✅ Get all free MCAT courses, practice passages, strategy emails, downloads, study notes, and more here: https://go.medlifemastery.com/ilima0k In this episode, we sit down with Chrysalis, a Teach for America biology teacher and MCAT success story, who shares her honest journey from struggling with chem-phys and bio-biochem to scoring a 517 on test day. From battling burnout to discovering the power of strategy over content cramming, you’ll walk away with actionable advice to transform your MCAT p...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 27
Burnout during the MCAT is a common and challenging experience, often characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion, decreased motivation, and a sense of overwhelm caused by the demanding and extensive preparation required for the exam. The intense pressure to perform well can lead to burnout among test takers, making self-compassion and balanced study practices crucial for maintaining well-being and achieving success. What does it take to conquer the MCAT, push through burnout, and come ou...
Jun 20, 2025•42 min•Ep. 26
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 rea...
Aug 24, 2022•29 min•Ep. 25
Preparing for the MCAT is hard enough on its own, but with a learning disability, it can become a lot harder! The good news is that even with a learning disability, you can ace the MCAT. How? Well, we'd like you to meet Michael, who was diagnosed with a learning disability and Tourette Syndrome before high school, and scored 517 (94th percentile) on the MCAT! He's truly an inspiration and has put in the effort to create this episode for you on how to study for the MCAT when you have a learning d...
Jul 28, 2022•11 min•Ep. 24
With an exam as massive and important as the MCAT, nerves are inevitable! But how do we prevent these feelings of anxiety from getting the best of us? In this episode, Savannah Runge, 517 scorer MCAT Mastery mentor, shares easy and effective strategies you can put to use the second you feel a negative emotion coming up while you're studying or during an exam!
Jul 20, 2022•8 min•Ep. 23
Ever ask yourself 'am I ready for the MCAT'? There comes a point in every premed's journey where we ask ourselves this question and need to decide whether we need to push back or test date. After successfully walking many students through this decision, AND making the right decision during her own MCAT prep, Ariana (MS2, 515 scorer, and MCAT Mastery Mentor) has created this video to guide you on when it makes sense to push your test date back and when it doesn't!
Jul 14, 2022•21 min•Ep. 22
Has any of this ever happened to you when preparing for the MCAT?: - You UNDERSTAND the passage but get the questions wrong (and when you review the passage, the answer was so obvious!) - You're afraid to choose an answer because it seems too easy (so you don't choose it, but it was the right one!) - You constantly get stuck between two answer choices (and end up choosing the wrong one because you second guess yourself!) Don't worry. We’ve all been there! It took a lot of disappointing scores be...
Jun 23, 2022•9 min•Ep. 21
At the start of his exam experience, Jake found himself very stressed out when it came to studying for the MCAT (especially with the CARS section). After scoring a 498 on his first practice exam, he knew he needed to increase his workload, but he sacrificed a lot of sleep and relaxation in the process. All of this stress and anxiety culminated in him led to him scoring a 509 on his first real exam day and although he knew that others might consider the score to be good, he knew that he could do ...
May 27, 2022•41 min•Ep. 20
Just a month before her exam date, Kayla was scoring at a 500 on her practice exams. Although this wasn't a position that she wanted to be in, like a lot of us, she maintained her motivation and decided to push through to her exam. However, at that point, Kayla also realized that she didn’t have to go through her final prep month alone-- and that’s when she reached out to us for help. From there, she started working on her approach to the exam but was still only scoring at a 503 two weeks before...
Mar 11, 2022•42 min•Ep. 19
Maintaining a healthy balance between school, family and self-care had been Stephanie’s constant struggle. Taking her score from 496 to 505/506 took 11 months, then with 30 days left before her test day, her score skyrocketed to a 513! This is how she did it. As you'll hear from the interview, Stephanie found our strategies to improve her score! Here's what she had said about them: "One of the best resources for my MCAT journey! I wish I had found it sooner, but the MCAT Mastery guide & the ...
Feb 16, 2022•34 min•Ep. 18
Today we'd like to introduce Jennifer Nagel, an MCAT top scorer, and our guest in today's MCAT Master Interview! Although Jennifer always felt confident with the sciences, the MCAT is enough to make anyone second guess their skills. Having taken the exam once in 2015, where she scored a 494, and again in 2019, where she scored a 502, she could have let her dream end there, but she didn’t... Jennifer’s story with the exam is one of overcoming test anxiety, cultivating persistence, and determinati...
Jan 21, 2022•35 min•Ep. 17
It's holiday season!! 🎄 If you're in the midst of studying for the MCAT, you might be feeling all kinds of ways... You might be feeling trapped, having to study while you see others around you taking breaks from their busy lives and having fun. You might be feeling guilty, not studying as much as you think you should be, while spending a lot of time with family and friends. We've been there. Those of us who tested in Jan or March were dealing with the same struggles during the December holidays...
Dec 23, 2021•34 min•Ep. 16
Like so many others, Abbi Shrontz found herself overwhelmed by the MCAT. When she began her prep, she was juggling 2 jobs and was a full-time student. And although she did thoroughly review content, her scores plateaued around the low 500s. In this episode, Abbi shares how she turned that around into a success story - in 30 days, she went from the 63rd to a 92nd percentile score! 🙌 As you know, Abbi worked 1:1 with an MCAT Mastery Mentor and used the strategies that are now available in our sel...
Dec 06, 2021•58 min•Ep. 15
Kartik Goswami went from having a 510 score goal but scoring 480s to 490s for four months straight, to taking the MCAT four separate times over a year, before finally achieving an impressive 514! He is truly an inspiration to anyone feeling frustrated on this journey and to anyone who feels like giving up their dreams... As you'll hear from the interview, Kartik worked 1:1 with an MCAT Mastery Mentor! Here's what he had to say about it: "The tutoring experience was amazing! I really had a great ...
Nov 20, 2021•38 min•Ep. 14
One of the most difficult parts about the MCAT is that it pushes us past the boundary of what is comfortable. This includes: → Sitting for 7 hours at a time → Mastering physics (or any other topics you aren’t a fan of) → Missing problems on practice questions, exams, even the real MCAT → Emotions: exhaustion, frustration, fear, imposter syndrome All of these can lead you to want to back away from what is causing you negative feelings. In this case, the MCAT. So how do you overcome this? This is ...
Nov 05, 2021•26 min•Ep. 13
When Kalei first started studying for the MCAT, she was worried that she wouldn't have enough time to study and was overwhelmed by her busy schedule on top of preparing for the exam. All of this culminated in her scoring a 498 at the beginning of her prep, which was definitely not as high as she wanted it to be. So going forward from there, she began to focus on developing efficient study strategies and was able to raise her score to an astounding 514 by her test date, that's a 16 point increase...
Oct 29, 2021•24 min•Ep. 12
Nate went from 32 med-school rejections because of his 500 MCAT score, to a 514 and med-school acceptance 2.5 years later! This is his success story :) "I applied to medical school last cycle and got rejected from 32 schools, and the harsh reality of having to take the MCAT again was a rough one to embrace. But the reason I want to do this interview is because I want to help other premed students not have to face that reality, so they can crush it the first time and go to their dream school!" - ...
Sep 30, 2021•42 min•Ep. 11
As a full-time student, Anne spent the beginning of her MCAT prep, balancing studying with her classes. Over two weeks before her test day, she began to realize that she might have just been passively studying because she scored a 501 on one of her practice exams. Upset by the score, she contemplated rescheduling, as it had already been rescheduled once before. So, she decided to push through Instead. She worked hard, signed up for tutoring, and most importantly, changed her mindset towards the ...
Sep 02, 2021•37 min•Ep. 10
With 4 weeks left before MCAT test day, Yusuf Amawi found himself plateauing at a 500 on practice exams and he was aiming for a 512. This is a large increase, but like we tell all of our students, it’s absolutely possible. Struggling and unsure what to do to increase his score, Yusuf began trying to change his study methods and approach to the exam, and that’s what ultimately brought him to us. With his tutor and his own perseverance, his hard work eventually paid off and 30 days later on test d...
Aug 26, 2021•37 min•Ep. 9
As part of our ongoing mission to put together the formula for achieving a top MCAT score, we understand that it is important to not only focus on the content and the practice questions but also to have that growth mindset to keep moving forward. So, in today's episode, Monika and Ariana talk about the common issues students are struggling with, what grit is and how each characteristic applies to the MCAT prep. Can't wait to share this with you and help you become an MCAT top scorer!
Jun 29, 2021•30 min•Ep. 8
In this MCAT Master Interview, you'll meet Samantha Main. Samantha began MCAT studying almost 8 months before her test date, with full dedication really in the last 2-3 months, but by her test date, she wasn’t feeling ready. She even pushed the MCAT back 2 weeks, but still ended up scoring a 499 on her first attempt! She was far into applications and knew she had to do better to get accepted, so she decided to shoot for another test date just four weeks later! Which was also the last test date o...
Jun 10, 2021•35 min•Ep. 7
Welcome to another MCAT Master Interview! In this series, we talk with MCAT top scorers so that we can find out what strategies helped them the most in their process, and hopefully inspire you as you’re studying. Just because you’re struggling with the MCAT now doesn’t mean you can’t improve! We want to show you how top-scorers have raised their scores so that you can do the same! Meet Julia Meguro, a 519 scorer: When Julia started her prep, she had a concrete goal that she wanted to reach. She’...
Jun 04, 2021•42 min•Ep. 6
From March to May (2 months), Noah's score was pretty much stagnant at a 500. His test date? June 27, 2020! Now, with around one month to go before the test date, he took another practice test and scored a 496. At this point, Noah knew something had to change. On May 20th, he signed up to work with an MCAT Mastery Mentor. We are so proud of Noah and his success, and hope that his story can inspire you on your own journey!
May 17, 2021•33 min•Ep. 5
The MCAT is an extremely science-heavy exam. Studying for it can be a struggle for any student, especially for non-traditional students who have not taken MCAT-related courses in a long time. Although he struggled a lot with sciences when he was in school, that did not discourage the 41-year-old Kent Kellenberger from taking the MCAT. Determined to become a doctor and save lives, he added the MCAT preparation to his already busy schedule with his full-time job and quality time with his wife and ...
May 13, 2021•30 min•Ep. 4
When Julia first started prepping for the MCAT, she found herself scoring around a 496 on practice exams. She ended up taking the MCAT officially and scored a 508. Although it was a fairly good score, it was below her goal. She knew that if she had the potential to do better, she should definitely go for it. For this reason, she set out to take the MCAT again, only to score a 499 on a practice exam right away. She had less than 7 weeks to her second test day so feeling discouraged, she decided t...
Apr 30, 2021•33 min•Ep. 3
Welcome to the MCAT Master Interview series! We’re on an ongoing mission to put together THE formula for achieving a top MCAT score. And we’ve been doing this by gathering the most effective MCAT study strategies from verified top scorers, and then we bring them to you in the form of blog articles, daily emails, youtube videos, strategy courses, through tutoring sessions and anything else that can help you along on this journey to reach your maximum MCAT score. We’ve been researching and holding...
Apr 19, 2021•41 min•Ep. 2
Welcome to the first episode of the MCAT Mastery podcast! We’re so excited to introduce you to the series! In this first episode, Monika and Ariana, two MCAT Mastery team members and MCAT veterans (both 90+ percentile MCAT scorers), discuss their experiences with the exam, why the MCAT is important for medical school, and how the lessons learned from this exam can impact you in larger, more meaningful way too! We'll also give you a very quick overview on what you can expect from our podcast epis...
Apr 08, 2021•41 min•Ep. 1
