This MCAT studying thing is actually going pretty well. Yesterday, I went into the Kaplan center and watched one of their tapes, MCAT Strategy and Skills 1 . It was actually pretty cool. It basically expressed again how important this how MCAT thing is. And that you will only get out of it what you put in. They presented a couple of techniques for calming down when taking the test. They told us that the first thing we will see when we get to the MCAT test center is not the test, but a long line of people waiting to take the test. These lines usually make people very nervous, so they advised you take your Kaplan notecards and look over them; instead of worrying about the line. They also, beforehand, told us to close our eyes, and imagine ourselves putting everything else but the MCAT in a box, taping that box shut, and putting the box on a high shelf. Then, after we did all of that, we were instructed to open our eyes and the tape showed a big green dot. It said that every time we get anxious or nervous, we should look at the green dot, which should be colored on our hand during test time (Kaplan must be racist because there is no way that a green marker will show up green on my hand, LOL). It sounds ridiculous, but associating peace and tranquility with a green dot really does calm you down. Anyway, the tape gave me a lot of good advice. Later that night, at 6 p.m., we had our first class session where a Kaplan lady came in and taught us, MCAT Strategy and Skills 1 . I realized then and there that it really made no sense to come to class. She didn’t know what she was talking about, and the tape that I watched earlier that morning gave me more good information than she could. I’m going to still try to come in case there are some good teachers, but the online material and the Kaplan material are first rate. They truly have more questions, tests, and workshops than you can do. Although I plan to try my hardest to do everything, it really is a lot. Overall, I’m very glad I decided to take the class. They give you a very good structure on which to study for the MCAT. I usually study online anyway, but I’m not so good at planning studying over a long period of time. Kaplan does that for you, and it really makes things easier.
Anyway, we got our diagnostic scores back this morning, and here’s my break down: 7V 6B 6P = 19. We didn’t do a written section on our diagnostic test, so I don’t have that grade. Anyway, Kaplan chided us many times before we got out results that these are truly DIAGNOSTIC results, and we should significantly improve from these. Overall, I’m pretty happy about it, because I know that with a lot of hard work, I can score well. My strong point seems to be Verbal Reasoning, and I need a lot of work in General Chemistry and Physics. Its kind of weird though, I breezed through my Biology class, and struggled in Organic class, but I scored higher on the Organic part of Biological Sciences. Anyway, I know that its going to be a long struggle, but it is possible. One thing that the Kaplan lady did get through to me was that there is no gene for doing well on standardized tests, which I knew, but didn’t really know. I always thought that, “Well hey, I’m black, so I won’t do well on a standardized test.” That just isn’t true, as I now realize. Its all about critical thinking, and once I master that, then it should be fine.
We have our first Physics class tomorrow, so I’ll tell you all how that goes.
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