You may not realize it, but your MCAT mental filing system probably looks something like this.

Mine once did.

There are many reasons for this: you know a lot of information.

Be it high school or college, you have taken a truckload of courses: having been exposed to the same material over and over again in different formats.

If you walk into the MCAT based off this knowledge, chances are you’ll fail. You need an MCAT refile.

Here’s an MCAT insider secret: it isn’t just what you know, but how it’s accessibly organized.

The issue isn’t merely how much you know, it is how you re-file what you know into the right system.

That’s more like it! Notice the difference?

There are only 4 categories – simplified and color coded. What does this mean? 

This means you are only studying for four final exams: or two and a half – if you factor out reading and statistical research skills. 

Within those two and a half normal-length final exams, you have likely been exposed to nearly 70% of what will be tested: meaning you only need to slim down, reorganize, and expand to cover the bare necessities.

In your organic chemistry final, would you memorize mechanisms from physical chemistry? Of course not, unless your professor is a sadist.

Wield your knowledge. 

It may seem stupid to define, but

knowledge is information you

know.  

Not, sadly, information you google.  

Again, it is information you KNOW.

We’ve all likely played video games. In each game, you likely acquire tools in a journey. Each tool allows you to access new areas, and is an incentive to progress through said game. The game UI designers place a great deal of emphasis in making these tools accessible. So it feels you can just reach for them and use them in an instance.

Make the MCAT an adventure. Do this for every equation, skill, or correction you learn.

If you are going to put in the effort into memorizing the information, then:

Do an MCAT refile.
Make the knowledge accessible.
Come test day, you’ll have an arsenal.

Wield knowledge like a weapon.