It's like the opposite of keyboard diarrhoea. Every time I've thought about sitting down and writing something, I've managed to find a way to distract myself and thus, save myself the trouble of trying to think of something to actually write about. And it seems, the longer I stay away, the harder it is to come back. I can't guarantee that I'll be back here too often at this stage, but I'll try anyway.
I've been feeling a bit down lately. Been doing a lot of thinking about all the things I want to do and wondering how I'm going to find the time to do them all. I mean, I could try and do everything but I think I'd have to find a way to survive without sleep at the same time. Heh, maybe I should add that to my to do list as well. Sure would be handy to have an extra 6 or 7 hours every day to get more done.
Sigh, I'm not really sure what I'm trying to get at here. I've got plenty of thoughts screaming around inside my head but they don't seem to want to come out in a coherent fashion at the moment so maybe I should just leave it at this for now and try again in a few days. Total bummer of a post hey? Damn you, keyboard constipation...
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Results are in!
I have to admit, I was a little bit afraid to check my results. I was pretty certain I'd stuffed up sections 2 and/or 3. I got the results email on my phone while I was at work and I tried logging in on my phone but for some reason, I couldn't view the results page. So I figured I'd leave it until I got home since those results weren't going anywhere. And leaving it until I got home meant I could delay the disappointment that I was pretty sure was inevitable.
So imagine my surprise when I finally got home, logged into the Acer candidate site and saw this:
In case any of that is unreadable, S1 - 69, S2 - 60, S3 - 57, Overall - 61.
Nowhere near as bad as I expected. Cool huh? For starters, none of the numbers starts with a 4! Yay! I was so sure I'd have at least one or two failed sections after I came out of the exam. My essays were embarrassing, and I had a pounding headache throughout most of the science section which made it pretty damn hard to think or focus on the questions. Never be too proud or stubborn to take a panadol!
Oh well. I'm glad the wait is over and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've been actively trying not to think or dwell too much on the GAMSAT and the results seeing as I only intended this to be a practice run. It's difficult not to get caught up in the excitement of it all though, especially since I started visiting the Paging Dr forums again. Congratulations to everyone who got the scores they were hoping for and I wish you all the best for the rest of the application process.
For me, I'm not going to apply this year since I've got a couple of things I want to do next year which are probably not compatible with med school. I don't want to have to make the choice if I apply and by some miracle, I actually get an offer.
So next year, I will be putting myself through all this again. I'm hoping that I'll be more prepared and less nervous. I want to improve my section 2 and section 3 scores but knowing my luck, I'll probably screw up section 1 to make up for it. Eh, you win some, you lose some right? As long as my overall score improves and I don't fail any sections, I won't complain. Much.
So imagine my surprise when I finally got home, logged into the Acer candidate site and saw this:
In case any of that is unreadable, S1 - 69, S2 - 60, S3 - 57, Overall - 61.
Nowhere near as bad as I expected. Cool huh? For starters, none of the numbers starts with a 4! Yay! I was so sure I'd have at least one or two failed sections after I came out of the exam. My essays were embarrassing, and I had a pounding headache throughout most of the science section which made it pretty damn hard to think or focus on the questions. Never be too proud or stubborn to take a panadol!
Oh well. I'm glad the wait is over and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've been actively trying not to think or dwell too much on the GAMSAT and the results seeing as I only intended this to be a practice run. It's difficult not to get caught up in the excitement of it all though, especially since I started visiting the Paging Dr forums again. Congratulations to everyone who got the scores they were hoping for and I wish you all the best for the rest of the application process.
For me, I'm not going to apply this year since I've got a couple of things I want to do next year which are probably not compatible with med school. I don't want to have to make the choice if I apply and by some miracle, I actually get an offer.
So next year, I will be putting myself through all this again. I'm hoping that I'll be more prepared and less nervous. I want to improve my section 2 and section 3 scores but knowing my luck, I'll probably screw up section 1 to make up for it. Eh, you win some, you lose some right? As long as my overall score improves and I don't fail any sections, I won't complain. Much.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Things to remember for GAMSAT 2012
It's been about 3 weeks since the GAMSAT. Since I walked out of the testing centre, I've just been bumming around and relaxing. And playing with my new phone. I've found some new addictive games to play so with all this free time on my hands, I'm damn well going to play them and enjoy them...
I haven't been totally slack though. I've spent some time thinking about and processing the whole GAMSAT experience and I'd like to write down some of the things I want to remember for next time because you can bet that I'll have forgotten just about everything by the time the next GAMSAT rolls around.
Try to relax the day before
I spent the day before doing a practice exam but all that really helped to do was wind me up and get me even more nervous than I needed to be.
Sleep!
The night before the GAMSAT, I went to bed about an hour earlier than usual and couldn't sleep. Not sleeping the night before an exam isn't the greatest idea but obviously, my brain didn't get the memo on that one.
More essay practice
My essays were quite lame and repetitive. And short. Ugh. I feel for the people who have to actually read my essays and mark them. Or maybe they're laughing at them for being so sad and incoherent. How embarrassing. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now except to improve on my essay writing skills...
More science prep
The science section was quite tough and I was definitely under prepared going into it but then, I was kind of expecting that. The study that I did manage to fit in helped but it wasn't enough. Especially for the organic chemistry questions. I think I ended up guessing most of those. And the physics questions too. Actually, when I think about it, I probably guessed more than half the questions in section III so I'm not looking forward to getting my results back for that.
Panadol
So after a sleepless night and extreme nervousness, I was all hyped up on adrenalin. It got me through the morning but by the time the afternoon rolled around, I had a massive headache. And I didn't have any panadol with me. Hell, I was actually considering taking one at lunch cause I had the beginnings of a headache but then I convinced myself that it was fine and that I didn't need one. Which is why a couple of questions into section III, my head was pounding and I was finding it damn difficult to concentrate. Heh. So next time, I will take a panadol if I feel like a headache is coming on and I will bring some to the exam anyway, just in case...
Chill out once the exam is over
I'm not too worried or stressed about the results or when they're coming out. I'm just relieved that it's all over for now and I won't have to worry about it again until later on this year when I have to start preparing again. But for now, I'm just going to let my brain melt for a little bit... Heh.
I haven't been totally slack though. I've spent some time thinking about and processing the whole GAMSAT experience and I'd like to write down some of the things I want to remember for next time because you can bet that I'll have forgotten just about everything by the time the next GAMSAT rolls around.
Try to relax the day before
I spent the day before doing a practice exam but all that really helped to do was wind me up and get me even more nervous than I needed to be.
Sleep!
The night before the GAMSAT, I went to bed about an hour earlier than usual and couldn't sleep. Not sleeping the night before an exam isn't the greatest idea but obviously, my brain didn't get the memo on that one.
More essay practice
My essays were quite lame and repetitive. And short. Ugh. I feel for the people who have to actually read my essays and mark them. Or maybe they're laughing at them for being so sad and incoherent. How embarrassing. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now except to improve on my essay writing skills...
More science prep
The science section was quite tough and I was definitely under prepared going into it but then, I was kind of expecting that. The study that I did manage to fit in helped but it wasn't enough. Especially for the organic chemistry questions. I think I ended up guessing most of those. And the physics questions too. Actually, when I think about it, I probably guessed more than half the questions in section III so I'm not looking forward to getting my results back for that.
Panadol
So after a sleepless night and extreme nervousness, I was all hyped up on adrenalin. It got me through the morning but by the time the afternoon rolled around, I had a massive headache. And I didn't have any panadol with me. Hell, I was actually considering taking one at lunch cause I had the beginnings of a headache but then I convinced myself that it was fine and that I didn't need one. Which is why a couple of questions into section III, my head was pounding and I was finding it damn difficult to concentrate. Heh. So next time, I will take a panadol if I feel like a headache is coming on and I will bring some to the exam anyway, just in case...
Chill out once the exam is over
I'm not too worried or stressed about the results or when they're coming out. I'm just relieved that it's all over for now and I won't have to worry about it again until later on this year when I have to start preparing again. But for now, I'm just going to let my brain melt for a little bit... Heh.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I survived GAMSAT 2011!
Yay! Although, I wasn't feeling so yay the night before and the day of. I tried going to bed early. I really did. But I just couldn't sleep. I think I must have gotten about 2 hours of sleep the whole damn night. The rest of it I spent tossing and turning and trying to stay calm and not panic. Did you know that panic and sleep don't go together very well? No? Well I didn't either until I tried to mix the two. I decided to give up my pathetic attempts at sleep at about 6am since I figured if I did actually manage to fall asleep somehow, I'd probably sleep past the start of the exam. I don't think I got more than two hours of interrupted broken sleep altogether but hey, nobody said trying to get into medicine was going to be easy right?
I arrived at the test centre at about 8:20 and there was a line of people out the door. Goody. I got in line and stood there for about 15 mins waiting to register, listening to other people in the line stressing and trying my damndest not to run the hell away from there. I didn't give in to that instinct though and eventually, I got in and settled down in my seat. When the exam started, I managed to put the nerves aside and concentrate on section 1.
Looking back, I think section 1 was the easiest part of the whole exam. I finished it with about 10 or 15 mins to spare. It was still pretty difficult though and I don't really know whether I understood everything as I was meant to or not. I guess I'll find out in May.
Section 2. Ummm... The less said about this one, the better. Let's just say I need to do a hell of a lot more work on my essay writing.
Section 3 was a bit better in that I didn't have to string words and sentences into something coherent. But it was a hell of a lot harder than any practice questions I did. I'm pretty sure I didn't do very well in this section at all. The science study that I did in preparation did help a bit when there were questions that were related to what I'd learned. Unfortunately, there weren't enough of those to make me think I could possibly pass this section. And the headache that made it's presence known about 10 mins into this section sure didn't help either. I can probably thank the sleepless night I had for that one.
So yeah. Be interesting to see the results but I'm pretty sure I'll be back for another round of GAMSAT goodness in 2012...
I arrived at the test centre at about 8:20 and there was a line of people out the door. Goody. I got in line and stood there for about 15 mins waiting to register, listening to other people in the line stressing and trying my damndest not to run the hell away from there. I didn't give in to that instinct though and eventually, I got in and settled down in my seat. When the exam started, I managed to put the nerves aside and concentrate on section 1.
Looking back, I think section 1 was the easiest part of the whole exam. I finished it with about 10 or 15 mins to spare. It was still pretty difficult though and I don't really know whether I understood everything as I was meant to or not. I guess I'll find out in May.
Section 2. Ummm... The less said about this one, the better. Let's just say I need to do a hell of a lot more work on my essay writing.
Section 3 was a bit better in that I didn't have to string words and sentences into something coherent. But it was a hell of a lot harder than any practice questions I did. I'm pretty sure I didn't do very well in this section at all. The science study that I did in preparation did help a bit when there were questions that were related to what I'd learned. Unfortunately, there weren't enough of those to make me think I could possibly pass this section. And the headache that made it's presence known about 10 mins into this section sure didn't help either. I can probably thank the sleepless night I had for that one.
So yeah. Be interesting to see the results but I'm pretty sure I'll be back for another round of GAMSAT goodness in 2012...
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Dammit Google, stop being so smart!
I signed up for a gmail account and used an email address that I had previously created a google account with. Google has decided that since I now have a gmail account linked to this address, everything that I ever used this other Google account for will now be taken over by my gmail account! Arrgghh! That was particularly annoying when I logged into my Khan academy account and found I'd lost all my medals and points and progress. I managed to fix that one but now I've found my blog has been moved over to my gmail account too and I can't change that. Oh well, guess it's not the end of the world. Yet.
The reason I signed up to gmail was because I got a new Android phone and now I'm Googlising my life. Yes, Google is taking over the world. My world anyway. It's already my home page and the place I go whenever I want to find anything on the internet. I haven't willingly gone to another search engine for years (though I do sometimes install something that changes my home page to another search engine, which I promptly remove). I love you Google, why won't you love me back???
Anyway, my new phone is awesome. I got a HTC Desire HD. It's a big change from my old Nokia, which is about 3 years old now. It's so shiny and pretty and there are games! Games I can actually play and enjoy on the huge touch screen! Plus, there are so many features to explore and things to customise! Oh boy! I knew I should have waited until after the GAMSAT to buy this phone. I do have one deterrent that's keeping me from spending too much time on my new phone right now. I don't have a screen protector and cover for it yet. And in true Asian fashion, I'm scared of scratching or damaging it in any way and I want to keep it in pristine condition for as long as I can. Did I mention that I kept the little plastic screen sticker on my last phone until only about a month or so ago? The only reason I took it off was because one corner of it was starting to peel up and collect yucky stuff under it. Yes, I have issues... No, the sticker peeling off was not the catalyst to me getting this new phone. Not that I'm willing to admit anyway :)
The reason I signed up to gmail was because I got a new Android phone and now I'm Googlising my life. Yes, Google is taking over the world. My world anyway. It's already my home page and the place I go whenever I want to find anything on the internet. I haven't willingly gone to another search engine for years (though I do sometimes install something that changes my home page to another search engine, which I promptly remove). I love you Google, why won't you love me back???
Anyway, my new phone is awesome. I got a HTC Desire HD. It's a big change from my old Nokia, which is about 3 years old now. It's so shiny and pretty and there are games! Games I can actually play and enjoy on the huge touch screen! Plus, there are so many features to explore and things to customise! Oh boy! I knew I should have waited until after the GAMSAT to buy this phone. I do have one deterrent that's keeping me from spending too much time on my new phone right now. I don't have a screen protector and cover for it yet. And in true Asian fashion, I'm scared of scratching or damaging it in any way and I want to keep it in pristine condition for as long as I can. Did I mention that I kept the little plastic screen sticker on my last phone until only about a month or so ago? The only reason I took it off was because one corner of it was starting to peel up and collect yucky stuff under it. Yes, I have issues... No, the sticker peeling off was not the catalyst to me getting this new phone. Not that I'm willing to admit anyway :)
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