4.5 Months of MCAT studying, Too Long?

[Lisztomania287]

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[aldol16]

Take a diagnostic test to see where you stand. Compare your score on that to other people who have taken similar tests - use the compilations of data on this site to help you. It's difficult to gauge just from your post how much time you need. Schools vary in their emphasis on the sciences and how difficult their classes are, so many people who post high grades end up doing poorly on the MCAT because they fall into the pitfall of not knowing what they don't know. So take a diagnostic to see where you fall.

In terms of timing, I would say the biggest worry you should have is burning out. Try to give yourself time while studying just to do stuff you enjoy. That will help you focus your studying so that 4 hours a day of focused studying is much better than 8 hours of distracted studying.

 

[NextStepTutor_2]

Hello everyone!

I hope all of you are having a great day! I am a third year undergraduate who finished most of the pre-med pre-reqs and I was wondering if 4.5 months are too much time to study for MCAT.

To give you some details about my situation, I signed up for early September test and I can start studying for MCAT as soon as April begins. I will be in school from April-June and I am planning to take 3 consecutive weeks off from MCAT studying in June for finals week and a summer program, leaving me 2 months of studying while in school and 2.5 months of summer completely dedicated to MCAT studying. My school's summer break lasts until mid-September.

During this quarter, I will be only taking two classes (Biochem and a humanities upper div) and a lab that gives me course credit (15 hours/week; just started working). I just quit my previous job that takes ~15 hours/week, so the lab shouldn't be a problem in regards to time management. My other extracurricular activities should take about 12 hours/week.

I plan to study 14-18 hours per week during school year and 40-50 hours per week during the summer, focusing on content review while in school and practice during the summer (all self studying).

Does my plan sound fine? I know some people say that studying for too long may make you forget contents (?). If MCAT requires less attention, I was thinking of (1) taking Physics this quarter (last of the series) and just beginning in studying for MCAT during the summer or (2) working part-time in my lab over the summer while studying starting April.

I've been doing adequately in my pre-req courses (GPA consistently around 3.7), so I don't know if my plan is giving MCAT too much attention/time. Should I be giving more attention to improving my GPA or getting more involved in other extracurricular activities instead? My previous job workload prevented me from joining more student orgs that I've been interested in, but now that I'm only taking two classes, I am a bit tempted. My extracurricular activities have also been a bit lacking in community service besides hospital volunteering, so I was thinking about participating in such activities as well.

P.s. Unrelated, but I was wondering if using EK 9th edition and TBR 2011 for passages with TPRH and EK 101 is fine for content review! I haven't really been able to find out if 2011 TBR is good enough for the new MCAT (besides for Biochem and Psych/Social), so I wanted some confirmation.

Hi @Lisztomania287 ! With the new, larger MCAT 4.5 months is on the long side or expected study time, but not too long. The old MCAT study time was typically ~ 3-3.5 months so with an entirely new science section and more complex biochem and biology of the exam, your schedule is not overkill. length is no so important as the quality of your study time.

Get as up to date content books as you can. We have had a year+ of MCAT testing and student feedback so there are now several books that accurately reflect the new, updated content to the exam (not just the new psych/soc but the changes in orgo, physics, biochem, biology).

From admissions people I have spoken with, to my own experience going through admissions and medical school, a few, well developed extra-curriculars is preferable to a bunch of last-minute attempts to bolster your CV. It will be quite apparent to the adcoms if you took something seriously or if it was just a play for their attention.

Begin your studies with a practice MCAT, so you can get a feel for the tone and format of the questions and passages. read thourhg the AAMC OG so that you can get a sense for how confident/familiar you are with the science on the exam. This way you will know what your current content strengths and opportunity areas are. Earlier in your studies you will focus on content, with MCAt style questions to help solidify this content. As you progress, more and more time will be spend doing practice questions as you wrap up content until, hopefully, you last 2-4 weeks is spent doing not much else but full length exams, review, and select content based on your exam performance. CARs should be done throughout your study time.

As for which books/tests etc... it matter more how well you use them, and how well they fit YOUR learning style.

Hope this helps, good luck!

 

[Lisztomania287]

Thank you @aldol16 and @NextStepTutor_2 for the feedback!