Over the next few months ending in December of 1976, I wrote the manuscript for the MCAT prep. We contracted with another student, who also lived in the Peabody Terrace student apartments, to type the manuscript. My daily schedule to complete this was fairly well set for those months. During the first part of the day, from about 8 am to 6 pm, I would do one of my rotations, clinical clerkships. When I got home, I would take care of the kids for a few hours while my wife and mother got some rest. Then I would go to sleep until about midnight to 1-2 am. Getting up at that time, I would do any studying I needed for the clerkships. But, most of the time was spent writing the MCAT prep. At 5 am or so, I would get cleaned up, dressed and would nap, sitting up, until I had to leave for the hospital. This was done nearly every day until the book was done.
Sometime in either late 1976 or early 1977, I obtained the AAMC outline for what would be on the new test. This was a very specific listing but there were not the details for each item…this was to be left up to the student. What became evident is that I had completed a manuscript that was too difficult and overstepped what the AAMC had in mind for the MCAT. I was thinking like a PhD student and not like a MD student. The physics and chemistry, especially, were too difficult. So, I had to rewrite most of the book.
Finally, with over 800 pages of printed material and 400+ pages typed, this was done and by the time of graduation, which I skipped to go back home, Dr. Wallace had the manuscript printed and available. The “Harvard Manual” was born. I had called it “A Comprehensive Preparation for the MCAT”. The manual was eventually published by Angel Publishing, yes Mr. Angel, and then by Betz Publishing, his wife, well into the 1990’s. Eventually, Williams and Wilkins purchased rights from Betz. The book has been used by hundreds of thousands over the years, became probably the best seller in its class during this time, and became the model for many MCAT prep books that followed.