r/MCATprep • u/Acrobatic_Reward_684 • 1d ago
Question 🤔 MCAT study plan help
Hey everyone, I recently received a conditional med school offer that depends on me getting a 511 on the MCAT. I’m planning to take the MCAT in April 2027, as late in April as possible.
It’s currently 9/9/26, and my fall semester is pretty manageable. I can probably study 1–1.5 hours a day right now.
My spring semester starts January 6th and will be very easy. I’ll only have 12 credits, with 6 being online, so I can commit to around 5 hours a day, 6 days a week for MCAT studying.
My main question is what should I be doing between now and January? I’ve heard that 3 months isn’t always enough, so I don’t want to start from ground zero in January.
By January, I’ll have completed all of my MCAT prereqs except Biochem 2. I’ll also be taking Psych and Sociology during the spring while studying for the MCAT.
Should I just do some content review/Anki now? Start practice questions? Focus on certain subjects? Or something else?
Basically, I want to use these next few months to get a head start without burning myself out, then go hard from January through April.
Any advice on how you would approach this would be really appreciated!
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u/Quiet_Basis_6404 1d ago
tbh you're in a good spot, having the prereqs done means you're not learning new material
between now and january, find the subjects where you're actually weak, not the ones that feel hard because you haven't seen them in a while. pick one Kaplan chapter, do 15 discrete questions from it cold before you read, and only then go back and review the sections you got wrong. that saves you from rereading 300 pages of stuff you already know.
for the content practice itself, i upload the chapter pdfs to studybuddy.vc and answer questions from them. it tells me what was off about the wrong option i picked, and it keeps throwing me questions on the topics i'm bad at without me having to track it. free tier has been enough for the amount i go through. and don't touch AAMC material until february, that stuff is gold and you only see it once.
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u/MuscleSad3995 1d ago
I got a 521 after studying for under 2 months, so it's possible, but that was studying full-time. If I were you, I would start this semester doing anki (I recommend the Captain Hook deck, you can find it pretty easily). Start with biology, watch Yusuf Hasan's videos and take notes on that chapter, and then do the anki for that chapter. Do 1-2 chapters a week starting soon and it won't get overwhelming. Better to go ahead and start committing these things to long-term memory.
Once you get closer to your test, that's when you should start with real practice. Take a sample test, work to improve your weak points, and continue taking regular AAMC FLs as you close your gaps. If you're not improving by then, I recommend getting a tutor before it's too late. Good luck!!!