I Cancelled My MCAT...For What?

As promised, keep reading on why I cancelled my previous MCAT.

My sophomore year of college, during one my routine advising appointments, I set up my “5-Year plan” for the remaining years I had left. With that plan, my advisor and I put “take MCAT” during my fourth year; this was perfect when I thought I was going to go straight through and not take a gap year.

Obviously that never happened.

I pushed studying for the MCAT back so many times. Until summer going into my fifth year, I finally got serious and said “I’m going to take my exam this year". So when the AAMC opened up registration for this testing year, I considered taking my exam in January. Then I changed my mind to March to give me enough time to study. March 24th was the original date for my exam.

So, I began to set up a study schedule that would allow ample amount of time to feel fully prepared. I was going to spend my whole fall semester studying and winter break.

November came around and I had not studied as much as I was supposed to.

I told myself that I would spend my entire winter break studying because I still had 4 months and that was more than enough time...

I didn't study much then either. During the months of January and February, I was going to kick it into high gear and do an accelerated study plan. L O L

Well, a few weeks before my MCAT, I started thinking about cancelling and rescheduling, because I just didn't feel comfortable nor did I want to waste one of my exam turns (you can only take the MCAT a total of 3 times in a year, and a total of 7 in a lifetime). I actually thought for too long and forgot to cancel my exam before the refund deadline and missed out on getting a 50% refund.

And here I am, scheduled to take my exam on September 8th. I feel that I made the best decision pushing my test date back. Many med students will tell you their self, "do not take the exam if you are not ready". Seeing as I don't plan to apply to schools until 2019, I didn't need to feel rushed into taking my exam so early. Now I have the summer to study where I don't have a heavy class load.

The thing is though, you HAVE to take the MCAT if you want to go to medical school. And although it is a very daunting exam to prepare for, there isn't much room to change your date multiple times. To any pre-med student reading this, do not be afraid of this bump in the road. I know I was and still find myself to be afraid of the MCAT. But if you really want to go to medical school, you will take that fear and turn it into a drive to do well.

My advice, familiarize yourself with the entire exam. I bought a guide to the MCAT (offered by the AAMC) and it walks you through the entire exam: from registration, to test day security protocol, to what you're allowed to bring to the testing center. Not to mention it walks you through what is on the MCAT. You want to be comfortable with what is on the exam and why you're being tested on it (although many students and even resident physicians have told me that you never see physics again after the MCA *rolls eyes*).

Now you have it, the reason I cancelled my first exam. This time, I committed more to the exam by paying for a course for accountability purposes. My next post, I'll share why I like my course and why I would recommend it to anyone preparing for the MCAT.

That's all for now. As always, leave a comment below! I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on what you want to read in the future.