Hours of Studying and Sleep

[altitude]

Give your hours (on average) for the following:

1) How many hours of MCAT studying/day?
2) How many hours of sleep/night while studying for the MCAT?
3) What time do you go to sleep and wake up?
[ 4) Any additional comments, such as taking naps, going for a jog when you wake up, reading over notes before you go to sleep, etc. ]

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[V5RED]

I study whenever I feel motivated enough that it will be productive. This tends to be between 5 and 10 hours per day.

I sleep whenever I can no longer remain awake. This happens randomly. I have never liked having a set wake/sleep cycle. Now that I have no scheduled responsibilities, I am in what I call a natural sleep cycle(as opposed to a societally induced one).

I go over notes(flash cards) whenever I am going to be away from my home for a prolonged period. (car trips, gym, shopping, etc).

 

[sc4s2cg]

1) 5-10 hours, what V5RED said. It just depends on how productive I will be. Also, how long the stupid uni library is open. Friday and Saturday they close at 5 over the summer. At 5!
2) I get 7-9 hours of sleep, if I sleep 6-7 every night I crash over the weekend. So I try to get a minimum of 7:30.
3) Sleep at 10-11, wake up 6-7. I wake early so I can workout at the gym, run, stretch (2 hours total). Library opens at around 8, and I usually get there by around 9.

My biggest problem is freaking out about the MCAT. But I just push through, stick to my routine, and trust everything will work out. If you are interested, I am the gym for 45 minutes, go to the track and do drills for 10, run 15-30, then static stretch 15. I study around three hours at a time, but if I am doing passages I can usually only handle two hours. Then I take a 10-15 minute break (walk around campus, get online, etc.) and start again. When I am reviewing i use a big whiteboard to teach myself stuff, and I can do that for 3-4 hours before taking a half hour break. I don't do flash cards. I do Sn2ed's hat trick to review concepts.

 

[kasho11]

1) 2-5 hours
2) 8-9 hours
3) I would wake up around 8:30, usually bed around 11.

Studying more than 5 hours day for an extended period of time for this test seems excessive but whatever works for you - as long as you don't get burnt out.

I would lift 3-4 times a week and do yoga and not drink alcohol very often or coffee ever.

 

[ace12345]

1) 2-3 hours per day, pure studying, is really the trick. 5-10 I find very excessive. You need to take a 10 minute break after every hour of studying, and an hour break every 3 hours of studying. This is science, do it.

Here's the trick though. What you really want to do is include what I call halfway studying. For example, you conventionally, full concentration study 2-3 hours per day. But the rest of the day, you sort of halfway study. Casually go over flashcards while watching TV. Do a couple problems on the bus. These activities don't feel like studying, but they are. It increases the hours per day that information is simply getting in.

2) 7-8 hours. Fluctuates a bit person to person, but yeah you need 7.

3) This doesn't matter at all. Like at all. If you have an early MCAT start time, then obviously try to transition toward getting to bed earlier. Otherwise, do whatever you feel comfortable with. I personally study better later at night. So if I can, I'm going to wake up a bit later. Wasn't ever a problem.


And make sure to take breaks sometimes. This is important!

 

[BABSstudent]

I kind of did it differently than everyone. I have it broken into two phases, the first is called lazy and I have two months until the test:
1) I studied on average about 3 hours per day, but that is more like 6 hours one day and then nothing the next.
2) I slept about 7-9 hours a night
3) I went to bed at about 10 and then woke up between 5-7, which is my natural sleep cycle.

The second phase was the holy crap there is only a month until the test!
1) I studied about 6 hours a day. If I took a practice test, it moved up to about 8 hours a day.
2) Still slept 7-9 hours a night
3) I moved, so now the lighting is different at my apartment and I don't have internet... which means I go to bed at 9/10 and my alarm wakes me up at 7.

My advice is never study by your computer. I leave mine at home and then go to campus and study. That way I am not distracted with facebook, email, or checking the forums here. If you absolutely have to have your computer, for like a practice test, then take the test and then turn off the computer and take out the battery! Uninterrupted studying was what worked the best for me.