buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 im looking into cracking open the MCAT book this summer and was wondering how long you guys studied for? all summer? how many hours a day? any help or pointers to get me on the right track would be helpful! thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End Poverty Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I studied for 2 months, 8 hours a day and I managed to get a respectable score. I think how long you study depends on your current level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I studied for 2 months, 8 hours a day and I managed to get a respectable score. I think how long you study depends on your current level. did you do any of the Princeton review/kaplan courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiousaboutapps1 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I studied for 4 months. However in the first two months I only studied occasionally and was not terribly on top of things. In the last two months I studied about 4-5 hours a day (I worked full time) and all day on Saturday and Sunday. Then in the last week (I took it off from work) I studied from 8am to 9pm. I did run out of time to study everything and probably would have done better if I has managed my time more effectively during the begining of my summer break. However, I did manage to do reasonably well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiousaboutapps1 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 did you do any of the Princeton review/kaplan courses? I know this wasn't directed at me, but I'll give my insight anyways. I used Princeton Review. It covered everything (even though some supplemental stuff had to be accessed through the online resources) (I wrote in 2015 and they jumped the gun a little bit on releasing these books to be the first ones out). The PR tests are hard. Very hard. I scored 10pts better on my actual MCAT than any PR test I ever wrote. I feel like this pushed me harder, but it did lead to extra stress. (I had convinced myself to only aim for a 500 and ended up being ecstatic with my actual score) My friends who used Kaplan said that it was nice and condensed but that the sample MCATs were not as reflective of the actual MCAT difficulty. I've never used them so I cannot provide much more detail than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 The reason i ask about the prep courses is because i haven't taken Physics 101 (at ubc) and i really don't wanna waste my time, money and ding my GPA just for a couple questions on the MCAT... i guess ill realized how fcked i am once i start to study.. sigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_jacob_45 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I took the Princeton review course and studied for about 3 months for 5-6 hours a day during the week, 8 on weekends with one day off a week. I took the course because I had not previously taken physics and felt that I needed the in class explanation for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I took the Princeton review course and studied for about 3 months for 5-6 hours a day during the week, 8 on weekends with one day off a week. I took the course because I had not previously taken physics and felt that I needed the in class explanation for it. wow okay finally someone who i can relate to. how did you find it? taking the course instead of in class physics? did you still do okay? or would you recommend taking it in class? did you take physics 12? sorry for all the questions im just so lost haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 wow okay finally someone who i can relate to. how did you find it? taking the course instead of in class physics? did you still do okay? or would you recommend taking it in class? did you take physics 12? sorry for all the questions im just so lost haha I studied 2 months full time basically, 3ish weeks content review and the rest doing practice exams and did well on my MCAT. I didn't take physics 102 (magnets/electricity etc.) but found that EK physics + khan academy + Physics 12 did good enough of a job covering it. You can definitely get by without university physics, you may have to dedicate more time to physics is all I personally dont think courses are needed if you put the time in and are disciplined with your studies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curiousaboutapps1 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I can attest to physics 12 being fine. Highschool physics covered just about everything on the MCAT for me (I was actually a huge keener in HS and bought an MCAT book.... ended up using it to study in HS). Maybe try looking over Physics again during the winter break and gauge how comfortable you are with it. If you feel that you would benefit from a course, do it. The course will not be a bad choice.Remember there are a lot of other options to learn physics if that's the only area you are woried about. ASAP science and Khan academy do a great job of explaining and you can always do a few sessions with a tutor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End Poverty Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I studied for 2 months, 8 hours a day and I managed to get a respectable score. I think how long you study depends on your current level. I bought kaplan books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MountainAmoeba Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I didn't have any of the requisite courses, and self studied. I used Kaplan, Khans academy, and Wikipedia haha. It took me 8 months to learn the material. I did well overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirsam Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 The best way to know exactly how much studying you need to do is to do an evaluation exam to find your weaknesses! Good luck OP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_jacob_45 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 wow okay finally someone who i can relate to. how did you find it? taking the course instead of in class physics? did you still do okay? or would you recommend taking it in class? did you take physics 12? sorry for all the questions im just so lost haha Hey no problem! I did not take physics 11 or 12 either, so that was also part of the reason I wanted to take a class. I ended up getting 127 (the same as I got in B/B btw), so I think it worked out alright, although I am pretty good at chemistry so that helped balance things out. Physics was definitely the hardest thing for me to study for, but not impossible. I think whether the class helps depends on the specific teacher. Mine happened to be really good for physics (he had taught high school physics), but some of my other class teachers were not as worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolynH Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 A friend of mine took 2 1/2 months to study for the 2015 MCAT without any UG science courses. Bought the Kaplan 7-book set and did 1 chapter a day sometimes 2. Practiced with the Kaplan's full length exams and AAMC's scored exam. Got a very decent score! It depends on the person. Some people work better alone and some needs discipline by physically going to class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeanutButter1 Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 Studied for about 6 months while working about 45 - 55 hours/wk, volunteering, and some extracurriculars. It was a busy time, but doable. Got a respectable score (i.e. over 510/30) but nothing special. Used EK and Khan, thought they were excellent resources. Best thing I did was practice with as much AAMC material I could get my hands on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 thank you guys so much for all your input!!!! i really appreciate it! on a side note, what books did you guys have help prepare? also do you recommend buying them second hand? lol sorry im so annoying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I used kaplan, but I also think EK is better (will save you time as it is more barebones and to the point) if you have a good science background. I'd highly recommend checking out r/MCAT it was easily one of the most valuable resources to use when studying for the MCAT, great advice and great community. r/MCAT will probably have the answers to all your questions and ones you haven't even thought of yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy2550 Posted December 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I used kaplan, but I also think EK is better (will save you time as it is more barebones and to the point) if you have a good science background. I'd highly recommend checking out r/MCAT it was easily one of the most valuable resources to use when studying for the MCAT, great advice and great community. r/MCAT will probably have the answers to all your questions and ones you haven't even thought of yet looks like im gonns sign up for **DELETED** then! thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolynH Posted December 17, 2016 Report Share Posted December 17, 2016 Buying second hand saves a lot. Make sure the books do not have writing or highlighting on them. It could be very distracting. Try to look for them on craigslist or UBC students group on facebook. There are MCAT books being sold from time to time. Best of luck on your studying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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