thoughts on burnout

[epsilonprodigy]

I thought it would be a great idea to take a FL every day this week. but now I'm thinking that it's better if the FL is something you have a little more "respect" for, for lack of a better word. If you go taking them every day, you just sort of end up piddling through it. I found that I couldn't concentrate as well today and was having to go over and over things I'd normally just "get."


So I'd sworn off Q-bank but looks like I'm going to have to sandwich in some q-bank sessions between FL's from now on.

I mean, if you don't have any respect for the actual act, then what do you have? I know people that will just take any old MCAT, and then they wonder why their self-esteem suffers. Worst part: the MCAT doesn't even call you the next morning and explain that it's not you, it's IT.....

Whoa. I need to stop.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted74029]

 

[ru4real1666]

Once you burn out, it's hard to come back. I think 4 tests a week is pretty good for most people.

 

[VikingLegacy]

I was having issues with burnout a week ago, but now I feel like I've genuinely covered and mastered most of the material to a good extent. After fighting my way through that burnout, putting in a few gym days and basically trying to play through the pain but with a rest day here or there, I now feel more solid than ever. I'm starting to go through and firm up little details now.

I don't think taking a week of solid daily full-lengths is necessarily a bad idea, but I have some thoughts on it:
1) It's going to train your endurance to the point of ridiculousness. After taking 5 of them back to back, taking the real one once will seem like a breeze, and God knows you'll have your timing and pacing down to a fine art at that point.
2) The downside is that you might do as you said and not take it as seriously, or maybe lose some points on questions due to fatigue and inability to go back, study up and fix your weak points. It's just like with weights, you don't want to train yourself to fail.

I can't say anything because I haven't taken it yet, but if I come back with a 40 as a result of my study habits, I'll say to train yourself to put 100% effort into preparing for each and every practice test, reviewing all material from start to finish in one herculean work of scholastic masochism.

 

[hiyaman]

you need to relax. chill a little.

 

[epsilonprodigy]

I am going back over that test that I did crappy on (the one that inspired my post.) It's wondrous I even got the 29 that I did. This is a ways below my typical practice scores, but I took it as a sign that I needed a break because I could feel myself scrambling, having a harder time staying on task, not comprehending what I was reading and forgetting details as I was going along. Now I'm looking back over the answers, and it's amazing the stupid stuff I got wrong. Some of it was so obvious!