Attack of Stoopidity
I went in to take a practice MCAT this morning. It was almost the real test, the only difference was that we didn't take the writing section and the other three sections were a bit shorter than the real thing. But, it was definitely more than half an MCAT. Anyway, I ended up getting a final score of 27. Not spectacular, but considering that this was the first time I had ever even seen the test and that I've been only cursorily (yes, I declare that a real word) reviewing out of the MCAT prep books I have (I plan on saving the more intensive studying for May when classes get out). However, apparently a 27 is an acceptable school for some med schools (like UT Galveston, UT San Antonio and the med school in ND). So...I guess I shouldn't worry too much? Then again, if I want to go to UT Southwestern, I need to raise my score by about 6-ish points (that's about two points per section).
Overall, I did the best on the biological sciences section (even better than I did on the verbal reasoning). I also had to wonder who wrote the test and if the real MCAT will neglect marking carbocations with the little + that is usually used. The lack of the + left me rather confused on more than one occasion. Also, as I went back over the test, in the reading comprehension section, I was reading the explanation given for one of the questions I had missed. The explanation agreed with my answer choice, but my answer was still counted wrong. It probably doesn't make much of a difference.
And the mistakes I made! I was so embarassed! For example, one question was "the genetic material in a virus consists of 35% guanine, 35% thymine, 15% adenine, and 15% cytosine. Which accurately describes this viral genome?" I want to die. I immediately saw that G=T so it must be doubled stranded DNA! Yeah. I so want to die....I think every biology professor would slaughter me if they discovered this. Some of the other terribly embarassing mistakes I made were caused by questions that had "not" or "except" in the phraseology. It's such a simple thing, yet I can never seem to answer such questions correctly. I'll start out knowing that I'm looking for, essentially, the "wrong" answer in that it "makes no sense" and, half-way through, I'll read an answer choice that makes sense, and thus is technically wrong...
I hate it when wrong answers are "right".
But, I know I'll do better when I take it for real. Especially since, for the physical science and verbal reasoning sections I had about 15 minutes to spare (and that's including taking time to go back to questions I had skipped or marked because I was unsure of). Next time, I'll chill out and take my time.
Still. 27? For my first time? I don't think I can really complain...
In other news, while trying to ignore such looming monsters, such as senior thesis crap, I've been reading Night Watch. Of course, it's amazing. I hate time travel. In my opinion, it's one of the worse plot-devices. But Pratchett pulls it off, marvelously. Then again, I think I might be the tiniest biased. I mean, ninja Vetinari*? Such a total badass. His total unflappability, especially in the first scene he's in with the apple and the book and Downey's bastardry....fiction needs more characters like this. And he doesn't get angry. He doesn't necessarily turn the other cheek, but he'll let you think you have the upper hand. Then, he'll wait in the shadows for the perfect moment...
Seriously. I have so much love for this series.
Oh. Speaking of fiction...I should have kept my mouth shut. In a previous post I mentioned how ridiculously excited I was about recent developments in Naruto. I also mentioned my hopes for how Kishimoto would go about structuring the fight, especially my hope that stupid main characters would stay the hell away. And what happens? Yeah. FML.
Kakashi: Look in your heart Sasuke. Because this is a shonen manga and phrases like that might actually probably work sometimes. Maybe
Sasuke: STFU.
Kakashi: Drat.
Sasuke: My eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyes!
Sakura: Yes! Now's my chance to kill the boy I've crushed over since forever!
Kakashi: What the hell do you think you're doing, Sakura?!? This is my fight!
Sakura: Ha! Juu~~~~~~~~~~~uuuuust kidding!
Sasuke: Sucker. Now I'm going to do what every fan has wanted someone to do since we were first introduced to you.
Kakashi: Oh no! After using the Mangekyo for almost a full minute my ki has somehow decreased drastically! I won't be able to reach her in time thus setting up the perfect chance for a cliched damsel-in-distressed-saved-in-a-dramatic-fasion-at-the-last-minute-by-the guy-she's-obviously-going-to-end-up-with plot twist! If only our intrepid hero had perfect tim--
Naruto: Ta da! *sweeps damsel-in-distress Sakura off her feet* What now, bitches?
Sarah: *face-palm*
Thanks Kishimoto. This could have been epic.
...and now I have this unprecedented urge to watch Naruto: The Abridged Series. God help me...
And his aunt is rather kick-ass, too.
EDIT: Yeah. I'm a nerd. I tried watching NtAS and...it's awful. It's as far from YtAS as we are from...whatever galaxy is the furthest from us (lame metaphor FTW!). I think my terrible and not at all witty summary seen above is more clever than 99% of the NtAS script. That's really saying something.