If your MCAT starts at 6:30AM, 12:15, or 6:00PM, how do you make sure that you're fully awake
and alert for the entire exam.
Hey guys this is Leah from leah4sci.com/MCAT.
In this video I'm going to show you how to shift your timeline so that you're fully awake
from that first Chem Phys question to that last Psych Sco question.
Let's face it, no matter how well you prepare for the MCAT, if you're tired and your brain
isn't working, you're going to lose points.
And after all the hard work you put in to get to this place, can you afford to lose
points just because you're fatigue?
I don't think so, so let's fix it.
You can find detailed instructions for everything I discuss here by clicking the link below
or go into leah4sci.com/mcatwindow.
Whether you're an early bird or a night owl, your body tends to follow a certain clock,
a certain ideal time when you wake up and when you go to sleep.
If you try to shift that clock you find yourself super tired, cranky and not functioning.
But if you're allowed to wake up at a comfortable time, you tend to function better so let's
see if we can take that window and shift it early or shift it late depending when you're
testing.
Let's review the windows first then talk about the ideal wake up and bedtime.
The wake up time should follow your test time but also how long you need to get ready.
How long does it take you to get out of bed when your alarm goes off, to take a shower,
to eat breakfast.
Do you like to take a walk or do yoga or something similar in the morning.
How far are you from the test center?
So calculate all of that to figure out how much time you need to build in before your
exam.
Typically from when you wake up until you're fully awake it's about two hours to be ready
to go.
For the end of the exam you wanna make sure that you're functioning at least 2 hours after
so that you're not crashing at the end of the exam.
Say you're testing at 6:00PM, your exam doesn't end until 11:45.
If you're used to going to sleep at midnight, you're going to stop crashing during the last
section.
But if you're very comfortable passing out at 2am, you're still very sharp after 11PM
during the entire Psych Sco session.
The 6:30 exam is the hardest because two hours before that is 4:30AM but guess what?
You have to get yourself use to getting up at 4:00 to 4:30 so that when you're at the
testing center and you're signing in at 6:00AM, you're starting your exam about 6:30, you're
not still waking up but instead, you're fully awake, fully alert, ready to go.
So we'll start the window at 4:30 the latest, that gives you a two hour buffer.
Your testing from 6:30 to about 12:15 then we want at least 2 hours after which put you
at 2:50.
That means your minimum awake window has to be 4AM to 12:15PM.
12:15 is the easiest.
If we cut 2 hours off that, you have to wake at the latest 10:15, your exam is from 12:15
to 6:00PM and then the 2 hours after puts you at 8:00PM.
That leaves your minimum window from 10:15 till 6:00PM.
And I would argue, why not get up at say 9:00 am so that you have time for yoga, a walk,
something to wake you up to get you in the zone but nothing too strenuous that you burn
out before your MCAT.
The 6:00PM exam is challenging, not so much of the wake up time but rather in staying
awake long enough through the end of the exam.
The window starts at 4:00PM.
Your exam starts from 6:00 till 11:45, that means it closes at 1:45am.
Now I'm gonna argue you don't wanna be going to sleep at 1:45 because typically the closer
you are to bedtime, the more fatigue you are, the more tired you are so try to push it a
little bit longer.
But that minimum window is 4:00PM to 1:45AM.
If you already know when you're testing, write down your window then make sure you give this
video a thumbs up and let's figure out how to actually be alert during that window.
I don't recommend diving into this in one day trying to force yourself onto a new schedule.
Because the transition time is gonna be so hard you'd likely lose a few study days.
But you'll get there faster so maybe something to consider.
For most people, the best thing to do is shift your schedule by 15 to 30 minutes at a time
depending on how much time you have.
If you're not testing for at least 4 weeks or more, don't even worry about this now.
Just have it in the back of your mind, make a plan and then when you get to phase 3, start
working on this one day at a time.
Take 3 weeks to shift your schedule, the fourth week should follow the test day routine from
start to finish every single day and then test day is gonna feel like just another day
where I focus between these hours and I ace my exam.
The strategy I'm about to share follows what I teach in the wake up article linked below.
We'll start with 9 hours of sleep where you give yourself 9 hours but if you only need
8 or 7 you wake up a little bit earlier, that's fine but don't plan for less because if you're
fatigue, the experiment is not gonna work as well and can you afford to risk it on testing?
I don't think so.
6:30AM testers, this is gonna be the hardest.
Back in the military days when we had to get up before the sun, it was so depressing but
you do get used to it, trust me, you'll get used to it.
If you're going to have 9 hours of sleep where you wake up at 4:00AM, you have to go to sleep
at 7:00PM.
Now it's summer, the sun doesn't even go down before 7:00PM, it's gonna be hard, make sure
you have blackout curtains, an eye cover, earplugs.
The world doesn't care that you're trying to sleep early so you have to tune that out
to get into the routine.
If you're used to sleep at 1:00AM, 7 might be too early.
Don't start at 7, bring your bedtime down slowly.
If your exam's more than 4 weeks away and your typical bedtime is 1:00AM, what if you
intentionally start getting to bed now at midnight or even 11:00PM.
Now, you're probably not gonna fall asleep at 11:00PM for quite a few days because you're
so used to going asleep 2 hours later.
That's okay, get ready for bed, get into bed and then read, not your phone, not a kindle.
Read a physical book until you tire out enough to go to sleep.
And if you wind up reading from 11PM till 1AM, that's fine.
You're still resting more than if you were wide awake and everyday you're gonna find
yourself trying a little earlier,and a little earlier until guess what?
11PM you're feeling tired enough, you go to sleep.
As you get to phase 3, 11PM becomes 10:45, 10:30 all the way down til 7.
At the same time your alarm is going to change.
Say you're used to waking up at 9:00, set it to 8:30, set it to 8:00 and slowly, slowly
work your way down till 4:00AM.
If you have a 12:15 exam, that's the easiest.
You can wake up around 9 or 10AM depending on what you wanna do in the morning.
I recommend trying to get a long walk, or some yoga, something that forces you to de-stress,
to calm down, to relax, gives you enough time to get ready and take your exam.
I don't recommend getting up too early.
Don't be that super motivated morning person who wakes up at 7:00 AM and now you have hours
to kill before your exam.
Hours where you're unproductive, maybe you're trying to cram which you know you shouldn't
do but what else are you gonna do or just freak yourself out.
Don't do any of that.
Get into a very comfortable routine where you go to sleep at midnight, you wake up at
about 9:00AM and then you don't have enough time to stress, just enough time to calmly
get ready.
And if you're not used to passing out at 12, say you go to sleep at 2 or 3 regularly, do
the same thing that we discussed before but slowly slowly bringing your bedtime down so
that you are passing out by midnight and able to get that full night sleep.
Finally, we have the 6:00AM exam.
If your exam is 6:00PM and you wake up sometime in the morning, you have an entire day before
your exam.
An entire day of activity, of stress, of mental stimulation, everything that is going to take
your potentially fresh brain in the morning, scramble it and then you're trying to focus
for 5 hours and 45 minutes.
I don't recommend that.
If you're testing at 6:00PM, I challenge you, become a night owl, become one of those people
who does not sleep until very very late.
And try to go to sleep anywhere from 3 to even 5am, just make go to sleep before the
sun comes up so you don't completely mess with your brain.
Everyday ask yourself, what can I do to stay up a little bit later today, a little bit
later today and if you can get into the habit where you're going to sleep at 5AM, then don't
even set an alarm, just see what time you naturally wake up.
If you can get to a point where you're waking up at 2 or 3:00PM, guess what? you're not
a bum, this is actually very important.
You have just enough time for your morning routine, obviously in the afternoon maybe
a light workout or yoga or walking and then showing up to the exam fresh, ready to go,
but also ready to focus all the way till midnight without crashing at the end of your exam.
What do you think?
If you have one of this crazy test start times, do you see yourself being able to implement
something like this?
So that you can be fully awake, fully alert for the entire duration of the exam.
If yes, first, give this video a thumbs up, then let me know in the comments below what
other concerns you have about this new pandemic MCAT.
And then visit the link below or go to my website leah4sci.com/PandemicMCAT all one
word, that's leah4sci.com/PandemicMCAT.