Tips experience..on managing work and mcat studies (re-take)

[orangeblue]

Any one who has been working/took the MCAT..any tips?

I am going for re-take and now have a full-time job. How did you manage?

I can study for about 2-2.5 hours on weekdays + more on Fri/Sat/Sun. Any tips, suggestions?

I realize that having a plan ready for the week makes it easy to just follow after work. Also, going to a library is more helpful for me that working at home..but that may change..

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[deleted648172]

Hey - I am [trying] to work full time, take O-chem, and prepare for my MCAT simultaneously. I too study 2-3hrs/weekday, and all of the weekends.

- I need to go to a place to study (coffee shop, library), it helps me focus!
- consider kaplan, or PR, they keep you on track.
- if you have a flexible job, try to study at your best hours (2pm for most people is best hours for napping, not learning)
- try not to burn out, its a marathon... (I'm telling myself this!)... maybe even take a rest day every week.
- when your MCAT nears, I may consider taking a "study vacation" from work.
- if you don't need to work, quit, or go P/T! If you work hard to get a good MCAT score, you will be more desireable to medical schools, who will offer you more financial aid, which will probably be more than what you made in a few months of work anyways (unless... you have a real career).

 

[crazy87]

this may not be feasible, but it's what i did while working full time (although there's a catch).... I was not very self motivated, so I had a tutor meet with me once a week for two hours at a time or sometimes more. I also by some luck got my employer to grant me a full month off leading up to my MCAT.... non trad pullin' a trad.... anyway, could you even take like 1-2 weeks off leading up to the exam?? i would take as much as you possibly could. just a suggestion.

 

[makingthejump]

Make a study schedule that is reasonable. Do not be overly ambitous because you will need time to adjust as you go. I suggest studying 4-5 days per week for 3 hours per day. Make sure you switch subjects every day to keep it interesting and prevent burnout.

 

[mluck07]

I studied for the MCAT while working full-time and got a good score. I used Kaplan for review, and Examkrackers 1001 practice questions in all of the subjects. I thought that doing practice questions was the most helpful. I would alternate between subjects (ex. do gen chem and bio on Monday, Physics and organic on Tuesday etc..) and go by number of practice questions (20-25 per subject) rather than time studied. I always marked which questions I got wrong and would review WHY. After I had done all 1001 questions in each subject, I went back and saw which topics I was weakest on by which questions I got wrong. Finally, about a month leading into the exam, I spent every weekend doing 1-2 practice exams. Good luck!

 

[orangeblue]

Thanks. I have to leave for work at 7am so not feasible to study.

But I will have 2 weeks of winter break and 5 days of thanksgiving.

Anyways, glad to hear that I'm not alone!