Is over studying for the MCAT possible?

[kgpremed11]

Having an interesting debate with med students on the allo forum. Most of them are saying they studied +/- 3 weeks and scored 33+. One guy went as far as to say the people who study for months are likely to do poorly? I understand most of them are probaly just trying to make themselves look good, but do you think this test is more about prep or natural ability? Honestly, I think that "natural ability" is overrated and most people could get 33+ with enough confidence, prep, and luck.

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[shipseki]

Good question. It all depends on how efficiently one studies. A prospective premed who has poor study habits i.e. doing practice questions while on facebook and on gchat will not do well, compared to the student who studies for 1-2 months, but on a lengthy and consistent basis i.e. 4-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. However, I call BS on getting 33+ in just 3 weeks; that student must have taken his/her pre-reqs and then assuming he/she recalls everything, taking the MCAT right after.

 

[Leonardo Noto]

As with anything else in life, more QUALITY preparation is always better than less -- a few hours a day over several months will give far better results than a massive cram session, which might very well do more harm than good because you'll waste a lot of time and wear yourself out without retaining very much information. As for natural ability, yeah, being sharp is nice -- but I've never met an infant who was born knowing organic chemistry and even if your memory is truly flawless, you need to at least look at all of the material once, which is a major time commitment. Premeds lie about how much they study (or don't study, that is) all the time -- when you get to medical school you will quickly learn that everybody studies all day, regardless of how bright they are. Like I said, even if your memory is perfect, you still need to look at all of the material once, and it is a heck of a lot of material.

Dr. Leonardo Noto
www.leonardonoto.com or follow me on Twitter @DrLeonardoNoto

 

[osprey099]

Having an interesting debate with med students on the allo forum. Most of them are saying they studied +/- 3 weeks and scored 33+. One guy went as far as to say the people who study for months are likely to do poorly? I understand most of them are probaly just trying to make themselves look good, but do you think this test is more about prep or natural ability? Honestly, I think that "natural ability" is overrated and most people could get 33+ with enough confidence, prep, and luck.

I don't think there's such a thing as overstudying but I do believe that studying the right way is very underrated. Last summer when I prepped for my September MCAT, I spent at least 4 hours a day for almost 4 months doing all the practice materials/passages I could get my hands on (EK1001s, TBR, TPRHL, TBR FLs, AAMC FLs, AAMC Self Assessment Package) but still did not do as well as I wanted to (thus retaking this Spring). The reason is that I did not study the right way because I thought just doing passage after passage after passage will allow me to see a linear increase in my scores, like how practicing free throws can make you a better free throw shooter. However, what I learned is that it's not all about practice because first of all, the verbal section is like 80% natural ability/childhood love of reading/luck with only 20% practice because I did all of EK101, TPRHL verbal, and AAMC self assessment verbal and while I was scoring 10s on all my practices, I ended up getting a 8 on the real thing. Also, the PS and BS sections are not necessarily going to ask you questions that test your memorization of certain concepts. They test you on your complete understanding of the concept and they do this by asking questions in a way that incorporates the details in the passage together. There is a correct way to study for the MCAT and people who claim they studied for 3hours for only a month and end up with a 33+ may very well be telling the truth because the MCAT is testing basic knowledge. The stuff on the MCAT in no way can be compared to the rigor in most university's upper level science classes, that most of MCAT takers have or are currently taking. It's just a different way of testing.

 

[gettheleadout]

Only relative to one's score goal.


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[YouNeverKnow22]

Good question. It all depends on how efficiently one studies. A prospective premed who has poor study habits i.e. doing practice questions while on facebook and on gchat will not do well, compared to the student who studies for 1-2 months, but on a lengthy and consistent basis i.e. 4-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. However, I call BS on getting 33+ in just 3 weeks; that student must have taken his/her pre-reqs and then assuming he/she recalls everything, taking the MCAT right after.

my friend got a 32 after 3.5 weeks of studying, he's smart but no genius. It's not how long you study but how smart, some people take longer to retain information/answer test questions correctly.