MCAT Anxiety

[pinny89]

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Hey everyone. I want to apply to podiatry schools for the Fall 2011 cycle and I'm registered to take the MCAT on Aug.5th, which is right around the corner. I can already feel the shakes and the pressure building up.

I have taken 7 AAMC practice exams (1 more left, I plan on taking it tomorrow) and have been consistently scoring 23-24 on them, which aren't the greatest scores, I know. I'm extremely nervous about taking the real deal as I've heard it's MUCH harder than the AAMC practice exams - and this doesn't really help my cause. And this is precisely why I'm worried I'm going to be scoring a few points below my practice scores. What should I do?

I honestly don't want to wait until Sept/Jan to take it because I don't feel like I can increase my scores much more than that. Furthermore, I'm taking a heavy course load this semester - 17 credits, so I doubt I'll have time to dedicate to the mcat.

Should I just suck it up and tell myself I'm going to do fine and just take it on Thursday? And if I do end up getting, say a 20, how would this affect my chances (sGPA 3.3, cGPA 3.58)? I will appreciate any input. Thank you in advance!

 

[Googlymello]

suck it up and tell yourself you are going to do fine...lol

just keep reviewing the areas you dont know very well.
take the last practice test.. and then maybe look for some others (examkrackers, etc) online or something.

just stay calm.
good luck on thursday!

 

[itswiggles]

- I too am going to take the MCAT on August 5th. Just took my last practice test today and scored 24 (PS 8, VR 6, Bio 10).
- Your cumGPA and sGPA are above average for Pod School. If you want any type of scholarship I suggest you hit 22+. However, if you get like 20+ I am sure you will get accepted into SOMEWHERE. If you hit 25+ count on getting scholarships. Good luck. And PM me if you want to talk about the test after Thursday.

- Oh and quick tip: I HIGHlY suggest you don't take a full practice test tomorrow. If you have taken 7 like you claim you have already built up endurance for the test. The last thing you want to happen on test day is Brain overdrive from taking so many tests. Use tomorrow for light review, go exercise, and don't stress yourself. I don't see how taking a test tomorrow will improve your score for Thursday. JMO

 

[dtrack22]

Pop a couple Xanax a day, each day leading up to the MCAT. You might not do well, but you'll be so heavily medicated that you really wont care!

 

[pinny89]

Googly - Thank you for the advice! I've primarily used the EK books and the Kaplan flashcards for my preparation and they were both great. I just need to try my best to stay calm for tomorrow.

Wiggles - I took my last practice exam yesterday also and got a 22 =/. I've been taking an exam every other day for the past 2 weeks - I'm hoping it's only a burnout. I'm just going to relax today and not even think about the mcat. Goodluck to you and me both tomorrow and may the force be with us!

Dtrack - Ha, I'll save the Xanax for the night my score becomes available online!

 

[g squared 23]

Pop a couple Xanax a day, each day leading up to the MCAT. You might not do well, but you'll be so heavily medicated that you really wont care!

I was about to recommend beta blockers. Either one is a good bet.

 

[dyk343]

I am willing to bet that you score in the range of your practice exam averages. Yes the test is harder than the practice exams, or at least it seems harder. Maybe its because the nerves are kicking in when you take the real thing. Keep in mind that the curves are usually a little easier for the real thing compared to the practice exams.

Either way, when I was preparing for my MCAT I spent some time reading the MCAT threads on SDN. A lot of good info over there. I would guess that 85% of the people score in their practice test range.

I scored my average and I was freaking out after the exam. I was ready to sign up again.

 

[UIC]

I don't know if this helps but all my friends that took the MCAT said the real thing is only harder compared to the practice if you get really high scores. Example getting 32s 33s or 34s on the practice and then on the real thing you drop like 2 or 3 points. But if you're getting 22s 23s 24s then there isn't really much drop in your total score, probably 1 point.

 

[pinny89]

Thank you dyk343 and UIC - reading that makes me feel a lot better.

I had a frustrating night last night - couldn't sleep AT ALL. Went to bed around 10 - and closed my eyes and 'pretended' to sleep until 6 in the morning. I was tired and sleepy, but couldn't sleep...does that even make sense?!

All in all, I experienced stress-induced insomnia last night, which was really weird because I wasn't even thinking about the mcat. I was thinking happy thoughts. Seriously.

However, I would like to point out that I'm kinda glad I had zero sleep. It made me think about the exam eventually, stress over it, stress over it some more, and then some more, and I got rid of that anxiety by the time it was 6AM. I had a two-hour drive to my testing center - it was a nice, relaxing drive. If I slept properly, I know that drive wouldn't have been that pleasant as I would've been panicking.

I drowned myself in sugar-less green tea - filled up 3 bottles - picked up a few power bagels from Einstein, and was on my way to the Prometric testing center.

When I started the PS section, I was feeling a bit sleepy - not a good thing. But I told myself to focus and I did just that. I really can't say about PS or Verbal, but I NAILED the bio - which is good. I'm confident I'll score somewhere in my range. I really amazed myself today. I had no idea I'd be able to focus and concentrate as well as I did today - esp going in there with no sleep. Green tea works wonders I guess!

Anddd the wait begins....

 

[itswiggles]

- Your experience pretty much mirrors my previous MCAT experience couldn't sleep, racing mind, stress, insomnia, it all sounds too familiar. I think everybody goes through that at some point.
- I thought the test yesterday was tough but fair. I hope to score close in the range where I was scoring on my previous practice tests. The worst part of taking the MCAT besides the exam... the waiting........and waiting.......

 

[josebiwasabi]

i'm scheduled to take the sept 11th test and i'm starting to feel the test anxiety creeping in. gotta stay focused for the last few weeks!

 

[pinny89]

Wiggles - Yes, the waiting is going to be harder than I previously thought it would be. I've been reading up on the "8/5/2010 MCAT thread" and I agree with the overall general consensus.

PS - It was pretty calculation-heavy but I thought it was doable, BESIDES that first wacko passage - what the phoonk was that?? That first passage alone made me mumble obscenities toward the AAMC under my breath. It was time-consuming for me and in the end I ended up guessing on those questions as well as on 3 discretes due to that passage. Yikes.

VR - this is my weak spot and as always, I have no idea how I performed until I see my score. My verbal score either leaves me demoralized or ends up making me pleasantly surprised lol. I'm hoping it's the latter. I would like to say that the passages are pretty lengthy when compared to the practice exams. But, I was expecting that beforehand so I wasn't surprised.

WS - it was a bunch of BS. Very calming though.

BS - this was the easiest section for me personally - well, except for that one convoluted orgo synthesis passage (hopefully it's one of those "experimental items"). Also, I think there were 1-2 discretes that made me want to punch the screen. But other than that, it was straightforward.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for a generous curve and hopefully this long waiting period will be a breeze!

Josebiwasabi - It's good to feel that anxiety now than later. You must, however, find a way to annihilate that anxiety on test day. Don't stress out, just keep reviewing/practicing and then rinse and repeat. Also, if you're having trouble with some specific concepts, be sure to check out mcat-review.org - pretty helpful info there. I also took advantage of the "khan academy" videos on youtube. They were a godsend. Good luck on your exam!

 

[PodiatricADDICT]

Wiggles - Yes, the waiting is going to be harder than I previously thought it would be. I've been reading up on the "8/5/2010 MCAT thread" and I agree with the overall general consensus.

PS - It was pretty calculation-heavy but I thought it was doable, BESIDES that first wacko passage - what the phoonk was that?? That first passage alone made me mumble obscenities toward the AAMC under my breath. It was time-consuming for me and in the end I ended up guessing on those questions as well as on 3 discretes due to that passage. Yikes.

VR - this is my weak spot and as always, I have no idea how I performed until I see my score. My verbal score either leaves me demoralized or ends up making me pleasantly surprised lol. I'm hoping it's the latter. I would like to say that the passages are pretty lengthy when compared to the practice exams. But, I was expecting that beforehand so I wasn't surprised.

WS - it was a bunch of BS. Very calming though.

BS - this was the easiest section for me personally - well, except for that one convoluted orgo synthesis passage (hopefully it's one of those "experimental items"). Also, I think there were 1-2 discretes that made me want to punch the screen. But other than that, it was straightforward.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for a generous curve and hopefully this long waiting period will be a breeze!

Josebiwasabi - It's good to feel that anxiety now than later. You must, however, find a way to annihilate that anxiety on test day. Don't stress out, just keep reviewing/practicing and then rinse and repeat. Also, if you're having trouble with some specific concepts, be sure to check out mcat-review.org - pretty helpful info there. I also took advantage of the "khan academy" videos on youtube. They were a godsend. Good luck on your exam!

Hey do you mind sharing your average AAMC practice test scores?

 

[pinny89]

PodiatricAddict - My practice scores were all over the place. I took the first exam cold with no studying and got a 17 on it (lol) - it was AAMC 3. Then after 2 weeks of solid studying, I took AAMC 4 and got a 21. After thoroughly reviewing the exams, I realized that the questions I was missing were actually very easy; I knew my concepts, but I just didn't know how to apply them - and this is when I started working on my test-taking skills.

After that, I started scoring in the 23-24 range. Lowest score - 17, of course. Highest score - 25. AAMC 7 -10 are supposed to be representative of the real MCAT. My last practice test was AAMC 10, and I got a 22 on it.

 

[itswiggles]

- Last practice exam I took before the real test, I got 24: PS 8, VR 6, BIO 10 - Worse overall 17, best overall 28

 

[GodHelpMe85]

my test is Sept 3rd. I took it last year and got a 22 which was really discouraging because i was scoring 25-26 on the practice exam. i also had a 2.7 GPA. I applied to med school last year and didn't get in, but I am trying again. hopefully i can get that 25-26

 

[josebiwasabi]

ffffffffffffff MCAT coming up in just a few days!!

it's been really tough studying for this thing while working full time. luckily my boss is super nice and she gave me essentially the entire week off (apart from my AP bio teaching session), even though i've only been working here for 3 months.

time to get some coffee and study some more... i've been ranging between 27-34 on practice exams with one miracle 39 (i had a TON of lucky guesses where i could only eliminate 1 or 2 choices but i guessed right every time lololol). hopefully i'll get a 30something on the real MCAT...