is 17 too young to start preparing for the MCAT in your opinion

<p>In your opinion</p>

<p>A little too young. I’d be focusing on AP/IB exams (if you’re taking them) and SAT/ACT. Threre’s no way you can retain all that information. Wait until you get there. Focus on the present.</p>

<p>Yes, way too young.</p>

<p>unless you’re taking the MCAT in a few months, WAYYYYYYY too young.</p>

<p>Ridiculously too young. Really, comically so.</p>

<p>I would agree that seventeen is too young, but after reading about CC members who started SAT Prep in middle school I have some doubts. People who get used to an exam early seem to have an advantage. They have so much time before other tasks start to get in their way. I don’t know, you may feel free to object as this is just my line of reasoning. I am actually a high school senior who has had a very bad experience with the SAT due to a lack of enough prep time. I have walked the road where my SAT scores did not allow me to achieve some of my childhood dreams. As a result, if I could go back in time, I would prepare for the SAT since middle school and upgrade my information database as I learn more. There are risks to starting “too” early, but after the experience of starting too late, I feel the risks are worth taking.</p>

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<p>Your age is not the issue, it’s where you are at in your studies. You take the MCAT when you are ready and since scores expire, when you are about to apply to medical school(about a year to six months out is common). You are, in a sense, preparing for the MCAT(and any other academic milestone) your entire life. You should be doing reading that challenges your comprehension abilities. When you take prereq classes, never settle for good enough but instead actually learn the subject(esp. those areas that you know will be on the test). </p>

<p>btw, I took most prereq classes at 14/15 years old, ochem at 16 and took the MCAT at 18. Age is not the issue.</p>

<p>Like others have said, it depends on where you’re at in your studies. Look at what subjects are covered and what subjects you have taken (at a college level). However, it does seem a little unnecessary. I would wait. If you’re already knowledgeable in these subjects, great! When you take these courses in college it will just further solidify your knowledge of the subjects. It’s one thing to take the MCAT at a young age, it’s another to actually do well. </p>

<p>At your current age I would say that you’re unprepared for the exam, therefore it would just be a waste of time and money. Just continue to do well in school and take it at around the appropriate age (junior/senior year of college).</p>

<p>Depends on what you mean by preparing for the MCAT. Getting specific preparation materials and working through study questions? You probably haven’t had the courses yet.</p>

<p>For most people at 17, here’s how you prepare. Hopefully you’ve taken every hard academic course in high school so far that you could get into. And applied yourself and done very well in them. If not, you’re already in one sense behind.</p>

<p>So, from here, you need to get into a decent college and start working as a serious college student on as high a GPA as you can get, particularly in the science prerequisites for med school. If you can get a 4.0 in college, do it. You don’t have to have a 4.0 to get into med school, but as close as you can get to it adds to your chances.</p>

<p>When you take the courses the MCAT tests, really learn the material. After you’ve taken those college courses and done well in them, then you’ll be ready to start studying specifically for the MCAT.</p>