<p>So I am planning on taking the MCATs towards the end of this summer. I will be done with my pre-reqs by the end of this semester. These have been my grades in my pre-reqs</p>
<p>Bio 1: A-
Bio 2: A
Chem 1: B-
Chem 2: B+
Physics 1: A-
Physics 2:B+
Orgo 1: B
Orgo 2: A-</p>
<p>Right now I have around a 3.7 overall gpa. My target goal for the mcats is a 34 or a 35. This summer I plan on using Sn2ed's study guide which can be found here:</p>
<p>I am also going to be taking a Kaplan course this summer and doing all the work that they give me. </p>
<p>Do you guys think these 2 study methods will be enough for me to achieve my goal. You guys know my overall gpa/grades in pre-req classes. My sat scores were 1450+/1600 and 2150+/2400. If not, is there something else that I could do, in order to reach my target MCAT score?</p>
<p>Have any of you guys tried Sn2ed's study schedule? Has it worked for any of you? </p>
<p>Any other tips that you guys might have would help me a lot. </p>
<p>Make sure you do FL exams. There are about 10 kaplan, 10 princeton, 10 Gs, 7 Berkley and 8 AAMC and You will be in a good position to score 35+. Read all the Mcat discussion posts on SDN</p>
<p>I used Sn2ed’s 3 month schedule with some alterations. I generally followed the 3 month schedule to the T and added about a week and a half of buffer time to it. With this buffer time, I took three additional TBR CBT practice tests as compared to just the 8 AAMC’s that he had scheduled in. I also didn’t heavily use the ExamKrackers 1001’s mostly because I didn’t have time (I studied from January through early April). He stresses to time everything, but I only timed verbal passages and practice passages in TBR that were supposed to be timed (phase 2). I felt I learned the material better when I didn’t time myself the first time. Anyway, I took the MCAT on April 9th and I think it went pretty well (I won’t get my score until early May). I am shooting for a 34+ like you. I averaged around a 33/34 on the practice AAMCS. I personally think doing Sn2eds schedule on top of a kaplan course is complete overkill. Just doing Sn2eds schedule is difficult enough. I put in 4-5 hours a day 6 days a week for about three months on this schedule alone. Adding an entire kaplan course to that would get pretty intense in my opinion.</p>
<p>^ Thanks for the help bro. I will definitely do the FL exams. I will do all the AAMC exams and most of the kaplan exams. Are you speaking from experience, when you say that I will be in a good position to get a 35+. In other words did you have similar grades in pre-req classes at a similar school, have a similar gpa, and similar sat scores and you did what I am planning on doing and you got a 35+? Do you know people who were in my situation and managed to get a 35+?</p>
<p>I am sure the veteran posters on this site have seen a lot of profiles where kids were in my situation. If any of them can relate their experiences it may help me out. </p>
<p>Bluedevilmike, mmcdowe, norcalguy, Curmudegon, Kristen, MyOpinon, Shades? Any thoughts? Comments? Ways to maximize my studying time?</p>
<p>Thanks for the help, let me know how your MCATs go. I want to be overprepared than underprepared. I have A LOT of free time this summer, so I don’t mind putting in 7 hours of work a day. Even though I managed to get a 1450+/2150+ on the sats the second time around, I really struggled the first time around. The first time I spent 3 weeks studying and only got a score in the 1990-2030 range. The second time I spent 1 month preparing and got my target score. I don’t want to make the same mistakes that I did in high school.</p>
<p>Another poster I talked to on SDN, told me that schedule only took up 3 hours a day for her. I was planning on spending around 7 hours a day studying. That is how many hours people like Norcalguy and BDM said they studied in the MCAT thread.</p>
<p>On test day, you want to be just-the-right-amount-of-prepared. The reasons for not being underprepared are, I think, obvious. Overpreparation is not much better - it’s a waste of time and a risk factor for burnout, and you don’t want to be taking an important test when you’re feeling burned out.</p>
<p>I can’t say anything about Sn2ed’s method (I’ve never heard of it) but I can say that I got outstanding results with Kaplan’s classroom course. I started in early January and took the MCAT in April (this was when the MCAT was offered on paper two times a year) so that was about 3 months. I went to class two times a week for 3 hours a time while a fulltime college student. I think the only study I did on my own were the homework assignments and reviewing some flashcards at night before hopping into bed. On test day, I felt like a million bucks, like I was at my peak, and if my score is any indication, I certainly was.</p>
<p>^ Your right, I don’t want to feel burned out during the test. I already signed up for the kaplan course and bought all the books for Sn2ed’s schedule. What should I do? Should I just stick to Sn2ed’s schedule, and use Kaplan for the class time and practice tests?</p>
<p>How much work does kaplan give in terms of homework assignments?</p>
<p>+1 for Kaplan Classroom class. Worked great for me. I just did what they recommended (though they suggested more–I probably put in as much or less work as Shades, above) and saw my scores improve. </p>
<p>Wish my score were higher (and was expecting to do better), but then again, it didn’t end up making an appreciable difference: I interviewed at the schools where I wanted to interview and am absolutely thrilled about my choice of a medical school. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t worry about it too much. The MCAT’s challenging and stressful without the additional pressure from juggling two different study methods. Pick one like the others have suggested and do it diligently! Good luck!</p>
<p>You might want to read the 4/16 MCAT thread on sdn, specifically the posts after the test. My daughter took that test, and the comments that are on that thread regarding the PS is what whe felt. She came out of the test with a complete “huh” on the PS section. She said none of the aamc tests could have prepped her for it. She said it was like verbal, but with science passages. The format was completely different. No plug and chug, and none of the aamc tests were anything like it or prepared you for them.</p>
<p>That being said, she was glad she took the online Kaplan course. We’ll see in 3 weeks how it worked out.</p>
<p>D. has mentioned that taking Genetics and Physiology before MCAT was very helpful for MCAT, while first Bio class did not help at all, if it has any relevance to your decision. </p>
<p>As far as studying, it depends on your work load. D. took less credit hours, but she was still very busy both with academics and EC’s. She took Kaplan (long one, starting about October thru spring, on Sundays), she took MCAT in a middle of May, 2 weeks after her finals. The last 2 weeks were waste of time according to her. She wished she scheduled MCAT right after finals. She did not need to review Chem. at all, being SI for Chem prof for 2 years.</p>
<p>I took physiology, genetics, and biochemistry before I took the MCAT and all of them were very helpful. They just expose you to more subjects that makes reading the bio passages a little bit less foreign. And, as for the crazy PS section on the 4/16 MCAT. That shouldn’t change your studying for that section because there is no way you can prepare for that. Expect the expected and if the unexpected occurs, it will hurt everyone and the curve will probably be more generous. Also, for the PS make sure you understand what you are learning and are not just memorizing formulas because my PS section on the actual test was more theoretical concept heavy as compared to number crunching heavy, which seems to be a pattern with recent tests.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend the usage of content flash cards as a part of the study program. Kaplan’s were sufficient for me, but I don’t think there was anything special about them. I read all of the material once, but I memorized all of the flash cards. They are not sufficient in themselves, but I was pretty confident that the questions that I got wrong were not due to lack of knowledge.</p>
<p>With Kaplan, you get a giant “lesson book” and then also have review books for physical sciences, general chem, organic chem, bio, and verbal. Plus you also get flashcards, “quicksheets,” and access to a seriously complete online suite of quizzes, section tests, analytical materials, and full-lengths. </p>
<p>My class was like shades’s, we met 2x per week for 3h per time. During each session we’d go through the lesson book, learning/reviewing material and doing sample problems. Occasionally you’ll have a session that is devoted to MCAT strategy. The sequence of the sessions is generally like: Bio I, Chem I, Orgo I, Physics I, Verbal I. Strategy, maybe a full length. Bio II, Chem II, Orgo II, Physics II, Verbal II. Strategy, full length. Bio III, Chem III, Orgo III, Physics III, Verbal III. Strategy, multiple full lengths. MCAT. (The idea is that you cover the basics of each subject before getting into more detail. Bio I does not necessarily correspond to, say, freshman bio; Bio II, not necessarily to something like Genetics–those are just terms Kaplan uses).</p>
<p>Before each session, you’re supposed to go through the review books for that session’s material and take short quizzes. The idea is that then you can participate more in class and pay closer attention to the strategies and question format, etc. After a session, they’ll tell you what to prepare for the next class–basically like homework. I never did the homework or the quizzes and instead relied on the course and the online material. I bet I would have done better had I done the program more fully, but nonetheless I felt like I was adequately prepared and achieved the ultimate goal: med school admission.</p>
<p>As a former Kaplan teacher, I would recommend not buying the lectures and focus on the written and online material. The lectures, in my opinion, are of mixed value for the price.</p>
<p>Thanks for the informative response Kristen. My class is also meeting 2X a week for 3 hours. How long does it take to review the material for each class and take the quizzes, if you could estimate on average? The reason that I am asking is because BDM and Norcalguy on the MCATs thread said that they studied roughly 6-7 hours a day for the MCATs. And if Kaplan only gave 3-4 hours of homework before each class, then I could spend my other study time on Sn2ed’s schedule. Since you have already gotten into medical school, do you think that is a good plan?</p>
<p>I am determined to spend at least 6 hours a day on MCAT prep. I am not that concerned with burning out, because I will get my studying done during the day, and go out with friends at night. Also, I have spent the last year in college studying 5-5.5 hours a day everyday outside of class. And if I can handle that, then 6 hours a day, everyday with no classes shouldn’t be a problem. The reason that I had to spend so much time studying this past year, is because I took the maximum credit hours possible for each semester.</p>
<p>Wait, are you telling me that you’re spending this summer ONLY doing MCAT prep? That’s a very large mistake. You need the summer’s worth of extracurriculars.</p>
<p>No, I definitely plan on doing some shadowing/volunteering at a hospital. I also plan on doing some community service throughout the summer. </p>
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<p>^^ Lol, I think you mentioned on page 5 of the MCAT thread that you should do 3 hours of studying on your own and 3 hours in class. Since my class only meets 2 days a week, I will spend 6 hours on the other days. </p>
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<p>^^ Mmmcdowe, what are these “lectures” that you are referring to? Does kaplan make you pay extra money for their MCAT material? If so, that would be ridiculous. I already paid 1700 for the classroom course.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses guys I really appreciate it.</p>