[00:09] Torah: Hello everyone. Welcome to episode 10 of the Prep Me podcast, the only dedicated pre-med podcast for Canadian students. This is me Torah, my friend Chansey of course is here.

[00:20] Chansey: Hello. Hello.

[00:22] Torah: And we are here to help you get into medical school and we couldn’t be here today without the help of our sponsor Prep 101. They are the most comprehensive MCAT prep course out there with all the materials you need, all the best instructors, all the practice you could ever need, they are your one stop shop to rock your MCAT. Today on the show, what are we talking about Chansey? We are talking about.

[00:43] Chansey: Test day.

[00:43] Torah: Test day, the big day. The big day has come. You’re prepped, you’re ready to go. Thanks to the help of prep 101, now what was your test day like? The most nerve-wracking day because I know you wrote, we’ve talked about this many times before. You’ve written the exam a couple of times. What was the day where you were like, this is hard?

[01:02] Chansey: Every single day. I think I just felt more prepared as I got through the attempts. But every single day. I think I will just find the place. Let’s start at the very beginning, like just finding the place I think was the most nerve-wracking performance. Yes, that’s an umbrella over my head or cloud I guess I should say. The most nerve-wracking was making sure I don’t sleep in, making sure I show up and do everything right just to get to writing the test because there are so many steps just to get to sitting on the computer.

[01:29] Torah: Okay. So did you do a dry run of like timing where to park and finding all those kinds of things?

[01:34] Chansey: For sure. I’m going to think about the most recent one. The last time and that was maybe the day or two before. I just like curved out an hour of my time just to leave the house, figure out how to get to the testing center because it was different for me. It was a spot I have not been to before for any other reason. Sort of a multipurpose building within the city. So I made sure I knew how to get there. I timed how long it took me to get there. I said okay if I add on 10 to 15 minutes of traffic, which was unreasonable because I was only five minutes from the place. But you never know what could happen in prompt two constructions. 

[02:09] But with that, how long would it take me to get there and then like you said, once I was there, where can I park? Where will I not get towed and what door do I enter? Because this building has like five ways to enter and I could just see me being the one that’s knocking at the locked door all morning and then being told you can’t write your test because you were very late because you chose the wrong door.

[02:27] Torah: Well I’ve heard that sometimes they’re in hotel like ballrooms and stuff like that in hotel facilities. Where were your tests?

[02:34] Chansey: Yeah, so I’ve written once in a hotel setting, like you said it was a conference room of a, I don’t know, maybe it was a Hilton. I think it might have been the Hilton. And anyway it was in a conference room there. So essentially you walk through the hotel lobby and they’re expecting you to check in and be like, nope, I’m just looking for the conference room. And then sure enough they point you to a few signs that will say like Prometric or AAMC and guide you towards what you can trust is the right location for the MCAT and lots of proctors to confirm. But then the other location was again, it was sort of an international languages center which had a lot of multipurpose space which Prometric, which is the main proctoring service for the MCAT, rented out and utilized the sort of computer lab and the break rooms and designated the area for testing.

[03:18] Torah: Well signed every time?

[03:21] Chansey: Usually. And if it’s not well signed there are enough people. I think that was something I underestimated as I expected that I was going to walk into, I don’t know, like a hospital on a weekend and expect it to be just like closed doors everywhere and nobody to guide me. But certainly you know, they’re very good. I mean as nerve wracking as it is to be there and be present, there are plenty of people, if not signage, plenty of people that are wearing badges, that know who you are. They can tell the lost stressed face of a pre-med student coming in to write the MCAT. So they’ll certainly shepherd you to all the locations you need to go. 

[03:52] Torah: Were they really nice?

[03:54] Chansey: Most of them. Yeah, I think most of them. Some maybe I perceived as more intimidating than they were just because I got the anxiety and the stress of what you’re about to do. So some of them seemed a little short and I’m like no that’s kind of mean this is not a good start. But I’m sure they were all neutral to kind. Just on reflection I would say all kinds.

[04:15] Torah: Okay, so you figure out where to park. Did you do the full, like preparing for a test day that every time you write a practice test you eat the same thing, you get up at the same time you start at the same time? Did you do the full routine prior?

[04:29] Chansey: I did and I don’t know if that’s like the OCD characteristics in me or not, but I felt like for me just everything, just getting in your rhythm. I think I did the two weekends before test day, which was on a Saturday. I got up at roughly the same time. That is the time it would take me to get up, shower, do what I need to do and then drive to the facility and drive time was just going to be me sitting watching the clock and then when I arrived gave myself 10 or 15 minutes, which would be like the check-in period. And then I would start my full length exam at home and let it run pretty close to what I predicted the day would be like in terms of running the test, taking my breaks, all things that we probably will discuss a little later.

[05:03] Torah: Okay. So then you arrive, you go there, you check in, they do like strip search, like what’s it like?

[05:10] Chansey: It’s kinda like going to the airport like that. It’s funny you say that. It’s like it’s multiple rooms. It’s like working your way through room after room checkpoints. So when you arrive at the facility, you get in the proctor to guide you or the signs guide you to room number one, which is sort of your coat check. You drop off whatever bags you have, your coats, anything that you won’t take with you into the testing room, which pretty much is everything unless you go in wearing a sweater, which you can wear one. But you leave everything else at the door. So again, usually it’s just going to be coats big bags. And then what you bring in with you to room number two is lunch medications that you’d have to take and then yourself. 

[05:47] So room one to room two is you drop off all the unnecessary things that aren’t needed for the test. Then room two is like your break space. They show you where you can put food or your lunch, how the break station will work, where the tables are and the restrooms. And then you’re taken to the test after that, which is probably the airport security point.

[06:07] Torah: So what should you bring? You don’t need your backpack, you don’t need pens and paper. You should just bring yourself and some food.

[06:13] Chansey: Okay. So the packing list is that. It’s like what’s your lunch and your snacks for the day because during the MCAT you’re going to have two breaks that are short and one break that is long. So there’s sort of like two snacks and a lunch if you would. So bring whatever you would need to peel you through that test day and the adequate water and liquids as well. Medications. If you’re someone like me, I just screen time for too long. I just end up with some form of headache and I didn’t want that to be a limiting factor in psych and [06:37 inaudible] which is at the very end, which I really wanted my reading interpretation ready to go and analysis. So I think I had a little like a pouch of Advils. And then it was just my ID, my passport, which is what you’ll need to get you through all the rooms and confirm your identity. So you can actually sit at a computer and then write the thing you’ve been working all toward to get, to write.

[06:57] Torah: One piece of ID?

[06:59] Chansey: Just the one for me. Sometimes what they’ll do is at the beginning room they’ll do a check in with a driver’s license and a passport or a driver’s license and a health card. But some centers I find they say bring two but they only ever check one. So I guess in preparatory, bring two so you’re not the one that gets denied because you didn’t bring them. But I’ve only ever seen them check one and it was my passport. And then you literally keep it in your pocket or in your hand the whole time you’re going around the testing facility.

[07:24] Torah: Okay. So then you sit down and are you at a cubicle? I envision it. Okay. Again, listeners, you guys kind of know this already. I’ve never actually written the official MCAT. I just teach these my specialties because I would never write chem and physics, not to save my life.

[07:38] Chansey: Maybe we should send you to do it sometime just so you can live that like real deal experience for fun. 

[07:44] Torah: No, I’ve thought about it. I literally have thought about doing it for fun, just so I can feel the pain that everyone else feels. But I feel like I would be distracting. I feel like I’d be like saunder in like no big deal and then everyone else would be stressed and they’d be looking at me like, what’s this woman doing here? 

[08:00] Chansey: I’m just here for the experience. It’s just an experiment.

[08:03] Torah: Like this middle-aged mom decides to just hang out with the MCAT for the day. Like what?

[08:07] Chansey: And going like crush the exam. 

[08:09] Torah: That’s what I’m worried about. What if I came out with psych or chem and physics with a decent grade just by guessing. I don’t know, it’s hilarious. But my calling I’d find it. Okay, so you go in cubicle like walls up, you can’t see anybody else?

[08:28] Chansey: For the most part, yeah, it’s cubicle. Either something that looks like it’s been in place or something that’s a bit more mixed shift with almost like cardboard. But yeah, you’ve got your designated space that you have three walls too, so you can’t see computers to your neighbors, you can’t see their faces. And same thing like in front of you, you’re looking at a wall and then just your desktop computer in front of you. Now you’re not alone. Like you’ve got the companionship of usually a camera sitting just a foot or two away on a tripod that’s recording you taking the exam and recording everybody else in the facility. So that’s sort of an unexpected accompaniment I guess to the exam that people don’t know about.

[09:04] Torah: Is there someone walking around?

[09:06] Chansey: Yeah, typically. Usually they’ll have one or two proctors that are designated to the room with the computer labs. Because like I said, there was the coat check, there was the lunchroom with washrooms and then there was the testing facility, which is in and out of that room, that’s when you’re showing your passport. It’s when you’re typically doing finger IDs. So they actually take prints and they’ll get you to scan in and out of the room. They’ll usually wand you like at the airport looking for metal. They’ll get you to roll your sleeves up for any types of notes or writing. You pass all those tests. You’re in the testing room where you’ll have two proctors just rotating checking on you. Often candidates will raise their hand if there’s a technical difficulty or say they run out of paper or a whiteboard marker is dry. They’ll be able to come and facilitate that for you. But yeah, always two.

[09:47] Torah: How early should you get there? Like I feel like I kind of want to just coast in as opposed to stewing.

[09:55] Chansey: I was going to ask you what kind of person you were. So if your test is at, most of these bookings will arrive at your testing center at 7:30 or 7:45. So if it’s 7:30, when would you arrive for a 7:30 test? 

[10:06] Torah: 7:35 

[10:08] Chansey: 5 minutes late or? 

[10:09] Torah: Yeah, five minutes late.

[10:12] Chansey: Oh, okay. So I arrived at the testing facility I think at like 6:50, like 6:57. Because then I knew like I was certainly up, I could verify I’m in the right place. I could watch for other candidates, which gives you that reassurance that like, okay, yeah, correct location, everyone looks like me, all kinda white in the face and flustered. That’s my people. Those are my people right there. We’re doing the same thing. And then you typically see them open up a door or put the signage up and then you confirm you’re in the right spot. So for me, yeah, I was like 45 minutes to an hour early almost, which I’m sure there are people that come earlier than that. And I’m sure there are people that come right at 7:30, ready to go. 

[10:49] Torah: I’m just kind of the person that would be like, okay, well, I’m also the person that always shows up about half an hour later than suggested for your flight. I always make it, I never miss it. I just talk my way through security. I just kind of feel like sitting there and like vibrating wouldn’t be beneficial.

[11:08] Chansey: Yeah, no, that’s fair. And there are some people that do that and to that point, is there really any merit in showing up that early? Probably not, because they only open certain doors at the time point at 7:30 and then you’ve got a line of people just waiting to get in. So yeah, if you’re early, sure you’re going to be the first or second person in line.

[11:24] Torah: Can you just smell the stress?

[11:28] Chansey: Yeah, you can feel it. There’s an aura of the room, of the lineup of everyone just, no one’s really talking, like some small talk here and there. Some odd half smiles, but everyone’s just kind of like, what have I done in my life? Like why did I do this to myself?

[11:41] Torah: I know, right. Okay. So then you sit through chem and physics, then you get a break. Like there’s no talk, you just sit in your room and quietly eat your granola bar?

[11:51] Chansey: Yeah, sort of, I guess that’s your day. It’s quiet, obviously when you’re test writing, you’re sitting there with whatever, your earplugs, your over overhead ear mufflers and you’re doing the section and then when the clock’s done, it doesn’t say, would you like to take a break? It just assumes that you’re taking a break and it starts counting down 10 minutes and then you get 10 minutes to get up out of your seat, check out of the room, scanning your fingerprints and then working your way to the lunch room. So yeah, you could sit there in silence, which a lot of people do. There’s usually a proctor or two in the break room who will like, make small talk with you or you can make small talk with them and like you could have the weather conversation or oh so like, you know why medicine or what do you do when you’re not here? Like, there’s a lot of that. So certainly you will explore it if you feel like it’s a good vibe. And some people choose not to speak a word. So I talked the doctors’ ear off just to take my mind off of the MCAT, I think.

[12:42] Torah: Yeah, that’d be me too, for sure. Well we’re talkers, a little bit.

[12:45] Chansey: A little bit, but I talked you much to the point where they said, you know what, you probably only have about a minute left before your CARS section starts. And I was like, Oh my god. 

[12:52] Torah: What if you’ve done your section early? You don’t get a longer break?

[12:56] Chansey: No. So that’s a good tip. We’re giving freebies here. Say if you were done, your physics and your chem early, let’s say 10 minutes remaining, you reviewed all your questions and your answers, you could certainly just say, okay, I’m going to stop there and you can let the time count down. It automatically will go to the submission of your section and start the 10 minute break. So some people will do that. If they’ve got a section that they just know, they cruise through because they’re strong with it, they’re efficient, they’ll just make their breaks longer by leaving the room as the test is still happening before the break countdown happens.

[13:26] Torah: And you’re allowed to do that?

[13:28] Chansey: Yeah, definitely.

[13:29] Torah: I get tons of questions from students about what kind of scratch work, scratch access you have because I know the old school way is the three sheets of paper and as soon as you’re done those three sheets of paper, then you have to surrender them to get three fresh sheets of paper, that and then it’s changed. Now there are sometimes like these digital notepads, they’re like, kindle paper white and there are white boards. How do you know which one you’re going to get? Because I feel like the way I teach as well is how to use your scratch work effectively. And it depends on the testing center. So how do you even know?

[14:07] Chansey: Yeah, you really won’t know until a week or two before the exam. But then you’re able to reach out to, there’ll be an AAMC, American Association of Medical Colleges. There’ll be a contact that you can reach out to. Usually it’s by phone. It’s still a little archaic, but maybe they’ll have emailing in the coming months or years. But you just reach out by phone and you can actually inquire into the aids provided for your exam at your facility. Because ultimately, these aren’t sitting there in these hotels, they’re not just sitting having MCAT supplies ready to go. Like Prometric is a company that brings everything in and they have checklists that they need to go through and get approval from, from the AAMC as to, will these suffice, is this the right material? Et cetera, et cetera. So they’ll usually have a list of what’s going to be present.

[14:46] And I mean I haven’t seen any of smart technology myself, but of course it’s been a few years since I’ve done this. But I’ve seen whiteboards, mini whiteboards, like the size of a piece of paper and I’ve seen a stack of three to four pages like you mentioned where you’ve got some pens, pencils that you can write on. But like you said, if you fill it up and you need space, they’ll often ask for you to submit that booklet to bring you a new one. Whiteboard’s easy because you just erase. It’s your etching sketch, but then it’s gone. 

[15:12] Torah: But the whiteboard, what size of pen do you get? I feel like if I get a really fat pen, I’d be really thrown off.

[15:17] Chansey: No, they give you sort of like. 

[15:19] Torah: A ball point size, like a fine tip Sharpie.

[15:22] Chansey: Yeah. More of a fine tip. Not like our whiteboard ones we usually see that are like, I don’t know, half an inch when you write them on the whiteboard, these are more like a fine ballpoint style. So you don’t feel like you’re writing two sentences and you filled up the whiteboard. So that’s kind of nice.

[15:34] Torah: Yeah, because I feel like. I mean one of the things that we talk about a lot in class, right, is how to use your space provided. But see that’s the thing, I mean, I think this idea of surrendering the paper when you’re done when it’s full and then not getting it back and then getting fresh sheets really stresses students out. But like my argument , don’t sweat it because in theory you’re supposed to be able to finish your passage, park it and not return to it. You’re done. Like work the passage as a unit, complete all the required questions and forget it to clear your mind for the next passage. So the stress around the scratch work for me is mostly just format, knowing what I’m going to be using. But I don’t think erasing your work should be as stressful as I think a lot of people take it to be.

[16:26] Chansey: For sure. You get asked every time you leave the room or every time there’s a break by the proctors of, do you need any supplies? Do you need fresh paper? So if you say, I’m going to use a booklet for every section, and I would be astonished if anyone can fill out the four to five pages easily for just one section. Oh my gosh.

[16:44] Torah: Oh my god, I write everything down,

[16:46] Chansey: You are faster than I will ever be in terms of your penmanship. So that’s you, me, not a chance. Like I think on my scrap paper folks, I may have used a page for the whole exam, like maybe a page, just one singular page.

[16:59] Torah: I mean especially when I’m doing CARS stuff, I use a third of the sheet for each passage. So three passages of sheet.

[17:09] Chansey: Yeah. And that would be the time you probably do use it. It might be the one that like if you were you, you would’ve wanted to plan it like, okay, at my halfway mark I should be considering raising my hand to make sure that they notice me and I get my next scrap paper so that I’m not waiting on someone and letting the time tick away.

[17:23] Torah: Okay, well that’s a good point. How long often would you have to wait? They’re really active I’m sure, but still?

[17:29] Chansey: Well say it like this, two people are writing the section or they’re just ahead of you in the day because not everyone starts at the same time. It’s a staggered start. So somebody could be near the tail end of [17:37 inaudible] and having a technical issue. You could just be starting. And if you raise your hand in those two proctors with other students, your clocks just counting down. So you need to have a plan as to, okay, I’m out of paper, what am I doing, what’s my strategy there? Like it’s not going to be 10 minutes, it’s not going to be five minutes waiting, but it could be 30 seconds to a minute. Which every minute counts in CARS at least for me as someone who really struggles with the timing.

[18:01] Torah: Okay. What if you have to go to the bathroom?

[18:03] Chansey: So you have options? Option one is you hold it until your break. Option two is if you can’t hold it, you can leave the room at any point in time. You just need to respect that your time doesn’t wait for you. Meaning that the countdown for the CARS sections, your 40 minutes, it’s not going to stop. It’s going to keep counting down whether you’re sitting in that chair or not. But if nature calls and you need to leave, you’re going to be sick, you’re going to go. But that’s sort of the deficit.

[18:25] Torah: But then when you’re going in and out of the room, is it really like time consuming or can you just like dash out and dash back in or you’re fingerprinted, IDed every single step?

[18:37] Chansey: You physically sign in and out every time you leave the room. So a lot, 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how fast the proctor is and organized they are. But allow about a minute to get in and out of the room each way. So two minutes total.

[18:49] Torah: Wow. Okay. What’s your best advice on test day?

[18:55] Chansey: Kind of what we hit at earlier when you asked me about like my pre prep, like the number one is just be prepared, like control anything you can control. You’re going to be doing adequate prep, I’m sure. Whether it’s with a company like Prep 101, another company or on your own. Do your prep for the exam, but do your prep for the day. I’m not the kind of person that normally would mimic the way I do the MCAT, but I found it helpful to, in the weeks prior to practice, like I was doing the test day on a Saturday and do it two times in a row, have my meal, practice doing a full length test, when was I taking water, how was I using my breaks? So honestly the only thing that was new for me on test day would be what the content was when it popped up.

[19:32] And that is the content that isn’t necessarily what I study because I know that it’s the new content, but I wasn’t stressed about the environment. I wasn’t stressed about the clock. I knew my timing to a T. I knew what I had waiting for lunch. I knew how long it took me to eat that amount of lunch. I knew when I would use the washroom, it was all in my head. And that reassurance is so pleasant and so nice to have on a day where you’re stressed about the uncertainties, which are the content. So I would say that prep, not just the knowledge, but like the practicality of the day 5is huge.

[19:58] Torah: What’d you eat?

[19:59] Chansey: What did I eat on that day? Oh, it was not exciting. I think it was like a mixed salad with chicken breast and then I had like 11 granola bars, like 11. And I power through those. I think I had one left or something like that. Because you’re almost like stress eating a little bit.

[20:16] Torah: I feel like I’d bring like a Snickers, like I’m thinking of like a race day. Like if I’m about to set on a marathon, I need like a Snickers at the end. Give me that energy boost, especially right before psych [20:27 inaudible].

[20:28] Chansey: That’s a good time for a Snickers. 

[20:31] Torah: I’m not actually, Snickers is not my preferred chocolate bar, but it’s just got that really good combo of dense proteins and all that kind of stuff. So we’re not sponsored by Snickers, but we would willingly accept a sponsorship from them. So you go in, your test day, you’re ready to go, you rock the exam. How do you feel when you leave?

[20:53] Chansey: Terrible. You literally feel terrible. And I can’t say everyone feels that way, but most people feel exhausted. And it might be from the fact that you were distressed that maybe a section didn’t go well or a passage didn’t go well, which in retrospect, if you’re only worried about one passage, you probably did pretty well in the exam, but it still sticks with you. You feel pretty terrible. I was tired because again, seven hours at the computer is really tough for me. So I think I had a bit of a headache. I was tired because I didn’t sleep well the night before. I didn’t have my usual routine on a Saturday, so I felt pretty wiped.

[21:26] Torah: Would you just go home or did you go out and like shake it up?

[21:29] Chansey: No, I very much did not shake it up. I kept it still.

[21:33] Torah: Stared at a wall for like two hours.

[21:35] Chansey: Yeah. Pretty much just went home and just sat thinking about it. I think I had spoken with my family or my wife about it just to debrief a little bit and then tried to take my mind off it. I didn’t go out. Again, I think I was home. Maybe we went out for dinner that night. Just so life was less complicated. I didn’t have to think about making dinner because I thought enough that day. But no, that was me. I kept it pretty relaxed. Some people don’t, some people go all out and they say like, this is celebratory. I’ve done it even though I don’t know the result. I have done it. I’ve sat through the day and I deserve a me night.

[22:08] Torah: Well, I mean, I get the celebration though, but I feel like after, I mean, my worst exam schedule, I had four exams, in third year. They’re all pretty tough exams. Four exams in three days. And after that fourth exam, which was microbiology, I just stared at the wall, like it should have been my celebration. That was done, third year and I went home and I rented the worst possible movies like Notting Hill, which I’ve seen like five times. It was just really a wall that I was staring at just happened to be the TV and then all my friends were all partying and I’m like the biggest loser of all my friends. So I was like, okay, I can’t, I can’t go out. I have to just stop, stop my brain, just stop my stress and just sleep.

[22:53] Chansey: Well. It’s kinda like I don’t know, when your battery in your phone is blinking or like says you got 1% left. Do you want to go to power saver mode? That’s how I felt at the end of the MCAT. It’s like I was on power saving mode. Like I could function, but I did not have the capacity to go out and do anything that was any extra to just sort of breathing, recapping, thinking and getting ready to go to bed. That was me. And if it’s you, that’s cool too. And if you are like Torah’s friends and you can go out, that’s good also. Like whatever you plan to do, do it and just try to get the MCAT out of your head.

[23:23] Torah: Well, and we wish everyone the best of luck on test day. The best way to prepare for test day, of course, is to take our sponsor’s course prep 101, the most comprehensive MCAT course out there. So we want to give them a shout out again. But Chansey, I think everyone’s feeling a little bit more prepared thanks to this. So let’s wrap it. Let’s wrap test day up.

[23:43] Chansey: Consider test day concluded.

[23:45] Torah: Have a good day everyone. Talk to you later.