How many hours per week..

[Textbook warrior]

If I were to take the old MCAT in January (which to my knowledge is the last month in which you can take the old MCAT), how many hours would I have to devote per week for MCAT preparations to get the highest grade possible?

NOTE: I know it is different for everyone so let me brief you. I am (as my screenname suggests) a textbook warrior, so I can understand the material in books very well and do well in normal exams. I have a major weakness in standardized exams. Zilch "test taking strategies" and even worse time allocation. I'm thinking of enrolling in Kaplan course since --for the first time in my life-- the textbook won't cut it :'(

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[Textbook warrior]

you can study for 10 hours total and make a 35+, if you just happen to study the material that is in all the passages
or you can study for 3 months and make a 30 because you get screwed by a passage that you have no idea how to approach the questions
so you have to get lucky and get passages that you know how to solve
much less a "standardized" test than people make it out to be
and there's pretty much nothing you can about your verbal score if you aren't scoring super low - either you are good at verbal or you aren't. I know that there are some strategy threads floating around but they don't seem to be working for a lot of people

So how would you recommend studying?? Also how do you ensure what material will be in the passages and how to approach them? I would think that you should leave no stone unturned.

 

[Textbook warrior]

well if you really want to no life the mcat and you have nothing else to do in the summer and 12+ hours every day, I would recommend you follow the Sn2 guide but do the content review twice (so basically go through The Berkeley Review books, all the content and the questions, twice). Read through EK Bio 4-5 times in the summer (srs, it only takes 12 hours to read the entire book)

Wait i don't understand. Summer? I'm saying I want to take the old mcat in january 2015

 

[Dr. Retractor]

You don't need to follow the Sn2ed schedule. OP, I'm also taking the January MCAT and I've read EK Bio twice and TPR Bio and orgo once, and I'm working on PS content until the end of October, after which I will do practice tests and questions for two months before the exam. You basically have to not take a heavy course load (I'm taking 13 credits+research this semester) and study pretty much all the time. I usually split the day outside of lecture in half and spend half on course work and half on the MCAT. Then I devote all weekend to MCAT unless I have a test (This comes out to ~20 hours a week). It's difficult, but doable.

Good luck!

 

[Textbook warrior]

I've never heard of the Sn2 schedule. Is this it? http://www.studentdoctor.net/3-month-mcat-study-schedule/

Would you mind briefing me over it?? Thanks.

 

[Textbook warrior]

oh my bad. yeah not sure what you can do. can you handle the regular Sn2 scheudule and your courseload at the same time?

I've never heard of the Sn2 schedule. Is this it? http://www.studentdoctor.net/3-month-mcat-study-schedule/

Would you mind briefing me over it?? Thanks.

 

[Textbook warrior]

You don't need to follow the Sn2ed schedule. OP, I'm also taking the January MCAT and I've read EK Bio twice and TPR Bio and orgo once, and I'm working on PS content until the end of October, after which I will do practice tests and questions for two months before the exam. You basically have to not take a heavy course load (I'm taking 13 credits+research this semester) and study pretty much all the time. I usually split the day outside of lecture in half and spend half on course work and half on the MCAT. Then I devote all weekend to MCAT unless I have a test (This comes out to ~20 hours a week). It's difficult, but doable.

Good luck!

I was intimidated at first as I am doing 12 hours and research. But now that I think about it, I have already taken everything this semester bur orgo 2, and research has no due date for me so yea I'll enroll january as well. One question though, why EK and TPR? Why not kaplan or just stick to one? Any particular reason you decided to mix it up between the two books? Does it matter?

 

[Dr. Retractor]

I was intimidated at first as I am doing 12 hours and research. But now that I think about it, I have already taken everything this semester bur orgo 2, and research has no due date for me so yea I'll enroll january as well. One question though, why EK and TPR? Why not kaplan or just stick to one? Any particular reason you decided to mix it up between the two books? Does it matter?

I tried out books at a book store and decided on these, just because I thought they covered the material adequately for my level of preparation in each subject. I had a bad experience with Kaplan for the SAT so I steered away from them for content review, although I bought some Kaplan practice tests I may use. It doesn't really matter what books you use as long as you have a good background and do lots of practice problems.

Orgo 2 is actually a pretty valuable class for the MCAT, so I'd recommend taking it, unless you feel comfortable learning orgo 2 from a book (which is what I did for the course anyway so I guess it doesn't make a difference).

Edit: I also recommend reading the 30+ thread in the MCAT forum because some posts are very useful. Sn2ed's post is also very useful even if you don't follow the schedule.

 

[Textbook warrior]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/breaking-down-the-mcat-a-3-month-mcat-study-schedule.623898/

there you go. there are a very nice set of instructions in the first post. Sn2 has provided a structured schedule of going through the The Berkeley Review (TBR) mcat book set (with some book replacements, he replaces TBR bio with exam kracker (EK) bio). Many SDN users have been successful using these books, but they aren't for everyone and others do very well using Kaplan or Princeton, so you have to gauge what is right for you.

but basically you sit down for 3 months and spend ~5-6 hours a day reviewing mcat material. schedule is for 95 days I believe.

Thank you. It looks very effective. Just a bit intimidating with 12 hours this semester. Ah well. The path to glory is paved in sweat and blood lol

 

[gladlyfocused]

By the way, as I learned not to long ago, SN2ed is a she .

Thats it. Good luck with studying for the MCAT...I'm trying to take it in January too...

 

[Aerus]

If you want to maximize your chances of getting a good score, I'd say at least 3 hours a day of productive studying. That would be about 18 hours a week, if you give yourself one break day per week.

 

[knv2u]

If I were to take the old MCAT in January (which to my knowledge is the last month in which you can take the old MCAT), how many hours would I have to devote per week for MCAT preparations to get the highest grade possible?

NOTE: I know it is different for everyone so let me brief you. I am (as my screenname suggests) a textbook warrior, so I can understand the material in books very well and do well in normal exams. I have a major weakness in standardized exams. Zilch "test taking strategies" and even worse time allocation. I'm thinking of enrolling in Kaplan course since --for the first time in my life-- the textbook won't cut it :'(

How is anyone going to provide you with a meaningful answer? We have no idea how well you have mastered the material, how long ago you took your prerequisites, etc. The answer is different for everyone. Study until you are consistently scoring at your target score or higher on timed AAMC released exams.

 

[Textbook warrior]

By the way, as I learned not to long ago, SN2ed is a she .

Thats it. Good luck with studying for the MCAT...I'm trying to take it in January too...

Well, she is the coolest girl in the world lol good luck to you as well. I registered yesterday. Gonna have to go out of state to take it so register fast.