Middle College student

[tesfawMD]

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Hi,

I am currently a senior in a high school, and I have been taking a lot of college classes, I currently have about 25 transferable units. I plan on staying at the JC I'm at one more year and transferring. My question is when should I start preparing for the MCAT and what is the length of time required to be well prepared for it? Furthermore, is the MCAT something you study for or is it based on knowledge that you acquired through undergraduate studies?

 

[MilkmanAl]

You definitely need to study for the MCAT but how long is a personal issue. I'd say you want to devote at least a month of solid study time to it but you may need more.

 

[tesfawMD]

You definitely need to study for the MCAT but how long is a personal issue. I'd say you want to devote at least a month of solid study time to it but you may need more.

What year should I take the MCAT? How would I go about studying for the test?

 

[bookgodess15]

Most people take it their junior year, and then spend senior applying to med schools. You can study for it in the same way you studied for SAT/ACT--doing the practice tests, taking classes, reading books about how to take the test--but also by reviewing material from your physics, biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry classes (I think that's all--I could be missing one). A simple Google search gave me this link, and there's hundreds more. Also, this site is very informative about the process of getting into med school and such, and it's also vaguely entertaining.

 

[HumidBeing]

Most people take it toward the end of their junior year, often right after they've completed the core sciences courses.

Plan on making time to put in concentrated effort studying for the test and to stress out around then. 😉

One thing you don't want to do is start studying specifically for the test too far ahead of time. I'm talking a year or two ahead. It's counterproductive.

The test is based on the knowledge acquired from the year each of the basic pre-req courses (general bio, chem, organic chem, physics). So, the better you learn them as you go, the easier it is to prepare for the MCAT when the time comes.

There are many prep materials and prep courses available. If you'd like an overview of what the study and preparation are like, browse through the MCAT Discussion Forum.

 

[MilkmanAl]

What year should I take the MCAT?

I wouldn't suggest taking the MCAT until you've had all of the courses it tests. Those include gen chem 1 and 2, gen bio, organic 1 and 2, physics 1 and 2, and some other ancillary classes that only get touched on like anatomy, physiology, genetics, and molecular bio.

How would I go about studying for the test?

The giant all-in-one books worked wonders for me. I used Princeton Review, but just about everyone recommends Examkrackers instead.

 

[Caesar]

You definitely need to study for the MCAT but how long is a personal issue. I'd say you want to devote at least a month of solid study time to it but you may need more.

To add onto this most courses (self study or classroom) last around 6-10 weeks. It is really dependent upon how well you learned the information the first time it was presented to you and how well you can integrate that information into your base knowledge. Also being able to extrapolate what information you need from a passage without being explicitly told what you need to pull out. The exam focuses more on how you think than what you have memorized. It is a pretty "big picture" style exam. That being said, the better mastery you have of the material the better you can perform.

take it when you are ready, as someone mentioned after the core classes is typical. I am finding biochem and cell bio help because they refresh topics from gen chem and gen bio and go into more detail. Humans always recall a bit less than they have learned so hopefully it helps me. Ill let you know, but now isn't the time to worry about the MCAT. You will worry enough about it in a few years, so don't stress, just get through your classes.