Reviewing for the MCAT twice?

[PapaGuava]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask the community about a brief plan i had thought about in regards to studying for the MCAT. I plan the take the MCAT at the end of Spring in 2018, so I was thinking I could do some content review in sections i haven't seen in a while. For example, I was thinking of doing a chapter a week in both General Chemistry and Biology (2015 Kaplan prep books), then follow that up with Organic Chemistry and possibly Psychology oriented material. Therefore, it would roughly lead me up until the end of the Fall semester. When winter break arrives, I had planned to begin the more hardcore studying (probably use Examkrackers books/tests) as well as a prep course. Therefore, the material i leisurely reviewed over the semester will feel more fresh and will be quicker to run through in my opinion.

I have read a post somewhat similar to mine and people said it would be overkill, but If I haven't seen the material I have mentioned in about 2 years, would it be okay to do what I am proposing? I appreciate any comments or opinions, thanks everyone!

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[pms_testosterone]

You have to decide what works for you, but I think that if you spend more than 3-4 months studying, you're risking burnout.

Also, this is anecdotal, but I hadn't seen some of the material on the MCAT for over 10 years and still did fine. The MCAT tests material on a much more surface level than your typical undergraduate course.

 

[Zenabi90]

A chapter a week should not trigger burnout. Especially if it's just light review without a large amount of discrete or passage practice. If it's not rigorous, I would not call it actual studying, just exposure. Exposure alone should not trigger burnout because there's no underlying stress behind it.

If I were you, (you have Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec: roughly 4 months), this is what I'd do.

-Daily CARS work. Just one or two articles with accompanying analysis. Nothing rigorous, just try to break it down to yourself and see if you can put yourself into the shoes/mindset of the author. 15min a day
-Memorize two amino acids a week. Easy peasy. 3 letter, 1 letter, name, structure. More specific details like pKa and special properties can be added during dedicated study. 10min a day
-Memorize one metabolism cycle per month. Krebs, Glycolysis for sure, probably throw in PPP and Urea as your other two. 15min a day.
-Go over 3 pages of the 300pg Reddit P/S Khan Academy Notes every day (15-30min)

That should be about an hour's worth of light MCAT review daily. That's the most I'd risk on top of a class load where I'd be aiming for 4.0s. I chose memorization work because that's the hardest for me, so this is the best way for me to spread out my studying. I'm great at concept integration, bad at pure memorization and recall.

2 years is not such a long time for material you've learned before. Don't underestimate your latent knowledge base. I'm currently reviewing for the MCAT and 7 years after my last physics course, it's surprisingly familiar still. I may not remember the formulas exactly, but the concepts and understanding required for the formulas came much quicker than it did in undergrad.

Whatever route you take, try to limit your "light mcat review" to a max of 1 hour daily and get your proper sleep and exercise.

 

[PapaGuava]

Thank you @Zenabi90 for your response! That sounds like a good plan to implement into my schedule, I will be sure to look into it.

 

[Zenabi90]

Thank you @Zenabi90 for your response! That sounds like a good plan to implement into my schedule, I will be sure to look into it.

No problem.

Every time someone posts about what they should do to help their studying, I always answer at least with CARS. There are SO many posts about CARS and how its hard.

Truth is that CARS is:
1. Not hard (with practice)
2. Not a crapshoot (the test is standardized with adjusted scores right?)

I think what tricks up testers is how fundamentally different the CARS/Verbal section is compared to the others. The other three sections are VERY clear (itemized and bullet format) about their content. But CARS requires ZERO prior knowledge. It is pure analysis. There's no memorizing for CARS, and that can be scary. But because it is pure analysis, I would argue that CARS is the one section that every tester has a reasonable chance of scoring a 132 in. That is, assuming you get enough practice (every single day for at least 3 months, ideally the moment you start college), do the right practice (analysis of right AND wrong, answer AND question AND passage), and follow the Golden Rule (wrong is wrong, least wrong = correct) instead of the undergrad rule (most right = correct).