Anyone else just start studying for the August MCAT?

[okcomputer]

I haven't had time to study for this damn test because of work and classes, and sacrificed this holiday weekend to begin.

Anyone else with me on this?
I feel a bit nervous, but I do have these last 6 weeks with no obligations...I wonder if it is feasible for me to study non-stop and hopefully still do well.

Oh, and I took a diagnositc (8PS, 8BS, 10V) and am even more scared...how much room is there to improve???

Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[quadmanturbo]

I'm not even studying for it at all.............I won't be until the test comes......so ur in a good shaped right now compared to me lol..........I took AAMC MCAT 3R and got a 30.........not bad........I'll take 8R this sat.......and 9R two weeks before the test............good luck

 

[chaeymaey]

3R's the easiest one, so I wouldn't put too much stock in that score.

 

[bball32ns]

I took the test in april and did horrible. I want to get up to a 30 and still haven't studied much. I was in the low twenties. I know horrible. I work too much (over 50 hours a week) and work out for basketball (8 hours) and I am taking statistics online which I am not doing well in because my teacher is ridiculous and we have 10 page quizzes every week. I just don't know where to fit studying in but I need to. I have to do well on the MCAT. There are no other options. I wish I could study 5 hours a day like some people.

 

[tictaq]

yea i just started studying
people who score well have said they study 6 - 8 hours per day
so ill take their advice and do what they do

 

[scholj]

I'm with bball32ns. I didn't do as well as I would have liked on the April MCAT, but I didn't study between exam day and score release. I started studying shortly after I found out my scores, but none of this 12 hour a day stuff. I work 40 hours a week and try to volunteer 2 hours a week among other things. On average, I'd say I get a good hour and a half in a day, not counting practice exams and everything. For me, six months of studying wouldn't do ANYTHING... I'd forget it all in two weeks (if that). Six weeks is more my time frame... we just need to buckle down and kick some MCAT butt.

 

[shook33]

I think people should stop making excuses for not having time to study or having to much going on to study or teachers expecting to much etc.. etc.. If you cant balance a huge schedule and succeed you are applying to the wrong field. As bad as you think your schedule is someone else has it worse; and you wont see them complaining.

 

[sk8bored]

I think people should stop making excuses for not having time to study or having to much going on to study or teachers expecting to much etc.. etc.. If you cant balance a huge schedule and succeed you are applying to the wrong field. As bad as you think your schedule is someone else has it worse; and you wont see them complaining.

I'm with you on that

 

[superwillis]

I think people should stop making excuses for not having time to study or having to much going on to study or teachers expecting to much etc.. etc.. If you cant balance a huge schedule and succeed you are applying to the wrong field. As bad as you think your schedule is someone else has it worse; and you wont see them complaining.

Calm down. It doesn't sound like anyone is making excuses, just venting their frustrations, which is one of the reasons this forum exists.

 

[MedChic]

Calm down. It doesn't sound like anyone is making excuses, just venting their frustrations, which is one of the reasons this forum exists.

haha to add to the frustrations:
i agree i find it hard to study more than 3-4 hrs a day.

i'm gonna admit though, im slackin' in this MCAT prep a bit but i can't help it.
yea i do have a full-time job and a lab im taking, so that may add to it but it either a.) hasn't hit me yet
or b.) fear will kick me in the butt after the full length

 

[Broccoli]

i'm studying a lot, a solid 6 hours a day, but I'm still not doing as much as I'd like to do. I'm just hella slow and it takes me forever to understand some concepts.

 

[GuzzyRon]

Funny, pretty much everybody that posted sounded like they're in the same boat as me. My April score was a joke. And I'm trying to study a lot too for August (4 - 6 hours/day; 5 - 6 days/wk). Even with that, I'm not getting as far as I would love to because I read very sloooooowly and deliberately It takes a while for me to understand some stuff like Broccoli and in addition, I have to keep repeating and reinforcing the materials because I have a short memory span and forget stuff pretty quickly. But I realize that I am gathering more momentum with each passing day as I keep at it. And rather than staying slow and steady, my study is now getting faster and more effective. So keep at it guys. Don't be discouraged and don't lose focus.

i'm studying a lot, a solid 6 hours a day, but I'm still not doing as much as I'd like to do. I'm just hella slow and it takes me forever to understand some concepts.

 

[Menzy3045]

I'm with bball32ns. I didn't do as well as I would have liked on the April MCAT, but I didn't study between exam day and score release. I started studying shortly after I found out my scores, but none of this 12 hour a day stuff. I work 40 hours a week and try to volunteer 2 hours a week among other things. On average, I'd say I get a good hour and a half in a day, not counting practice exams and everything. For me, six months of studying wouldn't do ANYTHING... I'd forget it all in two weeks (if that). Six weeks is more my time frame... we just need to buckle down and kick some MCAT butt.

Ditto on that my friend. I did not do well on the April exam but I haven't felt extremly motivated after receiving my scores, which is what I hoped I would be. I did not study in the 60 day waiting period and I think I get all the concepts, I mean none of the science ones pose a huge major problem, but it seems like verbal is the hardest section do increase a lot on. I work 40hrs/week also and am retaking the TRP course everyday so I barely have an hour to an hour and a half to study on my own. But I actually just quit my job to study 6-8 hours a day like some of these guys because I do not want to take this dam test again. My job ends July14 since I just gave my 2 weeks. So I basically consider myself only having a month to really fully study hardcore. Goodluck guys we can do it.


Who needs summer, August 19-30 can be our short lived summer and we can have as much fun as we want

 

[scholj]

Who needs summer, August 19-30 can be our short lived summer and we can have as much fun as we want

Speak for yourself on that one... I go back to school Aug 12th for RD training! The week before the MCAT I'm stuck sitting inside from 8am - 9pm learning stuff I've learned two times already >.<

Oh well! People have it far worse than I do

^ not complaining

 

[SaharanPrince]

oops sorry!

 

[SaharanPrince]

I am in the same boat guys, I took a couple of days off for the holidays and world cup games, partied my brains out and now back into it, however I cannot get even one question correct, I must of killed tons of brain cells....last week I took Kaplan Full Lengeth1 and got 29, I am afraid of taking Full length2 because I am brain dead! any advice for a post-party person?

 

[deleted106503]

I really started to study this past Monday. I'm only using EK stuff for now. All I've done so far was read all the books from the EK package once for what it was. I started the Bio book this past Monday evening and finished it all tonight (memorized 95%+ of it) spending about 20 hours in total. Tomorrow I will start the Physics part. The rest of the books get progressively shorter so they should go down quickly.

I think 6 weeks is plently of time to study. I don't see how people can start studying 2+ months in advance. I got all As in my pre-med classes (Econ major), but I didn't take any kind of science class other than Biochem that was above those levels of science. No topics discussed so far are new to me and it's all pretty much review for me to memorize again. I guess I'm studying like I did for all my exams, wait towards the end and memorize, but it's proven successful for me before.

I just started reading some threads about EK books and it appears their Bio section has fallen a little short. Supposedly, there was a lot of stuff on genetics in this past April's exam that wasn't in EK so I probably have to find my old Bio textbook and look over that.

I don't really plan to use much outside of EK since I don't know what the MCAT really tests and I don't have the money (I'll just take EK's word that everything they provide is all I need). I don't have the time or want to go over all of my science textbooks in details either. No exam is worth that.

Other than that, I feel pretty good about my study habits. If I get a 27, I wouldn't be surprised because I'm limiting my studying aidings to EK. If I get anything over 33, I will be surprised. I expect my verbal section to be terrible since English isn't the only language I speak and I got a ~67 percentile score back on my SAT verbal. Hopefully I'll do well in Bio and Physics to make up for that.

 

[cm1285]

if you are really turning on the studying now, then you guys are still quite early. Its the last 3 weeks that really count, imho; so don't get too stressed out. Last august, my diags were in the high 20s about 4 weeks before test day and I wasn't getting too hardcore with the studying. But the last 2-3 weeks I really studied. I mean 10-11 hours a day, OUTSIDE of the TPR classes I was taking. I was really pushing myself hard. Its the final stretch that really counts. I ended up getting a 40Q (15P, 12V, 13B), so I hope all of you don't lose hope so early in the game, and good luck to you all!

 

[dovebar]

Ditto on that my friend. I did not do well on the April exam but I haven't felt extremly motivated after receiving my scores, which is what I hoped I would be. I did not study in the 60 day waiting period and I think I get all the concepts, I mean none of the science ones pose a huge major problem, but it seems like verbal is the hardest section do increase a lot on. I work 40hrs/week also and am retaking the TRP course everyday so I barely have an hour to an hour and a half to study on my own. But I actually just quit my job to study 6-8 hours a day like some of these guys because I do not want to take this dam test again. My job ends July14 since I just gave my 2 weeks. So I basically consider myself only having a month to really fully study hardcore. Goodluck guys we can do it.


Who needs summer, August 19-30 can be our short lived summer and we can have as much fun as we want

Yup...just started a few days ago. Day 4/45 today. I'm aiming for at least 6-8 hours of memorizing today.

 

[gro2001]

I haven't had time to study for this damn test because of work and classes, and sacrificed this holiday weekend to begin.

Anyone else with me on this?
I feel a bit nervous, but I do have these last 6 weeks with no obligations...I wonder if it is feasible for me to study non-stop and hopefully still do well.

Oh, and I took a diagnositc (8PS, 8BS, 10V) and am even more scared...how much room is there to improve???

Thanks

I hope that 26 on a diagnostic is not cause for panic. Should it be? I got 26... and the exact same break down too... not taking a Kaplan course, are ya?

 

[okcomputer]

I hope that 26 on a diagnostic is not cause for panic. Should it be? I got 26... and the exact same break down too... not taking a Kaplan course, are ya?

Im not taking a Kaplan course, but a friend of mine lent me her Kaplan FL tests, so yea that was the diagnostic.

I'm just scared mostly about the PS. I can't even get through the PS without feeling sick to my stomach halfway through. Im ususally so tempted to stop, but obviously seeing that we have very little time, I suck it up. Maybe its nerves?

good luck to you anyway. hopefully we can come through for the real MCAT.

 

[tutankh]

I haven't had time to study for this damn test because of work and classes, and sacrificed this holiday weekend to begin.

Anyone else with me on this?
I feel a bit nervous, but I do have these last 6 weeks with no obligations...I wonder if it is feasible for me to study non-stop and hopefully still do well.

Oh, and I took a diagnositc (8PS, 8BS, 10V) and am even more scared...how much room is there to improve???

Thanks

Relax!

You still have several weeks. I would start by taking a full-length test to see what areas need improving. As you revisit these areas, take as many practice tests as you possibly can (I would do 2 a week)-after all, the MCAT is all about practice and stamina. By mid Aug, you should be in good shape.

Good luck!

 

[dovebar]

Slowly making progress,just studied another TPR organic chapter. Two more to go today. I'm thinking 6 days before my first practice exam.

 

[lala83]

i think the only time i'll have this summer to go hardcore like some of you guys is one month before the test (um yikes!)
i guess i'll have to keep my fingers crossed.

 

[pufferfish]

i think the only time i'll have this summer to go hardcore like some of you guys is one month before the test (um yikes!)
i guess i'll have to keep my fingers crossed.

same boat here--we can do it ok, back to the lab

 

[dovebar]

Day 6/45 of cramming...hmmmm that TPR formula sheet looks tempting. Maybe... I should memorize it.

 

[lytesnsyrens]

I'm using the EK books, I think there's 5 books total. Anyway, I started bio 2 weeks ago, and started physics today. I figure I'll spend roughly 2 weeks per book, more or less, and hopefully that'll pay off. I only study about 4 good hours a day. Not all at one shot either, I break it up some. I just can't make myself sit there for 8 hours. Probably when it's closer to the actual test day, I'll be pulling some 8 hour days though!

 

[kikster]

I'm using the EK books, I think there's 5 books total. Anyway, I started bio 2 weeks ago, and started physics today. I figure I'll spend roughly 2 weeks per book, more or less, and hopefully that'll pay off. I only study about 4 good hours a day. Not all at one shot either, I break it up some. I just can't make myself sit there for 8 hours. Probably when it's closer to the actual test day, I'll be pulling some 8 hour days though!

I've heard so many good opinions about the EK books that I broke down yesterday and bought them. I already have the 1001/101 series, but have only cracked open physics and verbal. I plan on finishing my Kaplan texts by the end of this week. EK should arrive in the mail by then!

I think I am averaging 3-4 hours day (review + practice). I want to get that up to 6-7, hopefully even up to 7-8.

 

[superwillis]

In the final 3 weeks before the test, I want to do like, 2-3 tests a week. However, I have TPR class in the mornings...should I just skip class and do the tests? or should I do tests like, saturday and sunday? I dont want to take them on consecutive days though, I feel as though I'll get more benefit by spacing them out and reviewing them. Decisions decisions...

I'm quitting my job in the final weeks tho, so I can really buckle down.

 

[dovebar]

Sat at the library and studied for my emt class for two hours...did some 200 practice questions for the national registry exam( in two weeks). Cashed my check...now another 6 hours of cram mode(for the mcat & emt class) begins.