Devote the whole summer to mcat studying?

[Trisphorin]

I am going to take the mcat in august 2010. i am currently a sophomore. I am planning on the devote the whole summer after my sophomore year to study mcat along with kaplan courses. by that time, i will be done with a year of organic chemistry, a year of general chemistry, a year of calculus, 3 semesters of biology but only one semester of physics. i go to stony brook which is known for their hardcore premed classes and i did well in those pre med classes.the only concern i have is that in case i don't get the score i want (35+), then i pretty much wasted the summer. I weighting on the options of taking this risky route insted of the more traditional route. the reason why i want to take mcat this early is because i want to get the mcat out of the way while i still rememeber what i learned in those premed classes, so I don't have to end up studying for mcat and classes later on. any advice would be highly appreciated. thanks

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[TexasPrincess]

Sounds like a good idea to me. It will help you apply early and focus more on your essays. Make sure you volunteer and shadow during the summer, too!

There isn't much from Physics 2 on the MCAT (if you are lucky).

 

[sanityonleave]

I am going to take the mcat in august 2010. i am currently a sophomore. I am planning on the devote the whole summer after my sophomore year to study mcat along with kaplan courses. by that time, i will be done with a year of organic chemistry, a year of general chemistry, a year of calculus, 3 semesters of biology but only one semester of physics. i go to stony brook which is known for their hardcore premed classes and i did well in those pre med classes.the only concern i have is that in case i don't get the score i want (35+), then i pretty much wasted the summer. I weighting on the options of taking this risky route insted of the more traditional route. the reason why i want to take mcat this early is because i want to get the mcat out of the way while i still rememeber what i learned in those premed classes, so I don't have to end up studying for mcat and classes later on. any advice would be highly appreciated. thanks

Trisphorin,

You're almost paralleling what I did -- I took August after my sophomore year (having completed everything except only one semester of Physics) -- though I did my semester of physics during the summer and then I took a month and studied hardcore before taking it. I highly highly highly recommend this approach -- you have much more time to focus on taking the MCAT and you're not bogged down with your other coursework as those who take it their junior spring tend to be, plus you have more time for a retake if necessary. I ended up with a 37S, and I haven't regretted it whatsoever -- I think you've got a great plan.

-sol

 

[Eyti]

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[bannie22]

No, you are going to be terribly bored with just studying for the MCAT. you will have to take breaks between studying! and you can spend that time doing things u enjoy. (hopefully volunteering is something you do enjoy... )

 

[metallica81788]

I did this while working 40hrs/week, and it was okay. I would have taken it earlier, like in middle of July.

That way I would have pressured myself more to study harder for it, take it, and have at least a month left of summer to relax instead of having MCAT hang over my head the whole time.

The summer is really long, and it's hard to motivate yourself to study. Good luck.

 

[bannie22]

*nods* its definitely do-able, dont limit yourself to what you can do. enroll in a couple of things and if its really not working out, take some time off for the mcat (im sure the hospital understands)

i was volunteering at a hospital and also took general chem II during the summer of my mcat. my mcat was alright too

 

[ronaldo23]

sounds like a very good idea. Studying for the MCAT during the semester is just a miserable experience.

 

[scattun]

So when you say devoting the whole summer to mcat studying, I picture you studying like 40 hours a week and devoting the rest of the time to chillin' out for three months. If this is the case, then I think devoting the whole summer to the MCAT is a bit of overkill. Like some other people have said, throw in some EC's. They don't even have to be medically related per se, you could get a job and make some money. Your summers should be productive. I recall a LizzyM in which she says that at least when she is screening applications she looks to see what every applicant has done with his/her summers. Not to say that studying for the beast is not productive, but for me at least, if that is all you do for an entire summer it makes me wonder about your sanity (and if all the material is fresh from your "hardcore" classes you aren't going to need that much time to get the score you are looking for). If I were you, I would aim for 20 hours of studying a week and 20 hours of something else (or a collection of something else's). Doing the MCAT early however is definitely a good call.

 

[Trisphorin]

Thanks for all the advices. I was thinking the same way as most of your guys. I am not the person that studies all day and do well on the test. I was thinking doing some kind of volunteering work along with studying. I am having trouble finding the right volunteer activities, i mean there is a hospital next to the campus but most of the people i know who volunteered there said it was boring and had little related to medicine.

 

[Moogle Man]

The plan sounds good, but I had a friend do that and by the end of summer he was so burned out that he didn't do as well as he was hoping. I crammed during June, took it in July and did pretty well (36R). I guess I'm just trying to say give yourself the time you need, but don't overstudy. Best of luck to you!

 

[ElegantWeapon]

I did this and it worked out-good luck!

 

[randombetch]

So when you say devoting the whole summer to mcat studying, I picture you studying like 40 hours a week and devoting the rest of the time to chillin' out for three months. If this is the case, then I think devoting the whole summer to the MCAT is a bit of overkill. Like some other people have said, throw in some EC's. They don't even have to be medically related per se, you could get a job and make some money. Your summers should be productive. I recall a LizzyM in which she says that at least when she is screening applications she looks to see what every applicant has done with his/her summers. Not to say that studying for the beast is not productive, but for me at least, if that is all you do for an entire summer it makes me wonder about your sanity (and if all the material is fresh from your "hardcore" classes you aren't going to need that much time to get the score you are looking for). If I were you, I would aim for 20 hours of studying a week and 20 hours of something else (or a collection of something else's). Doing the MCAT early however is definitely a good call.

Agree completely with this. In fact, this is what I will be doing next summer.

 

[BlitzSleep]

No, you are going to be terribly bored with just studying for the MCAT. you will have to take breaks between studying! and you can spend that time doing things u enjoy. (hopefully volunteering is something you do enjoy... )

Yeah, who doesn't love sitting on their ass for hours doing nothing but busy work and twiddling their thumbs. Are you serious?

 

[sgtbrushes]

Not taking any classes during the summer semester so you have more time for MCAT prep is good - but not doing anything else is bad. I promise if you study for 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, for three months, you will get the score you want. (Unless you have unrealistic expectations). With 8 hours of sleep per day, that gives you 10 hours per day of free time. Do something with it - work, volunteer, shadow, whatever you like that is "productive" and not just leisure time.

 

[canebob]

definitely take it over the summer.. I took it early July after getting out of school in mid-May. Also, do it the semester after you finish physics and chem... i think people tend to lose those subjects a lot faster than bio

you will definitely get bored doing nothing but MCAT studying.. I went to my local temp agency and just got some part time work to get out of the house and earn some money.

In all, I spent about 2-3 hours a day studying, took one practice test a week, for six weeks and got a 37

 

[dw2158]

I could not disagree more with the volunteering and shadowing along with MCAT studying. There is no reason for this - the ECs can wait just a few months, right.

no. the MCAT is annoying, but not prohibitively so-- you can have a life while putting in a few hours of studying each day. it's not an overwhelmingly hard test.

i took the summer following my senior year to study for the MCAT. but i also did a lot of traveling, some tutoring, a lot of playing with my dog, and a lot of TV-watching. it was not at all stressful.

(that said, i didn't work *quite* as hard as i could have, especially on verbal, and i do wish i had done a couple of points better. but i wouldn't trade that summer for anything )

 

[bannie22]

Yeah, who doesn't love sitting on their ass for hours doing nothing but busy work and twiddling their thumbs. Are you serious?

then you are not doing the right thing.

 

[boaz]

Don't make the decision too lightly. Physics II can be a big part of the MCAT. If you end up doing it, make sure you self-study physics II material real well.

 

[randombetch]

Yeah, who doesn't love sitting on their ass for hours doing nothing but busy work and twiddling their thumbs. Are you serious?

Uhh wtf... I love volunteering...

 

[dr zaius]

no. the MCAT is annoying, but not prohibitively so-- you can have a life while putting in a few hours of studying each day. it's not an overwhelmingly hard test.

i took the summer following my senior year to study for the MCAT. but i also did a lot of traveling, some tutoring, a lot of playing with my dog, and a lot of TV-watching. it was not at all stressful.

(that said, i didn't work *quite* as hard as i could have, especially on verbal, and i do wish i had done a couple of points better. but i wouldn't trade that summer for anything )

Agreed. I worked in the lab 40+ hrs/wk along with 10 hrs/wk volunteering while studying for the MCAT. I did this over the summer and still had time to have fun. I started studying at the end of May and took the MCAT in September. It's do-able.

 

[dw2158]

Agreed. I worked in the lab 40+ hrs/wk along with 10 hrs/wk volunteering while studying for the MCAT. I did this over the summer and still had time to have fun. I started studying at the end of May and took the MCAT in September. It's do-able.

i started studying at the end of june and took the test on august 7th.

the more i reflect upon this experience, the more i realize how i probably could have done better on the MCAT if i had worked harder. i guess since i didn't slack off at all during senior year i made up for that over that summer oh well, live and learn