How do you guys fit in time to study along with coursework? I know that most people are able to do this, but I'm having a hard time with it. It's pretty bad because I studied the whole summer and had to push my date because I wasn't ready, and now I am studying with classes. But I didn't touch mcat stuff for the last two weeks or so because I had two exams yesterday and I was so worried about them. Do you just schedule like 2 hours a day and force yourself to study? Whenever I study for classes or the mcat, I'm just nervous because I feel like I'm not putting my best effort into the other activity
Also, by the time I'm done classes at the end of the day, I'm just gone. I don't have the ability to handle that much work in one day lol
I sit down and try to read my mcat materials, but I can't actually read. I can only look at the books. I can't feel myself processing the information
Hi a,
As a part-time MCAT instructor, I can tell you the best piece of advice that I have heard and that I give to my students is this: on average, doing well on the MCAT requires 300 hours at minimum of direct study + practice time.
If you're self-studying, you should set aside X amount of hours per week to meet that goal before your exam. This '300' rule is just an average; it could take you much less or more time than that. However, if you block out, let's say 10 hours per week on a calendar.... then, after 10 weeks of school, you're already 1/3 of the way to being prepared.
Make a schedule! Stick to it! When I was studying, I had Saturday evenings for macro review, Sunday mornings for practice tests (8 hour blocks of time; ~12 tests total), and blocks of time set out during the work (school) week to study.
Additionally, with the gift of Khan Academy, you can be studying for the MCAT all the time. Get to enjoy the material by either listening to the Psych/Soc videos like podcasts in between classes... or, find the old Audio Osmosis series to hear Bio/Chem relayed to you hilariously.
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Basically, if you're not organized and you don't have a plan as to how you're going to reach your goal of ~300 hours, you're not going to do it. Create SMART goals.
Specific: what you'll study (e.g., kinematics)
Measurable: how long you'll do it / what chapters to cover (e.g., 2 hours on Wednesday, Physics chapter 2)
Attainable: do I have the time to do that much studying on Sundays? --> Clear your schedule to make the MCAT #1 priority during your blocks of time. Do not let anything else disturb it.
Realistic: if you're shooting for 10h of studying/week, you can't expect to do that all on, for example, Saturday. Split stuff up so that you'll actually do it.
Time-based: keep track of your study hours on a google spreadsheet.
Track your practice exam scores. Make sure you have an idea of what you have covered and what you need to still cover. And slam this test. The study skills you'll get will last you a lifetime!
And remember, SDN's got your back like chiroprac.
