is 2 months enough?

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GreyF0X

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I am weak in the physical sciences and have yet to start studying for the MCAT, however, I'm thinking about taking the MCAT in November. Is 2 months more than enough for someone who is not doing anything else besides volunteering/researching? I know the general consensus is 3 months but is that akin into account factors such as school, work, etc?

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I am weak in the physical sciences and have yet to start studying for the MCAT, however, I'm thinking about taking the MCAT in November. Is 2 months more than enough for someone who is not doing anything else besides volunteering/researching? I know the general consensus is 3 months but is that akin into account factors such as school, work, etc?

The first thing I would do if I were you is get on the AAMC site and see if there are actually any seats left in your area for the Nov. 7th date. I just re-scheduled from Sept. 12 to Oct. 21, and I looked at all the dates in Oct and the one date in Nov, and while there are a few seats here and there in the Oct sections, there are very few seats left in the entire U.S. for Nov. 7th. Depending on your area, though, you might happen to live in or near one of the states that's got a few testing centers with seats left, who knows, but when I looked it was amazingly slim pickings, and I was just looking about 3 hours ago. So unless you want to fly somewhere where there's an open seat and spend the night in a hotel before testing, check the AAMC site and see what's available before you get too attached to a particular date.

Anywhoo, to your question: it's certainly possible to do well, depending on what "well" is for you. The SDN user Spinach Dip famously raised his score from a 3o to a 40 in two months (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ints-in-2-months-—-the-spinach-method.988678/), so unless you're in a really bad spot right now as far as content knowledge, you could certainly do well if you work hard.

Have you taken any tests, looked at any material, worked any passages? It's hard to know if this is possible without knowing A) where you are now and B) what your desired score is.
 
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The first thing I would do if I were you is get on the AAMC site and see if there are actually any seats left in your area for the Nov. 7th date. I just re-scheduled from Sept. 12 to Oct. 21, and I looked at all the dates in Oct and the one date in Nov, and while there are a few seats here and there in the Oct sections, there are very few seats left in the entire U.S. for Nov. 7th. Depending on your area, though, you might happen to live in or near one of the states that's got a few testing centers with seats left, who knows, but when I looked it was amazingly slim pickings, and I was just looking about 3 hours ago. So unless you want to fly somewhere where there's an open seat and spend the night in a hotel before testing, check the AAMC site and see what's available before you get too attached to a particular date.

Anywhoo, to your question: it's certainly possible to do well, depending on what "well" is for you. The SDN user Spinach Dip famously raised his score from a 3o to a 40 in two months (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-i-raised-my-mcat-score-by-10-points-in-2-months-—-the-spinach-method.988678/), so unless you're in a really bad spot right now as far as content knowledge, you could certainly do well if you work hard.

Have you taken any tests, looked at any material, worked any passages? It's hard to know if this is possible without knowing A) where you are now and B) what your desired score is.

Thanks for the input, i was a little worried about the seating issue, i may have to take it in Jan. As for what practice i have done, nothing. I just want to commit most of my time to the MCAT and see how it pans out for me. I'm aiming for a 30.

I agree with @bambam92.
It also depends on how time-consuming your volunteering and researching commitments are.

Volunteering is once a week for 4-5 hours but for research i have to commute to my university. I would say that research takes up about 2-3 hours per day, after that, i can commit all my time to the mcat.
 
Volunteering is once a week for 4-5 hours but for research i have to commute to my university. I would say that research takes up about 2-3 hours per day, after that, i can commit all my time to the mcat.

Yep, based on those requirements I'd go take AAMC-3 under timed conditions like the others mentioned and post back here with your resuslts. If you haven't looked into it, that first test is free, and we'll be able to help ya much better after that.
 
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