The Official "I'm taking the MCAT in January" Thread :^)

[Rafa]

So who else is taking the MCAT on either Jan 27 or Jan 29? I'm trying to devise a study plan, but it's hard to get motivated with the test 6 months away. How are you preparing? Have you started to prepare? Etc etc. Any other rising juniors/seniors/non-trads with me?

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[2DEG]

So who else is taking the MCAT on either Jan 27 or Jan 29? I'm trying to devise a study plan, but it's hard to get motivated with the test 6 months away. How are you preparing? Have you started to prepare? Etc etc. Any other rising juniors/seniors/non-trads with me?

I am taking the whole July off from work (unpaid vacation) to study for MCAT. I thought I could do it..and I am still hopeful. But it seems increasingly difficult. I don't think I can improve much from my first MCAT (april 05).

If I take the January MCAT, I guess most schools will accept that score for the this cycle of application. Is that a correct assumption?

I would love to take MCAT in January. Life is so difficult! At least it seems that way right now.

Thanks,
S.

 

[IAdam]

I am taking the whole July off from work (unpaid vacation) to study for MCAT. I thought I could do it..and I am still hopeful. But it seems increasingly difficult. I don't think I can improve much from my first MCAT (april 05).

If I take the January MCAT, I guess most schools will accept that score for the this cycle of application. Is that a correct assumption?

I would love to take MCAT in January. Life is so difficult! At least it seems that way right now.

Thanks,
S.

January MCAT is too late for starting med school in 2007. Most schools require everything before October. That makes August MCAT pushing it to the very end.

 

[MSc44]

So who else is taking the MCAT on either Jan 27 or Jan 29? I'm trying to devise a study plan, but it's hard to get motivated with the test 6 months away. How are you preparing? Have you started to prepare? Etc etc. Any other rising juniors/seniors/non-trads with me?

im shooting for the january exam, i just slowly began revewing the material and taking notes on it, will probably take some time to do that then ill do the 1001 questions then the AAMC exams, it seems like a lot though........CRAZYlots of memorizing,maybe im trying to memorize too m much, but well see how it goes

 

[lovetolearn]

So who else is taking the MCAT on either Jan 27 or Jan 29? I'm trying to devise a study plan, but it's hard to get motivated with the test 6 months away. How are you preparing? Have you started to prepare? Etc etc. Any other rising juniors/seniors/non-trads with me?

I'm with you! Is been a while since I too my prereqs so I have to reteach myself everything (except bio) all over again....ahhh! Then there is the full time job and all those things that get in the way, so I need the time.

Last week I got my new calendar, wrote up a plan, basically reteach myself all the chemistry and physics by Nov, then follow the EK 10 week plan and practice, practice, pratice, the thing is.....is so easy to procrastinate when the time pressure is off.... so lets not do that and lets keep going!!
Good luck

 

[71263]

Mannn. Back in my day, we only had the MCAT twice a year. So forgive the old school veterans like myself for our ignorance, but how many times is this exam being offered now?

 

[DrBowtie]

Depending on August, I might be there with ya.

 

[lovetolearn]

Mannn. Back in my day, we only had the MCAT twice a year. So forgive the old school veterans like myself for our ignorance, but how many times is this exam being offered now?

All the dates have been posted, so far 19 times and some of them both am and pm sections. I think you can take it up to 3x each year.

 

[xylem29]

All the dates have been posted, so far 19 times and some of them both am and pm sections. I think you can take it up to 3x each year.

Hey BrettBacheleor - you might not write in August? I'm not write either but we'll see...I made a huge mistake, I had all my exams finished by April 28th and could've started my prep right then and there...but decided, meh - I deserve a two week holiday b4 plunging into mcat prep...that 2 weeks turned out to be the whole of May...and then I didn't get going till mid June. So it's been quite intense since then and lemme tell you - I could've used that extra month of may...going through the material once is not good enough...I worked it out so that I'll have 3 weeks to go over stuff, needless to say, I'll only go over stuff I think is high yield or something b/c there's just too much...once I do a few aamc's I'll decide whether to write or wait.

I was fooled by ppl claiming they worked full time and still studied for the MCAT in 2 months etc thinking I wouldn't need 3 months, part time work, and full time study but believe me, when you have to relearn things - especially physics, you can't just read something over and move on if you really want to learn the concepts, you need to work at it and this will take time...plus, all the equations get confusing. If I had started in May, I would've had all of July to go over stuff and do practice AAMC's and focus soley on verbal...now I'm really taking it to the last minute - with less verbal focus. Don't make the mistake of putting off your prep...

get your prep finished early, take a diagnositc test, then go back and cover your weak areas, solidfy all the stuff you keep forgetting, and practice tests some more.

moral is - if you have not done the material in a while and can't remember anything - you WILL need time. Orgo and parts of BIO were blazed thru b/c I remembered it all...Physiology, Gen Chemistry, and Physics, took (and still taking) me forever to go over so yeah, most ppl can't prep for 2 weeks and do well so don't listen to those ppl, they're not regular joe's.

 

[MSc44]

any one feel like they have to relearn alot, and get a bit overwhelmed when first starting off............or just have days when their brains wont wokk

 

[DrBowtie]

Hey BrettBacheleor - you might not write in August? I'm not write either but we'll see...I made a huge mistake, I had all my exams finished by April 28th and could've started my prep right then and there...but decided, meh - I deserve a two week holiday b4 plunging into mcat prep...that 2 weeks turned out to be the whole of May...and then I didn't get going till mid June. So it's been quite intense since then and lemme tell you - I could've used that extra month of may...going through the material once is not good enough...I worked it out so that I'll have 3 weeks to go over stuff, needless to say, I'll only go over stuff I think is high yield or something b/c there's just too much...once I do a few aamc's I'll decide whether to write or wait.

I was fooled by ppl claiming they worked full time and still studied for the MCAT in 2 months etc thinking I wouldn't need 3 months, part time work, and full time study but believe me, when you have to relearn things - especially physics, you can't just read something over and move on if you really want to learn the concepts, you need to work at it and this will take time...plus, all the equations get confusing. If I had started in May, I would've had all of July to go over stuff and do practice AAMC's and focus soley on verbal...now I'm really taking it to the last minute - with less verbal focus. Don't make the mistake of putting off your prep...

get your prep finished early, take a diagnositc test, then go back and cover your weak areas, solidfy all the stuff you keep forgetting, and practice tests some more.

moral is - if you have not done the material in a while and can't remember anything - you WILL need time. Orgo and parts of BIO were blazed thru b/c I remembered it all...Physiology, Gen Chemistry, and Physics, took (and still taking) me forever to go over so yeah, most ppl can't prep for 2 weeks and do well so don't listen to those ppl, they're not regular joe's.

I'll be taking in August...It depends on the results.

 

[utahjazz]

Yeah, I'm a nontrad taking it in January.

My plan- I'm working through the EK books and AO at a leisurely pace (since I am still working FT and going to summer school) and plan on being done with them by November. Then, depending on my practice test scores, I will either get the 1001 EK books and do the EK 10 week schedule (if I am below a 30) or get the Kaplan books and do their 10 week schedule (if I am over 30).

 

[isocrazy]

I am also planning the January MCAT. Right now I am in Princeton Review and I really have found it hard to motivate myself to study. So far I have religiously been trying to complete the homework.

Verbal has been owning me and I feel that I need to figure out some miracle to boost that. I feel the practice tests I am taking and worthless and might skip the next one. I dont remember all the material and should relearn the material then jump back into taking practice tests so I can gauge myself.

Basically it comes down to motivation. I know full well that I am going to have a heavy load next semester but I think if I work a little at a time I will be able to get the score I want. It is nice to have that winter break as well to get some review into your system.

good luck to all

 

[Summer Sweet]

I'm taking a TPR course right now to prepare for August, but I think I will have to take it next year instead. I'm hopelessly behind on TPR work (still on week 1's homework, and it's week 5!!!) so I'm going to focus on the "trouble spots"--that is, the science subjects that I had trouble with, didn't study, or that the professor didn't go over in my classes (ok, so not all us premeds are science geniuses...) and try to squeeze in studying time as much as possible. If you have a couple hundred bucks, it might be worth taking the CBT in August and voiding it, just so you know exactly how the CBT will be in January (I am thinking about this, too, but we'll see).

After August, I'll probably be preparing for January. This means actually going back to my TPR books and following a strict lesson plan-ish kind of thing. Once I finish that, I will probably go over other stuff. I bought Berkeley Review and Examkrackers from someone (just the textbooks), but I advise people against this because it's not until I got home and really examined everything that I realized I dished out a couple hundred for a bunch of the same info that TPR review books had. So yeah, I was expecting to get the practice questions and stuff. OH WELL. Back to my point...so I'm probably going to use Examkrackers if I have time after TPR. For some topics, I might use BR, because they seem to cover some things more extensively. I know we don't need to know everything in the world for the MCAT, but there are certain subjects/topics that I'm weak in, and will have to almost learn from scratch.

Btw, I'm a senior, meaning it's going to take me for-frickin-ever to graduate and head off to med school. I told my mom the other day that I was thinking about taking a year off to "find myself" and relax before med school (translation: a year of no studying!), and apparently everyone thinks I'm a bum for not being super duper focused and taking 4 core science classes per 10 week quarter while working and everything. OK, so maybe some of us still want to have our sanity...but I digress. My answer to this post is hidden somewhere in this lengthy, lengthy, useless comment.

 

[Summer Sweet]

I am also planning the January MCAT. Right now I am in Princeton Review and I really have found it hard to motivate myself to study. So far I have religiously been trying to complete the homework.

Verbal has been owning me and I feel that I need to figure out some miracle to boost that. I feel the practice tests I am taking and worthless and might skip the next one. I dont remember all the material and should relearn the material then jump back into taking practice tests so I can gauge myself.

Basically it comes down to motivation. I know full well that I am going to have a heavy load next semester but I think if I work a little at a time I will be able to get the score I want. It is nice to have that winter break as well to get some review into your system.

good luck to all

Isocrazy, are you taking the TPR course that is preparing you for August, or the one preparing you for January?

I feel the same way for practice tests. I did worse on my second than my first, probably because I was overthinking everything an was like "oh darn the instructor wrote this on the board on Thursday but I forgot what it is crap crap crap what's the answer ahhhhhhhhhhh" for parts of the test, lol.

 

[TarHeelBorn]

I'm taking it in January! I'm thinking about taking the Kaplan test prep course that ends on the 24th but I'm not certain I want to drop $1700...

 

[Ebete]

I'm non-trad. and also aiming at next year, although not sure for Jan, maybe a couple of months later depending on how the prep goes. I plan to start next week. I am looking up all material tested in detail in my old textbooks. When I'm done then I'll do TPR hyperlearning (I also have EK but didn't do so good last MCAT studying thru them) and finish the 1001 EK books. Oh lets not forget all the practice tests. Geez that's a lot, I sure hope I can do it all , and still take care of the family. Last couple times I set myself a goal time frame and filled in a calendar all the way up to the test, that didn't work so well; sometimes I got all the material covered for that week other times I didn't. So this time, because I can, I will do what I need to do and when I'm ready I'll go for it.

Has anyone taken a diagnostic yet? With what score are you starting with? I'll post mine next week.

 

[isocrazy]

Isocrazy, are you taking the TPR course that is preparing you for August, or the one preparing you for January?

I feel the same way for practice tests. I did worse on my second than my first, probably because I was overthinking everything an was like "oh darn the instructor wrote this on the board on Thursday but I forgot what it is crap crap crap what's the answer ahhhhhhhhhhh" for parts of the test, lol.

Yeah I am taking the one for Jan. I dont feel the need to rush and take the August MCAT I have time.

 

[RAD11]

So who else is taking the MCAT on either Jan 27 or Jan 29? I'm trying to devise a study plan, but it's hard to get motivated with the test 6 months away. How are you preparing? Have you started to prepare? Etc etc. Any other rising juniors/seniors/non-trads with me?

Depends on how I do with my practice test.

 

[Rafa]

So far, I've just been listening to AO. I just can't bring myself to buy the EK books at the moment. I think after listening to AO once through, I'll take a practice test to see what needs improving.

 

[utahjazz]

So far, I've just been listening to AO. I just can't bring myself to buy the EK books at the moment. I think after listening to AO once through, I'll take a practice test to see what needs improving.

Yeah, I don't plan on taking a practice test until I go thorugh the material once too.

 

[Dr 14220]

Just like Summer Sweet, I am a senior taking TPR prep course for the August exam, am very very behind on the homework, scoring crappy, wont take the MCAT now till January, told my parents I am going to take a year off before med school (and was b*tched at for procrastinating, etc.)

I hate this test. I find it so hard to study for because it somehow seems pointless (other than that it is necessary for med school). Up until this point I was relying on having a good "guessing day" on the MCAT. But now it looks like I am going to have to buckle down and actually prepare for January. COngratulations to those who are doing well in their prep, and for the slackers like myself, good luck.

Sorry for this so pointless post. It truly is pointless.

 

[wutwinb]

definitely taking the January test. i'm applying to some post bacc and smp programs, so i'll get my scores well before those apps are due.
i'm in a kaplan class now, and will retake it starting in september and end the week before the test. hopefully 8 straight months of kaplan class/practice test will get me ready. but i assume kaplan's really going to chance how they administer the class (everything on the computer).
hopefully they can adjust to the new test....