where do you guys take your practice mcat?

[emericana]

Do you take it at home? In the library?

I have tried to take it in the library of a local university. I have taken ~4 or 5 practice exams and have not been able to get through a single one in entirety without some type of distraction... be it talking from people around me or some freak occurence.

For example. Today I planned on taking AAMC 7.

Got through the physical science section fine with no distraction.

Then came verbal. 2 or 3 passages fifty ppl walked near me and wouldnt stop talking for five minutes. Then, i kid you not, three minutes after they left, someone tried to go out the emergency exit and set the alarm off.

Needless to say... my vocus got destroyed on this verbal, and I couldnt even finish the section. what a waste of a practice exam.

regathering my bearings and now i am going to give bio a go.

any advice on good places to study? i have never once been able to study at my own home.

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[NickNaylor]

I always took mine in a library and in a private study room if one was available.

 

[upchurch]

During winter break I took them home once all my siblings were at school. Pin drop silence basically.
Now that school's started, I take them in my room. I lock my door and my roommate knows not to disturb me (thank goodness she understands 🙂) I turn off my cell phone and sign out of email, ichat etc. I know what you mean by distractions. Its hard to regain focus once you have been distracted, especially with the verbal section.

 

[omgyou8myrice]

School library, semi-private study room with a friend. She didn't make a sound while I was doing it 👍

 

[apumic]

Do you take it at home? In the library?

I have tried to take it in the library of a local university. I have taken ~4 or 5 practice exams and have not been able to get through a single one in entirety without some type of distraction... be it talking from people around me or some freak occurence.

For example. Today I planned on taking AAMC 7.

Got through the physical science section fine with no distraction.

Then came verbal. 2 or 3 passages fifty ppl walked near me and wouldnt stop talking for five minutes. Then, i kid you not, three minutes after they left, someone tried to go out the emergency exit and set the alarm off.

Needless to say... my vocus got destroyed on this verbal, and I couldnt even finish the section. what a waste of a practice exam.

regathering my bearings and now i am going to give bio a go.

any advice on good places to study? i have never once been able to study at my own home.

Honestly, there are going to be distractions during the actual MCAT. Yes, they will be kept to a minimum (hopefully!) but don't count on it being perfectly quiet there either -- people will be coming and going, someone might be coughing or throw up during the exam, etc. Getting used to dealing with some noise is probably better than avoiding it entirely. Don't expect those noise-reducing headphones to work perfectly.

 

[CodeBlu]

I didn't even use the noise reducing head phones. They sucked. Didn't fit my head. Plus it was sort of uncomfortable. If you need it to be that quiet while you're writing the MCAT, what do you think you're gonna tell the screaming baby or the dying patient during your ER rotation? "Please be quiet, I'm trying to think?"

 

[SteveJMarist]

I do the school library thing, but there are def distractions. I'd probably get in the single digits if I took them at home LOL. There's no way I'd get into it in the comforts of my room.

I also tried a public library. That was pure hell. Some crazy lady kept poking me asking me if she can plug her laptop in. I kept telling her that I didn't care, and to please leave me be as I was taking a test. She just sneered and went somewhere else. Probably wasted 5 quality minutes of my verbal time...

 

[SS01]

I took them all at my school's library..there were definitely some distractions but it is better to be able to crack down and really try to practice ignoring these distractions because they may arise during test day! On my actual exam day there was a loudspeaker going off for a few minutes right when I started the exam due to a fire in the building, and people are taking different tests so there is definite movement in the room. Some people may be typing and on the writing section while you are still working on MC questions..so I would work in a room where other people are also doing quiet work (typing, moving around)..library is usually a good place..

 

[upchurch]

I decided to take everyone's advice and took it in the computer lab today. Was a bit noisy but I did 2 points better than my last practice test. I thought having some background noise actually helped with my concentration.

 

[SteveJMarist]

I decided to take everyone's advice and took it in the computer lab today. Was a bit noisy but I did 2 points better than my last practice test. I thought having some background noise actually helped with my concentration.

👍

Good job.

 

[Swagster]

Maybe I'm naive, but don't you get a testing room with Kaplan or Princeton? I thought they had rooms at test prep companies set up to simulate the real room where all people did was take practice MCATs.

 

[RUc10]

She didn't make a sound while I was doing it 👍

That's what she said.

 

[emericana]

Maybe I'm naive, but don't you get a testing room with Kaplan or Princeton? I thought they had rooms at test prep companies set up to simulate the real room where all people did was take practice MCATs.

Nah I am taking Kaplan and atleast to the best of my knowledge they didnt give me one. could be because i didnt pay for the most expensive thing they had tho (just the standard class).


what is the real environment of the test like? is it a cubicle? computer lab?

 

[decemberborn]

If there are any private study rooms in the library at your university, I would definitely recommend that you sign out one of those. That worked well for me to keep me focused. good luck!

 

[hiyaman]

Take it at home. One time I took a practice test in an empty lecture hall on saturday.

Also I would recommend using ear plugs if your going to use them on test day. I used ear plugs and they were great.