The anxiety over the MCAT tomorrow is grueling. I can't eat/sleep....

[PreMedSucks]

I am just aiming for a 30 and I will be the happiest person in the world. I started off with Kaplan tests and my full lengths were 26 - 27- 32. Then I moved onto AAMC tests which were 23 (granted, I got a 4 in verbal because I was shocked at how different it was from Kaplan) to 26 - 30 - 27 - 29 - 32. In physics I tend to do alright between 10 and 12. Bio is usually above a 10 also, sometimes 12. Verbal just sucks always. Now I've been hearing that Bio is nothing like AAMC tests and much more like Kaplan. Im freaking out - especially because I looked at AAMC 11 yesterday and the Bio was WTF so if its more difficult.....

IS THERE HOPE FOR ME

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[ReggieD6868]

This area of SDN is mainly composed of students who haven't taken the actual exam or are going to re-take the exam. I fall into the former group, but I have three pieces of advice for you:

1) This test is for admission into the university to be a physician for a training that is more intense than this exam, and a career that can me at an even higher intensity that the exam and the training. Picture yourself as a surgeon on your exam day. You are entering the medical theater, you've prepared to the best of your ability, and it's all on you. No try, only do.

2) Stay off of these boards until a few days after you exam. There is very little to nothing besides what I told you that will cause a change in your score within this time frame.

3) This test is for the school, and not directly for you. Paid adcoms, don't know who you are until you take an interview. You are a number until then, and this is the number they need. It's not who you are. It's just a part of the metrics driven world we live in. You can either fight it or except it, but there's only one way to win it.

 

[Jason12]

This area of SDN is mainly composed of students who haven't taken the actual exam or are going to re-take the exam. I fall into the former group, but I have three pieces of advice for you:

1) This test is for admission into the university to be a physician for a training that is more intense than this exam, and a career that can me at an even higher intensity that the exam and the training. Picture yourself as a surgeon on your exam day. You are entering the medical theater, you've prepared to the best of your ability, and it's all on you. No try, only do.

2) Stay off of these boards until a few days after you exam. There is very little to nothing besides what I told you that will cause a change in your score within this time frame.

3) This test is for the school, and not directly for you. Paid adcoms, don't know who you are until you take an interview. You are a number until then, and this is the number they need. It's not who you are. It's just a part of the metrics driven world we live in. You can either fight it or except it, but there's only one way to win it.

well done my friend, the Oscar goes to you.

 

[cherrycokezero]

There is definitely hope! But you just have to accept that whatever happens, happens. At this point, you can't learn anything else that'd really change your score and you just have to trust yourself. Whatever score you get is the score you're meant to get whether it's what you wanted or not. You can always retake and either way plenty of people with scores below 30 get into medical school and become good doctors.

 

[ronnicus]

I've heard from some friends you should try and do something fun today. Studying the day before probably won't help you too much and it definitely won't help your anxiety. Just try your best tomorrow and if needs be, retake. Also let me know how similar the Kaplan tests are to the actual MCAT- I was thinking of using them but I've heard conflicting things about how much they match up.

 

[hylecious]

I have it tmr too. Good luck to you! We can do it.

 

[zinthafan]

I self-induced a fever the night before, couldn't fall asleep, thought I was going to crash come the verbal section and felt like crap--- my score: higher than any of the 18 practice tests I took.
In terms of bio, they scale it according to difficulty; AAMC was pretty accurate.
Best of luck!

 

[PreMedSucks]

Sometimes I work pretty well under pressure. For example, last week on my physics final I was too busy studying for the MCAT I just took the practice final he handed us and got a 20/30. On the real test I got 30/30. (3 out of 400 students to...) I am much more nervous about this though and wondering if the nerves will work against me in this case.

 

[dutchie000]

I feel ya. I haven't been sleeping well at all, and mine is May 31st. After tomorrow it'll all be over, though!! I'm jealous of you! Good luck with it all

 

[Gauss44]

I've taken the MCAT before. And yes, the night before can be stressful. Some things that might help:

-Going on youtube.com and looking up meditations and talks about reducing anxiety, test anxiety, overcoming anxiety, finding strength and confidence, etc.
-Working out/Jogging
-Calling supportive people
-Distracting yourself (movies, video games, calling energetic/gossipy friends)
-Focusing on victory (no pain no gain, remembering that every other doctor has gone through this)
-Having a list of what great things you'll do when this is over
-Remembering other things you're grateful for (It helped me. Not sure if it's because it put things in perspective or why.)