Approaching the keyboard he found it caked with a fine layer of dust. Though it was precariously evocative in a "Modern Gone Retro Instagram Photo Shoot" sort of way, it was sadly the reality he had come to. Having hadn't published a blog post in months, his readers wondered at what point such severe drought becomes extinction. With a deep breath he cleared away the filth and sat down to begin unleashing his soul through his fingertips.
Well perhaps "unleashing my soul" is a bit of a stretch, but it is fine time to revive my typing skills (acquired primarily in 6th grade "typing" class thank you very much!).
As far as this blog is concerned, I'll admit that I've been selfish. It takes a good deal of effort to write a post in the manner that I find worth publishing. I'm a true perfectionist when authoring pretty well anything. Heck, I probably average 5 minutes each time I create a witty Facebook status. "My name is Sam, and I have a problem." I know. Quite frankly majoring in rhetorical analysis the first time round in my undergraduate studies did not help this quirk.
Taking my time is not a sin, but at some point I just need to start throwing something out there into the vast abyss of the internet. Not everything I write will be gold... clearly.
The MCAT swarms my thoughts quite frequently these days. Specifically determining what study method to use has been the pressure point that consumes me. Reading through the Student Doctor Network and talking to friends has given me such a breadth of knowledge about what is out there. Some claim that Kaplan is the greatest force the MCAT has ever faced, yet others deny that readily. Some suggest studying for 3 months straight with a combination of thick literature, yet others swear by notecards.
I know for certain that I want to take at least 4 or 5 fully timed practice exams from AMCAS, but beyond that I'm uncertain. If you have any suggestions, I'm not quite yet overwhelmed by my options, and I'm certainly willing and open to many methods of study.
Until I decide my summer will consist of the equivalent to two simultaneous full time jobs so that I can save as much money as possible to pay for whatever prep my roulette wheel turns up with. (More on this in my next post.)
Hey Sam! I am a third year med student at Wayne State, and I just took the USMLE step one. While studying for the second most important test of my life (MCAT is #1) I kept thinking about how I would've done the MCAT differently. So here's yet another piece of advice, take it or leave it!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely get the practice tests! In fact, do as many questions as possible. It seems different from how you've studied for tests in the past, but doing questions is crucial to understanding the type of question seen on the exam. I don't remember if the practice tests also featured answers and explanations for the questions that were missed, and if they don't, they might not be as helpful because the most important part of doing a question is figuring out what thought process the examiner wants you to go through. Investigate your possibilities for question-based resources.
Also, you will be most successful if you devote at least a month solid to studying before the exam. I'm talking 10-12 hour days. It will be the worst thing you have ever done to your life (well, until you get to step one) but I think that solid repetition is the best way to get the information down. Don't do more than six weeks though because you will get burned out.
If you don't understand a subject well, don't just think you can memorize some information in your kaplan or exam krackers books, and be fine. You have to understand the mechanism behind everything. I tried to do this a bit with physics, and it was my weakest subject by far.
Also, I liked exam krackers better than kaplan; I liked the layout better, and they had little jokes in the books that kept me interested. I've heard people liking both though, but keep exam krackers in mind. Don't buy too many resources, you can spread yourself thin. But a set of books, read those, and stick to it. Buy another book only if you feel you need help in a specific subject.
Good luck! Oh, and PS, student doctor is full of scary neurotic people, take their advice with a grain of salt!