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How many hours per week did you study for the MCAT

  • 1-3

    Votes: 28 15.6%

  • 3-6

    Votes: 21 11.7%

  • 6-10

    Votes: 40 22.2%

  • 10-20

    Votes: 49 27.2%

  • 20+

    Votes: 42 23.3%
  • Total voters
    180
For the MCAT alone?
 
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I did 1-2 hours a day. More on the weekends.
 
I spent more time on practice tests and going over wrong answers than actual textbook studying.

12 practice tests in all.
 
There is no "magical" number of hours to study to get a good score, if that is what you are looking for. It really depends on a lot of factors. The best thing to do is judge for yourself how much you need to study, using practice MCATS as a guide. If you are scoring poorly, study more. If you break the 30 barrier and you are happy, then study less. Easy :clap:
 
I went to about 6-7hrs out of my 10hr per week class, we had a practice mcat every 2-3 weeks which took all saturday, and then I probably averaged about 10hrs per week of alone studying.
 
I took the PR course which was from the last week of January to the week before the exam in April (so around 12 weeks?) and did their 10 hours of class per week, plus their 5 8-hr practice exams. I guess this averages out to 14 or so hours per week preparing for the MCAT..but only for 12 weeks.
 
I got a high 30's score and I would say that I studied a total of 100 hours spread out over a year, 40 or so of them in the 2 weeks leading up to the test.
 
During intersession in January, I probably studied about 20-25 hours per week but when class started up again, I probably studied 2-3 hours/week. About 2 1/2 weeks before the exam, I kicked things up a notch - I took a break from my ECs, research and work and studied about 30-40 hours a week.
 
I got an upper 30's score as well. My studying method varied from about 4 hours a week back in Feb, to about 30 hours a week in the three weeks before the MCAT. However, remember to take it easy the day before the godforsaken test!

Good luck future MCAT'ers,

tf

*edit: The scary looking 30 hours/week figure includes all the AAMC and Kaplan tests that I took leading up to test day.
 
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I think premeds are notorious liars about how much they study. Since the majority of this board uses test prep just find a kaplan schedule from someone in a class already and see how many hours classes are and how much time it takes to do an ave. lesson plan.
 
Originally posted by peterockduke
I think premeds are notorious liars about how much they study. Since the majority of this board uses test prep just find a kaplan schedule from someone in a class already and see how many hours classes are and how much time it takes to do an ave. lesson plan.
Click to expand...

I won't agree about the liar part, but the hours spent in Kaplan course, plus the few hours a week to prep for each class were all I really did 'til the week before the test.

You probably won't need anything like the 30hrs/week if you are primarily reviewing material. If you have to relearn, say, everything from Physics, it'll take more time.

good luck!
 
actual studying on my own...no hours a week until the week of the test...
 
Jesus, I studied for about 13 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 1.5 months. Afterwards I studied about 5 hours a day for a month before the exam ( I was working). I had completely forgot my science knowledge when I decided to take my MCAT, I didn't even know about hybrid orbitals, orbital geometry, and quantum numbers!!!!! I also had to teach myself organic 2 since I hadn't taken it at the time. After all that, I ended up with a 30.
 
i took the MCAT three or so years after I finished the premed prerequistes so I had to relearn everything. I put in hard time for a month, essentially 3/4 full time for a month before the test.
 
Over what period of time? Averaged over my whole life? The semester before? I hardly studied until the six weeks prior. My study hours increased over that time.
 
I took 6 full length practice exams and just went over what I got wrong. I took the MCAT early enough that I knew I had another chance so I honestly didn't study very much. I managed a 32 and then felt too lazy to take it again even though I thought I could probably bring up my verbal score.
 
Yikes . . I got a good night of rest before the exam, does that count? ;)
 
i hadn't taken ochem and physics and the assoc. labs; plus it was 4 years since i'd taken bio and chem...so i put in disproportionate hours of time for 4 months leading up to the test to teach myself the material (hmm...i'd say about 5-6 hours a day of hardcore studying averaged out?) i also took practice tests on as many weekends as i could. the key is practice tests - if you've already taken all the classes it shouldn't take that long to review it all. good luck!
 
hmm...i only studied the last few weeks leading up to the exam....and even then, i had classes and finals to study for. i'd say i put in a few good days of 8-5 studying, and studied sporadically for the rest of those few weeks.

i think you are best prepared if you learn the material in your classes very well before you actually have to start studying. also, i wouldn't waste your time trying to memorize (or re-memorize) all the orgo reactions...it's very low-yield, as they give you most of the information you need to know for orgo in the actual passages (at least, that's how it was a few years ago when i took the mcat). i barely studied orgo (except for the basics, like stereochem, and basic substitution/elimination rxns) and did very well in bio. and i hadn't even thought much about orgo in the 2.5 years that passed between when in actually took the courses and when i took the MCAT.

honestly though, no one other than you knows how much you need to study....be sure to take a diagnostic or two before you start studying so that you knwo what your weak areas are and what you need to focus on.

and if you're accustomed to studying the day/night before any other exam, i don't see harm in studying the day/night before the MCAT. I did, and it actually did end up making a difference. but if you're the kind of person who needs to take a break before a big exam, then by all means do so.

good luck!
 
i did the kaplan course and studied 2 hours a day5 months prior to the august mcat and took a review course......even though a lot of people think otherwise....i loved kaplan because being in class actually forced me to study. i also did 4 full lenght practice tests.
 
I took the Kaplan review class so that's 6 hours a week right there, not counting the usual Sunday practice exams. After that, I was taking orgo and physics simultaenously during that semester (+ other classes as well), so that should go into the calculation since that definately helped me on the test. The key, in my opinion, was going down to the Kaplan center and taking practice mcat's, whether it be full tests, sections, or just passages. All in all, I probably spent 15 hours a week studying, with some weeks heavier than others. I did spend my spring break doing practice mcat's...and each one takes a while...it adds up.

I would recommend you study your material, take a test, and see where you are. Then go over the test you took and learn from them. If you realize something is coming up over and over again, check out the book and learn it.
 
i took the summer mcat and basically treated preperation like a fulltime job....9-5 type days with practice tests once every other week...that strategy worked well for me, but it had been some time since i had the prereqs....i think if you are just coming out of the prereq courses that you would not need as much time on material review. instead you would want to focus your time on test taking practice.
 
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