First things first, set a goal for yourself. Think long and hard about what kind of outcome you would like for yourself. At this point in your life, you should have a very good idea of what kind of student you are. You should know how you deal with standardized test and how comfortable you feel with most of the subject matter on the MCAT. Be honest with yourself. Yet, do not let a lousy exam dictate your truth. You know who you are, your MCAT score is not your identity. Get an idea of a modest, yet confident, range you would like to see yourself score and then add five points.
When I did this little exercise, I thought to myself, a 515 would be a realistic, yet an incredible score to surmise. Up to that point I had a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering (with a science GPA hovering around 3.8) and was working on getting my master’s degree with straight A’s. I figured I knew the subject well enough to score close to the 90th percentile. However, I didn’t want to “settle” just for a 515, so my goal was to score a 520 on the MCAT. I knew this would open doors for me like crazy. I wrote it down on a flashcard, pinned it to my bulletin board, and read it every single day: “I will score a 520 on the MCAT”.
Don’t just write it down though. You have to really believe in it. You have to really believe in yourself. Then, you have to work towards it with relentless disregard for anything else.
At this point, I had a decent amount of experience studying for the MCAT. I had taken it twice before and had seemingly gone over every single fact that could present itself at least once. Yet, I was still underperforming. It became obvious to me that content was not the issue I was having. I knew I had to switch up my strategy.
What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I knew that pure memorization of facts and subject matter just was not enough. I needed to accustom myself to the rigors of taking this marathon of an exam. I needed to have a better strategy for the exam itself. During this time, I was reading David Goggin’s book titled, “Can’t Hurt Me”.
I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just individuals seeking to get into medical school. In one instance, the author, former US Navy SEAL (and a boat load of other ridiculous accolades), sets forth to train for an ultramarathon. During which time, he is also working full-time as a Navy SEAL recruiter. Being that his time is very limited and he’s an uber-competitive person, he decides that the only way to make ample time to train and still be able to complete his work duties, is to wake up at 4 AM and get a 20-mile run to work every morning. Consequently, he would have to run 20 miles back home every evening, and he’s so driven that he would get an hour or so of cardio in during his lunch break. This is obviously just a very broad and unjust synopsis. When you get a chance, you must read this book.
Anyway, I thought this plan was genius. I myself was working a full-time job at the time (I was about to graduate and found a job as a Medical Assistant) and needed to study for an ultramarathon of sorts (the MCAT). So, it was obvious to me that I needed to wake up at 4 AM to study for the MCAT to make the best use of my time.
This regiment ended up paying tremendous dividends for several reasons. First and foremost, the peace, and quiet at 4 AM is unheard of. Seriously, it’s almost supernaturally still. This means no random texts to distract you. No twitter, snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram feed to tempt you. The world gets put on pause just for you to get your studying in. It’s like going to the library’s quiet floor, but on steroids.
Moreover, it gets you mentally prepared for the kind of stress you subdue your body to on the actual test day. When you go to take your MCAT, check-in usually begins promptly at 8 AM, meaning that you probably head out of your house no later than 7:15 (maybe earlier depending on where you’re testing) to make sure you get there early. If you’re anything like me, you need about an hour and a half to eat, shower, and get ready. If you do the math you should be up and at’em at about 5:45. Imagine feeling like you’re sleeping in on test day. This is the kind of effect that the routine has. Test day felt like just any other day. If anything, I felt extra refreshed. On top of that my brain was trained to want to hit the books immediately after waking up because of all my practice. We are creatures of habit, and we want to make sure we are instilling the right habits to be successful on the MCAT.
Furthermore, I realized during my previous attempts at taking the MCAT that I would do most of my studying in the afternoon or evening. Meaning, that my brain was clogged with all the mental tumult it accumulated during a regular day. Whether you think about it or not, there are thousands of decisions and situations that require your brain to do significant work every day. Even if you have a dull, monotonous job, it takes energy to keep you awake. Even than monotony takes a toll on your mental capacity. So, to come home after your noggin has been put through 8 hours of gunk and try to productively study can be incredibly counterproductive.
I may have been putting in hours of “study” time, but being that they occurred during garbage time, I may have been doing myself more harm than good. On the other hand, when you start studying before the sun is even up, your brain is fresh off of a full-night’s sleep (yes, you can get a full night’s sleep even if you wake up at 4 AM). The hardest part is getting up, but as soon as you are out of bed, coffee in hand if needed (I certainly did), you are good to go! This was one of the, if not the, most beneficial aspects of this routine.
I am by no means saying that you HAVE to wake up at 4AM to study for the MCAT. If you don’t have a full-time job to worry about, or don’t have a problem studying in the evenings, fine. But, if you are struggling to make a dent in your score and it seems like no matter what you do, you can’t get your score to budge, then you should probably do something about it. Do something out of the box and drastic. The only insane thing you could do is repeat the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome, remember that.
Scrub To Scrubs 