Advice on long term studying (7-8 months)?

Thank you all for the replies!

Yeah, I've heard of people burning out due to studying so long, but I honestly think I learn best in a slow-burn type of style. I'm easily overwhelmed by a ton of information in short periods of time, but whenever I take my sweet time, and go through a very dense and detail-oriented review, I have done very well. My buddy is a genius, he's always at the very top of the class, and it's not uncommon for him to get perfect scores on tests. He listens to lecture very carefully, but otherwise doesn't do anything special study-wise. Then a few days before the test, he turns on this switch and relentlessly jams information into his brain, using up literally every second up until the test. He even saves one last page to "flash-memorize" right before they hand out the test.

I got burned so many times trying to follow him. First off, I'm a terrible listener and I have a hard time staying awake during lectures. And when the test would come up, I simply could not keep up. I suck at cramming. I become worn out and lazy and my mind wanders, telling me it's hopeless. I'd check out long before we were supposed to finish studying, while my friend would keep hammering away at the material.

I finally wised up and realized I'm just not capable of doing what he does, and I learned that I truly learn by writing. I would sit for hours with the textbook and the notebook, all my colorful pens, and my favorite music, and I would slowly go through the book, writing down every detail and key point and making it all very organized and pretty. I'd then go over my notes every day, as I would add to them. This method really clicked for me, and although I could never match my friend, I did very well. On one Anatomy test (a very difficult class at my university), I got a 106 while he got a 120, lol. The biggest drawback to this method, however, is how long it takes, hence my apprehension at the prospect of mastering both content review and practice while taking a full course load and a part time job. I could probably manage and do okay, and I know that med school requires us to be ready to handle tons of information very quickly, but keep in mind that I seek to do the best I can possibly do. I really want to maximize my potential on this test; it's as important to me personally as it is to my candidacy for medical school.

Sorry for the long story, but I just wanted to share what works for me. I see myself becoming very overwhelmed by the sheer amount of material needed for the MCAT, especially because I'm very weak in most of the sciences. I know people get burned out from MCAT studying, but perhaps it would be better to think of it as me spending a semester relearning the prerequisite knowledge rather than true MCAT studying.

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Advice on long term studying (7-8 months)?