Is a 6-month studying period too long?

[omegaz50]

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I plan to study a couple of hours every day for 6 months taking the test in March/April. Is this a good plan? Is anyone doing something like this? The only thing I'm afraid is that I'll forget some of the material reviewed in the beginning of my 6-month journey on the exam 6 months later.

If anyone's curious as to why I'm doing this, I have a super easy fall semester but my spring semester is hell. So I can't study that much in my spring semester.

 

[Travisguy02]

I am taking the MCAT April 27th, but I have already began studying. I am focusing more on conceptual understanding in Organic and Physics and staying away from straight fact memorization right now. But I also graduated in 2009 with a Bio/Chem BS, So I really need the refresher.

*Edited for spelling

 

[eggs13]

I plan to study a couple of hours every day for 6 months taking the test in March/April. Is this a good plan? Is anyone doing something like this? The only thing I'm afraid is that I'll forget some of the material reviewed in the beginning of my 6-month journey on the exam 6 months later.

If anyone's curious as to why I'm doing this, I have a super easy fall semester but my spring semester is hell. So I can't study that much in my spring semester.

I would say yes, this is too long. I would limit your studying to 3 months (4 months MAX). A concentrated study plan for 3 months will do you much more good than a dilly dally 6 month plan. Further, you will burn out if you are studying for this beast for 6 months and you will most likely run out of practice tests. Take a look at SN2ed's plan. I did not do it myself, but I know many have been successful using it.

The first time I took the test, I studied 12 weeks (10/6/12). The second time I studied, I studied 10 weeks, with a heavy focus on verbal (14/10/11). Once you get to a certain point, studying more and more is very, very low yield.

Good Luck!!

edit: didnt read your full post before i posted--since this semester is easier, I would buckle down and study for the next 10-12 weeks HARD and aim for a January test date. Then, if you need to, you can retake in the spring still.

 

[omegaz50]

edit: didnt read your full post before i posted--since this semester is easier, I would buckle down and study for the next 10-12 weeks HARD and aim for a January test date. Then, if you need to, you can retake in the spring still.

Thanks for the reply. I really really want to take the test in January, however, I haven't taken Physics 2 yet (taking it in the Spring semester). Do you think I should prepare for Physics 2 on my own and take the MCAT in January?

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I would say yes, this is too long. I would limit your studying to 3 months (4 months MAX). A concentrated study plan for 3 months will do you much more good than a dilly dally 6 month plan. Further, you will burn out if you are studying for this beast for 6 months and you will most likely run out of practice tests. Take a look at SN2ed's plan. I did not do it myself, but I know many have been successful using it.

The first time I took the test, I studied 12 weeks (10/6/12). The second time I studied, I studied 10 weeks, with a heavy focus on verbal (14/10/11). Once you get to a certain point, studying more and more is very, very low yield.

Good Luck!!

edit: didnt read your full post before i posted--since this semester is easier, I would buckle down and study for the next 10-12 weeks HARD and aim for a January test date. Then, if you need to, you can retake in the spring still.

I studied for 6 months daily (save for an odd day or week here and there) for about 2-3 hours a day, 5 hours on weekends. I burned out maybe once, which I recovered from after a week, so that wasn't too much of an issue either. I barely managed to squeeze in all the AAMCs (could only do 1 a week) and 4 Kaplan FLs (of which I had 7 left over), so running out of practice tests wasn't really a concern. I ended up with 12/13/14.

In other words, none of what you said is true. You seem to be assuming that a person studying for 6 months has to study just as hard every day as a person studying for 3 months, which is silly. Studying for more than 4 months is definitely feasible, you just have to adopt a different schedule and study strategy than what people studying for 3-4 months would use. Think of it as the difference between running a sprinting race and running a marathon.

 

[zipnogg]

I plan to study a couple of hours every day for 6 months taking the test in March/April. Is this a good plan? Is anyone doing something like this? The only thing I'm afraid is that I'll forget some of the material reviewed in the beginning of my 6-month journey on the exam 6 months later.

If anyone's curious as to why I'm doing this, I have a super easy fall semester but my spring semester is hell. So I can't study that much in my spring semester.

If during school, then I'd say that it's fine.

I studied from Sept 2011 - Apr. 2012 (I graduated in May 2012).

But then... I did have friends who didn't study for as long as I did and did just fine.

 

[Lollygag]

I studied for 6 months daily (save for an odd day or week here and there) for about 2-3 hours a day, 5 hours on weekends. I burned out maybe once, which I recovered from after a week, so that wasn't too much of an issue either. I barely managed to squeeze in all the AAMCs (could only do 1 a week) and 4 Kaplan FLs (of which I had 7 left over), so running out of practice tests wasn't really a concern. I ended up with 12/13/14.

In other words, none of what you said is true. You seem to be assuming that a person studying for 6 months has to study just as hard every day as a person studying for 3 months, which is silly. Studying for more than 4 months is definitely feasible, you just have to adopt a different schedule and study strategy than what people studying for 3-4 months would use. Think of it as the difference between running a sprinting race and running a marathon.

I was honestly thinking of doing a 6-7 month schedule. People always have some beef with it but everyone learns differently and I don't think you can generalize that 6-7 months of studying would be bad for everyone. Like for example: I learn better by constant repetition over an extended period of time so in other words I will retain information far better if I study 3 hours a day for a 6 days than 8 hours over 2 days. The longer I am studying for something is the more it will become second nature for me and that is just simply how I operate.

The main reason why I'm planning on doing this tho is because its been a while since my pre-req's and I didn't study hard for them the way I should have been. Bio and Orgo I should be okay with decent review but Physics and G. Chemistry I did not work hard in and barely remember anything so I'm spending about half to 1/3 of the time reviewing and really trying to wrap my head around the material.

So I think what people need to understand is that for non-traditionals like myself who have taken a year off or maybe more would need to do this because the material simply is not as fresh in our minds. And being a non science major made it worse for me since I'm not taking any extra classes that reinforce the material.