PREPARING FOR THE MCAT AS A COUPLE
Riley and I both self-studied (no outside programs like Altius, etc.) and spent much of it working together. As a caveat, however, Riley and I had studied together for multiple classes up to this point, and were accustomed to each other’s learning styles and needs.
Anything we needed for the application process often was double the price. So, we tried to limit costs how we could. We bought one set of Kaplan books and flash cards and the AAMC’s set of the practice tests. That’s all we purchased in terms of MCAT study materials.
Our studying started at the beginning of January with a testing date of May 24th, and that was the right amount of time for us.
We had intentionally set up our school schedule to have a lighter class load on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the semester, and so we would do prep material on those days. I preferred the Kaplan books, and Riley would use his time with the Khan Academy videos.
Once the school semester ended in late April, we still both worked part time, but dedicated the rest of our time to MCAT study. We took eight full-length practice tests and would review them together. This was incredibly helpful to have someone to talk it out with and figure out where we went wrong or what we got right. We also would quiz each other with flash cards while the other person was making dinner, for example.
