Is it worth it?

[BluejayMD]

So I am planning on either taking the MCAT in January 2015(the last old one) or May 2015(the new one). This summer, I am working full time in a research lab so I don't have much time at all to study. However, I have been reviewing a little here and there....about an hour or two a day. Considering that this continues for another 3 months until summer is over, how well would I be able to retain this knowledge throughout the semester? I am taking a full credit load next semester and will also have barely any time to study. Winter break is pretty much my only set time to go all out on studying. I figure winter break would be the time for me to quickly refresh myself on the concepts I reviewed over the summer and complete a bunch of practice tests.

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[torontopharm]

Hey are you sure January 2015 is the last old one?
This is an response sent straight from AAMC when i inquired about the old vs new mcat dates:
"The new 2015 content will not be administered until the Spring. " This was back in March when i e-mailed them. You should (if you wish to) be able to do the old MCAT even beyond January, 2015.

To answer your question, honestly it depends on people how they retain information. My advice would be to give yourself as much time as you can to prepare for the MCAT.

 

[Chemstudent]

I just read on the AAMC site that the old MCAT will be administered through January 2015, so that is the last possible test date for the old MCAT.

 

[cbjen]

So, as someone who took the social sciences trial section on this year's MCAT, I would highly recommend taking the old/current version of the test. It looks like there is going to be a substantial amount of new material. As someone who took a lot of psychology, neurobiology, and sociology classes in undergrad, I encountered a lot of concepts I was completely unfamiliar with. If the real test is anything like the trial, there will be a substantial amount of memorization involved. (Then again, I'm not sure if the trial section was to get a score distribution for actual potential test questions, like the trial questions included in other sections, or whether they were just seeing how familiar pre-med students were with different subjects.)

I'd also say, at least from my personal experience, that the major hurdle in studying for the MCAT is getting a concrete understanding of the concepts. You can cram on formulas and terms in the weeks/months leading up to the test without putting in too much time. (For example, spend winter break just doing tons of practice problems and tests.) If you think you can maintain the basic concepts through the semester, then you should be fine to study more in the summer.