9 year old says, "Hey Dad, I'm hungry.  Will you make me some dinner?"

4 year old interjects, "Yo mama can make you dinner.  HA HA!!  That was a yo mama joke :D"

Is it wrong that my four year old loves yo mama jokes?

"So did you know that if you shove a pixie stick up your nose, your nose will bleed?"

I really didn't think had to worry about my kids snorting white powdery substances at the age of seven.  It's a different world than where I'm coming from... yes it is now.

Show Me the Money

During a break in MCAT studying, I noticed my financial aid had come in for college.  Well, now I'm signed up for the fall semester already!  Next semester I'm taking the following classes:

Psychology - Biological Basis of Behavior
Biology - The Biology of Cancer
Psychology - Lifespan Development
Behavioral and Social Sciences - End of Life Issues

I'm very excited.  Now it's time to order the necessary textbooks so I'm prepared.  Fun times.

Dancing formulae

Yesterday, while doing MCAT prep at my school library, I got a text informing me that I was to attend a "concert in the park" with fireworks afterwards.  Although I really wanted to take advantage of not being surrounded by a pack of wild animals (my kids), and instead focus on my content review, I acquiesced.  We saw the Old 97's and some cool fireworks.  It was also the twins first concert.  All in all, I'm glad I went. The music gave the formulae in my brain some rhythm with which to dance.

This schedule that I'm trying to follow is really intense.  I mean crazy intense.  I don't know why I have to do everything the hard way.  It would be sooooo much easier for me to take the three months and prepare for this exam like a normal person.  Instead, I want to push myself to the breaking point and beyond by trying to do all of this in double speed.  My initial thought process was that I have taken all the prerequisites within a very short period of time, so everything should be fresh; content review should be at a minimum.  Additionally, I wanted to be able to apply as soon as possible to theoretically increase my chances of acceptance.  Though I may have bitten off more than I can chew by attempting this.  If I had it to do over again, I would definitely take it a little more slowly.  Oh well... back to physics...

Day One of MCAT prep... Again

I'm very excited!  My Berkeley Review MCAT books are arriving today.  I've read many posts on student doctor network that these are by far the best prep books available to simulate the actual MCAT.  So far I've been studying using resources from my school library.  I've delved deeply into McGraw-Hill's and Barron's, and some of Kaplan. I've honed up on my biology already so I feel great about that.  I thought I had a good handle on organic, after all I just finished two semesters of it.  However, I found out quickly that I do not perform well on organic MCAT type questions.

Right now I'm reviewing organic chemistry until my books arrive... Hurry up Fed Ex delivery guy. Once I receive my new material, I plan to study those along with the Exam Krackers books that I recently purchased but have not started to complete.  I will be following SN2ed (a frequent poster on student doctor network and the innovator of this study system) intense 3 month MCAT study plan in half that time.  This plan has been heralded from some extremely high scorers as the way to go.  At least that's my plan right now.  We shall see.  I will copy his study plan and post it here for those that are interested.

Day 1: Berkeley Review (BR) Physics Chapter 1 + Every third practice passage of all the corresponding practice passages for this chapter.  Take passages # 1, 4, 7, etc.  If you have a version with discretes, take descrete 1, 4, 7, etc. and spend about 1 minute per discrete. If you have the version with both "Review" passages and a practice exam, take 1/3 from the Review Passages and 1/3 from the Practice Exam.

** I'm eliminating the Hat Trick that he says to do as I will not have time.  I will include a link at the bottom should you wish to go to the original post**

For Instance:

Review Passages 1, 2, 3
Practice Exam Passages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

First 1/3: Review Passage #1;Practice Exam Passage # 1, 4, 7
Second 1/3: Review Passage #2; Practice Exam Passage #2, 5
Final 1/3: Review Passage # 3; Practice Exam Passage #3, 6

Day 2: BR Gen Chem Ch 1 + 1/3
Day 3: BR O-Chem Chapter 1 + 1/3
Day 4: EK Biology Chapter # 1 + 1/3 of the corresponding passages in the BR Bio book.  Although some of the chapters correspond well to each other, you'll probably have to jump around for some chapters.
Day 5 BR Physics Ch 2 + 1/3
Day 6: Re-read ALL of the previous week's chapters (Day 1-5). This means you re-read the ENTIRE chapter again for both BR physics chapters 1 & 2, BR Gen Chem chapter 1, O-Chem chapter 1, and EK Bio chapter 1.  Additionally, work through corresponding EK 1001 sections for the chapters you worked through last week (Day 1-5).  For instance, BR O-Chem chapter 1 goes over Organic Structure and Bonding; hence, complete the Molecular Structure in the EK 1001 O-Chem.  The topics probably won't match all the time, but go with the best fit.  Also, only do every third problem/passage in the EK 1001's.  Lastly, complete the in-class exam for the EK Bio chapter 1.  From now on, this day's work will be abbreviated: "Re-read chapters + EK Bio In-class exam"
Day 7: Break
Day 8: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages for the previous 5 BR chapters (remember this includes BR Bio).  I'm going to shorten this to: "Complete second 1/3 of BR passages"
Day 9: BR Gen Chem Ch 2 + 1/3
Day 10: BR O-Chem Ch 2 + 1/3
Day 11: EK Bio Chapter 2 + 1/3
Day 12: BR Physics Ch 3 + 1/3
Day 13: BR Gen Chem Ch 3 + 1/3
Day 14 Break
Day 15: Re-read chapters from Days 9-13 + EK 1001 for Days 9-13 + EK Bio In -Class Exam
Day 16: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 17: BR O-ChemCh 3 + 1/3
Day 18: EK Bio Ch 3 + 1/3
Day 19: BR Physics Ch 4 + 1/3
Day 20: BR Gen Chem Ch 4 + 1/3
Day 21: Break
Day 22: BR O-Chem Ch 4 + 1/3
Day 23: Re-read chapters + EK 1001 + EK Bio In-Class Exam
Day 24: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 25: EK Bio Ch 4 +1/3
Day 26: BR Physics Ch 5 + 1/3
Day 27: BR Gen Chem Ch 5 + 1/3
Day 28: Break
Day 29: BR O-Chem Ch 5 + 1/3
Day 30: EK Bio Ch 5 + 1/3
Day 31: Re-read chapters + EK 1001 + EK Bio In-Class Exam
Day 32: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 33: BR Physics Ch 6 + 1/3
Day 34: BR Gen Chem Ch 6 + 1/3
Day 35: Break
Day 36: BR O-Chem Ch 6 + 1/3
Day 37: EK Bio Chapter #6 + 1/3
Day 38: BR Physics Ch 7 + 1/3
Day 39: Re-read chapters + EK 1001 + EK Bio In-Class Exam
Day 40: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 41: BR Gen Chem Ch 7 + 1/3
Day 42: Break
Day 43: BR O-Chem Ch 7 + 1/3
Day 44: EK Bio Ch 7 + 1/3
Day 45: BR Physics Ch 8 + 1/3
Day 46: BR Gen Chem Ch8 + 1/3
Day 47: Re-read chapters + EK 1001+EK Bio In-Class exam
Day 48: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 49: Break
Day 50: EK Bio Ch 8 +1/3
Day 51: BR Physics Ch 9 + 1/3
Day 52: BR Gen Chem Ch9 + 1/3
Day 53: EK Bio Ch 9 + 1/3
Day 54: BR Physics Ch 10 + 1/3
Day 55: Break
Day 56: BR Gen Chem Ch 10 + 1/3
Day 57: BR O-Chem Ch 8 +1/3
Day 58: Reread Chapters +EK 1001 + EK Bio In-class Exam
Day 59: Complete second 1/3 of BR passages
Day 60: Break
Day 61: Hat Trick **
Day 62: Complete last 1/3 of BR passages for ALL Ch 1's: BR Bio Ch 1, BR Physics Ch 1, BR Gen Chem Ch 1 and BR O-Chem Ch 1
Day 63: Complete last 1/3 of BR passages for ALL Chapter 1's - From now on, I will abbreviate the last 1/3 of BR as 1/3.  I will include the chapters to cover.
Day 64: AAMC FL #3
Day 65: Review FL per guidelines + 1/3 Ch 2
Day 66: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 2
Day 67: Break
Day 68: 1/3 Ch 3
Day 69: 1/3 Ch 3
Day 70: Break
Day 71: AAMC #4
Day 72: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 4
Day 73: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 4
Day 74: AAMC #5
Day 75: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 5
Day 76: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 5
Day 77: Break
Day 78: AAMC FL #7
Day 79: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 6
Day 80: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 6
Day 81: AAMC # 8
Day 82: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 7
Day 83: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 7
Day 84: Break
Day 85: AAMC # 9
Day 86: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 8
Day 87: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 8
Day 88: AAMC #10
Day 89: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 9
Day 90: Review FL + 1/3 Ch 9
Day 91: Break
Day 92: AAMC #11
Day 93: Review FL + 1/3 Chapter 10
Day 94: Review FL + 1/3 Chapter 10
Day 95: Break

MCAT

The original post can be found here.   http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=623898