When thinking about making an MCAT schedule, it is very normal to feel extremely overwhelmed. There's a lot of material to cover in a very limited time frame. Additionally, you can't give yourself too much time because you'll start forgetting but you also can't give yourself too little time or you won't finish. Trust me, I've had all of these thoughts run through my head. But you have to remember, you will get through this. A positive attitude gets you a far away.
I will be the first to admit, I did not give myself much time to study for the MCAT and that's perhaps why I didn't do as well as I wanted. The lesson I learned the hard way was: the most important part of making a schedule is keeping it REALISTIC. Many times people will allocate 5 hours or 6 hours to studying for the MCAT when they already have an extremely busy schedule. While I was studying, I had a full time internship (40 hour work weeks) and a lot of obligations to friends. If I could look back, I would have made my schedule more realistic and given myself more days. Furthermore, studying for 7 or 8 hours a day is way too much. I know, especially true for me, people get lazy so I would allocate 3 hours instead and if I had more energy, I would keep going (I would recommend 4 to 6 if you have a free schedule).
For each day, it is crucial to assign what subject you will be working on and how many chapters you want to get done. Making a schedule ahead of time is crucial because it will keep you on track to finish every book in an appropriate amount of time (also keep room for practice tests!). For example, I would say that for Day 1, I want to get chapters 1-3 done for physics. Day 2, I want to get chapters 1-3 done for psych. Remember that switching up subjects each day will make the topics more interesting and won't result in burn out. Additionally, give yourself a day to relax and study for an hour or two and do something that you love (I would do Friday because spending your Saturday and Sunday efficiently is crucial since you have the most time then). Being balanced while still being disciplined is crucial. You have to realize that this studying is temporary and will decide your future so you just have to tough it out. After, you will have all the free time in the world to do whatever you want so just stay strong.
As for how long your MCAT study period should be, I would recommend a solid 3 months. No less than 2 because there is no way you will finish content review and get time to take practice exams. However, you need to know yourself. If you're extremely slow and process things at a slow rate, do 4 months. The reason why I recommended 3 is because I can guarantee you that you will forget the information you learned during the earlier days if you take more months, even if you review. But, you should do whatever is best for you!
You have to remember, even when giving yourself plenty of time to study, you will need to make sacrifices. However, if you do give yourself time, you will have to make LESS sacrifices which I believe is crucial to your mental and physical health. The MCAT is tough, there's no way around that fact. However, many people have done this before and many people will continue to do this after so keep a positive attitude because you got this!
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