Content review first, then practice OR content review and practice together?

[Sn00pygrrl]

Hi! So I am testing on May 27, so have a little more than 5 months. I work FT, but I can spend about 2-3 hours per day typically on MCAT prep. I'm also taking biochem in the spring as well as a 1 week intensive physics lab, so will get some content review there.

I purchased the Blueprint MCAT self-paced online course and am starting to work through the study plan. I took the half-diagnostic and got a 507 (122/129/126/130). I definitely know where I need to focus on content review, lol. The difficulty of parsing through the C/P passages without content review first took me by surprise, but I'm confident that after 5 months, this will improve. That's what diagnostics are for, I guess!

I am also planning to purchase U-Earth/Planet whatever it's called at some point.

First question:
Do I focus on content review AND doing practice problems from the beginning? OR should I focus on content review for a while, then reattempt C/P and B/BC problem sets? I'm worried that I will get behind in the test-taking skills portion if I focus too much on content review.

Second question:
When do I purchase U-Earth? I have a lot of resources through the Blueprint course, including all of the AAMC resources. (I am financially comfortable and can spend more if needed).

Thank you all in advance!

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[Sn00pygrrl]

1. I would recommend reading all the content review/watching all of the videos pretty quickly and just getting it over with. Don't spend more than a week or two at most on C/P content review. After that, start really doing questions heavily.

2. I would give yourself at least 100 hours to do the AAMC content review. That is probably more than you really need, but it's better to have more time than you need than to have less time than you need and end up cramming. I would also give yourself roughly 100 hours to do UEarth. Again, it will vary greatly from person to person, but those are on the more generous side of things. If you can study for 2.5 hours a day for 6 days a week, that gives you roughly 60 hours per month. I would plan on buying UEarth about 3.5 months before you start, which should give you plenty of time to get through everything comfortably based on how much you are able to study.

Thank you so much for the detailed answer! As I was reviewing the half-diagnostic, I was re-learning content--Blueprint's exam answers include the relevant text from their content review books, so that made it super easy. They are also big on the idea that reviewing is at least as important as doing practice problems, so I'm trying to really take that to heart. Thanks again! I appreciate the time you took to answer.