Working Full time & studying for the new MCAT

[Gutsy]

Hello!

I graduated this past May and am working 10-12 hours a day. I've taken the old MCAT and am in the need to retake the new MCAT. I am wondering if anyone has successfully worked full-time and studying for the new MCAT? The most I can study is 2 hours during the weekday and this exam seems like a monster I am planning on utilizing my Saturdays.

I am aiming to take the exam in early May and I have not taken biochemistry or sociology
I also can't take any time off from work for financial reasons.

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice!

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[Major]

I tried balancing studying for the MCAT (old), working part-time, taking 9 credits of science glasses, and volunteering once a week....I made a huge mistake in that. I should have taken the semester off did NOTHING but MCAT studying.

Now obviously, being a non-trad, older, and having to pay the bills means taking work off really isn't an option. So I would try to minimize work to just weekends (if possible) and literally do nothing else but MCAT.

Respect the MCAT. One shot one kill. 3 months of spartan living & the MCAT.

So because of my mistake, I am looking of having to take the new mcat and figuring out what to do about classes to raise my gpa, and starting at a smp next fall. Whatever I decide to do, I will do literally nothing else but MCAT prep for 12-15 weeks....

 

[MD89]

Agree with @MajorUnderDog. 3 months of Spartan living plus mcat studying was miserable but completely worth it. Albeit, I took the old exam but still, it can't have been drastically different than if I had studied for the new mcat. From mid October through early January, I worked, studied, and slept. Rinse and repeat. I didn't even do any volunteering or shadowing though in hindsight, I wish I had done at least a little because it would have made my (future) application look a little better.

Put your full effort in this time - it's not worth half-assing and then having to waste more time studying a third time ( plus I can't imagine this would look good on your application anyways). If you plan to take the exam in May, I would highly suggest taking biochem in the spring semes

 

[esob]

Well, I'm working atm ~ 70 hrs a week, lol, but I'm basically planning on "retiring" to do my prereqs and mcat studying. The real test is going to be whether or not I'm actually willing to relegate the bulk of my duties and future of my company to a bunch of twenty-something engineers

I'm not taking the mcat for at least a year though so I've got plenty of time. Is there any reason to rush the MCAT? I mean, can you study a little bit for a year instead of studying like a madman for 3 months? It may be anecdotal, but from most of the 100th percentile stories I read, they all come from people who studied long term. The most winning strategy seems to be to learn to do it correctly, then learn to speed it up, all of which takes time.

 

[New_Slang]

With discipline, it is totally possible. I started studying in January 2015 for April 2015 MCAT (the new version). I had not taken biochem and had taken psych years prior in undergrad (2007?). I was taking both Organic II (+ lab) and Physics II (+ lab) while studying for the MCAT and working part time ~20 hours/week. I got up at 4am and studied until I drove to school ~9am. I banished myself to the library between classes. Did the absolute bare minimum to pass those classes with A's, and went to work. I studied whenever I could, and the bulk of it happened in the early morning before my husband woke up and on weekends, when I would send him out of the house to hang with our friends and be social. I disabled Facebook and 100% refused to have a social engagement during this time because MCAT > dinner with a friend.

I killed it and do not for one second regret my few months as a cave dweller. You can DEFINITELY do it with a full time job, just plan your life around it and be diligent.

(There will be people on here who tell you you'll fail, but I wouldn't listen.)

Edited to add: we also had a big party the day I took the MCAT to celebrate my return to my social life.

Edited again: I also took a full length practice exam (8 hours) every Wednesday for 9 weeks. That might be hard with your schedule, so you'll have to be flexible about when you can do your full lengths. But do NOT skip this. Even if you take a half day at work. It is VITAL to success.

 

[futuremdforme]

You said you took it before but are redoing it. How well did you do, and what was your study strategy? Were you working? If you did well while working, I wouldn't think it would be all that different. Maybe an extra month?

I would expect to study both Saturdays and Sundays, and consider doing your FL on Saturday then reviewing it in depth on Sunday.

 

[Gutsy]

Thank you so much for your feedback and response, everyone!

@New_Slang, it's very encouraging to hear that it is do-able but wow, you were extremely disciplined! So impressed. How many hours a day were you studying for the MCAT on average?

So far, my daily schedule has been: wake up around 6:30am and eat a big breakfast (as I don't really eat dinner), get to work by 8:30am, work until 6pm (Sometimes have special events until 9pm...), work out and come home by 8/8:30p, study for 1.5-2 hours until 10:30/11p, then go to bed... repeat.

@futuremdforme I was actually taking 3 science courses and doing my thesis when I was studying for the last exam. I really did my best not to overload on extra-curricular activities as I am used to so that I can focus on the MCAT but really did not have much time. I took Kaplan throughout the fall semester and studied hard core for 18 days before I took the January MCAT. But I failed miserably (7 PS/ 6VR/ 7 PS) I did practice exams but I think maybe I was lacking content? I really don't know how to change my strategy.

I am trying to give myself more time the second time around. But also, I get really overwhelmed when I'm trying to do 8 hours of MCAT at once so taking baby steps and trying to do little bit over a longer period of time (late October until the first week of May). Does that sound better?

 

[BluMist]

I haven't officially taken the MCAT yet, but 18 days sound extremely low. I think most people take 3-6 months, at least from what I've read in the MCAT discussion.

Regardless of the schedule, you should use practice tests and/or question packs to gauge your progress along the way. Let's say you do a half-length tests every month or so. Are you scoring higher on the FL tests? Are you getting more % correct in the question packs? Are your scores on FL consistently at/higher than your goal?

 

[Gibbward]

You really don't need to study 8 hours straight of MCAT studying. I took 3 months off to just study for my MCAT, and even then, I was only doing 2 hour bursts of really focused content review in the afternoon, then 2 more hours of doing practice questions/passages. Make sure you have a solid foundation on your content (2 hours each night until January?), then do practice questions from February until your test, while doing content review on topics you're weak on. Make sure you also do all your practice tests in timed conditions.

And lastly, make sure you take an evening off!! Go out and get a nice dinner, watch a movie, chill with friends, do something other than MCAT every Saturday night. The worst thing that could happen when you're preparing for almost half a year is burning out a month before the test and losing your motivation to study and focus when you should really be hitting your peak test taking form.

 

[Gutsy]

I worked 60 hours a week while studying. I took two weeks off before the test to give myself a boost. Haven't taken biochem.

I brought study material with me to work. Study during lunch or whenever your have down time.

I'd also spend some time on test strategy based on the low scores.

@HopefulPilot Your schedule sounds similar to mine except I don't think I can take 2 weeks off my job Maybe 1 at the most.
How did you end up doing?

 

[Gutsy]

You really don't need to study 8 hours straight of MCAT studying. I took 3 months off to just study for my MCAT, and even then, I was only doing 2 hour bursts of really focused content review in the afternoon, then 2 more hours of doing practice questions/passages. Make sure you have a solid foundation on your content (2 hours each night until January?), then do practice questions from February until your test, while doing content review on topics you're weak on. Make sure you also do all your practice tests in timed conditions.

And lastly, make sure you take an evening off!! Go out and get a nice dinner, watch a movie, chill with friends, do something other than MCAT every Saturday night. The worst thing that could happen when you're preparing for almost half a year is burning out a month before the test and losing your motivation to study and focus when you should really be hitting your peak test taking form.

Great advice! Thank you, Gibbward!

 

[Gutsy]

513. I believe the extra two weeks helped a lot. I actually went back to with for the week of the MCAT which kind of helped take my mind off of it.

That's amazing! Congratulations! How long did you study for the exam? 5-6 months?

 

[Gutsy]

June-aug part time. Quality over quantity

Wow! So just over 2 months?!

 

[futuremdforme]

Thank you so much for your feedback and response, everyone!

@New_Slang, it's very encouraging to hear that it is do-able but wow, you were extremely disciplined! So impressed. How many hours a day were you studying for the MCAT on average?

So far, my daily schedule has been: wake up around 6:30am and eat a big breakfast (as I don't really eat dinner), get to work by 8:30am, work until 6pm (Sometimes have special events until 9pm...), work out and come home by 8/8:30p, study for 1.5-2 hours until 10:30/11p, then go to bed... repeat.

@futuremdforme I was actually taking 3 science courses and doing my thesis when I was studying for the last exam. I really did my best not to overload on extra-curricular activities as I am used to so that I can focus on the MCAT but really did not have much time. I took Kaplan throughout the fall semester and studied hard core for 18 days before I took the January MCAT. But I failed miserably (7 PS/ 6VR/ 7 PS) I did practice exams but I think maybe I was lacking content? I really don't know how to change my strategy.

I am trying to give myself more time the second time around. But also, I get really overwhelmed when I'm trying to do 8 hours of MCAT at once so taking baby steps and trying to do little bit over a longer period of time (late October until the first week of May). Does that sound better?

Study during breakfast! I got 2 hours of studying in before leaving for work. It made a huge difference. I agree about wanting a week off closer to the end, I took mine in January to take advantage of my winter holiday. I was 75% done the content review by then and it helped me move through it quickly so I didn't forget all of the info I had already learned.

I used EK for my exams and basically followed their program, but took longer to do it. It involves pre-reading a chapter, reading carefully (with notes), practice questions, AO, and a post-read. I think I skipped the post-read. I also didn't do verbal until the end since my scores were fine on the practice but I bumped them up in the last week or two through the EK strategy. Since your verbal was weak, you'll want to integrate that sooner.

Another thing I did was set up goals for myself. If I achieved them, I had rewards, and if I didn't achieve them, I had consequences. (Give money to an organization I do not support). I made sure to work extra hard those weeks!

 

[CaffeinatedForLife]

With discipline, it is totally possible. I started studying in January 2015 for April 2015 MCAT (the new version). I had not taken biochem and had taken psych years prior in undergrad (2007?). I was taking both Organic II (+ lab) and Physics II (+ lab) while studying for the MCAT and working part time ~20 hours/week. I got up at 4am and studied until I drove to school ~9am. I banished myself to the library between classes. Did the absolute bare minimum to pass those classes with A's, and went to work. I studied whenever I could, and the bulk of it happened in the early morning before my husband woke up and on weekends, when I would send him out of the house to hang with our friends and be social. I disabled Facebook and 100% refused to have a social engagement during this time because MCAT > dinner with a friend.

I killed it and do not for one second regret my few months as a cave dweller. You can DEFINITELY do it with a full time job, just plan your life around it and be diligent.

(There will be people on here who tell you you'll fail, but I wouldn't listen.)

Edited to add: we also had a big party the day I took the MCAT to celebrate my return to my social life.

Edited again: I also took a full length practice exam (8 hours) every Wednesday for 9 weeks. That might be hard with your schedule, so you'll have to be flexible about when you can do your full lengths. But do NOT skip this. Even if you take a half day at work. It is VITAL to success.

Exactly this. Studied 4-5 hrs/day, 6 days/week (took one day/week off of MCAT study to let my brain decompress and catch up on schoolwork) for 4 months whilst taking OChem and Bio (10 credits) and working 20 hrs/week. Sometimes those 4 hours/day were split up into 2 and 2, or 1 and 3, depending on my schedule that day. But always at least 4. You get used to being hyperdisciplined and not having any leisure time. But it's totally doable and you'll be surprised at how adaptable you can be.

 

[Gutsy]

Exactly this. Studied 4-5 hrs/day, 6 days/week (took one day/week off of MCAT study to let my brain decompress and catch up on schoolwork) for 4 months whilst taking OChem and Bio (10 credits) and working 20 hrs/week. Sometimes those 4 hours/day were split up into 2 and 2, or 1 and 3, depending on my schedule that day. But always at least 4. You get used to being hyperdisciplined and not having any leisure time. But it's totally doable and you'll be surprised at how adaptable you can be.

This has been so encouraging to hear that it can be done! The only thing is that I don't think I can do 4-5 hours but more like 2 hour a day for 5-6 months. But boy do you get so pooped out after a long day at work! It's so hard to focus after spending so much time and energy in your professional life. I was wondering, what was your study plan like? Did you do content review simultaneously with practice passages? Also, have you taken biochem?

 

[CaffeinatedForLife]

This has been so encouraging to hear that it can be done! The only thing is that I don't think I can do 4-5 hours but more like 2 hour a day for 5-6 months. But boy do you get so pooped out after a long day at work! It's so hard to focus after spending so much time and energy in your professional life. I was wondering, what was your study plan like? Did you do content review simultaneously with practice passages? Also, have you taken biochem?

I totally understand being drained at the end of a long work day! For me, my job drains me in a totally different way than MCAT study did. The mental energy for MCAT studying seemed to come from a different source. It became somewhat ritualized for me...I'd go up to my desk (have a loft office separate from the rest of the house), set up my water bottle and blankets (it was cold up there), put on my special study music, open my books, and...enter a different universe. That really helped, because I'd be almost adrenalized for the duration of my study session. MCAT studying isn't just memorizing facts (there's very little of that, actually). It's a lot of reasoning through novel situations using the concepts that you know, which lights up a totally different part of your brain than normal schoolwork does for me. Sometimes, I'd be so wrapped up that I wouldn't notice how late it had become and basically force myself to close the books and go to bed.

If you're really worried about having the mental focus while maintaining your current work schedule (your work is quite demanding, it seems), it might be worth considering making some changes to your job hours and/or sacrificing income potential during that time. I know that's hard to do, and may or may not be possible given your job situation and/or finances, but the MCAT is one of the main factors that medical schools use to determine your fitness for being a future physician (for better or for worse). Re-examine your situation and assumptions (such as "I MUST make $XX/mo" or "I MUST workout every day for 1.5 hours" or "they will DEFINITELY fire me if I do this") carefully to see what sacrifices you can make. You are likely going to have to give up something, and you don't want that something to be a competitive MCAT score! I reduced workouts to once a week, put all household projects and chores on hold, didn't have a social life to speak of, and dipped into savings in order to make it all work. You not only CAN find a way to carve out time/energy for study, but you HAVE TO if you want to make this dream happen. I, personally, think at 5-6 months you risk forgetting what you studied in the beginning, which is why I'm stressing trying to condense your study schedule.

Speaking of, I followed SN2Ed's 4 month study schedule, which emphasizes a lot of MCAT-style problems coupled with material review. Basically, you do content review for a different subject everyday, but that content review is interspersed with practice problems within the text so your brain is constantly challenged and on alert. Then you do a set of practice problems. The next day, you review the practice problems from the day before and do content review/problems for the next subject. Every day you're supposed to do a handful of verbal passages (I only did verbal on weekends). During the month before your scheduled MCAT, you start doing practice MCATs 2-3x/week, interspersed with a second round of problem sets for everything you've already reviewed.

I took the old MCAT so didn't have biochem/sociology to study for. Couldn't tell you how the new study schedule is, or if SN2Ed has updated his schedule for the new format. You can look here: http://www.studentdoctor.net/3-month-mcat-study-schedule/

I hope that wasn't too much info... I honestly believe that the higher your MCAT score, the more doors will be opened for you down the road; thus, the lengthy treatise. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Mwooster]

Hello!

I graduated this past May and am working 10-12 hours a day. I've taken the old MCAT and am in the need to retake the new MCAT. I am wondering if anyone has successfully worked full-time and studying for the new MCAT? The most I can study is 2 hours during the weekday and this exam seems like a monster I am planning on utilizing my Saturdays.

I am aiming to take the exam in early May and I have not taken biochemistry or sociology
I also can't take any time off from work for financial reasons.

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice!

I tried to study and work full-time at the same time. I took a couple weeks off before my exam date, and 2 weeks prior to my weeks off I was working fewer hours. In the end, I got about a month of solid study time in there.

 

[wagonwheel23]

I studied for the 2015 MCAT with a 50-60 hour a week job. I studied 4 hours a day, 6 days a week for around 14 weeks? I ended up with a 513.

I think it can be done! I had also been out of school for a few years, so I really had to build my Chem/Phys and Soc/Psych knowledge from scratch. My first practice Chem/Phys section I scored a 7... Ended up with a 130 (~13 equivalent).

Good luck! You've got this!

 

[Gutsy]

I'm so impressed by everyone's dedication and ability to study after a long day! Thank you all for your responses- it has been tremendously helpful and I am forever grateful.

One quick question, for those who took the 2015 MCAT and used Berkeley Review, do you think it's okay to use the older version? I know that they have new versions out for Bio but I don't know how much of a difference there is. Thank you!