Repeat questions in GS tests

So far I've done GS 2, 3, and 4 and I'm very concerned that there are almost identical questions in physical and biological sections. Is this prevalent throughout the other tests too? and also, the passages for physical sciences and biological sciences are unusually short and tends to be generally pointless. In addition, the questions are very basic and uncritical, usually just chug and plug answers. I'm very suspicious that this is not at all what is representative of the actual AAMC tests. Please tell me if the other tests will continue in this trend.

Originally Posted by aln012

So far I've done GS 2, 3, and 4 and I'm very concerned that there are almost identical questions in physical and biological sections. Is this prevalent throughout the other tests too? and also, the passages for physical sciences and biological sciences are unusually short and tends to be generally pointless. In addition, the questions are very basic and uncritical, usually just chug and plug answers. I'm very suspicious that this is not at all what is representative of the actual AAMC tests. Please tell me if the other tests will continue in this trend.

That's not at all representative of real MCAT passages -- esp. not the new ones. That MIGHT have been close to what it was 10 yrs ago but even that's stretching it I think. The fact is the MCAT has very little plug-n-chug. I'd post an AAMC passage here but I think the AAMC would get all huffy, so here's a Kaplan passage akin to something you might see on an MCAT...

Before birth, the rodent brain is sexually undifferentiated. It is only in the first few days following birth, during a period referred to as the critical period, that the rodent brain differentiates along male or female lines. The hormone testosterone plays a critical role in this development. Specifically, sexual differentiation is determined by the presence of estradiol, an estrogen derivative of testosterone, in certain areas of the brain. Testosterone is converted to estradiol in critical brain cells that contain the enzyme aromatase.

To study the effects of testosterone on the neonatal rodent brain, the following experiments were conducted:


FIGURE

Figure 1
The above research, combined with additional studies, concluded that testosterone has two “organizational” effects on the male rodent brain:

Defeminization
Moderate levels of testosterone-derived estradiol during the critical period are sufficient for defeminization of the brain. Defeminization of the rodent brain results in loss of estrogen positive feedback on LH and FSH secretion and the ensuing loss of cyclicity, as well as loss of female sex behavior.

Masculinization
High levels of estradiol due to high levels of testos- terone during the critical period results in masculinization of the brain. Masculinization leads to the induction of male sex behavior including antagonism towards other males and the mounting of females.