Hours spent studying per day?

[Mkitties]

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Aside from taking full length diags, how many hours on average do you guys spend studying for the MCAT per day now that we're nearing the day of the exam? This includes time spent reviewing and doing practice probs.
I spend about 7-8hrs/day right now and I feel like I should be doing more?!? 😳

 

[Daichi Katase]

I wish i had 7-8 hours per day. That would help. I spend about 6 hours on mondays, wednesdays and the weekends.

 

[chaeymaey]

So have y'all completely stopped doing schoolwork? I find it so hard to choose b/t reading for class and doing MCAT passages.

 

[Mkitties]

I just finished my last class yesterday so I'm going to spend every waking moment in the next two weeks dedicated to this freakin test!! 😱

 

[tank you]

i have spring break this week, so ive been at it all day. when classes start next week, im gonna still try to get 5-6 hrs/day.

 

[medicomel]

4 hrs a day, 7 days a week. I try to do more on weekends, but after working a full week, I spend a lot of time doing chores.

 

[dr1day]

I study 4-6/day M-F and 8-10/day on the weekends on top of working a full time job. Needless to say, I can't wait until April 17 so I can have some free time where I don't have to think about SN1/2, acids and bases, circuits or molecular genetics.

 

[chattkis]

Um, sometimes this site amazes me. Where do you get your money? anyway. I am lucky to get in 2 hours per day. If you are studying 6-7 per day you are ABOVE AVERAGE, and I can say that if you really are studying that much, YOU WILL BE FINE. You could probably even skip a day or two. seriously!

 

[chaeymaey]

Um, sometimes this site amazes me. Where do you get your money? anyway. I am lucky to get in 2 hours per day. If you are studying 6-7 per day you are ABOVE AVERAGE, and I can say that if you really are studying that much, YOU WILL BE FINE. You could probably even skip a day or two. seriously!

That's exactly what I was thinking. I'm spending 9 hrs every weekend at TPR, except for weekends when we have practice exams and then it's like 15 hrs. I'm working 15 hrs/wk and taking 19 hrs of college classes. I try to get in 2-4 hrs a day, but some days I just can't get to it. It's just so hard to find the time.

 

[tiny dancer]

I totally agree with chaeymaey and chattkis! I definitely admire all of you who have the discipline to sit down for 8 hours a day and study, but I have a hard time taking time away from schoolwork to devote much time to MCAT prep at all. I was definitely doing more when we had the weekly Kaplan review notes to go over, but now I find that I've always got other things that need to be taken care of. I spent a lot of time over spring break catching up on topicals, but for the 2 weeks after that I completely slacked off. I broke out the flashcards this weekend, and I'm doing them every chance I get but I'm lucky if I get an hour of MCAT stuff in a day (not counting practice tests) -- and some days I don't do anything.

Now you guys are totally freaking me out 😱 (not that I wasn't already freaking out with test day looming so close - but seeing this thread did NOT help my nerves! )

 

[dr1day]

I guess it just depends on what else you have going on. I'm single with no kids, so basically all I have is work. I give myself one night off per week (usually Tuesday night when I go salsa dancing). Other than that, my life for the last 10 weeks or so has been work and studying. My mom calls me about once a week to make sure I'm still alive (we usually talk every other day).

 

[dilated]

More to the point, I don't even get what people could possibly study that much. I spend about 1.5-2hrs to completely do an EK lecture, which means there's about 60 hours of crap (if you bothered with VR, call it 75).

Are you people memorizing tons of tiny details or something? If anything, my practice mcats have emphasized to me how useless most of those little details are because 99% of the time the passage + logic will lead you to an answer if you have broad, general knowledge. Sometimes I feel like I'm spending too MUCH time on the little details.

 

[jackets5]

Where do u people who spend 6-8 hours a day studying find the time. Im lucky if i can get an hour 3x a week on weekdays. I mean between my classes, spring football practice, weights and actual mental relaxation time, i do manage to put in about 12-15 hours on friday, saturday and sunday combined, but thats probally due to the fact ive eliminated my social life since spring practice has started till after the MCAT

 

[chattkis]

Well I am glad I am not the only one. Certainly nothing against those who do study that much because if I had those hours, I would probably study also. And I know that all of us who can't fit in all those hours of studying are just as motivated and committed, it's just not humanly possible... unless I cut back on my 8 hours a night, but I just cant do that! 😉

 

[RayhanS1282]

The most I can study at one time is around 2 to 2.5 hours, after that all the stuff starts sounding the same to me. Even within the 2-2.5 hours I take breaks by doing passages.

 

[jon0013]

dilated....you hit it right on the mark....hows that EK treating ya?

 

[Daichi Katase]

More to the point, I don't even get what people could possibly study that much. I spend about 1.5-2hrs to completely do an EK lecture, which means there's about 60 hours of crap (if you bothered with VR, call it 75).

Are you people memorizing tons of tiny details or something? If anything, my practice mcats have emphasized to me how useless most of those little details are because 99% of the time the passage + logic will lead you to an answer if you have broad, general knowledge. Sometimes I feel like I'm spending too MUCH time on the little details.

I am just trying to do TONS of practice. There isn't really that much content to study so close to the test.

 

[dilated]

dilated....you hit it right on the mark....hows that EK treating ya?

EK's great. I looked at my friend's Kaplan book and thanked god I wasn't using it. It really does a good job of boiling things down to the essentials. My weak point was PS (a lot of the stuff was never even covered because I took calc physics which was more depth and less breadth) and it's gotten me from a 9 to an 11. On the other hand if you're getting like 6s on your first practice test you might want Kaplan or something that goes into more (unnecessary if you got it the first time) depth.

 

[byeh2004]

I've busted out 12-13 hr study marathons before on weekends, but don't go overboard, once a weekend would be ok, just remember to not go straight 12hr and at least take a break once in a while... go out jogging after hour 8, it really helps calm you down and staying you focused

 

[PKP719]

those kaplan topicals are hard...requires more time and effort than stated ...ugh

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I've studied an average of 10 hours/week for the last 6 weeks. I did well on 6R, but I've heard that its a bit too easy. I wont really know how prepared I am for the test until the day itself.

 

[tank you]

I've studied an average of 10 hours/week for the last 6 weeks. I did well on 6R, but I've heard that its a bit too easy. I wont really know how prepared I am for the test until the day itself.

who told u 6r is easy? i plan on taking it tomorrow. also, how would u compare 6r to 5r??

 

[jon0013]

IMO 6R is harder than 5 R for sure and probably harder than 7R...i did the worse on 6R...

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

who told u 6r is easy? i plan on taking it tomorrow. also, how would u compare 6r to 5r??

No one personally, I've just read it on this forum. I said it was easy because I scored shockingly high, compared to 4R and 5R. Maybe it was just an improvement on my part; I'll find out Wednesday when I take AAMC 7.

Oh yeah - I though 6R biology was wayyyy easier than 5R bio. I scored 3 points higher (13, instead of 10).

 

[predoc07]

Aside from taking full length diags, how many hours on average do you guys spend studying for the MCAT per day now that we're nearing the day of the exam? This includes time spent reviewing and doing practice probs.
I spend about 7-8hrs/day right now and I feel like I should be doing more?!? 😳

I set aside 3-4 hours