MCAT Studying Plans- HELP!

[Muscles00GT]

Well the semester is over and all but 3 finals this week stand in my way. I'll be returning home May 12th. In the Fall, I'll be a 5th semester student with the following pre-req courses complete:

*Gen. Chem I
*Gen. Chem II
*Bio I
*Bio II
*Physics I
*Physics II

I'll be taking orgo I and orgo II during my 5th and 6th semesters. I plan on taking the MCAT in April or May of 2008. I want to get a jumpstart on studying and figured I could do so over the summer. Once I get home, I'm going to purchase the EK Complete Study Package as well as the NOVA Physics. What would be the best way to plan the studying out? I have allocated a total of 8-10 weeks over the summer for studying (approx 2-4 hours a day). I was thinking I should start with general chem, then move onto bio, then physics, then verbal reasoning. I haven't had gen. chem in a while so I figured it would be wise to brush up on that now and then revisit once again before the MCAT. Any thoughts/ideas?

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[scotties123]

its great that u have the motivation to start studying a year in advance, but looking at this logically, i would personally wait until at least november-ish. granted the information is still fresh in your head from classes, but it'll be tough to remember everything ur studying now, a year from now.if u want a jumpstart i'd say start in like november. that'll give u 6+ months. more then enuff time.

 

[Muscles00GT]

its great that u have the motivation to start studying a year in advance, but looking at this logically, i would personally wait until at least november-ish. granted the information is still fresh in your head from classes, but it'll be tough to remember everything ur studying now, a year from now.if u want a jumpstart i'd say start in like november. that'll give u 6+ months. more then enuff time.

Thanks. I was thinking about that as well. I know if I start studying now all the info won't stay fresh, but I figured I could do some over the summer and then start up again in November. I'm not exactly sure how much "free" time I'm going to have over the course of the school year with all the studying I'm going to have to put in for orgo alone (not to mention outside activities).

 

[Muscles00GT]

bump

 

[Davjc2009]

practice verbal if u really just wanna study a year in advance

 

[scottj72]

I think it is a good idea. First, I would make sure you become aquainted with the format of the MCAT. Maybe even go ahead and take a practice test. Do not be concerned about the score, but get an idea of where you are going. I think that is probably more important than stressing over the content. I would deffinately start with the verbal because this does not require any content review. Plus if your verbal is low it is the one section that takes the most time/ work to improve. But I would also make sure to go through Bio/Chem/Phys. Mainly to assess your strengths and weakness. This would be an ideal time to adress thoses weaknesses, and maybe even change them to a strength. I would also concentrate on the concepts. I have found once you get the concepts down all the other information will fall into place. Don't worry much with Ochem.

 

[Green Pirate]

hey I'm pretty much in the same position as you OP. I just finished my 2nd semester undergrad and I'm done with Gen Chem and Bio. I'll be taking Orgo and physics next year, and then the MCAT next summer. I plan on reviewing/practicing my gen chem and bio this summer and working through a bunch of verbal practice sets. I know that I'll probably have to revisit my gen chem and bio again next summer (before I take the exam), but I figure it can't hurt to go through it one extra time.

I think my plan is going to be reading through content for both gen chem and bio and taking notes (hopefully these notes will come in handy next summer). Then I'll be supplementing this review with practice problems. I won't bother with actual practice tests since I haven't taken the courses for orgo/physics. For verbal I'm going to take one of the verbal tests from EK 101 and see where I'm at. I'll go from there, but I anticipate just working through passages from that book and from PR's verbal workbook.

 

[Muscles00GT]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I'll start with verbal and see where I stand. After a couple weeks, I'll move onto the sciences and brush up on gen. chem and some bio then finally move onto physics. Since I'm taking orgo this upcoming year, I won't review that now and I hope the classes alone (with some minor studyin outside) will be sufficient enough to cover the orgo part of the MCAT.

 

[RockyMD]

I just joined SDN, and I stumbled on this thread looking for MCAT tips. I'm also taking the MCAT in '08. I was thinking of going over bio and general chem this summer. Glad I'm not the only one to start studying now. Though, I could use a support buddy for staying on task, so please let me know how your studying goes