A Toledo resident is using his firsthand experience to make it easier for medical students to study for one of the most important tests of their lives.
Heath Rutledge-Jukes took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) this year and earned the highest score in Florida Southern College's history. He placed in the 99th percentile of all scores nationally, and transformed his studying approach into a low-cost mobile application.
MCAT: King of the Curve launched in October. The trivia-style game was created by Mr. Rutledge-Jukes with the help of other recent graduates and professors.
Mr. Rutledge-Jukes, who works locally as a scribe at Medical Scribing Solutions, has a background in psychology and learns through pedagogic tools like magazine spreads to teach neuroscience.
"I applied that to something people struggle with and cut the cost for people who may not come from the most financially stable backgrounds," he said. "Most MCAT practice courses range from 1-3 grand. Our app for life is $150."
The app allows users to compete with other students across the country. King of the Curve has been downloaded 4,800 times for iPhone, and will be available on android in the spring.
Subscriptions start at $9.99 for one month. Six-month, annual, and lifetime subscriptions are also available.
The app comes with over 4,000 questions — many of them from Mr. Rutledge-Jukes' notes. Updates come out every two or three weeks with new questions and explanations.
"I try to use semantic note-taking and encoding to make sure I'm not just studying, but actively learning," Mr. Rutledge-Jukes said. "For example, the Doppler Effect is about sound. It's also used in ultrasounds. So that's how I connected the two and connected to something that interests me wanting to be a medical doctor."
FSC chemistry professor Deborah Bromfield Lee was one of a few professors who helped formulate questions. She thinks studying for the MCAT using an app could be beneficial to many students.
"Almost everyone has a phone, so it's a smart idea," Ms. Bromfield Lee said. "You can do little problems here and there on the go and not have to walk around with your big MCAT book. The gaming aspect is more engaging and probably feels less intimidating when you do it on that platform."
Mr. Rutledge-Jukes is applying to medical schools around the country. He hopes the app helps students achieve the score they want, but also save some money in the process.
"We want to share that we're different from other apps and expand that aspect," he said. "We don't want to make 4,000 flashcards. We want generations of people to successfully study without having to spend thousands for techniques that might not even get them the score they want."
First Published December 17, 2020, 12:01 p.m.
