1st Half of MCAT Prep
Main Content Review – 12 hours
Epicycles – 3 hours
Global Question Bank – 3 hours
Passage Strategy / Understanding the Test – 2 hours
Psych / Soc – 3 hours
CARS – 2 hours

The Interdisciplinary Content Review – 40-hour video course. Watch the videos in order. Try to get through 1-2 modules per week.
Course Slides for Note-Taking – PDF with blank slides for note-taking and problem solving in the Main Content Review.
Chem/Phys Practice Items – Our tried-and-true practice items for Physics, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry
MCAT Organic Within Biochemistry – Each mechanism by itself and how it works in biochemistry.
Physics Mini-Course – Flash-card course covering all of the topical goals.

The Structure of the Content Review
It's a good idea to understand the structure of the video course before you start, so read this introduction. These are not standalone topical videos. Watch the videos in order! The Interdisciplinary Content Review is a unified system levels course that unfolds from physics to encompass general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular cell biology. It is the only video course that teaches the deeper interdisciplinary goals of the exam while covering the topical goals comprehensively (up to physiology).

1) Preparing for Chemistry with Physics We begin with motion, dynamics, and work & energy in mechanics. However, unlike ordinary content review, we also cover electricity at the start, so you will need to skip ahead in Kaplan, TPR, or U-World for accompanying topical summary and practice. Covering electrostatics will provide us with a conceptual vocabulary to bring to atomic theory, chemical bonding, and intermolecular force in Module 2 as we unfold through system-levels science.

Interdisciplinary Discussion

2) The Structure of Matter We cover the topical goals at the start of chemistry but also use mechanics and electricity concepts from physics to help us understand the changes occurring in chemistry at the level of the atom, chemical bonding, and intermolecular force. Always remembering chemical systems are quantum-electrodynamic, we use classical mechanics and electrostatics concepts to help make chemistry more intuitive.

Discussion

3) Internal Energy and Heat Flow The treatment of thermodynamics in physics alternates with the treatment in chemistry. We start with the internal energy of an ideal gas in a piston, and then the framework of discussion expands into chemistry. We build our understanding of internal energy change from the ground up, in other words, so that it can encompass chemical transformations at the level of the atom, chemical bonding or intermolecular forces in an intuitive way.

Discussion

4) Chemical Thermodynamics and Spontaneity This module alternates physics and chemistry treatments of the 2nd law of thermodynamics to build an imaginative understanding of spontaneity and equilibrium to bring to living systems. Spontaneous heat flow drives a working body in a heat engine. The spontaneous oxidation of glucose drives the creation of ATP in oxidative metabolism. Chemical thermodynamics provides the underlying coherence of energy metabolism, so we are priming a lot of biochemistry in this module.

Discussion

5) Solutions and Acids & Bases At this stage in the course, our topical treatment of AAMC general chemistry is almost in the harbor. Our topical game for MCAT general chemistry is beginning to take on completeness. Solutions and acids & bases are foundational topics for living systems. In many of our discussions, we are situating this material within the biochemistry contexts, such as you will find it in MCAT passages.

Discussion

6) Fluid Mechanics and Wave Motion In this module, we cover the topical learning goals in fluids and waves, which are important for the exam. From an overall perspective, it is good to pause here to consolidate the foundation we have been building. In other words, this is a good place for a global review of the material up to this point and to prime the organic mechanisms coming up.

Discussion

7) Organic Mechanisms in Biochemistry AAMC chose its organic reactions for the MCAT because they are important to biochemistry. In addition to covering each mechanism, in this module, we show how each reaction works in biochemistry, which primes the biochemistry pathways and also makes the organic mechanisms easier to understand and retain.

Discussion

8) Protein Structure Topical MCAT content review often treats the amino acids in a way that merely recapitulates the treatment at the start of biochemistry. However, the student in MCAT prep can now see the amino acids in a broader context and so we present a deeper perspective in this module. Every amino acid has a personality in biochemistry. A sophisticated picture of the amino acids is a major figure of merit for the MCAT.

Discussion

9) Enzymes We show how core ideas from general and organic chemistry light up the understanding of enzymes. The treatment of enzymes in this module corresponds to the important of enzymes in MCAT passages where enzyme activity is often used to build puzzles around interdisciplinary learning goals.

Discussion

10) Zymogens, Connective Tissue Proteins, Carbohydrates and Lipids As with molecular cell biology, with carbohydrates and lipids, AAMC will often go beyond the scope of their topical outline in MCAT passages. You will see advanced material as a figure of merit for AAMC to challenge comfort in the passage. We go a bit beyond the topical scope here, as we do in molecular cell biology, because this is helpful for reaching 130+ in the science sections.

Discussion

11) Biochemical Pathways Part 1 Many MCAT passages are constructed to measure interdisciplinary conceptual imagination – to understand the fall of electrons from NADH in terms of electrochemisry or how 1,3 bisphosphoglycerate is like a compressed spring. We have worked hard in this course to build physics, general and organic chemistry perspectives which will make biochemical pathways easier to understand and remember and also more interesting.

Discussion

12) DC Current, Magnetism, Redox & Electrochemistry We have been priming redox and electrochemistry ideas since the start of the course. Our main treatment is situated to prime oxidative phosphorylation in the next module, building a ready-to-hand conceptual vocabulary for the electron transport chain.

Discussion

13) Biochemical Pathways Part 2 In terms of the AAMC topical goals, general chemistry and biochemistry are now completely in the harbor. The same will be true for organic chemistry and physics after light & optics, molecular spectroscopy and nuclear physics in the next module. Completing oxidative phosphorylation and the biochemical pathways represents a major culmination in the course.

Discussion

14) Light & Optics and Nuclear Physics The interaction of light and matter comes has been a major spiraling theme since atomic theory. Ideas from this module are very important in terms of topical goals as well as interdisciplinary learning goals. Geometric optics and nuclear physics are AAMC favorites for topical questions.

Discussion

15) Molecular Cell Biology Our treatment of molecular cell biology is a little more advanced in some places than the level of AAMC questions. Going a little further is a big advantage for comfort in many Bio/Biochem passages. You don’t need to go down every rabbit hole or try to memorize everything, but we have learned that getting a little past the AAMC topical scope in molecular cell biology is a big advantage.

Discussion

Basic Bio-101 Content
The Interdisciplinary Content Review video course covers the AAMC topical goals in physics, general & organic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular cell biology thoroughly, but the course does not cover some of the basic Bio-101 factual material including the organ systems. The students in our learning program self-study this material, and we support them with quiz and drill.

If main content review is like learning a city at the street level, epicycles are like seeing all the city from the top of the tallest building. Epicycles are crucial for priming, reinforcement and knowledge base structuring throughout MCAT review.

Pre-Med Village Rapid Review Videos – These videos present the structure of a discipline and overview the topical learning goals in a short time.
AAMC Topics in Traditional Order – This is the AAMC outline of topics from the Handbook but rearranged in traditional disciplinarity. The traditional order helps to structure your knowledge-base for completeness.
MCAT Physics Formulas – Cycle through the formulas. Use your imagination to picture how each formula describes the changes that occur within a model system or real world example.
MCAT Organic Within Biochemistry – Each time you epicycle the mechanisms, this knowledge-base will shrink and become more manageable. Cycling the mechanisms also primes biochemistry.
Catch Blue – An online game with over 4000 conceptual vocabulary questions.

Global question bank is problem centered learning where questions can come from the entire topical scope. Global question bank helps you begin to hold yourself responsible for the topical learning goals long before main content review is complete. With epicycles you build the whole city of knowledge while in main content review, you explore it at the street level. If you only give yourself positive feedback with global question bank, you can make it a part of MCAT prep from the beginning..

Catch Blue – Catch Blue is an online game with over 4000 conceptual vocabulary questions. It's a fun way to hold yourself responsible for the entire knowledge-base.

We put a great deal of work into creating our study resources for this section. Our students have always done as well in this section as the others. Our learning materials for Psych/Soc really do work. Many students delay with this section, so you can get a good advantage if you start early and work steadily.

1200 Psychology Concepts – This is our illustrated structured outline of 1200 Psych/Soc concepts. Additionally, there is an online version of this resource available on the site.
600 Psychology Practice Items – This is the most effective collection of Psych/Soc questions in MCAT Prep. These practice items really work ! ! !

CARS is a major focus in our teaching program. We help our students understand how the performance metric works in this part of the exam and to develop a reliable method. Our CARS curriculum teaches critical reading based on the structure of argument, and our one-on-one students always improve fast.

12 CARS Lessons – These 12 lessons help students build a reliable body of techniques for CARS through a structured curriculum. CARS has long been a strength of our live teaching program.

Begin Using Prep-Hub from the Start of MCAT review

Begin working with MCAT passages at the start of MCAT prep, but don’t let them measure you. You measure them to learn how they work. On the surface, MCAT passages resemble scientific writing, but if you look closely, you can learn how everything in an MCAT passage is intentionally designed to create a spectrum of performance.

Within a strategy method in our teaching program called MCAT Passage Reader Response (MPRR), we set aside Section Bank I to study how MCAT passages work to create a spectrum of performance. Taking as much time as we need with each passage, we study them as if we were learning to design MCAT passages ourselves. We learn there are genres of passages and a repertoire AAMC uses to create passage elements. MCAT passage elements are like puzzles made from topical, interdisciplinary, and research logic learning goals. We help our students develop “reader response” strategies on the way to MCAT mastery.

Our students have always done well because of our content review, but now this is happening faster. Our students can rely on our videos, and we focus on targeted content review, CARS and test strategy in our teaching sessions.

One big lesson in developing MPRR has been to set aside some Prep-Hub resources to study the test from the start. When you understand the strategies of AAMC in creating MCAT passages, you can build your own repertoire of strategies to respond, and you can govern content review better because you understand how the topical knowledge needs to perform in the test.