MCAT Timeline Help 2025

[veruna]

Hello everyone,

I am going into my junior year, and I want to take the MCAT at the earliest January 2025 date hopefully before I go into the new semester. I would like to receive some advice on a study timeline starting sometime next week before my potential test date. I am taking biochem during my upcoming fall semester.

Timeline

Take diagnostic half-length

1. Content Review (1-1.5 months?) [summer ~4 weeks]

• M-F:
  • 8:30-11:30 AM study
  • 11:30-12 PM eat and commute to hospital
  • 12-3 PM shift (I can squeeze in some ANKI cards on my phone)
  • After I come home from the hospital, I can finish any material I intended to complete for the day and rest at night
• Saturday
  • flexible, but I'll try to have the whole day to study MCAT and a hangout with friends every other week
• Sunday rest day
• Would like to mention I am taking a 2-week vacation 4 weeks from now. Should I just do ANKI whenever I can during vacation?
• I bought the 7 book Kaplan 2024-2025 bundle. I think I will do 2 chapters/day; should I alternate subjects every day or focus on finishing one book per week and combining it with prac Qs from ??? throughout the week.
• Take another half-length diagnostic after content-review

1. Practice(maybe after my vacation?) [summer ~8 weeks]
   • Same schedule as [1.]
   • I am interested in purchasing the Blueprint 6 FL bundle, UWorld, and AAMC bundle
   • No clue what to do tbh
2. School Year Review/Practice[~3 months during semester]
   • I blocked out my MWF for 2 hours dedicated to MCAT studying. Should I try to do ANKI every day still? Maybe UWorld questions during those times during my semester? I'm so lost. Also short on money and I know UWorld is pricey-- not sure when to purchase the subscription.
3. Winter Break[~1 month before test date]
   • should I really wait until this one month break to cram in all 5 AAMC Fls? I think I will be tired from all the church I will be going to because it's Christmas.

Thank you for reading and for the help :') I will really appreciate it.

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[deleted1169403]

What other prerequisites are outstanding for you? Usually it’s best to take the MCAT after you’ve completed classes, especially biochemistry.

Also I wouldn’t recommend studying for the MCAT while you’re taking a class that’s as important as biochemistry. Make sure you prioritize your GPA and grade in that class.

 

[veruna]

What other prerequisites are outstanding for you? Usually it’s best to take the MCAT after you’ve completed classes, especially biochemistry.

Also I wouldn’t recommend studying for the MCAT while you’re taking a class that’s as important as biochemistry. Make sure you prioritize your GPA and grade in that class.

I only have biochem left. I am pretty confident in my ability right now to both study for the MCAT and handle my classes/everything else.

 

[Miamiheat2003]

Are you making your own Anki card or using already made decks?

 

[Ishwari K]

Hi, I'm also planning a similar timeline, taking biochem in fall and doing most content review over summer and taking the exam in January. Which Anki decks are you using? I'm trying to decide between Milesdown, AnKing, or Jack Sparrow. I was going to use Kaplan for content review as well.

 

[Ichigo]

Hi, I'm also planning a similar timeline, taking biochem in fall and doing most content review over summer and taking the exam in January. Which Anki decks are you using? I'm trying to decide between Milesdown, AnKing, or Jack Sparrow. I was going to use Kaplan for content review as well.

Use AnKing, it arranges the Kaplan content by chapter.

 

[veruna]

Are you making your own Anki card or using already made decks?

I am currently going through the AnKing deck. I am considering making my own deck from questions I get wrong as recommended by other people later in the process.

 

[PremedHopeful123]

I'm in a similar position to you, with almost all pre-reqs completed save for biochem and physics 2. When you took the half-length Blueprint diagnostic, did you do any content review before then?

 

[nuggetatheart]

Just in response to some of the questions you had in your original post-

- the Kaplan chapters are different enough from each other (even in the same book) that I don’t think it matters that much what order you do them in. Whatever keeps you engaged. For example I’d do 1 chapter physics in the morning, 1 chapter bio in the afternoon - helped my brain change settings like when going from section to section in the actual test.
- Yeah, I think if you go on vacation, keeping up with Anki is great to sustain your knowledge and keep you in the mindset while not ruining your vacation. I did the same during my content review. At one point on vacation I was just doing Anki cards with my non med friends who thought it was like a fun trivia game. A little excessive but I tried to make it fun lol
- I wasn’t perfect but did try to do a few Anki cards each day (sometimes as few as 5), even on lighter study days. It does help
- depends how condensed your studying is, you don’t necessarily have to squeeze 5 practice tests in a month. I studied part time and spread those 5 over 2 months.

Most important is to see where you’re at and adjust your study approach based on your strengths and weaknesses. It will definitely be tough to take the MCAT without having taken biochem but take a look at the content and see if you have the time and bandwidth to teach yourself while covering your other bases to get the best score you can. Make a plan and start it, but don’t be afraid to change it if it’s not working for you.