few days left for MCAT, what do i do?

[tvbbnumber41]

Hey guys I have exactly a week until my exam and I need some advice on what I should be doing.

I am a retaker and I have some concerns. The first time around I scored a 508 (129,123,128,128) on full length 2 and scored 503 (126, 122, 127, 128) on the actual exam. I really want to avoid this happening again (not sure what went wrong).

I took FL 3 today and got a 514 (129, 127, 130, 128). It's nice to see progress, but I want to make sure I maintain this score this time around. I know not much change can happen in a week, but the first time around it did so I wanted to see if anyone any advice on what to do and what not to do.

One thing I want to point out which I did make changes for this time around was to not over work myself. Other than that I really toned down my studying to about 3-5 hours a day.

How do you guys think I should be spending my last week?

EDIT: one thing to note, I'm aiming for a 516+, so any advice for improving my score would be great also, especially psychology. I took a bunch of practice exams and memorized the 300 pg Khan notes and I don't know what else to do.

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[Swagster]

Spend the last few days getting your head straight. I spent three or four days writing notes on subjects from the top of my head, literally writing pages and pages of notes on every topic I could from the AAMC list. I made up questions in my head and then thought about how they could reword those questions. I did some last minute passages in areas where I had struggled, but not very many (maybe six a day at most.) The last two days were spent getting in the best possible state of mind I could muster. I visualized xactly what was going to go down, from checkin to going home after the exam. The test went really well, and I feel like getting my mind centered that last week had a major role in that. You've done all the studying you need to do, especially if you hit a 514. You need to walk in as confident as you can.

 

[Zenabi90]

The best thing you can do right now is the same thing people training for a marathon do.

Rest. Pray to whatever god you believe in.

My personal theory is that due to the skewed grading scales, scoring from 129 to 132 is a crapshoot and solely determined by the questions they select for your exam, not your personal ability.

Swagster has it right. You put in all the work you need to do. You've done the training runs for that 10k, now its time to spend the last two-three days doing light jogs, stretches, rolling out your muscles, avoiding injuries, and getting a couple great nights of sleep.

In MCAT terms, you did your practice passages, content review, and practice FLs. Now its time to spend the last two-three days doing light review (think 8-11am, just so you're still used to starting at 8), do non-MCAT things like watch movies and moderate exercise (roll out your brain muscles), avoid injuries (don't overload your brain before the test), and getting proper rest.

That way your brain and body is well-rested and ready to fire on all cylinders.

Never ever undervalue proper rest.