Following up on last week’s entry on Study Schedules, I want to continue the focus and narrow in on what “study blocks” are and how to best implement them. Many of you were asking what a typical day in the week would look like. Remember, the focus of re-thinking your MCAT studying is to build consistency over to aid in preventing burnout and producing a happier you!
The first question that many students ask is how long they should be studying for. Right away many say “9, 10 hours? All day even?” I am here to tell you that is simply not the case. Remember that the goal for total hours studied for an MCAT should be around 300 hours on average. Keeping that in mind, a good number to start at is 6. Just 6 hours is the max many study in a given day, often less.
The important thing to note about these hours is that it is NOT 6 hours in a row. Ideally, you want to break those 6 hours over 3 different sessions in the day. Could you study for 6 hours in a row? Yes, absolutely you could, however, we find that students study more efficiently and put in more quality time when they limit a “study block” to only 2 hours. This allows them to stay focused and work hard during that time frame and then back off and take a break.
Below is a list of common daily schedules used by our students. I, once a Kaplan student, used the ‘Early Riser’ Schedule many days during my MCAT studies. This allowed to accumulate a lot of study time that I otherwise would not have found.
Early Riser
If you can become an early riser and schedule some of your classes for the late morning/ early afternoon you can really utilize your mornings for MCAT study. This is a very similar schedule to what I personally did in my own MCAT preparation.
8am – Wake and Breakfast
9am – First Study Session
10am – Workout
11am – Second Study Session
12pm – Classes
6pm – Dinner
7pm – Study for Classes
9pm – Rest/ Relax
The “Not-a-Morning Person” Schedule
Simply put some of us are just not morning people and that is totally OK! With the MCAT offering the 1pm start time on select dates this shouldn’t cause any concern. The trick to not being a morning person is to try and squeeze a study session in between your classes.
11am – Wake and Breakfast
12pm – Classes
2pm – First Study Session
3pm – Classes
6pm – Dinner
7pm – Second Study Session
8pm – Study for Classes
10pm – Workout
11pm – Rest/ Relax
The Weekender
As you can see in the two sample schedules above I always recommend time for a workout or at least some break that involves physical activity. This can be the trick for keeping yourself focused and alert during long study days. Remember for most of us we are trying to balance class work with MCAT work! When you fall behind the best thing to do is to use your weekends to catch up! Most importantly you want to use at least one of your weekend days to take a full length exam.
10am – Wake and Breakfast
11am – First Study Session
1pm – Workout/ Lunch
2pm – Second Study Session
4pm – Break/ Errands
5pm – Study Session
7pm – Enjoy your time off. Remember it’s the weekend!
Stay tuned! More to come on what goes into those 2 hours of a “study block”. Remember a happier you in #MCATdomination!
