Help me finalize my study plan!

[yjkimnada]

My summer just began and I want to take the MCAT in January. I'm going to become a junior this fall and won't be taking a gap year. I kind of envision two "cycles" of studying. The summer months (May to August) for mostly heavy content review and the fall semester (September to December) for half content review and half problem-solving. Finally, my month-long winter break will just be only problem-solving.

Since I have two "cycles" of content review I want to use two different content sets. Mixing in review sources also seems to be recommended here. Since I've been reading that ExamKrackers is good for those who have gained familiarity on the content and has great problems, I will use that for my fall semester. As for this summer, I have more time than during school. So, I want to go for a more detailed review source so I narrowed it down to Kaplan and Berkeley Review. I currently have the 2016 Kaplan full set and the 2011 (!) Berkeley Review full set.

I have taken all my prerequisite classes (except sociology?) and have very well in all of them. However, I don't want to over-estimate my proficiency and am aiming for a full score. Would you recommend that I stick with the BR 2011 set for the summer months or will the Kaplan be sufficient? If the TBR affords me a slightly better chance of a high score, I'm more than willing to put in the work.

I also understand that grinding problems is a crucial aspect of preparation and do you guys think I need to start now? Since there are only so many problems, I want to save them for the fall and winter months leading up to the test. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[CleverAdvisor]

The MCAT is becoming less a test of knowledge and more a test of problem solving. May-August is more than enough time to do content review and practice exams. If I were you I would do a practice exam to identify where you stand and go from there. This will help you in how you should approach studying the material.