Fresh Start to the MCAT from Gap Years - Help!

[ASpecificPacific]

Hi all, I'd like to thank you in advance for any suggestions in my dire hour of need of finding study materials/prepping my schedule.

I took two gap years to "find myself". I was one of those harsh straight-edge undergrads that you couldn't talk to me if you weren't talking about studying/lab work/volunteering and I'd judge you for not having a 4.0. It was unhealthy and was so focused that I burnt myself out and convinced myself not to do medicine. Had a blast taking a gap break traveling and even getting into law/politics, but definitely found my way back to wanting to go to med school again. I'm thankful for the break because I've mellowed out completely and have taken control of my study anxiety/depression.

With this being said, I am registered for the Spring MCAT 2020. I have about 5 months to prep and I AM SO LOST AS TO WHERE I SHOULD EVEN START WHEN PLANNING MY STUDY SCHEDULE OR HOW TO EVEN APPROACH THIS JOURNEY. I am going to self-study because I was enrolled in the KAPLAN course a few years back and remember it being a complete waste of my time. Hated the way the professors taught class and I feel like I don't need to pay someone 2,500 for what I can study myself. 2 years out of school I will definitely need a review on most subjects. I feel like I'm starting from scratch.

HERES THE DILEMMA: I know I can get the score I want, I just need a solid plan to stick to in order to get there.

Here are the things I've picked up from combing through this site and reddit, and if you can fill in any gaps that would be great:

CARS review from AAMC
Khan Academy videos for content review
KAPLAN books for more content review
Question banks?
Full length practice exams?
uWorld (not sure how this even works)
Anki practice

That's all I know as of right now? Any elaboration or advice would be very helpful.

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[Blueprint Med School]

Go through your books, get a preliminary grasp of the content. Use Khan Academy videos to supplement your studying. You might want to add in these: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ancipr305f001/AACwrHVVVP9pHEzr2g3_9doxa?dl=0

Those are Khan Academy notes created by other students- they're worth a skim through (I think Dropbox right now is down but the link should work soon).

Do ALL of the AAMC practice material.

Once you feel like your content review is reaching diminishing returns, do practice, practice, practice.

There are study schedules posted on this forum- find one you agree with, but don't follow it exactly. Look at it to see what your study schedule should look like in terms of structure, and then adapt it to fit your own needs.

The most important thing is consistency- try not to take more than one day off, especially when you're 3 months from test day. Be sure to have a strict study schedule that you know you can stick to. Be realistic with how much studying you plan to do, and put it in your schedule.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[ASpecificPacific]

Go through your books, get a preliminary grasp of the content. Use Khan Academy videos to supplement your studying. You might want to add in these: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ancipr305f001/AACwrHVVVP9pHEzr2g3_9doxa?dl=0

Those are Khan Academy notes created by other students- they're worth a skim through (I think Dropbox right now is down but the link should work soon).

Do ALL of the AAMC practice material.

Once you feel like your content review is reaching diminishing returns, do practice, practice, practice.

There are study schedules posted on this forum- find one you agree with, but don't follow it exactly. Look at it to see what your study schedule should look like in terms of structure, and then adapt it to fit your own needs.

The most important thing is consistency- try not to take more than one day off, especially when you're 3 months from test day. Be sure to have a strict study schedule that you know you can stick to. Be realistic with how much studying you plan to do, and put it in your schedule.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

Wow. Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it!

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

You have a glaring omission of passages.

I'd recommend you do two things before settling on a plan. First, look at the various study plans in the pinned thread and see what has been successful (not popular, but successful.) No offense to the good people at Reddit, but what is preferable literally changes week to week. The SDN plans have been proven over many years, so I would recommend you start there. You'll notice right away that the most successful people used a different combination of materials than what you've listed.

I'd then recommend you look at SDN classified for what is out there and what is "truly valuable", because money talks. If something sells for a high priced used, it's because it is the best out there. Once you have an idea of what to use, you'll need to lay out a plan to do over 1000 passages. That is what people with great scores do more than anything else. They perfect their approach through passage after passage after passage. Reviewing is nice, but it doesn't have the reward that learning from practice and mistakes does.

Good luck!

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

OP, if you hated the Kaplan course then why would you use their books? You should get the follow books to start your review.

P/S: TPR and the 300 page doc
CARS: EK or TPR (they all seemed the same for me, but I suck at CARS)
C/P: TBR (the main reason I got a 132)
B/B: TBR (especially their passages)

After that it's AAMC materials and anything else that fits your fancy. If you start with that and mix in some videos as need, you'll be ready for FLs.