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Hmm… has she taken her first MCAT test yet? If not yet, and if I remember it correctly, it is only after a student has taken an MCAT test that she is allowed to make a reservation for her next test. It is not allowed to have two reservations for any student at the same time.</p>
<p>plum, youd be crazy to reschedule. you’ll do fine. tpr exams are inaccurate. 34-44 is awesome for the aamc practice tests. I had a smaller range than you. Ended up scoring outside my practice test range.</p>
<p>Trust your gut plum. Or at least aamc.</p>
<p>Plum, you might just be psyching yourself out about the whole thing. If you’re regularly scoring 34+, then you clearly know the material and don’t need to reschedule. I think a much better time to reschedule would be if you were shooting for 35+ and currently (2wks out) had only broken 30 once, or had routinely had much lower scores than your 29. </p>
<p>When I was in your shoes and down and doubting myself about a terrible FL score (worse than my diag, actually!) about a week and a half out, I decided to take a day completely off and then focus on section tests. Since my scores on my section tests were “back where they were supposed to be,” I was reassured that my prep was good and that I would be fine. Sure enough, my actual score was within my range of scores and one that was sufficient for me. (Wasn’t as high as my best practice score, but was about right in the middle of them.)</p>
<p>I think you’ve done a lot of work and prepared well thus far. If you postpone now, you might get burned out with more studying, or further psych yourself out about full lenghts. You’ve taken enough full lenghts. You know how long the test is. Just polish up those section tests and you will be A-OK. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>^ Thanks for the note. I am still learning from taking FLs. I took AAMC 7 today and of the 13 questions I missed, about half were because I am overthinking the questions. I need to take what is written at face value and act accordingly. I bought the SAs for some extra practice and I still have AAMC 8,9, and 10 to do before test day. What a wonderful way to spend winter break :(</p>
<p>And so it begins. I just received an email from the pre-med advising office about the committee letter process starting up later in the week. I’m slightly excited yet also slightly nervous about the whole application cycle.</p>
<p>Also, thanks again to everyone who had tips with respect to the personal statement. I’m far from done in terms of editing it, however, at least I have something down on paper that is true to who I am. In the end, I think that is one of the most important things.</p>
<p>Time now to go back to studying for the MCAT, which is coming up in 1.5 weeks. Again, I’m slightly excited yet also slightly nervous.</p>
<p>@plumazul, your practice scores look good to me. Then again, I am residing in the low 30s and trying to break the plateau.</p>
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<p>All we can do is our best. I just hope it’s good enough. :eek:</p>
<p>sending good vibes to your Pluma and MrPenguin!!!</p>
<p>^ Belated thanks, learninginprog!</p>
<p>I just came to the realization that I will wake up tomorrow for the first time in a long time without any MCAT-related studying planned for my day. In other words, I took the MCAT today and have no clue what to do with my newfound free time. Maybe the Hobbit and Les Mis are still in theaters.</p>
<p>Anyways, good luck to everyone who will be testing soon! To those who have a late spring test, definitely respect the studying process.</p>
<p>P.S. Do reported statistics vary widely from one edition of the MSAR to another? I have an old edition (2010-2011) and was curious if I should upgrade it or not. For what its worth, I also have a current subscription to U.S. News & Report Compass.</p>
<p>^ I hope you did well. I did my last AAMC practice today (#9), and still making silly mistakes :eek: </p>
<p>You are probably good with the (not very) old MSAR. Things don’t change that quickly.</p>
<p>Just talked with D2 who will be taking her test on Saturday. She’s says that–surprisingly–she’s not overly nervous. I told at this point either she knows the material or she doesn’t and last minute cramming is futile.</p>
<p>Her Kaplan and AAMC practice exams score have been pretty consistently good.</p>
<p>Advised her to have nice evening out tomorrow (it’s restaurant week in her town $28 prix fixe for a three course meal), enjoy a glass of wine or a microbrewed beer and get a good night’s sleep.</p>
<p>My very best wishes to all those who will be taking the MCAT on Saturday, and here’s hoping, mrpenguin, that all the hard work that you put in preparing for today’s exam will be well rewarded.</p>
<p>Tomorrow DS’s cv, personal statement, and other forms will be turned in to the pre-med office, and a mock interview scheduled. The committee letter will be written in late spring/early summer, so everything should be set for him to get an early start, once May 1 rolls around.</p>
<p>Thank goodness–he hates paperwork, and so the little kick in the seat from the school to get everything ready well in advance is a blessing.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind that the goal is to have the “first attempt” as the ONLY one. Do not attempt if you do not feel that you are sufficiently prepared. Whatever the goal and with exceptions to this rule, most people (at least around my D.) were aiming at CONSISTANT 2 points higher on practice tests than their goal on a real MCAT. And they were also aiming at ONE take, no re-takes. So, if yor goal is 33, make sure that you are CONSISTANTLY at 35 (the least) in your practice tests. If your goal is a 35, then be consistantly at 37. As I said, there are exceptions, but it has worked that way for my D. If you feel frustrated, the best way to handle is TO TAKE A BREAK from it, stay away for as long as needed to calm yourself down, re-fresh your mind. Go to the gym, use your frustration there, very very rewarding (in a future, for the rest of your life, this seems to be the best way to handle busy, pushy times)</p>
<p>Good luck to all the MCAT takers this week. I hope everyone has good news when results come in. My S took them this past August and was very happy when they were done.</p>
<p>Some unsolicted “mom” advice to all this weekend’s test-takers:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get plenty of rest the night before the test.</p></li>
<li><p>Eat a easily digestible meal of high quality proteins and whole grains before leaving for your exam location.</p></li>
<li><p>Bring bottled water and a energy-dense snack (like backpacking gorp) with you to stash in your locker during the exam. Eat and drink during the break. Sustained periods of intense cognition burn a surprising number of calories and it won’t do to bonk during the second half of the test.</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure you have your admission ticket printed and have an acceptable form of ID. Be sure to take both with you.</p></li>
<li><p>If you’ve never been to testing center before, make sure you have accurate directions printed out and a map. GPS devices and cell phone apps are not 100% reliable. (Just ask Apple!) Allow a little extra travel time–just in case.</p></li>
<li><p>Do your best. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck to you all!</p>
<p>Sending good vibes to all the testers tomorrow!!!</p>
<p>Still studying, … I used today to go over all the problems I missed on the AAMCs and then one last scan of [MCAT</a> Review](<a href=“http://mcat-review.org/]MCAT”>http://mcat-review.org/)</p>
<p>My AAMC average wasn’t great, but I’m reasonably sure I can do better than that. I will know in a month. </p>
<p>BTW, what’s with the month wait?? It makes no sense. Why can’t they at least give you your raw score immediately like the GRE does?</p>
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</p>
<p>Admission ticket?</p>
<p>Good luck guys!</p>
<p>Why the month wait?</p>
<p>Allegedly it’s because scores are scaled, and it takes a while to compile all the data. Apparently there are also some experimental items (that don’t count toward your score) and some items that are debated/appealed. Supposedly this takes about a month to do.</p>
<p>But seriously, you’d think they could give you something. Reminds me of scantron tests in undergrad–you really want me to believe it took you three weeks to have your TA walk the scantrons over to the grading office, pick up the report an hour later, and for you to verify the correct scores were entered into your database? </p>
<p>Blah blah blah bureaucratic red tape galore. </p>
<p>Enjoy your month :)</p>
<p>Thinking of all you test takers today. Good luck! I hope everyone has good results.<br>
And (((HUGS))) to all the parents.</p>