Viable Study Plan?

[agileduck]

Calling the advice, support, and motivation of all future doctors...

I took my first "practice test" today (GS-Free) and received ~495. My goal is 520+. I'm planning on taking it January 23, 2016. I graduated in May, so all I'm doing now is studying for the MCAT (goal is 10+ hours a day, but I don't always reach it because I'm a lazy butthole). Do you think this goal is viable and what is the course of action I should be taking to reach this goal?

My current plans are to finish everything on KhanAcademy, I'm currently on Foundational Concept 3, and I've already finished all CARS questions, and 1/4 of Biological Reasoning Questions. I haven't really studied at all for the Behavioral Sciences yet, any tips? Also my weakest section is Physical/Chemical, so any study tips regarding that would also be greatly appreciated!!!

I also want to finish all 5 Gold Standard practice tests ($175 for 3 months access) and all 5 Next Step Test Prep ($149 for 6 months access, I think). And obviously the AAMC "practice test" that is out right now and the one that will be released in November. Any other suggestions?

I'm not planning on taking a test prep course, because I already tried this option junior year with the old MCAT and it didn't work out too well. Mostly because some topics I know very well, whereas others I feel like I've never seen before, so I need to focus on them more, so I feel a self-guided study plan is going to be most effective in the time that I have (3ish months)...

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[Swagster]

Starting at a 495 and wanting to climb to 520+ is statistically close to superhuman. You may need to reel that expectation in a bit. I studied for this test many moons ago and the single most important thing, bar none, is what you learn going over practice questions after the fact. All of the reading and all of the videos you do may help a little, but there is no substitute for doing a passage and then painstakingly going over each question, even the ones you got right. The MCAT questions can be weird, and knowing the concepts will only take you so far. I've liked what I've seen from Khan so far in terms of passages and questions. I think you absolutely have to add TBR physics and general chemistry books to your plans. There is nothing better out there, and I have looked at everything. I am 100% certain their books are why I scored so well on the PS section (old MCAT).

The other thing is setting a schedule that you can follow. Doing 10+ hours a day sounds great at first, but you will burn out in time. Mix in a few light days here and there. Do not let yourself fall behind.

I didn't take a prep course and did extremely well, so I can say with certainty that it can be done. I think two sources for questions is ideal, so adding TBR to Khan is a winning formula. Get the basics from Khan and the test strategies from TBR. I don't know anything about NS or GS exams, but I can tell you that AAMC is the best and TBR exams were very a very close second.

Good luck!

 

[Swagster]

Here is a modified version (updated for 2015) of the SN2ed list. Thousands and thousands of great scores from SDN people have come from that approach, so it should be everyone's first choice.

Psychology and Sociology
EK and TBR (review and passages/questions from both)
Khan (passages after you've reviewed)

Biochemistry/Biology
EK for review if you know your stuff well OR TBR for review if you need more help
TBR for passages (they are the best)

Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry
TBR for review and passages (their new books are great)

General Chemistry (they didn't change this much for 2015)
EK for review if you know your stuff well OR TBR for review if you need more help
TBR for passages

Physics (they didn't change this much for 2015)
TBR for review
TBR for passages

CARS (they didn't change this much for 2015)
EK for strategies
TPR and EK for passages

Extras
Khan videos as needed
Khan passages (especially for psychology and sociology)
TPR Workbook