Retakers, how did you prepare again?

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StarryNights

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So I took the 1/30 test date and really don't know how to gauge my performance. I didn't have as much time to double check everything as I would have liked but I tried hard. Basically, I am hoping to land within my practice AAMC score range but am preparing for the worst case scenario so signed up again on 4/10.

I plan on reviewing lightly this month until I get scores back so I don't forget a large chunk of content. I used all the AAMC tests and have gone through all content review thoroughly. My problem is now I don't know how to prepare for the second time. Rereading the review books and looking over old tests do not seem to help much. First time around I had a game plan and stuck to the schedule well. What should I do now that I have covered everything? I work better with a systematic method; I feel like I'm just doing random things right now. Any help/advice much appreciated!! Thanks!
 
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Hey StarryNights! I did the SAME exact thing, I took the test 1/30 and rescheduled a retake for 4/10.

I took a Kaplan review but kind of slacked off... and during the test, well...it didn't go so well due to a few reasons (see my post nearby on the page, I started off well, then lost focus then picked it up and lost focus again...kinda).

I plan to buy a new set of better books to review from and then go content review for 3-4 weeks again and then testing practice for the remainder.

keep in touch, let's see how this goes 😎
open to your ides
 
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i have not read this thread but i felt i needed to establish my presence.
 
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it was goldman sachs earlier this week and i had a tough time parting with it.

but professor x is more my future!
 
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You guys make me laugh. I guess I will just review the topics that I struggled with on the 1/30 exam for now and content review until scores arrive. Last night I had a dream I scored a 42 composite but the breakdown was 11 PS/10 V/15 BS...even in my dreams of being an Einstein type, I still suck at math!
 
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thawunandonly said:
Hey StarryNights! I did the SAME exact thing, I took the test 1/30 and rescheduled a retake for 4/10.

I took a Kaplan review but kind of slacked off... and during the test, well...it didn't go so well due to a few reasons (see my post nearby on the page, I started off well, then lost focus then picked it up and lost focus again...kinda).

I plan to buy a new set of better books to review from and then go content review for 3-4 weeks again and then testing practice for the remainder.

keep in touch, let's see how this goes 😎
open to your ides
Click to expand...

From your thread it seems like u struggled most with OChem. On the 1/30 test, I only recall one OChem passage, so you probably did a lot better than you thought.
 
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rama kandra said:
Lets talk about your dream, shall we?
Click to expand...

Haha, it was very spirit-crushing when I woke up and realized it was a dream. I don't know how the dream-MCAT people added a 36 breakdown to equal 42, but I was extremely happy. What are you doing while waiting for scores??
 
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I've been using tin foil to re create the device known as Cerebro on the film XMEN. Xavier uses it to tap into the hive minds of all mutants everywhere. My version is tapping into nothing but I hope to do it soon.

I am spending time on SDN debating whether I should donate some money. Otherwise I am reading a lot of books and trying to avoid any social distraction or family obligation by vegetating in this room of mine. I just took a shower, and thinking of having some Wheaties for a snack.
 
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i see a lot of familiar names in this thread
i'm totally joining this party -

i posted my dream in another thread, i'm still offering $100 for the contents, any takers?
 
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i thought this is where you report dreams, and we try to analyze them as pseudo psychiatrists. This is what I intend to do for my remaining time tonight, and possibly tomorrow.

I stopped taking Copay's after i realize i don't need no gas money for my Toyota - i just left her for dead. What does that say about me as a person? Do I need better insurance coverage for my own treatment? Cue twilightzone music.
 
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Rama, you and I can help people out - you seem like an intelligent budding psychiatrist.

But first, give me some advice - i've had this recurring dream for many nights now - this strange figure (usually very dark) in front of a chalkboard, and he's writing down several formulas and graphs, a couple of key terms under a category labelled "passages."

i knew these were MCAT topics, but i had no idea what it all meant - so about 2 nights ago, i started journaling the topics into a notepad. There are many biology topics, and a few chemistry ones also - topics that seem very difficult, and may never have encountered in my review.

i'm starting to think this may be a sign from a higher power, and i'm truly growing nervous inside, do you have any insights?
 
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I say you are channeling what a young Dr Benjamin Carson would experience in his first finals examination prior to graduating freshman year at Yale. I say, stay off the pipe and follow your dreams. With a little bit of luck, you will become a world renown neurosurgeon.
 
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rama kandra said:
I say you are channeling what a young Dr Benjamin Carson would experience in his first finals examination prior to graduating freshman year at Yale. I say, stay off the pipe and follow your dreams. With a little bit of luck, you will become a world renown neurosurgeon.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that sage advice. yes, i have read of Dr. Carson - except, I think I will try to market this information, maybe my dreams, like for him, will contain the answers to future MCAT exams! :idea:
 
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It is truly amazing the secrets our dreams hold, the mysteries we must uncover in our quest for knowledge. I encourage my fellow pre-medical colleagues to indulge us with your dreams, so we can continue the lifelong human quest to understand our universal existence and goals in life
 
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All knowledge becomes self knowledge, as Bruce Lee is quoted for saying. What I think he meant in my pseudo professional way is that he believed if you dreamed something, you already knew it and it is from the past. It is now self knowledge. If you took a dream from a prior event and re-envisioned it in a new way, that means you have created new self knowledge. All knowledge is self knowledge.
 
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You are right, my friend - and I believe this raises the question of what knowledge is in itself. Is it a material possession? Not really - an achievement is merely the physical proof of its manifestion - but it isn't the manifestation itself. A dream represents the seed (the potential for growth), while the tree represents the physical manifestion (or proof) of the potential itself.

In other words, the potential for achievement is present within all the pre-meds who have testified about having MCAT dreams. It is merely a matter of growing the physical manifestion (or proof) of this potential by attaining that high MCAT score.
 
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I forsee the dream disappearing after the emergence of two things: 1) the mcat score report and 2) the possibility for retaking. The earliest will be in 3 weeks. After this time you will continue having the dream if #1 was very poor.

These dreams are targeting a specific event, and re creating the outcome earlier than they should arise. In a way, your mind is telling you that you are moving too slow, 'ill show you how to get a score report!' and you wake up, with no report. This is the minds way of saying move faster. Of course if the mind were let free, it would rapidly push us into old age well before our time. We would die of exhaustion trying to keep pushing to the next goal. Dreams keep us from this outcome, since they last only 8 seconds on average.
 
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I have had many dreams in my life, but these MCAT dreams of the ominous figure in front of the blackboard consume so much of my energy. I wake up fatigued, as if I just got done with a 4 hour organic chemistry lab. It's like a force has entered my life, and is influencing the way I see the world.

I sometimes try to divert my thoughts, to try to funnel those emotions into constructive MCAT studying, but the following night, the figure is back.

Rama, i have read a lot about becoming an active participant in my dreams. I am trying to be bold tonight, and figure out a way to be an active participant in tonight's dream. if the pattern holds true, I will once again have the blackboard dream tonight. I am going to actively get out of my seat in the dream tonight, and approach this dark figure. I feel unsure, but I feel it is imperative if I want to explore the mystery behind this. can you offer any tips to getting out of hte passive role of dreams?
 
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In my years of tapping the minds, yours seems most likely to lead to tragedy. I advise you not approach the figure. Instead I strategize here in the hope that others benefit. The figure is not a person, but the personification of all your great fears. He teaches the MCAT, and it is not your instructor. It knows your fear, so it exposes it by showing you a productieve task. The task is wrong, do not feel enticed to approach.

However I believe earlier than sleeping, you should meditate. If you do not have medically sanctioned marajuana, you will have to resort to water steaming like in those crappy water fountains at floral shops that let off a wisp.

Tell yourself the meditation is to pre determine the dream. Go back to the vision of the dream, try to collect all the facts and details and focus on each of them. Make the environment most important. This diffuses the figure, because you are lured into it. Do not go there, it will result in a nightmare, as you will be engulfed in fear, and wake up with a terror. It may be a draining mystery because you wake up tired, but realize you are in the presence of the most potent dream demon, fear. There is nothing you can do except wait out the dream, but do not work at making friends with the shadow. You must start to imagine stepping back out of the classroom and into the outer hallway, and flee. Find something better to do!

I hope this reaches you in time.
 
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IndianVercetti said:
It is truly amazing the secrets our dreams hold, the mysteries we must uncover in our quest for knowledge. I encourage my fellow pre-medical colleagues to indulge us with your dreams, so we can continue the lifelong human quest to understand our universal existence and goals in life
Click to expand...

I've had the same end-of-the-world dream a couple of times, except the world doesn't end up ending. 2012 in disguise?
 
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I see your reasoning Dr. Kandra - I understand this figure represents my fears and anxieties, yet I'm struggling with this strange duality. Let me try to elaborate -

On one hand, there I have that strong desire to flee as you stated. The situation in the lecture hall as I'm listening to the lecture is very stressful. i am alone, and can even feel my pulse beating, yet desperately struggling to jot down the facts my vague instructor is writing up, for "fear" once again of some repercussion.

But then again, I feel a sense of comfort or happiness in the awareness that this strange apparition is devoting their time to "aiding" my pursuits by providing information on the blackboard. When i awake from my dreams, despite the fear and anxiety I have, there is a sense of contentment that is found in being aware of new MCAT concepts that I previously overlooked in my review. I guess it is this satisfaction that is swaying me to reciprocate my gesture to this figure, by approaching him/her.
 
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Provided you are able to handle waking up fatigued every morning, armed with a new MCAT topic to address - you will have to compromise. Stay in the classroom, take the lesson to heart, but do not let the stress overcome your desire to find the one topic you really need to leave the dream with.

Fear can be sudden or long and draining. Do not let either of these outcomes happen to the best of your ability. I wish you luck but I sense your likely sexual frustration with the MCAT has taken on the perverse alternate - you are in a classroom where there is nothing but studies. No place to unwind yourself of the burden, or is it? I suggest perhaps looking for a way to find pleasure by inviting your own hand of justice. Let fear know there is also pleasure, and you can restrict that fear.
 
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Right, I totally understand where you are coming from Dr. Kandra. Upon studying for the MCAT, i've really lost a lot of the free time I used to have - and has completely transformed the lifestyle I was accustomed to. Recently, the only real "dates" I've had are with my Kaplan review books, so I can definitely see your reasoning of the sexual frustration claim.

As far as inviting pleasure by using my own hand of justice - unfortunately the apparition isn't the most curvaceous or feminine figure in the world. If anything, there is an attractive woman sitting in the row next to me in the lecture hall; perhaps another victimized MCAT student. Perhaps in tonight's dream I'll try to take a more active role and instigate a conversation with her, in an attempt to free myself of the monotony of the fear-ridden lecture hall
 
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