I’m about 2 years away from taking the MCAT. Right now I’m taking a few classes to finish up my business degree, then I’ll be taking the premed classes. I have about 3 or 4 hours a week I could spend on MCAT material and I’d like to start reviewing it early. The closer I get to the test date the more time I’ll put into it, but I figure by starting now I should be very well prepared. I need to score very well because I have a poor GPA from several years ago.
Anyway, what would be the best way to start studying at this point? I’ve seen the EK audio program, and several books. Any advice?
Thanks!!!
I don’t know if it would be helpful to study for the MCAT prior to taking the pre-med pre-reqs. Most training material is set up as a review, rather than to teach new information.
IMHO, the best way to prep for the MCAT will be to truly understand what you learn in the premed classes.
I agree w/ Adam. If you haven’t taken the prereqs, there’s no point in doing MCAT prep. Resolve to knock yourself out in your classes, and prep closer to the test date, and you should be OK.
I’ve seen folks over the years advocate reading extensively as a way of preparing for the VR (verbal reasoning) portion of the test - things like New York Times editorials, The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy (no just kidding on that last one)… if you have good verbal facility (have been a good test taker in the past, can crank out papers or memos easily etc.) you may not need to worry too much about it – but the VR section is the hardest word-oriented thing I’ve ever taken, so making sure that your verbal skills are up to speed is a good long-term prep that you can do.
Mary
Thank you all for the advice! I think that’s a good idea to put those extra few hours towards making sure I’m getting A’s in my pre reqs.
As for the VR, I was thinking about subscribing to The New Yorker and just keeping up with that. Do you think that would be helpful, or do you think the NY Times or another publication would be better?
Thanks again!
It doesn’t matter what specific things you read, as long as you keep reading material that is dense and difficult. Oh, and it should be prose; no one really understands poetry. 
I’ve been a Kaplan MCAT instructor for 11 years now, and I agree 100% with Mary and pi; you absolutely, positively, should not waste your precious time now trying to review science material that you’ve yet to learn. For a current undergrad, medical school prep should consist of two years (usually) of science coursework, and then 2-3 months of MCAT prep. These courses are called “pre-requisites” for a very good reason!
Best of luck to you. 