Premed Memes

Here are a collection of random premed-themed memes I made for premed101- thought it would be nice to see them all in one place. Most were made during times of frustration, boredom, or simply procrastination. 

Rage comic and meme made while waiting for rejection email from U of T med.

First world problems- premed 

My "Premed Bad Luck Brian" series

Just for fun, while I'm still working on the more "useful" posts.

Matt

How I destroyed the MCAT with minimal study time: a ragecomic post

After all the useful posts about "How to Destroy the MCAT with Minimal Studying", I decided to write about how I actually got through with minimal studying. In 2010, I decided to take the MCAT in May, giving myself exactly 18 days to study for the MCAT. In hindsight, it was stupid and insane- I originally planned on studying during the school year, but second year was too much so that all went to hell... but thankfully, things worked out better than I expected.

Here is a graphical + text representation of how the studying went down:

Figure 1. Started studying for the MCAT

Figure 2. Days 1-10- Reviewing general chemistry, physics, biology section, and solving problems for each section.

Figure 3. Day 11- First practice MCAT (Kaplan)- PS 7 BS 10 VR 7. Printed out dozens of practice exams for PS, and went through those for the rest of the day.

Figure 4. Day 12- Second practice MCAT (Kaplan)- PS 13 BS 9 VR 10. For the rest of the day, solved PS problems, started on VR and BS as well.

Figure 5. Day 13- Third practice MCAT (Kaplan)- epic fail, PS 8 BS 6 VR 9. For the rest of the day, solve BS problems until some sort of hemorrhage.

...and the rest:

Day 14- Practice MCAT- PS 9 BS 7 VR 9. Continue practicing BS, PS.

***Massive panic- realized I've barely practised for verbal reasoning. 

Day 15- Practice MCAT+ rest doing VR practice.

Day 16- D-4. AAMC MCAT #10, started mental prep for the actual thing.

Day 17- D-3. AAMC MCAT #8. Verbal reasoning still not good.

Day 18- D-2. Still in panic for verbal reasoning, resulting in 4 EK VR exams in a day. NOT a good idea (Refer to Part 2 of MCAT series). End of studying.

Figure 6. D-1- Dead for the entire day.

D-Day- The MCAT was a traumatic experience and my memories of it started to come back weeks later.

Figure 7. Self-portrait after writing the MCAT.

As you can see, it was a mad, frantic rush of desperation and frequent bouts of hopelessness and depression.

But by the end...

Figure 8. After receiving test scores three weeks later.

Thanks to all my previous research and the resources I got from that research, I somehow pulled it off... but this approach is too risky, and I think (and I should have as well) anyone should put aside at least 1.5 months to prepare (up to 4 depending on your major). In the end, I ended up studying ~8 hours per day, totalling ~1800 pages of work while completely fried by the end of the day, every day.

Thanks for reading, good luck!

Matt

How to destroy the MCAT with minimal study time (Part 3- General Advice and Test Day Tips)

Update (7/18/2014): Commenting has been disabled- it's been more than 4 years since I wrote the MCAT & I don't think I should continue giving out random advice & the new MCAT will render a good chunk of my MCAT-related writing obsolete. Good luck to everyone, regardless.

Even if you've prepared well for the actual MCAT, there's still some things you need to keep in mind to ensure you can do your best on test day. I also included some general advice in studying for the MCAT. Just a reminder that all the tips/advice I give out are based on prior (copious) research, and selected for from personal experience as well.

General (Overall) Study Advice:

• During the week(s) leading up to the MCAT, do full timed practice MCATs every day (except day before) to get you mentally prepared.
• This is where you would use the AAMC practice MCATs. 7 and on are the most representative of the real thing (more recent).
• If you have practised with Kaplan material (BS and PS), you will undoubtedly be able to breeze through those sections.
• Do nothing the day before the MCAT.
• At that point, any studying is futile and more likely to have a negative result. Take the day off to relax, sleep. 
• Give yourself a long(er) time to study for Verbal Reasoning if you're struggling with it.
• Although I say "minimal study time" in my titles, you should probably give yourself ample time to study (at least 1 1/2 month in my opinion). Unless you enjoy tormenting yourself and burning yourself out for the entirety of the upcoming school year.
• I didn't do this- a decision I regretted sorely. It was miracle it all worked out- another story to come.

Test Day:

• During the test- use every break to have a snack, a quick drink, stretch go to the bathroom.
• Distract yourself from the previous section and start to focus on the next one while getting some nourishment (energy bars with tea work great).
• Quick (5-10 seconds) breaks between passages- a lot of people recommend this, and has worked for me as well. Great for re-tuning your focus.
• Don't bring any study material to the test site, because:
• Only increases your anxiety as you would frantically go over stuff that you don't need to memorize anyways.
• You would look like a noob. Seriously.

Figure 1. Artistic representation of people's faces when they saw the girl
with 17 sheets of study material 20 minutes before the MCAT

• Unless you're writing next to a construction site, don't bother with headphones.
• The obvious one- get a good night's sleep the day before.

 ...and that's the end for my useful posts on the MCAT.

Good luck.

Part 3- Done.
Matt