MCAT, Agony & Beyond. (Especially for A Level students) Part 1

Hey there everyone! A Level and FSc fellows!

My title reads ‘Especially for A Level students’ but all FSc students are most welcome to read the important relevant points. MCAT will be one hell of a ride for both of you. I am writing this blog to help all my juniors by sharing my experience especially, A Level students who are unaware of what awaits them. Because let’s be honest there are really few A Level students who opt for Medical in Pakistan and actually make it to med schools in comparison to the mass student body from FSc.

I was an A Level student and personally didn’t have a lot of seniors to guide me with the process. So all had to be done on my own. I genuinely hope this account reaches out to all those who are looking for some direction.

Just by the way, if you have just finished O levels and are confused between opting for FSc or A Levels I highly recommend you read the following link to help you make a better decision. http://academicshelp.blogspot.com/2013/08/alevels-or-FSc-after-olevels-for.html

Moving on, is the MCAT really that difficult or have we made it so? If your mind is full of such complexities you're at the right place and I will try my best to answer your reservations.

MCAT makes up 50% of your final aggregate (10% O Levels, 40% FSc/A Level). Dear juniors, if you feel your O/A Level or FSc wasn't good enough don't lose heart. There is a likelihood you can perform better in this test and increase your chances of admission.

First, let's begin with some FAQs.

What is the MCAT?

MCAT stands for Medical College Admissions Test, conducted by University of Health Sciences (UHS) almost on the last Sunday of August each year. Students who wish to seek admission in Government medical and dental institutions of Punjab must take the test. You can visit http://www.uhs.edu.pk/ for an in depth detail of the admission process.

What is the format of the test?

MCAT is a single question paper, 150 minutes (2 ½ hour) long test. It comprises 220 questions; 88 from Biology, 58 from Chemistry, 44 from Physics and 30 from English. Total score amounts to 1100. Each question carries 5 marks. However, there is negative marking of -1.

How am I supposed to prepare?

UHS updates its website each year in June with the Medical College admission proceedings, MCAT being the first, a significant part of the process. I would advise you all to print the syllabus since you will have to consult it at every point during your prep. One good thing I appreciate about the syllabus format is that it gives a table of specifications for each subject. (Which mentions the total number of mcqs tested from a specific chapter) This way you can be certain you don’t have to over exert yourself over a chapter from which only 2 mcqs shall be asked in comparison to 7 mcqs from another chapter. However, please, please note that this does not in any way mean that you can leave the less important chapters. Each question is important no matter what. Each mark counts.

Is the MCAT all about FSc?

I hate to break it to you that it is FSc. Unfortunately; we can’t really do much about it. For the prep buy the 1^st year and 2^nd year FSc textbooks for Bio, Chem and Physics; easily available in the market.

Are there any academies for MCAT?

Yes there are lots in town.

1. KIPs 
2. Unique 
3. Star Institute 

As an A Level student I can speak better for A Level students. For FSc students, I am assuming you already know the syllabus and have to keep revising over and over again. In fact most of the FSc students might even be confident about themselves and don’t feel the need to attend an academy. Well if that’s the case, good for you! Prep at home without wasting time and you could join the test session later.

I am an A Level student. Should I join an academy? Is it worth it?

Personally if you ask me, I would say no. And I say this for a reason. 6 hours of MCAT session daily will tire you. By the time, I came home and thought about opening my respective books and notes and revising, I was convinced to go to bed instead! Moreover, as an A Level student I personally found myself dumbfounded when the class tests were handed out to me since they contained FSc syllabus which I was totally unfamiliar with beforehand. They don’t even let you take those test papers home. Secondly their approach to teaching is totally different for us A Level students. So why not save your time preparing the syllabus at home and join a test session at the end? By this time, you would probably be done with the syllabus once and attempting the tests would make sense.

I’m still confused about what to do.

Keep in mind there are two sides to the picture.
If you feel you are an above average student and confident you can deal with this own your then you’re good to go. Take the syllabus and textbooks in one hand and a notebook and sort out the relevant from non relevant. At the end you’ll have an overview of all what you want to study. Give all syllabus relevant chapters a thorough read.

However, in case you need a push in the form of an academy, to guide you from A to Z then go for an academy. But please for God's sake don't waste your time. Please! Go to the academy. Make good use of the time. Engage in class discussions. Each academy has well equipped teachers present to help you. Ask them any topic bothering you. Forget as to why you didn't get full marks in the class tests. Attempting is the key. These questions will increase your MCQ bank. Write down your mistakes and go over them while revising. These two months will probably decide your future. Don't let your casual attitude ruin it!

Should I buy any MCAT books besides the textbooks?

Depends. If you are buying them to expand your knowledge bank, I'm afraid I have to

advise you otherwise. That's because UHS syllabus is entirely FSc books and those books should be enough for you. Other books might drift away from the syllabus, losing the focus of the syllabus. However, if your intention is to practice then you're welcome to buy the mcq books. KIPS entry test series are quite popular. But I personally don't like them because at the end of the day UHS makes questions from the textbooks. The ETS only tend to provide you with summaries. But it was the mcqs these books offered which were of help to me. However, it's hard to get your hands on the KETS books, unless you are a student of KIPs.

Just By The Way, here are few websites I looked up which offer practice questions besides MCAT past papers. They have good mock tests with a personal log for evaluation. The analytics will help you prepare better.
http://gotest.pk/mcat-entry-test-preparation-online/
http://pakprep.com/

Guessing Or leaving?

If there is a likely chance you can rule even two options out of the four then attempt the question. I’ll tell you why. Since each question carries 5 marks with a negative marking of -1 you still gain a +4. This +4 is far more important than completely loosing those 5 marks. Only if there is a ¼ chance or a case you can’t even rule out a single option is when you should completely leave the question. As far as I’m concerned, I attempted the test wholly regardless. Why? Because guys tukkas above everything. Hahaha. Okay no on a serious note, I am just not comfortable leaving questions for an apparent logic reason. I just might risk a mark than regret later on for the 5 marks.

How to improve your performance?

• Read the questions! Seriously read them. When I look at my own silly mistakes, trust me majority of the times the question was pretty easy. But I’d rather just quickly look through the answers and attempt the question wrong in a hurry, when in the first place I should have put a tiny effort in reading the question. In majority of standardized tests like MCAT, we’re short of time and we tend to hurry eventually messing everything up. But take it from me, many difficult questions aren’t that tricky we just tend to overlook and or forget to read between the lines.
• For once stop being lazy and start your preparations as early as possible. Majority waits for the exam date to come close and ends up losing focus under pressure.
• Practice as much as possible. There is a reason why they say practice makes perfection. If you are done with the syllabus and have reached the revision state, this is the correct time to start attempting full length MCAT papers. You will be able to assess your strengths and weakness now. Mark the chapters you feel you had mistakes from in the full length paper. Hence, you’ll know which parts really require your attention.
• Memorizing material from other helping books won’t help you achieve good marks so your focus primarily should be more on understanding the concepts instead of memorizing question answers. Now there is a huge difference between A Levels and FSC teaching and learning methodology. The first follows a conceptual approach while the latter follows a rote memorization method. I feel sorry for our system that there is no one taking a look into this. Learning should be fun and not be a source of stress when you are unable to memorize something. Anyway regardless of what is established, here’s a catch: If you study early trust me the miserable point of rote memorization will never come. I’ll be honest here, if you genuinely want to be a doctor you will have to stay patient throughout the preparation months. Trust me you will thank yourself after the sacrifice of these two and a half month (June to August)
• The MCAT test consists of questions related to different subjects that is why preparation of all of them is compulsory. Concentrate on the syllabus and don’t leave anything out. Try to put more focus on the subject in which you feel you lack the preparation the most.
• Manage your time during the test. This is where attempting a full length paper helps. When I used to attempt the past papers, I devoted 1 hour to Biology, 20 mins to English, 40 mins to Chem and 30 mins to Physics but this may be different for everyone. Download the MCAT past papers from Google/Facebook MCAT groups. Set aside some time and attempt the entire paper in the specific time duration of 150 minutes. Leave the hard part and move on to the easy questions. You can make another round at the end to solve the left questions. This way you’d know how you perform under the pressure of time and also how to divide your time for the 4 test sections.
• While attempting a very common mistake students make and regret later is to fill the wrong hole. Make sure you are filling a hole for the same question you're answering.

*Kindly move on to Part 2 for specific points regarding each subject.