MCAT with a full time job?

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kaitiology

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Hey everyone! I currently trying to study for the MCAT- goal of june/july 2020, but I have a full time job. Does anyone have any advice or is in a similar position? I am also looking for study buddies because I am struggling with motivation.

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I studied for the MCAT while working full time. It was brutal, but it can be done. I wrote a post about it. The link is below.


TLDR: Take time off if you can, be very strategic/intentional with your studying, and remember you are human and that good nutrition, sleep, exercise, and social interaction are just as important as studying.

Good luck!
 
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I'm currently studying while working FT as well (testing in August). My advice is to first sit down and come up with a (realistic) plan. For me, that meant what I estimated I could get through in 1-3 hours per weekday, with some catch-up time on the weekends. I wrote out what chapters I wanted to cover for each week, and if I fell behind I just tried to use the weekends to get back on track. After this I saw I would need 6 months to prep ideally.

Second is to use Anki and get it on your phone as well! If I'm stuck in a conference call where I'm not needed, in line at the grocery store, whatever, I'm doing flash cards if I can.

Third is exercise and sleep. My 1 hour of working out is literally just as important as my 1 hour of studying content, or watching Khan Academy videos. It's a way to help prevent burnout (which is almost inevitable when studying for a longer period of time, which most people need if working FT), improves your mental acuity, AND gives you more Anki time to do flash cards in between sets or during cardio! =)

Let me know if you have any other questions, you've got this!
 
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Thank you! With my current situation, I have a plan to study about 1 hour on weeknights and then 5-6 hours on the weekend days. And trust me, working out is becoming a priority! Thank you for the recommendation of Anki, i will definitely check that out!
 
I don’t know what your workday is like but I found that by the evening my brain was fried and I was not very productive. I switched gears and started studying early in the morning and found that I did much better once I started studying 4 - 7am.
 
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