Advice to people studying

[jammin06]

so after studying pretty much non-stop for the past 2 months, my body just stopped and said..."um, no, this ain't gonna work" I came down with a 102 degree fever yesterday, passed out twice and was almost taken to the ER. Though I know it is something virally related, I am sure taht the stress that I've been putting on my body for this entire time didn't help the situation much. So, for thsoe taht are worrying and freaking out about exam, just make sure u take care of your own health before you begin your endeavour to take care of others. I am unfortunately learning this the hard way, but hopefully this PSA can help otehrs.

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[Psycho Doctor]

wow, so sorry to hear about your situation. the fever is bad enough, but passing out? wow you got to take care of yourself!! you can't take a test and do well on it if you're that stressed and sick. what kind of hours have you been keeping? take this time to get rest, build up your strength and then realize nothing is worth killing yourself over, not even the MCAT. take it, easy, jammin06, God bless.

 

[jammin06]

thanks for the concern. I realized that i don't have to hit studying hardcore 24/7. More than anything else, I'm learning the importance of going over the stuff that i've already studied once before, because there's no telling how much information slipped through the cracks the first time. As far as the regiment i've been keeping...since about early June, my daily regiment consisted of waking up at 5am, being at work at 6 (working in the operating room at a local hospital), getting off of work at 2:30, going to mcat class at 3, class till 5:30, then library from 6-9:30ish. yea, it's sad taht I'm looking forward to going back to campus in the fall because it will be less work than my schedule right now.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

wow, that's a pretty brutal schedule!! can't you cut any work hours until after the MCAT? i mean you don't get any break at all until 9:30 at night. no wonder you are sick....

My schedule isn't exactly a picnic either but i'm used to dealing with these kinds of hours: get up at 5:30 or 6:00, do some reading, review, etc, orgo chem class 8-10 + Tues and Thurs 1:30-4:30; hospital volunteer work 11-7 M,W, F and alternating saturdays; crisis center volunteer work 7:30-10:30 most nights and alternating Saturdays; study for orgo and MCAT 11:00-2 or 3 or 4 AM, sometimes all night and on Sundays after church....

and people wonder why i haven't done my applications yet....

and yea occasionally i spend time with my gf or friends

but sometimes especially working at the crisis center there is down time for me to study or do other work, or post on these boards, so it's not as bad as it sounds...

 

[kiahs]

Hope you feel better

 

[jammin06]

well, the bad part about my job is that it's only a summer job. I'm home for the summer in birmingham, and will have to go back to houston when the school year starts. The one bright side is that I finally got up the nerve to talk to my boss and tell her that my last day will be this coming friday. What stinks is that I will probably have my boss write some kind of recommendation, and I feel bad having missing a day of work during my last week on the job. Hopefully they'll understand....

ps. how are you finding taking orgo and studying for mcat at the same time? I contemplated doing this last summer, but was talked out of it. Are you taking both semesters of orgo? I think the reason i was talked out of my decision was because I was only taking Orgo I during the summer term, and there's a bit of II on the exam. good luck with your work....only a few more weeks left

 

[Psycho Doctor]

I assume the question of the orgo was intended for me.

yes i'm taking both semesters of orgo during the summer plus the lab. I wanted to take it in the spring and fall or spring and summer but my school only offers I in the fall and II in the spring or both in the summer.

let's put it this way: orgo is hell to study for anyway, having it accelerated over the summer is even worse and trying to study for that and the MCAT at the same time is nearly impossible. The only saving grace is i can skip the chapters of prep work on orgo and it's all very fresh on my mind. the final of part 2 is 4 days before the MCAT.

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

well, the bad part about my job is that it's only a summer job. I'm home for the summer in birmingham, and will have to go back to houston when the school year starts. The one bright side is that I finally got up the nerve to talk to my boss and tell her that my last day will be this coming friday. What stinks is that I will probably have my boss write some kind of recommendation, and I feel bad having missing a day of work during my last week on the job. Hopefully they'll understand....

ps. how are you finding taking orgo and studying for mcat at the same time? I contemplated doing this last summer, but was talked out of it. Are you taking both semesters of orgo? I think the reason i was talked out of my decision was because I was only taking Orgo I during the summer term, and there's a bit of II on the exam. good luck with your work....only a few more weeks left

ORGO 2 and MCAT i feel so achey from thinking about cyclizations i just want to croak if i haveto see another enolate ion today waaaaaaa

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

I assume the question of the orgo was intended for me.

yes i'm taking both semesters of orgo during the summer plus the lab. I wanted to take it in the spring and fall or spring and summer but my school only offers I in the fall and II in the spring or both in the summer.

let's put it this way: orgo is hell to study for anyway, having it accelerated over the summer is even worse and trying to study for that and the MCAT at the same time is nearly impossible. The only saving grace is i can skip the chapters of prep work on orgo and it's all very fresh on my mind. the final of part 2 is 4 days before the MCAT.

my exams next thursday ....final exam...god im scared because i cant memorize for the life of me..how are u dealing with remembering reagents/ mechanisms??? ..i am generalizing a LOT but it backfires a lot too

 

[Psycho Doctor]

hey...next Thursday? ugh good luck!

i'm memorizing the stuff for now but i'm sure it's short term memory and by August 15th i won't remember any of it. How did you do in orgo 1?

 

[ifailedmcat]

so after studying pretty much non-stop for the past 2 months, my body just stopped and said..."um, no, this ain't gonna work" I came down with a 102 degree fever yesterday, passed out twice and was almost taken to the ER. Though I know it is something virally related, I am sure taht the stress that I've been putting on my body for this entire time didn't help the situation much. So, for thsoe taht are worrying and freaking out about exam, just make sure u take care of your own health before you begin your endeavour to take care of others. I am unfortunately learning this the hard way, but hopefully this PSA can help otehrs.

Something similar happened to me as well (well not that similar). In the middle of a TPR class I started having a slight headache. My headache was pounding when my friend dropped me off at my car she said I looked really bad. As I was driving home, my headache was really intense, and my hands started shaking. A few minutes from home, my whole body fell asleep and began going numb. When I finally walked into the house I threw up. My parents gave me some water and put some blankets over me whille I fell asleep. When I woke up 4 hours later, I was fine .

This was about 3/4 through my studying for the April MCAT. I believe to this day it was because I was neglecting food and sleep. I had exams a few days before and I stayed up a whole night. Usually I rest afterwards, but I had to studying for the MCAT whenever I had free time .

 

[Psycho Doctor]

wow, sorry!! that sounds awful. the symptoms almost sounds like something severe...didn't you even have it checked out? don't you think you should?

 

[ifailedmcat]

The weird thing is everything disappeared when I woke up. I was scared outta my mind though. Maybe I should have seen a doctor.

 

[jon0013]

sorry to hear that and i thought i had it bad with headache and allergies..my right eye was pretty swollen so i had to take my contact out and study the last day hrs of the day with one eye...i do feel my body failing me and so im goin for a run tonight...get well soon..

 

[joelmamchur]

The weird thing is everything disappeared when I woke up. I was scared outta my mind though. Maybe I should have seen a doctor.

A similar thing happens to me once in a while. I think it's due to too much caffeine or stress. I get a ultra bad headache, then lose my vision and parts of my body go numb. So, for the MCAT, I quit my job for a month, and study 6 hrs/day, then go out and have fun with friends or relax! Life is too short to stress about some test. Sure, it IS an important test, but it's not the do all end all.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I got real sick the week before the MCAT last August, luckily, by the time test day rolled around, I just had a stuffy nose. Stress definitely lowers your immune system. Chill out, getting sick is much worse for your score than not studying.