*Official August 2016 MCAT Thread*

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leelee12

leelee12

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Hi everyone,

This thread is for everyone that is writing the MCAT on August 4th, 5th, 19th, 20th or on the 25th.

Slow and steady wins the race.
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meddesire said:
There is no question pack for psychology and sociology section, right? and Only section bank has. Correct me if i'm wrong...Where else did you guys get more practices for that section?
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Correct. KA P/S passages (though I hate the new KA format...) or practice-tests.
 
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Roayer said:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpssr3m0nieeq1q/AAD7k75DQ8aB7nJN8Tcv_CAEa?dl=0

Get the EK tests if you can afford them otherwise just register the ISBN for TPR and Kaplan and boom there is 9 free FL. Also NS has a free one. Best of luck
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Roayer said:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tpssr3m0nieeq1q/AAD7k75DQ8aB7nJN8Tcv_CAEa?dl=0

One more question though...what do you mean by registering the ISBN for Kaplan? I have 3 Kaplan books that came with with FL1 (same for all three books) but I don't think I can register the ISBN for more FLs...or maybe I'm just not smart enough lol :(
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Yeah...check out my post..def not smart enough hahah
 
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Roayer said:
Not sure what you mean. I meant register the Kaplan 7 book set for FL1-3. For TPR register their Complete Book and their 7 book set. Boom done. Lol.
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Oh okay..I didn't purchase those book sets. I will try to find the free NS exam and maybe purchase their 4 tests for about 100$ :greedy:
 
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MrsSheperd said:
Oh okay..I didn't purchase those book sets. I will try to find the free NS exam and maybe purchase their 4 tests for about 100$ :greedy:
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Oh well you can be unethical and look up the ISBN and save $. Or just buy one book for $30 and get 4 practice tests (TPR). I'd get 2 EK tests (EK4 and 3) over the 3 NS tests (NS1 is free). Just my 2 cents.
 
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Roayer said:
Oh well you can be unethical and look up the ISBN and save $. Or just buy one book for $30 and get 4 practice tests (TPR). I'd get 2 EK tests (EK4 and 3) over the 3 NS tests (NS1 is free). Just my 2 cents.
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haha Yes, I could! However, I don't think it'd work because for the Kaplan material I have, I had to enter the ISBN and some sort of "code" word at a specific page in that book.

Are the EK tests closer to the real MCAT as opposed to NS? Or are they cheaper?
 
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MrsSheperd said:
haha Yes, I could! However, I don't think it'd work because for the Kaplan material I have, I had to enter the ISBN and some sort of "code" word at a specific page in that book.

Are the EK tests closer to the real MCAT as opposed to NS? Or are they cheaper?
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I'm pretty sure it was just 1 word from the general chemistry book and you could probably pm someone and ask for it. EK tests are better than NS tests imo but they aren't cheaper. 3NS for $100 while you get 2 EK for the same price. Then you can get another 2 NS for 60 on top of that and each EK costs $50. I personally think that doing a few EK can really help your reasoning ability and I try to recommend them to anyone. I did all 4 before my retake and feel like they helped me out a lot.
 
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Roayer said:
I'm pretty sure it was just 1 word from the general chemistry book and you could probably pm someone and ask for it. EK tests are better than NS tests imo but they aren't cheaper. 3NS for $100 while you get 2 EK for the same price. Then you can get another 2 NS for 60 on top of that and each EK costs $50. I personally think that doing a few EK can really help your reasoning ability and I try to recommend them to anyone. I did all 4 before my retake and feel like they helped me out a lot.
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Thank you @Roayer !! I will purchase the EK and NS tests :)
 
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Does anyone have recommendations for practice FLs? I have NS 6 left and I wanted to take 2 additional tests before my exam. I took all the EK exams, NS 1-5, and the AAMC Scored and Unscored. Also took the free Altius Half length. I'd prefer the FL to be free if possible lol. Thanks!
 
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Chelsea FC said:
HA HA basically the section bank. I could have done the test with my notes infront of me and it wouldnt help at all. I did all 100 questions (75 for physics) for each chem and physics topic in TBR and anki them so I could do them cold. TO my surprise every question is"hey this complicated experiment why did this and this happen".. Also I memorized all the TPR , Kaplan and Khan definitions in psychology .sociology and that only helped on 3 questions .All of the questions were based on some long a*s experiment that my brain was too tired to break down
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First - CONGRATS YOU FINISHED!!! Second - I hate this test... P/S is by far my weakest link. Mainly because I am sick and tired of it (started as a psych major and changed after 1 semester, socio just bored me). I have been working on memorizing terms, theories, and different theorists/psychs/socios stages/levels whatever. Makes me sad that I might be studying all that for absolutely nothing.

Ad2b said:
@Chelsea FC - but, you are done with it :) CONGRATS!! Go celebrate, do something normal, see the sun :)

It's what I'm doing at this time 2 weeks from now. I have a date with the pool, lounge chair and a massive diet coke.
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Lucky! I got a date with 3hr drive for work right after the test. Hopefully the hotel they check me into will give me free drink vouchers like last time so I can get hammered that night.

premedkid1994 said:
how would you get better at experiment interpretation?? How are you guys going about this?
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Pull up different articles from pubmed, Nature, Science, NIH, or anywhere that is reputable and just examine the procedures and the results. Tie it together with the graphs to see what it is they were looking for it and if they got it through their methods. Might take some time since some of the articles will explain the actual process they used each time or simply state that everything was ELISA at the beginning and leave it alone. For anything you are unsure of, Wikipedia breaks down the experimental procedures fairly well or do Google searches if nothing else. I still have a lot of my old lab notebooks and procedural books which I refer back to from time to time when I can't remember a certain method.
 
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Any August 4/5th takers applying this cycle? I'm non-URM with great ECs and GPA. I have everything except an MCAT score! I really want to apply this cycle, but am worried it will be too late to make a difference. What do I do? :(
 
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I can attest that ak lectures are 10x better than khan. And thanks for the kind words everyone
 
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Anyone else feel like the AAMC Bio section bank is super hard?? :eek: This thing is kicking my butt! Questions are heavy on data eval and experiments. Does anyone know if the actual exam is on a similar difficulty level or is this supposed to be some sort of bootcamp? Hope someone will tell me the real thing is not as crazy hard lol
 
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@MrsSheperd From my understanding, the Bio section bank is definitely harder overall that the actual exam, yet the exam will still contain difficult analysis questions like those in the SB to normalize scores
 
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MrsSheperd said:
Anyone else feel like the AAMC Bio section bank is super hard?? :eek: This thing is kicking my butt! Questions are heavy on data eval and experiments. Does anyone know if the actual exam is on a similar difficulty level or is this supposed to be some sort of bootcamp? Hope someone will tell me the real thing is not as crazy hard lol
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First Test was all Section Bank + difficulty. =/, Second Test was a mix of Section Bank and AAMC Question Packs/Scored FL exam. Yeah I thought the B/B section bank was the hardest practice material I did. It is rough and super Biochemistry/Molecular Biology heavy. If you need work on that area after the SB the Examkracker B/B are pretty good for testing similar to that, (I personally found EK B/B easier though)
 
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So I have now taken two NS tests and my scores were
NS 1: C/P 128, CARS 126, BIO 127, PSYCH 128 TOTAL: 509
NS 2: C/P 128, CARS 126, BIO 126, PSYCH 126 TOTAL: 506

I take it for real next Friday (August 5th) and my goal is a 507. I am really nervous though. Anybody have any tips or encouragement? I am going through my test in detail this week, but am wondering where I should go for additional practice? Bio kicked my butt. The passages were sooo long on this last test. Thanks!
 
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The_shake_n_Blake said:
Anybody have any tips or encouragement?
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This video gives me chills anytime.

I'm taking the exam August 19th and the best way I relax is that at the end of the day, nothing on the exam is definite or guaranteed. I just reason it as I'm just going to study as much as I can the next couple days and just do the best you can on exam day! Your best attempt is all you can do
 
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Roayer said:
First Test was all Section Bank + difficulty. =/, Second Test was a mix of Section Bank and AAMC Question Packs/Scored FL exam. Yeah I thought the B/B section bank was the hardest practice material I did. It is rough and super Biochemistry/Molecular Biology heavy. If you need work on that area after the SB the Examkracker B/B are pretty good for testing similar to that, (I personally found EK B/B easier though)
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Thanks! yeah I def need more practice in those areas, esp data interpretation!
 
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Just finished the NF FL 4. Wow, that was a lot of experiments! But it definitely felt more AAMC like. I made it through and am happy with my score: 507.

I'm starting to really notice that my stamina is drastically better than when I started and I am able to get through a whole section without getting bored. Definitely glad I've done a lot of FL's. Taking the AAMC Scored on Thursday.
 
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The_shake_n_Blake said:
So I have now taken two NS tests and my scores were
NS 1: C/P 128, CARS 126, BIO 127, PSYCH 128 TOTAL: 509
NS 2: C/P 128, CARS 126, BIO 126, PSYCH 126 TOTAL: 506

I take it for real next Friday (August 5th) and my goal is a 507. I am really nervous though. Anybody have any tips or encouragement? I am going through my test in detail this week, but am wondering where I should go for additional practice? Bio kicked my butt. The passages were sooo long on this last test. Thanks!
Click to expand...

In my opinion you're definitely where you need to be to get at least a 507. Given those scores, a 510+ is possible. The NS exams are deflated from the real thing but not as much as other prep companies like Kaplan. Have you taken any AAMC test? I highly suggest you do. I was starting to get the impression that I was only as good as the scores I got from the prep companies and then I took the AAMC unscored and it was MUCH easier than the real thing. It definitely boosted my confidence and made me more comfortable with the idea that I am ready to take the real deal. Get your hands on any and all AAMC material. Good luck!
 
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@neurodjent - yeah, I bought them a month or so ago; using them now for the last week and a half :) I sit on the 5th. Figure it can't hurt to go through them. Noticing some rationale from the AAMC that makes me think they have people speaking a different language than English when giving the reason for an answer choice (sociology).

Also doing Scored on Weds, Sample on Friday and then who knows... probably trying to stop the panic attack from rising. Using my classical conditioning to make that behavior extinct :D
 
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Ad2b said:
@neurodjent - yeah, I bought them a month or so ago; using them now for the last week and a half :) I sit on the 5th. Figure it can't hurt to go through them. Noticing some rationale from the AAMC that makes me think they have people speaking a different language than English when giving the reason for an answer choice (sociology).

Also doing Scored on Weds, Sample on Friday and then who knows... probably trying to stop the panic attack from rising. Using my classical conditioning to make that behavior extinct :D
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Hahaha I know what you mean. I've actually read through some of AAMC's explanations for the rationale and I just think to myself "wait....that doesn't make any sense." They also don't really elaborate much. The correct answer will be A and their reasoning is "The correct answer is A because it is."

Good luck on the Sample and Scored! I took my sample last Thursday and will take the Scored this Thursday. I'm getting pretty tired of MCAT studying so I am excited that it's almost over. I can't wait to have a life again.
 
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neurodjent said:
I'm getting pretty tired of MCAT studying so I am excited that it's almost over. I can't wait to have a life again.
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Oh man, can I empathize with that. For the past 4ish weeks, I've been hunkered down, studying / reading / drawing / ... last night or the night before (they blur now), I came home to my son (he's 24) and said, "So, go ahead and ask me if I care about those 80 different sociological theories and traits and research methods. Go ahead, ask me if I care."

He looked at me, smiled, "I bet not even a little. If you're sick of the MCAT, how do sick of it do you think *I* am???" With that, he smiled a little broader and said he was off to play the video game we used to play together :(

BUT, if I do well, it's been worth it. If I don't, it's still been worth it because I got this darn ugly monkey off my back.
 
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@southernpremed2 what @Roayer said. I don't know how long they took to get but I'm glad I did. Don't panic if there's not enough time for you. It's more review of things already covered in other AAMC materials.
 
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Did anyone take NS 6? I scored 6 points lower on it than the AAMC scored....hoping that's not uncommon for NS exams
 
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Fffffffffffffffff the theoretical/experimental passages on the section banks and qpacks completely obliterated me
 
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With just over a week left for the Aug 4/5 test takers what are you guys planning on doing? My schedule went to hell in a handbasket and only finished the unscored FL last week instead of the unscored + a NS FL. Just finished reviewing the first 3 sections, still have P/S to review and then to figure out whether I want to buy another NS or EK test or just do the scored and reviews.
 
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Marine2MD said:
With just over a week left for the Aug 4/5 test takers what are you guys planning on doing? My schedule went to hell in a handbasket and only finished the unscored FL last week instead of the unscored + a NS FL. Just finished reviewing the first 3 sections, still have P/S to review and then to figure out whether I want to buy another NS or EK test or just do the scored and reviews.
Click to expand...

I'm just going to redo the section banks throughout the week, take the CARS Qpacks, take the AAMC scored on Thursday and the Guide on Monday. Next Tuesday is up in the air but I know that wednesday I am barely going to do anything. Next Thursday is the real deal.
 
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Marine2MD said:
With just over a week left for the Aug 4/5 test takers what are you guys planning on doing? My schedule went to hell in a handbasket and only finished the unscored FL last week instead of the unscored + a NS FL. Just finished reviewing the first 3 sections, still have P/S to review and then to figure out whether I want to buy another NS or EK test or just do the scored and reviews.
Click to expand...

I'm taking mine the 5th. I took the NS FL on Sunday so I'm spending each day reviewing a section and then doing as many practice problems as possible. So yesterday was C/P, today is Bio, and Wednesday is P/S. I go ahead and do at least 5-6 CARS passages a day. Then Thursday I'll just do practice problems, look at old trst and mainly do AAMC questions. I'm taking the I scored on Friday and then pretty much repeating this week next week but mainly doing AAMC material and reviewing. I'll take Thursday off and then take it Friday.
 
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