The MCAT is the big comprehensive test that pre-medical students must take before they finish undergraduate, and apply to medical schools. Medical schools almost always require this a score from this test to be included with an application to their school, so it is quite important. The MCAT stands for Medical College Admissions Test, and it covers biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, reading analysis, and essay writing. It’s certainly not a test to be taken lightly, as many pre-med and medical students will tell you.
Thus, it is wise to start preparing as far ahead of time as possible, hopefully giving one the edge to succeed on this test. While there are many great review guides, and even many popular review programs that one may sign up for, there are also several free resources online for those trying to study for the MCAT. For those looking for save money, and who are willing to work on their own, these resources may be a great find. The links to all of these websites may be found with the supporting links at the end of the article.
The Princeton Review offers a free MCAT online practice test for those looking for a total practice test. According to their website, “If you want to test your MCAT knowledge, or just familiarize yourself with a computer-based test (CBT), try this free, full-length MCAT practice exam. When you finish, you’ll get a score report showing your strengths and weaknesses.” (“The Princeton Review”) This will probably offer a good chance to get used to the test in general, as it is around 5 hours long (make sure you have some free time!), as well as the experience of taking it on a computer. The free demo also offers, “A sample of one of our lively and engaging multimedia lessons which features animation, audio, and self-directed navigation” which may be of use to those who want to take the Princeton Review later on, which is not free.
If you like working on just sample questions in just one area or so, then the TestPrepReview website may be very useful to you. This website offers a lot of test practice material, not only for the MCAT, but also for the PSAT, SAT, LSAT, GRE, and many other tests. For the MCAT, they offer a simple, free online “Self Assessment Modules” which are basically one to two sections, each 20 or so questions each, multiple choice (just like the MCAT) over many of the subjects covered on the MCAT. The setup is very easy to use, but I would suggest not only using this as your only resource, as it is limited in scope.
TheStudyGuideZone seems to be linked to the TestPrepReview website, but they also offer some useful guides, and practice questions. I’ve found practice questions to be very, very useful for other tests, and reviewing many will probably help for the MCAT as well. This website also offers other review guides, for free, over the other tests like the previously mentioned TestPrepReview.
If you are looking for some free review material, check these websites out! Afterall, practice makes perfect (or close) right?
