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#151 | |
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Now, there's a few things here. Realize also, that schools will only look at you once. So, if you're waiting for your first ever MCAT score to show up, most schools likely won't send you a secondary until that score is sent to them. But, once your score gets to them...most likely schools will be able to screen you and send you a secondary within a few days. Realize that many school don't even start sending out secondaries until August...regardless of when they got your primary application. Again, the ultimate thing that matters in terms of you getting in at a school is the time they have your primary, secondary, letters, and MCAT score. Also, if you're "re-taking" the MCAT and want them to look at your new score, you're going to have to indicate you're taking it at a future date on AMCAS. Again, schools will only take the time to look at you once. If your primary indicates that you're scheduled to take another MCAT, they're going to wait to look at you when that MCAT score is in. Last year, I took the MCAT, sent in my applications, etc. I got my score and decided prematurely to re-take the MCAT. When I got e-mails from schools telling me they wouldn't look at me until my new score was in...I changed the option on my primary application that showed I was signed up for a new MCAT date. I figured my original score was good enough to be considered on...then if I got an interview, I could mention that I had since re-taken the MCAT and gotten such and such a score. I ended up not re-taking anyway, and just applying with my original score. Just realize what I'm saying here and that you're decision to re-take also comes with a decision of delaying schools from looking at your application for the first time until your new score is reported. Otherwise, the ONLY reason people say "get your primary application in the first date" is because processing times usually increase exponentially after the first few weeks it opens...and then you might be facing even more delays. Other than that, the ONLY thing that matters is getting your secondaries in. Typically, early primary = early secondaries = early interviews. But if you're waiting on MCAT scores or a specific letter of rec. then there's nothing you submit now that's going to matter in terms of schools looking at you. |
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#152 | |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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Edit: so I should coincide my apps so that they are received by the schools by at least as early as when we get our MCAT score (hopefully satisfactory)? Last edited by jerg; 05-31-2012 at 08:28 PM. |
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#153 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 7
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what ya'll get for number 35?
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#154 |
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Senior Member
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PS - content wise similar to AAMC, but very calculation heavy. Had to guess on more than a few
VR - some hard passages, I always suck at verbal BS - Easier than my previous MCAT, besides that one passage. Some passages were easy, but then the questions were a bit tricky. And too many damn random discrete questions. |
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#155 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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Honestly though, vague answer discussion is mostly only not done due to an honour system. I'm sure historically tons and tons of people discuss this MCATs via private streams and means.
Kinda like cannabis; you can puff it really, just don't sell it. |
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#156 |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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Estimation of my score:
PS: 10 VR: 8 BS: 12 Verbal was a nightmare. I couldn't focus and pretty much guessed on the first two passages and then moved on. Got better after that except for another one that I was lost about...
__________________
__________________~~~_______________ If you are not part of the solution, you are either part of the problem or part of the precipitate (or both). |
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#157 |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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#158 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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#159 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 188
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I'm pretty sure the answer was polka dots.
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#160 |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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#161 |
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#162 | |
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I swear that was one of the Question.
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#163 | |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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#164 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 20
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1) But I CANNOT send the AMCAS app before deciding about my MCAT, is that correct? 2) The alternative is to just let things be the way they are, and to take the MCAT on the side just for fun and have that as proof in interviews that I retook it and did better, but not have that the score officially be counted by admissions committees.. Right? Thanks! |
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#165 | |
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2) This is the idea I had last year. I had already submitted my app and reported my score when I decided to sign up for another MCAT. I didn't know how this would effect the process at the time. Once I updated my primary app with the "new date" I had signed up to take the MCAT, I got e-mails from the schools saying "Since you've indicated that you're scheduled to take the MCAT at a later date, we will with-hold sending you a secondary until this time." I don't know if this is how all schools operate, but quickly after I got that e-mail, I changed the notification on my primary and said I had no plans to take a future MCAT. All the secondaries were sent to me soon after that and interviews were offered based off my original MCAT score. My IDEA was to re-take it anyway, not report it, and that at any interviews I had, just "throw it in there" that I got such and such a score and they'd probably add it to my file. I ended up not even taking it again (well, I did today, actually...haha), but I'm fairly certain that if I had taken it, I could have gotten that score added to my file at the three schools I interviewed at and that it may have played a role in my admissions decision. But, to do this, you have to be confident that your original score is going to get you an interview. When I say they only look at you ONCE, I mean, there is only one initial review given in order to decide whether or not to invite you for an interview. After you're interview, most schools are pretty lenient about letting you add things to your file. So, with that being said. By all means, get your primaries in early. Even if you're waiting on an MCAT score, it's one less thing you have to worry about. Just apply to ONE school and send in your primary. That way it'll get processed and your grades will be verified. Once your MCAT scores and letters all added to your primary, you can add 30 schools the next day and they'll "get" your application the same day. Let me know if any of this didn't make sense. Happy to clarify. Still running on adrenaline from today's test. Damn verbal. |
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#166 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 23
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Thought the PS was terrible but that had always been my weak point. Ended up guessing on quite a few, unfortunately, but what can you do.
Verbal I thought was fairly straightforward and simple, but verbal is usually my strong point (reading is my favorite hobby). Bio sciences I think I probably did well on, there were a few questions which have already been discussed that I thought were difficult, but overall not too bad. Overall, if it sucked it sucked, just gotta take it over again and maybe apply next year. The important thing is that it is OVER! Now to go actually start studying for the finals in two weeks and write the lab report due Wednesday...XP |
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#167 |
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Senior Member
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P.S: straightforward but i always get thrown off by conceptual qz =/
V: omg i could not stay focused for the life of me for the ENTIRE section, except when i went to the mall... the third to last and second to last passages were the WORST. I literally put B's straight across the board for both passages bc i ran out of time and could not understand them for the life of me!BS: i came out thinking it was easy, then i went home and wikipediaed 2 qz only to find i got them wrong =(. That *one* passage i straight up spend the last 20 minutes of my exam trying to figure out only to give up and just take the best guesses possible. I never got below a 29 on an AAMC (my AAMC average was 31: 10.9PS 9.6V 10.8 BS), yet now i feel like i got a 9PS 7-8V and 10BS =( looks like my june will be spent studying for a possible retake! |
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#168 |
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I studied really hard for this test.. literally 3 months straight doing very little else.. (besides some masters coursework in pharmacology) Maybe it was the test-day pressure, but I felt like this test was kinda difficult. I took the Kaplan Advanced class and did FL's 1-8 and all AAMC's.
PS- I usually score 12-14 on practice tests... but marked 5-7 questions that I was unsure of. I feel like since I studied so much for it, whenever I had a question I was not 100% sure, I got bogged down.. test-day pressure.. sigh VR- This has always been my weakest section (practice tests range from 7-10), but I feel like I did relatively better on this section than the other sections.. I'm trying not to trust post test emotions, however, since I always end up scoring low when ever I think I did well.. lol BS: Definitely was a little tricky, I marked 7 or so q's but am sure that I was unsure on that many if not a few more. Kaplan FL Average - 34 AAMC FL Average - 34 Anticipated score: PS 11-13 VR 8-11 BS 12-13 Anticipated total score : 31-37.. They say to not trust post-test emotions, but trust the training. I'll be happy if I hit my average of 34. Will be happier if I get a little higher. |
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#169 |
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Haha, we will see. 28-42 is the range I'm guessing, depending on how good or bad my guesses were. Again I'm kind of hoping for a lower score so I can retake and do well.
Yes I thought it was very similar to the AAMC tests. I always answer the discrete questions first so I get to see the passages and put some time in the bank for me to use later. O-chem felt easier, played to my limited strengths, as well as most of bio. PS seemed math intensive but there were several questions where if you rearranged equations you could get a quick answer. |
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#170 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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Am I the only one in this thread who did zero practice tests and only crammed basic material? I only had 1 week to cram before yesterday's test heh.
Honestly right after, I felt that another week or month of studying would not have done anything more, the vast vast majority of memorized knowledge tested in yesterday's MCAT I already knew with the bare minimum cramming I did. Maybe could have done a bit more verbal practice (I did none) to tighten up the time but doubt it'd make a huge difference as I read as fast as I can read, shaving off 30 more seconds ain't gonna tackle those 5 extra-ambiguous questions miraculously at the very end of the time limit. So my conclusion is that studying is overrated! The MCAT seems to test intrinsic cognitive abilities under stress and time restraints and bare minimum of much else.
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#171 |
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zzzz
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#172 |
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Pre-Med
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Last edited by Steve21; 06-01-2012 at 11:40 AM. |
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#173 |
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Senior Member
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Me too. Just above a 30. My average was a lot higher, but you never know how things will turn out.
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#174 |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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http://www.fullerton.edu/health_prof.../MCAT_tips.htm
#21 is this true? Did some of us get different tests? I am wondering this for verbal since some people said it was easy and some said it was really hard. Anyone know if there were multiple versions out there on 5/31/12? |
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#175 |
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New Member
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Did anyone else take the exam in NYC Penn Plaza? A fire alarm went off during the verbal section followed by subsequent strobe lights and some guy over the loudspeaker (twice) explaining in excruciating detail what was going on. I took off my headphones (which seemed to amplify the message somehow) and looked around and no one else seemed to notice. I was freaking out though and lost a lot of time/concentration. SO ANNOYED.
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#176 |
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Member
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[comment removed by user]
Last edited by Dex87; 08-02-2012 at 01:15 PM. |
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#177 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 23
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I thought the only verbal passage that was really tricky was the history-political one and the "deep" one (hopefully that's vague enough - not sure if verbal is really something that can be "spoiled" anyways). But I am not really someone who is interested in politics to begin with so part of the problem was that my eyes started glazing over when I was reading it I think. I've always found it strange that verbal is one of the things that people have a lot of trouble with, because it doesn't require any background knowledge or anything. I get that it's harder to improve on the score because of it and there are a couple of passages that I feel you almost have to guess on in some of the practice tests, but yeah. Then again the physical sciences have always been my weak point and I know most (??) people seem to do pretty well on that so who knows.
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#178 | |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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#179 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 20
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Yea man, same here. There was no one passage that just clicked for me. Everything was so random and I guessed a LOT. And there wasn't enough time to penetrate those complex passages and understand them.
And I took it at Penn Plaza too yesterday in NYC but I don't recall an alarm.. |
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#180 |
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...to the unknown.
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At the beginning of the test and during my tutorial, I started writing down an equation sheet and time scale (to keep me on track with where I should be at according to each passage). The scratch paper booklet had 3 staples, so I quietly ripped the first page (and the last page, as they were attached) from the staples (it was totally quiet and considerate). This lady stops by half way through the PS section to tell me "You weren't supposed to separate the book." I then apologized and after about 10 seconds of time wasted she said "Don't worry about it" and continued her rounds. I didn't recall reading anything about not separating your scratch paper booklet, but then again, I don't really recall paying much attention to the rules before the test anyway.
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#181 | |
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#182 |
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Whoops - I meant I took it at 675 THIRD AVE in NYC - which is where the fire alarm situation ensued. But ANYWAY...
Would you rather: A) Only eat prune juice until you found out your score but then you were guaranteed above a 30. OR B) Wait and get your real score but you couldn't retake. |
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#183 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 20
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#184 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 125
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How do u guys think the Individual Sections will be curved this time around compared to the AMCAS practice tests?
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#185 | |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 81
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#186 |
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Hey - on a happy note... we are done with MCAT studying for at least a month if you aren't set on a retake. What do ya'll plan on doing now with this time?
Priority number one for me is to get back in the gym, slacked off this past month and it's already summer! Not to turn this into a bb or worse yet a misc thread, but I would like to put on 10 lbs of muscle this summer while staying lean. I was ~205 a year ago after college sport season, ~185 now, although some was fat I lost a bit of muscle, gotta put it back on. Still working on my first muscle-up, hard if you're not 150 pounds =/ |
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#187 | |
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Purrrrrr!?!11??
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#188 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 23
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I'm going to try to focus on finishing up school now (on a quarter system, not finished until mid June), work on my personal statement and CV and pretty much everything else that I've been ignoring in favor of grades/MCAT.
On a more fun and personal note, may actually have time to play a round of Borderlands or TF2 with my friends now.
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#189 |
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since a lot of us found ourselves guessing on many more questions than we normally do (in verbal), can we expect a more generous curve that the ones for the AAMCs? I've never been more uncertain of a verbal section before. I usually get 10/11s on EK and AAMC but I feel like my score could be as low as 7 and as high as 11 depending on how I guessed
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#190 |
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Dunno dude(ette). Best thing is not to worry about it, what's done is done. The fact is that no one knows how ANY administered MCAT is graded etc. :/
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#191 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 812
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#192 |
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I was there when the alarm went off. Very distracting. I wonder if we can complain about that
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#193 |
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Senior Member
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you can complain about it, nothing will get done about your test though and i don't think you can get a partial refund or anything but it's worth trying
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#194 |
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Senior Member
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Now that I have had a few days to reflect on it, I will leave my input of the exam.
PS: A few difficult questions, but overall, I thought it wasn't too difficult. Thanks to all the Kaplan Full Lengths I took. Verbal: I actually enjoyed this section of the test. This is usually my major weakness, but I felt like I understood all of the passages. Writing: Not too bad BS: I felt like this was the most difficult section of the test. With that being said, I thought it was still very doable and depending upon my guesses, I could have scored really well. |
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#195 | |
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 35
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HAHA i spent 20 minutes on that passage also. I came back to it last..Honestly, it was terrible to figure out the questions, but the questions, as usual were tricky. |
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#196 |
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Senior Member
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[QUOTE=Icy Snow;12605777 I actually enjoyed this section of the test.[/QUOTE]
enjoy enjoy enjoy enjoyed notsureifsrs |
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#197 |
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Senior Member
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#198 |
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Senior Member
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My aamc verbal practice scores ranged from 11-15 and I did not feel confident about this verbal section. The first passage I felt was the hardest and then I barely maintained my timing on the rest of the passages. The "mall" passage I confused myself on one of the earlier problems and at the last second I had left I switched an answer for no good reason. PS had some tough questions but overall didn't feel bad, but verbal did not feel good... not at all.
It feels sort of strange not taking tests anymore, I started taking practice tests in late January and I got through 19 of them plus several Kaplan section tests. It became a habit to take a test on Saturday. I can say at the moment I genuinely miss studying for the mcat. But good news! I probably choked for some reason, just like I did on aamc 11, and I can retake it in June! |
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#199 |
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Senior Member
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Oh and Catzzz I can't remember the deep passage at all anymore. I do now remember the geology based passage and yes, it was tough.
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#200 | |
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the third to last and second to last passages were the WORST. I literally put B's straight across the board for both passages bc i ran out of time and could not understand them for the life of me!
The MCAT seems to test intrinsic cognitive abilities under stress and time restraints and bare minimum of much else.






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