Study for MCAT in 5 weeks?

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dreamer67

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Has anyone studied for the MCAT in 5 weeks? And I mean hard-core prep for 5 weeks, putting all work, and ECs aside, and just studying for the MCAT. Has anyone been successful in doing this? If so, how did you study or what do you think is the best study plan?
 
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It's probably possible, but ill-advised and not realistic. A fellow member wrote a study guide plan that everyone seems to swear by. He's gotten a lot of people very good results, and his plan is over 3 months (that's over double your 5 week idea). Studying anything less than 3 months (note: dedicated to only MCAT, no school, work etc) will net a lower grade than you probably deserve.
 
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It's definitely doable. I studied for the MCAT in a little over 4 weeks and did fine. Do I recommend it? No. It's a lot of stress crammed into a short amount of time and I probably could have scored higher had I studied more. Do I regret it? No, but if I had done poorly I'm sure I would have.
 
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I should also note that I took all the pre-reqs within the last year, or just finished them this semester, with the exception of general bio (took it as AP credit). So, I don't feel like I need to re-learn everything, except for general bio. I mostly just need a refresher, and to take practice exams.
 
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I gotta say guys I have to disagree. If you've had solid classes in bio, chem, orgo and physics then you can study in way less time than a lot of people and still be fine. Of course there's like 100 study guides up for the mcat on here so the OP could just go take a look at those and find one that works for him/her but I'll respond anyway....

For my example last year I was just coming off of doing physics II, so I didn't really need to study much physics (still pretty fresh). I hadn't had orgo since sophomore year but hardcore orgo isn't particularly high yield on the MCAT anyway so I didn't focus on that too much (I did pretty good in orgo). I had taken a look at the Kaplan MCAT book during the beginning of spring semester and decided not to mess with it until May after my exams. Last exam was on May 8th and I took the MCAT on May 22nd. About 2 weeks of hardcore studying.

When I say hardcore studying I mean studying 8+ hours a day basically nonstop except for meals. Does it suck nuts? Yeah but it can be done if that's how you want to do it. I spent the first week going over any stuff I didn't know in chem/bio/physics. Any weak spots I did lots of practice questions on and studied formulas/made notecards for stuff. You can't really study for verbal so all I did for that was do a ton of practice passages to get the hang of it. The second week was doing full length practice tests and seeing if there were any parts I was consistently weak on. I took all of the Kaplan book practice tests (tend to be wayyy harder than the real thing) and most of the AAMC practice tests (closer to the real thing but slightly easier at times). I did this up until the day before the MCAT and then just went in and did it. Ended up doing well: 13PS 11VR 13BS Q. Is it crazy good like Cole's (NickNaylor) score? Nah but I took it.

Like I said before this is NOT for everyone. I felt that I was fairly strong in orgo and very strong in physics since I just took it BEFORE I even sat down to study. If you've been paying attention in your classes and retaining information, a lot of that will come back to you while you're studying. If you're trying to learn/re-learn a lot of stuff you WILL need a semester worth of studying to do it. I'll also add that I would consider myself very strong in verbal (not to toot my own horn :laugh:). I didn't really need to learn any tips or tricks for verbal since I found that I could get enough of the questions to score fairly high on the practice tests without any of that. I personally think half those verbal "tricks" are useless anyway...lots of people either get verbal or they don't. That's why its generally considered the hardest one to raise your score on. You'll have to figure out how much you already know before you start studying in order to ballpark how much time you need to study. Remember to add in time for practice tests/analysis of practice tests.

Just my little bit there.
 
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dreamer67 said:
I should also note that I took all the pre-reqs within the last year, or just finished them this semester, with the exception of general bio (took it as AP credit). So, I don't feel like I need to re-learn everything, except for general bio. I mostly just need a refresher, and to take practice exams.
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You seem to have your mind pretty set already on what your plan is... On SDN you're going to find a broad range of people with different answers to your question. You won't know the right way for you until you study, take the actual exam and see how you did. You seem confident and prepared... Take a FL AAMC MCAT and see how you do.

Good luck with studying 🙂
 
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dreamer67 said:
I should also note that I took all the pre-reqs within the last year, or just finished them this semester, with the exception of general bio (took it as AP credit). So, I don't feel like I need to re-learn everything, except for general bio. I mostly just need a refresher, and to take practice exams.
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I'm with you there. I had taken almost all of the pre-reqs in the past (less than) a year (although I hadn't taken phys II yet, blah), so I was still pretty good on almost everything. I studied hardcore the 4 weekends preceding my test date and did good. I'm sure if you're right about your grasp of the material and have some awesome free time over the next 5 weeks, you'll be fine.
 
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I studied for one month and did fine (34). Granted, that was 10 years ago. I think most people have a feeling of how long they need to study in order to maximize their score, be it 5 weeks or 15 weeks. There is no magic time frame that fits everyone.
 
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Absolutely doable. The MCAT is a test of common sense and basics. To make a 45, you'll probably need to be a pretty smart guy or girl, but to pull off a 30-37...you just need to know your stuff. If you could take and ace the finals for all of your med school pre-requisites right now, you can take and ace the MCAT.

That being said, you can learn a LOT in four weeks. If you have a history of doing well on tests, go for it. You know yourself and what you are capable of.
 
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perfectly good idea if thats ALL youre doing. i had five free weeks from may to june and just sat down and studied everyday and did well
 
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Even though it's generally advised, go take a diagnostic. Try the Kaplan one at kaptest.com (DO NOT USE THE FREE AAMC EXAM FOR THIS PURPOSE!!!)

If you score 30+ on the Kaplan diagnostic, it's probably doable. If you score less than 30 on the Kaplan diagnostic, I'd strongly recommend giving yourself more than 5 weeks.
 
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apumic said:
Even though it's generally advised, go take a diagnostic. Try the Kaplan one at kaptest.com (DO NOT USE THE FREE AAMC EXAM FOR THIS PURPOSE!!!)

If you score 30+ on the Kaplan diagnostic, it's probably doable. If you score less than 30 on the Kaplan diagnostic, I'd strongly recommend giving yourself more than 5 weeks.
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I disagree a little bit. I think AAMC 3 is a great diagnostic.

The biggest issue is using 7 and above as diagnostics because those are very representative of the current exam. 3 and 4, not so much...


joshloucks said:
Absolutely doable. The MCAT is a test of common sense and basics. To make a 45, you'll probably need to be a pretty smart guy or girl, but to pull off a 30-37...you just need to know your stuff. If you could take and ace the finals for all of your med school pre-requisites right now, you can take and ace the MCAT.

That being said, you can learn a LOT in four weeks. If you have a history of doing well on tests, go for it. You know yourself and what you are capable of.
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I don't think smarts are what matters for a 45 otherwise it wouldn't be so rare. Luck plays a huge part in it. In my opinion, most score over the 34-36 range are dependent in large part due to luck as well. Sure knowing your stuff really helps but a lot of the test is your just getting lucky with what they throw at you and the curves. Which is why, that once you're past that score threshold, the numbers really don't matter all that much.
 
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Don't most people study about 8 hrs/week for three months = 96 hrs total.
So wouldn't studying 5 weeks, 6-8 hrs/day = 210-280 hrs total actually be more prep than a typical person?
 
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I'd say I'm pretty smart 😉

joshloucks said:
Absolutely doable. The MCAT is a test of common sense and basics. To make a 45, you'll probably need to be a pretty smart guy or girl, but to pull off a 30-37...you just need to know your stuff. If you could take and ace the finals for all of your med school pre-requisites right now, you can take and ace the MCAT.

That being said, you can learn a LOT in four weeks. If you have a history of doing well on tests, go for it. You know yourself and what you are capable of.
Click to expand...
 
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dreamer, i would immediately begin prepping for verbal by taking practice passages and generally upping your reading skills (read the economist, newspaper, whatever) to ensure a 10+ on verbal.

PS it's up to you. it can be a total of 10 hours studying if you were solid on all of it (i was super solid on physics and Gchem and remembered every equation) or hell if you scraped by.

BS is whatever. at the bare minimum, go through the AAMC syllabus and read examcrackers. you dont need to memorize too much detail...if you feel that you are, then you are (like memorizing steps of glycolysis or kreb's cycle...totally unnecessary).
 
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joshloucks said:
Absolutely doable. The MCAT is a test of common sense and basics. To make a 45, you'll probably need to be a pretty smart guy or girl, but to pull off a 30-37...you just need to know your stuff. If you could take and ace the finals for all of your med school pre-requisites right now, you can take and ace the MCAT.

That being said, you can learn a LOT in four weeks. If you have a history of doing well on tests, go for it. You know yourself and what you are capable of.
Click to expand...

I think it's doable BUT ONLY IF you already have a very solid foundation in all the topics. I would say it takes about 3 weeks of 8 hours/day studying to go through all the review books as a refresher. Then, you can spend the last two weeks just doing AAMC practice tests.

If your diagnostic is over 30, I would say go for it and good luck! No point in dragging out the pain to months and months of studying...
 
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dreamer67 said:
Don't most people study about 8 hrs/week for three months = 96 hrs total.
So wouldn't studying 5 weeks, 6-8 hrs/day = 210-280 hrs total actually be more prep than a typical person?
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Haha...No. Try 3-8 hrs/DAY.


dreamer67 said:
I'd say I'm pretty smart 😉
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Dreamer...you're dreaming again. Wake up! :laugh:

If you're asking this question, you probably either haven't done your homework and are ignorant or you just plain lack common sense. Either way...not a good thing.
 
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apumic said:
Haha...No. Try 3-8 hrs/DAY.




Dreamer...you're dreaming again. Wake up! :laugh:

If you're asking this question, you probably either haven't done your homework and are ignorant or you just plain lack common sense. Either way...not a good thing.
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Relax...I was joking. I don't think I will get a 45. And I am not ignorant, nor do I lack common sense. I just started studying yesterday and I am already half way through the Kaplan Bio review book, so I'd say it is completely possible. I was just looking for some encouragement, or hearing that someone who has done the same has been successful...which some have provided and I thank you for that.

On a side note, can anyone recommend or direct me to a thread that recommends which AAMC practice tests to purchase? I have some Kaplan practice tests, and I don't want to purchase all the AAMC practice tests (way too much money), so I'm looking at purchasing around 5.
 
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Buy all of the AAMC FLs, especially if you only have the Kaplan paper FLs. Those are so out of date, they're worthless. Even Kaplan updated their FLs and that was at least 4 years ago. I believe the paper FLs are back from when Kaplan started their MCAT course.

If you need more reasons to buy all of the AAMC FLs, run a search. Time and again you'll see that test takers suggest you buy all of them.
 
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ridethecliche said:
I disagree a little bit. I think AAMC 3 is a great diagnostic.

The biggest issue is using 7 and above as diagnostics because those are very representative of the current exam. 3 and 4, not so much...
Click to expand...


I guess I'd say you're still wasting a decent practice exam. Sure, there are better ones, but AAMC 3 is, by far, the best free MCAT practice exam. The free Kaplan, TPR and GS exams give a general idea of what the exam is like but are not good practice tests, so it's much less of a waste of valuable resources.
 
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apumic said:
I guess I'd say you're still wasting a decent practice exam. Sure, there are better ones, but AAMC 3 is, by far, the best free MCAT practice exam. The free Kaplan, TPR and GS exams give a general idea of what the exam is like but are not good practice tests, so it's much less of a waste of valuable resources.
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Yeah, the resources are so valuable that you shouldn't ever use them.

I'd def suggest using the last 7-11 till the end, but doing 3,4, and 5 while doing content review isn't a bad thing. I do agree that you're better off using TBR exams or something, but I think one should take 3 early on in the game to get a feeling for what it's really like.
 
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ridethecliche said:
Yeah, the resources are so valuable that you shouldn't ever use them.

I'd def suggest using the last 7-11 till the end, but doing 3,4, and 5 while doing content review isn't a bad thing. I do agree that you're better off using TBR exams or something, but I think one should take 3 early on in the game to get a feeling for what it's really like.
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haha.... now you're taking it to the extreme. I'd suggest 3-5 while doing content review (interspersed w/ TBR or Kaplan exams). Then you do 7-11 twice/wk for the last 3 wks before the exam (e.g., Mon/Thurs for a Thurs exam). 3-5 are still better than much of the non-AAMC stuff out there (esp. for VR, which is probably the toughest section to prep for; even if just for the AAMC 3 VR, I'd wait until my VR was at least somewhat solid before using even the older AAMC materials).
 
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5 weeks, full time (no school, work etc) is a lot of time. + considering tthat all the material is fresh in you mind.

definitely doable. good luck!
 
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people that study 8hrs a day for 3 months everyday most be really weak on content, no way I could study that much everyday
 
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apumic said:
haha.... now you're taking it to the extreme. I'd suggest 3-5 while doing content review (interspersed w/ TBR or Kaplan exams). Then you do 7-11 twice/wk for the last 3 wks before the exam (e.g., Mon/Thurs for a Thurs exam). 3-5 are still better than much of the non-AAMC stuff out there (esp. for VR, which is probably the toughest section to prep for; even if just for the AAMC 3 VR, I'd wait until my VR was at least somewhat solid before using even the older AAMC materials).
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My VR hasn't really budged since I started.

I got a 10 on aamc 3, 9's and 10's on ek, and I've had 10's and one 11 on all the rest of my AAMC's. I got a 9 on an aamc yesterday, but that was because I was an idiot and ran out of time for the first time ever. Need to remedy that. I missed an entire passage. Score would have been an 11 if I'd finished.

In any event, I agree with your sentiment. 3-5 with other tests while doing content review. Then switch to the rest of the AAMC's when you're about done with content review (brush up on things as you go). When you start taking the rest of the AAMC's you should feel as though you could be ready to sit for the real deal. You really HAVE to practice your test taking skills well. You can improve your score significantly if you learn to become a better test taker.
 
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I have a Kaplan book that has two practice tests. It is copyrighted in 2007 so they can't be that old and useless.
Also, is it a bad idea to use only Kaplan for content review?

SN2ed said:
Buy all of the AAMC FLs, especially if you only have the Kaplan paper FLs. Those are so out of date, they're worthless. Even Kaplan updated their FLs and that was at least 4 years ago. I believe the paper FLs are back from when Kaplan started their MCAT course.

If you need more reasons to buy all of the AAMC FLs, run a search. Time and again you'll see that test takers suggest you buy all of them.
Click to expand...
 
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Only do that if you can study full time. I studied for 6 weeks but working in a lab for ~30hrs/wk. I did rather poorly (26), but I was doing well on the practices. As someone already mentioned, sometimes how you do on the exam is dependent on luck (for me the Bio section had so much Genetics which I never seen in the practice exams and I wasn't prepared for the Genetics ---my weakness). So to avoid such "bad luck" I would study EVERYTHING and know EVERYTHING (well almost everything), which you can't do in 5 weeks if you are working or something.

But if you put in good hours and do not burn out, it is doable.
 
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