Really "burned out" from studying and would like to start FLs

[osprey099]

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So I'm at the point in my MCAT studying where I'm just tired all day and can't seem to motivate myself to do more practice passages. My MCAT is 9/1 and I've started studying since mid-May. I finished content review about 3 weeks ago. Passage wise, I've done all of TBR physics, most of TBR gen chem, most of TBR bio, and some of TBR orgo. I've also completed almost all of EK1001 Bio and EK101 Verbal. So my question is, should I finish up what's left of my practice passages (~55 chem passages, ~55 bio passages, ~45 orgo passages, EK16 mini mcats, ~200 questions left in EK1001 Bio) or should I just start FLs now? If I finish the rest of my passages, I will only have enough time to do the AAMC FLs but if I start FLs now, I can do all the AAMC FLs in addition to some TBR FLs. I feel like I know the content well already and I actually did AAMC 3 about 2 weeks ago and got a 35 (12PS, 11V, 12BS), so I would like to start FLs. However, I'm just not sure if I should just "let go" of the rest of my practice passages. My goal is a 35+. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Jepstein30]

So I'm at the point in my MCAT studying where I'm just tired all day and can't seem to motivate myself to do more practice passages. My MCAT is 9/1 and I've started studying since mid-May. I finished content review about 3 weeks ago. Passage wise, I've done all of TBR physics, most of TBR gen chem, most of TBR bio, and some of TBR orgo. I've also completed almost all of EK1001 Bio and EK101 Verbal. So my question is, should I finish up what's left of my practice passages (~55 chem passages, ~55 bio passages, ~45 orgo passages, EK16 mini mcats, ~200 questions left in EK1001 Bio) or should I just start FLs now? If I finish the rest of my passages, I will only have enough time to do the AAMC FLs but if I start FLs now, I can do all the AAMC FLs in addition to some TBR FLs. I feel like I know the content well already and I actually did AAMC 3 about 2 weeks ago and got a 35 (12PS, 11V, 12BS), so I would like to start FLs. However, I'm just not sure if I should just "let go" of the rest of my practice passages. My goal is a 35+. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

If I were you, ESPECIALLY if you are applying this cycle, I'd look into moving your MCAT date up a few weeks. If you are already hitting where you want to be and have finished your content review so long ago, it would be a wise choice IMO.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

or take a break. i know it sounds counter intuitive, but if you took a week off right now, you have plenty of time to get back into it. just take a week where you don't do anything study related. watch movies, listen to music, read, whatever you enjoy. this may recharge you.

 

[osprey099]

If I were you, ESPECIALLY if you are applying this cycle, I'd look into moving your MCAT date up a few weeks. If you are already hitting where you want to be and have finished your content review so long ago, it would be a wise choice IMO.

I've actually thought about moving my test date up but what's keeping me from doing that is that I have a lot of passages/practice left that I haven't yet used and psychologically, I don't feel comfortable taking the MCAT without having finished all the resources I have at my disposal.

 

[Boerboel]

I suppose if you wanted you could maybe begin doing full lengths. That actually may help motivate you to hit the books. For example, you can take a full length and have a couple of days (at least) before you take your next full length during which time you can review your full length and do practice passages. If you're not scoring as high as you want on the full lengths then that might help give you the motivation to do those passages that you have remaining. Even if you're scoring around your target score, when you see the questions that you're missing you may feel that you can do better than that and be motivated to study. At the very least it can give you some variety. I too was getting tired of studying and doing practice passages not too long ago. I've found that the full lengths help add variety and motivation to study. Also you finally get to start seeing where exactly you are instead of just guesstimating by the scales TBR gives you which is not necessarily that accurate.

Hope your studying goes well!
God bless!

 

[glassdoll]

It might help to take 30 min to an hour in the morning to stretch, run, do abs, etc. It gets you pumped up for the rest of the day and the mental fatigue takes a lot longer to set in when you're studying. It sounds like you've got the MCAT down on lock no matter which step you decide to take next, so just make sure you take good care of your body! I know I sound like some health freak haha but exercise seriously makes a huge difference in terms of maximizing productivity and minimizing stress.