Question banks should be an integral part of any solid study plan. Doing as many questions as you can is simply the best way to recognize your weak areas, get real exam-style practice, and familiarize yourself with concepts. But they often don’t come cheap!
That’s why I’ve put together this list of the best free MCAT question banks available for you on the web right now. Using these can go a long way to increasing your MCAT score while also helping you save money in the process.
Here’s a list of the free best MCAT questions banks we’ll be looking at.
Please note that although there are a lot of sites offering practice tests for free, you won’t need to sign-up, pay or do anything to start using these!
- Varsity Tutors (2000+ questions)
- Test-Guide.com (500+ questions)
- Union Test Prep (100 questions)
- Khan Academy MCAT (1200+ questions)
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Ready to go? Let’s dive in!
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors is one of the top names in MCAT prep materials and is home to a huge free MCAT question bank.
The breakdown of their question bank looks like this:
- MCAT Biology (335 Practice Tests & 10 Diagnostic Tests)
- MCAT Physical (303 Practice Tests & 8 Diagnostic Tests)
- MCAT Verbal (65 Practice Tests & 6 Diagnostic Tests)
- MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences (133 Practice Tests)
You can run through as many as you like (just ignore the pop-up urging you to sign-up and refresh the page).
What’s useful about the site is that the diagnostic tests (usually ranging between 50-60 questions) are ranked by difficulty (as voted by users). You’ll also see the average time spent on each test before you begin too – helpful for planning.
Individual practice tests are also ordered by subtopics. This makes honing in on specific areas of your revision incredibly easy.
The tests are also timed.
Start here first if you’re looking for lots of high-quality MCAT question practice.
Click here to check out Varsity Tutors Free MCAT Question Bank
Test-Guide.com Free MCAT Question Bank
Test-Guide.com has an MCAT question bank (over 500 questions) separated into subject-specific practice quizzes.
You’ll find two free quizzes for each of the following sections:
- MCAT Biological and Biochemical
- MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations
- MCAT Psychological, Social and Biology Foundations
- MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning
Here’s how the question bank is formatted. There’s no timer and only a very basic progress bar…
Running through several free practice tests, I feel they hit the high yield topics well and are very similar to many of the Free MCAT Question of the Day style multiple choice quizzes available on the web.
Definitely worth dipping into if you have the time.
Click here to check out Test-Guide.com’s Free MCAT Question Bank
Union Test Prep Free Practice Tests for the MCAT
Union Test Prep has a small MCAT question bank (100 questions) but it’s pretty comprehensive in the areas it covers.
Here’s how the sections are organized (you’ll be able to download questions from each section too):
- Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
- Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
- Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
- Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior
- Scientific Inquiry and Reasoning (Question Type)
By far the biggest bank of questions is for Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (60 questions).
Here’s how a typical question looks…
Creating a profile to save your progress and track your scores is optional.
Otherwise, just dive in!
Click here to check out Union Test Prep’s Free MCAT Question Bank
Khan Academy Test Prep MCAT (1000+ Questions!)
Khan Academy is potentially one of the best free MCAT question banks you can use to help guide your study thanks to its link with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
It’s also one of the largest!
Also home to excellent video explainers of almost all core MCAT content, it offers the following question bank sections:
- Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Practice Questions (200+ questions)
- Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems Passages (400+ questions)
- Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems Passages (400+ questions)
- Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behaviors Passages (400+ questions)
The sections are broken down in to subtopics and work in a block-style format. There’s a timer to help track your progress.
This is the gold standard free question bank that all MCAT preppers swear by!
Click here to check out Khan Academy’s Free MCAT Question Bank
Related Questions
What are the major pros and cons of using free MCAT question banks?
Putting 100% of your revision plan into the hands of free question banks is never a great idea when it comes to studying for an exam as tough as the MCAT.
Related: Why Is The MCAT So Hard? (Important Questions Answered!)
Like all study resources, you want to be careful about how and what you spend your time using.
Here’s what I feel are the major pros and cons of using free MCAT question banks (like those listed above)…
| PROS | CONS |
| Free | No guarantee of quality (MCAT-style realism) |
| Speed (no time wasted in purchase/signing up) | No assurance of being a good use of your time |
Because of the cons outlined above, I feel it’s important to study from a range of resources and not just rely on a single source.
While free MCAT question banks are a good way to dive in and get a feel for the types of questions on the MCAT, use them as a supplement only to more tried and tested MCAT study resources.
Should I use AAMC’s MCAT materials?
Although they’re not free (pricing varies per package), you should definitely use the AAMC’s materials if your budget allows.
Their practice exams and section banks are written by the same team responsible for putting together the official MCAT exam. They’re as close as possible to what you can expect to see on test day.
Time permitting, I’d recommend exhausting the AAMC’s materials first before supplementing with many of the great free question banks mentioned in this article.
Although they’re excellently written, they’re probably not quite as close to the mark as the AAMC’s materials will be.
When should I use free MCAT question banks?
The best time to use question banks is after first getting an idea of your baseline score. Completing one full-length practice test under simulated conditions can help determine this. From there, note down your weaknesses and concept areas you’d like to work on.
With those in mind, dive into questions targeting those areas.
When should I use free MCAT questions of the day?
Probably when you first start preparing for the MCAT. That way you can warm yourself up and get a feel for question types and content.
Related:
Are the best MCAT practice questions on Reddit?
Reddit is a great resource for MCAT-related study and preparation tips. Many new products, courses, resources, and question banks will advertise to the community at r/MCAT first before you probably hear about them via colleagues or marketing.
Question banks listed on Reddit aren’t always the most reliable to use for MCAT study however as many are created by students. Although many students are capable of writing great MCAT-style questions, they may be a little off the mark in terms of accuracy or closely replicating the exam itself.
By all means, follow and participate in the community, but do your due diligence when it comes to attempting and studying from questions posted there.
What are the best MCAT resources?
The best MCAT resources are a combination of things.
You’ll want to first learn and understand the material from a video series or review book. YouTube’s MCAT Self Prep is one of the best free video resources. Kaplan has what is considered the best MCAT review book series.
From there, I highly recommend memorizing and recalling the information with flashcards. For users of Anki, I’ve put together a list of great free pre-made Anki decks you can use for studying the MCAT here.
Round things off with plenty of question bank practice using the resources mentioned above.
The gold standard MCAT question banks are considered to be AAMC’s own materials, UWorld, and Next Step.
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Will
Born and raised in the UK, Will went into medicine late (31) after a career in journalism. He’s into football (soccer), learned Spanish after 5 years in Spain, and has had his work published all over the web. Read more.
