That nonsense is finally OVER! I totally kicked ass. I was massively prepared and well rested. And I wore my favorite underwear for good luck. There’s nothing in this world like wearing your favorite underwear 
Now time to shower, find food, and go have some fun until the drudgery of work begins again.
Boo for work.
I was told I’m a genious. I like.
But then my score went down a few points. Finally kicking me in the face: stop focusing on work, and start studying seriously. Otherwise I’ll have to do this whole damn process again in April.
So, now that I’m a few weeks into my Psychometric course I figured I’d let you all in on how it’s going.
First off, I just want to say, I am really disappointed in the Israeli public school system. There are 30 to 40 students in each classroom; they are taught lecture style, like in college; the teachers control the classroom through fear, not respect. In a class of 30 twenty-something year olds, only one person knew who Machiavelli was. And even he wasn’t really sure what his main contribution to life was. I don’t know, maybe I’m the only one who sees a problem with that.
I do like the fact that I’m in a class of some sort. It’s good to be social, and do some thinking. Not be an automated working machine. The instructor is really great - he’s funny, charismatic, and he really knows what he’s doing. He has a really high super-success rate (17% of his students get over a 700, in comparison to 5% of the nation). Seeing that I need to get a 750 at least to get into medical school here (out of 800), that bodes really well for me. We get inundated with homework, and a big part of the learning process is in the form of games. And while I’m not a five year old, it’s definitely more entertaining to play games than do straight up practice questions. We’ve also already started doing full practice exams, which is helpful in getting used to the exam.
There are several differences between the SATs and the Psychometric exam. First, you don’t lose points for incorrect answers. So I have that going for me. Also, it seems to be more about the reasoning then the technicalities of it. You rarely have to actually “solve”; the exam is designed to see whether you have mental dexterity and the ability to think a question through. Still, it is nerve wracking. My only problem at the moment is that my level of Hebrew isn’t high enough. Good thing I’m sitting for the exam in English…
Keep your fingers crossed!
I miss being busy. Meaningfully busy. I signed up for a course, and they’ve already given me a password to their online study component, although the course itself doesn’t start for a few more months. I’ve already started studying, making notecards, doing practice questions. I’m more serious about this than I’ve ever been about academics in my life. Aside from gross anatomy. That shit was awesome. Seriously. The only problem is that after staring at a computer screen for eight hours the last thing I want to do is, well, stare at a computer screen.
PS - I forgot pretty much everything I ever knew about geometry, algebra, and percentages. This can be verified by the number of correct answers I received. I clearly need to do more studying of rules and whatnot. I am, however, kicking ass on the English section.
On the bright side, I am currently in the process of getting myself onto a schedule. I start work at 7am and work until 9am. I then go to the gym for an hour or two, come back and work for another six hours. Take a break, followed by some studying. I’m even eating better. We’ll see how long this whole thing lasts, but I am fairly excited about getting my life under control. I’ve rearranged my workout and put myself on a three-day split with the help of a wonderful website. This should considerably minimize the amount of time I spend in the gym, while still getting a good workout. The only downside to this is that I go to bet earlier.
What can I say? I like my sleep.
Started making phone calls to prep class companies because my entire acceptance into school is based solely on my Psychometric (an SAT-like test) exam scores. And I’ve already stated how virtually impossible it is to get into medical school here. Classes start about three months before the exam date and are twice a week for 5.5 hours, totaling 11 hours a week. Two or three weeks prior to the exam (depending on the course), they start what’s called “marathon classes”, meaning daily meetings to make sure you know your shit. I haven’t studied for anything in years; I have no idea how I’m supposed to handle private study, a full-time job, the gym, 11 hours of prep class, and a four hour art class. And also not loose my sanity.
Anyway, so the second company I speak with loves to toot its own horn. She (the representative I spoke with) explains to me that they are the absolute best, they have the most classes, the most experienced teachers, they give the most exam material for you to work with, and so what if the closest class is in Tel Aviv, it’s only an hour by bus (neglecting to mention, of course, that there’s also the bus ride from the center of town to wherever the class is located). She then proceeds to ask me if I’ve looked into any other courses. So I mention to her the only other company I’d spoken to until then, and she says, “Well, Shirah, the thing about that company is that they make excessive use of the computer, and the exam is in paper and pencil. You need scrap paper, writing utensils, you see what I mean?” Clearly, it would require too much of me to somehow use both. And from my understanding of “that other class” is that all of the work done online is in addition to 11 hours of class, private study, and various books. Basically, I found the second woman off-puttingly pushy, which I don’t really like. Oh, and PS - the course is 7,600 shekels, so take that, add the bus rides to and from Tel Aviv, plus the extra time I’ll have to take off from work for the commute (which could easily be 4 hours round trip), and I’m broker than broke. So I’m pretty sure I’ve decided at least which course I’m not going to take.
On a completely tangential note, my baby Bella is in heat, and is constantly crying. She especially relishes doing so late at night and early in the morning, when I would love to be asleep. She’s getting fixed on Thursday, though, so that should put an end to her yowls of need.
Oh, and also, they’re expecting it to snow here tomorrow. A) This is not what I moved to Israel for. And B) It’s probably going to be about one and a half inches that will hardly stick. But my art class will still be canceled tomorrow. Go figure.