procrastinator

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Becca

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hey guys,

i just started reading these boards. before, i had no idea how far behind i was! ok, i'll be honest. i haven't even begun to study for the mcat in april. i bought the kaplan books and i think i'm on page 43. no, not a typo...pg 43..lol. I've always been a night-before-test studier. I KNOW i have to learn to study a little bit along but my classes now aren't that difficult so i can get away with it. Sorry, kinda got off topic. anyways, i'm really gonna try between now and then to crack down on it, but i know i'm too far behind to do really well. my question is...how bad is it going to hurt me if i do really bad on the april mcat, but bring my scores up in august?

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Pretty darn bad with that mindset! You take the MCAT once and only once. That is the only possible attitude you can go into the MCAT with and be successful.
 
Don't worry. You aren't the only one who has procrastinated studying for the April MCAT. I've also got the Kaplan study guide. I'm a little bit further along than pg. 43, but I'm still far behind by most standards.

I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't start studying for it last year :D
 
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Don't take the MCAT unless you are prepared for it. Why would you want to subject yourself to all of the stress twice? Especially if you know that you are not prepared for it the first time. If you are way underprepared, I highly recommend contacting the MCAT people and telling them that you will not be taking the test in April. FYI, I did this myself. I had signed up to take the MCAT and decided that I was not prepared. I called them and I even received a $100.00 refund. I have never regretted that decision.
 
daisygirl,

how will that affect my application process?
 
What do you mean by how will that affect your application process? Are you applying for the entering class of 2003? If this is what you are concerned about, I would say that it depends. Some people swear that you should take it in April. I don't think that you have to take it in April. You will be fine if you have good grades, good ec's, good essays and you apply in June (this way amcas will send your appl's out as soon as they receive your Aug. mcat grades), but there is a danger in this; namely that you are doing this w/o knowing your mcat scores. If you are doing very well on your practice tests (particularly tests IV and V-the released tests), then you should not be afraid. My attitude is: take the mcat when you are ready..period. If you take it in April and bomb it then you are going to get stuck having to deal w/all the b.s. again that is necessary to prepare yourself for it.
 
Don't worry about it-- the only problem is that the less you study now, the tougher it'll be the couple of weeks before the MCAT. I started studying after I got back from spring break (end of march), so I only studied for 4 weeks. In retrospect, it was a terrible, terrible time, and although some more studying may have helped, I did fine on the MCAT. It was pretty harrowing, however. It's not the end, but just know that you're digging a hole for yourself.

BOTS
 
wow I wonder if I should start studying for the april mcat instead of august..that would make my next few years a LOT easier if I have to reapply....maybe I'll start studying now and take a practice test next week :)
 
Becca,

Take test IV or V under testing conditions (i.e., get up at 7 in the morning after going to sleep at 4am because you're so worried, leave your house, get on a train/car to go to a place somewhat away that you've never been to before -- like a library -- and quiet, and take the long exam under testing conditions for the 6 hours or whatever). See how you do. If you do well, take it. If not, don't take it. You might not be able to improve that much in less than two months.
 
that's really good advice, katie. that sounds liek the most logical thing to do. thanx
 
How are you at taking standardized tests? I know a couple people who only spent 2-4 weeks studying for the MCAT and pulled higher than a 30. It's possible. I aggreee with the previous poster, see how you do on some practice exams then decide. Good luck!!
 
Yup, I agree with Bots. I am also a procrastinator and although I did try to read up on the Kaplan books around February, nothing sunk in and I thought it was a waste of time. It was much easier for me to tackle Princeton Review's Problem workbook and study from there. I started after spring break, and ended up pulling above 30 too, and I had a 24 on my diagnostic...so it can be done, although I think I average at least 6-8 hours per day the two weeks before the test
 
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