u/oatmealraisin02

Hi all, I am urgently looking for a room ideally starting 8/31 since my current lease ends 8/31 at noon. I am 24F and will be working full time as a medical assistant at BIDMC, so I am looking primarily in Brookline/Central Square or whatever is around a ~30 min commute or less to work. In terms of budget, I’d like to stay at around $1500 or less; $1100-1300 range is ideal. Looking for a place that doesn’t have a crazy high amount of upfront fees 🥲

Looking for female or nonbinary roommates only and either a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment. I am clean, respectful, and easygoing and am looking for roommates who are similar. I will be studying for the MCAT for the first half of September, so am looking for a quiet place to call home; not a big party person. Please message me if you have a room available, or know of any leads! Thanks everyone :)

Hi everyone, I am planning on taking my exam 8/22 but am really frustrated because I haven't been making much progress on my FL scores, despite reviewing each FL after I take it.

My scores so far on AAMC FLs:

• FL 1: 508 (127/126/127/128)
• FL 2: 513 (127/129/128/129)
• FL 3: 514 (129/126/130/129)
• FL 4: 511 (129/126/127/129)

So far I've done about 3/4 of the aamc CARS diagnostic, neither one of the qpacks yet. My P/S score is really frustrating me because from what I've heard, I thought just doing the Pankow deck would get me that 131-132 score lol.

On SB 1, I've done half of B/B and 1/3 of C/P.

Just feeling really lost and not sure where to go from here to improve. I really don't want to postpone my exam, but I'm stressed that I don't have enough time to make a substantial improvement before Aug. 22. I was initially aiming for 520+ since my GPA is on the lower to average end of matriculant stats (3.6-3.7), but now that doesn't really seem likely so I'm not sure what to do...

Any help would really, really be appreciated. Thanks everyone

I’ve heard some people say it’s better to take FLs somewhere else other than home to simulate the real exam. I’m wondering how crucial this is? I have visited a few libraries near me and none seem quiet enough for a testing environment, there’s people walking around constantly, etc. At the same time the advice does make sense to me, so idk. Thoughts?

Hi all, I’m wondering if you guys recommend switching over fully to AAMC in the final weeks of prep, or if it’s okay/helpful to still be doing some UWhirl. I am 28 days out from test day, and my biggest weakness at this point is C/P, but there is room for improvement in B/B too. I’ve heard mixed opinions on this (some people say doing third party material in the final weeks will mess with AAMC logic?), so would love to hear your thoughts.

I’m wondering how important it is to take my FLs somewhere else besides my apartment. I took FL 1 and 2 in my apartment since it’s way quieter than a library/coffee shop, and there’s fewer distractions. but I know some people say it’s important to take FLs somewhere else to mimic testing conditions etc. thoughts?

Would love to hear what people had on exam day for breakfast and if it worked well for you. Been trying different things as I’m taking my FLs and it’s tricky finding something that’s filling/doesn’t make me crash/is relatively healthy/doesn’t take long to prep in the morning lol.

Hi all, I have 5 weeks until test day but unfortunately my UWhirl is expiring in two days. I’m about 46% through UW, kinda bummed out because I do feel like it’s a useful tool even though I know plenty of people don’t finish the whole thing. Would it be worth renewing the subscription (I think it’s like $99 for 30 more days, $59 I think for 15 more days) or should the vast majority of my time these next few weeks be spent on AAMC?

Slept through my alarm, probably going to take my FL at around 11 am today… is this fine or should I take my FL tomorrow instead and make sure I do it at 8 am? This is for AAMC FL 1.

Kinda don’t want to fall even more behind schedule, but I do realize how it might be important to take it at the actual time..

Hi all, I was wondering if I could get advice on my study plan for the remainder of the time I have until my Aug. 21 exam. So far I have done the AAMC unscored FL, and I am planning on doing 1 AAMC FL per week until my exam (which covers all 6 FL's). I have finished about 45% of UWhirl, not sure if I should be continuing with this or switching over completely to AAMC now? Or switch over when there's exactly 4 weeks left?

Wasn't sure when to start doing qpacks, section banks, etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

hearing some sort of music, anyone know what event is going on? was going to try to go to sleep early but alas

I work around 32 hours/week and I'm too tired usually to get through one full 59q set of UWrld on days that I work. Is it essential to do them in 59q or are 20-30q sets okay?

Bit new to energy drinks lol but so far I’ve tried Ghost, white Monster, and Celsius. Ghost is by far my favorite in terms of taste and caffeine amount, and it gave me a pretty good burst of energy but also a significant crash afterwards (with a wicked headache). I’ve actually liked Celsius quite a bit, it gives me energy without the significant crash. Taste def isn’t as good as Ghost though. I feel weird though since I see a lot of hate for Celsius on here lol. Any other Celsius fans out there? Or other energy drinks you’d recommend trying for energy without a crash? Looking for something that will carry me through this 8 hour exam I’ll have to take soon.

Thanks!

Just started a MA job but it's lowkey really disorganized because it's a clinic that is newly opening. There's barely any patients (literally 1-4 a day lmao) yet I feel the need to look busy in front of my manager, since well, she's my manager, her office is right next to my workstation, and first impressions yadda yadda. I feel like I'm constantly being micromanaged and watched, but there's literally nothing to do most of the day I feel like I'm just staring at the blank computer screen for 7 out of 8 hours of the workday😭

My MCAT is going to be around Aug. 15. Should I quit my job and full-send it until then? What would you guys do? I have some savings from my previous job and think I'd be fine until Aug not working, but cutting it a bit close. I just don't see how I would learn anything at all from this job and don't think it would help me in terms of clinical experience, as I have plenty from a prior clinical job. This would basically just be a source of income for me (not a lot, but more than $0 lol). I feel like staying at the job might be a mistake because it's taking away a lot of time from studying and making me tired at the end of the day (from what? idk honestly).

This would definitely be a very different decision to make if this was a job I saw value and potential growth in, but unfortunately I just don't see it at all.

Doing URethra currently and physics is consistently a major weak spot of mine. I have struggled at physics since undergrad so this is nothing new/surprising.

What resources (YouTube videos, other practice question sources, etc) besides UW are best for improving at physics?

Scored a 510 today on my first FL (the Kaplan free FL). My section splits were 128/127/128/127. I definitely expected to score higher on p/s given that I’ve done all of Pankow and gone through a good portion of the KA videos. I found the questions to be kind of weird but not sure if I’m just trying to cope 💀 I’m wondering how representative the free FL is compared to AAMC?

I’m hoping to test Aug. 15 and aiming to score 520+. Would this be doable within that time frame? I will be working around 32 hours/week 😬which I’m a little nervous about, since I’m not one of those super cracked people who can juggle a bunch and do exceedingly well in all areas.

I’m about 39% through uworld and averaging 73%. Should I continue with uworld or switch to aamc? Haven’t touched any of the AAMC materials yet—does anyone have advice on when and how I should start using the qpacks and section banks? I’m planning on taking one AAMC FL each week until test day, starting with the unscored next week.

How essential is doing UGlobe in sets of 59 questions for building stamina? I've been doing sets of 30 questions so far because I find it's a good amount for me in terms of reviewing all the questions same day as well, having enough time to do Anki, etc. However, I see a lot of people recommend 59q sets for stamina building.

Thoughts?

The summer heat is brutal and it’s only just begun. Looking for any and all recommendations for your favorite Trader Joe’s items (ice cream, popsicles, beverages, etc) to beat the summer heat!

My therapist has explicitly told me many times I can reach out in between sessions if I’m struggling, which I’ve done in the past. However I still feel guilty when I do reach out for bothering her. I’m having a lot more SI tonight and overall in the last two weeks but I did not mention this during our session today, which in retrospect was very dumb. No plan but definitely quite intense and persistent, don’t know if I should reach out or not?

My therapist has explicitly told me many times I can reach out in between sessions if I’m struggling, which I’ve done in the past. However I still feel guilty when I do reach out for bothering her. I’m having a lot more SI tonight and overall in the last two weeks but I did not mention this during our session today, which in retrospect was very dumb. No plan but definitely quite intense and persistent, don’t know if I should reach out or not?