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- Aug 18, 2003
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Taking the MCAT this august, I observed many coping mechanisms that i'm normally not aware of during a testing environment, possibly because the degree of behavioral expression was intensified by the stakes of the exam.
There were those whom refused to talk, wearing headphones to discourage conversation and flipping through some cards of notes. Then there was the guy rocking back and forth in his chair, tranced out like he was about to storm Normandy. Another was this girl who would slowly wind a strand of blonde hair around her finger...until the strand was taut, and then pluck it out. I cringed every time she got to the pluck part. It sort of made a light "tuck" sound.
Something that got to me was a fellow who actually had his dad walk him to the door of the exam, and stand with him until the proctors let us in. I tried chatting with the kid to take the edge off, and the dad stepped between me and his son, shielding him, and said to his boy (boy of about 22) , "you're here to take the MCAT, not make friends." like he was a jedi master training his student in the way of the force. That was about as extreme as it got. I wonder if the dad wil follow the kid to interviews...or follows him on his rounds. Can someone whose dad follows him to the mcat handle the responsibility of being a doctor? It was at the very least emasculating to the kid. I dunno, i guess i just regarded the mcats as a rights of passage, and having your parents there kind of negates that whole functional aspect of it.
On the other end of the spectrum, there was a girl on her cell during the lunch break, "yea, so I ran out of time and had to bubble in about 20 verbal reasoning questions, but f it, i'll meet you at the beach in about an hour."
There were those whom refused to talk, wearing headphones to discourage conversation and flipping through some cards of notes. Then there was the guy rocking back and forth in his chair, tranced out like he was about to storm Normandy. Another was this girl who would slowly wind a strand of blonde hair around her finger...until the strand was taut, and then pluck it out. I cringed every time she got to the pluck part. It sort of made a light "tuck" sound.
Something that got to me was a fellow who actually had his dad walk him to the door of the exam, and stand with him until the proctors let us in. I tried chatting with the kid to take the edge off, and the dad stepped between me and his son, shielding him, and said to his boy (boy of about 22) , "you're here to take the MCAT, not make friends." like he was a jedi master training his student in the way of the force. That was about as extreme as it got. I wonder if the dad wil follow the kid to interviews...or follows him on his rounds. Can someone whose dad follows him to the mcat handle the responsibility of being a doctor? It was at the very least emasculating to the kid. I dunno, i guess i just regarded the mcats as a rights of passage, and having your parents there kind of negates that whole functional aspect of it.
On the other end of the spectrum, there was a girl on her cell during the lunch break, "yea, so I ran out of time and had to bubble in about 20 verbal reasoning questions, but f it, i'll meet you at the beach in about an hour."