Week long vacation 3 weeks before MCAT = fail?

[altogether]

I have a week long vacation out of the country scheduled around new years and I'm shooting for the jan 29th mcat. Keep in mind the days leading up to this and the day immediately after the vacation, I will be back to working 40hr weeks leaving me with very little time when I return.

Has anyone done something similar and done well?

Any advice (other than don't go) on what to do during the break? Make flashcards, memorize equations, etc.? Or just forget everything mcat?

Worst case scenario I end up postponing to march.

Thanks in advance!

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[tartrate]

I will tell you it's doable, if it's the vote of confidence you need.

Just use your time outside of work wisely. You have about 20-40 hours free compared to people who work 60-80 hours/week. Then you have the weekends, where even if you put in 4 hours each day (2 in the morning, 2 at night, or whatever you prefer), that's already 8 extra hours just on the weekends. That yields 28-48 hours per week, which I think is more than enough. I'm sure you won't need all of that, so even if you take half of the minimum (28/2), that gives you 14 hours a week, with plenty of time for play or whatever else you need to do.

In the end it's really on you how disciplined you can be.

You can either 1. think of this as part of your medical training, suck it up, and go for it, or 2. procrastinate and put your test off until March.

 

[NYR56]

I went to Vegas for a week after New Year's (and trust me, I partied hard for New Year's) and had my MCAT on 1/29 as well. I did VR practice on the plane, but I didn't touch anything while in Vegas. I honestly believe that the vacation gave me a much needed break, and I came back and studied harder than ever over the next three weeks. That said, I wasn't working, so I did have much more free time than you will have. I think you'll be fine. Enjoy the vacation and use your time efficiently when you come back.

 

[NickNaylor]

Definitely not a fail. I was so busy the week leading up to my test that I did no studying the entire week save an hour or so the night before the test.

If you've been studying over a fairly long span of time (3-4 months), a week isn't going to make a difference.