Hi everyone! I’ve been kind of MIA lately with my MCAT less than 3 months away now (4/27). I started serious prep in December and now I’m full speed ahead and freaking out, of course! I don’t think I ever stop studying between taking Physics II, Orgo II, Orgo Lab, and Neuroscience plus my Kaplan online class, plus watching Chad’s videos on Coursesaver! Oh, and EK Audio Osmosis in my car to and from school and everywhere else. Yikes!
I’m obsessed with the MCAT! I don’t think I’ll ever feel prepared enough. I was doing my Gen Chem studying for my Kaplan class last week and at tonight’s class what I felt I just had really down pat last week seemed to not be so down pat tonight. I didn’t forget it all or do horribly, but I seemed slower on the uptake. Information overload maybe? But, hey, med school will be more of the same and then some so I better get used it. That is, if I can pull off a good MCAT score. I’m spending hours per day for sure, but I’m soooooo nervous!
Any MCAT vets have any tips on overcoming the anxiety factor? I am really ready to take a full length, but my Kaplan class structure doesn’t have one scheduled in just yet, but I wonder if I shouldn’t just do an AAMC test just to get that over with. I don’t know how I’ll be able to squeeze in all the full lengths I really want to practice with before April 27th. Kaplan says it is best to wait until we are through a certain unit to take a full length and to start with a Kaplan test before an AAMC. I don’t know if I buy that. The diagnostic was pretty bad, but I don’t put much stock in a diagnostic from a test company that guarantees a score improvement, so I won’t even use that to judge how I am looking at this point in the game. My science diagnostic wasn’t bad, but the mini MCAT diagnostic was not great. Though, that is what everyone says.
So, I’m just here studying and studying and studying and freaking out! I’m praying for at least a 30 of course, but truthfully I would love a little higher. Who wouldn’t right? 
I wonder what stats there are out there for hours spent studying and scores achieved. Of course, everyone is so different I don’t know if I’d put much stock in that either.
Hope everyone else is doing well. To my fellow MCAT preppers out there, God Speed! 
I’m thinking very good thoughts for us all at this most stressful time!
No real advice from me since I’ll only be in your shoes next year. Just wishing you much great success! I’d just take the dang AAMC if that’s what you want to do. Get over those nerves and anxiety since it blocks the learning process. If taking the test helps with that then go for it. If you do well, then great! If not then use that as your diagnostic.
“Pa lante! Pa lante!”
I’ve never been able to find stats on MCAT time vs score or anything else. The only thing you can really find is that generally the more full lengths you take the better you do. I also personally believe that the more upper-level bio classes you have the better your BS score is. I would look at the next ~12 weeks on a calendar with everything else you have going on listed. Plug-in AAMC full length tests where it seems reasonable. One thing you want to try to avoid is taking tests back-to-back. I would try to put 48 hours between them (so Monday at 8am then Weds at 8am), especially if you have other stuff to do. You should try take them at the time you’ll take the real thing if possible and simulate the conditions. Take the breaks and try to eat a snack you’d bring on test day and use the bathroom in that time. Take AAMC 11 and 10 last and in that order.
As for the anxiety, doing the above is one of the best things you can do. The other thing you can do is realize that the WORST thing that can happen is you need a retake. Call me crazy but there is a little bit of a luck factor on the MCAT. The amount of prep that you’re doing is definitely going to minimize how much effect “luck” has on you so trust your process and preparation and meet the challenge head on.
Shannon -
I agree with croooz and Matt - take an AAMC practice test. Take it on a weekend when you can sit down and do the test in “exam conditions” as suggested. But I’d add, remember it is for PRACTICE. Think of it as an opportunity to recognize process problems. My first practice MCAT I totally ran out of time in one section and also ended in the middle of a sentance in a timed essay section. So that let me know that timing was an issue and I worked on strategies to NOT get bogged down in a section and fail to finish a section.
An early practice test is for practicing the process -not for predicting future performance. May point out some areas that you need to review more, for sure.
Kate
To all of you: Thanks for the advice. It is golden. I am thinking of testing the waters with AAMC 3 to just to get things moving, and, yes actually help ease the anxiety like Matt said. Once I have the first test out of the way I think it will help guide me as Kate noted. I haven’t had much FUD in the last several months, thankfully, but it’s creeping its ugly head again as I put the nose to the grindstone on this MCAT prep. Physics 2 does not help FUD either.
It seems no matter how much practice I get in, I still manage to freeze up at times. Darn Physics gets me all worked up. I got an A in Physics 1, and so far Physics 2 really isn’t so bad (of course using Chad’s videos ahead of my lectures is super helpful with that, too!), but it never fails, once I feel like I have a grip on physics, FUD creeps in, and I feel like a physics idiot all over again. I’m sure I’ll be okay. I’ve freaked out pretty much every semester in the last three years and yet I have had nothing less than an A- in any class (Sociology 101 of all things!!!). So, why do I feel I will somehow blow this semester and get a 20 on my MCAT all of a sudden? FUD! That’s why!
I did decide after class today to take a retail therapy break and went to Target and got a bunch of fabulous clearance clothes for my daughter! Just a steal. Nothing like 70% off to make me forget about the MCAT and school for a good hour wandering around Target. I usually go pretty much straight home after school and get right into MCAT studying or school studying until I have to pick up my daughter at Preschool. But, today I gave myself a tiny break and I may actually try my best to take it light tonight, too, after she goes to bed. We’ll see. I always say that, but I am addicted to studying. I swear I go through withdrawal and get anxious if I somehow cannot study. It’s crazy. So, going to try to breathe and relax a bit tonight. I think overload only gives FUD a little tiny hole to creep right on into!
Thanks again y’all! I always know that even if I am all consumed in my own personal journey and a little absent here, that I can always come back and gripe and ask for advice and know that I will get great feedback from others who have been in my shoes. I love OPM!