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    (c) leah4sci.com 2014

    MC T EX M

    STR TEGY A 6-Week Guide to Crushing the MCAT

    By Leah Fisch

    If you know anyone who can benefit from this guide,

    Please feel free to share it with them by

    sending them to this page :

    http://leah4sci.com/mcat-exam-strategy-guide

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    DISCLAIMER

    I’d like to promise you a “perfect MCAT score or your money back”guarantee if you read this e- book and follow my advice, but sadly I can’t.However, I can promise that you will be much more prepared for your MCATthan you would have without reading this guide. Implementing my 6-weekstrategy will achieve varied results based on several factors, such as level orpreparation, understanding of the material, test-taking ability and more.Everyon e’s results will be different and no one can promise perfect MCAT scores(only better ones).

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    CONTENTS

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    CONTENTS

    01 Cover

    05 Introduction

    08 Step # 1 Do your Research

    11 Step # 2 Create a Baseline to Determine Where You Stand Right Now

    15 Step # 3 Understand Your Starting Point

    17 Step # 4 Create a Backwards Calendar

    20 Step # 5 Maximize Your Practice Exam Data and Create an Appropriate Study Strategy

    25 Step # 6 Don't Burn Out – Seriously

    30 Tutoring

    36 About the Author

    38 Links and Resources

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    INTRODUCTION

    As a former pre-med student and an MCAT tutor for the past several years,Ive helped dozens, if not hundreds, of aspiring medical students prepare to

    master the MCAT. Studying for the MCAT can be quite overwhelming. Why?Well, in a nutshell, you have to know EVERYTHING! And that ’s just thebeginning. First, you must learn an obscene amount of information. Then, youmust be able to apply the information to tricky and difficult MCAT stylequestions.

    A bright eyed pre-med student will open a brand new notebook, take a

    moment to think about the road ahead, and freak out. Where do I start? Do Itackle chemistry or physics, biology or organic chemistry? Do I take a practicetest or sign up for a course? These students get overwhelmed before they evenstart. So they push it off.

    Nah I have a year to go, this can wait. College exams, work, volunteering,girlfriend/boyfriend issues, and just life in general gets in the way.

    There’s still a year until I have to take the MCAT.

    I still have eight months.

    I still have six months.

    I still have… uh oh, I don’t have enough time.

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    Then they start studying like crazy, take practice exams, enter panic mode,and burn out before even reaching the actual exam. In working with thesestudents I ’ve noticed a trend and that is a lack of a strategic approach to MCAT

    studying. I ’ve heard horror stories of students wasting weeks reading throughtheir chemistry and physics textbooks, of other students reading through yearsof biology notes, and even more students taking every possible practice MCATout there. None of them had a real strategy so when it came to the exam, theygot stuck. They may have learned all of the information, but they weren ’t able toapply their knowledge to MCAT style questions.

    These students lacked a strategy. A simple but strategic roadmap telling themexactly what they needed to do to reach their goal. And that ’s exactly what youneed.

    When students hear strategy, they get overwhelmed, expecting I will tellthem to read their book in three days and do all the practice problems. Butthat ’s not the case. In fact, the secret to an effective strategy is creating apersonal game plan, one that works for YOU on your own schedule, focusing on

    your own strengths, working towards YOUR specific goal and your personal timeframe.

    I’m calling this guide a 6 week strategy because I want to give you aconcrete picture of how long it takes to figure out your strategy, create a gameplan, and follow it over the course of six weeks. I will assume that you havespent some time studying and reviewing the science material needed and are

    ready to jump into your last minute preparations. But this guide is not set instone. If you have just four weeks to go, this guide will still work for you. It willalso work if you have 4 6 months to go.

    To master the MCAT, you can ’t simply study and hope for the best. Youmust approach your studying with a sound strategy from day one. It doesn ’tmatter if it is day one of a six week, six month, or even a one year study plan. Bycreating a sound strategy and mapping out a related game plan, you will know

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    STEP# 1

    Do your Research

    Lets face it, MCAT studying may not be the most fun activity. You will beeating, sleeping, and breathing the MCAT. You may not see your friends andfamily for months. You need a very strong motivator to keep you going.

    It’s difficult to know what to aim for if you don’t know exactly what youneed to score. The advice of Shoot for a 30 works in a pinch, but that’s notsound advice. Your required MCAT score will depend on a number of factors,

    and I recommend doing the research before you even begin your studies.

    Devote an afternoon to researching different medical schools, in your stateand country wide. Look into everything about the school (MD, DO), from theprograms they offer to campus layout. But more importantly, look into theiraccepted student stats, including class requirements, extra-curricular activities,average GPA, science GPA and MCAT scores. This will help you determine if you

    are considered a competitive candidate for the program.

    Aim High (Five)

    Once you find a few schools that match your requirements and desires, findout what MCAT score you are required to achieve, AND AIM TO SCORE FIVEPOINTS

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    HIGHER

    Medical schools are flooded with applications, and the competition to get in

    is fierce. In fact, the average medical school receives dozens of applications forevery available seat. Junk-applications aside, this means you are competing withmany other students to get in. Shooting for five points higher on the MCAT willhelp you stand out as an above-average student as far as your MCAT score isconcerned.

    In 2013, at total of 48,000 students applied to medical school, of which

    35,700 were first time applicants. Only 20,000 first-time students were acceptedinto medical school in 2013, meaning, nearly three out of every five newapplicants were rejected. Now keep in mind that most students applied tomultiple schools, and some students were accepted to more than one school,which means many students were rejected from multiple schools. So it makessense to aim for scoring five points higher than the school’s average.

    In addition:

    1. If you score five points above the average you will stand out as a strongerapplicant, thus increasing your chances of getting an interview and potentialacceptance.

    2. Aiming for five points higher helps you build in a buffer. No matter how wellyou prepare, you will feel nervous on exam day. Nerves and panic will causeyou to make silly mistakes and potentially lose a few points on your exam. Bypreparing to score higher from the start, you’ve built in the ‘careless -mistakebu ffer’ and are still likely to achieve a competitive score overall.

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    Now that you’ve done your research, you should have a solid picture ofwhat lays ahead. This picture will keep you going through the long study days tocome.

    As a pre-med student in college, before I discovered my love of teaching, mydream was to do military emergency field medicine, and my dream school wasthe Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences or USUHS. I contacted theschool and they sent me a very fat guide complete with their curriculum outline,student stats, and even campus pictures.

    I read that book cover to cover and carried it everywhere. That book andthe dream it represented kept me going through late-night cram sessions and allthose stay-in-and-study days when my friends were hanging out doing funthings. So get your personal picture, create your own concrete goal and dreamto aspire to.

    Now that you have your dream, let’s figure out where you stand todetermine how far you have to go to get there.

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    STEP# 2

    Create a Baseline to Determine Where You Stand Right Now

    Remember, the goal of mapping out your strategy is to have a concretepicture of where you need to go and how to get there. The only way to figureout your next step is to know and understand where you stand right now. I don’tcare if you’ve forgotten all of the material, or even if you haven’t completed oneor more of the required science courses. If you’re taking your MCAT in the next12 months, and especially if you’re taking the exam in six weeks , you cannotskip this step.

    Many of my MCAT tutoring clients come to me after having spent weeks ormonths studying on their own. My first question to them is this: “Where do youstand with your MCAT score right now?” And they have no idea but they havegood excuses. NOT!

    “I haven’t taken orgo 2 yet so I don’t feel ready.”

    “I took physics two years ago and want to re -learn it first.”

    “I haven’t finished going through my biology notes.”

    The list goes on. Do you have a similar reason for postponing? If so, WHATARE YOU WAITING FOR?? Seriously, if you’re planning to take the MCAT soon,how do you know what you’re working towards if you don’t know where youstand right now?

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    In other words, taking practice tests enables you to pinpoint EXACTLY whatneeds improvement, and use your remaining time to focus on that. Later in thestrategy portion, I’ll talk about continually gauging and improving where you stand.

    Which Exam to Take?

    With so many MCAT test-prep companies out there, each offering someversion of the MCAT, it’s difficult to know where to turn and how to start. I havenothing against those test-prep companies, But for now, forget them and focus

    on gauging your score with a real AAMC exam.

    After all, the AAMC adm inisters the real MCAT, and they’ve made some ofthe past MCATs available online. How much more authentic can you get? Youdon’t have to play the guessing game. Start your strategy on a concretefoundation. You can grab a free exam from the AAMC website, (test #3) at:http://www.aamc.org/freemcatpractice

    Don’t Waste This Exam

    Before you take your exam, keep the following in mind:

    Your goal is to simulate realistic exam conditions as much as possible, sodon’t waste your practice exam by doing anything stupid. Below are some

    common mistakes to avoid. I’ve spoken to students who have committed eachof these errors.

    Turn off your cell phone! Seriously, this is an exam. That text message can wait,your Faceb ook friends won’t unfriend you, and you can tweet about this torturewhen it’s over.

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    Don’t use a calculator! The MCAT requires you to do math without a calculator .Don’t cheat yourself and skew your expectations by using electronic aids. If thisthrows you off, dive into my MCAT-Math-Without-A-Calculator tutorial AFTER

    your practice exam.

    Take the entire exam in one sitting! You are testing more than your science andverbal skills with this exam. You’re tes ting your endurance, along with yourability to solve MCAT-style questions over the span of a few hours. Pausing yourexam for an hour or a day to return with a fresh-rested mind does not simulateexam conditions, so don’t do it!

    Avoid distractions. You ar e not allowed to talk during your MCAT, so don’t letanyone talk to you during this pretest. Explain to family or roommates that youcannot be disturbed, or find another location to work such as a WiFi-capablecafé or library.

    So how did you do? Single digits? Double digits?

    Believe it or not, it’s normal for students to score in the high single or lowdouble digits on their first practice exam. This comes from a combination of lackof knowledge, incomplete studying, lack of familiarity with the exam and more.So if you scored low, don’t worry; there’s still hope for you. In my experience,MCAT scores can increase by around 20 points with a solid strategy followed upby serious dedicated studying.

    This, of course, depends on your initial score. The higher the score you startout with, the more difficult it will be to raise your score by many points.Improving from a 9 or 12 to a 20+ can be achieved with initial studying.Improving between the 20-30 scores requires serious content studying withpractice application. Improving beyond a 30 becomes increasingly difficult forevery additional point and requires following my strategy to the “T.”

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    STEP# 3

    Understand Your Starting Point

    The AAMC practice exam is more than just a diagnostic test. The feedbackprovided with your exam will be the key to creating a six-week study plan. Whenyou submit your exam you will be provided with a very detailed exam report.You’ll see your overall score out of 45, get your individual section scores forphysical science, verbal a nd biological science, each out of 15, and you’ll also geta detailed breakdown of the topics and subtopics on the exam, including howmany questions you got right, how many you got wrong, and how many you

    omitted (hopefully none).

    Don’t take this report as the final word on your abilities. Your score mayhave been impacted by everything from the bird chirping outside or a flukecorrect guess on a tough question, to a careless mistake on your part for aquestion that you should have gotten right in your sl eep! But it’s a starting point,so we’ll use this as the basis of your upcoming foundation.

    Instead, focus on the following:

    - How did you do overall?

    - How does this compare to your score goal established in step 1?

    - How did you do in the individual sections?

    - What went wrong, which topics were your pitfalls in each section?

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    But again, if you feel that this is an inaccurate representation of yourcurrent standing, don’t worry; you’ll be taking more exams and generating morescore reports periodically. Below is a snapshot of one of my student’s diagnostic

    exam reports, copied with permission:

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    STEP# 4

    Create a Backwards Calendar

    I’ve chosen to focus on a six -week strategy based on my experience workingwith dozens of MCAT students. I’ve found that six weeks is the minimumtimeframe required to see really strong improvement and results when startingfrom a diagnostic test. If you have less than six weeks until your exam, don’trush to change your date. If you’re worried about your personal situationincluding time-remaining or your current MCAT score viahttp://leah4sci.com/contact/ and let me know where you stand, and I’ll try tohelp.

    I really like the backwards calendar when it comes to working towards adifficult goal. The average to-do list requires writing out a series of bullet pointsshowing what you still have to do. And while you may be enthusiastic at first, lifetends to get in the way and the motivation slowly dies down, potentially keepingyou from your goal.

    By working on your goal backwards you don’t try to reach a goal. Insteadyou mark down your goals , each one to be conquered on a very specific day. Youbacktrack from your final goal, figuring out which steps must be taken along theway to reach it.

    Go to your local office supply store and purchase the largest poster boardyou can find (or mock up a large board by taping several sheets of papertogether). Draw a single backwards calendar similar to the images I’ve includedbelow.

    This will allow you to eyeball your total strategy in one view. If you have atraditional calendar, you may not take the ‘next month’ as seriously when theexam date is not right there in front of you (in huge letters, no less).

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    Mark your exam date/time at the top of the calendar. If you haven’tregistered for the exam yet, what are you waiting for? It’s just six weeks away,go reserve your MCAT date RIGHT NOW!!

    For this example, we’ll assume the MCAT takes place on Wednesday, July 16 at 8am.

    Mark this day on your backwards calendar. Now here is how you mark theremaining calendar. Remember, you can adapt this guide depending on howmuch time YOU have left.

    1 week before the exam – same day and time – Your 5th AAMC practice exam

    2 weeks before the exam – same day and time – Your 4th AAMC practice exam

    3 weeks before the exam – same day and time – Your 3rd AAMC practice exam

    4 weeks before the exam – same day and time – Your 2nd AAMC practice exam

    Skip Week #5 – this is a study/review week

    6 weeks before the exam - diagnostic test if you haven’t taken one yet, aka your1st practice exam if you’ve already taken your diagnostic test.

    Quick note: On these practice exams. I will assume that you have access tothe rest of the AAMC exams. I don’t care if your friend il legally shared theirKaplan password or Examkrackers study guides; I recommend that your finaltesting and analysis happen through the realistic and official AAMC exams.

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    STEP# 5

    Maximize Your Practice Exam Data and Create

    an Appropriate Study Strategy

    The month leading up to your exam is the most critical. It’s equally critical totake these practice exams on the same day and time as your actual MCAT,spaced about a week apart. If your exam is Monday but you work Mondays, takeyour practice exams on Sunday-- it’s close enough. Before I give you myargument for this, let me tell you a quick story.

    I hate running. I repeat: I HATE RUNNING! Yet when I joined the UnitedStates Navy Reserves, I was required to complete a 1.5 mile timed run to qualifyon the physical fitness test. I was also required to run to pass my boot campphysical, and required to repeat this run every six months as part of my biannualphysical fitness test. That is until I learned I could qualify with a timed swiminstead.

    When I found out about the run test, I set out to run, and managed aquarter mile before I had to stop, huffing and puffing and cramping all over. ButI couldn’t give up because I dreamed of becoming a military doctor. And so Itrained. Over the next few weeks I ran, rested, ran, and rested some more.

    I was slow at first, walking two miles, then adding in a minute of runningand increasing this time each running day. Slowly but surely, I increased myability to run from a quarter mile to a half mile to a mile and finally two mileswithout stopping, cursing all the way (did I mention I hate running?). But by thetime I had to run my 1.5 mile test, I was able to do it. By learning to run twomiles with ease, a 1.5 mile test was not only just another run, but it was easierto complete.

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    Many refer to this phenomenon as muscle memory. Now I don’t know if mymusc les ‘remembered’ the run, but over time they got used to it and stoppedcomplaining so loudly. The length became bearable, the physical exertion

    doable, and the time not as boring.

    Apply “Muscle Memory” to Your Brain

    So how does this relate to your weekly practice MCAT? Remember thatpractice test you took? Perhaps you felt excited, nervous, or motivated duringthe physical sciences section. Perhaps your patience began to run out when you

    hit the verbal section. But if you are like most students, you were likely pullingyour hair out and jumping out of your seat by the time you reached thebiological sciences section.

    Is biology tougher than the rest of the MCAT? Not necessarily. The issue isthat you’re simply not used to sitting for 4.5 hours at a time. Your body andbrain protest because they are not happy with the torture you are putting themthrough. So not only are you taking your exam, you’re also fighting every instinctthat tells you to give up and go home.

    Now imagine doing that same exam again one week later with somepreparation; and again the week after, and the week after that. Not only are youfamiliarizing yourself with the testing style, you are also physically conditioningyourself to sit for a few hours at a time and to function at maximum capacity forthose 4.5 hours. And, of course, you are learning to tackle MCAT style questions.

    By the time you take your real exam it’ll feel like just another practice exam, freeof the many-hour boredom and related MCAT jitterbugs.

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    But taking the exam is not enough. What you do in between practice examsis key to improving your score from week to week. We’re assuming that by thetime you’re tackling your final six -week stretch, you have at least attempted toreview all of your science requirements. I say attempted, because no oneREALLY gets through all of it.

    Here’s what you’ll take out of each subsequent practice exam:

    1. An overall score letting you know how you’ve improved since last time, andhow close you are to your overall goal.

    2. A breakdown of the individual exam section scores to let you know howyou’ve improved in each section, and how close you are to the individualsection goals.

    3. A breakdown of the specific topics and subtopics within each section lettingyou know what to study in the coming week.

    I think points #1 and #2 are self-explanatory. They are key to helping youmeasure your intermediate success, progress, and improvement towards youroverall goal. So let’s talk about #3.

    A common mistake I see among MCAT students is that they take too muchtime to review and study the actual practice MCAT exam. Yes, the exam is a

    valuable testing tool, but that’s all it is. Don’t go and memorize the examquestions, because the likelihood that you’ll see the same exact question onyour actual exam is slim to none.

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    Instead, here is what you should focus on when reviewing your practice MCAT

    1. Specific questions you missed – yes, they are still important.

    2. The broader topic surrounding your question.

    3. Questions you weren’t 100% confident about despite havi ng guessed oranswered them correctly.

    Make a list of topics based on the above points. Look for question types andbigger picture topics that you missed. Take these topics and break them up onyour backwards calendar for the entire week leading up to your next practiceexam. Aim to spend a minimum of 30 minutes studying and reviewing everytopic that you missed. If you feel you need more time, by all means give yourselfan hour or longer per topic.

    Let’s say you missed only ten questions (impressive). That’s at least 30minutes per question topic for a total of five hours spread over the course of theweek. Now let’s say you missed or didn’t feel confident with 30 -40 questions,which is much more likely. This will require at least 15-20 study hours over thecourse of the following week.

    Use this time to relearn the information, understand concepts, practice andmemorize formulas, and test your knowledge through practice quizzes and

    topic-specific exams in your study books and online material.

    For example , if you missed a question on pendulums, don’t just review theanswer out of the AAMC exam solution guide. Instead, review the answer first,then go back to the topic of pendulums in your book. Go back to your studyguides, my MCAT videos and your MCAT prep resources. Did you forget how toapply harmonic motion and Hooke’s law? What about potential energy and the

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    effect of gravity? Be sure to spend some time reviewing each of these individualconcepts.

    When your next practice exam rolls around, you may find some overlap inthe question topics. You won’t find the exact same questions, but your reviewshould have broadened your knowledge and strengthened some of yourweaknesses. You will also come across questions you haven’t seen before, butdon’t worry. That’s why I’m having you do multiple practice exams in the weeksleading up to your exam.

    This is the key to practice exam success. Too often I come across a serial-MCAT-taker, a student who takes practice exam after practice exam withoutmaximizing the benefit that each exam has to offer in terms of guided follow-upstudy sessions. These students take exams every few days, only study theanswers to the actual exam questions, and nothing else. They quickly findthemselves frustrated and overwhelmed. Don’t let this be you.

    Note of Caution

    You may find that your score stagnates towards the end, or even dips a fewpoints. This tends to happen as you get into critical thinking mode and perhapsover think questions. Just relax, realize that this does happen, and in doing a fewpractice exams as I’ve suggested, you’ll get comfortable with the strategy andbreak out of this plateau.

    Longer-Term Strategy

    If you have more than six weeks till your exam, this strategy still applies,especially during the final six weeks. However, if you have a few months to go,space your initial exams a month or two weeks apart. Spend more than 30minutes on each topic missed, and perhaps even set up blocks of time devotedto nothing but content review.

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    Yes you need to study hard, but you must also allow yourself some guilt-free breaks to mingle with people, maintain what’s left of your sanity, and ha vea good ‘ol fun time. This will keep you happy, focused, and motivated to keep

    going.

    My sister took her bar exam in the summer of 2013. I was getting to thepoint where I forgot I had a sister because she ate, slept, and breathed the bar.And if I did get her on the phone she’d yap on and on about the law. Don’t belike that, or just hang out with other pre-meds.

    Emergencies Never Check the Calendar

    This is a fun quote that really does apply. Be sure to build safety days intoyour schedule allowing you to play catch-up just in case something unexpectedhappens on a planned study day.

    For some reason, cram days always invite catastrophe, from getting sick, car

    breaking down, friend/family issues, anything really. And while life does happen,you cannot afford to fall behind to the point where you must choose betweenpostponing your exam or taking it unprepared.

    So yes, schedule a day off every week or so, but if something unexpectedhappens, turn the day off into a study day to keep you on track.

    Another way to avoid burning out is in the way you study. No matter howmuch you dislike a specific MCAT topic, the pain can be alleviated if you space itout over time.

    For example, if this week’s post -exam study requires a few hours for eachsubject, physic s, chemistry, verbal, biology and organic, don’t necessarily tacklethem one subject per day.

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    Instead, try to vary it. Take your favorite topic and spend the first 30minutes of each study day on this one topic. This will put you in a positive mood(since you like the topic) and get your mind into study mode. Now turn to

    something less fun; perhaps an hour of physics, followed by an hour of orgo.

    Leave the final half hour for additional review of your favorite topic. Thiswill help you end your session on a high note and keep you motivated for thenext day.

    If you’re on a longer term schedule, this strategy applies even more to you.

    Students often tell me “I have six months to study, I’ll devote a month to chem,the next month to physics, then a month to bio…”

    It sounds great, but I advise against it for two reasons:

    5. You may WANT to spend a month reviewing each topic, but as life happens,your month of chem turns into six weeks, your month of physics turns intotwo months, and before you know it, you’re out of time and you haven’ttackled organic chemistry.

    6. Say you are the super-motivated type and somehow manage to stick to thisone month per topic schedule. By the time you hit biology in month three,you’ll have forgotten general chemistry from the first month. By the time you

    hit orgo… you’ll have forgotten even more.

    Here is my alternative strategy. Five topics, five days of the week, orperhaps five consecutive study sessions however you choose to break it up. Sofor example, If you devote 2.5 hours per day for five days for the MCAT, try this:

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    And that’s it!

    You have your strategy, now get to it!

    If you don’t have an exam date yet, GO SIGN UP NOW

    If you haven’t done a practice exam yet, what are you waiting for? GO DO IT

    NOW!

    I will be posting a ton of valuable MCAT videos, tips, tricks, guides, cheat-sheets andmore on my website at http://leah4sci.com/mcat The topics and advice I publish will bedirect reflections of the questions I receive from students, so if you have any questionsdon’t hesitate to contact me via http://leah4sci.com/contact/

    Good Luck!

    http://www.leah4sci.com/mcathttp://www.leah4sci.com/mcathttp://leah4sci.com/mcathttp://leah4sci.com/mcathttp://leah4sci.com/mcathttp://leah4sci.com/contact/http://leah4sci.com/contact/http://leah4sci.com/contact/http://leah4sci.com/contact/http://leah4sci.com/mcathttp://www.leah4sci.com/mcat

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    TUTORING

    Sometime studying on your o wn is not enough. What do you do if you don’t

    understand the information, get stuck on a concept, or get lost on theexplanation to a practice question?

    This is where you need to enlist help to ensure you remain on the right track andkeep moving forward to your goals.

    I offer private online tutoring and will be happy to help you prepare for yourupcoming exam including setting up a personal MCAT exam strategy, workingthrough your content/understanding foundation, and helping you with difficultconcepts that come up in your study material and practice MCATs.

    Additional details/information can be found on my website athttp://leah4sci.com/mcat-tutoring-sessions or contact me directly to set up asession at: http://leah4sci.com/contact

    http://www.leah4sci.com/mcathttp://www.leah4sci.com/mcathttp://leah4sci.com/mcat-tutoring-sessionshttp://leah4sci.com/mcat-tutoring-sessionshttp://leah4sci.com/contacthttp://leah4sci.com/contacthttp://leah4sci.com/contacthttp://leah4sci.com/contacthttp://leah4sci.com/mcat-tutoring-sessionshttp://www.leah4sci.com/mcat

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