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Hey you , yes you Are

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you taking the MCAT soon . Well

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, let me help you out and give you three mistakes

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that people commonly make so you don't

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make those mistakes when preparing for

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the MCAT . Let's jump right into the

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episode . Welcome

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back to the BlackMadeConnect podcast . I'm

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your host , dr Jasmine Weiss , and here on

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the Be man podcast we share inspiring

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stories of Black physicians and

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physicians in training , and today

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we're going to talk about three mistakes I want

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to help you avoid while you're preparing

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for the MCAT . Number one

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I want you to make sure you don't wing

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it . That's right . I know everybody

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has taken a test where they may have studied

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a little bit less than they really wanted to

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. Well , the MCAT is not

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the test where you do that . The MCAT

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is the test where you actually take the time

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to take a few months actually to

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prepare for the exam , so you make sure you

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ace it on that first try . So

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the first mistake to avoid is winging

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it and just going to take the test like it's

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a regular exam . So how do

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you do that ? The second mistake

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people make is not having

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a study plan when they're actually preparing

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for the test . This test , again , is

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like no other test you've ever taken . There

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are portions of the exam that you need to make sure

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you set aside time for , and

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it may take weeks at a time to make sure you

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review all of the subject matter . The

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way to make sure you create a study

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plan is to first take a

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practice test . That's right . Take a full

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practice exam at the beginning

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of your months where you're going to study

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. Why is this important ? It's

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important to take a practice test early

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so you can identify your strengths and

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your weaknesses . If you know the

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things that you are not strong in

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, you can take the most time to prepare

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for that section of the MCAT . That's

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the second mistake to avoid not

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having a plan , not taking

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a practice test early so that you can

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create your plan as you proceed

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and get closer to your MCAT date

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. The third mistake to

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avoid is not doing

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enough practice questions . This

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is a huge part of taking the MCAT

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. Again , most times

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when you're in your classes , you can do

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the homework assignments . Potentially , you

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can read the chapters that you need to read

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for your class and then you can go take the

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test . The MCAT is not like

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that . I want you to do practice

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questions every single day

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. Let me repeat that At least one

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or two practice questions every

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single day in the months leading

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up to your exam . This test

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is much longer than any

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other test you've ever taken . It's

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not one hours , it's not two hours , it's

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a full half-day exam . So

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you have to get into the habit of doing

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practice questions that correlate with

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the subjects that you are practicing for

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. So that is the third mistake

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to avoid not doing enough practice

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questions . Now

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I want to give you a fourth bonus mistake

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that a lot of people make they

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never sit down to do a full-length

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exam . Like I just said

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, this exam is longer than any other

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test you've ever taken , and if you don't

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build up your stamina , if you don't

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practice the sections with the appropriate

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time limits that they have , then you

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will potentially rush through

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the exam or , on the other side to

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that , you may think you have more time

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on each section than you truly do and then

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run out of time for each section

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. So I want you to make sure that

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you sit down , whether that be

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on a weekend or a day where you don't

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have classes , and I want you to take multiple

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full-length exams . So

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a few key resources where you can get

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free full-length tests include

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the Association of American Medical

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Colleges or the double AMC

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. They have a free full-length test

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that you can take . A few other resources

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include Kaplan and Princeton

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Review . They also have free MCAT

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tests that you can take . Another

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great resource when studying for the MCAT

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that has tons of free videos and

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practice questions is Khanacademycom

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. So be sure you check out that free resource

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to help you as you prepare for your MCAT

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exam . We just explored

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three common mistakes that people make

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when preparing for the MCAT . Number

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one some people just think they can go

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straight into the exam without actually

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taking time to prepare . The

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second mistake is not actually

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creating a study plan , not

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starting off your study time with

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a practice exam to make sure you're

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setting aside time to really attack

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your weaknesses and take lots

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and lots of practice questions related to those

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weaknesses . And the third thing that

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people commonly do is not

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actually take a full-length exam before

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preparing to actually take the real test

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. And I want to rephrase that it's

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not one full-length exam . You need to

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make sure you take at least three or four

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exams to be sure that your test

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score is increasing over the months

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leading up to the MCAT . One

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thing I want you to remember is you can retake

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this test more than one time . So

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you want to make sure you really lean in

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that first time you're taking the exam to get

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the best score possible . But do

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not get discouraged . If it's not the score

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you want , you can always take the

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test again . But to

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do that , you cannot wait to the last

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MCAT date to take your test . So

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be sure to take the test early

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in the spring and summer so you can get that

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score back and decide if you need to take

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it again before your application

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is due . And Be man

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is a huge resource for you too . We're

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so excited because the Be man

5:54

app is launching very soon , in

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the coming month . So I want you to

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remember on this app you'll be

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able to join other people just like

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you who are studying for the MCAT

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. You'll be able to add them as friends

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and ultimately create groups around

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studying for the MCAT . If you want

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to join that MCAT study group in the

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Be man app , be sure to sign

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up for the waitlist today . We

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hope you enjoyed this episode . We

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do this because we want to make sure we

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give you all the tools and resources you

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need to be successful as you go to

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apply for medical school . So if you

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want to stay connected with us and

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you want to build your community as you

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go along this journey , then I want

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you to like , comment and subscribe

6:37

to BlackMed Connect and share

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this with a friend if they're studying for

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the MCAT too , to make sure they get

6:44

all the tips and tricks to be successful

6:46

along their journey to prepare for the MCAT

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. Until next time , always remember

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to drink without limits .