Question: Which Newspaper is best for MCAT practice?
Answer: NONE!
In our opinion, reading newspapers is not the way to go. At all.
When you read a newspaper, you’re trying to learn something.
You’re relating the information to outside knowledge you might
have. You’re forming questions about what you’re reading and
looking for answers to those questions; you can even click on
new links or search for new topics to clarify a situation.
You’re engaging with the material.
That is NOT good preparation for the MCAT.
When you take an MCAT, you should not be bringing outside information in. You should not be forming questions or wondering about the topics. The MCAT has already made questions for you, and that is ALL that matters. You should not be engaging with the information. Instead, you should be skimming for main topics, like “Paragraph 1 is about Giraffes and what they eat. Cool. Paragraph 2 is about other herbivores and evolution. Cool.” That’s all. If you see a question about giraffes, you jump back to paragraph 1 and then read carefully. (Much more carefully than you’d ever read the New York Times.)
Please do not use newspapers to prepare for the MCAT.
We recommend that you do 3-6 practice passages per day from websites or books. Not only MCAT passages, but passages from other tests would also be extremely helpful. LSAT passages are awesome. GMAT passages, DAT, GRE, etc. Any passages written for timed, standardized exams would be very helpful. There are a million passages online to find – you’ll never need a newspaper, I promise.
Best of luck to you!
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