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MCAT Q&A part 1 with Dr. Noah Lee

In this Q&A session, Dr. Noah Lee, a newly minted physician starting his psychiatry residency shares his expert insights from years of helping students prep for the MCAT, covering everything from ideal study timelines to overcoming score plateaus.

📚 Part 1: Top MCAT FAQs & Strategies

Study Timelines & Scheduling

  • Ideal Study Duration: The sweet spot for MCAT prep is 3 to 6 months . Studying longer than six months can cause you to forget earlier content, hindering your performance.

  • Daily Time Commitment: Aim for 3 to 5 hours of studying per day . Quality and efficiency matter more than treating prep like a full-time, 8-hour-a-day job.

  • When to Take the Exam: Traditional applicants (those not taking a gap year) should aim to take the MCAT in March or April of their junior year. This ensures scores are ready before submitting primary medical school applications in the summer.

Setting Score Expectations

  • What is a "Good" Score?: While minimum cutoffs are usually in the low 500s (e.g., Mayo Clinic has a 508 minimum), a competitive score is generally in the 510 to 515 range.

  • Top-Tier Schools: To be a competitive applicant for the highest-ranking medical schools, a safe target score is around 517.

  • Retaking the MCAT: Do not retake the exam if you scored a 510 or above unless you are absolutely confident you can jump your score by 5 to 6 points . Medical schools see all of your attempts, so risking a lower score is not worth it.

Study Resources & Tactics

  • Recommended Prep Courses: Dr. Lee highly recommends Blueprint MCAT prep, specifically noting its auto-generated study schedules and visual modules.

  • AAMC Official Materials: These are absolutely essential . Prioritize completing 3 to 4 AAMC full-length practice exams to get a realistic feel for test day.

  • Improving the CARS Section: The CARS (Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills) section is highly subjective . The best way to improve is by "brute-forcing" it—commit to doing at least one CARS passage every single day to build your analytical skills.

  • Breaking Through Plateaus: If your practice scores stop improving, shift your focus away from content review and analyze your test-taking strategies instead . Look for patterns in your mistakes, such as spending too much time on complex figures that aren't necessary for the answer.