For those of you who studied long hours everyday for the MCAT...

[deleted74029]

Did you study with no other distractions ie TV or radio? I find it hard to just sit in silence for 8 hours focusing only on the MCAT.

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[Ginzo]

Learning styles/studying habits are highly individual. I prefer to study in complete silence, but I take frequent breaks.

 

[Kaydubz]

My MCAT studying summer was also my discovering the genre of Trance summer. And as it turned out, it was perfect for studying. Few songs with vocals, just melodic electronic and ambient music. TIESTO!

 

[chad5871]

This thread is better suited for the MCAT discussions forum. You may have better luck getting more responses there. Moving there now...

 

[gasdf1234567]

I also can't handle dead silence so I always had the TV on. But then again it may have been a bad idea because when something good was on I would get distracted and focus on the TV. Sooo radio might be a better idea

 

[amar21]

honestly
its so hard to sit down and study in silence for 3-4hours when your test is month-2months away... it makes it easier for me to sit down and read a few paragraphs, surf the web, watch tv, and continue on.... of course it takes me 5hours to accomplish what i could have done in 2... but atleast i keep my sanity!

 

[engineeredout]

TV is definitely too distracting for me but listening to music definitely helps sometimes after having studied for a while and getting extremely bored.

I don't spend 8 hours a day on the mcat though. Maybe 3-4.

 

[Neurokiran]

I am preparing for MCAT this summer so Let's what happens with me.
I will definitely share my experience.

 

[Premed Worrier]

i think you learn to tailor it to yourself...sometimes i am on here and watching t.v. more than i am studying, some days i will honestly study for 10 hours straight (besides eating and obvious needs) with no distractions, i just let it be and what happens happens if you try to force yourself too much you will end up burnt out...good luck

 

[DrMattOglesby]

I studied in complete silence.
that is to say...whenever I was taking practice tests, I kept my distractions to a minimum; no TV, no music, no internet-surfing, cell phone on silent.

however, during my content review, i would allow myself to listen to classical music...but even then I preferred a nice quiet room most of the time.

I feel it helps you get used to being in a quiet zone for multiple hours on end. I felt like it helped me when I took the MCAT this past May 27th.
However, I heard a song that morning and it was stuck in my head the ENTIRE test. Kinda drove me nutty by the end.

 

[LikeClockWork]

TV and radio are too distracting, but I like white noise like having a fan on, or just sitting outside. It keeps it from being agonizingly quite, but also doesn't draw too much attention from the book.

 

[polarizer]

Well my routines is as follows:
Weekday:
700AM wakeup, go to work
4pm get off work, eat something

4:30 go to study room at uni library
630ish, get a snack
930ish, go home

930-10:30 read book during commute
1030is=eat
11:00-11:30 email, do speed reading lessons
1130-1230 read stuff

During my study fun at the lib, i do a section of each phys/ochem/bio/genChem. Seems to be easier to push it in parallel than to dedicate a day just to one section. It has been a week and I already reviewed 40% of the material (from Kaplan course books, essentially a chapter from each section a day). Now, I am really not sure what kind of sched will I take on once I am done reviewing. I am thinkin along the lines of dedicating 1/3 of the time to doing the science practice questions, once again in parallel. 2/3 of time doing verbal (EK/KAPLAN/LSAT stuff).
The only reason I am redoing the darn beast is due to verbal, as my sciences are 12+.
I have about 20 to 30 practice test, so I might start doing those 2 months prior to the test.

 

[amar21]

Well my routines is as follows:
Weekday:
700AM wakeup, go to work
4pm get off work, eat something

4:30 go to study room at uni library
630ish, get a snack
930ish, go home

930-10:30 read book during commute
1030is=eat
11:00-11:30 email, do speed reading lessons
1130-1230 read stuff

During my study fun at the lib, i do a section of each phys/ochem/bio/genChem. Seems to be easier to push it in parallel than to dedicate a day just to one section. It has been a week and I already reviewed 40% of the material (from Kaplan course books, essentially a chapter from each section a day). Now, I am really not sure what kind of sched will I take on once I am done reviewing. I am thinkin along the lines of dedicating 1/3 of the time to doing the science practice questions, once again in parallel. 2/3 of time doing verbal (EK/KAPLAN/LSAT stuff).
The only reason I am redoing the darn beast is due to verbal, as my sciences are 12+.
I have about 20 to 30 practice test, so I might start doing those 2 months prior to the test.

you, my friend, are a machine. god bless your motivation lol.

i wish i had it!


and 8hours a day is HARD!.. the only way I can do that is if my test was tomorrow and i was extremely behind. I try to do some days of study at the library in complete silence for 3-4hrs, and other days at home with my tv on or computer infront of me (like right now). So far its been ok. I'm about half done each section of review using kaplan books and its been 3 weeks (granted, I dont study everyday)... I write on August 15th so I hope to be done this content review by the end of June. I think its OK to study wherever, as long as you keep your sanity and don't burn out!

 

[requeim]

i use noise canceling headphones and smooth ambient music (classical / jazz). But it really does depend on your studying style and how you study best.

 

[jackson1]

i'm like amar-really add and must have computer/tv in the background or i'll go nuts! maybe not the most productive way to study but it's the only way i can haha

 

[170559]

I alternated quite time and music in the background. To focus on content, specially content i wasn't familiar with i studied in a quite room with no distractions, however when i was taking the subject tests or end of the chapter questions i had the tv on or something.... Kept me sane....

 

[Tajam]

I take many breaks, usually consisting of 5 minutes. or half way through a practice test I pop in an episode of Sopranos. Crap, I should not have gotten into it before 3 weeks of my MCAT

 

[locus000]

Most people will lose their concentration after 2 hours of intense studying. So I take alot of breaks along the way. Im actually taking a break right now and writing this . Listening to music helps but TV will distract.

 

[StarStup]

I studied for about 10-14 hours a day for 3 weeks straight for my May 31st MCAT. It was intense! I get easily distracted so I allowed myself to watch T.V or go online while I was eating and a little in the am and pm... but besides that it was silent...I did like to have the window open for some white noise and did take frequent breaks and drank lots of coffee. Studying long hours isn't for everyone...but it works for me. Good luck in studying!