How to Study for Mcat Again
Blog / Advice For Retaking The MCAT
Top 3 principles for retaking the MCAT
Written by Jack Westin on Sep 30, 2016
Retaking the MCAT can exist challenging or extremely challenging. Hither's my communication for anyone who needs to retake the MCAT to make it less challenging.
I'm going to sum upwardly this blog in one sentence:
Don't start studying again until (1) you take coped with the frustration of retaking, (2) have a solid programme, and (3) are patient with retaking the MCAT.
Below, I'm going to discuss why I firmly believe in these three principles:
Retaking the MCAT: Emotional imbalance
Have a couple of weeks off and assess what you did wrong. You might take done this while you waited for your score but the raw emotion you get right afterwards yous run into your official score on score release twenty-four hours tin can put you in a state of stupor.
Students usually want to get-go studying immediately after they get their scores back. I don't recommend this. Information technology is maybe the showtime move students brand and information technology's a disastrous movement.
If y'all are like most pre-medical students, you will probably be very critical of your initial score. This volition cause you to become emotionally imbalanced. If you immediately first studying again you will non be 100% focused and when you face challenging MCAT problems or CARS passages, your emotions will become the best of you.
What I hateful by this is that y'all will probably stop studying and push button it off longer than if you were to give yourself time to cope with the disappointment you felt initially. And even if you go on to written report while frustrated, your improvements will not be as significant as opposed to having a articulate mind. If you are emotionally unbalanced while yous study, you will be stuck in a loop that may concluding months or even years.
The MCAT is an exam of skill. Just like driving a car is based on skill. It's something you lot acquire over time with a lot of practice. People who are emotional practice non make for skilful drivers and they certainly do non make for good exam-takers! Stay off the road!
The best mode to get over your disappoint is to realize that retaking the MCAT is perfectly normal. Even the all-time applicants retake the MCAT. I've seen students retake scores others would die for. (Like a well-rounded 512 in order to attain a 520 – don't exercise this please, not recommended)
Just the point is medical schools realize how rigorous this exam truly is and how it may take you a little longer to suit to its fashion.
Y'all could likewise write about your feelings earlier you lot become to slumber. At that place is research that shows how psychologically useful this strategy is. Write whatever comes to mind. You volition feel a lot ameliorate afterwards. I recommend doing this each night until you are over it.
Y'all tin likewise talk to your friends and family – anyone that has your back. Practice, swallow well, and requite yourself fourth dimension to heal. Recover mentally and physically from this grueling exam in order to retake the MCAT successfully.
It'due south okay to experience bad. It'due south okay to be disappointed. But y'all have give yourself infinite to get over or else information technology will seep into your studying and it will ruin your confidence. Conviction plays a large office in retaking the MCAT.
Retaking the MCAT: Preparation is Everything
The MCAT does not test your intelligence. Instead, the MCAT is adept at determining whether or not you prepared correctly. The keyword here is correctly. Simply opening upwards a book and reading novels will not make you a pro at the CARS section. And doing random questions from a chemistry textbook hither and at that place could help just it's probably not going to modify your C/P score by much.
Yous need to report the right cloth, the right way. Y'all besides need to execute this inside a four calendar month window. You lot should assess what went wrong initially while you were studying and decide what you lot will practice differently when you retake the MCAT. Study how to study! And then do it!
The key to grooming is to have a goal MCAT retake date in heed. Brand MCAT your priority while you report and be adamant to accept the exam the twenty-four hour period you are aiming for. You lot must convince yourself that you lot will be done with this examination on that day. That is a corking motivating factor.
Some students do not do this and instead make the MCAT a work-habit. It's something they do each 24-hour interval without a goal in mind. When you exercise this, the MCAT becomes a fashion of life. The MCAT is non a way of life. It is a goal you must accomplish by finishing it. Just it'south a long-term goal, not a forever goal.
Retaking the MCAT: Stop Rushing
Breathe. You volition improve. You will get into medical school. Simply you need to give yourself time. You may be rushed to take the examination since y'all might desire to use within the aforementioned application cycle. I don't recommend this. Rushing to take the exam once more within one to two months is a very, very big mistake.
If you scored low on a certain section, it's considering you are not at the correct proficiency yet. Y'all need to strengthen your weaknesses and no one can exercise this in a month. If needed, take the exam next twelvemonth. It's better than rushing to retake the exam and then being stuck with two bad scores! Would y'all rather get in next year or not at all? Be honest with yourself and your abilities.
You may call up your initial score was a fluke, in which case it very well could exist. Perchance something happened on examination twenty-four hours, like the fire alert went off or someone decided to drill physical outside your building the verbal moment you were taking CARS. Simply even then, y'all've probably taken enough exams up to this point of your bookish career to handle bug like these when they arise. If you messed up somewhere, these potential fluke distractions are easy to blame. Once more, exist honest with yourself.
If y'all end upward rushing, yous volition most likely become effectually the aforementioned score. Take information technology when y'all are absolutely set. Take information technology when yous know this is the terminal time you will retake the MCAT. Or else you're going to have to study for it again.
How will you know yous are ready? I would say if you took ten-xv practice exams and thoroughly reviewed them as well equally took and reviewed all of the AAMC material available, yous are probably over-prepared and truly ready. Practicing a lot of MCAT will rewire your encephalon, making you a better test-taker. You lot volition know when you are ready to retake the MCAT.
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Source: https://jackwestin.com/resources/blog/advice-for-retaking-the-mcat
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