Free bunco score sheet

https://archive.is/IEGAV
The former site of the organic restaurant Hearty Eats at 24 Bridge St. is being transformed into Hotfire Bar and Grill, serving burgers, an eclectic array of sandwiches and comfort foods like macaroni and cheese and chicken tenders.
Chad Flasinski, who previously worked as the executive chef at Zeke’s Bar & Grill in Bernardston, organizing large events, dinner services and to-go lunch boxes, purchased the Hearty Eats location after it closed on March 4, to start his own restaurant and “hammer out [his] vision.”
With plans to open Memorial Day weekend, Flasinski said he envisions Hotfire Bar and Grill to be a “fast casual” environment in which customers can order their meals either at the counter or through a mobile app, have a seat and grab their orders either for takeout or dining in.
“Shelburne is such a beautiful area [and] there are so many places to be that I expect people to trickle in and circle out,” he said. “It’ll also be the type of place where couples that are looking to have a little day trip and come up and grab a bite to eat and sit down, and maybe to check the score of a game or have a cocktail, they’ll be able to do that here and then go on their day.”
Flasinski described the restaurant’s atmosphere as having a clean, modern “soft Panera” feel, decorated with a full subway tile wall behind the bar along with canvas art and a photo wall of the Bridge of Flowers. The menu, Flasinski said, will feature homemade crinkle-cut fries and chips, alongside Reuben, Cubano, and French dip sandwiches. Hotfire Bar and Grill will also serve a smashburger and, for vegetarians, a bean burger.
“There’ll be a little bit of something for everybody,” Flasinski said. “I’ll have things that are gluten free and I’ll have things that are vegetarian, but realistically, my focus is going to be more of a carnivore place.”
As a Shelburne Falls resident, Flasinski said he looks forward to making his mark on the community, creating a space where residents can get together over a meal and some conversation.
“I love food just about as much as the next chef, and I could talk food and sports for hours. I have a wonderful family, I live here in town. I’m just excited to be a part of this community in particular. I think Shelburne Falls, as a community, supports their businesses probably better than anybody else,” Flasinski said. “I really can’t say enough about this town. I just hope to be a part of it and get a chance to show Shelburne how much I enjoy being here.”
The business’ Facebook page, which now includes a menu, can be viewed at:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557598185287&mibextid=kFxxJD
It will be open Wednesday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

My fellow gamers, for too long has our community suffered the indignation of an intolerable culture that has denigrated, besmirched, exploited, and has outright demonized our culture of unique individuals with a genuine love of a hobby that they see as profitable and progressive. They have taken beloved IP’s (Intellectual Properties) and twisted them into their own personal ideological crusade of undermining and humiliating the core aspects of characters they deemed as “Toxic” or “White Supremacy”. Through the guise and protection of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity) & ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) they have used our influence in the entertainment industry to push their narratives and agendas that have stigmatized our culture with numerous anti-consumer practices that they call “being progressive”. But the truth of the matter is they were never really looking to be a part of our community, they simply wanted to use our community as a tool of activism and propaganda in the entertainment industry as it was extremely profitable, and they wanted inclusion in that division. Ever since GamerGate & Female Frequency, we have had to endure the incursion of forced ideologies, xenophobic behaviors and inferior overpriced products that have never been in our best interest and have been flat out disgraceful towards foreign media.
Before Gaming had become a major source of entertainment, we were often categorized as anti-social or societies rejects where because we found more enjoyment in playing fictional characters and not spending as much time out and about, we never fully assimilated in society (which is a good thing if you ask me). From 1998 to 2007, at the height of innovation, creativity and production, Gaming had reached a golden age in which it had revolutionized society. Hollywood Execs who had ruined the movie industry turned their attention to video games as a source of income since video games had outperformed movies in terms of profit. No one was concerned about gaming, much less diversity or inclusivity until it became profitable. This makes people like SBI look extremely disingenuous as they were not interested in gamers as a community with its own culture. They simply wanted to use it as another weapon in identity politics.
Microtransactions; the hidden enemy to gamer progress and inducer to mental laziness of our community. Microtransactions have been around for a long time; however, it has never been more potent and apparent than in recent years. It has aided in the dismantling and segregation of players on the ideology of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and has created another sub-culture of gamers who have no real drive to be better outside of how much money they put into the game. This has degraded our culture as well as we have become “fat” off transactional gaming but at the same time we have been “starved” of purposeful gaming where our achievements were our sustenance. I am not saying that microtransactions are bad, but when they are exploitative and predatorial like they have been and don’t give gamers room to grow, we become lethargic and unwilling to improve ourselves as gamers. Oversaturated microtransactional games are one of the many reasons why we have become complacent and unwilling to fight against the exploitative tactics used by big brand game companies such EA, Ubisoft, ActivisionBlizzard, NaughtyDog and so many other western business model companies. Western style games were not like this in the past, they had much more depth and actual effort put into them with the gamer in mind. This has not been the case for over a decade and our connection to western developers has been whittled down to just being transactional. That is one of the reasons why you see so many remasters and remakes in today’s gamer community. They have lost their willingness to improve as developers of games and simply accept corporate/share holder rules.
Game journalists also do not have any real integrity or purpose outside of being funded for their involvement in promoting IPG (Identity Political Games) in a positive light to the public whether it’s positively received or not. They are not interested in what we have to say, they all support the same agenda and that is why they are a dying breed. Within the next couple of years, they will be out of the job and more than likely they will not be able to stay in the industry giving how they have responded to past articles that have clearly been scripted on the premise of diversity and racism. Not only that, but most of them are also extremely hostile to the community as they stereotype and defame the individuals that are a part of the community they are supposed to serve. We have been mentally liberated from their lies and coercive tactics as we tend to laugh at their obvious attempt at virtue signaling while hiding their misdoings so that they can play the victim.
My gamer brothers & sisters, I would not suggest the following action that we must take now without good cause. I have weighed our options and the best option for us now is this…...CULTURAL SECESSION. Naturally this is a form of segregation where they would more than likely claim they are being segregated by the dominant culture of the gaming community but that is incorrect. For years now we have been the ones who are often marginalized and ostracized for the smaller portion of our community. And when we aren’t, we’re exploited for more funds so that these companies can stay in business only to subject us to low quality products that coincide with the “WOKE Agenda” that are often huge expenses to these big brands i.e. AAA/AAAA games that will eventually flop for its obvious forced diversity and bug infested product which will undoubtedly piss off the consumer to the point of wanting a refund. Losing copious amounts of capital and stock in the process, not to mention their reputation is permanently marred.
We must separate on every cultural level in terms of entertainment and ideology. We must reject everything from the west that promotes toxic western beliefs, practices, and exclusion from other cultures (i.e. Southeastern Countries such as Japan and Korea). Japan & Korea have been the targets of unjust discrimination from Western Developers, Western Journalists, Western Localizers (The Wokelizers) and Western Society Prejudice regarding their sense of aesthetics as Westerners hate the aesthetic sense of these countries. The reason why they resort to such base tactics isn’t just because it weaponizes the ideal female form but it’s also because they have deep-seated insecurities about their own looks so when they see attractive female characters, they use terms such as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized” to establish the moral high ground. But the truth is, they want to feel superior to that which is ideal, so they insult and dehumanize this figure that portrays natural female beauty because they see it as an insult to their own social superiority in what they believe is a hierarchy of them being at the top of all other women. Because of this and so many contributing factors, their movies flop harder than the Fat Chocobo landing on a group of enemies and their games seismically fail just as much if not more. We must sever our connection to Western Developers, Publishers, and ALL Western-Centric Entertainment for they seek to mentally enslave us to their Xenophobic ideology.
Let’s define Western Culture and its traits. Western Culture/Society is composed of more than several different ideologies that work in unison with one another to facilitate dominance over multiple aspects of society. Business, Social, Political, Technological, and sometimes even Global Affairs are affected by these ideologies that portray a specific mindset of Western beliefs. What are those ideologies you ask?

• Perpetual Victimhood: By weaponizing the fact that they are marginalized and of a small portion of western society, they can push their agenda to absurd standards that ultimately ostracize the main demographic. And when companies don’t capitulate, they are labeled as anti-progressive/misogynist’s or cohorts of White Supremacy. They use this to cancel their targets and silence them through societal defamation to keep the public on their side. They also use this mindset to justify their own lack of self-agency as they tend to throw companies who do adhere to their demands but miserably fail to turn a profit under the bus so that they can maintain face in front of the public while denying their actual involvement. They will never accept “Sense of Agency” when it’s negative but will gladly accept it when a positive outcome shines on them as if they are entitled to it.

Official Wiki GamerGate Page)
​

• Societal Terrorism: This is another form of ideology weaponization that they use in order to make companies “toe-the-line” with their agenda. By weaponizing cancel culture, they exert dominance over these companies but in exchange they also reimburse those companies with DEI & ESG funds that raise their credit score as well as having social status with the marginalized demographic. However; cancel culture has not succeeded in years and developers and publishers probably only want the money and the DEI ESG rating. But they have to maintain the image of having social economic power so that they can continue to strong-arm other developers into compliance and promoting financial benefits of DEI & ESG. In other words, if you are not for sale, they discredit and stigmatize you in the industry.

Asmongold Clips.
https://youtu.be/Iq86DnmX2xY
​

• “Its not us, its you who’s wrong” Mentality: This mentality is especially annoying as they tend to use it to hide their incompetence. They often look down upon gamers who are not in the industry to hide their obvious lack of knowledge on game development thinking that their job title grants them special status that they believe gives them the right to be condescending. But the truth they never wanted revealed has already strangled their careers of all credibility. They were never GAMERS, they were INVADERS. Community Colonists that seek to indoctrinate next generational gamers into their hive-mind and brand previous generations of gamers as villains.

@GeeksandGamers
https://youtu.be/1HbrTkqQFuM
​

• Double-standard Enforcement: By labeling something as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized”, they can claim this is morally wrong if it promotes traditional dynamics between men and women. Heterosexual relationships are condemned while at the same time Same-sex relationships are praised. Additionally, heterosexual relationships with main white male characters turn antagonistic and spotlight stealing. This is deliberate as to promote the “Girl Boss” ideology to indoctrinate women into the Feminazi state of mind. While at the same time, should a male character also adopt the “I don’t need male/female” ideology its seen as Toxic Masculinity which isn’t even a real thing. The idea of a strong male character is taboo while enforcing strong female characters is the ideal.

@MugenLord
https://youtu.be/to5Uciy_yeg
@EndymionTv
https://youtu.be/7TPTR8-qmbk
​

• Dehumanization/Demonization: This is something that most military branches use in order to remove conscious inhibitions such as mass slaughter is wrong or categorization. By enforcing ideologies to denounce humanity in certain targets, it deactivates your conscience by saying this is not human therefore its ethically okay to treat this target without compassion and deny the fact it has sentience. We gamers fall under this category for journalists, developers, companies and society at large. This is a tactic we are familiar with to an extent as it implies that we are not normal when we do not do what everybody else is doing. “Geeks are the worse” or “Nerds need to fall into a pit of lava” are verbal dehumanization forms that most people in society say and we as Gamers tend to be relegated to those categories. This is their way of imposing the social hierarchy on us by establishing superiority. We know this as Gamers as we see it very often in the games that we play and some times experience it in real life.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gamergate#The_end_of_their_relevance
​

• Deflection/Projection: This is basic psychology 101. By redirecting the conversation away from their mistakes and back on to the opposing view to avert blame and justify their innocence they can avoid criticism. However; deflection is a CONSCIOUS decision, meaning they have no real argument to justify their incompetence. If you can consciously process the situation, you have self-agency which means you don’t have a legitimate excuse. Projection is something else entirely. Most times, Projection doesn’t work on conscious decisions rather it is automatically deployed when feeling threatened, anxious or both. Instead of accepting accountability for feelings or actions that are deemed socially unacceptable they accuse others of committing that unacceptable behavior thereby exonerating themselves and proving that those feelings and/or actions are not their own.

@TheTrentReport
https://youtu.be/bPIPSKruYRo
These traits are so nefarious and unconscionable that I have a hard time believing that anyone could harbor them. However, given the social, political, and economic climate that we are in, those in power who use their influence on controlling society most definitely possess these insidious traits. Everything that they do is all about control and since video games are the biggest market in the world, they want control over it and the communities built around it to accrue more wealth and to use that wealth to subjugate other cultures. Mainstream media is a tool as well as mainstream organizations and sites to help accomplish this goal.
The government recently announced its intentions towards what they believe is “GamerGate 2.0” and now even the ADL has made an official appearance, referring to gamers as “extremist’s”. We know EXACTLY what they are doing, and they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore because they don’t think we are aware of their motives. This is just a pretext for them to exert even more control and we know why, it’s because they want the influence we as a community have to must serve them. So here is what we do my fellow gamers-
“In light of recent events and years of mainstream stigma, we the members of the Global Gaming Community [GGC] must officially renounce ALL TIES to the corporate western video game market. We have been financially exploited through predatorial monetization schemes, pelted with numerous articles of disdain and intentional misrepresentation from game journalists, news outlets regarding us as dangerous individuals and, even subjected to inferior products not only riddled with bugs but also products meant to push political agendas. For the preservation of our community and its unique culture, apart from a few select game development studios we officially sever all connections to western owned video game companies & their mainstream affiliates. From this point onward, we will no longer support western corporate developers, journalists and publishers that do not coincide with the goals of our community.”
Naturally this is completely optional. If you are okay with the state of the gaming community as it is, feel free to ignore this. But if you wish for real change and a break away from oversaturated monetization in the games you play and the push for radical ideological reform, then you are in the right place. Lets sever these rotted miasmic ties once and for all so that our community can be preserved and made better for future gamers. If you agree with this, share it with whoever you think might be interested. The more gamers who get involved, the easier it will be for us to finally break free from mainstream game companies and their associates.

I'm confused about when to use a credit card (CC) versus a debit card (DC). People usually say to use a credit card for most things because it's better, but I recently found out my credit score goes up and down between 750 and 780, even though I always pay off my full balance on time, not just the amount on my statement. Now I hear I should pay the statement balance on time instead, because having no balance might be bad for my credit score. They also say I shouldn't use more than 30% (some say 10%) of my credit limit, which seems weird if I'm supposed to use my credit card for everything.
So, I have a couple of questions:

1. When should I use a credit card and when should I use a debit card?
2. What's the right percentage of my credit limit to use? 30%, 10%, or something else?

Also feel free to provide examples.
Thanks in advance!

I'm confused about when to use a credit card (CC) versus a debit card (DC). People usually say to use a credit card for most things because it's better, but I recently found out my credit score goes up and down between 750 and 780, even though I always pay off my full balance on time, not just the amount on my statement. Now I hear I should pay the statement balance on time instead, because having no balance might be bad for my credit score. They also say I shouldn't use more than 30% (some say 10%) of my credit limit, which seems weird if I'm supposed to use my credit card for everything.
So, I have a couple of questions:

1. When should I use a credit card and when should I use a debit card?
2. What's the right percentage of my credit limit to use? 30%, 10%, or something else?

Also feel free to provide examples.
Thanks in advance!

Trying to customize/create a book catalog & book gallery all in one file. I've found lots of inspiration on youtube and etsy, there are plenty of basic free ones out there, but nothing has everything I want and I like to super over-customize things so I need the know-how to create or edit these sheets.
What I'm trying to accomplish is having one sheet be my book list with a column for a small cover image, followed by title, author, etc (see my first image).
Another sheet would be a book gallery/overview with larger images of the covers and some information above/below said cover image such as rating, or owned staus. (I'd love to add in the info box about the book like in my second image, but that feels far beyond my capabilities.)
My issue is, I have no idea what terms to even search to find out how to do this.
Is there a way everything is linked so that the same cover image stays with the same book no matter how I sort my book list (by author or rating or series, etc)? As in, I add the image via link to one place in the spreadsheet, then no matter where I pull that book up/add that book to the sheet, the image is linked to it if there is an image location for it.
Is it a script? A fancy function? How do I search for how to learn to do this?
Thank you in advance for any help.
https://preview.redd.it/9direlkk0u0d1.png?width=682&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9cd23d4de4a6faa9309a7aef34cfbe85e07b601
https://preview.redd.it/y73tdg2l0u0d1.png?width=1226&format=png&auto=webp&s=20271376e105b74935937a8247591caf37ec647a

Journey Mark Eliyahu Fingerstyle Guitar guitar tabs download as PDF on: https://paidtabs.com/search/MqyX8SQ_sGA
Click here for a free preview of the score (first page)
This score has 4 PDF pages
Credit: this score was transcribed/uploaded by @SmtFINGERSTYLE
If you cannot find the score, it might be because of a copyright issue. Click on "Request" button at PaidTabs.com to request and get the score.

Blues Rock Jam guitar tabs download as PDF and Guitar Pro on: https://paidtabs.com/search/YCcRmnGFQ6o
Click here for a free preview of the score (first page)
This score has 4 PDF pages
Credit: this score was transcribed/uploaded by @GaboQuintero
If you cannot find the score, it might be because of a copyright issue. Click on "Request" button at PaidTabs.com to request and get the score.

Hey guys! I'm looking for a study partner mainly for the speaking session. My free practice test score for this section was between 16 and 19 and I wanna try to improve to at least 24 - 26 before I take the test.

So, I currently have a 9 but I really shouldn't. I have had quite a few late orders, and somehow still at a 9.
My conclusion is that the "comparing your gig to others in your field" part of the score calculation must make a huge difference. My prices are cheaper and my delivery time is faster. (Which is how I got so behind, still my f-up though of course)
If the SS made any sense, mine should not be a 9, because of the late orders and a few cancellations as well.
But here's what the help article on SS says, at the very top of the article: "Each Gig’s history is examined to determine an individual score, relative to other freelancers."
So, the areas of SS evaluation are "client satisfaction, effective communication, conflict-free orders, order cancellations, delivery time, and value for money."
If you are stuck at a lower SS, then you're caught in the loop that now you can't get new orders, so now you can't change your score, so now you can't get new orders...
BUT. What you can change, is "delivery time, and value for money."
I'm curious if people changing this in their gig could help. Because, isn't it also possible that lowering your prices changes who your "competition" is according to the AI / algorithm?
This is all just my conjecture. But, I wanted to post about it in case it could help someone who needs it. NOT because I support people lowering their prices or delivery time.
Someone with consistently great service, who hasn't been late, or disappointed their clients, deserves a 9 far more than me. But, Fiverr's "delivery time" metric might honor a fast delivery window over an on-time delivery. And they are clearly pushing "value for money" as it's one of the SS factors.
I am curious to get others' opinions. Again this is me having a lot of empathy for people who are objectively offering better but their score is falling - I think it's time to learn how to game the system and fight dirty if needed, because obviously it isn't being fair to you.
(Now time for me to go finish that late order!!)

Terminal Show Only Guitar Solo guitar tabs download as PDF and Guitar Pro on: https://paidtabs.com/search/oVjtcTZmVCM
Click here for a free preview of the score (first page)
This score has 2 PDF pages
Credit: this score was transcribed/uploaded by @GaboQuintero
If you cannot find the score, it might be because of a copyright issue. Click on "Request" button at PaidTabs.com to request and get the score.

Hi anglers,
Hope everyone is doing well. I started playing this game 3-4 months ago and I was instantly hooked (no pun indented). I really enjoy the experience, the graphics and all the effort put by the devs in the details.
Like most people, I searched for a wiki and (I know there was a similar post a few weeks back), I was a bit disappointed that there isn't a proper one. I know of the community sheets, the discord channel and, obviously, Reddit. But I wanted a place where I can easily search all the information.
So a couple a months back I started working on a wiki for the game. It actually started as a weekend challenge where I wanted to discover all locations in each reserve and create some high resolution maps for each.
Anyway, to keep it short and sweet, I created COTW: The Angler Wiki (https://theangler.org). Most of it is personal effort, adding to the wiki as I discovered the game. But I have been using the community sheets when it comes to hook sizes & ranks. All sources have been listed and credit given where due.
I created the maps manually and challenged myself to discover all locations before publishing these. At the moment I'm working on an interactive version of the maps, but the app still requires some work.
This is a personal project where I learn as I work on it, so I would really appreciate any feedback the community has. I hope you find it useful.
Mostly I think this would be useful for people that aren't keen on using Google Sheets or don't use Discord (I'm in this category).
Disclaimer: I'm not looking to promote the website as I have no monetary gain. I'm just trying to share some helpful information and I hope this message doesn't go against rule 2. If so, please feel free to delete this. Thank you.

I'm confused about when to use a credit card (CC) versus a debit card (DC). People usually say to use a credit card for most things because it's better, but I recently found out my credit score goes up and down between 750 and 780, even though I always pay off my full balance on time, not just the amount on my statement. Now I hear I should pay the statement balance on time instead, because having no balance might be bad for my credit score. They also say I shouldn't use more than 30% (some say 10%) of my credit limit, which seems weird if I'm supposed to use my credit card for everything.
So, I have a couple of questions:

1. When should I use a credit card and when should I use a debit card?
2. What's the right percentage of my credit limit to use? 30%, 10%, or something else?

Also feel free to provide examples.
Thanks in advance!

For anyone who feels lost trying to apply for accommodations on the MCAT, you are not alone! I will try to keep this short with as much information as possible. Please feel free to DM me with any personal questions!
Accommodation History

• Junior year of HS, my ACT tutors recommended I get a neuropsychological evaluation for support for extra time on the ACT due to clear signs of ADHD and testing struggles.
• Received full 2 day neuropsych eval outlining my ADHD and testing struggles.
• Received time & a half on all standardized tests (SAT, ACT)
• Received time & a half on all college assessments.

First MCAT Attempt - Normal Timing
I took the MCAT with no accommodations on 6/17/23. I scored below 500 (which was not consistent with my practice exams, but I remember being extremely nervous on test day, really running out of time, and only being able to guess on the math questions because I had no time to attempt them).
Reasons For Not Originally Attempting To Apply For Accommodations:
AAMC requires a neuropsych eval that has not expired within 4 years. My eval had just expired. It is pretty expensive and time consuming to get this done.
Didn't want to spend the time and money on a new neuropsych eval.
AAMC accommodation process seemed tedious and intimidating. I almost felt like I would be using my time better by studying for the MCAT instead of working on the application.
The stigma surrounding ADHD/receiving extra time on tests - I think I wanted to try to "overcome" my disability because of the fear of being judged..Especially when thinking about how doctors don't receive extra time in the real world. However, I can confidently say that there is no reason to feel judged for finding what works best for you as an individual and as a test taker, especially in order to "level the playing field". And we all know the MCAT is not comparable to real life emergency situations.
Important Resources/Documents I Submitted When Applying for Accommodations:

• Received a new neuropsychological evaluation.
  • As I said before, this can be extremely costly. Unfortunately, I do think this is absolutely necessary.
    • AAMC posted this Lower-Cost Evaluation Option for those who cannot afford pricey testing: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/university-clinics
• Submitted previous neuropsych eval from 2017.
• I attended the same school from Kindergarten - 12th grade. I reached out to them and asked if they kept my report cards and notes from teachers throughout my academic career. I chose quotes from teachers that highlighted my ADHD-like tendencies throughout my time at the school.
• Reached out to the ACT to have them send my approval of taking the ACT with extra time.
• Submitted my ACT score when I tested with normal time & after testing with extra time (to show improvement)
  • a screenshot of your score is fine, just make sure your name is shown somewhere in the screenshot.
• Letters from High School + College explaining proof of receiving accommodations.

What I applied for (Applied on 10/24/23):

• Standard Time & 50% (This means testing over 2 days)
• Stop-The-Clock Breaks
• Extended Section Breaks (Only get one 10 min break per day when testing over 2 days)

First Decision Received by AAMC: (11/28/23)

• Approval for Standard Time + 25% (testing over 2 days)
• Stop-The-Clock breaks (30 min per testing day)
• Extra 5 minutes of break time for a total of 15 minutes, as opposed to 10 mins.

Wrote a Reconsideration Letter on behalf of myself & had my evaluator write a reconsideration letter.
Submitted this reconsideration letter on 12/22/23
Received Final Decision & Approval of What I Initially requested on 01/20/24.
This was a really long post and an extremely long journey. While I am extremely grateful that I have all these resources to share with you, I acknowledge that every situation is different. Please don't give up if you truly feel you deserve certain accommodations. The MCAT does not define you!
Good Luck & feel free to message me with any questions!!

Hi Everyone! I've been getting some DM's after the score release thread yesterday, and it seems like it might be helpful for some to hear my experience with the test, so here we go.
BACKGROUND: I'm a US MD student at a T20 who has done pretty well academically, but certainly not top of the class in anything.
THIRD YEAR: Throughout clerkships, I used a pretty standard way for studying for every shelf exam. I would do all of the anki found within the most up-to-date version of the AnKing step 2 deck, did all the Uworld for the clerkship once, re-did all of my wrongs on uworld, then took as many CMS's for that subject as I could. I'd throw in a couple review videos from Emma Holliday and Divine here and there, but overall this was the setup. Generally scored about 85th percentile or so on those, and ended up scoring 74% on this first pass of uworld.
DEDICATED: Gave myself 5 weeks to study for it just to have a little more flexibility in how hard I went each day. On average I bet I spent around 8 hours studying each day, except for practice test days where it was more like 12ish.
Anki: I reset the step 2 AnKing deck at the very beginning of dedicated and set the due date for two days before my test. This came out to ~800-1200 review cards/day, which I mainly did at the gym while on the treadmill or in between sets. I also made anki cards for my wrong answers on Uworld and NBME's, which came out to about 800 cards total.
Practice Questions: Uworld is still king. I did around 80-120 questions/day on timed testing mode nearly every day that I was not taking a practice test. I would do all of these questions in a row in the morning and review them later in the afternoon at lunch. For reviews, I would honestly skim through the ones I got correct unless there was a knowledge gap, and read through everything on those I got wrong + make an anki card. Ended up getting through 45% and scoring 85% on this. Only other practice questions I relied on were the AMBOSS high yield risk factors, ethics, 200 concepts, and vaccine/screening blocks, which I did during my first week of dedicated.
Practice Tests: Do as many of these as you can. Both UWSA's and NBME's are great, but if you're in a bind and can't do both, I would focus on the NBME's since questions seem more alike to those seen on the test. I also tried my best to take and review the tests on the same day so I had a better recolleciton of my thinking during questions, but idk if this helped that much and it was brutal getting through on some days. Here's the order I did them and my scores:
NBME 9: 244 (35 days out), NBME10: 253 (28 days out), NBME11: 260 (21 days out), UWSA 1: 260 (18 days out), UWSA 3: 255 (13 days out), Old New Free 120: 91% (11 days out), NMBE13: 264 (10 days out), NBME14: 261 (7 days out), UWSA 2: 268 (5 days out).
I did these in this order based off the recommendation of some friends who had taken the exam previously, but I don't think there's a right answer. I also didn't take NBME 12 because I heard horror stories (I'm just a scared little guy) or the old old Free 120 since I heard it wasn't super representative at this point. SUPER IMPORTANT BOLDED POINT - I would normally take 1-2 days following my practice tests doing uworld specifically on the areas that were weaker based on my test result. I think doing this really helped keep things efficient.
Podcasts: Divine Intervention and Emma Holliday are the truth. For DI I listened to the rapid review series (there's a good spotify playlist if you type in "divine intervention rapid review") and the QI episodes. I also listened to all the Emma Holliday episodes by the end of dedicated. I mostly did this passively while exercising or cooking.
Day before test: This video right here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJgjMZk8\_To) is sweet. I followed a lot of the tips and found them helpful. Waking up early at 5 am and exercising helped a lot in terms of sleeping and calming my nerves. I also did NOTHING to study that day and recommend you do too. If you have to do something, try to keep it relatively light.
Day of Test: Got to the testing center half an hour early. I also had plenty of water with me and tons of different protein bars (shoutout kirkland brand protein bars) which I ate from during each break. The video I linked recommends having just a small cup of coffee before the exam to keep nerves stable, but if you're like me and a straight up caffeine junky you can do what I did and take caffeine pills before and during the test. I ended up taking one (200 mg) right before, another (200 mg) after three blocks, and a final (200 mg) after six blocks. Yeah I know that's a lot stop looking at me like that. For breaks I took my first after two blocks, one after the third, a longer one after the fourth, one after the sixth, and a final short one after the seventh. I will bold the following because I think this is what gives people an edge on test day, try to poop before the test begins. Nothing worse than thinking about that while trying to perform. Other than that, just be nice to the testing center folks.
OTHER STUFF: Try your best not to burn yourself out studying. Only you know what your capacity is, so strive towards maxing that out and no more than that no matter what those around you say. Also, try your best to eat healthy and exercise at least 3 days a week. Doesn't matter how you exercise, but just getting some movement is super helpful. I found going to the gym and mixing in anki was effective and efficient, but you do what's best for you. Last thing, try to find a hobby you can do at night after you're done studying. Mine was video games and seeing friends, but you do whatever makes you happy.
FINAL THOUGHTS: This test sucks man. It's long, the questions can be vague, and its stressful. That said it's also doable (especially compared to Step 1). The most important part is just doing your studying consistently and keeping yourself sane. That's easier said than done, but its definitely possible to do it. In the end, a lot of what happened in my case was just the form I got falling into my strengths, but being consistent with your studying and working on your weak areas through Uworld sets you up to be lucky.
tl;dr: 80-120 uworld questions/day, reset step 2 anking and set due date to near test date, take NBME's and UWSA's, hit weak areas, find a stress reliever, be cool to yourself, poop before test.
Put the word out that we all back up. Hope this helps someone.

As the last orange light of day drained from the sky, the living dead in Club Vlad rose. Max the skeleton and Jessie the…not skeleton…sewed up the gaping Y-shaped incision on Dom’s chest under Merrick’s direct supervision. Dom sat there, feeling nothing, thinking nothing. He’d woken with a headache and a feeling of cold, and even now, he could feel the dull throb above his left eye. It felt like someone was tearing his brain apart with a fork. He had told Merrick, and Merrick had nodded sadly. “Is my brain rotting?”
“Most likely,” Merrick had said.
There was a certain peace in the idea of losing his cursed humanity. As Merrick had said, he would feel no pain, know no quandaries. He would live only for the night and for his master. On the other hand, watching someone like Matt sit and stare into the distance, drool coursing down his chin and nothing happening behind his dead eyes, scared Dom. He didn’t want to be a braindead idiot. He didn’t care about keeping his emotions, he just wanted to function.
Like Merrick.
There wasn’t much he could do, however. He was dead and that was the end of it.
Once Dom was patched up and dressed in a pair of jeans and a hoodie, Merrick called his children before him. “I have done my best to love and protect all of you,” he began. “Jessie, you were miserable with your grandmother, were you not?”
“Yes,” Jessie said tonelessly.
“You were depressed, bipolar, and cut yourself. Now you’re happy.”
“Yes,” she replied again.
“Joe, you were a two bit nobody staring down a ten year stretch in jail.”
“Yes.” Thin yellow liquid dripped from his nose.
“But now you are free.”
“Yes.”
“You appreciate what I’ve done for you.”
“Yes.”
Merrick flashed then, slamming his fist onto the arm of his wheelchair. “Then why do you keep fucking up? The police were here earlier. They have messages between you and Jessie. I told both of you to delete those. Then I find out that you bit someone and turned them despite my orders. We have an endless supply of blood here but you still went off on your own. How many are there?”
“Just one,” Joe said.
“Are you being honest with me?”
“Yes.”
Merrick sagged back in his chair, looking somehow older. “Joe, take Matt and go to her. Bring her back here before she causes any more problems. God alone knows how many people she’s changed. Too many vampires without a father will bring heat on us, and you know what happens in that case? We get pieces of wood shoved in our chests.”
Turning to Dom, Merrick said, “I have a job for you and Jessie. We’re nearly out of embalming fluid. You haven’t had your first dose and the rest of us are starting to get ripe as well. I have a contact at a funeral home. He texted earlier that the order he placed on my behalf has come in. I want you to pick it up and to pay him.”
Dom had never been picked for anything in his whole life. No one had ever wanted him on their team and no one had ever placed their trust in him the way Merrick was now. He was honored, proud, and would do anything to not let Merrick down.
“That cop who came here might be a problem,” Merrick went on. “We may have to deal with him, but we’ll leave that for another night. In any case, I want this place cleaned from top to bottom. If the police come, I want them to see nothing out of the ordinary.”
Now that everyone had their marching orders, they dispersed. Merrick handed Dom an evelope stuffed with cash, and Dom slipped it into the pocket of his hoodie. The other team - Joe and Matt - left, while the remaining vampires began tidying up.
A fleet of vehicles waited in the parking lot behind Club Vlad. Dom and Jessie took a black pedo van with no back windows. They drove in silence, the radio off. Dom did not want to hear music, nor did he wish to speak to Jessie. Their kinship was one of blood and circumstance, not one of words and emotions. He had no questions for her and wished to answer none of his own. The only thoughts he had were of the mission ahead and of the growing pain in his skull. He thought of the staring stupid Matt, of the decayed Max, and a shiver went down his spine.
What was left of his humanity recoiled at the idea of becoming like them.
The pain grew hotter, more intense. He forced it away and focused on driving.
The funeral home was on North Allen Street, next to a restaurant called Pepperjack’s. A tall, white house with dark shutters and a sign out front, it looked like a quiet, peaceful place. “Pull around back,” Jessie said.
Dom pulled the van around back and parked under a balcony, killing the headlights. They got out and went to the back door, Jessie in the lead. He assumed that she had done this before and that the seller would recognize her. She knocked, and a few moments later, the door opened. A youngish man with a shaved head appeared, wearing an apron and gloves. He saw them and tensed a little. Dom could smell, rather than sense, his fear, and his throat panged with thirst. “Come on,” the man said quickly. He stepped aside and allowed them to enter. Dom noticed that he walked behind them, wary of putting his back to them. “Do you have the money?”
“Do you have our order?” Jessie countered.
“Yes,” the man said, “I’m really risking my neck for this. They don’t just give embalming fluid away, you know. They keep track of it and if they realize I’m over ordering, someone from the state’s going to come down here and check.”
He led them into an embalming room. Three boxes sat on a table. Dom gave the man his money, and he and Jessie carried the boxes outside, loading them into the van. The whole time they were there, the man was edgy, like he was afraid they were going to attack him. Dom would be a liar if he said that the hot smell of the man’s blood didn’t excite him. Perhaps once his brain rotted away, he wouldn’t be able to control himself, but for now, he could.
A lightning bolt of pain shot through his head and he nearly dropped the last box onto the ground.
Once the man was paid, Dom and Jessie drove back to Club Vlad. In fifteen minutes, they were drinking side by side from two passed out partygoers, their reward for a job well done.
Meanwhile, across the city, Joe and Matt weren’t doing as well. They were standing outside of Heather’s apartment. Joe, slightly annoyed (anger being another emotion vampires could feel, along with fear) pounded on the door. He knew she was in there; he could smell the putrid odor of decay. “Let us in,” he said. “We won’t hurt you.”
Joe could barely remember changing her. He didn’t mean to, it just…happened. Like an unwanted pregnancy. You can bite someone as much as you want and drink as much as you want, but if you take too much at once and they die, you get the vampire equivalent of a baby. Joe liked the hunt. It was exciting. Having his meals brought to him Club Vlad didn’t arouse the same level of excitement. It was like shooting an animal tied to a tree. Or hiring a prostitute instead of wooing someone. No real satisfaction to it.
That was probably his greatest downfall. He had lured Jessie the same way, though Merrick was indeed interested in rescuing her from her grandmother. People you have saved obey just as well as people with no brains.
He felt fluid on his upper lip and sniffed. “Come on, let us in,” he said.
No response.
He looked at Matt and nodded to the door. Together, they rammed their shoulders against it. It shook in its frame. They were both dead and weak, but modern American architecture is even weaker, and the door eventually slammed open. The apartment beyond was dark, messy, and reeked of death. They searched high and low, and eventually found Heather huddled in a corner, trying to hide. She was naked save for a pair of panties, her body bloated and beginning to turn black. Her skin hung from her frame and her eyes were filled with blood and fear. It was a wonder no one had called the police yet. The smell was overpowering. “We’re here to help,” he said. “You have to come with us.”
She shook her head and trembled. Maybe she remembered that he was the one who did this to her. Maybe her memories had rotted away. Those were usually the first to go. Then your emotions, then your personality. Finally, your capacity for higher reasoning. “I’m sorry I did this to you,” he said. That was a lie. He was not remorseful. Nor was he proud, for that matter. It just happened. Like rain. “But I want to help you. We can fix you.”
No amount of coaxing or conjoling could induce her to move. Joe weighed his options. He doubted anyone would call the cops even if they heard the door coming down - people who lived in places like this rarely called the cops, which helped Joe and his cause immensely. Even so, there was the possibility. Every minute they spent here was a minute that something could go wrong, and Joe had a lot to lose.
So, too, did Merrick.
Giving up, Joe took out his cellphone and called Merrick. “She refuses to come,” he said simply.
The line was quiet for a moment, then Merrick’s voice came back. Cold. Calculating. “Then do what you must.”
That was the go ahead.
Hanging up, Joe looked around the apartment and found a wooden chair in the kitchen. He lifted it over his head and slammed it on the counter, shattering it into a million pieces. He selected the longest, sharpest, and sturdiest looking one. He went back into the room and directed Matt to hold her down. She fought, kicked, and spat, but she was weaker than even they were. They had been embalmed. She hadn’t.
Matt pinned her hands above her head and Joe straddled her. Animal terror filled her eyes and she whipped her head from side to side. Joe lifted the makeshift stake with both hands, and brought it down as hard as he could, driving it deep into her heart. Her eyes bulged from their sockets and a high, otherworldly scream ripped from her throat. She bucked, thrashed, and kicked her feet. Her resistance began to ebb away until she was twitching…until she was still.
Heather from OKCupid was dead.
Truly dead.
Joe couldn’t help wondering what it was like.
Pulling the stake out, he tossed it aside and got to his feet, Matt doing likewise. A soul petrifying scream might be cause for even the tightest of lips to start talking. “Let’s go,” he said. And together, he and Matt fled, leaving the poor, dead body of Heather behind.
***
As it turned out, one of Heather’s neighbors did call the cops. At 10;13pm, Vanessa Rodregiez arrived with two patrolmen and found the front door of Apartment 237 knocked down. Guns drawn, they entered, Vanessa at the head. The first thing she noticed was the smell. It jammed itself into her nostrils, shoved its tongue down her throat, and violated her - all without even buying her dinner first.
Vanessa hadn’t been at this as long as her buddy Bruce had, but she knew a dead, rotting body when she smelled one. They searched the premises, and sure enough, they found a vic in the bedroom, lying in the gap between the bed and the wall; it looked like the former had been moved, perhaps in a struggle. Vanessa knelt down to check the vic’s pulse, but stopped.
There was no need.
The vic - who looked like a female but could have been an overweight male - hadn’t had a pulse in a very long time.
Examining the body, Vanessa found a wound in the chest, just above the heart. Black, stinking goo leaked from it, and Vanessa gagged. She fisted her hand to her mouth, retched, and then ran for the kitchen sink. Her partner for the night, Jim Walsh, stared down at the stiff before him, and his face turned a sickly shade of green. He avoided puking because he didn’t nose fuck the wound like Vanessa had, but he wasted no time in getting out there, dry heaving in the hallway where the air was somewhat fresh.
After leaving her lunch in the sink, Vanessa radioed back to headquarters, and before long, the place was crawling with cops. The assistant medical examiner - who had taken over after Ed Harris quit the previous night - knelt over the body and studied it. A solidly built black man with a mustache, his name was Leon and he knew death just as well as his old boss, so when he said the vic had been dead nearly two weeks, Vanessa accepted it.
That begged the question: Who broke in and screamed just now? A relative? The caller clearly heard screaming and peeked out her door to see two males fleeing on foot. Maybe they found the vic and freaked out? Or maybe they were the killers returning to the scene of the crime. After all, the vic had clearly been murdered.
In fact, they found a likely murder weapon. A long sliver of wood soaked in black goo. Blood turns black after a while, but there was something different about this stuff. “What is it?” Vanessa asked Leon.
“I’m not sure,” Leon said and pulled off a pair of Latex gloves he’d donned to examine the vic, “could be blood or…”
“Or what?” Vanessa asked.
“Or something,” Leon said. “Give me a few hours.”
And a few hours it was. Just before 1am, Leon called Vanessa at her desk. “I think you should come down here,” he said.
Fifteen minutes later, Vanessa stood over Leon as he pulled the vic’s chest open with a pair of tweezers. “That’s the heart,” he said, “whoever stabbed her scored a direct hit, but this…this is what concerns me.”
He prodded a furry lump with the tip of his scalpel.
“What is it?” Vanessa asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, “it looks like mold.”
That word - mold - triggered a memory in her brain. “Ed said something about mold last night. He found it in -”
“The Mason boy,” Leon finished.
“Yeah. The one who got up and ran off.”
Leon turned away from Vanessa and looked at the dead woman - for it was a woman. Vanessa got the impression that he didn’t want her to see his expression. “I’ve known Ed ten years. I know something happened last night, but a stiff getting up and walking off? I thought he was confused. Now…I don’t know. That makes two bodies in 24 hours. And get this. The chest wound? It was done post-mortem. I can’t find a cause of death anywhere. Except maybe blood loss but it’s hard to tell at this point. And speaking of blood…”
“What?” Vanessa asked quickly.
“When I opened her stomach up, a whole shit load of blood spilled out. And a lot of it was a lot fresher than she is.”
Vanessa furrowed her brow in confusion. “You mean…?”
“It’s not hers,” Leon said. “I can’t be 100 percent sure until I run tests, but I’d put money on it.”
Vanessa’s head spun with information both new and old. You know that full, heavy feeling you get when a poo is brewing in your guts? That’s kind of what Vanessa was feeling, only in her head instead of her stomach.
Leon was just as mystified by the whole thing as she was and stayed up late to run a few preliminary tests. By sunrise, he had confirmed that the blood inside of Heather’s stomach was not hers. In fact, it had come from at least three different sources. “Is it human?” Vanessa asked over the phone.
“Yes,” Leon said, sounding troubled, “it’s human.”
In the cobalt hour before sunrise, Vanessa sat at her desk and tried to piece this whole thing together. They had:

1. A corpse that (allegedly) woke up and dipped out
2. A dead girl who’d been stabbed in the heart with a piece of wood after somehow ingesting the blood of three different people.
3. Some missing kids
4. Oh, and both bodies - the girl’s and the runaway corpses’ - had the same weird fungus in their heart cavities.

All of this - even the missing kids, Vanessa felt - was related. She just didn’t know how. The only answer that half way fit was that both of those bodies were vampires. Like…what’s a vampire but a dead body that gets up and walks around at night? And how do you kill a vampire? Why, you drive a piece of wood through its heart.
The idea that vampires were real was dumb, but the more she turned it over in her mind, the more she became convinced that it was at least an option. A lot of things people thought were fantastic and made up turned out to be real, so why not vampires too?
Shortly after 8, Bruce came in. He was just sitting down when Vanessa came in and slapped her report on the desk. “Buckle up, bitch,” she said, “things just got weirder.”
He stared up at her with one of those grumpy - but cute -expressions he was so good at putting on. As he read, however, his brow knitted. “Jesus,” he muttered to himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a weary sigh.
“I have a theory - kind of,” Vanessa said, “but I don’t want to say it.”
“You might as well,” Bruce said. “It can’t be more kooky than reality these days.”
“Okay,” Vanessa started, “what if - and I’m just thinking out loud here - what if there are vampires in Albany?”
She expected Bruce to give her a dirty look, but he chewed it over, actually taking it seriously. “And those missing boys are victims?” he asked finally.
“Yeah,” Vanessa said. “That girl’s been dead two weeks. Maybe she bit Dominick Mason and he came back for revenge after realizing he was cursed to be a goddamn shit sucking vampire forever.”
Bruce nodded. “Yeah, but who turned her?”
“I don’t know,” Vanessa said, “I don’t know.”
***
Before dawn painted the eastern sky, Merrick Garvis sat in his chamber like a withered king, a mess of IVs hooked into his arms and neck. The vault was silent save for the soft noise of the machines as they filtered out the old embalming fluid and replaced it with new embalming fluid. Embalming fluid always made him spacy, like a drug. The others had gone first, and even now lay near comatose around him like addicts in an opium den.
As far as he knew, Merrick was the oldest vampire in the world, perhaps, even, the oldest vampire to ever live. Though he was not fully honest with Dom, he was not lying when he said that vampires rotted like any other dead thing. Conditions considered, you had a few weeks tops if left untreated. There may be living vampires in remote corners of Egypt or the northern most reaches of Russia, where the climate preserved dead things, but unless you made it to one of those places, you were pretty well fucked.
Merrick was not a proud man, nor was he concerned with saving face - the dead have no need for that. He was being truthful when he said that he feared death. What’s more, he feared being helpless. Deep down, vampires are people, and people don’t exactly have the greatest track record with caring for their infirm. He read once that the first sign of a civilization was a broken leg that had healed, as it showed that someone stayed with and cared for a fellow human long enough for them to get well again. In Merrick’s opinion, that was true…and thus there was no civilization. Merrick was fifty-one when he died in the year 1982. In his lifetime, he had seen The Great Depression, World War II, and a million small acts of cruelty and selfishness in between. He’d seen beggars starving in the streets, abused children shuffled out of sight and out of mind, and disdain for the poor and the weak.
The living were awful, and the living dead were no different. Once their humanity rotted away, they cared only about filling their stomachs. They were like ticks - they would drink until their bellies literally ruptured…and then keep on drinking.
That left him in a precarious position. He was old, his body was weak. He couldn’t stand unassisted and if left to fend for himself, he would decay into a pile of bones within days. He would be cursed to lay in one spot for all eternity, aware and hungry, little more than a ghost tethered to a black and still beating heart.
He refused to let that happen to him. Thus, he had created a family, a clan of vampires loyal to him and to him alone. He did this through acts of simple kindness and understanding…but also through deception. He knew, for instance, how to preserve the brain. He’d figured out how to do it early on - you pickle it. Like a fetus preserved in a jar. He sawed off the top of his own head and filled it with a special solution that kept his brain - and his intelligence - intact. It slowly drained out through the nose and ears in a thin, yellow liquid, but it worked well enough. He couldn’t save everything, however, and had lost vital things in the process, such as most of his human memories, his sense of humor, and some motor functions. He shared this secret with only Joe, and a few others before, because he needed a strong captain. He kept the others in the dark because vampires - like people - are easier to control when they don’t think for themselves.
Right about now, however, Merrick was beginning to regret sharing the formula with even Joe. Joe had brought him nothing but grief. Joe, you see, could think for himself. He could make decisions. He could go behind Merrick’s back. Joe had something called free will, and free will is a worse affliction than vampirism. Free will is messy, free will is dangerous.
Free will could very well turn Merrick into a pile of bones.
That was, of course, if they weren’t discovered first. Joe had made several mistakes lately, not least of which was the turning of Heather. Sitting there in the predawn hour, attended by Tony, his gay bartender and human familiar, Merrick decided to have Joe killed. There are only two ways to kill a vampire: The stake and the flame. The latter seemed somehow appropriate in this case. After Joe, there would be no more captains, only him, one father with absolute power. That was how it had to be. One man, one vision. Democracies didn’t work. That was especially clear today. Everyone was so divided and nothing ever got done. If the humans had one strong leader, they might go in the wrong direction, but at least they would go somewhere. Instead, they stagnated.
Merrick didn’t particularly look forward to killing Joe, but it had to be done. To protect the family. To protect him.
And Merrick would do anything…anything at all…to protect himself.
***
Vampires.
Bruce kept coming back to that single wor, hoping each time that he would chuckle at the absurdity of it.
But he never did.
Did that mean he believed it? Not necessarily, but damn it, he considered it a possibility, and that alone was enough to make him feel like a fucking clown. All the evidence he had pointed to vampires, but then again, it might point to other things as well. Like aliens.
But let’s say the whole vampire thing was real. Who, like Vanessa asked, was patient zero? Who started this whole mess?
A name came to mind.
Merrick Garvis.
He had not had time to check into Garvis the previous day, but by God, he was going to do it now. He ran his name and social through the system and everything seemed to check out. Merrick Garvis was born on June 31, 1963 in -
Wait a minute. Weren’t there only 30 days in June?
Bruce checked, and there were, indeed, only 30 days in the month of June. Hm. Bruce did a little digging and found something out. Before 1987, social security numbers weren’t issued at birth. You had to sign up, using other forms of ID. Merrick Garvis applied for his in April 1984 and the date of birth on his state issued driver’s license was June 31. Bruce spent an hour on the phone with the DMV and learned that they had never issued a license to a Merrick Garvis. He then spoke to the Social Security Administration, and after much wrangling and frustration, he managed to get a photocopy of the license Garvis used to get his social security number. It was dated 1983.
The face staring back at him was almost exactly the same face he’d seen at Club Vlad, except maybe a touch less stiff and waxy. Though not as rough looking, there was no way in hell Garvis was 20 in that picture. It had to be a fake,
Bruce thought back to the events of the previous two days. Missing bodies, staked corpses, hearts that still beat after death.
Vampires didn’t seem like such a crazy explanation.
And if anyone was a fucking vampire around here, it was Merrick Garvis.

Hey guys,
When I first applied to law school, I was rejected from all of them. I have now been accepted to several Ontario law schools for the class of 2024/25 and will be attending in September.
As you all probably know…this was not an easy process. I was never a genius at this stuff; I was just your typical candidate with regular stats and work ethic, normal volunteer experience, and decent writing skills. I spent hours with tutors, talking to admissions staff on the phone, and learning from others who were accepted. At this point, I would definitely consider myself very knowledgeable about law school applications. I know exactly what the admissions committee wants to see in a candidate.
Applications are due in November. This is a good time to start building your application - which includes volunteer experience, resume, LSAT score, personal statements, etc. Don't be like me years ago and think you can pull all of this together in a couple months. There is no secret ingredient to getting an acceptance, but there is a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to approach it. In other words, there is a strategy. Feel free to PM me if you want to learn from my mistakes and strengthen your application.
And good luck to anyone in this current cycle!

Hi all! Celebration post here as Tuesday saw me earning my PMP first try with an AT/AT/AT score!
I want to thank this subreddit as I wouldn't have pursued it without all the great advice here; after a layoff a few months back I wanted to get it for better competitiveness in the market, and this sub made it so much easier.
I took mine in person after a few too many online horror stories of cancelled exams, but I also live in a major metro area where there are multiple in easy access range.
Like most here, I used Andrew Ramdayal's course on Udemy for my 35 hours; it also helped a ton with both the mindset & understanding how to do the application - even though I had to do the app twice, as my first wasn't formatted the way they like. Then I promptly got audited, but I was ready for the possibility and that only delayed me a day~!
Besides Andrew R, I found a few free practice tests through here, and then used the one in Andrew's course the day before my exam as my 'final' practice test. Combined with thoroughly reviewing what I missed both the night before & during the exam commute, I felt pretty good going in - and at the end of section 1 when I saw I'd flagged way less for review than I thought, I started feeling increasingly confident.
In the end I finished with a whole hour to spare, and once I saw the provisional pass promptly celebrated with delicious junk food.
Thank you to everyone here for all the help!
To future hopefuls - 1) Andrew R's Udemy course for sure; try using private browsing to get a discount code to make it even more affordable 2) Pop in here every day or two and try to answer the questions people ask for clarification on without seeing the correct answer first - just reading a coupleo f those posts most days helped reinforce & get me thinking in the mindset better 3) Practice exams are your best friend; had I not been trying to save as much money as possible I'd 100% have gotten PMI study hall; just reviewing what you got wrong and why every time will go a huge way to improving.
And you can do it! Don't give up!

In a Celestialsapien arena, two alien figures are summoned to battle for the entertainment of the attending audience.
Rath, an Appoplexian, growls with contempt of the situation he's gotten himself into.
"Lemme tell ya something, Celestialsapien Council, and men and women and children of all ages! Rath does not like being summoned to fight in the middle of Sumo Slammers Seven!" the hulking tiger alien roars.
Blitzwolfer, a Lobean, bares his teeth as he snarls into a defiant howl. He sniffs at the air, and catches the scent of shame off of Rath. Shame masked with unyielding rage like a cheap, oppressive cologne. And he is positively wafting. Blitzwolfer crinkles his nose and furrows his brow at Rath.
"What? What?! What're you lookin' at, pup?! You got a problem with Rath?! Rath's ready to be your problem!" Rath rolls his shoulders with hostility.
"That mouth of yours is going to be your problem, buff boy!" Blitzwolfer lets out a challenging roar, getting into a crouching at-the-ready stance.
"Lemme tell ya somethin', Lobean wolf guy from Luna Lobo! Rath is gonna pummel you in the buff, and you're gonna eat your words in your mouth holes!" Rath spat.
BEGIN!
Blitzwolfer rushes on all fours, claws scraping at the arena floor and jaw hungrily hanging with killer intent. Rath charges with claws extended from his feisty paws.
Rath tackle slams into Blitzwolfer, roaring in his face. "Ursa Major Bodyslam!"
The two spin in the grapple, hurling each other across the arena with a hefty thud. Digging his claws in the floor, Rath charges with an angry grin, while his canine foe leaps aside on his legs. The Appoplexian staggers forward with his grab failed, while the Lobean scores a scratch across his back!
Rath roars, spinning on a foot to swing an arm claw first. He catches air as Blitzwolfer has already several feet leapt over him. He bares his teeth mockingly. Another charge at each other, leading into a clawed grapple!
Rath growls with strain, while Blitzwolfer sneers with his lips curling in a toothy grin. His muzzle splitting into quadruple lobes, he unleashes a harrowing sonic howl!
"DYAAAUGH-!" Rath screamed and recoiled his head back, and as he stumbled back, he scrambled his legs with Blitzwolfer falling atop him. A heavy kick launches the wolf into the wall with a loud slam!
Smacking his jowls together with a lick of his chops, Blitzwolfer rises up and charges again. Ears ringing, Rath can only right himself in time to orient his palm firmly on his foe's face. Swinging his free arm into the wolf's side, his leg strikes into the thinner, taut leg of his opponent.
"Lewodan Elbow Drop!" Rath slams his elbow straight down on Blitzwolfer upper torso. This earns a pained canine shout, and it further angers Rath.
"Now shut your trap!" Rath clamps over Blitzwolfer's maw, hands acting as a makeshift muzzle. Natural instinct kicks in, and the Lobean wriggles his head. Legs kick, and a clawed hand slashes at Rath's torso!
Grabbing hold on his thigh, his prehensile foot starts slashing his claws around before managing to kick the Appoplexian off!
Falling on his back, Rath staggers up and huffs with blinding rage. Blitzwolfer is grinning maliciously, egging him on to attack. He springs upward just as Rath charges, offsetting him and sending him tumbling into the wall. Having enough, Rath roars furiously. One final clash between the two.
Punches are swung from one to another! Their bulky chests make for large targets on each other, littered with scratches and scrapes! Eventually, Rath has him slammed into the wall, raining down body shots with his fists with the Lobean raising his arms to defend. Managing to catch one of Rath's fists, Blitzwolfer's claws begin to dig into his wrists with a growl that rises in fury.
Rath's angry face begins to turn to shock as Blitzwolfer pries his hands from him, chest heaving. Reeling behind the alien tiger into a full nelson, the Lobean's mighty spring legs launch the two into the air.
With a mighty howl at horrendously close proximity, the recoil violently sends Rath high above the air slamming into the floor! With his wolf foe landing claws first on his back, Rath is much too groggy and in pain to retaliate. Large, blue furred arms wrap around the Appoplexian's neck.
Stranglehold. Seconds pass, and a snap is heard.
"You talk too much," Blitzwolfer mocks as he stands upright.
K.O.

Hi,
I run scheduling for a writers center at a college. I'm looking for a way to have my tutors select shifts at the start of the semester. Right now, we've been using a shared Google Sheet with cells for each day and time slot, but we've always had problems with people deleting each others names or picking before they're allowed to (picks are by seniority, one pick day per class year).
All I need is for something to be able to

1. Allow for 2 people to select a shift (tutors work in pairs, each slot is oen hour)
2. Enforce the seniority selection process (Seniors on Monday, Juniors on Tuesday, etc...)
3. Prevent people from overwriting someone's name from a shift or show a shift that's taken as unavailable.

I was considering using a choice eliminator plug-in on Google Forms or just sticking with the Google Sheet but neither have been very reliable in my past use. Whatever software or choice I end up using, none of this needs to be student/client-facing. We have separate software for that. I'm using a Mac but have easy access to windows machines and really any platform/OS. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions (preferably free, but flexible).
Thank you!

Hey All,
Let me preface this by saying I was always a crappy student in school. Was never motivated, slacked off as much as I could, and pulled more allnighters the night before a test than I would have liked to - just to get an average score because I didn't study more in advance.
With that being said, I did officially pass the PMP on my first try on 5/14/24 with AT in all 3 target areas! I wanted to share my advice as I know when I first started studying I felt lost and wasn't sure if I was wasting time studying the wrong materials.
1.) PMI Study Hall is THE NUMBER ONE thing you should be studying. The questions on the test very closely mimic study hall. Look at the reasoning of why you got questions wrong and memorize the vocabulary as best you can (there are some vocab questions on the exam). As everyone else notes, the mindset is key. Caveat: use the expert questions as additional practice, but try not to confuse yourself with the explanations - some of them are contradictory to the PMP mindset. However, I wouldn't say skip them all together as some people suggest because it is additional practice. I did find there were some VERY challenging questions on the exam and maybe those were expert level. It's hard to say.
2.) Don't waste too much time/money spreading yourself too thin between all of the different study materials. This may sound controversial but - AR Mindset, 3rd rock notes, different PMP programs you can find online and pay for - keep in mind all of these people are making money off of you and of course they're going to tell you that their program is the best, no one ever fails after taking their course (BS - you can find plenty of people here that failed after meticulously studying AR's mindset course). My biggest problem with people who make their own "PMP Study Course" is that they're making up the questions themselves and you're not getting an accurate representation of what the exam will look like. The most helpful thing from these programs is probably the mindset - but again it could lead you astray. I would emphasize that PMI study hall was the single most helpful tool I used.
3.) David McChlaclan's youtube videos - primarily 200 agile questions, 150 waterfall, and the 7th edition PMP questions videos helped a lot - and helped break up the monotony of reading through Study Hall content every day. I would constantly rotate between study hall questions and then watch david's videos and follow along when my brain started to fry for the day.
With that being said, the questions he goes over are most likely generated himself or outside of PMI - but SOME of them look similar to the questions you'll find on the test - and his explanations really help you master the mindset of eliminating bad answers and narrowing them down to the right choice. He also really helps fill in the knowledge gap of the AGILE questions - which as many people state here on Reddit - are a huge portion of the exam. The agile knowledge and vocabulary around agile processes is KEY.
Side note: I specifically remember many questions about deliverables, and the stakeholders rejecting deliverables at the end of a project: what to do, what SHOULD the PM have done, etc. Maybe take a note of that, and how it relates to acceptance criteria of deliverables.
2nd Side Note: I never once referred to the PMBOK 7th edition guide or Agile Practice Guide Books - again I thought reading through these was like watching paint dry and felt it was a huge waste of time instead of just diving right into study hall and YouTube and cross referencing things when I didn't understand them (google searches for definitions, etc.).
Make sure you're not just memorizing the answers in PMI Study Hall (there are about 700 questions total) - mix it up between the practice questions and practice tests to make sure you're getting a well rounded understanding of all of the material.
TIme Management: This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I was taking too much time deciding between answer choices and reviewing answers for the first 2 sections of the test. This left me with 65 minutes for the last 60 questions and I REALLY busted through the last section as quickly as possible - I ended up with about 7 minutes to review my flagged questions for this section and got some peace of mine before submitting everything. With that being said, make sure you manage your time well from the beginning - mental fatigue really does start to wear on you.
Last rant: the power of the internet now is amazing. There is so much good content on youtube and people giving away free information - and that was a huge contributor to my success - especially when concepts in Study Hall/the explanations were confusing.
I never expected to pass AT/AT/AT - (I studied maybe 3 months total with 1-2 hours a day and sometimes not studying for days in a row - the last 2 weeks I turned it up hardcore and studied 3-8 hours a day depending on my mental capacity for the day). But with consistency and really dedicating yourself, it's possible. I thought the exam overall was CHALLENGING, some easy questions but some very tricky ones.
I just wanted to post this to say THANK YOU for all the helpful information and references to helpful study material. My success wouldn't have been possible without the Reddit PMP community. I'm very glad I'll never have to take that 4 hour, anxiety-inducing test again.