Crushed and Discouraged :(

[musicalfeet]

Just finished AAMC8 today and had a 3 point score drop from AAMC 4,5 and 7 of 33. Scored a 30 on AAMC 8 with a distribution of (10,10,10). I was originally super frustrated with 7 because it was already 2.5 weeks before my MCAT and I hadn't significantly improved. AAMC 8 just happens to be an even bigger blow. I worked my tail off covering topics I wasn't comfy on and doing practice sections with TPRH Verbal and SW for the past 2 days between AAMC 7 and 8.

I felt totally crushed during the PS section (which is usually my stronger-ish section--although debatable because it went from 12,11,11). Usually, after reviewing answers, I'll see that I made a couple simple mistakes I probably shouldn't have made which would have made quite a difference to hit my goal of 13 (not so much with AAMC7). This time, I'm briefly went over the PS section and was just like " Okay yeah no, it didn't even occur to me". In all the past AAMCs, I always felt my goal of 35 was within reach...it was always a few questions here or there I shouldn't have missed. I was also slowly improving on Bio, which was my glaring weakness.

Just seems like everything tanked for me....especially PS. Not sure what to do anymore..can't cancel either because the date has passed. Even upon looking through AAMC 8, most of the time, I'm thinking "how the hell would you even study for that?!?!?!". What should I do from here on out till 9/6 to hit my goal of 35?????

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[el_duderino]

Take a break. Take a few days completely off.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

It's one practice test. calm down and move on. And think of it this way-the more time you spend talking about one test is less time spent studying and leading to better tests (assuming it's not burnout. Which I'm guessing it is given how stressed you sound). Bottom line, just forget it and move on. If it keeps happening then you may need to worry

 

[UBCStudent15]

You can't let one test deter you from your overall goal. The difference between a 33 and a 30 may just be a few stupid mistakes or you may have just been tested with a concept that your not completely comfortable with. Use it as motivation to study more and patch up those weak spots because your not really that far from where you want to be (I'm guessing you want a 35?)

 

[oxelhs]

Definitely take a break. At LEAST 2 full days off helped me when I felt burnt out. It's just one test - I scored a 24 a week and a half ago on a FL and just yesterday, scored a 39. Your focus may have been off along with a multitude of other variables. No worries. Relax and just get into the mindset that you will be fine come test day.

 

[musicalfeet]

Definitely take a break. At LEAST 2 full days off helped me when I felt burnt out. It's just one test - I scored a 24 a week and a half ago on a FL and just yesterday, scored a 39. Your focus may have been off along with a multitude of other variables. No worries. Relax and just get into the mindset that you will be fine come test day.

So I just started post-gaming AAMC8; I noticed quite a bit of my mistakes (so far 3 that I've seen on PS..but I'm not even done yet) are coming from overthinking things...which I didn't do before (or just couldn't do--because I hadn't super-reviewed the little stuff yet). The answer would be staring at me in the face (from the passage), and I'd try to use my content knowledge to reason my way to the wrong answer (hahaha...). Is that a sign/symptom of burnout? Looking at the answers now, some of it is *facepalm* but it truly never occurred to me while doing the exam.

 

[deleted480308]

deep breaths...your practice exams are averageing over 30.....that's not a crisis

 

[TheMightyTexan]

Definitely take a break. At LEAST 2 full days off helped me when I felt burnt out. It's just one test - I scored a 24 a week and a half ago on a FL and just yesterday, scored a 39. Your focus may have been off along with a multitude of other variables. No worries. Relax and just get into the mindset that you will be fine come test day.

Wouldn't mind hearing more about how this helps, it feels like taking one break day off a week is too much time already!

 

[oxelhs]

Wouldn't mind hearing more about how this helps, it feels like taking one break day off a week is too much time already!

Well it's the fact that your mind isn't on studying than anything else. Neurotically studying every single day may stress you out to the point where your memory falters and test performance drops from optimal. Besides, are you really going to forget THAT much in two days? I doubt it.