Advice on my study plan please?

[Corpsman Up]

Hey everyone. I am registered for the March 24 MCAT and would like some feedback on my study plan/materials. I have the full EK content review as well as all the 1001's and the Verbal 101. I plan to supplement this with my old textbooks if I need more detail. I plan to more or less follow their 10 week home study schedule + use the 1001's to nail the concepts down. This will leave me a few weeks for just full lengths/review. I plan to take all the aamc fl's and probably tbr 1-3. If I'm not making any progress in the PS section I plan to order tbr for these subjects as ive read several times that EK may not be the best bet for PS.

Do you think the study material plus the full lengths mentioned will provide me with enough passages? Is there a place to purchase more passages (not necessarily full lengths)? I am being realistic (I hope) with my expectations and will be happy with anything above a 30. Any advice on my plan of attack is appreciated!

I should mention I did decent in the prereqs, A's and B's; but I will only have completed Ochem 1 by test time

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[djkim]

I would go for BR or TRPH for Ochem at least - since you have only covered first portion of OCHEM. I guess it depends on what your school's curriculum is, for my school OCHEM 2 was more important in regards to MCAT.

Since you are interested in doing more passages - why not just get a BR set? (or TPRH science Workbook) Spending time on BR passages would be more beneficial to you than doing every 1001s. Besides, BR Physics and Gen Chem are quite superb - not just for passages, but also for teaching you lots of short cuts and techniques.

How long do you plan to work on doing Full length exams? You have total 11 - including TBRs - even if you take one every other day, it takes more than 3 weeks. In general, people seem to prefer to have two days in between doing another full length as to do more thorough review and recoup their energy level. You know yourself the best - so I can't comment on that - but cramming full length exams is probably not the best thing. I would rather rush through content review - cut 10 wks to 6-8 wks and spend that time doing FLs.

 

[Corpsman Up]

I plan to get through as much material as possible over winter break, then begin taking full lengths in January as I continue to finish the material. I am still considering getting tbr for gen chem as it wasn't my strongest subject, but I think btwn ek, my textbook, and online resources I should be fine. Im just a little hesitant to buy yet another book (especially one that will take 3 weeks to a month to arrive) when I could just spend that money on more full lengths.

 

[djkim]

That sounds like a solid plan - just wasn't sure how long you meant by 'few weeks'.

As far content review is concerned, you could probably teach yourself better with those resources than any company could offer, so long as you are motivated and dedicated. But then again passages that come with BR are nice practice materials. If you are already considering it, and if only things that are holding you back are inconvenience and money, then you might as go for it. No point regretting it later.

I suppose you can get more FLs, but 11 should be enough. I don't think adding 1-2 more offers that much benefit since they aren't AAMCs. I ended up not ordering 1001s to order more FLs, so I can't judge you on that, but then I am not sure if I would have done the same for BR. It's reassuring - at least for me - to know that I have enough study material.

 

[Corpsman Up]

I purchased the berk review general chemistry books today on amazon. Gen chem was my worst subject and I never got above a B in it, so I figured the $80 on the berk books is a smart investment. Everything else Im still going to use EK for