August 15 MCAT Club

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Cumberland_Doc

Cumberland_Doc

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August is coming fast. For those of you August 15th MCAT folks, post your thoughts, preparation, and questions here.
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heyy..i was orginally thinking of taking the test aug 5th because I have a sports camp from aug 6th to aug 10th, and wanted to be completely in MCAT mode when I took the test, but as the day is approaching I'm considering pushing it back to aug 15th instead..but i was thinkin will those 4 days at camp, where i'll have minimial studying but possibly time to thumb through practices and those 5 days when I get back will those couple of days make a difference, you know more time for studying?? Or will it be mediocre at best and do more harm than good..any advice??
 
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How's everyone else coming? I just started verbal today using the aggressive strategy of doing 6.5/mins per passage. I'm doing decent with an avg of 9. I need to improve my comprehension of the Main Idea...oh the story of us all though right?
 
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RACH16 said:
heyy..i was orginally thinking of taking the test aug 5th because I have a sports camp from aug 6th to aug 10th, and wanted to be completely in MCAT mode when I took the test, but as the day is approaching I'm considering pushing it back to aug 15th instead..but i was thinkin will those 4 days at camp, where i'll have minimial studying but possibly time to thumb through practices and those 5 days when I get back will those couple of days make a difference, you know more time for studying?? Or will it be mediocre at best and do more harm than good..any advice??
Click to expand...

How much content review have you done thus far?
 
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Hey guys..im doing it on the 15th of august as well :)

only thing is..i just finished freshmen year, and havent taken orgo or physics (electro part) at uni yet :S..i've only done bio and physical chem for a year, plus one semester of physics so far..ouch
 
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Rdavido said:
How's everyone else coming? I just started verbal today using the aggressive strategy of doing 6.5/mins per passage. I'm doing decent with an avg of 9. I need to improve my comprehension of the Main Idea...oh the story of us all though right?
Click to expand...

are you planning on having 14 minutes left over to go back and check/change answers or something? you know you have roughly 8.5 minutes per passage, right? even if you do the first 6 passages in 8.5 minutes, you will have 9 minutes for the 7th passage.
 
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Ya, I'm getting used to having to work faster so that on the test I'll have more time. I'm sure come test day I'll be using more like 7.5 minutes a passage. I'm using Vihsadas' strategy
 
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I am taking the august 15 test.. already done with all of phys. and am about 90-95% done chem. Hoping to try to blow this one out of the water

can some one list the avg. time per passage of each section? I am not using kaplan or anything so i need to know this...lol
 
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just started a new change of tactic. Im now following the EK 10-week along with physics/inorganic practice every day. We'll see if it pays off. I've been scoring consistent 11's on my 101 verbals but we'll see what happens on sunday when i take an AAMC
 
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ive been studying bout 5 days a week, generally 6ish hours each day.

but i move really slowly :(

im doing the kaplan premier program book as i said in an earlier post, and i only manage to do about 30 pages per day. that's 12 minutes per page !! oh well, i'll be done reading the book this week. then for the next 6 weeks it's just hammering in concepts and going over aamc exams and kaplan questions and EK 30 min quizzes and stuff like that

my friend gave me his old aamc exams, but theyre expiring around this time b/c he took his mcat last year. so i took aamc exam 6 before it expired, and i got a 21 :[ but that was only after a week of studying.

took aamc 7 over the weekend and i went up to a 26, after 3 weeks of studying. so im kinda happy about that.

taking my next aamc (8) in 2 weeks, hopefully it'll move up more hehe.
 
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Rdavido said:
Sounds like you're doing great. How many practice tests did you say you had?
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ive taken 6 and 7 so far. 6 i bombed and i got a 21, 7 i got a 26. the next one im taking is aamc no 8 i believe, then 9 then 10 then 3 (cuz it's free haha), and then i printed out 4 and 5 b/c they expired before i started studying so i had to save em as pdfs =(

i also got 2 kaplan full length ones that came w/ the premier program, but i don't think ill put that much emphasis on those.
 
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This still seems like an excessive amount of time before the exam. I have been picking away at the material bit by bit. I finished up with Chemistry and Physics a while ago, and I'm picking my way through Bio (which is really more of a refresher on stuff after completing an undergrad degree) so I'm half-way through that material in about a week.

I'm only avoiding Orgo until as late as possible as it is a smaller section + I hate it.
 
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I'm having a hard time concentrating.

So I signed up to take the MCAT on June 13th and then didn't really feel quite ready. I had taken the Kaplan MCAT course but it was during the school year, so I slacked off on the homework etc. I took May to thoroughly review every subject but didn't really get a whole lot of practice. I did four exams - 20, 25, 26, 28. My very last full length I got 10 on BS and 10 on VR and 8 on PS. These are Kaplan full lengths. I went on AAMC and took their PS section separately and got a 10 on it... i have a feeling it might have been a fluke though...

Anyway, after postponing the test date to Aug. 15th, I sort of took two weeks off. I justified it with reasons like May was really hardcore studying, it's my birthday, it's summer, etc.

Now, I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove of studying daily and concentrating on what i'm studying. I'm studying with a buddy on Monday, so hopefully that'll be some motivation....what'd you guys think?
 
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honestly what else can you do. Just gotta pick at the material and practice practice practice. I'm almost done with my bio/orgo content review and just working my way through physics/gchem (my trouble spots). I am pretty happy though because I took an AAMC the other day and got a 33 (8PS, 12VR, 13 BS).

Keep on working at it guys... we're gonna destroy this bad boy
 
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I took 4 so I'm not putting too much weight on it. I still have around 2 weeks of content left and then I'm just gonna go practice test nuts. Good luck on AAMC 8, I'm sure you'll show it who's boss.
 
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I took a week off - took a nice little vacay. now im having troubles getting back on track. all that boozing has resulted in a mental capacity running at about 15%. thus far im about 85% done each section of review, although I have not touched a practice test yet. I hope to be done all content and have it solid in my head by July 15.
 
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I just registered for the Aug 15 morning MCAT, and this will hopefully be the VERY LAST one I have to take. (I took the Jan 26 and May 31 tests as well.) :eek:
 
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Joining the group! This test is gonna make my application...hopefully! lol im working in lab, so examkrackers is on my ipod, then i study 4-5 hours at night and take a practice test every week!!! AAAGGGHHH!:scared:
 
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TahaQ said:
Hey guys..im doing it on the 15th of august as well :)

only thing is..i just finished freshmen year, and havent taken orgo or physics (electro part) at uni yet :S..i've only done bio and physical chem for a year, plus one semester of physics so far..ouch
Click to expand...

are u applying this year? im kinda in the same boat, but the only "prereq" i havent taken is orgo
 
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Well my MCAT spirits just skyrocketed. It turns out I remember a heck of a lot more Orgo than I thought I did. I still have to memorize some of the reactions but my reaction intuition seems to be much better off than I remember.

Now if only I can get myself to stop rushing through the VR section!
 
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so happy, took practice test 9 and i got a 30 :hungover:

but my breakdown was definitely not that great (13 bs, 9 ps, 8 vr). i have to definitely hit physics and verbal harder.

8's and 9's arent acceptable :(
 
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psh. show off.

Yesterday, I took a practice test and got a 18. That's right.

Anyone can go higher. Try getting lower. It's the real challenge.
 
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I just finished content review today! My Goal was to have it done by July 15th and I was only a day off. I know it all pretty solid.. down to memorization of formulas and whatnot (minus a few chapters which are a bit hazy). I'm going to do a practice test this week... probably on friday.. to see where I stand.

What do you guys think I should do? I am in the kaplan course and have access to FL's aswell as AAMC's... which should I do first to guage where I stand? an FL or an AAMC?
 
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Whats up guys. I too am a member of this elite club.

I'm doing the online Kaplan course. I also bought one of the big PR books, not sure what it's officially called.

I took a Kaplan Full Length last week, got a 31. Last night I took another FL and got a 36.

I've got to go over some more Bio content.

As the test rapidly approaches, how are you guys going be taking your practice exams? Obviously as many as possible, but how frequently. I don't want to get burned out.

One every three days, about 3 weeks before the test? That sounds a bit extreme, but doable.
 
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My current goal is to do about 2 a week, while going to EK books.

Finished Kaplan, thought I was going to kill myself trying to read through that entire mess. EK seems to be a bit less drowning. So 2 a week...until the last week...should have about 13 practice tests under my belt.
 
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AndrooOppa said:
My current goal is to do about 2 a week, while going to EK books.

Finished Kaplan, thought I was going to kill myself trying to read through that entire mess. EK seems to be a bit less drowning. So 2 a week...until the last week...should have about 13 practice tests under my belt.
Click to expand...

are the EK books really that much less dense than kaplan? its taken me FOREVER to finish these damn kaplan prep books
 
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amar21 said:
are the EK books really that much less dense than kaplan? its taken me FOREVER to finish these damn kaplan prep books
Click to expand...


the kaplan was taking forever and a half.

the EK's useful in that it tells you what's actually tested and what's not...so you can skim some parts that are "not tested" and actually spend time on things that are.

Granted, they could be wrong, and the mcat people could just dump everything on there, in which case, I'd be screwed...
 
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AndrooOppa said:
the kaplan was taking forever and a half.

the EK's useful in that it tells you what's actually tested and what's not...so you can skim some parts that are "not tested" and actually spend time on things that are.

Granted, they could be wrong, and the mcat people could just dump everything on there, in which case, I'd be screwed...
Click to expand...

no kidding, it took me over 2months doing 3-4hrs a day (sometimes less, sometimes more) to finish all the kaplan review books.
 
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Not really to my delight, I'm joining the August 15th MCAT club!!! The 6/13 MCAT kind of blew up in my face b/c I was much too nervous and sleep deprived. So lets hope this one is a little better!! Good to be part of the club:thumbup:

Oh and as an MCAT veteran, let me heavily emphasize how genetics has taken over the bio section!!! Pleeeease make sure you're comfortable with quick Mendelian genetics calculations and lengthy, convoluted genetics passages, b/c I sure wasn't. The practice AAMC tests dont really have any genetics passages, but you can be sure to count on a few.

Lets do this!!!:cool:
 
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AndrooOppa said:
psh. show off.

Yesterday, I took a practice test and got a 18. That's right.

Anyone can go higher. Try getting lower. It's the real challenge.
Click to expand...

oh man, did you finish going over all you content? i got a 21 on my first aamc exam :x
 
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AndrooOppa said:
psh. show off.

Yesterday, I took a practice test and got a 18. That's right.

Anyone can go higher. Try getting lower. It's the real challenge.
Click to expand...

yep. I'm in the same boat. My last FL, I got around a 30 (but that was before June 13th) and I took one today and got a 26. Definitely beginning to freak out now. I think I'm going to comb through the Kaplan material, maybe check out an old PR book....

How are you guys doing the Writing Sample on full lengths? Do you have someone grade it? I know at Kaplan, you can email the essays to your instructor and they grade it. I was wondering how you guys were evaluating yourselves on that part.

As for genetics being a huge part of bio, I'm pretty happy about that...that's my strongest topic in Bio.
 
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ladyoflies said:
yep. I'm in the same boat. My last FL, I got around a 30 (but that was before June 13th) and I took one today and got a 26. Definitely beginning to freak out now. I think I'm going to comb through the Kaplan material, maybe check out an old PR book....

How are you guys doing the Writing Sample on full lengths? Do you have someone grade it? I know at Kaplan, you can email the essays to your instructor and they grade it. I was wondering how you guys were evaluating yourselves on that part.

As for genetics being a huge part of bio, I'm pretty happy about that...that's my strongest topic in Bio.
Click to expand...

I'll probably only do the writing samples one about half of the FLs I take.
 
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Hi. Ya'll.

I took my first AAMC (3) yesterday, and I got 9 on VR!!

I don't know about y'all, but I started from "4" :bang:

I felt so malfunctioned and blubb-ed.

But then, I got 6 on BS!! WTF. [I am biology/psychology major with biology MS]
:boom:

Whooo.. I had to say this to someone. and now I feel better.
 
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anyone feel like the free Aamc (#3) was a bit of a pain? I got a 28 on it taking it today and it really pissed me off. Oh well. I still have a lot more chem to go over and physics to look at so content still needs some work.
 
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I was just reading the June 13th thread to see how people did. The consensus seems to be that the actual thing is WAY harder than the practice FLs. I'm not sure how this could be dealt with. Perhaps, we need to be scoring well into the late 30s to fall somewhere in the decent range come test day?


I shouldn't be looking at that thread...it just freaks me out.
 
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So i took AAMC 7 and got 18 :(.
I dont know how to apply my knowledge with questions???? anybody having similar problems????
 
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iowagirl said:
So i took AAMC 7 and got 18 :(.
I dont know how to apply my knowledge with questions???? anybody having similar problems????
Click to expand...

i am having similar problems. i think (hope) it comes with practice. i'll be doing more tests this week and i'll let you know.
 
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