Free MCAT tools

Happy New 2009 Year!

I thought it is only fair to start a new year with free tools to master the MCAT. So what do I have in store? You probably will have come across some of the things I will mention. Some, I hope, will be a pleasant surprise. In any case, I do believe a budget solution is possible for the MCAT. So let us get started.

Yaaaay! Freebies.

1. Free practice CBT MCATs

DISCLAIMER: Except my notes about the AAMC free test, I do not vouch, nor do I want to express any preference for either test listed below. You can do you search on Google for the predictive abilities of the other tests, but I would use them all with discretion. Simply do them all to get tested as many times as you can.

These allow you to get a feeling of the test timing, interface, and gauge your overall performance, expectations and of course, your study plan. So here they are in no particular order:

Free AAMC MCAT 3 (I have written about it here)
Free MCAT-PREP 1 CBT
Just choose the last option ("No thanks, just give me..."). I would like to mention that if you have purchased The Gold Standard MCAT prep book (which I did purchase, but did not review due to its overall similarity and redundancy with the Kaplan Premier book), you can go here and enter the required information from the book you own. This will give you access to 2 more CBTs (in addition to the always free first one).
Free Kaplan CBT.
NOTE: Kaplan hosts other free events explaining in some detail MCAT strategies and even providing a supervised full length MCAT session if you prefer not do it at home in your familiar surroundings (this will give you a false sense of confidence which you will lack during the actual MCAT). In order to find such events, go here
Free Princeton Review MCAT CBT.
NOTE: Princeton has a similar to Kaplan free event system. To check their schedule go here.
NOTE2: Interestingly enough, they have a detailed overview of the previous exam sessions, with descriptions of important things you could benefit from and which could very well make you less nervous during your own exam. MUST READ.
For some strange reason beyond my understanding, PREP101 does not have a free practice CBT. However, they compensate by providing a handy set of passage-based and standalone questions (with answers), study guides and formula sheets for verbal, biology, physics, general and organic chemistry. Download the pdfs here.

That pretty much wraps up our free CBT section folks. Too bad it didn't last longer. Do not worry, however, for we have many other means to get you preped-up.

2. Google Books Search

A carefully constructed search on Google Books can be surprisingly yielding, although not quite as shopping at Chapters.

Try this query: http://books.google.com/books?lr=lang_en&q=MCAT&as_brr=3&as_pt=BOOKS

3. iTunes U

If you have iTunes then fire it up, click on iTunes U and look at the top university's pages (MIT, Stanford, Yale, etc.). This will allow you to download a full video recorded course similarly to the MIT courseware below. You can be smart about it and select only lectures on topics that you flunked on your free CBTs (e.g. spring constants and pendulums in physics)

4. MIT Courseware

MIT Courseware is every poor premed's wet dream. They provide most course materials for as many as 1800 courses free of charge. So go there immediately and select the most recent / relevant course for your topics:

Pick a biology course here
Pick a general and an organic chemistry course here
Pick a physics course here

Although somewhat restricting, if you wish you can try to find an audio or even a video recorded course, on top of all the provided material: audio / video courses.

5. Miscellaneous

Here is a collection of random useful stuff I've accumulated during my quest for the MCAT success.