Calming Nerves

[joshto]

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Seeing how I have taken the MCAT before, I think a major problem I have is becoming nervous during the test and even in test preparations. I think these test nerves impair my ability to answer certain questions; specifically, ones that require thorough thought process/analysis
Any suggestions on how to calm my nerves/relax?

 

[Mister T]

Seeing how I have taken the MCAT before, I think a major problem I have is becoming nervous during the test and even in test preparations. I think these test nerves impair my ability to answer certain questions; specifically, ones that require thorough thought process/analysis
Any suggestions on how to calm my nerves/relax?

Yes. Don't give a ****. Just relax, and don't care so much about how well you do. It's the only way to do it. It's a thinking exam and your mind needs to be clear.

If you're overthinking you have to exercise/sleep better/relax/stop hanging around premeds/stop being so personally competitive. It will hamper you.

You have to stop worrying about how you will do or how others will do/perceive you if you fail.

You have to be separated from your outcome.

You hav to have backup plans so that you realize that it's not the end of the world if you **** up.

So what if you do bad? You can do better again the 2nd time or third time or fourth time even (although people will say you should just give up because there's no point, I disagree slightly).

Be happier. Go out with your friends more, family, exercise, etc. and stop freaking out if you don't get into medicine right away. Medicine is not as glamorous as it seems, and if you're old enough to have worked in the real world for a few years, you realize that it's just a regular job with the same frustrations, pains, and ennui that is in practically in every field.

Seeing as SDN is a bunch of Asian gunner premeds who think that they will have to commit seppuku if they don't make it into medical school on the first shot and their parents will disown them, you'll think that now you have to take a year or two or three before going in. Time off is a good thing if this occurs. It's not a big deal, and honestly a little world experience and growing up will do wonders on your confidence and performance in school, in dating/relationships, and in life.

My advice is to not give a ****. You get so worked up about how the exam is going to determine your life, and you end up doing worse because you're not dedicating enough mental energy to the task at hand.

You reach a point where you take so many "this exam will make it or break it for you" moments (i.e. SAT/ACT, MCAT, USMLE PART I, II, III, board certification, and 5-10 year renewals,e tc), that you have to stop freaking out so much

To do that you have to change your attitude, but I don't think you can change that consciously overnight or even over a month.

Your personality has to change so that you know how to separate yourself from the outcome for better or for worse. But, I don't think you can forcibly do this as it seems it's just an aspect of maturing, and forcing it will make things worse.

So my best advice is to,again, allow yourself to distance yourself from your outcome, exercise, sleep well, do some yoga, drink with friends, lay off the coffee, etc. Don't think so much, and just do.

And avoid SDN as much as possible. It's a bunch of overparanoid gunners who will post their stats in their "sigs" to boost their fragile egos or overprep for the MCAT (which I believe is counterproductive in so many ways). So use it only when you have nothing better to do.

Signing off now.

 

[Velocity]

Yes. Don't give a ****. Just relax, and don't care so much about how well you do. It's the only way to do it. It's a thinking exam and your mind needs to be clear.

This is good advice. I've taken the MCAT before as well, and I'm no fan of the fact that I'm here preparing to do it again. Yet there is something positive to be gained. The material on the MCAT itself isn't necessarily so important, but being able to prepare for an exam of this scope and to successfully go through with it is a skill that will likely serve you well as you go through medical school (and go through the other various medical exams after that).

The advice of one of my parents was to immerse yourself in it. Take so many practice exams that by the time the real test comes around you no longer feel intimidated, but you're more or less thinking "finally, this is the last one, let's get it over with." Take everything one step at a time.

And avoid SDN as much as possible. It's a bunch of overparanoid gunners who will post their stats in their "sigs" to boost their fragile egos or overprep for the MCAT (which I believe is counterproductive in so many ways). So use it only when you have nothing better to do.

I find SDN pretty useful, actually. I was never a big fan of it because I always felt that people here were likely to be the types that Mister T described. I'm now at a point in my life where there are no pre-meds around me, so it's easy to become complacent. I like to come here because it reminds me that others aren't just sitting around, and that I need to keep moving as well.

But if the site makes you nervous, then certainly avoid it. Consider this all a challenge to figure out how to control the various aspects of your life and put them to your advantage.

 

[SweetRain]

At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm just gonna say it.
BE CONFIDENT.
Just know that they will not test you on anything you haven't learned and if not the answers are there in the passage. If you freak out, you won't be able to find the answers. Just know that you can do it! and best of luck 😀

 

[Mister T]

At the risk of stating the obvious, I'm just gonna say it.
BE CONFIDENT.
Just know that they will not test you on anything you haven't learned and if not the answers are there in the passage. If you freak out, you won't be able to find the answers. Just know that you can do it! and best of luck 😀

Right, just don't panic when you see something foreign. Stay calm, and realize that there is 100% always a concept that is being tested by the MCAT that YOU have covered in your review/practice guaranteed. There will be clues from the passage, from teh answer choices, and your intuition that will guide you along this.

Like I said, you have to be pretty detached from the difficulty of the exam during test day. You have to just be logical and analytical and suppress the emotional side of you. Yes, like a robot. If you ever do surgery, and you **** up someone's artery, are you going to start freaking out? Okay yeah, maybe for a millisecond, but the next thing you do is calm yourself, assess the situation,and attack it LOGICALLY.

Everyone who gets that hard passage all freak out because its foreign. I've read on these forums of kids who have gone through 20 mcat exams, read and memorized all the details of bio books, orgo, gen chem and physics, and are still on teh same playing field as those on test days who have reviewed less. Why? Because AAMC 3-10 do not predict how the new MCATs are and give you a false sense of flow, length, questions simply because they are, in many ways, "oudated" (the earlier numbers being the best examples).

Why? Because it's still a new unfamiliar and very foreign passage that you will all see.

The difference between the one who aces it and the one who doesn't isn't inability, but a combination of confidence, sufficient drilling and practice, pacing yourself on the other passages so that you have enough time to focus on the bull**** poorly written passages, and focus during test day.

Oh and practice going to bed earlier (for instance if your exam is at 8 am, you might want to wake up 3-5 hours earlier, two to four weeks earlier [a week before won't be good enough to get used to it imo]), that way you just don't wake up the last minute before the exam with your mind not warmed up.

I'm out (woke up at 4 am this morning without an alarm clock 🙂 )

 

[sml5t]

Don't do anything MCAT related for the last day or two...just get it all out of your head and enjoy yourself, try to relax. You've been studying for 2-3 months hardcore - if you didn't learn something then you probably won't learn it right before the test.

Also, I convinced myself that I was ready for the test and that I prepared myself really well for it. Walk into the testing center not freaking out, but calm and confident. It's important to have a short memory on the MCAT - if you feel like you just completely bombed a section, take your whole break and don't think about it, just move on. Worrying about how you just did is just gonna stress you out more. Worked for me...for now at least. I felt good about the test...we'll see how I did a month from now...

 

[cliffhuxtableDO]

I've been trying to treat passages and questions like plays in basketball, once a play is over, its on to the next one. There's even a drill called "Next play" so you can stay focused on what's at hand.

 

[Mister T]

I've been trying to treat passages and questions like plays in basketball, once a play is over, its on to the next one. There's even a drill called "Next play" so you can stay focused on what's at hand.

Well, if I was told if my mcat was being cancelled and I have to wait another two months before taking it again (and htus studying for another two months), I think I would freak out.

 

[joshto]

are beta blockers, or any other pharmaceutical, a good option?