MCAT Study Plan

[deleted600623]

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Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some tips or critiques on my study plan I've developed and have implemented for about a week now. I'm currently working 40 hours a week at a new job so that should be taken into consideration. Right now, I'm studying a subject per week by reading 1 chapter a day Monday-Friday and then going back through the material to make Anki notecards which I review right after I make them to solidify the information. Then throughout the week and on the weekend, I review the notecards I've made and brush up on anything I'm still unfamiliar with.

With this plan (which I started this past week) I'll be roughly halfway through content review and will take a practice exam in early November then finish content review by the end of December. After I finish content review, I plan to take another practice exam and see where I am at. Does anyone have any advice on what to change? I wish I could cut back my hours to part time but I just can't do that right now with a new job.

Thanks for the help!

 

[deleted600623]

Sorry to bump this but anyone have any advice?

 

[theonlytycrane]

when is your target test date?

 

[deleted600623]

At the latest April. But if I am doing well on my practice exams at the end of December, I may just take it and get it over with. If I'm not, then I will do a course or tutoring program for a few months and take it in April. I would obviously prefer to take it earlier than April so that's why I'm asking for advice on the plan.

 

[theonlytycrane]

If you have a strong science background, it will be more useful to try to get through content review faster and mix in more passages and practice-problems. If you need more review, though, this may not be possible. So it'll depend on where you're currently at. If you have time on the weekends, you might want to mix in full-lengths or sections of full-lengths too.

 

[deleted600623]

@theonlytycrane Well I took a TPR practice exam prior to starting any studying and scored a 489. So based on that, I think I need the review. I'm not sure if that's a decent score with no studying but regardless, I haven't studied science material in about a year.

 

[baby_monkey1]

I worked full time and studied for the mcat. You probably know what study system works best for you for content review from your classes(I like using flashcards). After work every night for a month, I made flashcards on the Kaplan content books and did general review (like 1 week for bio, phys, etc), half a week for orgo (up to you). Then I had like 4000 flashcards to study with. I alternated for the next couple of months doing practice sections. So, I would do a couple cars sections everyday, and pick a couple of other subjects to do passages for every night. I would then review what I did right and wrong and add what I missed to my flashcards pile. Every single day I would go through my flashcards and separate what I knew and didn't know. Then a month and a half or so before the test I started doing a practice timed test every week and going over what j did right and wrong and adding flashcards I missed again. You're gonna have to study every single night after work and all weekend. It sucks but it'll be over before you know it! 🙂 you can pm me for more details if u need


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[BerkReviewTeach]

I ghost more than post, but after reading a suggestion here that seems to be more prevalent lately, I feel compelled to chime in.

First and foremost, the theonlytycrane hit the nail squarely on the head that is all about passages and going over answers. Too many people make the HUGE mistake of focusing on content review at the expense of not doing enough practice. Your MCAT score is based on answering many different types of questions, not recalling content. The advice I've seen time and again from theonlytycrane has been succinct and spot on. Great posts!

But then there is the suggestion where people post about their use of flashcards. Many students feel a sense of comfort using flashcards, because it worked well for college classes after all. Those classes rewarded recall and rote memorization, so flashcards were a necessity to get a good grade. The MCAT does not reward the same things as college classes. Flashcards can give a false sense of security that a student knows the material, when in fact they have information memorized but find it challenging to apply in a context other than the way they have it memorized. What often happens when focusing more on flashcards than quality practice passages and questions is that you'll feel okay during practice exams and then get shocked on the real thing. If you read a post from someone who had higher C/P and B/B than CARS on their practice exams, but then ended up with a higher CARS score than C/P and B/B on the real thing, you can bet that it was someone who focused on flashcards.

I'm not saying that knowing information isn't useful and necessary for the MCAT, because it is. What I'm saying is that you can learn the material and how to apply it best from doing quality practice passages and questions. I've been involved with MCAT preparation for sometime now and can spot who will do well and who will not based on their approach and attitude. I'm not talking optimistic versus pessimistic; I'm referring to confident and looking forward to working hard versus unsure and looking for the easiest route.

There will no doubt be some posts describing how well they did using flashcards, but if you read through all of the posts where people talk candidly about their performance on their actual MCAT, you will find the majority of the high scores were people who did tons of practice and used challenging materials with well written explanations.

The secret to doing well on this test is no secret at all: work hand AND work smart.

 

[deleted600623]

@BerkReviewTeach Thank you for the advice! So given my situation, what do you recommend? Time is of the utmost importance with my schedule so I need to be the most efficient I can be. What do you recommend for practice questions and passages? I agree that practice questions and passages would be more effective because as I took my diagnostic exam before studying ANYTHING, I felt that I could reason and critically think through at least some if not most of them. The only thing I'm worried about is the discrete questions that are mostly memorization based IMO.