Study MCAT while working full time

[lilyzoo]

I'm going to finish my DIY postbacc this June, and I'm considering taking MCAT in January 2017. I have been taking 3 classes per quarter while working full time for the past three years, but still, studying MCAT while working full time seems daunting.

If you are working full-time, how and when are you finding time to study? What's your schedule? How many hours do you put in MCAT every week? Any tips or advice? Thanks!!

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[AnotherLawyer]

No advice but I'm taking it in Jan. 2017 as well. I work full time and have several small kids that can't seem to get enough of me, so I feel your pain. Good luck to us both!

 

[Save a life]

I took it while working full time because I had to support myself. I didn't get as high of score as I would have liked but I think I'll still be able to get into med school.

I basically just studied all waking hours outside of work that I could and made sure to set one or two 7 hour blocks of time aside a week to simulate the test (I.e. Practice tests).

If you can take it without working full time, you'll probably do better but if you have to work it's still possible to get a decent score.

 

[wagonwheel23]

I studied for the MCAT while working full time (~ 50 hours per week). I studied for minimum of 2-3 hours six times a week (4 weekdays, Saturday, Sunday). When I was in the car I listened to ExamKrackers audio, which was amazing. I also listened to it while cooking and doing chores around the house. In addition I took 5 full length practice tests before my exam.

Overall, I studied for about 12 weeks. I was happy with my score. Yes, I probably could have done better if I didn't have such an intense job, but I did what I had to do.

Good luck!

 

[futuremdforme]

I studied for the MCAT while working full time (~ 50 hours per week). I studied for minimum of 2-3 hours six times a week (4 weekdays, Saturday, Sunday). When I was in the car I listened to ExamKrackers audio, which was amazing. I also listened to it while cooking and doing chores around the house. In addition I took 5 full length practice tests before my exam.

Overall, I studied for about 12 weeks. I was happy with my score. Yes, I probably could have done better if I didn't have such an intense job, but I did what I had to do.

Good luck!

I did something very similar, and I was also very happy with my score. I took longer to prepare because I was more rusty (I didn't take any classes prior as I had the pre-reqs from previous schooling.) It was intense but doable.

 

[TallPreMed]

I will be in the same boat as you. Work full time and won't be done with classes until April 2017 and will take the test a little late but I'm going DO most likely and will only apply to a few MD schools. I will be staring MCAT pretty early out since I won't have much time with classes

 

[radarTECH]

I studied for the MCAT while working full time (~ 50 hours per week). I studied for minimum of 2-3 hours six times a week (4 weekdays, Saturday, Sunday).

I will be doing this as well. I'm registered for the September 10th test date and I start studying next month.

 

[wagonwheel23]

@radarTECH Good luck! But also make sure to not over study. ExamKracker's talks about the ideal study time. They suggest that if you spread your studying over too many months you will be unable to retain all of the information.

 

[futuremdforme]

I will be doing this as well. I'm registered for the September 10th test date and I start studying next month.

I'd consider trying to bump up your timeline if now is a good time to studying, or delaying a little bit. That's a really long time to study... it would be too easy to get burnt out. I actually just had a general timeline and when I was hitting my target score, booked a test date within a month. I booked it in a different city at first but was able to switch to my city.

 

[radarTECH]

@radarTECH Good luck! But also make sure to not over study. ExamKracker's talks about the ideal study time. They suggest that if you spread your studying over too many months you will be unable to retain all of the information.

I'd consider trying to bump up your timeline if now is a good time to studying, or delaying a little bit. That's a really long time to study... it would be too easy to get burnt out.

Thanks for the suggestions. I actually thought about pushing it back a bit for this very reason. I'm just worried I won't cover everything, it's been a while since all my prereqs, except OChem 2 which I'm taking this semester. I might start doing some CARS sporadically until the semester is over, then focus on everything else after May.

 

[wagonwheel23]

@radarTECH I was 5-8 years out of my pre-reqs, hah. You'll be great!

 

[MD89]

It's totally doable if you can force yourself to stick to a schedule and keep on track. Doable - not fun but hey, no one ever said it was going to be.

I was working full time while studying and the best advice I can give is to make a reasonable study plan that allows you to finish your content review efficiently so that you can have sufficient time to take and review full length practice exams. If you can take off of work for the week or two before your exam, that would be ideal.

Oh and for the verbal section, just do a few passages each night before you go to bed. But only do passages that mirror the AAMC style. I used Princeton review hyperlearning workbook and it was really good.

 

[futuremdforme]

@radarTECH I was 5-8 years out of my pre-reqs, hah. You'll be great!

Same! It's really much more test-taking style than content. I took my first practice test when I'd only done 25% content review and scored > 50%ile. I also didn't really work on verbal until two weeks out in order to focus on more content in less time. (Don't do this if you're not scoring a good verbal score already!)

 

[Major]

Do-able but definitely not ideal. I know I could have scored much much better if all I did was mcat prep for 2 months. But you have to do what you have to do.

 

[Promethean]

@radarTECH Good luck! But also make sure to not over study. ExamKracker's talks about the ideal study time. They suggest that if you spread your studying over too many months you will be unable to retain all of the information.

I deeply disagree with them.

MCAT is not a test of pure information retention, but of reading comprehension and cognition. You need to understand some basic principles, but really, learning to take that test is about learning to reason. You need to *understand* not just be able to regurgitate a wide range of concepts, but if you study them for understanding, they shouldn't fall out of your head just because you didn't review them immediately prior to the exam.

Study for comprehension, do lots of practice questions, and really hone in on the ones that you've missed. Understand why you missed them and don't make the same mistake the next time you see that concept. Studying over a longer time won't hurt you, as long as you are doing some kind of spaced repetition or other means of reviewing those concepts that you aren't as strong with.

 

[andrek82]

To add to the above, it is indeed possible to study for the MCAT while working. I did mine while commuting an hour to two hours each day and work 50-60 hours a week. I'm now waiting on the results of the residency match, so it worked out!

One of the things I wish I had done was focused on practice questions more close to the test. As you get into med school and study for standardized tests (shelves and board exams), you will find that practice questions are key. That said, and to expand on a couple comments above, you don't want to do them too early. Reading books, learning concepts, that all can be done at any time. Questions, though, lose their impact the second or third time through as you are remembering the answers, not thinking through the possibilities.

Here's my take. If you have 11 months, an intense effort now won't help you later, but starting on concepts with a regular effort will certainly help. A few spare hours a week to go through a book or two and maybe a practice exam or two would be a great help. Then, about 6 to 8 weeks before your exam, take a practice test to find your baseline and start doing almost only practice questions. When you do the questions, do them in blocks to get used to the setup of the test. When you review, take notes on both correct and incorrect questions. Some people annotate books, some don't, and neither way is the only way. Find what works best for you to fully understand each question. Best of luck!

 

[pch]

I'm in the same situation as all of you! I'm working 40 hours a week and trying to study for the Aug 25th exam of this year. I'm trying to study at least 2-3hours on work days and 6-7 on days off. Having to focus on studying after an 8 or 9 hour intense work day is exhausting but I'm glad to hear that others have gone through the same situation. It's very inspiring to hear your stories. Did anyone take an online tutoring course? Or did you just self study?

I listened to ExamKrackers audio,

wagonwheel23 mentioned ExamKrakers audio. Where can I find these? I think it would be very helpful as a supplement to my studying. Thank you!

 

[Pound4Pound]

Worst thing in the world. Wouldnt wish it on anybody. I was scheduled to take it this May 2016 but after a month and a half of working full time and studying during my free time, i was burnt out. I am now planning on taking it in Jan 2017. This is gonna delay my app for a year which sucks but i could use the extra time to save up some money and also enjoy life. Med school will always be there. No point in rushing.

 

[DR.QT]

I studied for the MCAT while working full time (~ 50 hours per week). I studied for minimum of 2-3 hours six times a week (4 weekdays, Saturday, Sunday). When I was in the car I listened to ExamKrackers audio, which was amazing. I also listened to it while cooking and doing chores around the house. In addition I took 5 full length practice tests before my exam.

Overall, I studied for about 12 weeks. I was happy with my score. Yes, I probably could have done better if I didn't have such an intense job, but I did what I had to do.

Good luck!

Thats awesome. I think I need to do the same. I work over 60h/week and I can't seem to find time to study

 

[kiwifriend]

Hi!

I also studied for the MCAT while working full time. It can be stressful, but overall I still think I had enough time to prepare and I was happy with my score. I took the exam on Jan 23 this year and I started reviewing the 2nd week of Oct 2015. I started with subjects I needed more review on (I took Gen Chem 4 years prior to my exam), and made my way through all the material by subject. I found I was much more productive this way than when I started off trying to do a little from each topic at a time, especially with only two hours to devote to studying each night. I went in this order --> Gen Chem, Orgo, Biochem, Physics, Bio, and I ended on Psych/Soc. This flow worked really well for me.

I studied for about 2 hours a night Mon-Thur and took Fridays off to see friends, relax, and try to avoid thinking about the MCAT. I then studied for around 8 hours total on the weekends (usually 4 hours on each day). When I got closer to the exam (~6 weeks out), I started taking full length practice tests each Saturday (which pretty much takes over your whole day) and reviewing them on Sunday. I also tried to do flashcards on my lunch breaks during the week, but that really depends on you having at least 45 minutes at lunch.

It's really important not to burn out. Make sure to keep a regular sleep cycle, exercise, eat well. Take the time you need to care for yourself during the week. This is extra hard for those of us working full time, but still really important.

Good luck!!

 

[pch]

Hi!

I also studied for the MCAT while working full time. It can be stressful, but overall I still think I had enough time to prepare and I was happy with my score. I took the exam on Jan 23 this year and I started reviewing the 2nd week of Oct 2015. I started with subjects I needed more review on (I took Gen Chem 4 years prior to my exam), and made my way through all the material by subject. I found I was much more productive this way than when I started off trying to do a little from each topic at a time, especially with only two hours to devote to studying each night. I went in this order --> Gen Chem, Orgo, Biochem, Physics, Bio, and I ended on Psych/Soc. This flow worked really well for me.

I studied for about 2 hours a night Mon-Thur and took Fridays off to see friends, relax, and try to avoid thinking about the MCAT. I then studied for around 8 hours total on the weekends (usually 4 hours on each day). When I got closer to the exam (~6 weeks out), I started taking full length practice tests each Saturday (which pretty much takes over your whole day) and reviewing them on Sunday. I also tried to do flashcards on my lunch breaks during the week, but that really depends on you having at least 45 minutes at lunch.

It's really important not to burn out. Make sure to keep a regular sleep cycle, exercise, eat well. Take the time you need to care for yourself during the week. This is extra hard for those of us working full time, but still really important.

Good luck!!

I'm doing something similar.. I wanted to study multiple subjects a day but turns out I'm just too tired to study more after reading through a chapter (or sometimes less) of one topic. So I'm just focusing on one subject at a time right now.

Question for you, how long did you spend reviewing content material (no practice questions)? Since you started studying Oct 2015 and took Jan 2015 test, did you review content for one month? two months? I'm taking the Aug 2016 exam and I just don't know how long I should spend content studying (I feel like it's taking forever and I might run out of time)

 

[kiwifriend]

I'm doing something similar.. I wanted to study multiple subjects a day but turns out I'm just too tired to study more after reading through a chapter (or sometimes less) of one topic. So I'm just focusing on one subject at a time right now.

Question for you, how long did you spend reviewing content material (no practice questions)? Since you started studying Oct 2015 and took Jan 2015 test, did you review content for one month? two months? I'm taking the Aug 2016 exam and I just don't know how long I should spend content studying (I feel like it's taking forever and I might run out of time)

Well I never did purely content review with no practice questions. I would study a few chapters and then do some of the related practice questions to get a sense of what I knew. I did it sort of weirdly because I used the Kaplan books for content and the Next Step books for practice (I like the format of Kaplan better but the Next Step questions were challenging and helpful).

I didn't do any practice tests or timed sections (except for a half length diagnostic at the start) until 6 weeks prior to the exam, and then I did one full length once a week after that, with a couple of practice sections for Chem/Phys and Bio/Biochem throughout the week. I never did any CARS or Psych review or practice apart from the full length tests, but those were always my strongest sections (I was a psych major - I don't recommend not studying for this section if you aren't familiar with the material.) I was done reviewing all the content by the end of December, and then I just focused on things I was less comfortable with that were likely to be high yield.

 

[Gutsy]

Hello everyone,

It's comforting to see so many people juggling work and a full-time job. I've been trying to study since late October in 2015 but working a very full-time job at a time (10-12 hours a day) so it was very hard to juggle. I'm still at the same job and things are still difficult but I now have summer Fridays when I get out earlier. I have built a schedule so I can study at least 20 hours a week (hopefully I can get 24 hours). So I'm trying to study around 2 hours and 45 minutes Mondays- Thursday, 4-5 hours on Fridays, and around 6-8 hours on Saturdays (Sunday is off for me for church) for the next 3 months.

I'm aiming to to take the exam in September but am not quite sure if this is possible. I've gotten around 200 hours since late October but it was very on and off (like I was cramming in 30 mins- 1.5 hours a day and more on the weekends). But I started to freak out a bit as I can only get in 230-260 hours more until the exam. I know that it's quality over quantity but you need to find time to study!

Also, I don't think I'm performing well and haven't taken biochem 🙁 But have been self-teaching biochem to myself. Also, I've been really struggling with CARS. I'm doing at least 2 passages a day and am not seeing much improvement :'(

For those who have successfully juggled working full time and studying, is my situation do-able? Am I going to be okay taking the exam in September? I really don't want to resort to quitting my job for financial reasons...

Thank you!!

 

[DrMikeP]

Studied 2months while working full time. Spent 3-4hrs per evening after working all day and 1-2 days per weekend. Made a 501, which was sufficient. Didn't have biochem or likely would have done infinitely better, as that section seriously killed my score.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

I studied over 3 months while working FT with 3 kids (and a deployed husband). It sucks and there were definitely times that I was burnt out and I missed being able to just sit without having some sort of book in front of me, but it's doable.

IMO, you're really going to want to know Biochem inside and out. I haven't had biochem in over 10 years and I didn't remember a thing from it, so I followed along with an online course since teaching myself just wasn't working. I just listened to a lecture or two every night and it made a HUGE difference. You can find free resources on Coursera or other open courses, but I used this course:
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bb450/450material/schedule450s16.html

 

[Gutsy]

I studied over 3 months while working FT with 3 kids (and a deployed husband). It sucks and there were definitely times that I was burnt out and I missed being able to just sit without having some sort of book in front of me, but it's doable.

IMO, you're really going to want to know Biochem inside and out. I haven't had biochem in over 10 years and I didn't remember a thing from it, so I followed along with an online course since teaching myself just wasn't working. I just listened to a lecture or two every night and it made a HUGE difference. You can find free resources on Coursera or other open courses, but I used this course:
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bb450/450material/schedule450s16.html

Thank you for the resource 🙂 I'm convinced that you are a wonder woman! Did you take the exam already?!

 

[ROSC]

I'm in the boat also Looking into EC audio

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

Thank you for the resource 🙂 I'm convinced that you are a wonder woman! Did you take the exam already?!

I took it May 14th. SO. MUCH. BIOCHEM. Still waiting for scores, but I got a 516 on the scored, so I'm hopeful.

I'm in the boat also Looking into EC audio

I didn't find their Audio Osmosis all that helpful. I tried to listen to it driving, at work, etc. but I found I retained more just reading the books.

 

[Gutsy]

I took it May 14th. SO. MUCH. BIOCHEM. Still waiting for scores, but I got a 516 on the scored, so I'm hopeful.

That's amazing! Sounds like you will do amazing! When you say so much biochem, can you give me an example? Like how much should we focus on the details on the pathways?

 

[DrMikeP]

That's amazing! Sounds like you will do amazing! When you say so much biochem, can you give me an example? Like how much should we focus on the details on the pathways?

I'd say a majority of the science was biochem or biochem related. Even the obvious ochem questions used chemical structures that were common to biochem and the step to the product was an ochem step but if you studied biochem you'd be able to know the outcome without having to figure out the ochem rxn. Yes, I'm being vague so as to not violate mcat regs, but seriously over 50% percent of one section was biochem on mine.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

When you say so much biochem, can you give me an example? Like how much should we focus on the details on the pathways?

If it's Biochem or at all related to Biochem, you should know it. You could probably get away without knowing all the enzymes or structures for all the pathways, but I'd know the steps and products, as well as enzymes for the regulatory reactions. And like @DrMikeP said, a lot of the problems were related to Biochem, even if the topic could be considered another science. The questions on my specific test were very similar to the Biochem questions on the Section Bank. Which, btw, DO THE SECTION BANK! I didn't look at the section bank until 6 days before my exam. Bad move.