how many hours should one study for the mcat?

[MedQuest]

How much is enough time. I started taking kaplan prep two weeks ago. Is two months enough. I now it's up to the individual to study but realisticly how much is enough time?

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[Jalby]

372

 

[simpleG]

lol jalbrekt,

just study your ass off. 2 months is not that much time, and the mcat will be tomorrow. there is never "enough"; there just is.

 

[Wahoo07]

I think two months is more than enough. I studied for about 6 weeks and got a 33 this April. Just put in as much time as you can every day and do lots and lots and lots of practice tests!! I put in at least 3 hours a day and though I felt I wasn't as ready as I could have been, I still did well. Just enjoy the material and do lots of practice tests and you will be fine.

 

[vyc]

2 months is plenty of time if you concentrate and stay focused throughout.
i put in about 2 hours/day the first time around and then about 6-8/day the second time around.

it's all about how well you want to do and how desperate you are to prove yourself.

 

[avhart]

I heard somewhere (can't remember where anymore) that to do "average" on the MCAT, you must study 20 hours a week for 10 weeks. I don't think I really did that and I did above average...I think it really depends on you and you're probably a pretty good judge of how you're doing. But do NOT put it off. The one-month mark freaked me out and that's when I really went nuts studying.

 

[banannie]

5-10 hours a week at first (not including taking full length exams).
Then for the 1-2 weeks before the test, drop everything else you're doing and cram!

 

[DW]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by banannie:
•5-10 hours a week at first (not including taking full length exams).
Then for the 1-2 weeks before the test, drop everything else you're doing and cram!
•••••errr, i'm going to have to slightly disagree with this one....instead of taking it easy early and going crazy a couple weeks before the test, I say space it out. Depends on your personal fortitude, but I dont think its a great idea to risk burning out before the test, as you need all your druthers about you come D-day. My suggestion would be to consistently do 15 plus hours maybe (depends on the person, i did less, some do more), but if anything i say slow down a little before the test.

 

[banannie]

I guess it depends on the person, but I think burn out comes when you've been doing too much for too long. Just a week or two of intense work never killed anyone. But I do agree that you need to take it easy the day or two before the test.

Anyway, I'm not just pulling this out of my butt as some "theory." It's a method that worked for some friends and I, who all did really well.

 

[relatively prime]

My standard advice: 200 hrs over 3 months

good luck

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

How much is enough time. I started taking kaplan prep two weeks ago. Is two months enough. I now it's up to the individual to study but realisticly how much is enough time?

If you want to CRUSH the MCAT then you're looking at about 8 hours a day for two months... everyday no days off. And no lone content review. Only do content review when you're correcting questions you got wrong. It's less about number of hours and more about number of questions, passages, and FL tests. look to finish >10,000 questions and >10 FL tests for a great* score.

And remember...."C is for Cookie"

 

[getdown]

as much time as you need to feel comfortable taking the test or until you do consistently well on the practice exams

 

[ArizonaVet480]

I read somewhere it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on something. So study for 10,000 hours and become an mcat expert.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Holy 14 year necrobump

 

[SurgeonOfLife]

The 10,000 hour rule came from a researcher of psychology at FSU (Anders Ericsson). It had to be deliberate practice, not just any practice. You can still practice things you're already good at, but not really improve overall. The main population he studied were violinists (and I believe chess players)

 

[Optimus-Prime]

until your practice average reflects what you want to score

 

[Azete]

It depends on your goals, really. I think almost anybody could watch Chad's videos and score a 30 on the old MCAT with 6 weeks of preparation (assuming average verbal skills). But if you want a really detailed understanding of the topics, and think you're capable of a 95th percentile score, then probably 5 hours a day for 3 months.

Personally I was happy with the former and got a little lucky on test day.

 

[Neutropix]

Holy 14 year necrobump

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
This one was legendary. It should be in "funny things pre-meds say."

#early21stcenturybump

 

[LivingLikeLarry]

Unpopular opinion here, but I don't think there's really any good estimate out there because hours themselves mean nothing. You could do 8 solid hours a day for 3 months but if you're just reading and hopelessly memorizing, it won't do much good.
The MCAT is almost entirely a reasoning and thinking test, so however long it takes you to have a strong understanding of the tested topics is how long you should spend.

 

[Hospitalized]

372

Jalby was exactly 100 off from predicting the lowest possible MCAT score in 2015

What exactly is this wizardry?

 

[Jalby]

372

Ahhhh..... The memories.....

 

[SPDF]

A good 2-3 months I would say. I didn't take a class, but old classmates said they are helpful in organizing a study plan.

 

[aalamruad]

If you want to CRUSH the MCAT then you're looking at about 8 hours a day for two months... everyday no days off. And no lone content review. Only do content review when you're correcting questions you got wrong. It's less about number of hours and more about number of questions, passages, and FL tests. look to finish >10,000 questions and >10 FL tests for a great* score.

And remember...."C is for Cookie"

Wow. Horrible advice. Absolutely atrocious.

 

[Lawpy]

If you want to CRUSH the MCAT then you're looking at about 8 hours a day for two months... everyday no days off. And no lone content review. Only do content review when you're correcting questions you got wrong. It's less about number of hours and more about number of questions, passages, and FL tests. look to finish >10,000 questions and >10 FL tests for a great* score.

And remember...."C is for Cookie"

Wow. Horrible advice. Absolutely atrocious.

What's important to realize is that people don't start on the same playing field when preparing for the MCAT. Some have solid mastery of content review and excellent reasoning skills, so they only need a week or two of light prep to destroy the MCAT with a 520+. Others have little background and would need to prep for months fulltime to do well, and even then, they barely crack 510+.

So a blanket statement that someone should do X hours for X weeks to destroy the MCAT is inaccurate.

Also, quality study >>> quantity study. Studying efficiently is important.

 

[Fission Chips]

I think a minimum of 200 hours to perform well, depending of course on your familiarity with the subject matter. I thought Kaplan was fantastic review material but not representative of the real test in the slightest. I'd recommend getting examkrackers 1001 question books for each subject, and literally do every question. Circle the ones you got wrong and go back after you finish your first pass through the book.

For what its worth, I studied for 1 month over winter break. First 2 weeks I spent ~6 hours per day. Last 2 weeks I spent 12 hours per day studying and doing AAMC practice tests. My average on the practice tests going in was a 35, ended up with a 32 (damn you VR) on the real thing. 95% on the sciences though!

 

[eteshoe]

I thought the answer was always 42...

All kidding aside, depending on how efficient the person is - treat studying like (at least) a half-time job (~20 hrs/wk). Go through test prep material and take AAMC practice exams until you're consistently scoring in the 85th-90th+ percentile range.

 

[osckey]

*puts pillow on top of thread's face* sshh...shhhh...it'll all be over soon. No tears, only dreams now.

Let this thread die.

 

[AirplaneFruit]

If you're smart and have experience reading/understanding research papers you probably need to spend only 50 hours reviewing and practicing Bio and Verbal.

Maybe 50 hours for Psych/Soc content review since it's new.

Then depending on how good you are at Physics/Chem/Biochem and how much you remember from them you can spend anywhere from 50-150 hours on this section on content review and practice.

 

[TheRealCookieMonster]

Wow. Horrible advice. Absolutely atrocious.

LOL thanks for contributing.

 

[Avicenna]

one should study one hour before taking oneself's mcat

 

[rednote]

Have you heard about the 10,000 hour rule?

 

[619959]

Just the post itself bought this song to my mind:
Whatever you do, Good luck!