5/12/08- Well a lot has happened over the last couple of months, including the decision to postpone applying for a year. My adviser recommended it and the idea of not having to apply while still in school was appealing. So here's to next year!
2/25/08- And the scores have finally arrived!! Ended up with a 33R and couldn't be more happy. 33 was a little bit above my aamc practice average so definitely can't be upset with that. Great to have the mcat beast officially off my back!!
1/27/08- Well, I have officially survived taking the mcat. Whether or not I'll have to take it again, eh I don't know. The BS section was just beyond ridiculously hard so that was really disappointing. VR was just meh, I felt like a lot of the questions had two equally plausible answers. Surprisingly, it was the PS that actually wasn't all that awful. Since that was like my worst section on practice exams, it worries me that the curve for that one will be very unforgiving. Oh well, guess I'll be back in a month when I get the score. *Crosses Fingers*
1/22/08- Alright, so took my last full length before the real deal today. Kind of disappointing, but I'm just going to chock the below average score up to burn out (cause believe me I am burnt out on this stuff!). 5 full lengths in 8 days was probably a little too ambitious but oh well. Overall AAMC 4-10 average was a solid 32-33 and I would be ecstatic if I scored in that range on test day. Here's to hoping 9 got my poor performance out of the way before test day so I can hit closer to my average on the real thing. More than anything, I just want to be done with this test. Bring on Saturday!
1/22/08- AAMC 9- 30: 9V 10B 11P
1/21/08- AAMC 10- 33: 11V 12B 10P
1/19/08- AAMC 8- 32: 10V 12B 10P
1/16/08- AAMC 7- 32: 11V 11B 10P
1/15/08- AAMC 6- 33: 11V 12B 10P
1/7/08- AAMC 5- 35: 12V 11B 12P
1/5/08- AAMC 4- 34: 12V 11B 11P
1/3/08- Wow, so it seems like it's been forever since I've updated this. It's been a long couple of months of MCAT studying and it's now starting to get down to the wire. For awhile there it never seemed like I was going to make any progress on this test but hopefully things will all start to fall together by Jan 26th. So here's a list of how the practice tests have gone (these have all been Kaplan tests that I've bought from various books they sell):
21: 6V 7B 8P -this one was particularly a wake up call
28: 9V 11B 8P -thankfully better than a 21!
28: 8V 10B 10P -no improvement overall but happy to see the PS start to creep up a few points
33: 10V 11B 12P -finally broke the 30 mark on a practice test, have
to say this felt really good. Now I just need to
keep my score in this range (easier said than done
I know)
The 21 came back towards the end of November and the rest of the scores have been within the past few weeks. That's the end of my supply of Kaplan practice tests so now it's time to start banging out the remaining 7 AAMC tests. Here's to getting through the next few weeks!
10/20/07- Took a free Kaplan practice test. Scored a 26: 10V 9B 7P. I wasn't even able to finish the PS section in time so I've definitely got a long way to go before January.
10/7/07- So I took my first MCAT diagnostic today. I've decided not to take a class so I used the AAMC 3R which I've heard is on the easier side. I got a 27: 9V 9P 9B which for not studying I guess is okay but again that test's on the easier side so I know I've got a lot of work ahead to get to where I want to be by test day.
10/1/07- Okay, so I wanted something to help me keep track of my application process, so I thought I'd make a profile. My list of schools is really just a very general list of those that take (relatively) large amounts of oos students since I'm from California and my in-state schools are all ridiculously competitive. Of course I'll narrow it down as it gets closer to application time and based on whether I succeed on (hopefully!) or blow the MCAT which I'm taking in January (or maybe April) '08. I know my EC's aren't particularly great or interesting, but I really only want to participate in stuff I enjoy doing and not just join a bunch of clubs that I have no interest in for the sake of bulking up my application. I didn't decide on pursuing med school till the end of my freshman year, so I pretty much spent that whole year doing nothing but focusing on the sport I was playing at the time until I finally stepped back and asked myself what the heck I was doing with my life. So I'll pretty much only have EC's from my soph and junior year when I submit my app. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions for improvement and/or adding/removing a school. Thanks!
Oh and just for clarity, for anonymity I put that I attend University of California but I didn't include which campus. For some just the name University of California would imply UC Berkeley, but that is not my school. Once my application period is over I'll add which campus I'm from.
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Costs so far
MCAT prep- $387
MCAT- $210
