How She Broke Through Her 500 Score Plateau to 513! (ft. Julia Moore)

Show Notes

At the beginning of her MCAT journey, Julia was discouraged by how little progress she was seeing in her practice exam scores. In January, she scored a 499, and even after a month and a half of pushing herself in her studying afterwards, she only improved by 1-point… which was a long way from her dream score of 513. In particular, she struggled with the C/P section, which is something we think a lot of us can relate to as well! It’s so tough! So it was around this point that Julia decided to reach out for some help. Through tutoring with us and her own personal perseverance, Julia doubled down during the final 8 weeks leading up to her exam, and was eventually able to raise her score all the way up to the dream she’d had from the beginning– a 513!! With a 128 in C/P (a 5-point increase from her initial section score)! That’s so amazing! In this interview, we’re going to launch into exactly how she achieved a 13-point score increase in just 2 months, how she motivated herself through a plateau, what strategies she used for each section, and so much more… Additionally, she attributes much of her success to enrolling in an MCAT Mastery course. Here's what she says about her MCAT Mastery experience: “I had Merrina as my tutor and I cannot recommend her enough. She’s great at what she does and knows the MCAT frontwards and backwards. She gave me a lot of tips and strategies to help with my weakest areas. She also let me work through problems with her during our sessions so she could see where I was getting hung up and not performing as well or efficiently. Really thankful for all her help!!”

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From plateauing MCAT scores, and having to retake, to breaking down days before exam day, all 70+ MedLife Mastery Mentors suffered the frustrations and disappointments that come with MCAT prep. Yet we ALL ended up getting 90+ percentile MCAT scores and are on our way to (or already in) med-school! Now we want to help you do the same!

If you're struggling with the MCAT, need some extra motivation, want to know how top scorers before you studied and learn their best strategies, this show is for you. You have what it takes to beat this exam. We’re here to make sure of that!

Hi, everyone, I'm Monica and welcome back to another MCAT Master interview. In this series, as a lot of you know, we basically just sit down with MCAT top scores and get all their secrets for finding success on the exam. So we're hoping to inspire you as you're studying too, because we know how much of a struggle it can be. And so with that today, I'd like to introduce you all to Julia Moore. Julia, thanks so much for being on the podcast. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Of course. We're really excited to hear from you and hear your journey. Before we get started with all of that, we'd just like to give our students a little bit more information about your background and what your journey was like. So at the beginning of her MCAT journey, Julia was a little discouraged by how little progress she was seeing in her practice exam scores, like so many of us. And so in January, she scored a 499 and even after a month and a half of pushing herself and studying afterwards, she only improved by one point after that, which was a long way from her dream score of a 513. So even more, she was particularly struggling with the chem and fizz section, which I can definitely understand. And I think a lot of us struggle with that one too. It's so tough. So it was around this point after that 500 score that she was at, that Julia decided to reach out for some help. And through tutoring with us and her own personal perseverance, Julia doubled down during the final eight weeks leading up to her exam and was eventually able to raise her score all the way up to the dream that she'd had from the beginning, which was a 513 with a 128 and chem and fizz, which was like a five point increase on that particular section. So that's amazing. Congratulations on that score again. That's awesome. And so in this interview, we're just going to launch into understanding exactly how you got there. So that 13 point increase in those like two months and how you kind of motivated yourself to persevere through the plateau because I know a lot of people can relate to that and so much more. We'll get into I'm sure along the way, but with all of that, we can go ahead and just get started. So Julia, why don't you just like start by telling us a little bit about yourself before we get into the MCAT itself? Yeah. So my name is Julia. I'm happy to be here. I am currently a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill. I am a biology major with minors in chemistry and medical anthropology. So I signed up to take the MCAT like May 19th and took that and then I actually left for a study abroad program a few days after, which was awesome. I was in France for six weeks. So yeah, I just got back from that and I've been enjoying my free time at home with friends and family. Yeah, absolutely. In France. That's amazing. Welcome back. Thank you. It was awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And I'm sure it was like a welcome vacation or like break from everything. It was. It helped take my mind off of waiting for the score and everything. I just kind of got to go my way and forget about it for a while. Yeah. The best way to forget about it. That's the perfect distraction. Right. Yeah. So we can get into the MCAT now. That's the perfect segue. So before, you know, the MCAT is the obstacle that we all get on on this pathway. So what inspired you to start on this path to begin with, to becoming a doctor? Yeah. So it wasn't like super linear for me. I didn't grow up like always knowing I wanted to become a doctor. I think in high school, I really found my love for science and I love serving others. So healthcare just seemed like the perfect blend for those two things. And so I remember shadowing like a neonatal nurse in high school. It's kind of turned away from that. So then I went into college thinking maybe PA school. Honestly, I was just kind of just like scared to commit fully to medical school. And then the more I talked to PAs and doctors alike and especially med students, I really felt called to the physician route. My personality is kind of just like to go all the way with everything. And so that's kind of what called me this direction. I've also been a nursing assistant for a while. So it kind of showed me that like I want to be more on the diagnostic side and last on the bedside. So yeah, it's kind of got me here. Yeah, absolutely. It sounds like you had a lot of first hand experiences to talk to people. So that seems really helpful to like inspire you. Yeah. Like you said, go all the way. And so like one thing that going all the way requires is taking this MCAT exam, which can be one of the biggest hurdles, I guess, for people to even like do this path. So you know, with the MCAT coming up as you were on this pathway, what did you think as you were like coming up on the exam? And how did you feel as you were beginning to prep for like what was going on in your life at the time? Yeah, it's definitely like a big daunting task. And I knew that I was going to need just to set aside a lot of time to properly study and prepare. But at the time, so I started studying in January and I was still working as a nursing assistant at the hospital. So that was taking up a lot of my time alongside a full course load of school. So I knew I had to step back from a nursing assistant position, which made me really sad. But I knew it was the right thing to do. So I finished out my shifts in January and then it was basically just school and MCAT studying from there on out. And I don't regret that at all. I think it was the right thing to do just because MCAT studying really does take your full attention and you have to commit a good amount of hours each week. Yeah, yeah, definitely. It can be really hard to like balance a lot of things with it. So, yeah, you're kind of already touching on this. But what was your plan for studying when you started? Did you have like a study schedule that you were kind of hoping to stick to? Yeah, a little bit. So I had kind of set up my schedule to help me out a little bit with MCAT studying. So my Mondays and Wednesdays, only my mornings were occupied with class. So my afternoons were free. And then Tuesdays, Thursdays, I didn't have class until like four. So it was it left a lot of time for me to really study like big chunks at a time. And those Tuesdays, Thursdays allowed me to take practice tests then, which was very nice. So I didn't have to wait till like the weekend and use up my whole weekend. So that was kind of my schedule and that worked out pretty well. It was kind of flexible. So I didn't hold myself like too tightly to like this days for this and this days for that. But I definitely tried to use those big chunks of time to my advantage. Yeah, definitely. And did you have like a sort of strategy on like a larger basis, like where are you planning to do content first and then practice? How did you do that? Yeah, so I'm like planning on taking a gap year. But the reason for taking it like now is because a lot of the class and like course content was relevant, like I just taken these classes. So I didn't spend a ton of time on content review. I maybe spent like a few weeks really diving into content review, but then I kind of dove straight into practice. And then as I would review my practice tests, I would realize like what I need to spend more time on reviewing content wise. So I was a little less organized in that sense. I think I kind of just thought I would do more practice than content review. Kind of looking back, wish I did more content review. Fair enough. Yeah, both are really important. Like I think we talk a lot about practice and strategy here, but the content foundation is really important as well. So you do have both, but so I know I mentioned like in your kind of intro that you had a score goal in mind during your prep. So how did you kind of come up with your score goal and why did you feel the need to like have a certain score? Yeah, so I had like done a Princeton review course and it had like asked for my goal score. I kind of just came up with a number, but it was one that I thought was attainable at the time. And I had set for a 518 with my Princeton review course and then quickly realized I mean, I was just like struggling so much in the middle. So then when I came to and Pat Mastery, trying to find tutoring, I set a little bit more of a realistic goal. And I'm still so happy I met that. But yeah, in the beginning, it was a 518 and I kind of just came up with a number. It felt like kind of where my reach schools, like the number they were asking for. So that's kind of where I came up with that. Yeah, definitely. And it's not a detriment to ever dream big either. Like we tell students that all the time, go for a high score. Definitely do that if that's going to motivate you. But you can always adjust it as well, if you feel like something more realistic is a little bit better for your mentality as well. Yeah, that's yeah, a good thing to touch on there, too. So I know you were like mentioning tutoring, which we'll get to a little bit later. But in regard to other resources and materials that you used, what did you find the most helpful in your prep? Yeah, so I signed up for a Princeton Review self-study course, which I found really helpful. I was kind of on my own schedule, which was nice. And it had a very comprehensive list of all the classes and content review I could ever need. It was nice to have that all in one place. But I would say the biggest things that helped me were the AAMC tests and the Q-Banks. This came with my Princeton Review course. And I found them super helpful because they're very similar to what you will see on test day. And then also U-World was extremely helpful for me. It was just kind of like a third party website that has a bunch of practice. And it also has psych-soesh practice, which I kind of found hard to find. I don't think AAMC has like a Q-Bank for psych-soesh. So I really needed to practice there and U-World offered that. And then also I did Anki cards. I would make flashcards for literally every single thing I got wrong. And I would just like study, study, study. If not every day, every other day. So that kind of helped me refresh on the concepts that I was still learning. Yeah, we hear a lot about like U-World, Anki, both of those. So they must be really helpful because everybody's talking about them. Yeah, and there's so many resources. So to like hear that again and get your perspective on that is always really helpful. Did you have like a certain way that you kind of used those? Did you save like AAMC for later on? Or was there any like sort of strategy there? Yeah, so it was around like March when I had come to MCAT Mastery, like looking for tutoring. And I up until that point I had only taken Princeton Review course tests. So it was around that time that I switched to I took a blueprint test and improved a lot there. And then I took the AAMC test and I kind of saved them for like the last five weeks, I would say five or six weeks. So I was taking one like every week or a little bit like more spaced out than that. And I found them extremely helpful. And then with U-World, you can either use like tutor mode or test mode. And I found test mode super helpful because it's like the real thing. And really test your knowledge and time management. And then AlkiCard, it's like I never really downloaded any like pre-made decks, which might be unpopular, but I just made my own and kind of structured them the way that I thought would help me study best. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So thanks for explaining on that. I know it's hard for people to conceptualize sometimes like how to use them. And so like speaking more generally again about like your journey, what were your biggest challenges or struggles on that journey? And how did you kind of overcome those to get to your eventual score? So I think the hardest thing was just score plateaus for me. I felt like I was putting in all of this work and I wasn't seeing any improvement. It was really, really frustrating. So I would say my roadblock was around that March time and my test was in May. So I definitely felt like it was crunch time and I needed to be seeing improvement, but I wasn't. So honestly, that's where like my morale was lowest and I had a big low point then. But I think I have a very practical dad who was set on finding tutoring and that was super helpful. And then it was honestly just like encouraging the tutor that I had. It was kind of like a personal cheerleader in a lot of ways, just constantly boosting your confidence. And I also looked at other resources online. Like I went from using solely Princeton Review resources to looking at Blueprint and looking at AMC. And I felt like diversifying the resources I was using really helps me see improvement. I think I was in such a lull with like the same kind of tests and not seeing an improvement. So that was my pivot point and just kept pushing and tried to use different resources. Yeah, yeah, you just need to like persevere sometimes and rebuild confidence and endurance and all that. So yeah, glad that you're touching on that because that's a big mentality thing that I think a lot of people forget about. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything so like on the reverse of that you think there's anything that you did do that you like wouldn't do a second time around? Yeah. So I think I touched on this earlier, but just spending more time on content review. I think I was a little bit overconfident in like knowing I kind of knew everything on a surface level with the classes I had taken, but there were still definitely some topics that I had just like never seen before or because there's just like niche things on the MCAT. You just like have to know and they're so random. So there were those things and then also just like refreshing on some GenCAM that I hadn't seen in years. So I really wish I dove deeper into content review before starting all the practice and then continued with that content review. I think I just I thought that they had to be two separate things. Like you start and you finish content review and then you go on to practice, but I didn't really understand the whole give and take there. They kind of coincide with one another and yeah, I wish I did that a little bit better. Right. Right. Yeah. You can't forget about content. Which like foundation sometimes of everything. So that makes a lot of sense. And so you have your plateau that you were like kind of talking about and then you were eventually able to like increase your score and pretty quickly to it seems like. So for someone who like might be listening to this and is like really wanting to increase their score quickly over the last few months before their exam, what advice would you have for them for like increasing their score in that way? Yeah. So one of the most helpful things I did was really spending a ton of time with score report reviews. So after you take a test, like spending five to six hours reviewing every single question, even the ones you got right. And of course, the ones you got wrong, like there were plenty of times I would just guess on a question and even if I got it right, like I still want to go back over it. It's so time consuming, but probably the most helpful thing I did because as I was going through, I was making note of like patterns that I was making or just like patterns of mistakes I was making. And just like groups of questions or like topics that were especially hard for me. So I would organize it in such a way that was like really methodical and I would kind of structure my studying based on how I did on that test. So until I finished that score report review, I didn't know what direction I was going, like what subject to focus super heavily on versus a little bit lighter. So that would be my biggest piece of advice. And then also on key cards, I think was a great way to have that daily recall because without it, you're you're taking in all this information and writing a bunch of notes on the videos you're watching. But if you're not recalling it, there's no way it's sticking in your brain. So if you can make like quick little cards on topics like even pathways and things like I would insert an image of the pathway and I would do that every day or every other day. And it would just ingrain it in my brain. Yeah, yeah, those are awesome tips. And I think they're really like digestible and manageable, too. So make those changes today. In addition to that, along with like improving your score, increasing quickly, there's also like the aspect of tutoring that you were mentioning and how that kind of helped you as well. So what was your tutoring experience like and what do you think was like the most important thing you learned there? Yeah, so I I really liked Mcat Mastery because it kind of gave me the option to just do a tutoring service. Whereas I feel like all the other ones were like, and here's this package of all this, you know, like classes and everything. And I already had that. So I really just needed a personal tutor and I found it very helpful. I love my tutor. She really tailored like each session to what I needed or what felt like, you know, I needed the most practice on that day. And I think the most helpful thing that she gave me was just really applicable strategies for certain sections. So like Kim Fizz, she would go through like math shortcuts with me, which is like the number one thing you need for Kim Fizz. Just like quick ways to do quick math and estimate and move on. So she really helped me digest that section. Same with bio and like experiments and stuff. So she just really gave me applicable tools to get through problems faster and with a greater success rate. Yeah, timing is like a huge thing. So I can make like a huge difference as well. So that's awesome. And so that's a perfect segue again as well. So let's like get into the specific sections now. And we'll kind of go in order to make it easier, which starts us off with the kicker, which is a Kevin Fizz, which is what you're just talking about. So you said like this was kind of a struggle for you and a lot of students kind of struggle with this as well. So you ended up getting a one twenty eight in that section, which is great. So how did you study for it? And what did you find the most helpful to that? Yeah, I saw a lot of like ups and downs with Kim Fizz. I feel like my score was never steady. But I think the thing that helped me most was those math shortcuts. I was just talking about there is a ton of just like quick equations that you have to be able to solve and so much of it is not actually solving the problem all the way through or not getting that exact answer, but just being able to like guesstimate your way through. The MCAT is not for exact math, like it's just quick mental math. So I think finding quick ways to, you know, ground numbers and tricks to divide and multiply faster is what really helps me like save time, because I think I was getting most stressed under the time crunch with Kim Fizz. Like I felt like I couldn't devote the time I needed to solving what seems like very difficult physics problems and used to, you know, in my physical class, having much more time to solve these problems. So it was just like very quick with the MCAT shortcuts are my biggest advice. And then also, yeah, there was a good bit of chem that I had for review because it's been a few years since my freshman year that I took it. So I really had to dive into content review. I had to devote a lot of time to content review for Kim Fizz and just brushing up on these subjects because, yeah, I would freak out with some of the Gen Kim and like whole ratios and stuff. And I was like, this is the basics, but it's been so long. So yeah, that's all like really valid. And I think a lot of students have like similar stressors. So hopefully that helps a little bit with that. So going next is the cars section, a section that a lot of students find really, really difficult. So we've got a 128 there as well, which is awesome. So how'd you study there and what advice would you have? I cars was kind of like none other. I think it was kind of just like a study. You just got to keep doing practice and learn the kinds of questions that they're asking. They only ask a specific kind of question. So the more passages you do, the better you'll get. I think I had a pretty good strategy from the get go with cars that I think I learned through Princeton review. But I would look over the questions first and kind of highlight key words. And then I would read the passage. And after I'm done reading the passage, I would answer the questions. But I would, because I'd already reviewed them, like I was on the last question. So then I would answer them kind of backwards, like going from the highest number to the lowest. And then I would use the navigation page to like skip to the next passage. And that saved a lot of time and sort of like clicking through each question. And this was like a super time saving strategy that worked well for me at least. I would even jot down a few notes while I was reading the passage or after I was reading the passage to kind of give like the main idea and help me kind of get the overall like tone of the passage because I think we can get so caught up in the details. Try to answer the questions. And yeah, I see the help for help me. Yeah, yeah, I think you're you're definitely right. These passages can just seem really like a lot to digest. So you have to really just like ground yourself in that a little bit. Yeah, so we can go next to Biobio where you got a one twenty eight again in that section. So how'd you study there and will be your advice there? So I think the hardest part for me with Biobio was the experiments because it would just be like so many graphs and words. And I don't know, it's just a lot to digest. So I had to get a lot more comfortable with these. And I think, yeah, just lots of practice being able to get the most valuable information from a graph very quickly. So just like reading your axes and paying attention to all the error bars and everything. I don't know, you just the more practice you do, you know what to pay attention to. And I think another helpful thing for me was my tutor kind of pointed this out, but you don't have to understand every single detail the first time you're reading through. I think it's important to get the main idea. And then once you read the questions, you'll know what to focus on. But I think the beginning I was getting so caught up and not understanding every single word and fretting over that. But that's not the main point. The questions will point you to the details you actually need to know and understand. Yeah, that's a great strategy for that section as well. And so lastly, we have the psych social section where your high score was in the section one twenty nine. It's awesome. So what advice would you have for this one? Yeah, so psych social is a lot of memorization. Honestly, I think you just have to know all the terms that they're going to present to you. And I found you really helpful with this. So I would just make flashcards of every psych social word that I encountered on tests, practice questions. And once I kind of you, I don't know, your knowledge of the psych social section like grows so fast just because like every answer choice you're writing down into Anki and they only have so many words to give you and so many definitions to give you. So I think at the end of the day, like, yes, you have passages for psych social. But as long as you know what the word means, it's pretty simple. So I found Anki cards really helpful. And then also you will practice. I mentioned this before, but it was one of the only resources I found that had significant psych social Q packs. I didn't find this with AMC. So I got a lot of good practice in there. And yeah, we just do test mode with you, world. Yeah, absolutely. That's all awesome advice again. And I know students listen for like specific sections in these episodes sometimes, so hopefully like they'll be able to listen and like see what they need to do for each section, which is awesome. And so now the last few questions are just about your like MCAT test day and the test itself. So what was the day of like for you? Stressful. It was like, I mean, expected. But I mean, I had a lot of nerves. I had visited the test site prior to my test day, which I can say was helpful. I think it helped ease some nerves because I knew exactly where I was going, where I had to be at what time. So I would recommend doing that. And yeah, I got up, you know, with a good amount of time before my test, got Starbucks and yeah, I just had enough time to myself and to just like take deep breaths and hit myself up before going in. And then during the actual day, like I made sure to bring a lot of the same foods I've been eating during my practice tests. I also brought in coffee for breaks, which woke me up. And I would make sure to like walk and stretch. They they're pretty lenient about that. So you can like walk out of the room and stretch to really use that time to your advantage to just like clear your mind and try and forget about the past section. Like it's done. You just have to forget about it and move on because dwelling on those questions is doing absolutely nothing for you. So just trying to hype yourself up for that next section. Yeah, I have to have a short memory. Yes. And how was it like waiting to get your score back and like what was it like once you saw it? Yeah, as I said, I was in France, so it wasn't like super hard. There were moments where it would hit me that I was like, oh, my gosh, it's coming out in a few days. Like, and I would just, you know, get a little scared. But in the time difference, too, I didn't open it until like the next day. But when I did open it, I was super relieved. It was kind of where I wanted and where I was expecting because I think the last practice test I took, I got a five, 15. So it was right kind of where I was expecting. I wouldn't say it was like a jump up and down. Like, oh, my gosh, this is the best thing ever. But I was extremely relieved because I feel like a lot of my schools that I'm trying to apply to is kind of in that average range. So I was excited and, yeah, just happy to have it done with. Right, right. You don't have to do it ever again. Like, it's really over. That's a great, great feeling. So congratulations again on that. That's amazing. Thank you. And so going forward, like, what are your plans now? Is it applying to medical school? Or you said you're maybe doing a gap year. Yeah. So the rest of the summer, I'm working at a local like family medicine clinic and I'm going to finish up school. And then, yeah, I'm hoping to take a gap year, move some place fun. And I'm at a medical school and then hopefully, yeah, I'm matriculated in the year 2024. So, yeah, in five to 10 years, I hope to be in med school. Right. Yeah, still in med school, still learning. But yeah, that's amazing. Yes, take a gap year before, you know, before getting started with medical school, which will be another, like a lot of schooling. It seems amazing to like take a gap year and have some time so you don't burn out. I want to win my 20s for a little bit. Yeah, exactly. Maybe back in France. Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe amazing. Well, awesome. So just to kind of wrap up here, do you have like any last bits of final nuggets of wisdom for students who might be listening to this and are thinking that they can't do this and are feeling discouraged by the exam? Yeah, I think just keep your head in it. You're near the end. And this is such a hard, like, feet and journey. But find a height person to cheer you up and keep you encouraged because there's no doubting that this is hard. But yeah, just try to keep your attitude high and yeah, push through. You're almost there. Yes, you got it. Well, thank you so much for your time, Julia. We really enjoyed having you here. So thank you again. Thanks for having me, of course. And good luck with everything like going forward, your gap year and then with medical school after that. And to all of our listeners, like Julia said, good luck. You guys got this and good luck with your exams coming up. Just keep studying, keep working, and we're here if you need us. One, this is Monica again. And before you go, I just want to remind you that if you're not receiving our daily free MCAT strategy and success story emails yet, definitely be sure to sign up for those at mcatmastery.net slash free course. In addition to that, if you feel like you might need personalized help with the exam and would like to have an MCAT mentor kind of look at your situation and help you identify exactly what's holding your score back. You can look into that too at mcatmastery.net slash MCAT mentors. And lastly, and most importantly, we just want you guys to know that you have what it takes to succeed on this exam. We know the MCAT is intimidating and when you get a score that's lower than you expected on a practice or on the real thing, it's so easy to feel discouraged or frustrated or even hopeless about the exam. We get it. A lot of us have been there. So we want to give you the guidance that we wish we'd had when we were in your shoes. And that's what these interviews are for. That's what our emails are for. We want you guys to be able to feel confident again and most importantly, be able to see that med school mission is possible. And it's not out of your reach at all. So thanks again for listening. And remember that every top score, every med student and every doctor made it through this journey so you can do it too. You guys got this.