Anyone do well on the MCAT w/out 3 months prep??

[kdburton]

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I see all these people saying how they studied "full time" or 5 hrs/day for three months in order to get a desirable score on the MCAT and then every once in a while I see someone post a much more relaxed study schedule that did just as well if not better... I haven't taken the MCAT before and I don't know if the latter group is just putting up fake posts, but I find it hard to believe that I, personally, need that much preparation. Could those who studied less than the norm in the "30+ MCAT study habits" thread but still did well please let me know what they did for prep and what their situation was?
Heres my situation, and I hope I'm not feeling overly confident... As I go through the review books (EK books FYI) I've understood the material well and when it comes to doing practice problems I can usually figure them out fairly easily. I've taken almost all of the pre-reqs in the last year and received all A's (one A- so far) and I actually made an effort to learn the material vs. just doing enough to score well tests. Was anyone else in a similar situation as me that ended up getting a good MCAT score without making studying for the MCAT their full-time job? Maybe I should be more scared and be putting in way more time studying, but I'm also a full-time student, volunteer, and part-time research assistant. I've been doing 5 to 10hrs/week probably for the last month and I plan on doing about the same until the April administration (plus putting in extra time over spring break probably).

 

[MEG@COOL]

I see all these people saying how they studied "full time" or 5 hrs/day for three months in order to get a desirable score on the MCAT and then every once in a while I see someone post a much more relaxed study schedule that did just as well if not better... I haven't taken the MCAT before and I don't know if the latter group is just putting up fake posts, but I find it hard to believe that I, personally, need that much preparation. Could those who studied less than the norm in the "30+ MCAT study habits" thread but still did well please let me know what they did for prep and what their situation was?
Heres my situation, and I hope I'm not feeling overly confident... As I go through the review books (EK books FYI) I've understood the material well and when it comes to doing practice problems I can usually figure them out fairly easily. I've taken almost all of the pre-reqs in the last year and received all A's (one A- so far) and I actually made an effort to learn the material vs. just doing enough to score well tests. Was anyone else in a similar situation as me that ended up getting a good MCAT score without making studying for the MCAT their full-time job? Maybe I should be more scared and be putting in way more time studying, but I'm also a full-time student, volunteer, and part-time research assistant. I've been doing 5 to 10hrs/week probably for the last month and I plan on doing about the same until the April administration (plus putting in extra time over spring break probably).

Most people (including premeds) dont actually know the material and thus must spend excessive amounts of time reviewing. Dont be afraid of being above average.

 

[Lindyhopper]

Take a practice test under a realistic circumstances.

 

[MeowMix]

Many people study less and do OK or even well (rare). Many more study less and do poorly. The most common mistake people make is underestimating the effort it takes to do well on the MCAT. The "March break blowout" is a very popular study plan, but at that point it'll be almost too late to fix any major strategy problems; you need weeks of practice to get confident.

The question is, what are the consequences for you if you don't do well? Are you the kind of person who will see a low score as a challenge to be beaten, or will you get discouraged? Are you willing to spend your whole summer studying if you blow it in April? Are you not spending time studying because you really feel confident, or because you're not willing to rearrange your life? What is your target score: 25? 30? 35?

Practice tests (full-length, under realistic circumstances) are really the only way to figure out if you're on the right track or not, and if your understanding of the concepts is really as good as you think it is. Maybe you're a superstar and can get away with not too much work. Maybe not. Bear in mind that the top end of the MCAT grading curve is populated by a lot of smart people who are willing to work pretty hard. If you're shooting for >35, that's your competition.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I see all these people saying how they studied "full time" or 5 hrs/day for three months in order to get a desirable score on the MCAT and then every once in a while I see someone post a much more relaxed study schedule that did just as well if not better... I haven't taken the MCAT before and I don't know if the latter group is just putting up fake posts, but I find it hard to believe that I, personally, need that much preparation. Could those who studied less than the norm in the "30+ MCAT study habits" thread but still did well please let me know what they did for prep and what their situation was?
Heres my situation, and I hope I'm not feeling overly confident... As I go through the review books (EK books FYI) I've understood the material well and when it comes to doing practice problems I can usually figure them out fairly easily. I've taken almost all of the pre-reqs in the last year and received all A's (one A- so far) and I actually made an effort to learn the material vs. just doing enough to score well tests. Was anyone else in a similar situation as me that ended up getting a good MCAT score without making studying for the MCAT their full-time job? Maybe I should be more scared and be putting in way more time studying, but I'm also a full-time student, volunteer, and part-time research assistant. I've been doing 5 to 10hrs/week probably for the last month and I plan on doing about the same until the April administration (plus putting in extra time over spring break probably).

Anything is possible, and everybody is different, but I think it would be arrogant to assume that you could do very well without a reasonable amount of preparation.

I too, earned all As in the relevant prerequisite courses, and my personality demands that I understand the concepts, but a fair amount of the material on the MCAT (especially the Biological Sciences section) is simply memorization. An example: Homeostatic control via the Endocrine system is a concept which I understand well. However, knowing the names and functions of all of the Endocrine Hormones is something that is also necessary for the MCAT, and something that I did not retain. Another example: I did really well and Organic Chem and Biochem, and retained most of the concepts, but forgot some of the specific reagents necessary to bring about reactions, for example. On practice tests that I have taken, both of these types of questions requiring specific knowledge have come up.

I think it is a mistake to underestimate the MCAT/overestimate your preparedness, especially before taking any AAMC practice tests. You may be in for a rude awakening (especially with the Verbal Section.) Then again, you may already be well prepared.

Good Luck,

Jota

 

[cee]

i got straight A's in my prereqs too but it doesnt mean i remember everything

i really dont want to take this test again.. but when its all said and done, i want to be able to say "at least i did everything i could possibly do" and have no regrets.. even if it means studying in the library all day and studying at borders until it closes 🙁

 

[kdburton]

First of all I just want to thank people for responding. For some reason I didn't think anyone would reply. Anyways I just want to clear something up... My post wasn't intended to be arrogant, and for the record I'm not completely slacking off on studying because I think I'm automatically going to get a stellar score. For the most part I study for it during the majority of my free time. I also realize that there is a lot of memorization on the test and not just conceptual stuff (fortunately I believe I have a good memory). The main reason why I posted my question was just for peace of mind, because I know that any review book will tell you that you need to go into the test being confident and it seems that the majority of people I talk to describe the MCAT as this "beast" that is the most difficult test ever. I understand that VR is hard (and I actually havent practiced much for it so I'm kinda scared), but if I scored well above average in the prereq's - minus ochem - then I see no reason why that can't reflect my ability on this test being that is basic science. I plan on getting through all the review materials and I have plenty of practice tests to take. I was just curious if anyone else finds themselves in a position similar to mine and ended up doing well without on the MCAT without killing themselves basically.

 

[silverpaw54]

First of all I just want to thank people for responding. For some reason I didn't think anyone would reply. Anyways I just want to clear something up... My post wasn't intended to be arrogant, and for the record I'm not completely slacking off on studying because I think I'm automatically going to get a stellar score. For the most part I study for it during the majority of my free time. I also realize that there is a lot of memorization on the test and not just conceptual stuff (fortunately I believe I have a good memory). The main reason why I posted my question was just for peace of mind, because I know that any review book will tell you that you need to go into the test being confident and it seems that the majority of people I talk to describe the MCAT as this "beast" that is the most difficult test ever. I understand that VR is hard (and I actually havent practiced much for it so I'm kinda scared), but if I scored well above average in the prereq's - minus ochem - then I see no reason why that can't reflect my ability on this test being that is basic science. I plan on getting through all the review materials and I have plenty of practice tests to take. I was just curious if anyone else finds themselves in a position similar to mine and ended up doing well without on the MCAT without killing themselves basically.

I'm in a similar situation. I did have the luxury of reading through the Kaplan books, but not really trying to memorize, but rather to familarize the material. I'm bogged down with work, volunteer and research so I've had little free time to study. I devote most of my free time to reviewing the material and using Saturdays to practice (took a free Kaplan diagnostic today). I also plan on practicing a few verbal passages at night.
I think with some serious focused work, you'll be fine. I plan on continuing to push myself now, but also to use my spring break doing a lot of work

 

[diosa428]

I studied for 8 weeks for the April MCAT. I studied the EK books and took practice tests every week for 7 weeks, and then the last week I just took some extra practice physics sections b/c that was my weak section. I only had time to go through the material once, with some extra review of the stuff I was having trouble with. I studied for a couple of hours every night, took tests on Sun (I had track meets on Sat) and basically studied for my entire 2 week spring break. I wish that I had had more time but I still ended up with a 33 (11 11 11).

 

[happydays]

I know someone who got a 37 and claims that he didn't study at all.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

I took a Princeton Review course... didn't do any of the homework (oops) but did paid attention in lecture, and did the full length practice tests. I studied "hardcore" on my own for the last 3-4 weeks using AAMC full lengths, reviewing EK here and there, and listening to audio osmosis during my daily commutes... 99th percentile for all sections.

 

[QofQuimica]

Many people study less and do OK or even well (rare). Many more study less and do poorly. The most common mistake people make is underestimating the effort it takes to do well on the MCAT. The "March break blowout" is a very popular study plan, but at that point it'll be almost too late to fix any major strategy problems; you need weeks of practice to get confident.

The question is, what are the consequences for you if you don't do well? Are you the kind of person who will see a low score as a challenge to be beaten, or will you get discouraged? Are you willing to spend your whole summer studying if you blow it in April? Are you not spending time studying because you really feel confident, or because you're not willing to rearrange your life? What is your target score: 25? 30? 35?

Practice tests (full-length, under realistic circumstances) are really the only way to figure out if you're on the right track or not, and if your understanding of the concepts is really as good as you think it is. Maybe you're a superstar and can get away with not too much work. Maybe not. Bear in mind that the top end of the MCAT grading curve is populated by a lot of smart people who are willing to work pretty hard. If you're shooting for >35, that's your competition.

Great post, meowmix. 👍

OP, you may be one of those lucky few who can ace the MCAT with very little prep and effort. But statistically, you probably aren't. People like the guy happydays knows, Shrike and anon-y-mouse who score 35+ with relatively little prep exist, but they are very, very unusual cases, not the norm. The fact that a handful of people can do so exceptionally on the MCAT without much studying does not mean that you or I or anyone else could do the same. Also, the national average MCAT score is much lower than you might think from reading SDN: it's 24-25. Half of all test-takers actually score BELOW a 24; you just won't see most of them posting about it here. Like meow said, if you want to know how you'd do, take one of the recent AAMC tests (7 or 8) under timed conditions.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Hmm yeah, good point Q. I feel a little bit irresponsible now, most especially since I taught classes last summer and should know better based on the wide gamut of students I had. Studying is important period, but *conscientious* studying is paramount. Although I didn't study for too long a period of time, I *constantly* assessed myself to see where I stood, score-wise, whether I'd grasped the material... I'd also kept a journal where I scribbled topics which caused me problems, so that I had a little checklist to go back to... with notes like "REVIEW RESISTOR SIMPLIFYING PROBLEMS". Set some goals and work towards them. I had timing issues, so I would constantly time myself as I was taking the tests, trying to stick to limits, and worked on pacing goals.

I registered really late for the MCAT, so my testing center was about 45 mins away from my home city. While my father was waiting for me to emerge from the testing center, some other girl who'd just taken the test asked him which direction public transportation was in... sensing her distress, he kindly offered her a ride downtown. She was a first year PhD student in anatomy, and spent just a few days studying... her boyfriend, a physics PhD student, was cramming "simple ideas" into her the night before, on how to solve physics problems. Needless to say she was quite upset during the car ride -- "it was like nothing else I've experienced, I left so many blank". I'm surprised she didn't void. She said she'd take it again, and couldn't afford a prep course or proper materials, and figured that her boyfriend ("a genius") and the free 3R was enough. Anyway, the point of that extreme anecdote ... take the test seriously. If I were you, I would try to assess as best as possible how you are doing overall, and target specific weak points. Focus. On some full-lengths, I realized just how easy it was to do poorly.

 

[rehanyazdani]

As everyone has said, you need practice. Although I've had all the pre-reqs, it doesn't come to me instantly. So far I've found that studying the material and taking practice tests is helping me out.

 

[ND2005]

Could those who studied less than the norm in the "30+ MCAT study habits" thread but still did well please let me know what they did for prep and what their situation was?
Heres my situation, and I hope I'm not feeling overly confident... As I go through the review books (EK books FYI) I've understood the material well and when it comes to doing practice problems I can usually figure them out fairly easily. I've taken almost all of the pre-reqs in the last year and received all A's (one A- so far) and I actually made an effort to learn the material vs. just doing enough to score well tests. Was anyone else in a similar situation as me that ended up getting a good MCAT score without making studying for the MCAT their full-time job? Maybe I should be more scared and be putting in way more time studying, but I'm also a full-time student, volunteer, and part-time research assistant. I've been doing 5 to 10hrs/week probably for the last month and I plan on doing about the same until the April administration (plus putting in extra time over spring break probably).

Not trying to be unhelpful, but the simple answer is this: the people who didn't prepare much and did very well are a) naturally very smart b) naturally very good test takers c) knew a large portion of the material already.

If you fit (a), (b), and (c), then you'll do well on low prep. Otherwise you probably won't.

As others have noted, your best course of action is to take a full-length timed test. Get your score on that and evaluate what you need to do to improve from there.

 

[OrganLibrarian]

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[beetlerum]

Plenty of people study less than 3 months. This board is not representative of the general MCAT taking population, though granted the scores are way above average. Take a practice test and see where you stand. Don't be swayed by the type SDN poster's study habits.