Knowledge doesn't exist in isolation. Often the difference between simply memorizing a fact and understanding a concept is whether you're able to connect it to your existing knowledge. In this first Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems section (Chem/Phys), you'll interrogate everyday phenomena to reveal how electrostatics and thermodynamics governs it all. From there, you'll apply these first principles to new concepts presented in MCAT passages, allowing you to answer questions and build connections with both the content and strategies needed for the MCAT.

Everyone has critically read before—but doing it consistently and on demand requires strategy and practice. In this session, you'll be introduced to the Kaplan strategies for the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section. You'll learn to deconstruct CARS passages and questions while building the strategies needed to ace them on test day.

Knowledge is best built in blocks, or as learning scientists call them, chunks. The sheer amount of information needed for deep understanding of a concept is overwhelming, but by chunking the information into smaller pieces it becomes more manageable. In this first Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (Bio/Biochem) class, you will model the process of chunking through topics such as amino acids and enzyme inhibition. Next, you'll apply that knowledge as you learn how to deconstruct MCAT passages and questions using the Kaplan methods.

Proficiency in the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (Psych/Soc) section requires more than memorizing terms through flashcards. Successful MCAT students are not only able to recall the definitions of terms, but also able to recognize real-world examples, and draw connections between closely-related concepts. In this first Psych/Soc session, you will discuss different study techniques and their ideal usage based on the type of content being studied. You’ll then apply these concepts as you use the Kaplan science strategies to work through Psych/Soc passages and questions. Topics covered include cognitive development and organization of the nervous system.

Math is a prominent feature of the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (Chem/Phys) section. But the math needed for the MCAT is not the same math used in your undergrad courses. In this session, you'll explore the arithmetic and algebraic demands of the MCAT and the Kaplan strategies to manage them. This will include content coverage and application of chemical equilibria and periodic trends.

Given the difficulty of the MCAT, it's easy to forget that it is a standardized test. This can be especially true in the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section, where it can seem that the test maker can ask you about anything. In this session, you will learn to recognize the CARS question types and see how each question type can be solved in the same way. With this knowledge, you’ll know how to approach any CARS question you’ll encounter on test day.

Generating predictions when answering MCAT questions is one of the most powerful but underutilized tools for test day. In this session, you will differentiate the kinds of predictions you can make when answering questions to increase your efficiency and accuracy in time crunched situations. During this class, you will also cover the Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (Bio/Biochem) content necessary to answer questions on the central dogma of genetics, the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve, and more.

Studies on human behavior make up the majority of passages in the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (Psych/Soc) section. In this session, you will explore the terminology associated with study design and hone your skills in analyzing data. The topics of social action and associative learning will also be covered in this session.

The experiment-based passages you'll encounter on the MCAT are based on actual academic experiments and papers. As a result, the experiments seen on test day are often cutting-edge containing procedures that will likely be new to you. In this session, you'll learn to interrogate the core components of any experiment or study, giving you the tools to understand the experiment-based passages in the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (Chem/Phys) section. This class will cover acids and bases, nucleophilic acyl substitution, electrochemistry, and more.

The Kaplan Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) strategy, and the passage approaches contained within, require consistent practice and refinement to achieve proficiency for test day. In this session, you will revisit the distill methods of highlighting, outlining, and interrogating as you work through a set of CARS passages and question sets designed to deepen your understanding of each of the methods.

The MCAT is designed to be difficult. Even the most prepped test takers can encounter passages and questions that they aren't ready for. In this session, you will learn the advanced MCAT strategies of triaging and strategic guessing, as well as complete a rapid reading exercise for when time's running low.

The most complex systems can be simplified into simpler components. In the same way that our most complex organ—the brain—can be deconstructed into simpler neuronal circuits, the most complex biochemistry experiments on the MCAT are made simpler by identifying their key components. In this session, you’ll practice the skill of deconstruction as you learn to recognize the key components of experimental design found in every experiment-based passage and break down the human body's messenger systems into the nervous and endocrine systems.

The ability to reflect and correct your skills, content, and trajectory throughout your MCAT prep is a crucial part of test day success. Using passages from the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (Psych/Soc) section, you will have an opportunity to not only practice, but to determine appropriate next steps based on your performance in real-time. This session will cover attribution theory, theories of self-concept and identity, and more.

As test day approaches, the amount of realistic practice under test-like conditions in your MCAT prep should increase. In this session, you will complete a round of the prep cycle, a study framework that focuses on 3 repeating steps:

• Practicing under test-like conditions
• Reviewing your work to find areas of opportunity
• Targeting your studies to address your opportunities

After this class, you can use this experience to model the reminder of your studies.