Dealing with sounds/disturbances

[greenvillegod]

The person sitting next to me on MCAT is reading aloud and breathing heavily. How not to get distracted and

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[blz]

Maybe you should study in areas with more noise, like Starbucks or an open area in the library where people are free to talk.

 

[avicoo]

Wow. Maybe you should have asked the test administrator if you could move to a different room or seat without making a ruckus yourself (maybe btwn the first two sections). I think there is a difference btwn testing in a noisy place, and testing in a quiet place with one or two distracting noises. Things stand out more in quiet places.

 

[blz]

Wow. Maybe you should have asked the test administrator if you could move to a different room or seat without making a ruckus yourself (maybe btwn the first two sections). I think there is a difference btwn testing in a noisy place, and testing in a quiet place with one or two distracting noises. Things stand out more in quiet places.

Good point...Maybe you should make a tape of annoying noises and play it while you try to study in a quiet room.

 

[Nuel]

you want to FOCUS!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, FOCUS on the task at hand. When taking VR I was distracted by this hip-hop track running through my head. I think it was because the passages were just hard and long.

When you FOCUS you forget external distractions. So FOCUS!!!!!!!!

 

[pyra]

I understand how you feel. During the verbal section the guy next to me kept shaking/wagging his foot. I know that is nothing to some people, but I had to cover my peripheral vision with my arms! This continued into the Writing Section and BS. I know that may be a great way to burn a few calories, but geez!
Anyways, I tried taking practice tests in noisy/distracting areas. I think that might help.

 

[skiz knot]

During the April 2003 mcat I had to deal with a street performer playing tv theme songs on a saxophone throughout the whole test. The test adminstrators shoved all the left handed people in a little offshoot of the testing room because that is where they had the left handed desks. The performer was playing directly outside of the little offshoot of the room, so the distraction primarily affected the left handed examinees. The test administrators asked him to stop, offering him 10 bucks. He took the money, then came back a few minutes later. The police were called, but they couldn't do anything about it because he had a valid street performer license.

Long story short, I bombed the test (28p). The lefties petitioned the MCAT program office to allow us the opportunity to retest within the next few weeks so we wouldn't be behind and disadvantaged in our application cycle. They said no. We then asked to get a refund or allow us to take the August one for free. They said no. They wouldn't do anything for us! Soooo frustrating. Anyway, I had to take the test again in Aug (at a suburban location), and did much better (34q).

I strongly suggest that you do NOT take the test a city colleges of chicago (downtown test location). If you take the test at UIC in August this year be sure that the test date is not the weekend of the air and water show because the jets fly right over the campus and are very loud. Just my advice. best of luck all future test takers.

 

[greenvillegod]

Thank y'all for your suggestions. I should definetly try to take the test in starbucks or a little bit noisy place. I heard that some testing centers in California , where all the students are well prepared seem to have less of these deep breath(s) and (out)loud reading.

 

[roja]

I used to have studetns that this was a major problem for.

If you are one of those silent studier types, I recommend a graduated program. Start in your normal study environment and add in some very low quiet classical music. After that, graduate yourself to open tables in a library. Then maybe a starbucks. Eventually you should be able to study in a noisy bar type place. (my personal favorite)

 

[loonablu]

During the April 2003 mcat I had to deal with a street performer playing tv theme songs on a saxophone throughout the whole test. QUOTE]

I just took the MCAT last week in NYC and there was a f**king DRUM festival in the park directly outside the building. We were on the 8th floor so it wasn't as bad as it could've been but still . . . there was one guy offering to throw desks out the window at them. I don't know yet if it affected my score.
Btw, I'm a lefty too but the I was in a room with no left-handed desks so I just took it. I've been taking exams on right-handed desks all my life . . .

 

[ad_sharp]

Why not just lean over and politely ask the guy to please be quiet?

 

[Premedtomed]

The proctor at my site (Cincinnati Workforce - the best center in the world!) offered ear plugs. He was a great guy.

 

[skiz knot]

Btw, I'm a lefty too but the I was in a room with no left-handed desks so I just took it. I've been taking exams on right-handed desks all my life . . .[/QUOTE]

I'm a lefty too, and I actually prefer the "right-handed" desks.

 

[gdk]

the guy next to me started the knee shaking thing as soon as the test started. i leaned over to ask him to stop, which brought the proctor over to ask "is there a problem?"

the guy was really sorry and was cool the rest of the exam. i had tried to work through it at first but i got to the first question and i realized i didn't remember what the passage was about!

when i was doing practice tests, i always had that "immortal" song by evanescence in my head. i couldn't get rid of it.

"political historians argue that... when you cried i washed away all of your tears..... however, the rise of communism in eastern europe signaled the beginning of.... "


i don't know how i did it, but i didn't have anything going through my head during the real thing.

one thing i'll say, i was the last one into the test center so i ended up at the back of the room at the end of the row. maybe that helped.