Is studying a year in advance a bad idea?

[Stambo18]

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I am planning on taking the MCAT in the summer of 2010. Does anyone see a problem with starting to study now? I am afraid of depleting all of my study material before the test date, but I hope that is not a problem. Currently, I am using Exam Krackers verbal 101 passages. From what I understand, the passages are definitely the best when it comes to verbal reasoning, so is it a bad idea to take these practice tests this early?

Has anyone else started thirteen months in advance?

Thanks

 

[loveoforganic]

I mean, I guess if you constantly re-reviewed the stuff you already went over, it could be a good thing. If you don't, you're going to forget things though.

 

[cornpops21]

I am planning on taking the MCAT in the summer of 2010. Does anyone see a problem with starting to study now? I am afraid of depleting all of my study material before the test date, but I hope that is not a problem. Currently, I am using Exam Krackers verbal 101 passages. From what I understand, the passages are definitely the best when it comes to verbal reasoning, so is it a bad idea to take these practice tests this early?

Has anyone else started thirteen months in advance?

Thanks

Don't waste your FLs a year in advance. Especially if you haven't finished content review. Wait until you've reviewed all material, then sit down and do FLs. I wouldn't start studying yet. You're gonna forget everything if you're not in "MCAT mode" and studying consistently. All you really need is a solid 3-4 months to do all your content review and take diags.

 

[FuturaDocta]

I don't see anything wrong with it. I guess you could have a 30 minute a day routine with the MCAT. Then when it comes closer to the mcat day (say a three months away) just start really reviewing everything you haven't yet fully comprehended. Plus, you could probably take several practice tests with that amount of time.

 

[229141]

If youre done with all your pre reqs just take it sooner...waiting will hurt you IMO

If youre not done with pre reqs realize that doing good in your classes is scoring you points on the mcat...thats how people get 30+ on their first practice test IMHO

 

[loveoforganic]

Yeah, rocking your prereqs is the single best thing you can do in my opinion.

 

[SN2ed]

It is a waste of time and resources. You will not remember the stuff you studied earlier which will make you study all over again closer to your test date. Furthermore, you will waste valuable practice material. You want to save your practice material (yes, ALL of it) 3-4 months before your test date. You need concentrated studying for the MCAT, not something dragged out over a year. It won't help you whatsoever. Instead, it will hurt you, especially if you waste practice material.

 

[apumic]

It is a waste of time and resources. You will not remember the stuff you studied earlier which will make you study all over again closer to your test date. Furthermore, you will waste valuable practice material. You want to save your practice material (yes, ALL of it) 3-4 months before your test date. You need concentrated studying for the MCAT, not something dragged out over a year. It won't help you whatsoever. Instead, it will hurt you, especially if you waste practice material.

It could be argued that that would depend upon how the OP chose to use those materials. Taking the relevant section(s) of one of the paper FL's that are useful for review but less useful as a diagnostic prior to taking a given pre-req would actually prime a person's mind and could help him/her to remember the most MCAT-relevant information most effectively. Priming can be a powerful study-aid and I'd say it is vastly underestimated (or forgotten/ignored) when it comes to test prep.

 

[SN2ed]

It could be argued that that would depend upon how the OP chose to use those materials. Taking the relevant section(s) of one of the paper FL's that are useful for review but less useful as a diagnostic prior to taking a given pre-req would actually prime a person's mind and could help him/her to remember the most MCAT-relevant information most effectively. Priming can be a powerful study-aid and I'd say it is vastly underestimated (or forgotten/ignored) when it comes to test prep.

I think that can be helpful as well, but not when it's done a year in advance. You'll probably lose any of the possible benefits that far away from your test date.

Edit: Ugh. I couldn't find the other studying year in advance threads.

 

[muhali3]

You can use the prep books in conjunction with the classes. Don't do any passages/questions from the books though. It's good to do those a few weeks before the test so you can put your mind into MCAT mode. If you use them early, you'll just waste them, because you'll lose that short-term MCAT-ownage ability that they give you. You can't reuse them because you'll already be familiar with it.

 

[RavensGal]

Is it ok to do content review this far in advance? Im thinking about taking an April 2010 MCAT and Im already freaking out. I know that Im not in MCAT mode but Im going to be taking 17 credit hours and doing research while preparing for the MCAT so I won't have time to do more then 2 or 3 hours a day plus saturday practice tests. I've started making flash cards for the BS part so that when it gets closer to the MCAT I won't have to worry about not knowing material and just focus on practicing questions....
is that a bad idea?

 

[muhali3]

If you're going to study super early, you can use the prep books to supplement what you're already learning in class. The prep books can put into context what content is relevant. Don't separate your courses and MCAT preparation as two different things. Your pre-reqs are your MCAT preparation. Don't start doing passages/questions until at most 3-4 months before your MCAT, maybe even less if you don't have enough practice material.

SN2ed already made a ballin' thread on an optimal study schedule:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898