Hey Guys,
It's been a while since I posted about my journey to medical school, so I thought I would update and fill you in!

A couple of weeks ago, at the end of April I sat for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) for the very first time and boy was I nervous. I've been planning to take this exam since my freshman year of college and I always put it off because I didn't ever really feel prepared. The MCAT is a major component of your Medical School Application and I always had a fear it would make or break my application. If you know from reading my Pre-Med story, I struggled in my physical sciences in undergrad (biology, chemistry and physics) and the MCAT was basically all physical sciences until 2015 when they added a psychology and sociology section. Many of my peers felt rushed to take the old MCAT before the changes occurred and I did too, but as a double major in psychology and biology, I'm glad I waited. To be honest, the new changes were necessary and I have no idea why psychology and sociology weren't on an exam for future physicians in the first place when psychological and social situations are MAJOR influencers on health!

I originally prepared a MCAT study plan that would consist of 5-6 months of studying, but unfortunately life just gets in the way of our plans sometimes... I did spend 4-5 months studying and was able to take 6 practice Full Length Exams instead of the 10 I was planning. I honestly wish I was able to strictly stick to my study schedule, but I don't think I was ever going to feel completely prepared for it and it was time to put doubt aside and take the test!

Full Length Exams and the Section Bank and Question Packs from the AAMC are the best way to prepare for the exam. Content Review will only take you so far and you'll never know if you're absorbing all that content if you don't test yourself!

Before the test, I took 3/6 Full Lengths under complete testing conditions, in which I woke up at 6:30, ate breakfast, and started my exam at 8:00am like I would be doing on test day! I made sure to find my test center the weekend before my test, and watched the Prometric Test Center video on the AAMC website, so nothing on test day would be a surprise. )They actually fingerprint and wand you each time you leave the test room and for some odd reason the computer always had issues with my fingerprint! I was like "I swear it's me!" LOL)

In the end, I felt like my exam was more difficult than any of my practice material, but that could have been the nerves of test day...now that it's over, it's been the 30 day wait for the results that makes me anxious, so I'm trying to stay busy to keep my mind off it!