Aspiring Physician

Before anything else, let me introduce myself briefly. I’m Ingrid, a graduate of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) under BS Biology and an incoming first year medical student at Metropolitan Medical Center (MMC). 

For those unfamiliar with NMAT, it’s an assessment examination that will test your knowledge on different areas. It has two parts, the aptitude tests and special areas respectively. Each part has four subtests. Aptitude tests include verbal, inductive reasoning, quantitative, and perceptual acuity. While special areas include Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Social Science.

Personally, I think it would be best if you register and pay the fee as soon as possible so that you would get a copy of the sample exam early. In that way, you have a lot of time to practice and study the possible questions and concepts that you might encounter. It doesn’t really matter if you enroll in a review center or not. 

Once you get a copy of the sample exam, you will notice that the aptitude tests do not really require you to study concepts or formulas but you have to practice answering the subtests as quickly and as efficiently as possible. For this part, I’m telling you, practice is key because they are very time consuming if you don’t have a technique or if you weren’t able to practice answering them.

For the special areas, it would be of great help if you write down the concepts included in the sample exam and study them thoroughly. If your pre-med is a non-science course, there are a lot of videos on youtube to help you understand some concepts. 

Since your NMAT score is based on the performance of everyone you took the test with, you should focus on your strengths and practice on your weaknesses. Some of my friends only focused on Chemistry and Physics because they were expecting that people will get low scores on those two therefore, they thought that if they get a high score there, then it will positively affect their percentile rank. If you’re going to ask me, I think it would be better if you focus on the subjects you’re confident you’re good at. In that way, you have a high chance of getting great scores on those subjects which in turn, will overpower your average scores on the others that you’re not very good at. Disclaimer: I’m not telling you to neglect areas you’re not good at. You should still study everything but given the limited time for preparation, plus your hectic schedule as a graduating student (just an assumption), it is better to come up with a strategy that will allow you to maximize the time you have.

A week before your exam schedule, make sure to train your body to sleep early at night. Avoid cramming as it will stress you out and give you unnecessary anxiety. As much as possible, the week before your exam should be dedicated for relaxation. At this point, you’ve done enough already. 

During the exam day, eat a heavy breakfast because you will be spending approximately 6 hours in taking the exam. You need all the energy you can get so eat well! Also, make sure that you’ll arrive at the testing site as early as possible especially if you are unfamiliar with the place. Arriving early will give you enough time to look for the right building and relax yourself. I’m telling you, it’s nerve-wracking. It is very important that you calm yourself before taking the exam. Being nervous and anxious will do you no good.

Make sure that you have everything you need in a plastic envelope. They do not allow anyone to bring bags. Believe me, even if you bring a million money or a pot of gold in your bag, they won’t let you bring it inside. Just bring a plastic envelope and put everything that you need in there. Bring your examination permit, an ID, the receipt (just to be prepared for whatever), water, snacks, A LOT of pencils (to save you time from sharpening), sharpener (just to make sure), and extra erasers (this will do you wonders in the perceptual acuity part of the exam: use them to cover eliminated choices *wink*). Remove the labels of your water bottle and all the tag price on your things. When I took the exam, the proctor asked us to do so but I already did it at home so while all others were rummaging through their things, I was busy praying and calming my nerves. During our time, they did not allow anyone to wear a wrist watch. You won’t be able to use it anyway because once it started, you’ll be focused on answering the exam as efficiently as possible. Don’t worry, CEM will release rules and regulations so just make sure to follow everything to avoid unnecessary hassle. By the way, they do not allow cellular phones or any electronic gadget so do not be stubborn or else you’d have to leave it with the guard or worse, some stranger. 

It’s already been a hell of a lengthy post kids. I’ll stop here. Do not forget to pray and ask guidance from the Lord. Remember, He did not bring you this far just to leave you. So do not worry and put your trust in Him for He has a plan.

Lately, I’ve been daydreaming a lot about the day when I finally have my own. Although our family is beautiful in some ways, I want my future family to be far from what I have now. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible and that thought is really heartbreaking that I choose to shrug it off most of the time.

DECEMBER 20, 2017-- 

One of my best friends is a Thomasian and every year, she never fails to invite me to join her in celebrating Paskuhan and I declined every single one of them because I was too focused with my academe. To be honest, for the past few years, I tried my very best to avoid UST. Don’t get me wrong, the whole university is beautiful for words but the it gives me anxiety because of something that happened in the past. This year, I decided to give it a go mainly because I’d like to experience how is it like plus I get to be with my highschool friends and meet new people. 

Looking back, I was so close to ditching Katrina because Ayesha said she can’t join us but I just can’t let Kat go alone given that we already talked and planned about it for days. To cut the story short, I must say, it was one of the best decisions I made in 2017. I met her friends who were VERY nice and bubbly that I actually envied Katrina for a second. The whole event was too magical and it made me genuinely happy. The bands, the people, the lights and especially the fireworks were all amazing! I regretted not taking a chance in UST although it’s never in my options anyway LOL. Everything was so beautiful that I can’t keep taking photos even though I’m not really the type of person that captures moments but I can’t help it! 

Katrina and I ended up spending the rest of the event together. Just a little segue, she is too precious for words which is why in highschool, I seriously wanted us to be exclusive best buds if such thing exist but then she’s really nice and has way too many friends (which is good of course!) so spending time with her, just with her, means a lot to me..now back to my Paskuhan story..we were in the middle of a large crowd and the firework display was about to start, Katrina was still looking for her friends and called them countless times but to no avail, that’s how I ended up watching the firework display with one of the few people in my life that I treasure so much. I believe it is also what made the whole experience undescribably beautiful. 

Seeing the results made me extremely happy. These people fought hard to be where they are now. These people sacrificed more than what we could ever imagine just to get that MD added onto their name. They deserve it–a lot, if I may add. These people willingly gave their all until there’s almost nothing left of them just to make sure that one day, they will be able to fulfill their duties well and above all else, be able to serve the people. 

To all passers, padayon! Wag sana kayong mapagod magsilbi sa bayan. Thank you for inspiring me to push through my dreams. Hopefully after 4 years, I’ll see my name on that list too but for now I should work on my NMAT first.