The 9/4/09 MCAT Club

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Well, I was taking it the 21st but I've joined this boat now. Haven't started full lengths yet but I hope that will happen soon enough. Just been doing passages from TBR. I never did phase II like I should have which I regret, I've forgot a lot of stuff so I'm just trying to refresh my memory on the earlier stuff I studied. Will be taking it at 2pm
 
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One month to go, and woo hoo! page two!

Yep today is a fun day, doing a bunch a set of 'phase II's' for the last group of topics I did.
 
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I am bit nervous about the test. taking it 2 pm one. I am behind with material so decided to do just FL every other day and review them. I dono if it'll help.

Any suggestion?
 
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Doodl3s said:
So, 9/4 is pretty late for any soon-to-be seniors applying this session. So are many of you guys juniors taking the test essentially a year early as well 😀? (besides post-bacs and lag yearers of course)
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although i will be a senior, i plan on applying next cycle. in a sense, i guess i am taking it a year early (relative to applying) so i have enough time to re-study/retake it if necessary (hopefully not....).

i'm registered to take the mcat 9/3.... i couldn't find a thread for this date. ahhh the anxiety.... to make matters worse, there was a problem with my booking so now i'm taking it in california (i reside and attend school in washington state). but on the bright side, i will be celebrating my post-mcat days on the sunny cali beaches! 😀
 
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hopefullkid said:
Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of studying all ready? I have been studying since June (minus a week) but can't wait to get over this thing all ready. Had a real rough year too loaded with upper division bio's so I really need to get away from the books. But oh well, gotta suck it up.
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touche. i've taken summer quarter every single year, and the first year i don't take it, i get to spend it studying for the MCAT... which is significantly worse... i feel like i'm cramming for a final exam, everyday. BUT, like you said, oh well, gotta suck it up. i'm sure there's people who are studying while maintaining a job or some other obligation.

this question is for those registered to take the 8am exam... have you been waking up early to adjust your circadian? i haven't woken up any earlier than 10am this whole summer.... ahhhhh. i dread it. how much in advance do you guys recommend that i wake up early...?
 
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bipolarbear said:
although i will be a senior, i plan on applying next cycle. in a sense, i guess i am taking it a year early (relative to applying) so i have enough time to re-study/retake it if necessary (hopefully not....).

i'm registered to take the mcat 9/3.... i couldn't find a thread for this date. ahhh the anxiety.... to make matters worse, there was a problem with my booking so now i'm taking it in california (i reside and attend school in washington state). but on the bright side, i will be celebrating my post-mcat days on the sunny cali beaches! 😀
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Good to see another polarbear around here. And one with a similar background as mine too.
 
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Hi guys. I was originally signed up for the August 21 test date, but now I want to push it back a little.

I took a Kaplan course from mid June to the end of July and I have started my practice exams. I have done 5 so far and have been getting 8s and 9s in each section relatively. I am aiming for a score between 30-35 (hopefully!).

I wanted to take Sept 12, mainly bc it's the only Sat and I don't wanna miss any classes, but it looks like I'll have to settle for a Thurs or Friday.

My question is whether I should take the Sept 4th one or the Sept 10th one. Is this date (sept 4) enough time for me to get my score up to around a 30 if I consistently keep on with my pace? Thanks.
 
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RoadtoMed said:
Hi guys. I was originally signed up for the August 21 test date, but now I want to push it back a little.

I took a Kaplan course from mid June to the end of July and I have started my practice exams. I have done 5 so far and have been getting 8s and 9s in each section relatively. I am aiming for a score between 30-35 (hopefully!).

I wanted to take Sept 12, mainly bc it's the only Sat and I don't wanna miss any classes, but it looks like I'll have to settle for a Thurs or Friday.

My question is whether I should take the Sept 4th one or the Sept 10th one. Is this date (sept 4) enough time for me to get my score up to around a 30 if I consistently keep on with my pace? Thanks.
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I think there's enough time, are you completely done with review? I'd say there's a window of about another week, maybe week and a half of review time open before doing purely practice tests.
 
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bipolarbear said:
just want to get the damn thing over with...
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Yeah, I really need to regain my focus, the last week has been some rather inefficient studying. So busting my ass off tonight and then have a break tomorrow to just refresh my mind and go out and do something exciting for once.
 
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Longshanks said:
Yeah, I really need to regain my focus, the last week has been some rather inefficient studying. So busting my ass off tonight and then have a break tomorrow to just refresh my mind and go out and do something exciting for once.
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Nice, breaks are probably my favorite part of studying.
 
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LastPolarBear said:
Nice, breaks are probably my favorite part of studying.
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I hadn't taken one in a while since I fell off schedule at one point, but this week I was so inefficient and kept taking too many breaks in the middle of studying or just getting distracted easily, so though I feel like I shouldn't just going to recharge today. Don't get me wrong, got the work done that I needed to, just I was taking far too long to do it rather than sitting down and knocking it out.
 
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Welcome, bruination! 👍 Are you taking the 8 AM one ore the 2 PM?

I was just wondering where everyone else was in their studying process?
 
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Man, I've been doing the EK 101 verbal for a while now. Just did test 9, I seem to be plateauing at 10. Dunno how to improve it.
 
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LastPolarBear said:
Man, I've been doing the EK 101 verbal for a while now. Just did test 9, I seem to be plateauing at 10. Dunno how to improve it.
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PolarBear, don't sweat it. EK 101 VR kicks my ass, yet I was scoring 11-13 on AAMC VR when I was prepping for April... go figure, and even now I do TPR and usually only get 3-5 wrong, EK is tricky. Then again, I got a 9 in April, but that was because I let myself got disheartened after PS and told myself I should void since I knew it wasn't my best effort... well I didn't, should've but shoulda coulda woulda... its all in the past.

EK 101 VR is tricky, very ambiguous. A 10 on the real thing is something to be proud of for VR, no doubt. You see on these boards many people who owned the sciences but blew verbal, so a 10+ is great.

If you're plateauing, really go over your thought process. At least with me, lately it seems (this is for any section of the test not just VR) that I can get it down to two answers, either because its the typical test trap, or just simply rule a choice out because its garbage, but end up doubting myself. If you have a gut instinct, take it, see what happens. I need to do some more verbal practice, but at least with TBR PS I've taken this approach and I've increased from high60s-low70s to high 70s for TBR phases by forcing myself to not doubt myself and it I see an answer just take it. Of course still do the proper mapping, or math, or intuition as with any other question but if something is shouting out for that answer choice, pull the trigger.
 
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RoadtoMed said:
Welcome, bruination! 👍 Are you taking the 8 AM one ore the 2 PM?

I was just wondering where everyone else was in their studying process?
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i feel like i'm prepared for PS and verbal... theres a few topics in physics i just can't seem to remember (atomic physics, particularly). i'm considering making flash cards for those things. has anyone had success with flash cards? i just feel like it's so time consuming... but if it's worth it, i'll do it.

um... just took my 5th practice test today (aamc #4). consistent with PS (11), all time high with verbal (12) and the usual downer with BS (9). i am completely incompetent with bio... it's sad, especially because the majority of ppl on this board gloat of its easiness. ahh. feel like a *****. i'm waiting on the EK biol books... hopefully that will bump me up to AT LEAST a freakin' 10.

for the next few weeks, i plan on covering some ground with bio, and do some review work with the nova physics book since that's where i'm losing all my points... i'm doing bi-weekly practice tests. so far, i don't feel too burnt out, in terms of my willingness to self-study, BUT, i have become increasingly stressed out.

all in all, i'm getting tired of the daily routine. somedays i don't even bother to get out of my PJ's. i know everyone talks about finding a "balance", and that it's beneficial to go out and do something fun... but blah to that. i always believed that one quote, "moderation is a fatal thing. success can only be achieved by excess". coming on SDN has helped alleviate a lot of my boredom, however. so thanks to everyone who posts interesting thoughts.

good luck with your studying. just a small hurdle to jump relative to the things to come in becoming an MD!
 
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bipolarbear said:
um... just took my 5th practice test today (aamc #4). consistent with PS (11), all time high with verbal (12) and the usual downer with BS (9). i am completely incompetent with bio... it's sad, especially because the majority of ppl on this board gloat of its easiness. ahh. feel like a *****. i'm waiting on the EK biol books... hopefully that will bump me up to AT LEAST a freakin' 10.
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Don't worry about the people who think BS is easy. I wish I could rock PS everyday like you do. We all have our own talents, BS comes easy to me, its what I enjoy and my field of study. PS, I grew up with an educational system that had terrible mathematics and so I always lagged in that, classes like physics/chem/calc I struggled in.

We each have our own skills, if you destroy PS and do well on VR, its the same as another bloke here who did well on BS and VR but lagged a bit in PS. Study hard to improve your weaknesses, but we're getting to the time frame before the test where it is more beneficial to shore up your strengths. Think of it this way, an improvement from and 11 to a 13 in PS may only be 2-4 questions right, while improving from a 9 to an 11 or 12 in BS would be 5-8 questions. We would all like balanced scores, but if you kill PS, do well in VR, and have an acceptable BS you'll be in good shape.
 
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Longshanks said:
PolarBear, don't sweat it. EK 101 VR kicks my ass, yet I was scoring 11-13 on AAMC VR when I was prepping for April... go figure, and even now I do TPR and usually only get 3-5 wrong, EK is tricky. Then again, I got a 9 in April, but that was because I let myself got disheartened after PS and told myself I should void since I knew it wasn't my best effort... well I didn't, should've but shoulda coulda woulda... its all in the past.

EK 101 VR is tricky, very ambiguous. A 10 on the real thing is something to be proud of for VR, no doubt. You see on these boards many people who owned the sciences but blew verbal, so a 10+ is great.

If you're plateauing, really go over your thought process. At least with me, lately it seems (this is for any section of the test not just VR) that I can get it down to two answers, either because its the typical test trap, or just simply rule a choice out because its garbage, but end up doubting myself. If you have a gut instinct, take it, see what happens. I need to do some more verbal practice, but at least with TBR PS I've taken this approach and I've increased from high60s-low70s to high 70s for TBR phases by forcing myself to not doubt myself and it I see an answer just take it. Of course still do the proper mapping, or math, or intuition as with any other question but if something is shouting out for that answer choice, pull the trigger.
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Hey, thanks for the words of wisdom Longshanks. Yeah, my wrong answers seem to be those ones where I second guess myself. Also, it seems I don't really understand the wording of some of EK's questions. Maybe I should brush up on some vocabulary, haha.
 
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Longshanks said:
Don't worry about the people who think BS is easy. I wish I could rock PS everyday like you do. We all have our own talents, BS comes easy to me, its what I enjoy and my field of study. PS, I grew up with an educational system that had terrible mathematics and so I always lagged in that, classes like physics/chem/calc I struggled in.

Think of it this way, an improvement from and 11 to a 13 in PS may only be 2-4 questions right, while improving from a 9 to an 11 or 12 in BS would be 5-8 questions. We would all like balanced scores, but if you kill PS, do well in VR, and have an acceptable BS you'll be in good shape.
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that is so true. good way to look at it. i mean it would be ideal to raise my bio score, but realistically, you're totally right. thanks for that perspective. i wish you luck with PS. i'm not sure what you're using to study for physics, but NOVA is by far the best recommendation SDN has given, and i swear by it.
 
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Does anyone know if the mouse we get at the test center will have a wheel scroll on it, or do we just have to manually click the arrows on the screen to go down?
 
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bipolarbear said:
that is so true. good way to look at it. i mean it would be ideal to raise my bio score, but realistically, you're totally right. thanks for that perspective. i wish you luck with PS. i'm not sure what you're using to study for physics, but NOVA is by far the best recommendation SDN has given, and i swear by it.
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Its something that a guy I used to TA intro bio with told me when I was first studying for the test, I'll roll with it.. he got into Sinai so must be worth something.
 
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Wow, I wish I could score as high in PS consistently, bipolarbear. It's usually my lowest.

My verbal is always around 10 and BS is usually 9 (which I need to get up at least to 10).


I took a Kaplan review course this summer which ended on July 30. As per the course, we are supposed to go over our review notes 2-3 times before the actual test. This is the intense content review before the practice test craze. However, I also have the Exam Krackers MCAT Package which I put off while I was in the course, so I am going through that rigorously now. Mostly, just Bio, Physics, and Chem, since Orgo and VR aren't that hard for me. I was planning on just skimming the Kaplan review notes later.

I was wondering if anybody who took the Kaplan course could give me advice as to whether it's a good strategy. Or whether I should go through that Kaplan stuff rigorously as well? Thanks.
 
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Hey Guys,

I've been to this website a couple times before, but I officially joined now!

I am in the same boat as all of you, September 4th!
 
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been doing FL's....not going up beyond 10's on sections! what do i do at this point???? i want a mid to high 30's...the two points raise per section is soooo farr awayyyyy.
 
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So for those of who doing TBR.... how friggin ridiculous is Electrostatics. I mean, I didn't think the questions were that bad but I went back to do some more passages and I can barely break 60% on that section. Every other TBR I do is in the 66-82%.
 
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Longshanks said:
So for those of who doing TBR.... how friggin ridiculous is Electrostatics. I mean, I didn't think the questions were that bad but I went back to do some more passages and I can barely break 60% on that section. Every other TBR I do is in the 66-82%.
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a way to get better:
1. go back to the content. UNDERSTAND what the equations mean, don't just memorize them.
2. do. more. problems. it's never enough until you get 80-90%.
3. if steps 1&2 fail the first time around....REPEAT!

this is how i got better in electrochemistry and electrostatics 🙂
 
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Soo I got a (in order of taking)

(PS/VR/BS)
10/7/10 on tpr #4
10/8/10 on aamc 6.
10/7/11 on aamc 7


I decided I would spend time yesterday looking over my verbal weaknesses, and I tried aamc 4 verbal section only last night and got a 10. I hope this carries over to my next practice test! It seems I'm a little in starting practice exams, but oh well.

I'm such a freakin ******* for not doing all these TBR passages. More than half in all the books are not done. Just wish I was more efficient earlier and didn't waste so much time. Oh well, back to studyin I go. Forgot a lot of ochem stuff so am reviewing it a bit
 
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1. i am somehow afraid to do more full lengths, afraid my score won't go up. been staying the same level, despite constant reviewing...as one stupendous poster said, "fear of mcat leads to anger, anger leads to dark side!" :S

2. i like section tests better (with kaplan), though i should be doing FL's to build endurance...grrrr! but it's weird...i did a PS section today which i thought was easy...got a really bad grade on it 🙁 wtf.

3. QUESTION: should i forgo Kaplan FL#10 and #11? have heard some pretty nasty things about them. thinks she is probably better off doing more AAMC's? thoughts?
 
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funkytwinkie said:
1. i am somehow afraid to do more full lengths, afraid my score won't go up. been staying the same level, despite constant reviewing...as one stupendous poster said, "fear of mcat leads to anger, anger leads to dark side!" :S

2. i like section tests better (with kaplan), though i should be doing FL's to build endurance...grrrr! but it's weird...i did a PS section today which i thought was easy...got a really bad grade on it 🙁 wtf.

3. QUESTION: should i forgo Kaplan FL#10 and #11? have heard some pretty nasty things about them. thinks she is probably better off doing more AAMC's? thoughts?
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Absolutely. I've heard the later Kaplan FL's are extremely difficult and not representative of the MCAT and that they have convoluted calculations and such. You NEED to do AAMC 7-10. Cannot stress that enough. My last go at this thing in April was very similar to AAMC 7-10. Sure, it was a bit more difficult, and my not doing as well indicated that a bit, and the PS passages were definitely longer (though continued info you don't need), in terms of content and relative difficulty they were on the same page. The only thing that is significantly different from the practice tests of any company and AAMC is the BS section.
 
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Longshanks said:
You NEED to do AAMC 7-10.
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invaluable! thanks 🙂 yeah, just gonna do some section tests before i start the AAMC FL's from 3 onwards.

in other news, i got 87.5% for a VR section test! except it's invalid because i had read the passages elsewhere in my previous studying sessions...so much for good news 🙁

sixteen days! after this my nightmare is OVER!
 
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funkytwinkie said:
invaluable! thanks 🙂 yeah, just gonna do some section tests before i start the AAMC FL's from 3 onwards.

in other news, i got 87.5% for a VR section test! except it's invalid because i had read the passages elsewhere in my previous studying sessions...so much for good news 🙁

sixteen days! after this my nightmare is OVER!
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no problem. aamc 7-10 is kinda the SDN mantra, but its true though. If those were the only four tests someone how the money or time to take, it should be those.

I'm feelin ya with VR, throughout the summer I was steadily in the high 80s, and had a perfect game one night last week, well this week has been atrocious. 66% yesterday, 76% today... ugh. My original plan was to be done with review and be taking practice tests since aug 4th, but that didn't happen since I started studying a little late, and felt the need to start from scratch again even though this is a retake. We'll see what happens, feel good about my TBR progress (with the exception of a phase here or there) but ready to knock out AAMC3-6 and TBR 1-3. I did 7-10 already last time along with Kaplan so... needed different practice tests. One more chapter left and its practice test mania.
 
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Basically 2 weeks left and I want them over. I want to put this damn exam behind me already, it's eaten away my whole summer. I'm honestly fairly confident I'll do decent, All my scores range from 34-37 with a fair consistency of high BS and PS with a lower VR(just finished AAMC 10 with PS 12, VR 10, and BS 13), but it's still getting stressful. Looks like I'm going to have to go double time on VR these last days.
 
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mishaS said:
Basically 2 weeks left and I want them over. I want to put this damn exam behind me already, it's eaten away my whole summer. I'm honestly fairly confident I'll do decent, All my scores range from 34-37 with a fair consistency of high BS and PS with a lower VR(just finished AAMC 10 with PS 12, VR 10, and BS 13), but it's still getting stressful. Looks like I'm going to have to go double time on VR these last days.
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Nice Misha. Keep it up. Just stay focused but calm. You clearly know the material, now its matter of kicking its ass on game day.

I'll update my status with the new practice tests soon enough. When I studied for April exam I averaged 33.5, ranging 31-37 [31-36 aamc, 32-37 kaplan] ended up not breaking 30 on the real thing 🙁, mainly because I let myself get flustered after not finishing PS on time (and I didn't do terrible on PS surprisingly, PS is my weakest section so I can't complain) but then I failed to maximize my potential in VR and BS, just two more points somewhere and I would've at least broken that 30 barrier, though 33-34 is my goal. Anything else is icing, not that I'm not ambitious just coming from where I was before that'd be a big improvement as it is.
 
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How's the progress going? Two more weeks and its over with, and hopefully we can all celebrate together on Oct. 6th. Just took a FL, happy with where I'm at, though shocked that PS was my strongest (maybe TBR books really did help me there) and VR was my weakest. Went 12/10/12 on AAMC#3, which I understand should be the easiest one, but we'll see how Sunday and Monday go, aiming to do another AAMC and a TBR.
 
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Longshanks said:
How's the progress going? Two more weeks and its over with, and hopefully we can all celebrate together on Oct. 6th. Just took a FL, happy with where I'm at, though shocked that PS was my strongest (maybe TBR books really did help me there) and VR was my weakest. Went 12/10/12 on AAMC#3, which I understand should be the easiest one, but we'll see how Sunday and Monday go, aiming to do another AAMC and a TBR.
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I'm getting close, I can almost taste it. It's tough always being a few simple mistakes away from getting the score you want. Two weeks and three AAMC tests left for me.
 
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Hey guys! Only a couple of weeks left till our big day(s) (I'm taking it a day earlier).

I have a question. I've done most of my content review, and I've taken 5 AAMC tests thus far. Things are progressing well, but with such a time crunch, I haven't been able to go back and do practice problems/passages from my books. I feel bad about that, but don't you guys think practice tests and just really nailing the content/concepts down are more important? I've done a ton of practice in the past few months, but I'm scared I forgot everything, 😀.

Any word of advice on organic or what to do in these last couple of weeks? I'm trying to go through all the reactions/main stuff, but this is the subject that I kinda left till the end to review.

I guess I just need some reassurance. Things are getting :scared: really quickly.

I wish everyone tons of :luck:. We can do this!
 
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Longshanks said:
How's the progress going? Two more weeks and its over with, and hopefully we can all celebrate together on Oct. 6th. Just took a FL, happy with where I'm at, though shocked that PS was my strongest (maybe TBR books really did help me there) and VR was my weakest. Went 12/10/12 on AAMC#3, which I understand should be the easiest one, but we'll see how Sunday and Monday go, aiming to do another AAMC and a TBR.
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Nice, good job Longshanks, you look well on your way to a great score. I, on the other hand, still need more practice. Took number 4, got a 10/10/10. Hopefully it raises in the next two weeks.
 
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