studying for MCAT with full-time work schedule advice?

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MissIntrigued

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Hi guys

Woman in her late 20's here. Graduated college over five years ago, then took my science pre-reqs over a couple of years while I was working full-time. Many 15 hour days working from 6 in the morning and going to school after work until 11 at night.

Enoguh ranting. My question: I took the MCAt this year in july and lets just say my score was none too thrilling. My verbal and writing scores were in the 99% tile, but my PS section completely massacred my score. I woke up at 3 in the morning the day of the test, couldnt go back to sleep, and totally ran out of time on that section. And to be honest, while I tried to study over the couple months prior to the exam, I was so exhausted all the time I really didnt get the material down like I should have.

So, its too late to apply for this year like I wanted, so Im bummed about that, but Ive decided to give it one more chance. I am going to register for the Jan 2010 MCAT and try again. This time, I NEED to rock it, but I obviously need to study differently this time around because whatever I did last time didn't work.

Does anyone have suggestions on a study schedule, or a sample schedule of their own to offer that might work for me?

I work full time, monday through friday, from 6 in the morning until 3 pm , and I get back home by 4 at the latest if I don't have a special meeting or whatnot. Keep in mind, I often have "other" responsibilities that pop up - eg- family related stuff, though they are understanding and try to keep it to a minimum when I need to study.

Im usually passing out around 3 pm and struggle to stay awake when i get home. I dont know what to do anymore!

Anyway, any suggestions fro other people in a similiar situation would be appreciated, whether its advice on how I can stay awake and focus when I get home, or how I should approach studying (eg- what topics, which days, etc etc)

The books I have are:

the whole EK series (bio, chem, o=chem, physics, verbal/math) and Audio Osmosis

I just purchased Nova Physics as I heard good things about that.

Just purchased whole EK 1001 series, as well as mini MCATS EK book

I know I should do all the AAMC practice exams online, which i will as well.

Anything else?

Second question: anyone here think its REALLY worth it to take a prep course? If so, which one? (EK, Kaplan and TPR are offered in my area). To be honest 1800 dollars is an immense amount of money for me to spend. I already am having to borrow money from my friend just to pay for my AMCAS application. I will borrow more money for the prep course if there is something that magical about it, but if all it is is regurgitation of the book materials, its proibably not worht it, right?

Thanks for the info!

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Hi guys

Woman in her late 20's here. Graduated college over five years ago, then took my science pre-reqs over a couple of years while I was working full-time. Many 15 hour days working from 6 in the morning and going to school after work until 11 at night.

...

Second question: anyone here think its REALLY worth it to take a prep course? If so, which one? (EK, Kaplan and TPR are offered in my area). To be honest 1800 dollars is an immense amount of money for me to spend. I already am having to borrow money from my friend just to pay for my AMCAS application. I will borrow more money for the prep course if there is something that magical about it, but if all it is is regurgitation of the book materials, its proibably not worht it, right?

Thanks for the info!

I also work full time and took the MCAT in July. I took a Kaplan prep course to basically make me study what I should be studying in on an appropriate time line for my test.. also because I haven't taken Physics yet and needed some help with that. I do recomend the kaplan course. it's expensive but if you can manage it at all it pays off. They help by not only providing you with condensed versions of the material you need to study but also they focus a lot on strategy for taking the test.

While taking the class (which ran from early May to early July) I studied mostly on weekends, during my lunch breaks and on class days between the end of work and the begninning of class. Just prior to the test I took two weeks off from work and devoted them to studying every day. I didn't do as well as I wanted to do but I'm trying my luck this year with the application process.
 
Hi MissIntriqued - I am trying to form a study group either an online or in-person if possible (AZ).

For my GMAT prep, our group of seven working adults (three of who were living and working oversea - India and China). We used Skype, emails and other online programs to study. It worked great, our goal was to get 700+ and all of us have achieved this score.

Anyway, I am hoping to do the same for my MCAT exam.

If you are interested, see my earlier post. Please email and let's form a study group ASAP.

Sincerely,
KT1
 
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I was working a full time and a part time job when I took the MCAT. I too took the Kaplan course because I took the prereqs a dozen years ago and really needed a refresher. I found an evening class at a local college and it helped.

Other than the Kaplan course, I just found time to study whenever I could and took several full length practice tests on Sunday afternoons.

Don't take it again until you are getting the score you want on practice tests.

Good luck.
 
Hi MissIntriqued - I am trying to form a study group either an online or in-person if possible (AZ).

For my GMAT prep, our group of seven working adults (three of who were living and working oversea - India and China). We used Skype, emails and other online programs to study. It worked great, our goal was to get 700+ and all of us have achieved this score.

Anyway, I am hoping to do the same for my MCAT exam.

If you are interested, see my earlier post. Please email and let's form a study group ASAP.

Sincerely,
KT1


Hi

Well, I am no where near AZ unfortunately, so an in-person group isn't possible.

i am open to an online study group, but to be honest, trying to type and study at the same time has always seemed a bit distracting to me!

If anyone is in the NY area I would be willing to give it a go for an in-person study session. I could give the online thing a go too, I guess. nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose?

Open to all ideas so let me know details, feel free to PM me or whatnot.

As for the Kaplan and other courses....i don't know. It's the cost that really hurts, I have to say....almost two thousand dollars is killer. I barely have enough to cover my rent and bills lately, I'd have to use yet another credit card on top of the massive amount of cards and loans Im already paying off and that sort of scares me.

In all honesty, and perhaps several people who had taken the course can be honest with me....is it REALLY that big a difference in the course? Do they tell you some magical new information that isn't in the books? Or is it basically just a way to keep people studying on some sort of schedule? At the end of the day, Im not sure if I can afford to pay someone 1800 dollars just to keep me on a schedule. Obviously it's tough to keep yourself on a strict scehdule, but if scheduling is the only real benefit of the class, I may just have to work on being a little bit more disciplined about keeping on track with a study schedule. I have five months to get it right this time, so hopefully that is enough time? I agree with the whole idea that this is all in preparation for the greater good and all that jazz, but I have to be a little bit realistic. I thought maybe I could borrow money from someone, but its just too much, it really is. I wish I had parents who could just pay for everything, but I don't. It boggled my mind when there was a girl the same age as me in one of my pre-req classes who had never had a job in her life. She'd gone from undergrad to a grad school, and from grad school to post-bacc pre-med, and in all her life she'd never had to work a job a day in her life. her parents and/or boyfriend paid all her rent and bills. Nice life! But not a life that's realistic for me.

It sucks but something I have to deal with , I guess. I would welcome even working part-time at this point, or having some job where I could sit at a desk and study all day....but I have patients coming in and out of my office all bloody day long so I guess I have to figure out some way to just suck it up and b disciplined and study after work and on weekends. The next five months are gonna suck!

Anyway, again, if there are any people out there with busy schedules like mine, who work full time and have to fit in studying for the MCAT around this sort of schedule, I'd love to hear how you did it.

Thanks for the replies so far~

MI
 
I honestly don't think you need to take a course. If the money weren't a huge deal, I might say go for it, but in your situation, I don't think it's worth it. One, it sounds like you already have a pretty good handle on general test-taking skills as evidenced by your high performance in the VR and BS sections. Two, it sounds like you only really need solid, focused review on PS. You'd wind up paying a lot of money for at most 1/3rd of the course content.

And personally, as a person who studied for the MCAT while working full-time, I felt like the intensive class schedule at Kaplan actually cut in to some of my effective studying time.

As for scheduling, I'd recommend devoting one of the weekend days to intensive studying/practice testing. Other than that, I think you need to find ways to have increased energy on weeknights. Maybe a strict early bedtime schedule and a workout between work and studying would do the trick.
 
Yes, prep courses were too expensive and most did not do much to help our group. In fact, a few of our members have already taken the prep courses and were not satisfied with their results. I guessed you could say we had an overly ambitious group at that. One of our member got a full scholarship to Univ. Indiana, one got into UCLA and another went to Columbia. Anyway, long story short is that study via online is not as bad as you think. In fact, it is perfect for working adults. Why? for one thing, because of everybody's busy schedule chances of getting any students to study with is tough however, having a diverse group of students ranging all of the US and oversea was a boost since times that were ideal for you might not be for others but because of the time differences, we were always able to find one or more of our group member online to study.

The benefit is that you are motivated by your group members when you are feeling down or burnt and they too are motivated by you when you are on a high. Another benefit is that because of the wide range of materials covered, chances are no one is perfect at all materials but a few were excellent at some of the materials and they were our tutors sort of speak. Meaning, we would all have the same set of materials and we would creat a pretty intense plan to go over them and if you can make the meeting times/days, you would log on and we would cover most problems especially the tough ones.

There are a few cool web-based tools, all free of course that made this possible. There was a chalkboard like tool where you could post your answers to how to did a particular problem and we would all be able to see your solutions and discussed.

So far, I got one taker, meaning, two in the group but I would like to get to at least 7+ to make it work for everybody in our group. You are welcome to join us and if it does not work out, no harm in not attending. The goal is to find something that works for you.

Sincerely,
KT1
 
I worked full-time took physics and took the MCAT in June and got a 37, which was also my AAMC avg. One thing I haven't seen mentioned above is how to memorize all the necessary content. I live in NYC and spent a lot of time on subways between home-work-class, and I think this time was invaluable for doing flashcards. I made my own flashcards (from reading Kaplan and Berkeley Review books) and did a whole subject (eg, Biology) everyday for probably 5 months. On the weekends I would do more. So if you have any sort of commute in your day, I recommend flashcards.

Also I used the Kaplan as a primary review, then did as much of the BR as I could. The BR books are amazing for the sciences.

Good Luck.
 
I worked full-time took physics and took the MCAT in June and got a 37, which was also my AAMC avg. One thing I haven't seen mentioned above is how to memorize all the necessary content. I live in NYC and spent a lot of time on subways between home-work-class, and I think this time was invaluable for doing flashcards. I made my own flashcards (from reading Kaplan and Berkeley Review books) and did a whole subject (eg, Biology) everyday for probably 5 months. On the weekends I would do more. So if you have any sort of commute in your day, I recommend flashcards.

Also I used the Kaplan as a primary review, then did as much of the BR as I could. The BR books are amazing for the sciences.

Good Luck.

.......you scored a 37 on the MCAT and this was your post #37
 
in all fairness, i was (still am( a full time college undergrad when I took the mcat) but the financial burden of having a two year old forces me to take two part time jobs during the school year and a full time plus extra odd hours during the summer. my best suggestion, and something which I saw already posted, is to make a study group of any kind to keep yourself in line. compare scores and progress so that you feel extra motivated and delegate study guide draw-ups to all members. I had made a schedule that was doable but after taking 7 4 units classes the semester I was "studying" for the mcats, I realized that I needed some kind of motivational force.
best of luck on the mcats. i personally recommend using the exam krackers series and doing all the aamc practice tests, again something my feeble 15 grand/year salary could not come close to covering
 
I think the key, with your schedule, is setting really realistic goals and then sticking to them. For example, can you muster the energy for 40 minutes of focused study time after work (or after dinner) three or four days a week? Spend 30 minutes reviewing a physics topic, and then 10 minutes doing practice problems. On the weekends, do a physics practice test on Saturday and maybe a handful of bio/verbal questions on Sunday to keep that sharp. As you get closer to the test (ie within two months) bump it up to one full length practice test every weekend. MCAT is SO much about stamina. Make the conditions as realistic as possible. After you take practice tests (either sections or the whole thing) ALWAYS go back through and try and understand what you did wrong. I re-wrote problems I got wrong and then tried them again a week or two later to make sure I had retained the new knowledge.
 
Thanks guys

Yeah I suppose I just have to give myself some sort of realistic schedule and try to stick to it. One of my biggest problems before was partially because I would come home from work and just be exhausted. I'd literally fall asleep on my couch still fully dressed from work, and that happened quite often. My shift at the hospital starts at 6 in the morning every day, so that schedule kind of kills me a little sometimes!

I think I just needed some encouragement. I've been feeling down lately after not doing as well as I would have liked on the exam in July. I know I can do better, and its PS that is my most miserable section, but I just need to focus.

My "adviser"(and I will give her this title loosely) at the school I did most of my post-bacc cience classes in seems to have made it her mission to make me feel as bad as humanly possible about my prospects and application. I AM a non-traditional student, but she doesn't seem to realize this. She had the nerve to tell me "if you were serious about med school you would have quit your job and taken a full courseload instead of one science course at a time". Never mind the fact that I did have a full courseload when i was in undergrad at a school ranked far higher than the one she is an adviser at, never mind that I worked full time at a hospital during the day, all day, and that three nights a week were taken up by ONE science course and labs, so there was no physical way for me to schedule another class in the evenings if I wanted to when I was doing post-bacc classes. Literally. They all overlapped, it was impossible. Frankly I wanted to tell her she was an idiot, and if she wanted to pay my rent and health insurance I'd be glad to quit my job, but I bit my lip. She also ripped me a new one for having "only" three letters of recc from professors, even though I tried to explain that most of my professors from undergrad were nearly a decade ago, and many don't work there anymore and I don't remember most of their names. Or the fact that I have multiple letters of recc from doctors I work with, hospital managers I work for, volunteer directors I worked with, you name it.

*sigh* sorry, im ranting again. Im just frustrated. Advisers are idiots, seriously.

Anyway, thanks for the advice so far. Any other replies RE: sample schedules are helpful.

Sometimes I think its good I don't have kids or a husband yet, but at the same time, it would be nice to have someone to help me with bills and etc, which takes up alot of my mental energy and stress. But I suppose I have to focus on the important task at hand and just do it.

Cheers all, thanks again for any continuing advice on study schedules.
 
Thanks guys

Yeah I suppose I just have to give myself some sort of realistic schedule and try to stick to it. One of my biggest problems before was partially because I would come home from work and just be exhausted. I'd literally fall asleep on my couch still fully dressed from work, and that happened quite often. My shift at the hospital starts at 6 in the morning every day, so that schedule kind of kills me a little sometimes!

I think I just needed some encouragement. I've been feeling down lately after not doing as well as I would have liked on the exam in July. I know I can do better, and its PS that is my most miserable section, but I just need to focus.

My "adviser"(and I will give her this title loosely) at the school I did most of my post-bacc cience classes in seems to have made it her mission to make me feel as bad as humanly possible about my prospects and application. I AM a non-traditional student, but she doesn't seem to realize this. She had the nerve to tell me "if you were serious about med school you would have quit your job and taken a full courseload instead of one science course at a time". Never mind the fact that I did have a full courseload when i was in undergrad at a school ranked far higher than the one she is an adviser at, never mind that I worked full time at a hospital during the day, all day, and that three nights a week were taken up by ONE science course and labs, so there was no physical way for me to schedule another class in the evenings if I wanted to when I was doing post-bacc classes. Literally. They all overlapped, it was impossible. Frankly I wanted to tell her she was an idiot, and if she wanted to pay my rent and health insurance I'd be glad to quit my job, but I bit my lip. She also ripped me a new one for having "only" three letters of recc from professors, even though I tried to explain that most of my professors from undergrad were nearly a decade ago, and many don't work there anymore and I don't remember most of their names. Or the fact that I have multiple letters of recc from doctors I work with, hospital managers I work for, volunteer directors I worked with, you name it.

*sigh* sorry, im ranting again. Im just frustrated. Advisers are idiots, seriously.

Anyway, thanks for the advice so far. Any other replies RE: sample schedules are helpful.

Sometimes I think its good I don't have kids or a husband yet, but at the same time, it would be nice to have someone to help me with bills and etc, which takes up alot of my mental energy and stress. But I suppose I have to focus on the important task at hand and just do it.

Cheers all, thanks again for any continuing advice on study schedules.

MissIntrigued,
Am in the NY area. I work over sixty hours weekly in ortho surgery (PA-C). I am studying for the MCAT just like you. And here is my approach: For study material, I'm using kaplan & examkracker. My goal everyday is to study one chapter immediately after work. I go straight to the hospital library after work and study before I head home. It's tough but so far I've been doing quite well. PM if you're interested in an online study group/partner.
 
I worked 35+ hours a week while going to school full-time and studying for the MCAT and think it is totally doable if you stick to a schedule and don't overwhelm yourself. I used examcrackers and tried to study a chapter every couple days approximately. I also listened to examkrackers audio osmosis while moving across country.

As for taking a class...I think it is one of the biggests wastes of money possible. The ONLY reason I would take it is if a person could not get the motivation up to stick to a schedule and really needed someone to tell them what to do. They seriously are not going to teach you anything more than the books do and are going to charge a ton for it. Save the money and go on a nice cruise after your MCAT. Much more worth it.
 
I worked 35+ hours a week while going to school full-time and studying for the MCAT and think it is totally doable if you stick to a schedule and don't overwhelm yourself. I used examcrackers and tried to study a chapter every couple days approximately. I also listened to examkrackers audio osmosis while moving across country.

As for taking a class...I think it is one of the biggests wastes of money possible. The ONLY reason I would take it is if a person could not get the motivation up to stick to a schedule and really needed someone to tell them what to do. They seriously are not going to teach you anything more than the books do and are going to charge a ton for it. Save the money and go on a nice cruise after your MCAT. Much more worth it.

Totally agree with all of the above posts. If you can't create and stick to your own schedule, then you may benefit from a class (but if you can't do that already, good luck with med school). I only used EKs and was very pleased with my score, even if it destroyed an entire summer.
I had a large mirror in my bathroom and wrote every equation for rote memorization, and answered at least 5 questions on the PS section that I wouldn't have otherwise (seriously, what is the purpose of memorizing beat frequency?!?). Power naps also did me well; studying while exhausted is useless for me.
Cruises are nice, but I'd buy 180 cases of Natty Light with that cash.
 
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