So its over....

I mean the MCAT not life.

I know when I began this blog I said I would be writing as much as possible, however MCAT became too much of my life and I did not have much time for anything else. And since the end of my MCAT I was in the worlds maddest dash to finish my thesis that I have been holding off all summer because of the MCAT. My advisor really liked my work, though I need a few more things to be adjusted. Well life is finally back to normal. I have started classes and so far so good. Because of all the studying I know alot more than the grad students in my classes. At least the studying helped in some other way than take a huge chunk of time. I have also started to workout. When I was studying all summer I really didnt have a chance to devote time to working out because I felt guilty for not studying. However I started a fun women only fitness class, called Kaia Fit. When they mean intense they dont joke around. Waking up at 4:30 every morning to get your ass kicked, has left me sore these last few days.

Besides this I am currently waiting to push the "send" button to send my medical applications in. I am hesitant to send them in because I almost want to wait to see how my scores turn out. I think what I might do is send my application to my top 4 schools immediately and then wait to send it out to others once I know my scores.

I am very anxious to know my scores. I honestly have no idea how I did. All I know is that by the end of the test I did not want to cry because I did not understand anything. I understood at least the basic things.  All I can do is hope and pray that I did well enough so I dont have to retake it.

Now that life is normal I will be posting much more as I learn my fate for the next year.

Good luck to your new semester!

The ups and downs of studying

These last few weeks have been up and down in terms of the my MCAT practice test scores. Since my last blog post I was getting around 30's for my tests, however this last week my scores have dropped to pre-studying days. I dont know what I am doing wrong it seems like everything has flipped. On my most recent test I recieved

• BS 6
• VS 7
• PS 9

In terms of physics I have been doing so much better but I feel that I have spent so much time focusing on it that the other ones have suffered. This does not feel good and makes my extremely nervous since I have roughly 18 days to figure out my life and do the best possible on the real test. If you have expierenced this please let me know how you handle the dissapointment and tips of how to get passed it.

So continue the MCAT blues.

MCAT Test Prep Materials

Glad to finally be back to a normal schedule. There was hardly any legitiment MCAT studying going on this holiday weekend. However I did manage to squeeze in a practice test on Saturday. Overall I am ok with my results.

• PS: 7
• VR: 10
• BS: 7
• Overall: 24

Although I did drop two points in the BS, much of the drop was due to the fact that I didnt remember embryogenisis and the other missed questions were on topics that I have not reviewed yet. So I am confident that my score will go back up. I am extremely happy with the verbal reasoning score. Hopefully it only goes up from here. PS is not amazing but I think I simply need more practice.

In my last post I talked about ordering ExamKrackers 1001 questions in physics. I thought it would be here by now however, I didnt realize that I ordered the book from England and it would take roughly 14 days for it got get here. That sucks but oh well. But in the mean time I still need to finish reviewing Biology and Organic Chemistry. I am not too worried about Organic Chemistry because apparently I remember enough to do fairly well on those questions.

What materials have I been using to prep?

• ExamKrackers verbal reasoning 
• Since using this book, I have seen my score orginally go from 5 to a 10. I tried Kaplan's practice of the section but I thought their's was done very poorly and I didnt feel like I was learning anything.
• Kaplan Subject Review
• I have the subject review for Kindle however I could not find a link for them on Amazon. I got the reviews for free when Kaplan released them for Kindle and Nook. I like them because they keep me awake because its like someone is trying to explain something and they are trying hard to be funny. However I dislike them because there noticeable grammar and spelling mistakes. I dont know if this is only a problem with the digital version or not but it is a pet peeve of mine. These books are not cheap and the least they could do is make  sure they dont have simple editing mistakes. (yes, I know that you will find plenty of grammar and spelling mistakes in this blog but I dont make millions of dollars for a fancy editor)
• ExamKrackers 101 passages Verbal Reasoning
• Great book just to practice. A recent med school student told me when she was studying she would do a few passages every day to keep in the mind set and this became her strong subject. I have noticed that I do better when I am practicing everyday. 
• ExamKrackers 1001 physics questions
• I haven't received this one yet but I will let you know as soon as I get it. 

Overall I am seeing improvement, but with only 35 days left before the big day. I feel like I should be a further along than I am. I want to finish all my review in the next week so that I can simply do lots of practice questions. Lets hope this pans out. 

On a side note today I did win MCAT test prep materials from Bench Prep. I have not really gone through it but it seems like they have a nice mix of questions that I am excited to go through. 

I know there is so much more I want to talk about but I have this big feeling that I need to go study so I am off. Good luck with all your studying!!

MCAT practice

Sorry its been a few days since my last but its been a very long weekend. Including a practice test and trying to find a new person to write a letter of recommendation.

In my last post I wrote that I finally sent out requests for letters of recommendations. I received a yes from a professor that I volunteered for almost 2 years ago. I was extremely surprised by this since it had been a while since we have spoken. One of the professors I was really hoping would say yes actually decided it against since she her position might go away within the next month because of budget cuts and she did not feel comfortable writing one. So now I need to find a science professor to write one unfortunately I am not close with many of professors, which is my own stupid fault.

On Sunday I took my first practice test in a while. Below are my scores and the points I either gained or lost since my last test. I used mcat-prep.com tests, however I bought the 10 tests on eBay and spent $80 rather than $150 on the site. Just search 'mcat'.

• Physical Science 6 (-2)
• Biological Science 9 (+1)
• Verbal 7 (+2)

My physical science score really worries me. I do not understand why I went down two points. The program that I used to take the test thankfully breaks down each area of the test. From the results I really need to become comfortable with translation motion, particle dynamics, and fluids and solids. I have reviewed all of Kaplan's physical science so at this point I believe that I need practice questions so I order Exam Krackers 1001 Physics questions. Hopefully it gets here quick.

I noticed that I got done with each of the sections with at least 15 mins to spare. I think much of it has to do with my nerviousness so I tend to speed through everything and that is contributing to my low scores. I am just hoping that I can raise my scores enough within the next 45 days and learn to calm down a little.

Below is a list of places that I found that had either free questions or MCAT practice tests. Please let me know if I missed any.

• AAMC practice test 3
• Priceton Review Practice Test
• Test Prep Practice
• 4tests.com
• Kaplan
• McGraw Hill

On my next post I will comment on the test preps that I have used and what like/dislike about them.

Wonderful 48 hrs

Since my first posting I have actually accomplished many things.

First of all, I have a working draft of my personal statement. This is a huge accomplishment for me because I am been working on this thing once a week for the past month because I had serious writers block. I highly recommend the Kaplan's personal statement workshop .

 I sent it to a couple of different people, one who is currently my thesis advisor because I trust that he can help me with the grammar and style problems. I also sent it a copy of it to a friend who is currently a fourth year medical student. She only knows my from work and not much of my background and I hope I can gain a sense of the statements impact from her.

Here are some tips that I have found over the last few months from different workshops about personal statements

• It is like your first interview, it is the best indication of who you are
• you want them to keep reading, they might be reading hundreds of personal statements. 
• Consider what makes you unique. What are your experiences? What have you learned from them?

DO

• tell one or more stories that illustrate you
• Find a theme that unites your stories
• Explain your motivations
• Write more than the minimum of 5,300 characters you can always go back and cut away

DONT

• Reiterate your resume
• exclusively write about "why I want to go to medical school" or "I want to help people"
• boring or arrogant 

Again these are not my personal suggestions rather I have attended a number workshops and above is the common points they all expressed in one way or another. I have been told by a number of people to expect 2-3 months of revisions with at least 3-6 drafts. Writing is a weak point of mine and I expect it to take me more than 6 drafts. I have also begun the search for letters of recommendation which I find very difficult to do because I hate asking people for anything. I will keep everyone update on how this progresses.

Yesterday I retested in verbal and I received a 9 on my verbal section which is a jump of 4 points from my original practice test. I found that Examkrackers was the most help for learning how to take the verbal section. If you have another suggestion please let me know.

In my next post, I am going to compile a list a free MCAT practice test sites. Cause lets face it I am in college and I am very poor.

Well I finally need to wrap up and go study because this day has been crazy and not a lot of studying has been accomplished.

Tracking the Journey

This past January, I decided that this was the year that I would begin applying to medical school. I put it off hoping that I would become more organized and ready for the journey. However this never happened. So I decided to get to just start. This was easier said then done.

So far what have I accomplished?

• Signed up and paid for July 6 MCAT
• Withdrew from the July 6 MCAT and registered for the August 12 MCAT
• has this helped? Only time will tell in the next 50 days
• Bought 10 CBT MCAT practice tests
• Began the AMSCA application process
• studying nearly everyday for August 12

What am I still missing

• letters of recommendation
• personel statement 
• statement of why I am economically disadvantaged
• my final list of schools I want to apply for
• a finished AMSCA application 

The list is about even but the 'missing' side makes me a little more worried. 

I have wanted to become a doctor for as long as I can remember but its seems like I am doing everything in my power to procrastinate. 

Why am I writing this blog (to continue to procrastinate?)? 

The main reason is because I just need to write down how I am feeling because if not, the worry and the anxiety will kill me. I am the first person in my family to go to college and going to medical school is another huge first. Both of which I am doing completely blind. Hopefully I can help others relate and reduce their worry and anxiety. 

The rest of this year will be very interesting. Lets hope I can handle it.