MCAT & Courseload conflict?

[knight2016]

Hey everyone! So I need some advice on when to take my MCAT. Due to poor class planning on my part, I decided to take a gap semester so I won't be graduating until Fall 2016 which means I won't matriculate until Fall 2017. Next semester (Spring 16) is my last semester of hard science classes, mainly because of Biochemistry. Originally I planned on taking an MCAT prep course during this semester as well. Due to some family issues, I missed a lot of the beginning of this semester and because of that I may have to withdraw from Physics 2 rather than take the low grade if I don't ace the next exam two weeks from now.

My question is, would taking biochem, physics 2 and a prep course 3x a week be realistic to do well in both my classes and my MCAT prep? As an alternative, I was considering taking the prep course over Christmas break (1 month, 5x a week) and self studying during the Spring. I just really have no clue what to do and I need to figure it out ASAP. Thank you in advance!

Stats - AA female, economically disadvantaged
- overall GPA: 3.7
- science GPA: 3.5
- 2 years of research with publications and conference attendance
- Good leadership positions & volunteer experiences
- working on building up clinical experience & shadowing now

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[GreenDuck12]

You're the only one who can decide if it is too much. You could start the courses and MCAT prep and if you are not earning the scores you would like on practice MCAT exams, postpone the test date. There is no reason to take the test before you are ready. That being said, make sure you do not let your grades slip.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Hey everyone! So I need some advice on when to take my MCAT. Due to poor class planning on my part, I decided to take a gap semester so I won't be graduating until Fall 2016 which means I won't matriculate until Fall 2017. Next semester (Spring 16) is my last semester of hard science classes, mainly because of Biochemistry. Originally I planned on taking an MCAT prep course during this semester as well. Due to some family issues, I missed a lot of the beginning of this semester and because of that I may have to withdraw from Physics 2 rather than take the low grade if I don't ace the next exam two weeks from now.

My question is, would taking biochem, physics 2 and a prep course 3x a week be realistic to do well in both my classes and my MCAT prep? As an alternative, I was considering taking the prep course over Christmas break (1 month, 5x a week) and self studying during the Spring. I just really have no clue what to do and I need to figure it out ASAP. Thank you in advance!

Stats - AA female, economically disadvantaged
- overall GPA: 3.7
- science GPA: 3.5
- 2 years of research with publications and conference attendance
- Good leadership positions & volunteer experiences
- working on building up clinical experience & shadowing now

You could always JUST self study. I'd say around 50% of people self study these days and do just fine. Get a set of books you like (Kaplan, PR, etc, etc) and create a schedule. If you think this is something you could truly commit yourself to doing, you'll save some big money in the long run and may be able to have some semblance of a Christmas break...

The caveat is that you actually have to STICK to the study schedule because you won't have deadlines/homework etc like you would in a class. I just think a class 5x a week sounds like a lot. I'm not sure you understand the amount of reading every night that would entail.

EDIT: I took the Kaplan On-site course and didn't find it that helpful anyway. It's about 90% test-strategy and 10% content (IMO). Can't comment on Princeton course, didn't take it. I will say my most productive days were spent hounding over hours of Khan Academy and Kaplan videos and reading/taking notes on my own time. Wish I would've saved the money at this point to tell the truth.

 

[knight2016]

You could always JUST self study. I'd say around 50% of people self study these days and do just fine. Get a set of books you like (Kaplan, PR, etc, etc) and create a schedule. If you think this is something you could truly commit yourself to doing, you'll save some big money in the long run and may be able to have some semblance of a Christmas break...

The caveat is that you actually have to STICK to the study schedule because you won't have deadlines/homework etc like you would in a class. I just think a class 5x a week sounds like a lot. I'm not sure you understand the amount of reading every night that would entail.

EDIT: I took the Kaplan On-site course and didn't find it that helpful anyway. It's about 90% test-strategy and 10% content (IMO). Can't comment on Princeton course, didn't take it. I will say my most productive days were spent hounding over hours of Khan Academy and Kaplan videos and reading/taking notes on my own time. Wish I would've saved the money at this point to tell the truth.

Thanks for that. Originally I was considering self studying only but I recently got a free TPR course. I just checked the course dates again and they have a class starting November-end of February. If I were to do that one, the class would only cut into the first month or so of my Spring schedule.
I definitely don't want to take the exam until I'm done with Biochemistry (and Physics 2 if I have to retake it) which means I'll have to wait until April/May to take the exam.

What did your schedule look like when you self studied?

 

[moisne]

Honestly - I think you can do both. But I think it'll be the most beneficial to just do one thing and do it well.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Thanks for that. Originally I was considering self studying only but I recently got a free TPR course. I just checked the course dates again and they have a class starting November-end of February. If I were to do that one, the class would only cut into the first month or so of my Spring schedule.
I definitely don't want to take the exam until I'm done with Biochemistry (and Physics 2 if I have to retake it) which means I'll have to wait until April/May to take the exam.

What did your schedule look like when you self studied?

Once again, IMO, what little Physics there is on the MCAT wouldn't like come from physics 2, so keep that in mind. But it sounds like you know what you are doing.

And generally I would get all my school stuff done during the day and spend time later at night on MCAT. I didn't necessarily block off time for MCAT because I know I had things going randomly throughout the week. When I had exams, I'd drop MCAT for a bit and study, when I had simply busy work, I'd put it off and do MCAT. It just depends on how you want to do it. But by all means of you have a free TPR course enroll...even if you went for half of it and decided you didn't like it (which I don't recommend), that would be better than nothing. It can't hurt certainly.