Please advise! 8 months study schedule - heavy content review

[aspiring20]

so the plan is to start MCAT prepping (just graduated in the srping) and take the exam next april/may/june. i'll describe my plans in detail and then ask a few important questions. i appreciate any feedback/suggestions!

first, i've taken 95 percent of the prereqs (dropped out of physics 2 when 65 percent through), but i need a very thorough content review in order to bolster my knowledge base. i understand that the mcat is a thinking-based exam, but without a strong grasp of the materials, no amount of passage-based practicing will help. right now, i am using the Kaplan review notes for each of the science subjects, and tbh, i find them to be very good. they include a wealth of information and seem to cover all the necessary materials.

but here's my concern. many have said that kaplan content review books aren't very good because they don't include enough information/not enough details. some recommend princeton review content books because they are much more detailed. however, others say the opposite; they claim that kaplan review books are perfect in terms of content and that princeton review content books contain way too much unnecessary info. So, is content review based solely on kaplan books enough? or do i need to buy some princeton review books. and what about EK science content review books?

I plan on spending september-october doing detailed content review and start actual practice questions in november. as i go through practice questions, i can identity my weaknesses in the content-area and review those areas accordingly. so after exclusive content review for two months, i will alternate between practice problems and more focused content review. Then, in January, i will most likely enroll in a prep course and focus more heavily on full lengths. by Janaury, i will have mastered the content and had enough practice with questions...so that I am able to really concentrate on doing full lengths for the next four months or so. prep coures are known for their massive resources of full lengths and passage questions, and i intend to take advantage of them.

does this plan work? is it too excessive? keep in mind that my science background is rather weak, so content review is a must.

lastly, verbal is my strong suit, and i am reading the eoncomist for an hour every day for the next eight month. i am also relying on EK 101 for verbal practice, as i heard nice things about it. i am hoping for a 14+ verbal score (got an 800 on SAT critical reading)

thanks for any advice you can give! also, should mention that i want a 35+ on the exam. i know that 30+ is good enough to get in somewhere, buy my science GPA is weak and i nned to compensate for it accordingly.

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[maybemed2013]

I had a similar plan like yours but now I want to take the MCAT and Jan. and get it over with studying for the test is draining... and I only work 5 hrs a wk max as a science tutor ( which helps me review content). But if you think you need the time to brush up on your weak spots before a mcat course go ahead... ( I am doing the same, my PR course in Oct but I already read PR physics and I am studying physiology).

Using the Kaplan vs PR depends on the person I believe.
For example I was doing a a question from the official guide for the mcat by AAMC and to answer the question I had to know that connective tissue come from the mesoderm layer.
In the Princeton review biology book they state this exact fact, that the connective tissue is from the mesoderm layer BUT in kaplan they state that the mesoderm layer contains skeletal muscle, and you would have to know that muscles are made from connective tissue so therefore connective tissue orginate from the mesoderm layer.

Princeton explain things in so much details, which can sometimes become confusing, but it lessen the amount of critical thinking you will have to do on test day.

Kaplan explains things in as little details as possible but on test day you better be ready to apply the information that kaplan gave you and to the passages......aka HIGH critical thinking.

So, if you have high critical thinking skills than go with Kaplan, but if not go with Princeton Review.

I also think ExamKrackers are made for individual who remember alot from there pre-req and have HIGH critical thinking skills.

 

[gtbROX]

You're already above par, especially for VR. I recommend getting the EK science books (the whole set) and the audio osmosis. I recommend that you spend 2 months reviewing by yourself (plan on getting through each of the science books twice and plan out how/when you'll attack each chapter, alternate subjects, physics one day and bio the next, etc. Do the practice problems that come with each section every time you read through it.

If you can afford it and want to, take a prep course (preferably princeton review because they are AMAZING for bio/ochem/gchem and suck for verbal which should not be a problem for you) - if you plan on doing this, I can pm you the name of their best bio instructor (this person is amazing). The class goes for about 2 months, be sure to try and do a practice test a week during this period of reviewing (but try to only do AAMC3 or the princeton practice tests (cracking+review series) but not the rest of the AAMCs).

For the remaining, 2 months, do practice tests once a week, and do reviewing and hour long drills every day. Do at least one verbal drill (hour long) per day.

For the remaining month, you should be doing a practice test a day. For the first week or week and a half, do any practice tests not from AAMC. For the remaining time, do practice tests from AAMC, if you run out, go through the one you did a while back.

Whenever you finish a practice test, within a day, come back to it and analyze every answer choice of every question, whether you got it wrong or not. You need to learn how to eliminate answer choices because there will not always be an obvious, "feel good" answer choice. Anyways, best of luck to you in your studies.

 

[gtbROX]

-accidental double post-

 

[LianaStan]

Using the Kaplan vs PR depends on the person I believe.
For example I was doing a a question from the official guide for the mcat by AAMC and to answer the question I had to know that connective tissue come from the mesoderm layer.
In the Princeton review biology book they state this exact fact, that the connective tissue is from the mesoderm layer BUT in kaplan they state that the mesoderm layer contains skeletal muscle, and you would have to know that muscles are made from connective tissue so therefore connective tissue orginate from the mesoderm layer.

Muscles are not made from connective tissue. They are made from muscle tissue. The mesoderm gives rise to mesenchymal cells which in turn gives rise to the different connective tissues. Kaplan states that the mesoderm also forms bone, which is a connective tissue, as well as the circulatory system.

In regards to the OP's question, if you feel that you need 8 months to go over content review AND your goal is 35+, go for PR over Kaplan. This is based on the implication that you sciences are weak and your goal is high. I personally used Kaplan which I found to be very fitting for me as my initial science background was relatively strong. However, I can see why people see Kaplan as simplistic. If you don't have the science background to fill in the gaps and details that Kaplan glosses over, then you should review with heavier content review books like PR or TBR. I found Kaplan helpful for just refreshing my memory of the concepts I had not used for awhile.

As for an 8 month schedule, you would need a high level memory to retain the content review you did from earlier. You would most likely need to do several re-reads to help retain information throughout an 8 month span. Reserving 4 months for FLs is excessive. By the end you will have forgotten a good portion of your content review.

 

[PingPongPro]

Just skimmed the post but, content review without doing practice problems till later is beyond idiotic. I don't understand why so many people try to separate these two things. You learn best through practice and testing yourself. You don't want to get to the practice stage and do poorly and be forced to go back to content review and starting all over. Do them together. Its like reading about how to do lab procedures and actually doing it. They are two completely different things.

You are most likely going to be disappointed if you are hoping for a 14+ verbal score. Verbal has so much randomness involved and getting a 14+ is a lot rarer than most people think. I'm sure you are very strong in verbal, but SAT CR is NOTHING like MCAT verbal. They test very different things. Also reading the Economist has very little benefit in my opinion, but people on SDN recommend it since there aren't many resources available for verbal. I would suggest getting an LSAT book to do verbal passage/questions if you are worried about expending all your resources too early.

People on SDN hate on kaplan just because they hear other people hating on it. Most people have no experience with Kaplan. I think they have a very different style in reviewing content that many people find boring and unnecessarily detailed, but thats just personal differences. I thought their review questions/practice tests were pretty strong. You should try looking through different company books and see which style suits your personality. I personally liked EK for bio and TBR for physical sciences. I also recommend reviewing content by watching khanacademy.com videos. They are insanely helpful for refreshers/clarifications on specific topics.

I remember being so intimidated for the MCAT. I literally did the minimum in my pre-reqs to get through the tests/finals and didn't actually learn anything very well. It was scary for me to relearn basically everything and more, but I was able to do decently on my MCAT after 3 months of solid dedicated studying.

 

[seojohn]

I think if you spend 8 months, you'll most likely burn out and that may not be the best thing in the world for an endurance contest such as the MCAT. Also, if it's spread out over that much length of time, I feel there's a higher chance of forgetting some of the stuff you went through earlier too. But again, the burning out seems to be the biggest problem.

 

[dropper]

Just skimmed the post but, content review without doing practice problems till later is beyond idiotic. I don't understand why so many people try to separate these two things. You learn best through practice and testing yourself. You don't want to get to the practice stage and do poorly and be forced to go back to content review and starting all over. Do them together. Its like reading about how to do lab procedures and actually doing it. They are two completely different things.

Disagree. Testing yourself when you aren't ready to answer the question is what's "beyond idiotic". You waste the question, which is an opportunity to test yourself, and you falsely trick yourself into believing that you've understood the tough concept that was being tested.

As for you OP, start with light content review. Don't get too bogged down or tied down to one subject. Your main goal should be to do a cyclic type of studying, i.e. Go through every single topic once, then do another cycle going through every single topic, and repeat. With the time you have that will help you gain a solid, strong understanding of everything being tested.