what does burnout look like on you?

[epsilonprodigy]

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Uh-oh.

It all started when I miscalculated my score on a set of passages yesterday. Trying to go over the answers today took me 3x as long as usual. I could not pay attention or make any sense of anything. Once I finally got into my groove, I realized that I would have gotten in the neighborhood of 98% rather than 88% if I didn't make stupid mistakes like marking the wrong answer or misreading. Plus, I was so tired today while studying that I could barely keep my eyes open even after consuming a ridiculous amount of caffeine.

Looks like it might be break time for me. I'm going to finish reviewing all the passages I did yesterday, do a few verbal passages (since I don't find those all that horrible) and then chill out for the rest of the evening. It's kind of hard, I want to study and hate the feeling of losing time, but I keep trying to tell myself that sometimes breaks are the best thing in favor of productivity. Sigh.

How does burn-out manifest for everyone else, and what do you do to combat it?

 

[Renaissance Man]

I usually start to burn out after a stretch of days where I am doing the same thing over and over again. Honestly, I pack it in for the day and take time to watch trashy TV and rest my brain. I can study the sciences much longer and harder than the VR, after one VR practice test, I am done with that for the day.

 

[Cinclus]

I can study the sciences much longer and harder than the VR, after one VR practice test, I am done with that for the day.

Yeah, taking a verbal wipes me out. When I get burned out, it manifests as extra stress and inability to concentrate. I then go on Facebook.

 

[Medicalbound10]

burn out to me is exactly like you, I read the answers and can feel that nothing is going in. I am just sitting and doing the passages b/c I feel i have too.

I usually take a break even take the day off when i run into that. Take a break... sometimes though i would have that going for like 2 hours and suddenly i am back to being productive...weird🙄

 

[Cinclus]

Yeah, taking a verbal wipes me out. When I get burned out, it manifests as extra stress and inability to concentrate. I then go on Facebook.

Also, I think my burnout episodes are mainly due to non-MCAT stressors, like all the research I'm expected to do, my TA position, etc. Having that stuff on top of the MCAT studying is what really kills me.

 

[ridethecliche]

I think I'm close to it. I'm working a massive week at work and feel like crap because I feel like I can't do the work that I'd planned to do at all this week.

I have some fun things planned later this week but don't feel like I've earned them because I'm not studying. However, I'm taking all of next week off to study so I'll have 9 days straight of nothing but content review.

What does this mean? It means that I've decided to just enjoy this week with my friends and live life a little bit. Then, I'm going to hit it hard as hell next week because I'll be rested and I'll be fly like G6.

 

[SmurfinUSA]

hang in there guys 🙂

 

[Bayonetwork]

Im in the midst of it as well...under no circumstances would I EVER recommend studying for MCAT during the semester. Take the summer off or do it post-bacc...I dont have that bad of a schedule with work and school but just doing the minimum to get by in my coursework has taken so much away from what would be much more effective MCAT studying. Getting dominated by TBR passages on a nightly basis is not helping either...I hope the janitors dont notice the "blemishes" on the walls...I need to get some caulking.

Im just doing my best to get through content and when this semester ends In may Im going ape on some FL's for 1.5 months and then beasting this damn MCAT come mid June.

 

[Jnorman1218]

A couple weeks ago I really started to get burnt out. I had been studying for 3 months and had the week off of work and the weather was super nice. I just could not get motivated to study so I decided to take a day off . . . the next day I was stressed out because I took a day off so I started getting discouraged and couldn't concentrate at all. This just escalated and I really didn't get any quality studying in all week. Luckily, I took my first FL and scored higher than I expected which definitely has lit the fire again.

This is just how I react to stress and burn out. I start to get burnt out, then I get stresses and when I get stressed I have a really difficult time studying. If you are like me, just be careful taking days off because it definitely can lead down the wrong path (that is non-scheduled days off, I still take one day off a week).