos. Thanks!

[ObservantInvestorfinance]

ooh Boy!! congratulation. Your advice is deep and more genuine. Bless your Kind heart. Thanks for making this video at this time.

[wilsontetuh]

Wow, never seen some one this smart, the mcat it's self is a beast but you conquered it like is no big deal. Congrats

[reemaflynnrizk]

One of the clearest and most in-depth MCAT videos I've come across. Congrats on your insane score & thank you for what you do! Subscribed.

[quantumcrash]

Good, good advice. Thanks for making this vid and congrats on that awesome achievement!

[AGrant-ebmr]

Congratulations! You worked really hard and earned your score. All the best future-Dr. Gongwer. I think you'll do well explaining concepts to your patients well. ;-)

[naturallyliv]

I’m so glad I came across this video! Thank you for sharing

[laylastipsandtricks]

One of the most realistic, comprehensible, and humble videos about how to prep for the MCAT, thanks Michael. Just watched a girl brag about how she got a very high score in just 2 months of studying... working while studying, reading her 7 prep books 12 times, taking a ridiculous number of full length exams, studying/covering all the material in all sections, doing practice, also taking videos in real time for youtube to document her study sessions... lots of comments wondering whether her day had more hours than normal...

[jennifersuon]

This is great advice! I love the authenticity. Will be looking forward to your future videos and thank you for the resources in your description!