What if you studied for the MCAT for a year?

[sunyplatt]

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What if you studied for the mcat for a year. Wouldn't theoretically, with this many practice tests, your brain adapt so you could likely get a 40+.

 

[Melomare17]

What if you studied for the mcat for a year. Wouldn't theoretically, with this many practice tests, your brain adapt so you could likely get a 40+.

i think you'd start forgetting information by then

 

[mcloaf]

What if you studied for the mcat for a year. Wouldn't theoretically, with this many practice tests, your brain adapt so you could likely get a 40+.

Not really. It's hardly like there's an inexhaustible store of high-quality practice tests out there for you to use--there are only a few AAMC's, which are the best. You would definitely start forgetting things as well. Studying for the MCAT is like prepping for a sports event in this regard, you have a 3-5 month window during which you can really lay into what you need to do so that you can peak on test day. If you tried to study for a year you'd peak way too early, forget a bunch of stuff, and be super burned out months before your test.

 

[typicalindian]

if you took amazing notes and reviewed them on a weekly basis and spaced out your practice tests properly, then yeah I don't see why thats not possible.

 

[dentalhopeful10]

I would probably shoot myself out of boredom

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

you shouldn't need a year to consistently study, this **** would get way too boring.

 

[flodhi1]

If you're working full time and taking classes then maybe but otherwise 1 year is ridiculous. What's going to happen when you have only 2 months to study for the step exams ?

 

[phltz]

What if you studied for the mcat for a year. Wouldn't theoretically, with this many practice tests, your brain adapt so you could likely get a 40+.

Sure, I suppose. The question is, what else could you more productively use that time to do? The MCAT is not the be all and end all of your life. Aim to do well on it, sure, but after a while there are serious diminishing returns to how much of an impact extra effort will have on your score, and how much a higher score will help your application.

 

[johnnydoesdat]

I'm taking the test in June and I started studying in September. It hasn't really been necessary to study this long. I think I could take the test now and do fairly well on it. I haven't forgotten any information because I take good notes and review pretty regularly. I'm only really doing this because I have nothing else to do, so I might as well just take as much time as possible. I think it was a great strategy for me because I already have a very strong grasp of the material and I still have 3 months left lol. And honestly, the difference between a 33 or something and a 37/38 can be made possible with this much extra studying, and I think it is worth it.

 

[APrioriAporia]

There are only so many hours in a year. Would you rather use more time to study for a test to get a minor improvement or do something else (another EC, relaxing, studying for classes)?

I hope you choose the latter.

 

[mcloaf]

I'm taking the test in June and I started studying in September. It hasn't really been necessary to study this long. I think I could take the test now and do fairly well on it. I haven't forgotten any information because I take good notes and review pretty regularly. I'm only really doing this because I have nothing else to do, so I might as well just take as much time as possible. I think it was a great strategy for me because I already have a very strong grasp of the material and I still have 3 months left lol. And honestly, the difference between a 33 or something and a 37/38 can be made possible with this much extra studying, and I think it is worth it.

The jump from a 33 to a 38 doesn't necessarily require an additional 3 months of studying, nor will that extra 3 months necessarily mean a 3 or 4 or 5 point improvement. Obviously there are a million factors at play in every individual's MCAT score, and if you think that extra time will get you the higher score you're shooting for, then go for it. I do think it's misleading and erroneous to imply that increased study time will always positively correlate with an increased score beyond a certain threshold (and I believe more than 3-5 months is past that threshold).

 

[johnnydoesdat]

The jump from a 33 to a 38 doesn't necessarily require an additional 3 months of studying, nor will that extra 3 months necessarily mean a 3 or 4 or 5 point improvement. Obviously there are a million factors at play in every individual's MCAT score, and if you think that extra time will get you the higher score you're shooting for, then go for it. I do think it's misleading and erroneous to imply that increased study time will always positively correlate with an increased score beyond a certain threshold (and I believe more than 3-5 months is past that threshold).

Of course it doesn't necessarily require an additional 3 months of studying. I know plenty of people who have gotten high 30s/40s without that much studying. And of course the extra 3 months doesn't mean a significant point improvement because you never know what happens on the real test and there are diminishing marginal returns to studying. And I never said anything about adding an extra 3 months of studying. My point is that the difference between 3 months of studying (which seems to be the average from what I understand) and 9 months is very significant. I have been studying for 6 months so far and I believe I've done content review for physics about 7-8 times and I still have 3 more months until my test. It is erroneous to imply that increased study time will always possitively correlate with an increased score, but I can assure you that studying for an extra few months can do no harm (other than burning out, but that's easy to control). There is a 100% chance that I'll know more material/be better prepared with an extra 3 months. As long as one studies efficiently and intelligently, that's the result. No matter what, I'll be more prepared for the test, so in my opinion it is worth it (especially when you consider the fact that I literally have nothing else to do).

 

[ToldYouSo]

Studying for a year isn't something a lot of people would do... but I don't see how it could hurt. Spaced and continuous repetition really helps in memorizing facts. Tbh if I were you what I would probably do is make a big stack of flash cards that only contain simple and concrete things such as formulas, basic o-chem reactions, math equalities etc... And review 15 mins a day tops. Sooner or later they'll really stick in your mind and after a year I think you'd be way ahead.