Can't Slow Down

I've spent the past week and half studying for the MCAT, my test is on the 26th of this month. The question of whether that's enough time to study has popped into my head several times, especially in the beginning, but as I'm progressing along my schedule, I feel more confident about this test than I've ever had when I was taking it for the first time. All the studying really isn't too bad if you adjust your attitude, if you think of it as a monumental task that you have to endure, then it will be a mountain higher than anything you could imagine. But what if, you look at this as a way to show people just what you're capable of? Everything that you have to know becomes a means of proving to yourself and the world just what you're worth. I had that mindset when I began studying, and I've memorized all the equations and understood almost all the physics concepts within 4 days. I think I've only just understood how to study and adjust my study strategies. It's not about forcing yourself to study more, it's about how to study smarter. Studying smarter makes you memorize more, and in turn, understand what the test is asking for, and perform better. If you want to study it, it becomes easy, if you fight it, it will take you forever.

Another thing I've gotten is motivation. During graduation, I've seen many of my peers get honors and awards while I wasn't part of that, I feel like I've missed the whole point of going to a university - to make the most out of my education. A friend of mine from the SURE program 4 years ago was among the 3 people who's gotten a perfect 4.0 GPA all throughout his years at CU, he was also summa cum laude and he is an engineer. We all started at the same place, this gives me no excuses to do average just because I have hard majors. In other words, I'm not content with my performance in undergrad. Reading about the lives of top professionals, their work, their lifestyles. I want to be in that circle, and to get there, I have to have high academic achievements. Now I have to do everything to rectify my mistakes as an undergraduate. And I have to say, now that I've changed my mentality about where I want to be in life and how to get there, all this stuff really isn't that hard, I don't know why I make them harder than they are before. The only thing holding me back is myself, what I have to do is just as hard as I make them to be. Crystal's advice to me has held more true than ever.

I might not have graduated with latin honors, but I've only just begun being a student. With this renewed sense of myself, the path to my goal has never been clearer. 10 more days until I take the test, this will just be first of many tests I have to take if I am to be a doctor.