The Med School Pulse

What a great event! Medical School Insider 2013 was a huge success and we want to give a special thanks to our panelists for joining us Monday night!

-Paul T. White, Assistant Dean for Admissions, John Hopkins School of Medicine

-Leila Diaz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine

-Dr. Kathleen Kolberg, Assistant Dean, University of Notre Dame

-Dr. Elizabeth Wiley, National President, American Medical Student Association

We are working  diligently to get answers to your questions you sent in! Stay tuned for answers and for our next pulse event: Monday June 10th, on …

Kaplan Test Prep will host our fourth annual Medical School Insider tonight, Monday, April 29th at 8pm ET.  This is our biggest event of the year for pre-meds and you absolutely don’t want to miss it!

The insights revealed at #medInsider are incredible, they’ll really change the way you look at the admissions process!  Be sure to mark your calendar now for this year’s live streaming event. Save your spot by clicking here now!

Medical School Insider

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March Madness has past and dare I say brackets are busted everywhere! As a college basketball fan this is the most exciting time of year for the sport.  With all the fun on TV, remember there is still an MCAT to study for!  The March Madness tournament with all its hoopla and competition really has some key lessons that students can pull away.

• Preparation is Key – Think about the players taking those free throws. They practice over and over and over for that. A free throw is just that “free”. The MCAT has “free” easy points to take. Know

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Continuing our discussion from ‘Part 1 of Study Blocks’ we ask what is the most efficient way to study during our block.  Looking back at the sample schedules, note that we are trying to get in at least 20 hours of studying a week at the very minimum, included in that time would be 1 full length examination a week.  At the minimum you should be trying to get in at least:

• 2 Topical Tests
• 1 Verbal Section Test
• 1 Science Section Test
• 1 Full Length Test

I understand that a lot of the content people are comfortable with. The key to …

It’s that time of year again- when people daydream of valentines, candy hearts, roses and romantic gestures. While you, intrepid pre-med student, are preoccupied with daydreams about physics equations, the intricacies of mitosis vs. meiosis and the trends on the periodic table. As the commercials say, “every kiss begins with Kay” and you begin to wonder which K? Ksp? Keq? Temperature in Kelvin? As February 14^th rolls around, you think- How can I possibly have time for a hot date on Valentine’s Day? Surely I must spend this day of romance alone and wallowing in MCAT-studying induced self-pity.

That’s …

Following up on last week’s entry on Study Schedules, I want to continue the focus and narrow in on what “study blocks” are and how to best implement them.  Many of you were asking what a typical day in the week would look like. Remember, the focus of re-thinking your MCAT studying is to build consistency over to aid in preventing burnout and producing a happier you!

The first question that many students ask is how long they should be studying for.  Right away many say “9, 10 hours? All day even?” I am here to tell you that is …

In part one of “MCAT Re-booted”  I want to cover what is going to make the ideal MCAT study schedule. The AAMC recommends on average 300 total hours to study for the MCAT.  They also have a “Creating a Study Plan” listed on their web-page. With all of this information out there and the rumors that run rampant in the pre-med community on “secrets” of MCAT studying, where does a student go to get the real answer? Well right here of course!

Now how long is 300 hours in reality? You could easily break that into 10 …

Following up on last week’s post 2013 MCAT Success Part 1, I mentioned or challenged you all to be HAPPY while studying for your MCAT.  Dare I say, I have already gotten feedback from people asking me, “Patrick, seriously?”. Yes, I am totally serious in talking about this. I myself was once a Kaplan student, and to be honest the Kaplan MCAT course really opened my eyes on how studying can be part of your everyday life, but not something that utterly consumes it.

I am sure many of you have been there before. During the week you have …

On behalf of the Kaplan MCAT Team, we want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season.  With Santa come and gone, we want to share with you what came for Christmas this year.  We know you have all been good pre-meds and were hoping for no coal in your stockings! So here is our top 5 list!

5) Anatomy Coloring Book

4) Coffee

3) Book: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

2) Fake Skeleton

1) Kaplan MCAT Flashcards Mobile

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GTL, MVP, the shore store…  No matter how many midterms, finals, or lab reports due, countless pre-meds turn into Jersey Shore during the week for that sweet hour of honest procrastination.  So in honor of Jersey Shore’s last season, team MCAT at Kaplan wants to poke a little bit of fun at our favorite guilty pleasure.  If the Jersey Shore cast were pre-med…

The Situation:  The man. Or so he thinks, might be more concerned about hitting the gym than learning the organic chemistry reactions for his next midterm.  This student could probably turn GTL into GTM – Gym, Tan, …