So I decided it was time to genuinely start getting ready for the MCAT, instead of just talking about it. Of course, that won't stop me from talking about it as well.
There are two flavors of prep: official and unofficial. Official is going to be working with companies like Kaplan, or old administered MCATs that have been put out and are now serving as examples. Unofficial will be me working with myself to get up to speed on physics, remember my Gen. Chem, learn things I was never taught in my Biology courses, etc. There's still plenty of time before the test, but I really can't put off getting ready for it any longer. It's unbelievably epic in scope.
Registering for Kaplan courses is something that has to happen soon, but is also a bit difficult. Two are offered (several more actually, but mostly at different locations rather than at different times). One meets one day a week from (roughly) October 2010 to April 2011 on Saturdays, and the other course meets two days a week from January 2011 to April 2011 on Monday and Wednesday evenings. I'd prefer the second set-up I think, but I don't know my schedule for the second half of next year yet. It's very likely I won't be forced into taking evening labs on Monday and Wednesday since Organic Chemistry is my only course and I /should/ have scheduling options, but I don't know. It's also possible only two labs will be offered, and that they'll fall on Monday and Wednesday evening. There's not much to do here though - I have until the start of October to figure out what my schedule might be like, and which of these courses to sign up for.
More immediately, I've put together a set of some 7-800 flashcards that have terms/definitions of things from Gen. Chem, Organic Chem, Biology, and Physics that will be on the MCAT (ie: Aldose, Interstitial Cells, the Permittivity of Free Space, Effusion, etc). My goal is to learn these words as best as possible between now and the time I (hopefully) start my "official" review work in January. That means I just have to memorize some 5-6 terms a day, 6-7 days a week. It's s a fairly reasonable amount, but spread over the morning and the evening I can probably do it in just under an hour a day. Every week I'll do some sort of review to keep from forgetting the terms I've gone over in the last two weeks or so, and then I'll do a bigger review at the end of each month.
Knowing this stuff well come January will be a good pay-off for when the "real" studying starts. Some of it provides good "grounding" for more serious review over the next four months, and some of it should translate directly into points on "An example of Ohm's Law is A, B, C, or D" type questions on the actual exam.
Before January, I'm also going to re-open a Physics book (out of necessity rather than desire - I don't think January to April is enough time for "relearning" Physics).
I'm hoping my Organic Chemistry course is going to be reasonably difficult (it should be), so that it simultaneously serves as a good review for the MCAT. O. Chem should also force me to use some Gen. Chem principles on a regular basis, so out of class I get to focus most on Biology and Physics.
I'll start with my flash cards focusing on Gen. Chem though - that might be a good review for starting up O. Chem as well as for the MCAT.
