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Thoughts on each section? What topics was your mcat centered on? Wish you studied more? Etc. Just curious..
Technically you arent allowed to post specific questions regarding the mcat but you can say that your mcat was heavy towards molecular bio or physiology.
I dont know about SDNs rules but AAMC doesn't allow topic discussion
Well theres tons of people that say "my mcat was almost pure genetics" and blah blah. I really don't think theres much the AAMC could do if someone said that. They aren't waiting with sniper rifles to kill you if you speak of the test...unless youve been seeing a red dot lately.
But I remember my first test, i had the same reaction of how hard I thought it was.
Was the bio almost pure critical thinking?
Edit- FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT THINK YOU GOT OWNED BY THE BS SECTION...you may be really surprised. My first mcat that I did without really studying, I only answered the first 26 and those 26 were educated gusses at best. The last 26 I christmas treed. And somehow I still got a 6, lol. You guys may surprise yourselves.
I took all the Practice MCATs and the MCAT in early september.
I have NEVER NOT finished a BS section EVER.... Always finished with 5 minutes left and usually score an 11 or 12 but todays Exam... I had 5 mins for the last passage and I had to guess on 2-3 (educated guesses, not blatant). I thought the BS was much harder than any BS section I have taken, only because of the length of the passages and the complexity of the questions. I thought the questions took ALOT more brainpower this time around instead of quickly just blatant answers. There were quite a number of bio questions that seemed like more than one answer could technically be correct. I feel like there was also more outside required info than what I remember from Princeton... did TPR skip something or did they add something new to the required bio knowledge?
Organic chem wasn't difficult per se, however the questions were very time consuming, not sure if I am allowed to post specific questions or topics but, the closest I can say is the orgo questions on all the online/past exams asked about one thing, the one today would ask for 3 things one question...
Verbal passages seemed like a half a paragraph longer. Passages weren't totally difficult to understand, but the answer choices seemed pretty tricky to me. This is always my worst subject.
PS, there was no time for this one for me. I had to finish with estimated guesses on 2 that required extreme calculations. I think another one actually required a constant but I can't remember.
Writing was the easiest part lol
It is highly unlikely and tbh I hope they would void my last exam cause that would be awesome, haha. Disclose any information you want within sdn policy, I dont care.
I think the general consensus so far though is that AAMC practice test babies you a bit, once you get to the real thing you see a lot of stuff you havent encountered before.
**** yes... I got raped...
Voided instantly
Nothing like the practice
This gets me so determined to beat the **** out of this test next time... Omg MCAT...this is WAR!
I generally get 10-11 on BS... I marked 20 questions this time...unusually get half of marked wrong... Plus 5 from the ones I thought I knew...
PS I generally do ok.. 9-10 score... This time again I marked like 20 questions... Passages felt much much more challenging...NOTHING like the practice.
VR this reflected most closely to the practice.... No surprises...
OVERALL I felt like a guinea pig...
Question on exp passages... Is there suppose to be one in every section? Or is it ranGen?
And I assume tomorrow's test is the same exact test?
would you guys mind replying back in a few weeks with your actual scores? I would like to see how your initial first impression correlates since i've read/heard that it feels much worse than it turns out.
much appreciated
I just have one question, which I think is permitted and does not talk about any specific content or anything in relation to the test.
Regarding PS, would you guys say that you had to rely on specific knowledge pertaining to certain formulas for problems (not only pug and chug, but for general questions also that do not involve calculations) or could the majority of the questions be answered based on information presented in the passage.
I have the formula sheet from my TPR class with all the physic, gen chem formulas but the first time I took the mcat i didnt really need to refer to knowledge regarding the equations. However, I have read on this site that some tests that are more calculation heavy require specific knowledge regarding a lot of those formulas as opposed to material/equations presented in the paragraph.... did you guys think that was the case? I really don't think I am violating any of the terms for the exam by asking this because I am not asking about any specifics, just whether you felt like you had to recall a lot of the formulas from that particular section.
I just have one question, which I think is permitted and does not talk about any specific content or anything in relation to the test.
Regarding PS, would you guys say that you had to rely on specific knowledge pertaining to certain formulas for problems (not only pug and chug, but for general questions also that do not involve calculations) or could the majority of the questions be answered based on information presented in the passage.
I have the formula sheet from my TPR class with all the physic, gen chem formulas but the first time I took the mcat i didnt really need to refer to knowledge regarding the equations. However, I have read on this site that some tests that are more calculation heavy require specific knowledge regarding a lot of those formulas as opposed to material/equations presented in the paragraph.... did you guys think that was the case? I really don't think I am violating any of the terms for the exam by asking this because I am not asking about any specifics, just whether you felt like you had to recall a lot of the formulas from that particular section.
was BS hard because it was more verbal like and less recall?
I'm taking it tomorrow and I was feeling confident until I read this thread. If they really ramped up the difficulty, wouldn't they add some type of curve to make up for this, or is getting into med schools becoming increasingly difficult?
With all of the practice books on the market, which would you say most closely resembled today's exam for each section? I know that BR changed their physics books, but would you say those books are on par with the difficulty of today's exam or was it just different and no book really can mirror the MCAT. I also get the impression it was more difficult than prior AAMCs?
Took it today. Comparing the MCAT to the AAMC practice exams, I felt that PS was about the same, VR was harder due to longer passages, and BS was slightly harder.
What were your AAMC scoresJust got back home....
Oh my god....That is horrible!
All sections are harder than the one I took last time.
PS, I think there's not much calculation, but more about understanding what is being asked, and use equations to solve problem. And plus, a lot of vague answers to eliminate even you know what they are asking....I think I probably will be very lucky to have 9 this time.
Verbal, much longer than practice, though seems easier, but I stressed out again....run out of time, and I think I was screwed.....again...No matter how I practice, seeing new and totally unexpected, and long passages always stress me out, and then comes the questions part, where the questions or answer choices are long themselves, and then the answers are so vague....Just hope for the best, although I know I am not going to get a good score on this one...><
BS, a lot more focus on passage, analyzing and application of presented information than straight memorization. Answers like everyone else said, is vague. Some easy passage, some hard ones, only one O-chem passage. I run out of time because of a couple passages, where I was trying to figure out what is presented. Very similar to AAMC11. I feel like getting 8-9 this time.
I feel like crap now....I feel like no matter how hard, how much I study, there's always going to be surprise in the exam. Then it comes timing, remain calm, think clearly and fast under stress, to solve some unseen, or surprising problems...Those early AAMC practice tests are nothing like this compare to the real thing....and let along those prep companies' practice test....totally different.
ARRRR.....feel like to study again....but at the same time feel like doing nothing....!!
i would like to know this as well
Did you get the feeling that there were questions in bs that you've never seen before?I think I got railed by the BS.