Mcat Study Habits

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Dr.TurkandJD

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Hey Guys,

I am new on here and just wanted to get your feedback. I graduated from college past June and have been slowly studying for MCAT's. Now that I set a date for April 13th, I have been studying a lot more and trying to get a really good schedule down. Here is my concern, I have been spending all my time reading the TPR books and rewriting information into my notebooks. I have not really practiced the problems or passages, because I am focusing on information. A few of my friends said that its more important to practice the passages and the questions instead of trying to learn everything from those books. It seems like its very hard to do passages and practice test-taking-skills when you don't know the material.

The way I learn the best, and how I studied in undergrad, was by re-writing everything, over and over again. This is very time consuming and I dont know if it is the best way to study for the MCAT's. I would really appreciate any feedback!

Thank you!

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Your friends are correct. The MCAT isn't like a regular undergrad exam and your study strategy should reflect this. Your method right now seems very inefficient considering that April 13th is less than 3 months away.

You should try to read a chapter a day and follow it up with a third of the passages. If you have the EK 1001s, I'd suggest doing this every day: read a chapter, do the corresponding EK questions ->review, do Phase I of the TBR passages -> review and finally do 3 verbal passages -> review. Then on Saturdays, you do all the Phase II passages and review them while using Sundays as catch-up or break days. This seems like a lot to do in 1 day and it is, it'll take you at least 8 hours to get through but, what can you do? Also, as you're doing the practice problems, you'll be surprised by how much you remember from undergrad. Good luck!
 
Thank you for response. This is where I am struggling. I have The Princeton Review books, I am almost done reading and re-writing/taking notes. I also downloaded EK books and can get my hands on a few Kaplan books. Do you recommend buying the EK 1001 book? Would you recommend to also read the EK books parallel to TPR books?

Since my exam is in April 13th, with my resources (TPR, EK books, and I can buy EK 1001). What is the most recommended schedule for me? Do what each day?

I am really getting overwhelmed with the information and lagging behind.
 
You should follow SN2ed's schedule as it seems to work for a lot of people. Its detail oriented and thorough. This person has outlined a perfect MCAT study plan and you should follow it but since your MCAT date is within 2 and half months you should consistently think about practicing taking passages and keeping your full lengths for last 3 weeks or so.The link to SN2ed's schedule is here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898. I hope this helps u :)
 
You should follow SN2ed's schedule as it seems to work for a lot of people. Its detail oriented and thorough. This person has outlined a perfect MCAT study plan and you should follow it but since your MCAT date is within 2 and half months you should consistently think about practicing taking passages and keeping your full lengths for last 3 weeks or so.The link to SN2ed's schedule is here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898. I hope this helps u :)

Thanks!!! What is SN2ed? I have been seeing that term a lot on this site.

Also, I have TPR and EK books, do you recommend TBR or the EK 1001 books? What else should I get to the addition of TPR?
 
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