45 days until MCAT! How should I study?!?!??!

[Medicine098]

Hey guys!

So I have 45 days until the MCAT! I plan on taking the Jan 23rd one only if I am ready. In these last 45 days what do you guys recommend? I have done all my content review and am working through Kaplan's online topical, section and subject tests. In the next 45 days what should my schedule look like? How often should I take a practice exam? My motivation level is going downhill.. I feel that I wont be ready. I was studying 10 hours a day and now barely managing 5-6. Any help would be great! My diagnostic for AAMC 3 was a 18 and for Kaplan's was a 20. I have not since taken a full length test and have been focusing on content but I am ready to get back into practicing. I am aiming for honestly anything above a 26... sadly I don't know if I can even manage that. My motivation to kill this test is really down.

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[ConfusedChemist]

Hey guys!

So I have 45 days until the MCAT! I plan on taking the Jan 23rd one only if I am ready. In these last 45 days what do you guys recommend? I have done all my content review and am working through Kaplan's online topical, section and subject tests. In the next 45 days what should my schedule look like? How often should I take a practice exam? My motivation level is going downhill.. I feel that I wont be ready. I was studying 10 hours a day and now barely managing 5-6. Any help would be great! My diagnostic for AAMC 3 was a 18 and for Kaplan's was a 20. I have not since taken a full length test and have been focusing on content but I am ready to get back into practicing. I am aiming for honestly anything above a 26... sadly I don't know if I can even manage that. My motivation to kill this test is really down.

I think you motivstion is going downhill because you've been studying so long? And you need to just do a bunch of practice tests and stuff
and calm down a bit

 

[ayocaptain628]

i'm literally freaking out. it seems like there's not a lot of time until the exam! ihave such bad test anxiety too

 

[ConfusedChemist]

i'm literally freaking out. it seems like there's not a lot of time until the exam! ihave such bad test anxiety too

No thats actually so much time, people study in less time
You may want to work on your test anxiety if anything? Don't want that to get you on test day....

 

[Maggie Stone]

The best advice I can give you is to take as many practice exams as you can. Take more practice AAMCs and make sure you take them how you will be on test day (so no breaks unless it's between a session, no music in the background). Make sure you review the tests too! Look at why you're getting the question wrong (is it the math, do you not know the concept, are you not reading carefully?) and improve on how you take the test. In between practice tests, work on the content you don't have a solid grasp on.

 

[GCSDOC]

Hey guys!

So I have 45 days until the MCAT! I plan on taking the Jan 23rd one only if I am ready. In these last 45 days what do you guys recommend? I have done all my content review and am working through Kaplan's online topical, section and subject tests. In the next 45 days what should my schedule look like? How often should I take a practice exam? My motivation level is going downhill.. I feel that I wont be ready. I was studying 10 hours a day and now barely managing 5-6. Any help would be great! My diagnostic for AAMC 3 was a 18 and for Kaplan's was a 20. I have not since taken a full length test and have been focusing on content but I am ready to get back into practicing. I am aiming for honestly anything above a 26... sadly I don't know if I can even manage that. My motivation to kill this test is really down.

In a similar situation to you as well. Start doing practice tests. I did not do well on my first four aamc practice tests so I stopped taking the exams, reviewed content, then redid the exams (prior to reviewing them), then reviewed each question. I definitely noticed an improvement..went from a 19 on aamc7 to a 28 on aamc7. There is strategy when approaching each question along with managing your time, these two components can really only be understood by practicing practice exams so I would start doing that and then review every single question in depth to make sure you understand what concept they are trying to test by the wording in the question

 

[Medicine098]

Do you recommend I work through kaplans topical, section and full length before going to AAMC? Or should I just go straight to AAMC? I wanted to save those for closer to the end and use kaplan's resources.. kaplan's stuff I feel is much harder then AAMC.

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

I'd recommend taking a bit of break when you can. That's hard advice to take, I know, since you feel pushing harder may be the answer since you're 45 days out, but 45 days out is a long time considering you're done with content review. A break may be just what you need to refresh yourself. In fact, when I studied I took multiple short breaks from studying that lasted anywhere from 2-5 days. I might have kept up lightly with flashcards and since discrete questions from MCAT Question A Day during that time, but I generally took those days as mental health days and once rested climbed back on the horse.
Outside of that - I'll just echo what was said previously: take all the AAMC practice tests, and take one sooner rather than later if you haven't taken once since before you started your content review.

Good luck!