How long should I prepare for the MCAT?

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PreparationIsKey

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Hello all,

I'm planning to take the 2016 MCAT, end of junior year in July. I'm planning to study 2 months for it because the spring semester ends in mid-May. Is this ample time for studying/taking all the tests? I'm aiming for a perfect score, if not close to it. I have very good foundations in the sciences because I have a book that has all the big ideas/tricky ideas in gen chem/bio/orgo. These are my personal notes which I keep looking on.

I'm a sophomore right now so I have 2 years till I take it. Not so much as the sciences but the VR worries me because I used to take MCAT VR tests and averaged a 6 on it(7 highest) and a 11-12 on the sciences. So would you recommend me prepare for VR in my spring semester of junior year? Then start the science preparation after spring semester?

Also what should I dedicate the majority of my practice on? Reviewing? Or taking a billion tests?

Thank you all!

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Don't forget that in 2015 the MCAT will include psychology, sociology, and biochemistry questions aswell, doubling the amount of questions on the test.

The test will also double in time from ~3 hours to ~6 hours. That being said, two months is still enough time to study but I would take intro classes on psych and socio while you can at school.

If capital allows, try to get a Princeton review package, I hear they work wonders and even come with 10+ practice tests.

(Excuse me if you already know about the MCAT changes, just trying to help)

Good luck.
 
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Don't forget that in 2015 the MCAT will include psychology, sociology, and biochemistry questions aswell, doubling the amount of questions on the test.

The test will also double in time from ~3 hours to ~6 hours. That being said, two months is still enough time to study but I would take intro classes on psych and socio while you can at school.

If capital allows, try to get a Princeton review package, I hear they work wonders and even come with 10+ practice tests.

(Excuse me if you already know about the MCAT changes, just trying to help)

Good luck.

I'm aware but thanks a bunch!
 
Two months is definitely plenty of time to prepare for the test to do well, but to get a perfect score or near a perfect score, especially during the semester when you have classes and other extracurricular activities, it might not be enough. I highly recommend studying for it during the summer. That way, you can dedicate several hours a day to just focus on it with no school distractions and minimal extracurricular activity distractions (unless you're working full time like I am).

With that said, if you are trying to maximize your chances at a perfect/near-perfect score, I highly recommend you start:

1) Reading a lot of dense literature, scientific and social sciences. This will help your passage analysis skills develop over time.

2) Develop mastery over the remainder of your science classes up until you start studying. Do not just aim for an A. Aim to truly understand the material. Do a lot of practice problems, etc.

3) When you start whatever study plan you do (SN2ed, Spinach Method, your own, etc.), make sure you do practice passages EVERY day. Reading from a prep book and calling it a day is NOT productive studying. If you must read a chapter from a prep book on a certain day, make sure you pair it up with practice passages/discrete questions on that subject or else you will lose a lot of that day's progress. Passive learning of the material is easily lost after a month.
 
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Two months is definitely plenty of time to prepare for the test to do well, but to get a perfect score or near a perfect score, especially during the semester when you have classes and other extracurricular activities, it might not be enough. I highly recommend studying for it during the summer. That way, you can dedicate several hours a day to just focus on it with no school distractions and minimal extracurricular activity distractions (unless you're working full time like I am).

With that said, if you are trying to maximize your chances at a perfect/near-perfect score, I highly recommend you start:

1) Reading a lot of dense literature, scientific and social sciences. This will help your passage analysis skills develop over time.

2) Develop mastery over the remainder of your science classes up until you start studying. Do not just aim for an A. Aim to truly understand the material. Do a lot of practice problems, etc.

3) When you start whatever study plan you do (SN2ed, Spinach Method, your own, etc.), make sure you do practice passages EVERY day. Reading from a prep book and calling it a day is NOT productive studying. If you must read a chapter from a prep book on a certain day, make sure you pair it up with practice passages/discrete questions on that subject or else you will lose a lot of that day's progress. Passive learning of the material is easily lost after a month.

Aside from articles on line(e.g. The economist,nytimes,newyorker) what other literature sources specific to the MCAT would you recommend me read?

And I agree fully with you on the test taking thing. I plan on taking a billion tests/questions.
 
Aside from articles on line(e.g. The economist,nytimes,newyorker) what other literature sources specific to the MCAT would you recommend me read?

And I agree fully with you on the test taking thing. I plan on taking a billion tests/questions.

Scientific journals, like Nature. Even if you don't fully understand the whole paper, try your best to extrapolate as much information as you can on the experiment and findings.

When I say dense literature, I mean philosophy, anthropology, sociology, etc.

Economist and NYT are okay for developing basic reading comprehension and is something I normally recommend people who struggle with getting high single digit scores. For the 13-15 range, you should try going to even more dense material.


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Don't know OP. you can study for 3 weeks and have a test that just happened to cover the material you studied. you can study for 3 months and forget things that will be of critical importance on the actual test, you can study for 6 months and retain every bit of information and still do bad on the MCAT because it covered things that you had never even thought about before. It's less of a standardizing factor than you think, and there's really no way to gauge how well you do other than actually taking it on test day....

I disagree. If you cover the material that you are responsible for knowing to the level of detail that you're expected to know and review sufficiently, then the MCAT shouldn't come as a shock to you (bar any outside factors). Anything else is due to lack of skill on taking the test or ability to critically think with the passages.
 
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I disagree. If you cover the material that you are responsible for knowing to the level of detail that you're expected to know and review sufficiently, then the MCAT shouldn't come as a shock to you (bar any outside factors). Anything else is due to lack of skill on taking the test or ability to critically think with the passages.

So do you think if I get a good handle on my reviews, I should spend less time on reviewing verses taking tests in these 2 months I'll have?
 
So do you think if I get a good handle on my reviews, I should spend less time on reviewing verses taking tests in these 2 months I'll have?

No, reviewing is important. During my content review, there were a lot of concepts that weren't properly taught to me in my classes, and some concepts that were plain wrong. You will forget more than you realize. Hence why I believe two months during the semester isn't the ideal strategy if you want to maximize your score.

It will also be very likely that you will run into material you are required to know for the MCAT that wasn't taught in your classes.
 
No, reviewing is important. During my content review, there were a lot of concepts that weren't properly taught to me in my classes, and some concepts that were plain wrong. You will forget more than you realize. Hence why I believe two months during the semester isn't the ideal strategy if you want to maximize your score.

It will also be very likely that you will run into material you are required to know for the MCAT that wasn't taught in your classes.

Correction: I plan on taking 2 months into my summer for the MCAT + maybe starting partially the last month of the spring semester
 
Correction: I plan on taking 2 months into my summer for the MCAT + maybe starting partially the last month of the spring semester

Are you planning on applying during your senior year? Although you wouldn't be extremely late, you also wouldn't be early if you took the MCAT in late July/early August.
 
Hello all,

I'm planning to take the 2016 MCAT, end of junior year in July. I'm planning to study 2 months for it because the spring semester ends in mid-May. Is this ample time for studying/taking all the tests? I'm aiming for a perfect score, if not close to it. I have very good foundations in the sciences because I have a book that has all the big ideas/tricky ideas in gen chem/bio/orgo. These are my personal notes which I keep looking on.

I'm a sophomore right now so I have 2 years till I take it. Not so much as the sciences but the VR worries me because I used to take MCAT VR tests and averaged a 6 on it(7 highest) and a 11-12 on the sciences. So would you recommend me prepare for VR in my spring semester of junior year? Then start the science preparation after spring semester?

Also what should I dedicate the majority of my practice on? Reviewing? Or taking a billion tests?

Thank you all!

MCAT VR is the hardest section to improve on. I suggest that you start practicing MCAT VR early. Why? Because developing and mastering the strategies that you will be using on the MCAT VR can take up a large amount of time.
 
Are you planning on applying during your senior year? Although you wouldn't be extremely late, you also wouldn't be early if you took the MCAT in late July/early August.

Yes I am planning to apply right after I take it. I want to matriculate right after college so I won't have a gap year. Any suggestions you may have so I can pull this off neatly? Also I may be able to get some practice in winter break before that spring semester.
 
Yes I am planning to apply right after I take it. I want to matriculate right after college so I won't have a gap year. Any suggestions you may have so I can pull this off neatly? Also I may be able to get some practice in winter break before that spring semester.

That won't help. If you practice too early before your test day, you will just end up forgetting it. You can still try, but I would limit it to only discrete questions, not any practice exams, as that would be a huge waste.

You will have to ask others who are more keen on the intricacies of applying. You won't be early when you apply, that's for sure. But I don't think it will hurt you that much as long as you're verified ASAP and you submit your secondaries relatively soon after your MCAT score comes back.
 
That won't help. If you practice too early before your test day, you will just end up forgetting it. You can still try, but I would limit it to only discrete questions, not any practice exams, as that would be a huge waste.

You will have to ask others who are more keen on the intricacies of applying. You won't be early when you apply, that's for sure. But I don't think it will hurt you that much as long as you're verified ASAP and you submit your secondaries relatively soon after your MCAT score comes back.

Hey check your inbox.
 
I plan on a 3 month summer next year doing almot nothing but MCAT prep. My goal is 500 hours of study. But after this 2015 exam expansion, I don't even know anymore :'(
 
Depends on each person.
My friend studied only for two weeks and pulled a 40.
Another friend of mine studied for 3 months and got only 30.
 
Depends on each person.
My friend studied only for two weeks and pulled a 40.
Another friend of mine studied for 3 months and got only 30.

I think that too. It's all in your foundations. There are some people who study material the first time and will remember it for a long time and that understanding sticks. So I guess it would save them a lot of review time.
 
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