<p>^^^lol, I only have 5-6 weeks left until test date. So I was thinking about doing 3 practice tests a week. One days that I am not doing practice tests I will be reviewing my wrong answers, doing verbal practice and flashcards. The good thing is that I am done with all my content review now. =) I hated doing content review, took forever.</p>
<p>I guess if I find myself burning out or not having enough time to go through the correct and incorrect answers, I may just do 10 practice tests. I have seen friends go in for the real mcats, having taken only 3 practice tests. They did not do well.</p>
<p>In general, it is rather hard to tell if a student actually takes a test cold. It is considered “cool” to cast an image of zero effort and great success. So, some students may just lie about their study habits. They also could be like some of my high school classmates who just cheated on all the homework in the AP classes, and the little time they spent studying was focused on the ACT or SAT. It should also be noted, that studying is not a sign of intellectual limitations. Some students simply study because they like to study or have grade anxiety( ex. omg I got a 99/100, its the end of the world).</p>
<p>Are the grades and test scores overly emphasized only by those students who are interested in going to a professional school and the value of stats is really not much for most others who decide to enter the job market immediately after graduation from college?</p>
<p>"Many students believe their grades are of paramount importance to employers, but the CollegeGrad.com survey suggests that just isn’t so. Asked to list their main hiring criteria, none of the top five except Teach for America gave a stellar GPA as the top requirement.</p>
<p>So what did the others say they care about? Three factors: the right major, internship experience, and good interviewing and communications skills."</p>
<p>Other than the choice of major, the other two are all soft factors which have little to do with what you learn in the classroom or during tests. (maybe some liberal-art-ish seminar classes in which the students are supposed to talk a lot are more useful in polishing these skills.) If the professional school is not a goal, maybe the student should go to a school where there are more EC or internship opportunities and there are more “buzzing” club activities which can help practice your communication skills.</p>
<p>If this is the case, testing your way into a school where there are better alumni connections but it also allows you to free up a lot of time for EC activities may make some sense. Yes or no? (I feel very shallow when I write this.)</p>
<p>When I majored in engineering decades ago, internship was not as needed as it is today. However, whether or not you would get a job heavily depended on whether you had taken some time-consuming lab-oriented classes. (This was a long time ago though.)</p>
<p>I’d argue that the disparity between those with who get a 2400 cold and those who study hard for it comes down to the bar set by the test.</p>
<p>Those who study for that 2400 aim for that 2400, and no higher. Those who get the 2400 cold would probably get a 2700 if it were possible.</p>
<p>If the test happened to be more difficult and separated different levels of intelligence better, colleges would be able to see who the smart ones really are, for in the ideal world there would be a point where studying wouldn’t help.</p>
<p>I heard about students getting professional help in order to get into top UG’s. The professional help includes planning for EC’s as well as standard tests. These students may have a problem in a grade deflating top school if their goal is medicine.</p>
<p>@ ace550 - A lot of top schools are grade-inflating, it seems. </p>
<p>I was a “super-studying” kid, and raised my score 500 points after summer prep.</p>
<p>I just finished my freshman year, and no doubt in my linear algebra class that there were kids who are much naturally smarter than me. I definitely don’t set the curves for any exams, but that doesn’t mean I can’t compete with them. I still got A’s and A-'s. I had to work a lot harder comparatively, but that’s the way it is. And of course, my college has “gross grade inflation” to correct for the kids who get perfect scores. </p>
<p>And I definitely agree with mcat2. My sights are still set on professional school after graduation. Soft factors aren’t the end-all in med/law school admissions, but they help - which I think is the case in anything that involves a <10% acceptance rate. </p>
<p>And plus, there are actually other fields besides law and medicine. The stat at Stanford is that 1 in 4 entering freshmen is “pre-med”, but only about 100 or so kids end up going to med school afterwards. That’s because they find other fields that they’re interested in, or they drop out because ochem sucks, or both. It seems kinda silly to choose to go to an “easier” school to protect your GPA and have a shot at professional school. What if you change your mind and want to go into another field? Just my opinion.</p>
I think it is about right that 1 in 4 entering freshmen is pre-med but I suspect that the number “100 or so” you estimated is the number of rising seniors who apply in the summer between junior and senior and get in eventually. (unless they only apply to medical schools in California only, which is likely not true.)</p>
<p>In my guess, one reason why relatively more students from Stanford, as compared to other comparable schools, choose to go into other career paths is that there are many good/promising companies in Silicon Valley. But still, because there are more children of new immigrants in California and therefore in Stanford, there should be plenty of stanford students (especially, the female students – again, my wildguss here) who choose to break into the medicine career.</p>
<p>When DS was a sophomore (?) and walked into a lab session at the beginning of a semester, he found out there are so many female students there that he had some self-doubt at that moment: “do I go into a wrong class/career?” Many alpha-male types seem to be more willing to go straight to where the money is right after graduation, instead of laboring in schools/hospitals for another ~7 years.</p>