How long should I study for the MCAT?

[btttbgfr34]

Hi everyone. The amount of content review on the MCAT is so overwhelming that I don't know whether my study plan is reasonable. Any input would be much appreciated. I have a bachelors degree and took most of the pre-reqs about 3 yrs ago. I have already gone to a MCAT prep course and have all the notes down.
My test is on Sep 19th. I have just started with content review and I'm planning on reviewing until the end of May. I am planning on doing one Full length every week for 3 months ( TPR and NS 1-10 ), and spend the last 18 days doing AAMC materials.
I do not know if this is good plan, or if I will get burnt out by the end. Thank you all in advance

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[DrStephenStrange]

Your study plan shouldn't be either too short or too long as these are counterproductive. Anything between 3 to 6 months is reasonable (it all depends on your learning style and study habits). I don't think studying for a couple months then do FLs for 3 months is a good plan though because you wanna track if you're making progress, so you should probably be studying and do FLs and practice questions in between (after a certain amount of time reviewing) to see where you're at and what you need to improve/focus on the most. One last thing, don't take the MCAT until you're consistently hitting your desired score on the FLs.

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[Coltuna]

Hi everyone. The amount of content review on the MCAT is so overwhelming that I don't know whether my study plan is reasonable. Any input would be much appreciated. I have a bachelors degree and took most of the pre-reqs about 3 yrs ago. I have already gone to a MCAT prep course and have all the notes down.
My test is on Sep 19th. I have just started with content review and I'm planning on reviewing until the end of May. I am planning on doing one Full length every week for 3 months ( TPR and NS 1-10 ), and spend the last 18 days doing AAMC materials.
I do not know if this is good plan, or if I will get burnt out by the end. Thank you all in advance

I would give yourself a month for AAMC materials if possible. If you run out of stuff to do then do the section bank again.

 

[DelayedGratification]

Just study until you achieve your target score on your AAMC FL 1-3. No more, no less. Dont take these until you are confident, space them out.

Also, 18 days for AAMC material is definitely too little. I personally wouldn't waste my time with Princeton.

 

[Coltuna]

I personally wouldn't waste my time with Princeton.

I'll echo this advice. Instead of doing 10 NS and 1 TPR, throw in some Altius tests. In my experience, those were the best by far followed by NextStep outside of AAMC materials.

 

[btttbgfr34]

Thank you all!

 

[btttbgfr34]

Your study plan shouldn't be either too short or too long as these are counterproductive. Anything between 3 to 6 months is reasonable (it all depends on your learning style and study habits). I don't think studying for a couple months then do FLs for 3 months is a good plan though because you wanna track if you're making progress, so you should probably be studying and do FLs and practice questions in between (after a certain amount of time reviewing) to see where you're at and what you need to improve/focus on the most. One last thing, don't take the MCAT until you're consistently hitting your desired score on the FLs.

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So After reviewing 50% of content review , I will start doing FLs. Any Fls that you would recommend?

 

[Coltuna]

So After reviewing 50% of content review , I will start doing FLs. Any Fls that you would recommend?

So this might be a hot take, but I wouldn't do actual practice TESTS until you're done with content. I would definitely do practice problems along with your content review if you're spreading it out a bit, but I would save your tests until after content review as it kind of seems like a waste if you're using the best tests. The best tests are AAMC>>>Altius>> NS. I haven't seen this study method much on here but the thing that worked well for me was converting the Kaplan Quick Sheets into anki cards, converting 100 page psych/soc khan academy document floating around on reddit into anki cards, and spending my first couple weeks of studying brute memorizing those facts. If you need some context, you can always go read more. Once I had no more "new cards" to learn then I took practice tests every week (alternated NS and Altius exams initially one every week then I think I was up to 2 tests/week towards the end when I didn't have as much review). Based on those exams, I really focused my content review from there. Once I covered all of my weak areas from the FL I took and hammered that topic with practice questions, I would move on. Everyone has their own way though! Just letting you know what worked for me. My goal was to just have a very rudimentary understanding of the content in order to start on practice tests then build my test-taking ability and content knowledge through taking FL's, reviewing them, and supplementing my current knowledge. Lather, rise, repeat.

 

[DrStephenStrange]

So After reviewing 50% of content review , I will start doing FLs. Any Fls that you would recommend?

I think the Next Step FLs were very close to the real thing besides the AAMC ones, I'd definitely try those. I'd suggest you do the NS FLs to measure your progress, and the AAMC ones when you're completely or close to being done reviewing because you wanna use those to see how ready you are for the test. Also, always take the FLs in an environment as close to exam day as possible, so you can prime yourself for the real thing. One more resource that really helped me increase my score significantly was the Khan Academy MCAT videos, definitely spend some times on those too; especially for subjects you struggle on the most (besides they are free).

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[PlsLetMeIn21]

I plan to take four and a half months, but the first month will overlap with school. I will complete all of the TBR passages for biology, chemistry, organic, and physics and all of the passages for TPR psychology by the middle of July. I will do TBR and EK FL exams in July and August and AAMC Q bank materials on my off days. September is all about AAMC FLs. I'm using EK and TPR for CARS and will mix it in the entire time. I plan to do Khan for topics I know well and TBR reading for my weaker areas. I'm a little worried I might miss some TBR shortcuts doing this, but I think the tricks are in the passages.