When should I start studying for the MCAT?

[heathadawn23]

I will be starting my first year as a pre-med student this fall and I wanted to know how soon is "too soon" to start studying for the MCAT, and What I should be studying. This is all too confusing for me. Its like all this mumbo-jumbo trying to make sense to me but its not working.

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[izibo]

No such thing as "too soon"

 

[heathadawn23]

No such thing as "too soon"

What materials should I buy?

 

[NapeSpikes]

Whoa there, I think that's a bit early. Just pay attention in your classes and learn the material well. Studying for the mcat without having taken any college science classes will mostly be a waste of time. Even if you wanted to go to med school right after undergrad, you wouldn't take the mcat til at the earliest summer after sophmore year. Go to college and have fun. But work hard, too. Learn the science from and for your classes first. Then, REVIEW for the mcat come end of sophmore year or so.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

No such thing as "too soon"

Not true. Take your courses, and chill until January of the year you want to take the April MCAT, then buy all the stuff and go at it.

 

[lastrun82]

i studied my arse off for 12 weeks, but i feel like i peaked at week 10
i ended up scoring in the high 30s, which was basically what i was getting on the retired aamc tests after week 6
so i think you really need to ask yourself what your target score is...you'd have to study exponentially more to score 41 consistently than you would 39

 

[heathadawn23]

Thank you guys so0o0o much... Im so glad that I found these forums.... I think I would go krazEE without them....

 

[hnbui]

I will be starting my first year as a pre-med student this fall and I wanted to know how soon is "too soon" to start studying for the MCAT, and What I should be studying. This is all too confusing for me. Its like all this mumbo-jumbo trying to make sense to me but its not working.

i suggest you start studying the summer of your freshmen year or begining of your sophomore year. During this time do not study too intensely, save that for the few months before the mcat.

for books, try going on amazon and doing a search for mcat prep materials.

 

[AcousticDoc]

Spend the time you would use for studying the MCAT to do comprehensive review for your pre med classes. Try to get a really good in depth understanding of the subjects. It'll make studying for the MCAt a lot easier in the future.

 

[dsh]

If you really want to, get one of the comprehensive MCAT prep books from Kaplan or TPR or whoever and follow along in the sections as you cover them in your classes--they'll highlight the important points and what concepts you need to remember.

If your reading comprehension skills are lacking, I don't think it's ever really too early to start practicing verbal. Even if you don't want to do passages, start reading the editorial page in the paper every day and read articles in magazines like the Atlantic Monthly, Economist, Harper's Weekly, etc.

If you're doing well in your classes and have enough free time to worry about the MCAT, get involved with a club, or research, or hospital volunteering. Or maybe go out to a party or something every now and then, it's good for you.

edit: wow, i used a lot of ifs