8 hour studying

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I haven't started studying for the MCAT yet, but I'm feeling overwhelmed just looking over people's study schedules online and listening to friends. How are people studying for this exam 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? I don't understand how people are able to dedicate so much time in their lives to this exam. How can you not work a job? I bet my parents would be highly against me giving up a job to spend that much time studying...I don't know how to pull something like that off. And how can you just sit somewhere and study like it's a full time job????

 

[HCHopeful]

It's an investment. You treat as such by making sacrifices in other areas of your life.

As far as how to do it. Determination is the most important thing, but you also need to know your optimal conditions for studying and all of that. Breaks are important, but getting work done is more so. You just have to tell yourself it's something you have to do and then do it.

 

[MLaura]

Well first… find a study schedule that is tailored to your studying skills. Not every method works for everyone. See what works for you.

Second… When you're in medical school it will literally be your job to study as if it's a full time job lol.

Good luck! 🙂

 

[chemist16]

Most of the people I know didn't study full-time for the MCAT. They set out a budgeted schedule and stuck to it.

 

[KinesiologyNerd]

It only gets worse my friend.

 

[22031 Alum]

I didn't realize what forum this was and thought you were talking about Step 1. If an MCAT study schedule is intimidating you, you're in for a world of hurt.

That said, I fit in MCAT studying with the rest of my school work and only did "full-time" studying during my Spring Break. But that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the SDN average was only a 30, not the 38 (or 815 or whatever the new equivalent is) it is today.

 

[PhillyMed777]

^^^Rodger Rodger
get used to it. You'll be doing much worse in the future haha.

 

[Ad2b]

But that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth ..

Did you steal my abacus? 🤣

 

[Dr. Death]

I didn't study full time. I probably did 10 hours a week average for three months. I only scored the equivalent of a 29-30 though. It really depends on the person. If you are a biochem psych double major who retains everything like a sponge you won't need much study time at all.

 

[gannicus89]

I tried the whole...studying over 3 months while also taking undergrad classes and it didn't really work for me.

This time, I studied for 35 days, took 2 graduate classes, did lab once a week, and studied about 13-15 hours a day. THAT worked for me. I never thought I'd be able to study that long in a day, but I took breaks as needed and kept telling myself that I did not want to go through this again. How dedicated are you? Until this year, I didn't care enough to really give it everything. You have to be ready mentally.

Most importantly, don't focus on what others are doing. My schedule may not work for you. The same way the three month schedule didn't work for me. Find out how you learn best and tailor your own schedule. Be consistent.

 

[Benighted]

Don't worry about what others are doing so long as you know your own limits.

I started studying for my Sept 12 MCAT on July 7th. That gave me a little over 2 months to study. I thought I was super behind because I started so late, so I vowed to invest at least 8-12 hours a day. This worked for maybe about a week. After that, I slowly declined until I was barely studying for 4 hours a day. Around a month later (August), I realized how much I was slacking and picked up my pace again. I started taking practice tests about 2 weeks before my exam. I went through AAMC 3, 7,8,9,10,11 during that period and scored an average of 33.5 on my exams. I didn't feel prepared for my exam at all; in fact, I was expecting a score from 32-35 at best. Either way, I knew that I would perform differently under the adrenaline rush during the real MCAT, so I went into my test confidently and performed to the best of my ability. Though I ended up making some really dumb mistakes (and I knew it right after I finished the section too), I didn't let that influence my future sections. I ended up scoring a 37 on the real exam, which was 4 points higher than my practice exam average and higher than any score I received on a practice exam.

Moral of the story? Don't worry if you're not studying X amount of hours a day. Focus on learning the material and try to become familiar with your intellectual limits. For example, I knew that if I took all my practice tests right before the real exam, I'd adopt the test-taking mindset for the real exam (meaning I would have a good intuition) and I was right. That's because I knew what strategy worked best for me. Reference your past finals, SATs, etc to get a feel for how you study best for these things and follow the strategy that works for you.

 

[PatrickStarMDPHD]

I haven't started studying for the MCAT yet, but I'm feeling overwhelmed just looking over people's study schedules online and listening to friends. How are people studying for this exam 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? I don't understand how people are able to dedicate so much time in their lives to this exam. How can you not work a job? I bet my parents would be highly against me giving up a job to spend that much time studying...I don't know how to pull something like that off. And how can you just sit somewhere and study like it's a full time job????

Don't compare yourself to them. Different people have different needs for studying. Personally, I studied a 2-3 hours each day during one summer while working full time. Granted, that was for the 2014 MCAT. I am absolutely clueless about how the new exam is scored.

 

[Grace184]

For me personally, I take a practice exam "cold"- then see where I need to budget my time more, rather than burning myself out over stuff I'm already ok with. It's all up to you and your study needs. Everyone has their own style and preferences- get to know and trust yours- don't follow others.

 

[NorthOfBroad]

2 hours of active studying is way better than 8 hours of staring at pages of information all day. This is of course dependent on your background knowledge of course, if you don't remember any physics or ochem or whatever than you will have to study more. I studied about 2 hours a day most days

 

[GatorsKW14]

Maybe you are the type of person that doesn't need that many hours of studying to be successful. I had a pretty intense study schedule but that is what I thought I needed to do well. I got through it by reminding myself that this study schedule was for a short period of time and I wanted to take the MCAT once and do it right the first time. I took a day off if I started to feel burnt out. It worked for me and I was happy with the results. In reality, you probably won't survive med school studying for only a couple of hours per day and only 5 days a week. Better to work on that stamina now than to struggle throughout med school.

 

[mimelim]

I find it insane that people study for more than 4 hours a day. The context of that is that I don't think that I could personally do it. On the other side, I've seen a lot of classmates that can and do so to good result. However, on the third hand, I've seen a fair number of students do it (live in the library, study 8 hours a day) and either burn out or get crushed when they realize that medicine isn't just about academics and the difference between getting a 91% studying 2 hours a day and a 97% studying 8 hours a day is actually very little.

 

[Lannister]

I agree that it's totally ridiculous to study for 8 hours a day. If you need to study that much then you probably aren't being very efficient. I studied for 3 hours a day, six days a week for three months and scored somewhere in the 33-37 range.

 

[maxwell_edison]

.

 

[Gandyy]

I dont know, OP you should study for as long as you need to. A lot of the people here on SDN are uber geniuses and only need to study 2.5 minutes in order to obtain 48 MCAT scores.

Realize that this is a very small group of people.

 

[HCHopeful]

I agree with Gandy. The people here are exceptions and not the rule.

Just find what fits best. If you need to study 4 hours, do that. If it's 8 hours, do that. It doesn't make you any less intelligent if you have to put in more time. It just means you process things differently.

I've found if you compare yourself to people on here, you'll often be disappointed with yourself. Hell, I've convinced myself that my 31 MCAT score is something to be ashamed of. People at my little school in the middle of nowhere hate me for that.

 

[panda16]

I started my studying in mid-January for my May 22 date. I was supposed to study 1-3 hours per day, but honestly didn't hold myself to that until about April, and even then I usually didn't do it every day because I was a full-time student with part-time jobs. Just find the plan that works best for you, though. I found during the two weeks between my testa and the end of finals, when I attempted to do the whole 6-7 hours a day thing, I was barely keeping my sanity because it was too mind-numbing.

Just find the pattern that works well for you.

 

[jb94mg]

I dont know, OP you should study for as long as you need to. A lot of the people here on SDN are uber geniuses and only need to study 2.5 minutes in order to obtain 48 MCAT scores.

Realize that this is a very small group of people.

Not only is it a small group of people but I haven't seen anyone on here who's done that and achieved a top-notch score. I'd guess that that is very rare, and the majority of the people on here with great scores, to my knowledge, studied pretty intensely for it and took it seriously (3-4 months during a summer break or something similar). But comparing yourself to SDN users is pointless since at the average university (not WashU/HYPSM/Ivy League) you'll be lucky to find someone who eclipsed a 31-32. A 31-32 is even a pretty good score, though (80th+ percentile in an impressive group of test-takers nationwide), despite the SDN hive-mind. I think another factor is content - do you have all of your pre-reqs, or are you going to have to self-teach some things? Self-teaching can add a good amount of time to the content-review phase.

 

[Gandyy]

I agree with Gandy. The people here are exceptions and not the rule.

Just find what fits best. If you need to study 4 hours, do that. If it's 8 hours, do that. It doesn't make you any less intelligent if you have to put in more time. It just means you process things differently.

I've found if you compare yourself to people on here, you'll often be disappointed with yourself. Hell, I've convinced myself that my 31 MCAT score is something to be ashamed of. People at my little school in the middle of nowhere hate me for that.

I have a low LizzyM lol.

 

[jb94mg]

How do you think I feel about my 29 Score on here. lol, I've had a few people tell me on here not to even bother applying to MD programs with a 29 and a 3.77 cgpa.

You have to also consider the bubbles in which these people live. Most of these people at top universities are surrounded by highly intelligent peers all the time. They don't realize how impressive and intelligent they are, because in their bubble, if you didn't get a 35 or better on the MCAT, you're a pleb. It's relative deprivation, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in one of his talks. Plus, people who achieve 'good' scores are more likely to report their scores on SDN, which can lead people to believe that that's just some common achievement, when it's really not.

 

[Gandyy]

You have to also consider the bubbles in which these people live. Most of these people at top universities are surrounded by highly intelligent peers all the time. They don't realize how impressive and intelligent they are, because in their bubble, if you didn't get a 35 or better on the MCAT, you're a pleb. It's relative deprivation, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in one of his talks. Plus, people who achieve 'good' scores are more likely to report their scores on SDN, which can lead people to believe that that's just some common achievement, when it's really not.

Yea, meanwhile plebs such as myself will be happy with 1 MD acceptance or even 1 High tier DO school acceptance. lolz

 

[HCHopeful]

How do you think I feel about my 29 Score on here. lol, I've had a few people tell me on here not to even bother applying to MD programs with a 29 and a 3.77 cgpa.

I feel like many people forget that if a 31 is the median 50% of scores are equal to or LESS than that. Some people see a medIan of 31 and automatically assume nothing else can get in.

You're fine applying MD.

 

[Gandyy]

I feel like many people forget that if a 31 is the median 50% of scores are equal to or LESS than that. Some people see a medIan of 31 and automatically assume nothing else can get in.

You're fine applying MD.

I'm asian too so it doesnt help lol, but I hope you are right. Apparently Asians with my stats have a 35 percent chance of matriculating to a MD school. Not looking 2 great

 

[HCHopeful]

I'm asian too so it doesnt help lol, but I hope you are right. Apparently Asians with my stats have a 35 percent chance of matriculating to a MD school. Not looking 2 great

I'd imagine if your EC's are up to snuff, you'll be fine.

 

[Gandyy]

I'd imagine if your EC's are up to snuff, you'll be fine.

I will say that my EC's are the only "good" part of my application. So maybe they will stand out

 

[whatever5]

I worked 45-50 hours a week at a stressful job while studying for the MCAT. I usually only got about 1-2 hours of quality studying a day on average, some days I skipped altogether. I did that for about 3 months and got a 34. Moral of the story is it mostly depends on how much you need.

 

[Gandyy]

I worked 45-50 hours a week at a stressful job while studying for the MCAT. I usually only got about 1-2 hours of quality studying a day on average, some days I skipped altogether. I did that for about 3 months and got a 34. Moral of the story is it mostly depends on how much you need.

How many people do you think can do that? Not very many. I know I cant and neither can vast majority of people who matriculate into medical school.

I swear I hear more n=1 stories on SDN than I will any other time in real life.

Telling the OP stories of how you are a boss at school and taking standardized tests doesnt actually help the OP.

 

[Ad2b]

I was working about 50 hours a week, very stressful job; tried studying 3 - 4 hours a night, going to Kaplan class 3x a week, studying 8 hours on both Sa/Sun ... I was worse than burnt toast. Fried. Say MCAT and I crumbled like a canine pee soaked paper bag.

Now, I'm working 30 hours a week, taking a class, and studying about 3-4 hours a day for MCAT. Those hours will amp up as I get done with class.

FWIW, I simply do not suggest anyone trying to do the 50 hours a week for work + MCAT ... unless you have a psych ward on standby. There are those that can do it (W5 could) but I venture most cannot.

 

[whatever5]

How many people do you think can do that? Not very many. I know I cant and neither can vast majority of people who matriculate into medical school.

I swear I hear more n=1 stories on SDN than I will any other time in real life.

Telling the OP stories of how you are a boss at school and taking standardized tests doesnt actually help the OP.

I think people who study for 8 hours a day for 6 months are way more of an n=1 than my situation.

 

[Gandyy]

I think people who study for 8 hours a day for 6 months are way more of an n=1 than my situation.

I cant say I've never done that. Most of the average matriculating pre-meds I know and even I studied 4-6 hours a day for 3 months. Thats about it and I would say the norm.

But no I still have to say that working 40 to 50 hours a week and only studying for the MCAT 1-2 hours a day is more n=1 than the many tryhards that spend 8 hours a day for 6 months.

 

[moisne]

So many people said you must study x hours per day. It really depends on your background.

If you are at like a 28-29... 2 hr/day should be enough (unless you are like aiming at 36+)

If you are at low 20's - I question your science background knowledge - self study would be super hard to cover that much width.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

haha your thoughts are mine exact;y
don't worry about people, be proud that you can handle real life and the MCAT at the same time
(2 months, 40hrs/wk job, and a 35)

 

[NeuResurgens]

There are breaks. I don't think it's 8 hours straight. You probably spend, intermittently, a similar amount of time on going to class/homework/exams/studying for school.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

I studied ~1.5 hrs a day for 3.5 months alongside undergrad classes then did 4-6 hrs a day for 2 weeks after finals were over and leading up to my test date. Didn't try to memorize all the tiny details but focused on learning concepts and applying those concepts to as many practice passages and FL's as possible. Imo there is a technique to taking the MCAT that you can't learn just by reading review books - need more practice than review. Worked pretty well for me as I scored a 38 which was a 10 point improvement from my first practice test.