Burned out; Brain is fried.

[Lunasly]

Hey guys,

So I've been studying for this exam for the past 4 months. I studied all day everyday. I made the unfortunate mistake of not taking break days and at this point I am burned out. I mean really burned out. I am at the point I sometimes will have trouble coming up with a coherent sentence when speaking with my friends. My brain is fried and I am stressed because all of my hard work has not paid off as I can't break a 30 on this exam. Ultimately, I feel I made a huge mistake that could have been easily avoided and I told my self in the beginning to avoid this issue. I don't feel like content is the issue. My review of the material has mostly consisted of doing as many passages as possible. My ability to critically think through some of the passages is poor. Verbal is my weakest section with scores ranging from 6 to 8. PS and BS vary with scores ranging from 9 to 13. I don't want to make excuses, but does anyone think that poor performance on the exams is due to being burned out. I mean its certainly a possibility, but I don't want to use this as an excuse in case its something else.

Has anyone experienced poor performance on their exams because of burn out, especially people who have retaken the exam because of this issue the first time around?

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[Lokkja]

Yes, try taking a week off and then writing another FL, if it shoots up in score then you'll know you were burned out.

 

[Lunasly]

I only have AAMC 5 and 9 left and my exam is on the 27th. I also have yet to review AAMC 11 which I wrote today. I think I'll take the next 2 days off and then spend a day doing verbal then another break day then my exam. I won't even review AAMC 11.

 

[Lokkja]

Spending a day doing verbal this late in the game isn't a good use of resources. I would shave some time out of that verbal to review FL 11.

 

[Lunasly]

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

[SlugMD]

Don't bother with test 5. Take today and tomorrow off, do AAMC 9 on the 25th, review it. Do some light review on the 26th but mostly relax. Then kick ass on the 27th. Good luck, you can do it!

Like you I've been going hard for 4 months and I ultimately broke after taking 3 FL's in 4 days about 10 days ago. I took a good 10 day break (did light review) and yesterday got a 26 (9/9/8) on AAMC 11 which is the best I've done on an AAMC test.

I plan on going 8, 9, and 10 by Sept 7th, give myself 2 days of light review then kick ass on the 10th.

My goal is a 27-28 and I have 2.5 weeks left so I'm in a bit of a different situation.

 

[Lunasly]

Thanks Slug MD. How has your focus been after your 10 day break? I'd assume better, but has it been significantly better?

 

[echoyjeff222]

Have you been working out/exercising or doing other things during the day too? How about sleep?

I've been studying straight for the last two months as well (decided to also skip break days -- made them "light" days) but I have been working out every other day and I have taken time off in the middle of my studying to play some piano (or just do something fun/relaxing). That should help keep your brain from overloading ...

 

[SlugMD]

Thanks Slug MD. How has your focus been after your 10 day break? I'd assume better, but has it been significantly better?

I really can't say because it's only been a day but it's better and it's different. The best thing that has happened is a lot of my anxiety went away when I lowered my original goal of 30 to 27 and realized I was very close now. I think I'm working harder now as a result of being so close (~2) rather then dreading being 4-5 points behind with only 2.5 weeks left.

In case you are wondering why I lowered my goal, it's because I'm only applying to DO schools next year. I was originally going for both MD and DO hence the 30 goal.