Studying 8 months away from MCAT?

[Real Person]

Hello everyone, hope your holiday season is going well!

I was wondering how you would recommend I study for the MCAT if I am taking it in about 7-8 months. Would you recommend starting with content review? I may have to do two content review sessions because I will forget as the months progress (I am fine with reviewing it all again). What is the best method to maximize my score?

Should I do Anki flashcards? Question banks?

Thank you, I appreciate your time.

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[SahilMehtaMD]

I would recommend starting with content review (pick a set of textbooks to read through, do some pre-made Anki decks, and listen to the MCAT basics podcast when you need to multi-task). Question banks and AAMC material can be started after your first round of content review.

 

[haikuhero]

7-8 months is a long time, and definitely enough time for you to forget material you've started.

With that said, you said you were OK with it.

Anki would be a great friend to try to minimize that forgetting. I would wait for QBanks until you are closer to the date so you can start gearing up closer. At the start, you can try to use prep book question sets as guidance and practice.

If I was doing a 8 month shtick (I did 2 months) then I would really spend the first couple of months ironing out concepts I either never learned, or never understood. This way you're spending some of the early time "learning it", saving stuff you know for a lighter review in your next phase, and then reviewing the phase 1 content again. A practice phase will follow as well.

 

[CoolBreezes]

Hello everyone, hope your holiday season is going well!

I was wondering how you would recommend I study for the MCAT if I am taking it in about 7-8 months. Would you recommend starting with content review? I may have to do two content review sessions because I will forget as the months progress (I am fine with reviewing it all again). What is the best method to maximize my score?

Should I do Anki flashcards? Question banks?

Thank you, I appreciate your time.

Launching into MCAT prep now isn’t a terrible idea if you’re aiming for a top score or have a weak foundation. CARS is one section that would be good to have the time to figure out how best to approach it.

Try doing regular practice questions to help the content you’ve reviewed to stick. Most of the exam is about interpreting and inferring information from passages, rather than recall of specific facts, so be sure to take many practice exams. Properly reviewing your practice exams will really help you to increase your score.

Good luck.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Why are you planning to take the exam in July/August?