I am a slacker and I need your advice

[Mistress S]

As August 16 looms ever nearer, slowly changing from abstraction to concrete reality in my mind, I am having significant doubts about whether or not I should take the test given that we have <5 weeks left to prepare for it. All I have done so far is review gen chem using EK (back in Feb, when I was planning to take the April MCAT) and I am currently about 3/4 of the way thru EK physics. I am studying on my own since I can't afford a course and clearly am doing a crap-tastic job of following the (very nice, if I do say so myself) study schedule I made up for myself back in June.

Obviously, I am going about preparing for the MCAT in a very half-assed way. I read about people on here who plan to study 8 hours a day for 7 weeks prior to the test, while taking a Kaplan course which they read all the materials for back in May, and I feel like a huge slacker. As a result, I am not sure if I should go ahead and take the test this Aug--I know I won't get through all the review before then. My (adjusted) study schedule allows time only for brief review of the remaining subjects, then taking 3 or 4 more full length tests. However, my one saving grace is that I am pretty good at standardized tests, making me think I might be able to pull this off with a decent score if I put some genuine effort into studying the next few weeks. Here are my practice scores from tests I have taken so far:

Kaplan MCAT "test-drive" (free half-length practice test administered by Kaplan at my school to try to scare you into shelling out ungodly amounts of money for their course; taken in Nov. with no prior studying or reivew): PS 6, VR 13, BS 8, overall 27

AAMC I (taken in January before I began studying; scores are estimates using my percentile rank on AAMC I and the scales from AAMC II and III since AAMC I provides no scale): PS 6, VR 13-15, BS 8-9 overall 27-30

AAMC III (taken today, after reading most of EK physics and having reviewed EK gen chem back in Feb--in other words, hardly any review ): PS 7, VR 13, BS 9, overall 29

All tests were taken under timed conditions, following as closely as possible the normal testing and break times (although I have not done the writing section yet).

My goal, like everybody else's, is to break 30, and anything over that would be cake. I think even minimal studying over the next five weeks should boost my score up a couple of points or so, which is all the practice tests indicate I would need to reach my goal; however, 2 things concern me about this--1.) should I take the test now with so little studying, when if I really put in the effort I might be able to do much better? and 2.) My PS scores--obviously a well-distributed 30 (i.e., >/= 10 in each section) is desirable, and my PS scores frankly suck (and mind you this is the only area I have done ANY review in). I think I can bring bio up 1 or 2 points without too much difficulty if I actually do some review in this area, but I don't know what the deal is with PS--maybe if I put some real effort into it I can pull it up to hopefully at least a 9 or so.

So, I need honest opinons about 2 things: should I take the test in Aug or defer until April?
and, if you think I should take it in Aug, what do you recommend I do with my precious remaining study time? I am thinking I should review bio and o-chem over the next two weeks, then delve back into hard-core PS review as time allows until the test; also, that I would take a full-length practice test every week from now until the test. Does this sound realistic? Is 5 weeks enough time for someone with my practice scores to get where they want to be? Please share your thoughts!

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[Quickread]

hey-

fellow slacker here. i, too, pretty much ignored all my study plans until the end. u're getting fine scores without much review, and i defenitely think you should take the test. i took the april one, and fit in about 1 week of studying which mostly was composed of listening to EK's AO. other than that i just took all the AAMC exams, and ended up doing better on the real one anyway. this was about 2 weeks before the real shebang, 5 weeks is plenty of time to buff up your sciences and take the exam. gl.

 

[indo]

Hey mistress,
You sound like you are capable of doing well on the mcat coming up. I'd go for if I was you. Just do your best studying for the remaining month. It sounds like you have a pretty high verbal ability so at least you don't have to worry too much about that!

Actually, I just want to be comforted by the fact that somebody else is suffering through their summer the same way I am.

misery--->

<---company

You should take the exam!

 

[thackl]

considering that verbal is the toughest score to improve, you are in great shape. The second easiest is PS. Good luck. Take the test.

 

[efex101]

Take it in August but STOP slacking now! Seriously, you need to get out of the slack mode and hunker down and do it, we all had to pull ourselves from our bootstraps and do it. No more excuses just set up a schedule and if you really want to get into medical school stick to it. Good luck.

 

[Corey]

Mistress S, you should definitely go ahead and take the aug. test. your practice scores are actually pretty good considering your study habits. PS could get better if you just do like you said and study whenever time allows.

You're not in any more worse shape than others preparing for the aug. test so just keep your head on straight and Go for IT!

Good Luck.

Corey.

 

[superk0725]

August, but you have to start now. the good thing is that you have absolutely no problem in Verbal, which for pre-meds is the hardest part. Also it is harder to improve your verbal score than it is to improve your sciences. I would just concentrate on the sciences and try to learn as much information as possible. See if you can borrow someone's Kaplan books and study them well. 4 weeks isnt much time, but still it is possible to do it.

 

[AlternateSome1]

BTW, 30 is not going to be a good score if it isn't a balanced 30. Having a 10, 13, 7 is not nearly as good as 10/10/10 or 10/9/11.

~AS1~

 

[indo]

Originally posted by AlternateSome1
BTW, 30 is not going to be a good score if it isn't a balanced 30. Having a 10, 13, 7 is not nearly as good as 10/10/10 or 10/9/11.

~AS1~

Says who?

 

[silenthunder]

Hey Mistress S,

Your scores on your prelim exams are pretty impressive for someone who hasn't studied very much.

I believe if you get out of your funk you can do fairly well.

At this point I think the only thing that's going to get you where you want to be (ie. a 30) is a whole heap of hard work.

If you're working right now while trying to pull it off, and I really hate to say this, you are going to go through a huge struggle.
(trying to put in 8 hours at work then trying to put in 3-6 hours or more of MCAT studying is simply not very realistic)

If you don't have a job, then you just need to find some motivation with which to get you moving forward.

I myself have a few motivation problems, but I'm still going to take a shot at the August exam. Care to join me?

I hope you are well, and that you find what you're looking for.

Cheers,

Silenthunder

 

[AlternateSome1]

Originally posted by indo
Says who?

Sorry, perhaps I mispoke. It is a fine score, it just isn't looked on as favorably by admissions councils. Some schools have computer systems which drop you if you have below X in any section. 7 is much more likely to be dropped than a 10.

~AS1~

 

[lyragrl]

About a week before the April MCAT I fell apart one afternoon. I'd been studying my behind off for weeks and I didn't feel ready at all. I took my first practice PS exam. It went really badly. I freaked out and decided I wasn't going to take it, that I'd wait until August. Thankfully, my husband talked some sense into me and I took it. (I got a 35R).

I agree with the other posters that you should buckle down and start busting your ass. But a month is a decent amount of time if you were moderately comfortable with the subjects to begin with.

If you don't have access to TPR materials, can you buy that big Kaplan book? Or, you could use that huge outline AAMC provides and just zip through stuff topic by topic using your old texts.

I have to admit, I had access to some TPR books through a friend (I didn't take the course) and I also had some of those ExamKracker books. The EK problem books didn't really help me at all. The knowledge tested in those questions seems really random a lot of the time, and there are a lot of errors in some of those books.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but the AAMC practice tests are by far the most useful for become familiar with the materials.

Good luck.

 

[indo]

Originally posted by AlternateSome1
Sorry, perhaps I mispoke. It is a fine score, it just isn't looked on as favorably by admissions councils. Some schools have computer systems which drop you if you have below X in any section. 7 is much more likely to be dropped than a 10.

~AS1~

I was just kidding. I'm with you, if I had a 13, 11, 7 I would cringe each time I saw it.