Full-Time student, when should I take the MCAT in 2020? Rescheduled

[Bearmanbear]

I'm a full-time student (spring semester 2020), taking two upper-level courses next semester w/ labs. I was scheduled to sit for the exam on June 1st, but was reading that it may impact my odds of getting in based on how quickly my scores come out and so on. Then I read somewhere that those who took the exam later in the summer scored significantly higher on the exam (15-20% higher in August then in May, etc). Short story long, I ended up getting cold feet and rescheduled it to June 27th- thinking it was a good middle ground, as I've only just begun truly reviewing the Kaplan books and I know I need to dedicate at least a month to just doing FLs and running through questions. I've got literally 6 months to study, 4 of which I'll be studying alongside with my courses (meaning I'll have slightly less than a month dedicated to solid review/study). As I said, I just begun reviewing the Kaplan books and I'm astonished how long it takes to read the chapters, and just to make a simple outline (easily 4-5 hours to read each chapter and create an outline).

Some relative background:
-Full time student
-I understand the chronological order of when things are due, and the overall deadlines as well as "loopholes" for applications
-No job, but 3-4 hours a week of volunteer work
-Can probably devote 16-24 hours a week this next semester to study for the Exam, w/ additional hours a few weeks
-I'm very slow at studying, i.e. takes me awhile to grasp material, but once its in there, its usually in there good
-I'm an "A" student in all of the MCAT relative courses

Do you think my rescheduling was a solid idea, based on the information I've provided?
Should I push the date even further? Thoughts?
Whats the latest I could reschedule to [likely] receive a better score? (without looking "bad" for having my score so late)
Do you think with the time I'm left, along with my other commitments, this is enough time to perform decently (>510) on the Exam?

Again, I know the relative deadlines of everything, I just can't get a solid answer one way or another. Any other additional thoughts or advise would be welcomed. Thank you

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[deleted1001426]

Take a fl and see where you are. None of us can predict your current preparedness without info regarding how you’re scoring on practice tests.

Oh and the reason why it takes so long to read a chapter of the Kaplan books is because you’re not supposed to sit down and just read. Do problems and if you find topics you don’t know that’s when you refer to the book. If you’re coming from a stem background and like you said yourself , you’re slow at studying but “once it’s there it’s there” then this is all review so there’s so reason to dedicate time to just reading through the books as you likely know most of it . Your time is better spent finding your weak points via passages and problems and then directly addressing those

 

[Bearmanbear]

I'm a bio major, and your right, I probably should just start digging into the material, but I originally had wanted to do a "final sweep" of the material before jumping into FLs and practice questions to get an honest look. As I'm reviewing I'm having a lot of "oh yeah" moments, had I been asked about specifics on these topics I may have floundered- some of the material I haven't seen in 2 years, while the soc/psych stuff is closer to 4 years (nontraditional student). A few of the topics in the Kaplan books were never covered in my classes- believe it or not- such as embryogenesis and nearly all of the metabolic pathways (except the Krebs/ETC), so I'm having to teach myself that, and relearn the soc/psych stuff. Think I'll take your advice and just start basically skimming until I hit roadblocks, though I don't think I'm ready for FL yet, and think it would be futile (for me anyway) as I'm still 6 months out.

 

[deleted1001426]

I'm a bio major, and your right, I probably should just start digging into the material, but I originally had wanted to do a "final sweep" of the material before jumping into FLs and practice questions to get an honest look. As I'm reviewing I'm having a lot of "oh yeah" moments, had I been asked about specifics on these topics I may have floundered- some of the material I haven't seen in 2 years, while the soc/psych stuff is closer to 4 years (nontraditional student). A few of the topics in the Kaplan books were never covered in my classes- believe it or not- such as embryogenesis and nearly all of the metabolic pathways (except the Krebs/ETC), so I'm having to teach myself that, and relearn the soc/psych stuff. Think I'll take your advice and just start basically skimming until I hit roadblocks, though I don't think I'm ready for FL yet, and think it would be futile (for me anyway) as I'm still 6 months out.

You could always just do the problems at the end of each chapter to gauge if you need to review that material. I think most prep books come with a diagnostic test of some sort which is usually shorter than the real mcat and more content based. You could take that rather than a fl to get a baseline for your level of understanding and figure out what subjects are your weak points.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

You definitely have enough time to study for the exam. People always talk about how the test is "easier" during this month or this month, but there's no real evidence to support that. You should take your exam as early as possible once you feel ready to take it, and you'll only be able to know that based on your AAMC FL scores. I wouldn't push it past June because past that, and you risk your application being late. That's only if you are planning to apply in June. If you aren't, then you can push it back as long as you want- med schools will not care how late you take it.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Bearmanbear]

You could always just do the problems at the end of each chapter to gauge if you need to review that material. I think most prep books come with a diagnostic test of some sort which is usually shorter than the real mcat and more content based. You could take that rather than a fl to get a baseline for your level of understanding and figure out what subjects are your weak points.

That's kind of the route I've started going- and its saving me more time with only minor drawbacks in material absorption. I'm doing the Kaplan books, and I feel that about ~35% of the end of chapter questions aren't difficult, but do try to trick you and throw you off- which I'm not sure is quite representative of the MCAT. Although it does make you truly read the question thoroughly.

 

[Bearmanbear]

You definitely have enough time to study for the exam. People always talk about how the test is "easier" during this month or this month, but there's no real evidence to support that. You should take your exam as early as possible once you feel ready to take it, and you'll only be able to know that based on your AAMC FL scores. I wouldn't push it past June because past that, and you risk your application being late. That's only if you are planning to apply in June. If you aren't, then you can push it back as long as you want- med schools will not care how late you take it.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

So it sounds like I can have my application turned in, in June, and then turn around and take the MCAT- so the only thing that will be pending is my MCAT score? I'm planning on selecting one school to "hold" my application while my score is pending. Also, if I did take it June 27th (as I'm scheduled to) my score would likely come no later than July 5th, at which time, my secondaries will hopefully begin rolling in?

 

[deleted1001426]

That's kind of the route I've started going- and its saving me more time with only minor drawbacks in material absorption. I'm doing the Kaplan books, and I feel that about ~35% of the end of chapter questions aren't difficult, but do try to trick you and throw you off- which I'm not sure is quite representative of the MCAT. Although it does make you truly read the question thoroughly.

The mcat is almost entirely easy question written in a way which is intended to trick you. The material isn’t difficult, it’s the manner in which they present it which you need to get used to