Are you planning on applying to medical school? Have you started to study for your MCAT? Creating a study schedule can really help you manage your preparation time. Here are some reasons why you should consider creating a schedule for yourself.
It’s extremely personalized
Study when you study best. If you’re more of a morning person, schedule your study time to be early in the day. If you function best at night, start studying after dinner. If you begin with your schedule a certain way and you start to lose motivation, you can always switch it up to stay on track. I have found it super helpful to take the weekends off from studying.
Plan ahead
You can focus on learning concepts in the months leading up to your MCAT test date and switch your focus to practice questions and mock-tests in your last few weeks of studying.
You’ll stay on track
Having set times that you study each day will help you hold yourself accountable to studying. If you treat your study time like appointments or classes, you’ll feel more inclined to stick to the schedule you’ve made.
You won’t burnout
Studying for a short period of time every day will allow you to make lots of time for other hobbies. Minute School’s short video lessons and practice questions make study sessions short and valuable, so you can feel good about taking some time off! Give yourself breaks as needed, and you’ll feel much more motivated to buckle down and study everyday!
The best way I have found to implement a study schedule is to set reminders on my phone everyday at my scheduled study time. Remove all distractions from your vicinity, so you’re not tempted to spend hours on your phone instead of studying.
Here is an example of an MCAT study schedule. As you can see, there is time allotted for review and practice of all of the main concept areas on the MCAT test, while still making lots of time for hobbies and relaxing.
I hope this inspires you to create a study schedule of your own. Stay on track with your studying, so you can reward yourself by making the most out of your time off!