MCAT = Endurace Test

[TTSD]

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Who thinks the MCAT is more of an endurance test than anything?

Even halfway through physical sciences I feel the burn in my chest to rip it open or go take a run around the block. By the end of the passages I find myself re-reading paragraph. By biological sections I have the terminator look in my eyes "Are you Sarah Connor?!"

 

[sgilani]

i agree. by the time i get to biology all i can think is SLEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP 😴

 

[farleyisgod]

it's like soccer.

sure, you need endurance
but you'll suck if you've got no skill

 

[lotanna]

Thats why taking practice exams is key, so you develop that endurance!! You dont just decide to run a marathon without training for it.
My sleep time is during the writing, give me an M/N, who cares as long as I get a good score on the rest 😛

 

[Hawaiiandoc04]

Do you guys have A.D.D. or something? come on, its only an hour and forty minutes at a time. And plus, there are so many breaks. If endurance is a problem for you, than you will have a lot of problems in medical school and beyond.

 

[Mistress S]

Yeah, an hour and forty minutes at a time..with whopping 10 min breaks in between! C'mon, what's wrong with you people? You mean you can't rejuvanate from almost 6 hours of grueling science and language ability testing when you get a combined 80 minutes of breaks in that time?? If endurance is that much of a problem for you, you probably have to pause to take naps during sex and eating meals--you'll be extremely lucky if you even make to middle age and manage to successfully procreate! 🙄

I feel sorry for all of you...I actually find that after taking a practice MCAT I feel rested and refreshed; I often do so after getting home from a 10 hr workday or a visit to the dentist, just, you know, to chill out...

 

[sgilani]

to the couple of self-proclaimed testing experts above:
jeez, cut everyone some slack. everyone takes tests differently.
1 hour 40 minutes is a long time when you're using every brain cell you got. and hold off on the ADD comments until you have MD after your names.

 

[IndyZX]

i kinda agree with the above poster in that the endurance aspect of the test is overrated.

 

[bellajoy]

I don't know how many of you guys have actually taken the MCAT before, but 8 and a half hours or so of taking the thing is actually really tiring, even with the few breaks you get. And, yes, practice tests are key, but nothing really prepared me for the length of the real thing. (And unfortunately, I'm doing it over again here in 2 weeks....but at least I really know now what I'm getting into.)

 

[uniqueseraph]

Originally posted by Hawaiiandoc04
Do you guys have A.D.D. or something? come on, its only an hour and forty minutes at a time. And plus, there are so many breaks. If endurance is a problem for you, than you will have a lot of problems in medical school and beyond.

That's harsh.

 

[Mistress S]

I thought my sarcasm was obvious...I don't really take practice MCAT's to "chill out", for the record.

 

[indo]

Originally posted by Hawaiiandoc04
Do you guys have A.D.D. or something? come on, its only an hour and forty minutes at a time. And plus, there are so many breaks. If endurance is a problem for you, than you will have a lot of problems in medical school and beyond.

ooh, another "if you can't do X, then you will be a bad physician" argument.

 

[noy]

It is designed to be an endurance test... 10 or 12 years ago when they added the writing section, it was all designed so that bio would stay at the end of the day, as the last section.

There was talk of making it a 6 hour exam, but it was shot down expressly for tiring people out. Even back then the writing was an extra bull**** section.

The point of the day is to work you for 8 hours.

That said, its still possible to train for and do well.

 

[IndyZX]

noy, where did you get that info?

 

[TTSD]

Originally posted by indyzx
noy, where did you get that info?

Sounds like the Kaplan speech that they give on the first day of instruction. And you know, I'm somewhat inclined to agree. By biological sciences which most of us can do the best in, I have a headache.. my eyes have gone blurry and I get sloppy.

 

[wgu]

Out of curiousity, about how many times do you usually space out per section?
P: 1-3
V: 4-6
B: 3-5

 

[noy]

I know a physician who took the MCAT's the year they made the change - it was a huge hubbub. With her contacts in AAMC, I would tend to believe her...

 

[dxw]

I think one aspect of the test is definitely endurance. With a fresh, focused mind, I think most of us would score 1-3 points higher. I've taken it before with decent results, but I'm positive that if my mind wasn't drained by the time I got to the Bio section, I would have scored higher than my 10. For those who haven't taken it, do anything you can to keep energized, lucid, and focused. Don't bother going over questions you weren't sure about during lunch! I know that'll be really hard to do, but it only make things worse on your mind.

 

[sgilani]

Originally posted by dxw
Don't bother going over questions you weren't sure about during lunch! I know that'll be really hard to do, but it only make things worse on your mind.

i definitely agree. one of the things that sucked is everyone talking about different questions and even if you don't engage in the conversations you start thinking about what other people are saying and if you got those questions right, which is pretty distracting throughout the rest of the day.