I'm not a morning person. Should I take a morning MCAT?

[BurntFlower]

So I'm thinking about registering for the March 24th exam since it's a good date for me, but I'm a bit worried about the 8AM time. Has any non-morning person taken a morning MCAT exam and done well on it? And if so, what's your advice?

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[deep122]

It's probably not the best idea, however if you can train yourself to become a morning person (ex. start waking up early and studying in the morning), it's probably doable. I specifically scheduled my exam for the afternoon because I am not a morning person.

 

[BurntFlower]

It's probably not the best idea, however if you can train yourself to become a morning person (ex. start waking up early and studying in the morning), it's probably doable. I specifically scheduled my exam for the afternoon because I am not a morning person.

Do you think I should start waking early a week or more in advance? Maybe this isn't a good idea and just register for afternoon test.

 

[Pisiform]

It won't be that much of a problem. As the above poster said, train yourself to wake up early and on the exam day, some adrenalin is going to keep you pumped as well.

 

[BurntFlower]

It won't be that much of a problem. As the above poster said, train yourself to wake up early and on the exam day, some adrenalin is going to keep you pumped as well.

Should I start waking up early from now to exam date, a month before exam date, a week...?

 

[MAnne]

To wake up early you need to get to bed earlier. What are you doing that keeps you up at night? How much sleep do you need in a night? Combine those factors and it will give you a good idea on what to do/not do.

Btw, I'm a morning person, but lately I've been staying up until 2am studying and waking up at 7/7:30. This reduction in daylight sux too. I usually need at least 6-7 hours of sleep so sometimes there's always one day in the week or week and a half that I get 8 to catch up, or when I was out late the night before. I am trying not to do that because obviously, it slows down the grasping of concepts, consequently delaying progress.

 

[Pisiform]

Should I start waking up early from now to exam date, a month before exam date, a week...?

I have exam in AM and I am pulling all nighters right now. I will start waking up early a month before the test date. I think 1 mnth will suffice

 

[eDITN]

Should I start waking up early from now to exam date, a month before exam date, a week...?

If you can, you might want to try taking some practice exams in the morning to get the feel for what it will be like on test day. So, get up early whenever you are taking a practice test and start getting in the habit of waking up early as soon as you can.

 

[BurntFlower]

To wake up early you need to get to bed earlier. What are you doing that keeps you up at night? How much sleep do you need in a night? Combine those factors and it will give you a good idea on what to do/not do.

Btw, I'm a morning person, but lately I've been staying up until 2am studying and waking up at 7/7:30. This reduction in daylight sux too. I usually need at least 6-7 hours of sleep so sometimes there's always one day in the week or week and a half that I get 8 to catch up, or when I was out late the night before. I am trying not to do that because obviously, it slows down the grasping of concepts, consequently delaying progress.

I generally need 4-6 hours of sleep per night. I generally stay up late doing homework, studying for MCAT, watching some TV, wasting time on the Internet, etc.

Will you also be taking a morning exam then?

 

[MAnne]

I generally need 4-6 hours of sleep per night. I generally stay up late doing homework, studying for MCAT, watching some TV, wasting time on the Internet, etc.

Will you also be taking a morning exam then?

So stop wasting time! I'm not a TV person except for Sundays with Dexter and Homeland.

Uhh duh..... Yes of course I will be taking the AM exam. j/k Thankfully the testing site is only about 30 min away and there won't be any traffic at that hour so a 6:00 wake-up time will be a no brainer. Hmmm, I may entertain the idea of a sleeping pill the night before and a Xanax the of the exam. Never tried either one...yet. LOL Can you imagine?! BAD



~M

 

[BurntFlower]

I have exam in AM and I am pulling all nighters right now. I will start waking up early a month before the test date. I think 1 mnth will suffice

Are you pulling all-nighters for MCAT studying or course work? Yeah, a month seems reasonable.

If you can, you might want to try taking some practice exams in the morning to get the feel for what it will be like on test day. So, get up early whenever you are taking a practice test and start getting in the habit of waking up early as soon as you can.

Good advice.

So stop wasting time! I'm not a TV person except for Sundays with Dexter and Homeland.

Uhh duh..... Yes of course I will be taking the AM exam. j/k Thankfully the testing site is only about 30 min away and there won't be any traffic at that hour so a 6:00 wake-up time will be a no brainer. Hmmm, I may entertain the idea of a sleeping pill the night before and a Xanax the of the exam. Never tried either one...yet. LOL Can you imagine?! BAD



~M

Thankfully, my testing site is a 10 minute walk. Yeah...I don't know if taking a sleeping pill would be the best idea, heh.

 

[MAnne]

[/QUOTE]

Thankfully, my testing site is a 10 minute walk. Yeah...I don't know if taking a sleeping pill would be the best idea, heh.



Ahh, but you haven't said anything about Xanax being a bad idea...

~M

 

[valkener]

As others have said, it's just a matter of getting accustomed! If you study a month in advance for the MCAT and know you will have to take the MCAT early, study even earlier.

Another tip: study in order of the MCAT test. My MCAT started with VR so I also started with VR when I studied in the morning. This was the first thing I did in the morning, even before breakfast and coffee.

Good luck .

 

[Pisiform]

Are you pulling all-nighters for MCAT studying or course work? Yeah, a month seems reasonable.

MCAT mostly ... classes I am taking this semester are really easy so there is not much need for school work all-nighters.

 

[Nymphicus]

implement your schedule as part of your study plan if you plan on changing your habits

 

[Cinclus]

I am definitely not a morning person, and I was bad and didn't adjust my wake-up time and sleep schedule in advance. Though I don't recommend not adjusting your sleep schedule, I did fine as a tired night owl at an 8 AM test.

 

[deep122]

I've heard that it is useful to study around the same time of your exam (ex. 8 am exam, study in the morning) just to get your mind adjusted to working at those hours. Also, it is a very good idea to take all practice tests at the time your actual exam would be (so take them at 8 AM). However, everyone is different, so the same rules don't necessarily need to be followed by everyone.

 

[BurntFlower]

I have finally registered for the March 24 exam! Thanks to everyone who replied!

 

[Erythropoietin]

treat the last couple weeks like the real day of mcat and you should be fine