How many days before the MCAT should you STOP studying?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Ellabelle

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
98
Reaction score
2
Hey guys,
I'm taking the MCAT on September 6th. When should I STOP studying? And how many practice tests should I take during the last 2 or 3 weeks?
Any advice?
Thank you

Members don't see this ad.
 
I took the real thing on a Thursday and took the final AAMC Practice Exam that Monday, reviewed in that Tuesday, and relaxed that Wednesday.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I will also be taking the test at that date and I plan to stop as soon as I hit the score I have aimed to reach on the practice exams - in short I will probably stop studying 2 -3 days before the exam, just to keep a clear mind and give it all on the exam.

As for how many practice exams before the real thing, 2 to 3 weeks prior, I would try to do as many as you can handle, if that is the only thing you will be doing during that 2 to 3 weeks, otherwise I would try to do one every week from now, don't limit yourself 2 to 3 weeks before the exam, ya digg?
 
My last practice test was two days before the exam. The day before the test I golfed all day which was the best thing I ever did - I was so tired I slept like a baby. I had an afternoon exam so the morning of the exam I went to a coffee shop and went over a few last minute things (my routine for practice exam days).

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2
 
I stopped on Monday with a Friday test date. I took practice tests during those last few days and spent the rest of the week playing NCAA Football 12 with my friends. Relax a little and don't expect to learn anything new within 48 hours of the test time.
 
i stopped on monday with a friday test date. I took practice tests during those last few days and spent the rest of the week playing ncaa football 12 with my friends. Relax a little and don't expect to learn anything new within 48 hours of the test time.

-1
 
I stopped on Monday with a Friday test date. I took practice tests during those last few days and spent the rest of the week playing NCAA Football 12 with my friends. Relax a little and don't expect to learn anything new within 48 hours of the test time.

I don't know about you, but I can learn an awful lot 48 hours before a test.

I used those last days largely to review formula's, practice verbal (kept me sharp), and look over the "random facts from questions i missed sheets"


I also memorized the wiki page on the civil rights movement for my writing section essays :)
 
I had a Saturday morning test, and I did my last practice test on the Wednesday prior and took Thursday and Friday off.
 
I took my final practice exam the morning of my actual test date - I wanted to go into the exam already in an exam-taking mindset.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Don't touch anything the day before the test. The day before that, cram like you're gonna be tested on it.
 
first time: i didnt take any time off. burnt out
second time: i took the day before off and studied the morning of. afternoon tests are really the way to go
 
I took my final practice exam the morning of my actual test date - I wanted to go into the exam already in an exam-taking mindset.

That's actually pretty badass.

Don't touch anything the day before the test. The day before that, cram like you're gonna be tested on it.

This is what I did and it worked.
 
I think you should do a practice passage from each section before the test. Just to get your brain running
 
by the end of my studying, i was taking the aamc practice tests. i just looked over my notes on the day before and the day of, just mentally testing myself occasionally to see if i could recall facts
 
For the two weeks before my 1pm MCAT, I took practice full lengths every afternoon, reviewed the following morning, rinse, repeat. The day before the test I chilled out. Light review of formulas etc that night and the morning before, but at that point I figured I'm not going to nail anything I hadn't already, and it was more important to go into the testing room with a fresh mind.
 
Hey guys,
I'm taking the MCAT on September 6th. When should I STOP studying? And how many practice tests should I take during the last 2 or 3 weeks?
Any advice?
Thank you

same.


You're not going to "burn-out" from a last minute review

my Mom drove me to the testing site, I was studying in the car

After months of light studying (two to four hours a day), I studied eight hours a day starting two weeks before the test. The day before the test, I only studied six hours. I took about fifty troublesome notecards to the testing center the day of the test and got in an hour of studying.

Five minutes before the test, I ran out to my car and grabbed one notecard I was having trouble with. There was a question over that info on the test. :)
 
Hey guys,
I'm taking the MCAT on September 6th. When should I STOP studying? And how many practice tests should I take during the last 2 or 3 weeks?
Any advice?
Thank you

IMO, you should stop studying when you need to. If you are doing fine, review concepts until you are content with what you know, if your are burnt out, take the day or two before the test off. Personally, I took the two days prior to the exam off (I was taking 18 credits along with a job, while studying for the MCAT, so I needed the break for sanity) and just did whatever I wanted to (mostly working out and playing video games). Above all else, the MCAT is a test of your stamina, if you walk into it already tired, you will have problems.

As far as how many practice tests to take, take as many as you can. As I said, the information on the MCAT is not hard, it is just an endurance test. You have to prepare your brain to handle it, and the only way to do so is by taking tons of practice tests in a testing environment.
 
Do exactly what you need to do in order to sleep well the night before. For some people this means pushing everything to the side and going for a nice long run. For others, it means ice cream, video games, and other brands of peaceful vegetation. For others still, the knowledge that you're not utilizing potential study time can be anxiety-inducing. I, for one, see absolutely no problem with studying or even doing practice FL's the day before. Studying can be exhausting, yes, but unless you're eighty years old, you're not going to be so spent the next day as to nullify the benefit of shoring up weak areas or having those hard-to-remember formulae fresh in your mind.

I took my last FL two days before my real MCAT and scanned my review books while watching TV on the day immediately prior.
 
I stopped studying a day or two before the test. Played and beat Portal 2 the day before to keep my brain juices flowing. That said I still thumbed through this reference sheet Kaplan gave me to keep things fresh as well.
 
only studied three hours the day before test. had to sleep early that night cause i had to drive up to take the test in neighboring city next morn
 
I couldnt really STUDY the 3 or 4 days before the exam, not because I didn't think I could learn more but because the pressure of the thing really got to me. It's stressfull!

But at the same time I couldn't live with myself if I knew I didn't try as hard as I could, so I at least tried to study until the two days before my exam. The day before my exam (my exam was a thursday) I watched probably 3-4 movies and the night before I just looked over equations, skimmed through the bio and orgo (all of this is superficial, not actually for content review, just for confidence that HEY i know whats going on here haha), and for verbal I did a few EK passages until I got one 100% right (another confidence boost).

In the end I think it helped me not studying super hard because the nerves woulda got to me if I saw something I didnt know. You just have to learn to trust that you know more than you think and realize that the exam is a lot less content based now so I think its more important to be in the right mindset than to know that extra equation about wavelength of an open vs closed pipe (this always got me haha).

For reference I avged ~32 on AAMCs and got a 33 on real deal. Good luck!
 
It depends on your own personal taste.

For me I stopped studying about 5 days before my exam, because I was burning out and I needed a break.

For other people that would set them back, they need to study all the way up until the last day. They go in and do fine too.

It all depends. How did you used to do it in college for your midterms?
 
if you do quality studying including the day before the exam, i dont think its gonna burn you out, as long as you sleep at least 7.5-8 hours the night before the test. also i think doing 1 practice passage from each section the morning before the test is a good idea, since that way you will put yourself in a study/test taking mode
 
Top