As you know, I wrote the MCAT yesterday, and lets just say it the organization on the part of the testing centre wasn't too awesome.
Like the AAMC said, I arrived 30 min prior to my start time. When I walked up to the building at 7:25 am there was a group of about 15 students standing around outside in the 5 degree morning light. After a while we all started to get anxious because it was almost 8 and the doors were still not open. Eventully, a jolly man came out and said "Oh, the doors are locked. We were starting to wonder where all of you were..."
And if that doesn't set the stage for the morning, let me continue.
We all gathered inside a smallish room that only had 5 chairs, in which the jolly man told us they were having computer troubles and that number 16 wasn't working at all, and that they couldn't find the cord to set up the Prometric registration. Because there were only 20 computers and 20 test takers, one computer going down meant that one person wouldn't get to write.
Slowly, they called us in groups of three out of another computer lab to get registered, and we were all hoping that we wouldn't randomly be assigned computer number 16. There were only 3 people left in the room when my name was called, so my chances of getting number 16 was increasing every minute. Once I left the holding room and walked into the room where we originally started I found the 6 people who were called 15 minutes prior to me just sitting there, still waiting to be registered. At this point, it was 8:30. A few people had already started writing and we all began to realize that it was going to be a very long day.
Once I eventually made into the registration room, myself along with 4 others were sat down at table next to the Prometric registration. The jolly man who looked a bit like Santa Clause walked in: "We only have 4 working computers left not including number 16 which has already been assigned to an unfortunate sole."
So, my first reaction and verbal vomit was "But there are 5 of us..." The man just nodded in agreement. So, you have 5 premeds in a tiny room, all stressed out and already over 1.5hrs behind schedule being told that one of them wouldn't get to write. Eventually, one of the others volunteered to wait until a computer was fixed by somebody in Baltimore or write at a later date. I was shocked by the civility that we all displayed under such circumstance, but we had already spent 2 hours talking with each other by that point and were on our way to becoming pretty good friends. I must add that I am very thankful to have had other pre-meds to talk to while I waited. If I was all alone going through that, I might have had a nervous breakdown. Everybody was pretty chill, maybe that's the Canadian way of handling stressful situations, just let it ride.
Eventually, I was in the hot seat going through the Prometric registration. For some reason, my right hand finger prints kept coming up as belonging to a member of the British Army. So, after sorting that out, which to took a considerable amount of time, my finger prints, drivers license, and photo were all registered. I was assigned computer number 12, which was thankfully working.
By 10 am I was registered and ready to write, but the guy beside me was more than 2 sections ahead of me. I was moderately flustered starting the Physical Sci section because of everything that had happened earlier. So when I encountered a difficult question, it threw me off more than it usually does. The end result I believe will be that I did not achieve a 10 on the PS section. It was hard, really, really hard and it didn't seem to reflect any of the practice tests in any way.
I thought that VR was actually reasonable and very similar to the AAMC verbal. I finished with 7 extra minutes and was able to go back over the time consuming questions that required going back to the passage and I think (and hope) that I was able to correct some mistakes before the time limit. By the time I fnished VR, it was already past noon. I didn't bring enough food to be there past 1:30 and I was starting to get really hungry. I only brought a few pieces of fruit, 4 granola bars, 1 chocolate bar and a can of vinalla coke. I wasn't planning on eating all of that, but I was down to only 2 granola bars, a chocolate bar and my coke after VR. Needless to say, my next biggest concern was running out of food.
Thankfully, the writing sample prompts were manageable, but for me, the writing section is exhausting. Also, the guy beside me was completely finished before I got half way through my first writing prompt. And by the time I finished the second, my stomach was literally growling.
So, before the Biosci section I scarfed down the remaining food that I had and drank half a can of Vanilla Coke (which I would like to point out is not sold in Canada, so I reserve it for special occasions only). Halfway through Biosci I stated to get a headache. I eat a lot on a normal basis, and my body doesn't respond well to not having enough calories, so basically, I bonked halfway through Biosci. Also, it seemed like all the questions in Biosci did not require any background knowledge in biology and it was really just based on interpreting the passages, which is nothing like the practice AAMC exams so I have no ability to predict how well I did.
At 3pm, I walked out the testing centre into a rain and hail storm, 2 hours behind schedule, shaking from hunger. As you may have guessed, it was not the best day of my life. I am fairly certain that I did not get a 30, I'm predicting a 28 at best. Which is very disappointing because I really don't want to have to write it again. Maybe I would have done better if the morning had gone smoother, maybe not, one thing for sure is that I was pretty flustered starting the test and completely bonkered ending it.
Next time I write, maybe I will do it Montana, and just submit to the metal detector and body pat down that goes against privacy laws in Canada. I appreciate the relaxed atmosphere that the testing centre and staff had, but it was a bit stressful.
Peace Like a River
 |
| I don't think my score will be "top" |
And if that doesn't set the stage for the morning, let me continue.
We all gathered inside a smallish room that only had 5 chairs, in which the jolly man told us they were having computer troubles and that number 16 wasn't working at all, and that they couldn't find the cord to set up the Prometric registration. Because there were only 20 computers and 20 test takers, one computer going down meant that one person wouldn't get to write.
Slowly, they called us in groups of three out of another computer lab to get registered, and we were all hoping that we wouldn't randomly be assigned computer number 16. There were only 3 people left in the room when my name was called, so my chances of getting number 16 was increasing every minute. Once I left the holding room and walked into the room where we originally started I found the 6 people who were called 15 minutes prior to me just sitting there, still waiting to be registered. At this point, it was 8:30. A few people had already started writing and we all began to realize that it was going to be a very long day.
Once I eventually made into the registration room, myself along with 4 others were sat down at table next to the Prometric registration. The jolly man who looked a bit like Santa Clause walked in: "We only have 4 working computers left not including number 16 which has already been assigned to an unfortunate sole."
So, my first reaction and verbal vomit was "But there are 5 of us..." The man just nodded in agreement. So, you have 5 premeds in a tiny room, all stressed out and already over 1.5hrs behind schedule being told that one of them wouldn't get to write. Eventually, one of the others volunteered to wait until a computer was fixed by somebody in Baltimore or write at a later date. I was shocked by the civility that we all displayed under such circumstance, but we had already spent 2 hours talking with each other by that point and were on our way to becoming pretty good friends. I must add that I am very thankful to have had other pre-meds to talk to while I waited. If I was all alone going through that, I might have had a nervous breakdown. Everybody was pretty chill, maybe that's the Canadian way of handling stressful situations, just let it ride.
Eventually, I was in the hot seat going through the Prometric registration. For some reason, my right hand finger prints kept coming up as belonging to a member of the British Army. So, after sorting that out, which to took a considerable amount of time, my finger prints, drivers license, and photo were all registered. I was assigned computer number 12, which was thankfully working.
By 10 am I was registered and ready to write, but the guy beside me was more than 2 sections ahead of me. I was moderately flustered starting the Physical Sci section because of everything that had happened earlier. So when I encountered a difficult question, it threw me off more than it usually does. The end result I believe will be that I did not achieve a 10 on the PS section. It was hard, really, really hard and it didn't seem to reflect any of the practice tests in any way.
I thought that VR was actually reasonable and very similar to the AAMC verbal. I finished with 7 extra minutes and was able to go back over the time consuming questions that required going back to the passage and I think (and hope) that I was able to correct some mistakes before the time limit. By the time I fnished VR, it was already past noon. I didn't bring enough food to be there past 1:30 and I was starting to get really hungry. I only brought a few pieces of fruit, 4 granola bars, 1 chocolate bar and a can of vinalla coke. I wasn't planning on eating all of that, but I was down to only 2 granola bars, a chocolate bar and my coke after VR. Needless to say, my next biggest concern was running out of food.
Thankfully, the writing sample prompts were manageable, but for me, the writing section is exhausting. Also, the guy beside me was completely finished before I got half way through my first writing prompt. And by the time I finished the second, my stomach was literally growling.
So, before the Biosci section I scarfed down the remaining food that I had and drank half a can of Vanilla Coke (which I would like to point out is not sold in Canada, so I reserve it for special occasions only). Halfway through Biosci I stated to get a headache. I eat a lot on a normal basis, and my body doesn't respond well to not having enough calories, so basically, I bonked halfway through Biosci. Also, it seemed like all the questions in Biosci did not require any background knowledge in biology and it was really just based on interpreting the passages, which is nothing like the practice AAMC exams so I have no ability to predict how well I did.
At 3pm, I walked out the testing centre into a rain and hail storm, 2 hours behind schedule, shaking from hunger. As you may have guessed, it was not the best day of my life. I am fairly certain that I did not get a 30, I'm predicting a 28 at best. Which is very disappointing because I really don't want to have to write it again. Maybe I would have done better if the morning had gone smoother, maybe not, one thing for sure is that I was pretty flustered starting the test and completely bonkered ending it.
Next time I write, maybe I will do it Montana, and just submit to the metal detector and body pat down that goes against privacy laws in Canada. I appreciate the relaxed atmosphere that the testing centre and staff had, but it was a bit stressful.
Peace Like a River
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