Is it worth starting to study for a late May 2019 MCAT at the beginning of the school year of August 2018?

[SpanishMusical]

Hi all,

As I'm planning out my next semester, I've got a little conundrum. My schedule for first semester will be honors physics (5 credit hours), biochem (3 credit hours), an honors seminar (3 CH's, everyone gets an A), and a class about Hispanic cultures in the US. I will also be working in a lab 10 hours a week and volunteering in a clinic 3 hours a week. I'm considering continuing with Flamenco guitar lessons that I took starting last semester (one hour a week, about 45 mins of practice a day), but I'm unsure if that would be overextending myself. If I need to study for the MCAT on top of the rest of all this, I don't think I'll do the guitar this semester.

For the semester after (ie, the one before the MCAT), EC's will remain the same, and I will be taking honors physics 2 (5 CH), online Sociology (3 CH), a History class (3 CH, I'll work to find an easy one), and a blow-off phys ed class (1 CH) or something similar. The idea here was to make this semester lighter to have more time to study for the MCAT during the semester, and then to have a month after the end of the semester to dedicate myself to the exam entirely (April 30 - May 30).

With all this in mind, is it worth starting to study for the MCAT my first semester, or would I have enough time starting in the second?

Thanks everyone!

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[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

It can't hurt to start earlier, especially if you're in school. My general experience is that students tend to overestimate how much time they'll have to study for MCAT during school, even if you plan for a lighter semester. The biggest concern of starting this early would be burning out. You have to be careful and schedule many rest days to ensure you don't burn out from doing so much and then studying mcat as well.

I would say sit down and pick some resources you want to use. AAMC material is an absolute must in my opinion and most others will share that opinion as well. I would spend the entire last month solely on that to ensure that you fully understand everything in it. In addition to that, you'll need content review material, additional practice problems, and additional practice exams. The reason for this is that even though AAMC material is the most representative material, it is not comprehensive, so you need third-party material to fill in those gaps. If you're interested in looking into Next Step as a source, I have a link in my signature for our free practice bundle, if you would like to see if our material fits your study style.

Once you have selected all of your material, start building a schedule and see how long it'll take you to finish everything if you were just studying mcat full time. It's probably going to land in the 2.5-3.5 month range. Then start adding in break days, and cutting down on the amount of total mcat stuff you can do because of schoolwork and other activities. What you'll probably see is that it might take you upwards of 5-6 months with everything else to be able to fully prepare. It's hard to estimate when the right time to start is without knowing how much you can really do per day. I would say start planning earlier so you can get a feel for it and then have more time to make adjustments as needed. If you're able to study more than expected, then you can cut back a bit, but if you're taking more time, then hopefully you have enough time to work with to make that up eventually.

I hope that helps and good luck with the study process! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask!