<p>I'm going to be a junior next year and I'm taking the MCAT in the spring of 2014 and again in the fall if I don't do well. This summer I'd like to self-study, a lot. However, I'm trying to figure out an appropriate number of hours to assign to doing so. I will be working 20 hours a week at the hospital so I was curious if I should possibly study maybe 40 hours a week for the exam and have a 60 hour week schedule?</p>
<p>I would love to be able to study 40 hours a week for it during the school year but I'll be taking more than 15 credits all next year. I still need to take Physics 1 and 2, Physics lab, organic chemistry 2 lab, and biology 2 lab. The second level labs are hard to get into at my school so I to unfortunately wait until next year to get in.</p>
<p>So does 40 hours a week for four months sound good? Or is it pointless to study so much a year before I take it? Should I study less or more? There is no way I could possibly afford a class.</p>
<p>It’s pretty pointless to study so far in advance of the exam. You’re not going to remember much of anything a full year later. Plus the real skills you need to cultivate for MCAT aren’t just material recall, it’s section timing and test-taking strategies.</p>
<p>Do bear in mind that a prep class is a very small fraction of college tuition, medical school tuition, and even medical school application costs (if you include travel). And some prep classes actually offer scholarships.</p>
<p>With that said, I know some folks who self-studied and did fine. I think a customary schedule for a prep class is about 20 hours a week for about 10 weeks. I noticed that I (and many of my classmates) actually plateaued around week 6, so it probably would have been wiser to take the test around week eight or so (roughly 160 hours of study).</p>
<p>Prep classes can be a hit or miss. A lot depends on the quality of the teachers. My son tried Princeton Review class on his campus. It got so bad with the guy who was doing the Physics, after a lot of complaints they had to replace him. By that time, my son decided that it was a waste of time and stopped going to those classes.</p>
<p>If a student wants to pick up Genetics/Physiology in the Berkeley Review Books after completing all prerequisites, would it require a solid 10-week preparation (20 hours/week)?</p>
<p>The quality of the instructor is indeed critical. Would it be better registering the on-line course than risking having a not-so-good instructor? After all, both on-site and on-line options have about the same 12 sessions.</p>