Studying for the MCAT exam is a mammoth task. With the need to master science content representing nearly a dozen semesters of college-level science and to use refined critical thinking skills to apply that content knowledge to novel contexts, it's no wonder the average student spends nearly 300 hours studying for this exam. We at Kaplan recommend even more study time since most students need a well-above-average score to be competitive in medical school admissions. The most important part of MCAT prep is not simply "putting in the time" but rather what you are accomplishing in that time. How might we guide students’ study time most effectively, allowing them to learn from the optimal mix, level, and types of high-quality content to enable maximal retention and skill development? The following is a summary of the evidence-based learning design principles that undergird Kaplan's prep course delivery for the MCAT exam, allowing our students to achieve the strongest possible score improvement outcomes to repay their investment of time and effort.
Active learning complements passive learning (such as listening to lectures and videos) by intermixing a variety of engaging activities and guided practice. Active learning allows you to learn deeply by constructing knowledge and cementing understanding. Active learning effectively boosts exam scores (Freeman et al., 2014) and allows you to remember the material more deeply and longer (Chi & Wylie, 2014).
Our research shows that the most active learning engagement in videos, quizzes, Qbank, and practice tests (4,000+ practice questions and 150+ study activities ) can boost MCAT exam scores by 15 points on average.*
Kaplan’s products allow you to engage actively through curated, chunked content, including readings, videos, and live online sessions intermixed with practice quizzes and realistic full-length tests.
The step-by-step explanations in the Qbank also incorporate active learning into the review process. They guide the student through the thought process of answering the question.
Thinking About Your Learning
Active learning also involves metacognition, which is the act of thinking about your learning and is a key ingredient to your success (Anthonysamy et al., 2020). Kaplan’s prep program for the MCAT exam supports planning, monitoring, and evaluating your performance. The interactive study calendar helps you plan your learning journey, allowing you to schedule when and how much you will study. The calendar dynamically creates a personalized study plan with learning resources and live online sessions available on each designated study day. Easy-to-understand reporting allows you to monitor and evaluate your performance in completing lessons and how well you learned the material.
Additionally, we warm up before every class with a short exercise in mindfulness (Mindset Moment), encouraging you to reflect on the goals, study habits, and beliefs or attitudes that could either be helping you or holding you back.
The Science of Practice and Memory
With so much content to review and master for test day, navigating an efficient path to achieve a high score requires a learning-science-based approach. Our learning system provides chunked lessons intermixed with practice to assess your understanding and personalize your journey. Chunking lessons into bite-sized pieces reduces cognitive load and increases your retention of the content. The learning modules on the study calendar, our flashcards algorithm, and the curriculum of our Live Online sessions all use spaced repetition and interleaving of topics.
Spaced repetition is the practice of repeating an assessment of previously learned content with similar question prompts with a time gap. Interleaving is the mixing up of topics in assessment to help you practice distinguishing and differentiating responses. Both strategies lead to longer overall retention (Carpenter et al., 2012). Even if you get a question wrong, corrective feedback follows, and this type of errorful practice and review promotes learning retention (Metcalf, 2017). The pace and sequence of the lessons and practice with corrective feedback in Kaplan’s study calendar help to make the learning stick.
In Kaplan’s prep course for the MCAT exam, you will cycle through content topics at multiple points throughout the curricular order, each appearing in increasingly complex and test-like scenarios, to help solidify memory and strengthen connections across topics through application.
Scaffolding
Our students start their prep with different skill sets and background knowledge and need varying levels of support in preparing for their exams. To meet the different needs of our learners, we scaffold the learning experience. Scaffolding is the practice of providing varying levels of content, practice, and feedback and assisting you in building your competency no matter where you start. Scaffolding leads to stronger learning outcomes (Doo et al., 2020), which benefits you not only on the MCAT exam but in your future as a medical student.
We use a ladder analogy to illustrate this concept in our “How Your Course Works” video, showing how our MCAT exam prep course enables you to layer increasingly complex knowledge and understanding on top of the foundation you have already built.
Not everyone likes to learn in the same way. While our learning system provides a guided path in the form of our personalized study calendar, there are plenty of opportunities to wander off this path and forge your own direction to lead you to your goal. We leverage Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to allow flexible learning with multiple means of engagement. You might prefer to learn content by reading it; others may look for instructor-led explanations in visually engaging videos. You might like to dive into a full-length practice exam immediately to gauge where you need support or you may want to go topic by topic covering it all. Or, perhaps you only have a few minutes between things and want to dive into some flashcards or a Qbank quiz on your mobile device. Whatever your preference, we make sure there are multiple ways to learn, practice, and customize your learning experience.
Assessment Strategy
Kaplan licenses official practice materials from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), providing the most realistic practice available for the MCAT exam. Our personalized study calendar guides you to incorporate these official exams and other practice content seamlessly into your study plan alongside your Kaplan placement quizzes, full-length exams, and a deep pool of practice questions in Qbank.
In addition to the AAMC practice materials, Kaplan utilizes a purposeful and balanced assessment system that integrates multiple types of high-quality assessments to measure learning so that you can make informed decisions about your instructional next steps (Chappuis et al., 2017). Within an MCAT prep course, you can access a baseline exam and numerous placement quizzes to efficiently navigate your learning by focusing on content and skills not yet mastered. Throughout the learning journey, you can create custom quizzes from the Qbank to target your practice by topic or subtopic, monitor your progress, and reinforce your learning by reviewing the detailed explanations for each question. This timely and actionable feedback allows you to effectively direct your remediation and develop strategies for learning (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Engaging in a balanced assessment system can give you the valuable information needed to answer the essential questions: How am I doing? What should I do next?
Below is an example of our learning platform encouraging a student who has performed well on a placement quiz to move on to the next module in their study plan to make the most effective use of their time.
Live Online Sessions: Blended Online Learning
Learning in isolation in an online course can challenge the best student’s motivation. Kaplan’s interactive Live Online sessions are led by expert instructors and attended by a group of your peers, adding that real-time human connection. Kaplan delivers live online instruction to thousands of test prep students per year with more than 14 years of experience supporting learners in synchronous online class sessions.
In combination with the online resources, this blended online learning experience boosts confidence and satisfaction and motivates our learners. Blended learning in higher education has a higher level of student satisfaction and boosts attention and confidence (Ma & Lee, 2021). Live Online sessions can also significantly and positively impact your cognitive learning outcomes (Martin et al., 2021).
Our synchronous Live Online sessions connect you with your instructor and peers. In Kaplan’s Live Online classrooms, tools like polls enable instructors to easily and efficiently gather formative assessment data and how confident you feel about your learning before and after covering a topic, allowing the instructor to adjust the delivery of content and conduct discussions about the areas of greatest concern to the group.
You can engage with your teachers and classmates through a group chat, which serves as the locus of discussion, letting multiple students respond simultaneously in a peer-learning environment. Many of our teachers like to say, "Even if someone else has already said your answer, I want to hear it from you too because your learning will stick better if you put your thoughts into words.” That’s the power of active learning and the practice of learner explanation.
You can also ask instructors questions via private chat to receive individual coaching as the class progresses. Instructors also use that private chat function to reach out proactively to students to ask how they are finding the material and how the teachers can help. This personalization, like all tutoring, can significantly boost your motivation and learning outcomes.
The following image showcases the Live Online learning environment, with its public chat, poll, private chat, and download features, in addition to the core class content and teacher on camera.
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References
Anthonysamy, L., Koo, A. C., & Hew, S. H. (2020). Self-regulated learning strategies and non-academic outcomes in higher education blended learning environments: A one decade review. Education and Information Technologies, 25(5), 3677-3704.
Carpenter, S. K., Cepeda, N. J., Rohrer, D., Kang, S. H., & Pashler, H. (2012). Using spacing to enhance diverse forms of learning: Review of recent research and implications for instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 369-378.
Chappuis, S., Commodore, C., & Stiggins, R. (2017). Balanced assessment systems: Leadership, quality, and the role of classroom assessment. Corwin Press: Phoenix.
Chi, M. T., & Wylie, R. (2014). The ICAP framework: Linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes. Educational Psychologist, 49(4), 219-243.
Doo, M. Y., Bonk, C., & Heo, H. (2020). A meta-analysis of scaffolding effects in online learning in higher education. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 21(3), 60-80.
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.
Ma, L., & Lee, C. S. (2021). Evaluating the effectiveness of blended learning using the ARCS model. Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, 37(5), 1397-1408.
Martin, F., Sun, T., Turk, M., & Ritzhaupt, A. (2021). A meta-analysis on the effects of synchronous online learning on cognitive and affective educational outcomes. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 22(3), 205–242. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v22i3.5263.
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* 15 point average only applied to students who completed 5,300+ practice questions and 600+ study activities during their program. A recent study conducted by Kaplan showed that students who completed a minimum of this work saw an average score improvement of 15 points from their first to their highest practice exam. Students who started with lower scores saw greater increases. Students who completed fewer practice questions, study activities, or who did not engage in the full program, saw lower score increases. Learn More.