Ready or Not?

Tomorrow is my last day to study, as per the recommendation of Examkrackers I shouldn't even be studying tomorrow, but I have few more things to review. Really, I could review until I'm 30 years old and I still wouldn't feel ready. 

I'm hoping for a 30, and if I could manage a 32 I might actually have a heart attack. I'm going to give it my best shot on Saturday, and I know that no matter what my score is, it was the best that I could do given the time that I had to study. There is no shame in needing to write it more than once, I would just prefer not to have to go through this torture again. 

In other news, I meeting with my lab supervisor and one of his new MSc students on Friday to go over what my research project will be. Its looking like something along the lines of a tumour suppressor knock down and then looking at the function recovery of an injured nerve. I'm really hoping that I get USRP funding, otherwise my move to Calgary might have been for nothing. (Missing out on the Human Anatomy Dissection class at Guelph is a bit of a bummer, but I am going to get into medical school someday and I will get to learn anatomy the way it has been taught for centuries.)

If you have any extra available brain power on Saturday between 8 am and 2pm  Mountain Standard Time, please direct it my way.

Peace Like a River

5 days

When I read or hear about how other people are hoping for a 35 on the MCAT my jaw pretty much falls out of my head. I wish I had that kind of realistic expectations.

Today is the first time that my AAMC practice exam has cracked 30. I got my first 10 on PS, and I am stoked beyond belief. I know that one exam isn't necessarily predictive of my score, but it I think it gave me the confidence boost that I really need. I scored another solid 11 of BS and unfortunately a 9 on VR. Hopefully that will also be a 10 on Saturday.

My goal of getting a 30 isn't unrealistic, and it pretty much meets the average score for most schools other than UWO. 

7 Days

Yesterday was my last day of work for the summer. I was the first summer student to leave our department, the other 3 suckers still have a week left, but they had a little going away party for all of us anyway. They got us a cake and me my own mini gluten free cake which was pretty awesome. My job wasn't too exciting but I am nonetheless grateful for the experience that it provided. I am a super passive person with a backbone made of soup, and this job forced me to toughen up and make my backbone more like the consistency of jello. Every opportunity is a chance to learn, maybe I didn't have any super awesome volunteer experiences this summer, but I did learn how to deal with people who are less than happy to hear your voice. People are grumpy and angry all over the world, this summer I learned how to deal with them all day.

I am now in Calgary, and I have 7 days until the MCAT. I am really, really scared. I did another practice exam today, AAMC #5, and I got a 29 :( My Physical Science score went back down to an 8....and I am really disappointed. Usually its physics that gets me, but this time it was chemistry. My Verbal Reasoning score is back up to a 10 (thank goodness!) and I intend to keep it there if not get it higher. And Biological Science is currently at an 11 (yippee!).

I have seven days to learn what ever it is that I don't know in physical science and there is still room for improvement on biosci.

For those of you out there also preparing to take the MCAT in the near but distant future, I wish you luck. We are all in this together, the pursuit of becoming a doctor is not an easy one and it is designed to weed out the weak. This is just the first of many walls that we will have to climb.

"The brick wall isn't there to keep us out, its there to show us how badly we want something." - Randy Pausch

Adventures Through MCAT Land

And were are back to talking about the MCAT...sorry guys, but right now, studying is literally my life. I have these Examkrackers Audio Osmosis on my iPod, so at work I literally listen to physics, chemistry, orgo or bio for the 9 hours that I am at work. I don't know if it helps at all, but I can't bare to waste 9 hours of everyday sitting at a desk NOT STUDYING! So I listen...with the hopes that I will remember something useful.

I wrote another practice MCAT today, did the best I have done in a combined VR and BS score...and the worst I have done in physical sciences. I literally did better a month ago, and that was before I had gotten through all of the chem and physics lectures....

I have two weeks left to pull it all together....

But I have some tips if you are also studying for the MCAT and are looking to do better on verbal reasoning section:

1. Buy the Examkracker verbal reasoning technique book and the 101 verbal book

2. Study form both books, and do the tests in a timed fashion with the Examkracker methods

3. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MAIN IDEA

4. Pause after you read the passage, close your eyes and formulate a sentence about the main idea, then proceed to the questions

5. Take a 5-10 second break between each passage, just breath and imagine your self doing something that you love. I imagine my self riding my bike

6. Keep practising

I wish you the best of luck! 

Heading off to learn the last lecture in orgo and then review some physics. 

Peace like a river. 

The Circle of Life

As some of you may or may not know, my Grandpa passed away two weeks ago. He had an amazing life, did amazing things for people and ultimately left the world a better place.

Today was his "Celebration of Life," which is basically just a happier version a funeral and sans burial.  My brother and I both spoke, and neither of us cried! We both even managed to make a few people chuckle and few people cry. It was a really great service, and the pastor at my Grandparent's church is simply amazing. It was a bit exhausting though....having to constantly meet people and have them tell me how wonderful he was all day...it was constant reminder that he is gone. I will miss him, but I am trying to remember that this is a time to rejoice in the difference he made in the lives of others rather than a time of mourning.

Yesterday, (Friday) I went to Vancouver to see my surgeon, Dr. B, again for a follow up. He was a bit puzzled by the fact that it is still swollen to the point where you can leave a thumb imprint in my ankle (it literally stays there for 5 minutes...its kinda freaky) and the fact that I have throbbing pain...but overall pleased that my nerve pain is better. He said that it could be possible that the nerve is growing into my bone....great. He is sending a e-mail to Dr. S Mackinnon in St. Louis who first preformed the procedure to see if she knows what might be going on...she is also pretty much my hero.

Dr. B saw that I was studying for the MCAT (I was working through the 1001 MCAT physics questions before my appointment), laughed and said that he can't remember anything from the MCAT because he blocked it from his memory. So...I guess it is that bad...

Racing the Tour de Bowness Crit on Monday morning, wish me luck! (Not crashing would be nice, but this course has some pretty nasty pavement and a hill section.)

Side note: I gave an elderly homeless man on Robson St in down town Vancouver (it is the shopping street of the city) $50. I don't really know why, but I even went back and re-crossed the street to give it to him. I haven't really ever felt compelled to give somebody that much money before for no apparent reason, but I just felt like I really needed to. Maybe it was my Grandpa talking...I don't know.

Peace like a river