By Zainab Richardson | Staff Writer
For pre-med students, one exam looms larger than any other.
The Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT, is a non-negotiable requirement for admission to most medical schools.
The ideal timeline for taking the MCAT comes after completing all necessary classes, while leaving enough time to retake it if needed. If students don’t plan on taking a gap year after college, the ideal time is late junior year of undergrad, according to Shemmassain Academic Consulting.
Most students start studying at the end of their sophomore year and continue through their junior year, which shifts their routine.
“The actual time I have to actually do practice problems or even do any type of content review is after 5 p.m.,” Austin junior Damo Kouakou said. “I’ll either be at my workplace, or I go to a library and put in at least 3 hours on the subject that I’m on.”
The pressure doesn’t just strain their schedule — it also has a mental impact. Kouakou said all the time he has spent studying takes away from moments with friends and family. Despite the struggle, the goal of passing the exam keeps Kouakou dedicated to putting in extra hours.
“It’s the pressure because, again, I have a goal in mind, which I do want to reach, and this is one step I have to complete to get to that,” Kouakou said.
McKinney sophomore Juliet Korto is planning for the burnout stage before she reaches it.
“I plan to start implementing subject test checkpoints near the end of my sophomore year and begin studying during winter break of my junior year,” Korto said. “I want to make sure that MCAT studying does not impede my preparation for the exams of classes that I will be enrolled in.”
Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Biochemistry Dr. Devan Jonklaas agreed — studying a year before the exam is helpful but managing time is the key throughout the process.
“Something I tell my students is to really think of how many hours they have in the week and what their demands [are] for those hours,” Jonklaas said. “So maybe students only need to take 12 hours during their MCAT semester.”
Beneath the structured schedule lies an unspoken mental toll coming from family, advisors and students themselves. Kouakou needs a reset, and he has several coping mechanisms to handle the stress and pressure.
“I think it’s important to at least not stop what you were doing before you started studying,” Kouakou said. “For me, I go to the gym every time I felt some sort of stress.”
Salt Lake City senior Ashlynn Sandberg has already taken the MCAT but shared Kouakou’s sentiment. As she studied, she was conscious of maintaining her hobbies throughout the added time commitment.
“I used just the normal things that I did to decompress,” Sandberg said. “I worked out and tried to have hobbies, like reading.”
On the MCAT, isolation and stress are just a few of the defining challenges students face. The most common antidote is the one often forgotten. Sandberg had one key piece of advice for students preparing for the MCAT — don’t get discouraged.
“When I first started studying for it, you have this huge expectation,” Sandberg said. “I’ve worked so hard. I expect to be scoring a certain way. Even if you’re not scoring that way, you have to have a positive mentality, and that has the biggest impact.”
Korto said she was reassured after seeing others go through the process successfully. Knowing it’s a part of everyone’s process helps her cope with having less time with friends and family.
“Knowing that this is a sacrifice that many people have made makes it feel much less impossible,” Korto said.
Jonklaas highlighted that Baylor’s environment makes preparation manageable for students going through the process.
“I think the Baylor environment and culture does a good job of helping students toward this,” Jonklaas said. “For example, from when a pre-medical student starts at Baylor, I think that there is a lot of positive peer pressure to study hard.”
