Writing the MCAT while in graduate school

[Tina_HP]

Hi. Has anyone written the MCAT while in graduate school doing a Masters or PhD? Did you ask your supervisor for time off to prepare for the MCAT?

[dcgirl_44]

I wrote mine while I was writing my master's thesis proposal. My supervisor's always been understanding when I've taken on other extracurricular projects & had part-time jobs so she didn't seem to care. I did let her know that I was writing it and taking a prep course so I think she was aware that half of my time (and most of it leading up to the test) was on mcat prep... but it would really depend on your relationship with your supervisor. I also don't work in a lab (mainly my office or coffee shops) so she doesn't really see me on a regular basis.

 

I'd probably just be upfront about it with your supervisor - you'll want a reference in the end anyways so you might as well be honest about your future plans now Good luck studying!

[lost__in__space]

doing it right now! my supervisor is pretty flexible too... I can take time off and study if I need to whenever.

[astrogirl]

I just did it. My supervisor knew about it, but we didn't ever really talk about it. In general he just kind of lets me do my own thing and doesn't try to micro-manage my time. I should tell you, though, that I don't work in a lab and usually work at home or in the library on my own computer, and that my research is kind of my own thing and not directly related to projects he's working on, so it's not like he's waiting for my results to publish things. And actually, now that I think about it, I would say my overall research productivity increased somewhat while I studying (mostly because some stuff I was trying to do finally started working), so that probably helped the situation.

[lost__in__space]

I hope you did well astrogirl!!! :-)

[astrogirl]

I hope you did well astrogirl!!! :-)

 

Thanks! I'll be sure to let you all know how it went when I find out.

[metukah]

Hi guys,

I'm in a simillar situation..first year masters and schedueled to re-write MCAT at the end of May. I'm going to start studying now. My problem is that I don't know how to manage my time with this re-write...as well as juggling my graduate responsibilities. My lab is very flexible and I don't have to be there everyday. Do you have any suggestions as to setting up a good schedule for for the next 3-4 months?

 

Thanks a lot!!

[astrogirl]

Hi metukah. Here are some ideas that might help:

 

1. Take a practice test right away. You can use that to get an idea of what you need to focus on when you study. You might find that there are some topics that you know really well and only need to review briefly, and there might be other topics that you don't know at all (in my case there certainly were), and for those you'll need to do a lot more work.

 

2. Figure out which days of the week you can study on (if you can study all 7 days of the week, I still recommend taking one day off a week). Figure out how many hours you can study for on each day, and when those hours are. Schedule those hours into your week like it's a job. I find that it's better to study for one long period each day rather than several short periods, because that helps you build up your ability to sit and do this for long periods of time. The MCAT is a long test.

 

3. Get whatever prep materials you need, and figure out deadlines throughout your study time to make sure you cover everything you need to cover. Review your deadlines once a week to make sure you're on track and adjust if necessary.

 

4. Take practice tests throughout, both to see how you're progressing and to build up your ability to sit and do the MCAT for 4+ hours. At the beginning you can maybe do one a month, but in the couple of weeks before the MCAT I did one a week (I did one on the two Saturdays right before the actual test) so that I was used to sitting down and writing the MCAT all afternoon, and then when I got to the actual test, I was much less nervous because it was like I was just doing the same thing I've been doing for the last two Saturdays.

 

Good luck!

[lost__in__space]

Solid advice. I'm doing the EK study schedule right now and it seems like a reasonable fit with my grad schedule.

 

Hi metukah. Here are some ideas that might help:

 

1. Take a practice test right away. You can use that to get an idea of what you need to focus on when you study. You might find that there are some topics that you know really well and only need to review briefly, and there might be other topics that you don't know at all (in my case there certainly were), and for those you'll need to do a lot more work.

 

2. Figure out which days of the week you can study on (if you can study all 7 days of the week, I still recommend taking one day off a week). Figure out how many hours you can study for on each day, and when those hours are. Schedule those hours into your week like it's a job. I find that it's better to study for one long period each day rather than several short periods, because that helps you build up your ability to sit and do this for long periods of time. The MCAT is a long test.

 

3. Get whatever prep materials you need, and figure out deadlines throughout your study time to make sure you cover everything you need to cover. Review your deadlines once a week to make sure you're on track and adjust if necessary.

 

4. Take practice tests throughout, both to see how you're progressing and to build up your ability to sit and do the MCAT for 4+ hours. At the beginning you can maybe do one a month, but in the couple of weeks before the MCAT I did one a week (I did one on the two Saturdays right before the actual test) so that I was used to sitting down and writing the MCAT all afternoon, and then when I got to the actual test, I was much less nervous because it was like I was just doing the same thing I've been doing for the last two Saturdays.

 

Good luck!

[dcgirl_44]

I wrote the mcat twice, once after the 2nd year of my undergrad and then during the 1st year of my MSc (the score was going to expire and I wanted to do a little better anyways).

 

The first time I just bought someone's Princeton Review books & they gave me their course schedule as well whereas I took the actual Princeton course last time (I could justify spending my TA money to cover the ridiculous cost). I don't think a course is necessary but having that schedule is key... and sticking to it makes all the difference

 

Schedule practice tests often and schedule time to review your tests within the next day or so to avoid making the same mistakes. Definitely focus more on understanding the concepts than memorizing minor details as well.

 

Good luck!

[The Law]

Anybody have tips on how I can talk to my supervisor about this? There is a woman managing my project (not my supervisor), who basically slave drives me. I'm finding it extremely difficult to get study time because I'm in the lab normally from about 9AM-7PM or so, everyday. The thing I'm frustrated with is the amount of work I have to do is extreme and it's basically impossible to do anything else. By the time I get home it's already pretty late and I'm just exhausted. I rarely even have time to eat!! I'm taking a 10 minute P101 break right now and am feeling guilty. haha.

 

My supervisor once told me that we all just have to work hard to make sure things get done and that our hours were flexible (so long as it doesn't affect our work). So far, I've always finished all my work on time and they're really happy with me - but the problem is, if I keep up like this, I will not have time to study. I've been slowly prepping since about October, and have gone over concepts a lot... but need to get really into the groove where I have some solid study time. I'm only getting to do about one section of MCAT a week... It's been so brutal trying to balance this all. The only way I'm going to improve is to get solid test-writing time. My scores right now are decent (most recent test was PS-10, BS - 10, VR - 11), which I know I can improve if I just keep practicing.

 

 

Anybody have any ideas for ways I can make reasonable suggestions to my supervisor that might help my case? Maybe I can ask for a couple of hours of study time a day or something. There's a library in the hospital that I could make use of. I'm just worried because the amount of work I have is tremendous, and I don't know if I can ask my supervisor for some patience for me to get it done in a reasonable time span. Right now, I just work like crazy and finish everything immediately.

[astrogirl]

Law - What if you asked if you could start coming in to the lab later so that you could study for a few hours in the morning? You could maybe come in at noon and leave at 8 - which is a full work day, so they can't accuse you of not putting in enough time in the lab. You could stay later if you needed to, but that way you would get your studying done while your mind is still fresh and you're not exhausted and stressed out from being in the lab all day.

 

Just say that you'll stay as late as you need to to get everything done, but that you need a few hours in the morning to study. That's not an unreasonable request. If people get upset about that, just remind them that this is only temporary and that you're still getting work done in the lab, and remind yourself that it's your life, not theirs, and you need to do what you need to do to get into med school.

[future_doc]

astrogirl makes excellent sense. As it appears that the problem may well be the woman managing the project and therefore, in your appraoch to the Supervisor, be prepared for a counter-argument made pursuant to the views of the manager, that oyu either rebut or you take the initiative to make very clear that your daily output will be precisely the same. What can they say? On the basis that you don't need to be with another person who shall have left already, presumably you shall have covered all bases.

 

Hopefully, there is not a power play going on by the manager, but if so, discreetly deal with it. You have two tasks to perform on a daily bais and this is the only way for you to accomplish both efficiently in a manner whereby one does not suffer.

[The Law]

Thanks guys. That's a great idea! I will try to see if we can set something up along those lines. First, I'm going to see if there's anyway for me to try to juggle more efficiently - but if I can't seem to do this over the next week, then I'm going to have to schedule a meeting with my supervisor and see if we can figure something out. I like the idea of studying in the morning and then going to the lab afterwards. That's good on another level too - I often have to take pictures of tissue and the microscope is usually booked all-day, so at least in the evening I can take my photos without having to sneak in-between others.