Studying for 2019...

[feistysalsa]

I’m planning on taking the MCAT April or May 2019. The study plan is to take that semester off and dedicate it fully to MCAT. I’ve heard that overstudying can be bad but I’ve also heard that you should start prepping material earlier. I have all the prereq coursework finished except Biochem (I will take in the Fall) in regards to content.

What do you think? Should I leave it all until that semester or should I start studying during the summer? Do I take a FL now to see where I stand or would that be wasteful?

Lots of questions, need your help SDN fam.


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[PhilzCoffeeAddict]

Hello!

First of all, anything more than 3 months might be too much studying. You really only need that long to get it all down. Whether you want to take a semester off to study or work/attend school while studying is up to you and study preferences. I wouldn't start the summer. That'll easily lead to burnout potential. Its good you're taking biochem right before, it'll help!

For the practice exams, I would hold off. Taking one before hitting the books will just tell you that you need to study everything. haha. Study a bit and then take one to see where you're heading and how effective you're studying is. I highly recommend taking 10-15 practice exams though. Good luck!

 

[917137]

Depending on how high of a score you are aiming for, I think 3 months of studying may not be enough. If you are looking to be a very competitive applicant with a 90th percentile or above score you may want to consider starting sooner. Whether that's practicing some CAR passages, making flashcards of PsS terms, or actually going through content, I think doing something is really important. I am an MCAT tutor and a lot of people have slow progress when it comes to the MCAT so saving it all until the last three months to find out whether that will be you is a gamble. Taking a practice test to get an idea of what the test looks like is a great idea before you start studying. Like Philz said, it is probably going to tell you that you need to study everything. However, the format of the MCAT is a lot different than the tests that most of us are used to taking that involve memorization and recall. The MCAT pulls in a lot more critical thinking skills and it is a good idea to get an idea of what you're up against before you begin studying. Once you do that, either during the summer or here and there when you have time throughout the semester, start practicing. Getting an excellent score on the MCAT takes time and spacing your studying out can help to avoid burning out. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @feistysalsa -

To clarify, depending on when your semester start date and test date are, it sounds like you're going to have from 3.5-5 months available to focus on studying? That should be more than enough, especially if you're not balancing studying w/ work or school. I wouldn't recommend starting a dedicated study plan in advance of that, due to burnout issues and because too long of a study plan causes some issues in terms of just remembering everything for that long.

Here are some things that you can do:

• Clear up any lingering areas of misunderstanding that you have from your prereqs. For instance, if you know that you never really "got" electrochemistry from your chemistry coursework, there's nothing wrong with investing some time in trying to get it. The key aspect of this is to focus on understanding, not details. You'll forget the details again, but if you can rebuild a solid conceptual framework for things that never really clicked, you'll be able to study them more efficiently when the time comes.
• Read more. Having 7-9 months before you really jump into studying is enough time to help build your background by reading broadly—both general-knowledge pieces that can help build some good habits for CARS (even though randomly reading journalistic/academic pieces is not the same thing as specifically studying for CARS, it can be of some value depending on your baseline) and scientific articles. Many passages are adapted from primary research, so if you're familiar with how scientists tend to present their work, how to read for essential points, and how to read figures and tables, that gives you a bit of a head start.
• Educate yourself about the MCAT in general terms. It sounds like you've been doing this already, so keep it up! Reading the AAMC official guide and content outline can be useful because it both gives you a sense of what's on the test and how they like to test things (that is, it gives you a sense of why they care about, say, electrochemistry, which helps you anticipate how it will be tested). Doing some CARS passages can be useful for those purposes too, and maybe some other practice material, but not w/ the goal of actually preparing, just with the goal of demystifying the whole thing.
• Keep working to balance your coursework, volunteering, work (if any), other life obligations etc. in a way that helps guarantee that you will in fact be able to fully focus on the MCAT in spring 2019. Again, it sounds like you're doing this already, but it's important and is worth emphasizing .

Hope this is helpful, and best of luck on your journey!!