Nontrad Intro and Question

[derpymd]

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Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself and ask everyone's opinion about preparing for the long road to come! I recently decided that I wanted to take the plunge and pursue a career in medicine. First off I wanted to thank everyone that posts on these forums because it has been a humungous help with what to expect and the steps that are needed to pursue this endeavor.

I recently visited my Medical Academic advisor and after the discussion she was like, "So why did you need to talk to me?". (Gotta give these forums all the credit!)

My background is I'm 32 and I have a BS in IT and a MS in Workforce Education and Development. (All computer science and Education...) So I'll be starting on my 2 year pre-req journey this fall. What got me interested in Medicine is that I have been a Electronic Health Record (EHR) Curriculum Writer and Trainer for the past 5 years for a local hospital organization and through working with various clinical roles I realized that I had developed a passion for Medicine and wanted to practice Medicine instead of teaching Clinicians on how to document on their patients "on a computer".

My question is when you all were working on your pre-reqs, how early did you start collecting your MCAT study materials. Do you recommend getting them now or wait until I'm about a year out to start collecting them?

Thanks Everyone!

 

[theseeker4]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself and ask everyone's opinion about preparing for the long road to come! I recently decided that I wanted to take the plunge and pursue a career in medicine. First off I wanted to thank everyone that posts on these forums because it has been a humungous help with what to expect and the steps that are needed to pursue this endeavor.

I recently visited my Medical Academic advisor and after the discussion she was like, "So why did you need to talk to me?". (Gotta give these forums all the credit!)

My background is I'm 32 and I have a BS in IT and a MS in Workforce Education and Development. (All computer science and Education...) So I'll be starting on my 2 year pre-req journey this fall. What got me interested in Medicine is that I have been a Electronic Health Record (EHR) Curriculum Writer and Trainer for the past 5 years for a local hospital organization and through working with various clinical roles I realized that I had developed a passion for Medicine and wanted to practice Medicine instead of teaching Clinicians on how to document on their patients "on a computer".

My question is when you all were working on your pre-reqs, how early did you start collecting your MCAT study materials. Do you recommend getting them now or wait until I'm about a year out to start collecting them?

Thanks Everyone!

Welcome!

For the MCAT, you will start studying for it when all your pre-reqs are done. If that is too restrictive as far as time (meaning it would make you wait a whole extra year to apply) you can study during the semester in which you are finishing your courses, and take the MCAT at the end of that semester, as long as you have the time to do all the studying necessary.

You will want to do lots of practice tests, so you will buy those from the various companies discussed in the MCAT forum. Don't buy any early, or really take any practice tests before you complete the pre-reqs, because you don't yet have the knowledge base to answer the questions.

Good luck!

 

[cougardiver]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself and ask everyone's opinion about preparing for the long road to come! I recently decided that I wanted to take the plunge and pursue a career in medicine. First off I wanted to thank everyone that posts on these forums because it has been a humungous help with what to expect and the steps that are needed to pursue this endeavor.

I recently visited my Medical Academic advisor and after the discussion she was like, "So why did you need to talk to me?". (Gotta give these forums all the credit!)

My background is I'm 32 and I have a BS in IT and a MS in Workforce Education and Development. (All computer science and Education...) So I'll be starting on my 2 year pre-req journey this fall. What got me interested in Medicine is that I have been a Electronic Health Record (EHR) Curriculum Writer and Trainer for the past 5 years for a local hospital organization and through working with various clinical roles I realized that I had developed a passion for Medicine and wanted to practice Medicine instead of teaching Clinicians on how to document on their patients "on a computer".

My question is when you all were working on your pre-reqs, how early did you start collecting your MCAT study materials. Do you recommend getting them now or wait until I'm about a year out to start collecting them?

Thanks Everyone!

I would disagree with the poster indicating you should wait. I absolutely recommend getting materials and starting to study now and all along the way.

My recommendation is to get the Exam Krackers 1001 Questions series that covers each topic. The questions are broken into sub topics, so you can practice these questions as you go through the courses. Then, when you get near the end, is a great time to start taking practice tests that are general and more indicative of your potential score.

Also, the Exam Krackers 16 Mini MCAT's book is an excellent resource to have along the way because the "mini MCAT's" are orgaized by sub topic so you can focus your efforts on what you are learning in class.

Studying along the way will complement a review at the end very well. 15-30 minutes each day now will have a huge impact when you get ready for test time. Hopefully, you'll also learn some cool tricks that will help in your classes and help you solidify the concepts.

Best of luck.

 

[hopeful22213]

I am preparing now in my final semester of prereqs for a may test date but wish I'd started earlier. 3.5 months is my time frame, but if I could do it all over I'd have devoted a small amount of time (1-2 hours a week) much earlier and then prepare more intensely when the test got closer.

Either way, best of luck to you.

 

[Bluesun]

I would disagree with the poster indicating you should wait. I absolutely recommend getting materials and starting to study now and all along the way.

My recommendation is to get the Exam Krackers 1001 Questions series that covers each topic. The questions are broken into sub topics, so you can practice these questions as you go through the courses. Then, when you get near the end, is a great time to start taking practice tests that are general and more indicative of your potential score.

Also, the Exam Krackers 16 Mini MCAT's book is an excellent resource to have along the way because the "mini MCAT's" are orgaized by sub topic so you can focus your efforts on what you are learning in class.

Studying along the way will complement a review at the end very well. 15-30 minutes each day now will have a huge impact when you get ready for test time. Hopefully, you'll also learn some cool tricks that will help in your classes and help you solidify the concepts.

Best of luck.

+1 for studying throughout for the MCAT; that's what I've been doing, and I am retaining quite a bit (-COOH carboxylic acid, totally just pulled that out of my head)

Also +1 for anything Exam Krackers. I have their Audio Osmosis and it's amazing.

 

[dmf2682]

+1 for studying throughout for the MCAT; that's what I've been doing, and I am retaining quite a bit (-COOH carboxylic acid, totally just pulled that out of my head)

Also +1 for anything Exam Krackers. I have their Audio Osmosis and it's amazing.

As some advice, try and understand concepts as a foundation for your studies. For example. Why is the H in your cooh group particularly acidic?

 

[derpymd]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I was talking with my Pre-Med advisor and she was telling that when I take the test is important because the MCAT test is slated to be changed in 2015. (Apparently Behavioral Health topics are the new addition.) so I figured that the study materials may not be changing before 2015.