sng33 and group,
I'll tell you how I studied, but keep in mind that this worked for ME. It might be a recipe for failure for someone else, as we all learn and retain material differently. Like any good doctor should do, let's start with a history. I am 29 yo, I have a BS degree in Physics ('95) and OD (Doctor of Optometry) degree ('00). I have had a lot of the science before. The human physiology part of bio came pretty quickly, and although it had been a long time for the physics, it came back quickly also. I needed a lot of effort on chem (general and org). I spent a modest amount of time on verbal about 2 weeks before the test, with the bulk of it being within 5 days of the test. I only practiced 1 or 2 essays to make sure I could do it, and I did that 1-2 days before the test.
I bought the 2000 Kaplan books off of Ebay in summer 2001. I started studying them in bits and pieces around Oct-Nov, got a little more serious in Jan, even more serious in Feb and March, and took a week off of work before the test to do full-time study. I used the Kaplan books to do most of the review and to give my studying a "framework." I also did all the questions/problems at the end of each chapter. In some of the sections (organic, physics, some chemistry) I took my own condensed notes, and did some final studying from that. In bio I mainly highlighted.
After I had been through all the sections, I went through the Kaplan flashcards 1-2 times, and I worked on some practice sections. Only one time did I take an actual full length test, and that was a computer test (came on CD rom with the books). The rest of the time I took tests out of the Kaplan verbal book and the sample questions from the MCAT website. I tried to concentrate on sections at at time. For example, I would do 10-15 physics problems, then go over them. If I did well, this gave me encouragement. If I did poorly, then I went back and analyzed the ones I screwed up. I didn't want to get too bogged down in taking the full length tests, as I was not concerned about scores--I wanted to know the material and know how to handle each question as it came. To be honest, when I took the test I had minimal understanding of how the scoring worked. Sure, I looked at that information, but it wasn't my primary concern. All I really knew was that I wanted double digits in all sections, and to get at least 12 on BS and PS. I was hoping for a Q on writing. But I didn't know exactly what it would take to get that. I just wanted to tackle one problem at a time and write coherent essays with a few big words in them.
I would say that this technique worked pretty well for me in all sections except verbal. I got too hung up on each question and I let time slip away. Taking the verbal test was like a time-warp. I realized with about 15 minutes to go that I could not finish without compromising something. But I was still answering the questions too slow. I thought I had about 3 minutes to go when they called time, and I left 4-5 bubbles unfilled. I wonder what would happen if I would have had 30 extra seconds to fill them in blindly. This put me in a panic that made me move at a ridiculous speed on the next 3 sections. But the panic seems to have motivated me in a positive way, so I am thankful. I went into the test knowing that verbal was my weakness, but I could not have predicted that time would be my biggest enemy on verbal.
Anyway, this is a pretty long post, but I hope it helps you.
