Official July 24, 2014 MCAT Thread(because just once wasn't fun enough!)

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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Post test analysis:
Physical science went okay: two passages were difficult to understand, but questions were relatively easy. 9-11, My prediction 11
Verbal: I thought this section was the worst. Hard to follow passages, questions were difficult. Guessed on a whole passage.Verbal 5-8 (yea that bad) my prediction 6. (hoping for a good curve)
Biology: very experimental, one orgo passage (pretty difficult). The passages were easy to follow, and I thought were relatively easy. (12-14) my prediction 14
Overall: P 11, V 6 (ugh this sucks so bad), B 14
 
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Big thumbs down for the PS section, felt like I had to guess on 2 whole passages!! Hoping for at least an 8 :(

I didn't think VR and BS were all that and though. I'm sure that will come back and bite me..haha.
 
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Don't know why people are saying PS was hard.

Tbh it was pretty straightforward (much like AAMC 10)

VR - was okay, passages and answers weren't too bad.

BS - easiest section in my eyes. Much like AAMC 5 tbh...

Final notes: pretty much another Practice test. I believe it was on par with aamc 10 & 11. Now I know why they say AAMC FL are the best indicators.

Not a bad test.
 
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PS was more calculation heavy than my test on May 8th, but overall it felt a little more manageable. Definitely not EASY, but I felt more in control of this one than the monster on May 8th. Prediction: 9-10

Verbal was definitely harder and LONGER than last time. Few passages where I struggled. Let's hope I didn't completely bomb it. Prediction: 9

Biology was easy. (Maye a little TOO easy...) It was my highest score last time, and it felt how it did the first time I took the test. Thank The Lord for the fact that there wasn't a lot of orgo. Prediction: 11+

Even though it wasn't an easy test, all it took for me to not void was to compare it to how I felt after the May 8th test.
 
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PKU said:
Don't know why people are saying PS was hard.

Tbh it was pretty straightforward (much like AAMC 10)

VR - was okay, passages and answers weren't too bad.

BS - easiest section in my eyes. Much like AAMC 5 tbh...

Final notes: pretty much another Practice test. I believe it was on par with aamc 10 & 11. Now I know why they say AAMC FL are the best indicators.

Not a bad test.
Click to expand...


Aamc11 was extraordinarily easy compared to this. The sheer focus was more towards solid concepts where as this time it was entirely towards heavy calculations that take much too much time.
 
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^^ Exactly. I never run out of time on PS and today I clicked my last answer right as time ran out. I honestly can't remember most of it now.
 
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To people worrying about that section that they feel like they are going to get a 5 on: stop worrying. I honestly thought I got a 4 on PS last time and I got right where my average had been. Post test feelings are not predictive of how you are going to do to be honest, so value the work and time you put into preparing for the test and stop worrying about it. You deserve at least that much after getting through that thing :)
 
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PS: I considered voiding after PS because of a hard passage that I lost track of time on, so I had to pretty much guess on that passage and another that I didn't have time to read, but did manage to answer some of the calculation-based questions on. I usually score 10-11 on PS, I think I'm going to be lucky to get an 8. Which sucks, because the rest of the exam was comparatively easier in terms of being able to finish in time.

Verbal: Thought it was pretty straightforward. Some hard questions, but not many. I think I did well enough to earn a 10 or above. I'm not confident on verbal cruves, but it's usually pretty hard to get above a 10.

BS: I thought it was easy, or at least had a lot of noticeably easy questions. The orgo was harder. BS is my strongest section, so I'm hoping I do >11 on it. I'm assuming it's going to have a pretty harsh curve because of how many people are saying it was easy.
 
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wow... i keep thinking i should have voided but i couldn't because i'm applying this year.
So stressed out, can't believe what i went through today.
I never guessed on physical section before, but i had to guess like 2~3 and that wasn't even educated guess.
Physical section affected my verbal and biological sections. i ran out of time on verbal, had to guess the last three questions. Biological as well, i ran out of time i had to guess on 2~3 questions.
So depressed, can't even predict my score. I think i did worse than in may 8th. Only reason i decided to retake was because i had a 10 on physical, i was confident that i could do better. But man.. i think i did lot worse, i don't wanna even predict my score..
 
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serenade said:
Aamc11 was extraordinarily easy compared to this. The sheer focus was more towards solid concepts where as this time it was entirely towards heavy calculations that take much too much time.
Click to expand...
@serenade I felt the same way about PS but I couldn't bring myself to VOID; I can only pray for the best. I did my part by studying everything except the double slit stuff but the PS passages were hard IMHO I only did 3/7 of them effectively.
 
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Also, was anyone else's prometric experience prison-like? Everytime I entered or left, I got wanded, had to empty out my pockets, pull up my pant legs to make sure I wasn't hiding anything in my shoes/socks, and they wouldn't let me use a pen, only pencil--not even one of theirs!

Maybe it's because I went to one closer to the city... but, damn, that was weird. I guess I should just be happy they didn't pat down my crotch or anything.
 
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PKU said:
Don't know why people are saying PS was hard.

Tbh it was pretty straightforward (much like AAMC 10)

VR - was okay, passages and answers weren't too bad.

BS - easiest section in my eyes. Much like AAMC 5 tbh...

Final notes: pretty much another Practice test. I believe it was on par with aamc 10 & 11. Now I know why they say AAMC FL are the best indicators.

Not a bad test.
Click to expand...
I hope my test is like this.....I got a 15 on my aamc bio...
 
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Also, never void because you never know what the curve will be like. There was some June testers who thought their bio section was terrible and that they all were going to get 6-7. Most came back with 11-13 because it was curved HARD.
 
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khronos said:
Also, was anyone else's prometric experience prison-like? Everytime I entered or left, I got wanded, had to empty out my pockets, pull up my pant legs to make sure I wasn't hiding anything in my shoes/socks, and they wouldn't let me use a pen, only pencil--not even one of theirs!

Maybe it's because I went to one closer to the city... but, damn, that was weird. I guess I should just be happy they didn't pat down my crotch or anything.
Click to expand...
you can thank AAMC for that one... it's not so much Prometric, but the instructions they get from the institution writing the test. At my center, they searched the MCAT takers like you described but some examinees for other tests went in after providing the finger print.
 
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PKU said:
Don't know why people are saying PS was hard.

Tbh it was pretty straightforward (much like AAMC 10)

VR - was okay, passages and answers weren't too bad.

BS - easiest section in my eyes. Much like AAMC 5 tbh...

Final notes: pretty much another Practice test. I believe it was on par with aamc 10 & 11. Now I know why they say AAMC FL are the best indicators.

Not a bad test.
Click to expand...

Not to be a stalker or anything, if this is post is true, you said you took the MCAT recently and got a 36 on it, why did you take it today?

Post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...hile-studying-for-mcat.1069838/#post-15206195

PKU said:
I did the MCAT couple months back.

I am in second year. All I did, bought the examkrackers self study package, followed their 10 week schedule (made it into 12 weeks), scored a 36 (12/11/13). To be honest, the MCAT is not "hard" if you put in the effort. 13 credits is doable, just make sure you put at least 2 months into your studying.
Click to expand...
 
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It seems like I'm the only one who had the most difficulty with the bio section. Did everyone really think it was that easy? I don't think it went horribly, but I also don't think every passage (other then that orgo one) and discrete was really easy. I'm worried that the curve is going to be extremely rough based on the responses on this thread.
 
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Took the tests in april and got 9/8/10. This test was DEF easier than that one.
Here are my thoughts:


PS: fairly easy compared to the GS practice tests. One passage was a little bit rough, but didn't guess on anything. The highest I have ever gotten on PS is 12, I am feeling an 11 on this test.

VS: Honestly sucked. Verbal has always been my weakness. Had time at the end, but the questions were rough and the passages were so long. I am thinking I got an 8.

BS: easiest section by far. Had 15 extra minutes and didn't mark too many for review. There were a few memory recall questions that threw me, but overall good. I am thinking 12!

Predicted score: 31 (much better feeling than the 28 I predicted post-test in april)
 
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PS: Absolutely terrible. Hardest PS I've seen. Didn't know what they were asking the majority of the time.

Verbal: Not bad. Easier than FL AAMC.

Bio: Very experiment heavy, but the experiments were understandable and pretty straight forward.









Posted using SDN Mobile
 
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I agree wit BK2681. I thought the PS section was insane. The passages were much longer than they were on the practice exams. The verbal was oddly very easy, maybe easier than any of the practice exams. The bio section was pretty straightforward. I was surprised at the lack of O-Chem.
 
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TBRBiosadist said:
Also, never void because you never know what the curve will be like. There was some June testers who thought their bio section was terrible and that they all were going to get 6-7. Most came back with 11-13 because it was curved HARD.
Click to expand...

Right, if I had guessed on 1/2 of one section or even an entire that'd be fine. But if you're guessing on more than that then you're done for the day. Even with a wonderful curve it's a huge risk and I just wasn't interested in gambling it.
 
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@GuyManBro remember the amount of people discussing in the forum probably makes up less than 1% of total test takers today. I didn't think the bio was easy, I though it was similar to AAMC 11 so I felt comfortable with it, but I didn't feel that way about PS.

Also, is the curve even a real curve? because the AAMC practice curves are only 2-3% points, to me that's just adjusting for errors. A real curve to me is at least 5-10% points difference. like in a class where 85%+ is an A
 
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TBRBiosadist said:
Also, never void because you never know what the curve will be like. There was some June testers who thought their bio section was terrible and that they all were going to get 6-7. Most came back with 11-13 because it was curved HARD.
Click to expand...


It's always better to have a hard BS than a hard PS. Why? Because you have to try to not finish BS on time. PS requires all the time and something extra hard like this undoubtedly lead to more people flipping out and doing poorly.
 
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I don't think I did god awful on this, but i'm gonna try to retake in a couple weeks. im usually really good at physical but this was the hardest section for me. one discrete was just STUPID. I only read half the passages (I think you only really needed to read a couple of them) and that one really tough passage (you know which one im talking about, passage 4 or 5 I think) left me guessing on two. EXTREMELY calculation intensive. verbal was acceptable, and bio was fine.
 
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since it was calculation-intensive... did you guys have to memorize a lot of formulas or were they mostly given?
 
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My last practice tests:

AAMC 10 -TOTAL: 37 SPLIT: 13 PS 11 VR 13 BS
AAMC 9: TOTAL: 41 SPLIT: 14 PS 13 VR 14 BS
AAMC 11: TOTAL: 40 SPLIT: 14 PS 12 VR 14 BS

How I felt today:
- can't disclose specific topics based on examinee agreement, but general feelings:

PS: Very representative of practice exams. Nothing outlandish.
VR: Had a tougher time rationalizing some of my answers.
BS: Found this section extremely easy.

Predicted: 13/11/14 ...so within my AAMC range. Who knows what will happen though!
 
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I got ~9 on AAMC practice tests! BUT I have to admit the PS was calculation-intensive. I even missed easy questions because I got stressed after seeing those hard passages. I should've answered more discrete questions before doing ANYTHING! SO eventually I ran out of time and didn't answer 1-2 Qs/guessed 2-3 Qs (not educated guess!). I was thinking about voiding as well! Couldn't do it :( Just praying that there will be a huge curve!
I am really scared since I'm applying this year. I don't know whether I should retake in September or not!?!
 
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Ugh...mixed feelings about that. Overall I think I did alright but the pressure/anxiety of this being my first attempt at a real exam rather than a practice really got to me and I feel like I didn't perform to my abilities because of it.

PS seemed alright but I definitely had to guess on a couple. I was definitely feeling my nerves so reading passages was much more difficult than it should have been and my timing suffered because of it. Overall alright, I'm guessing 10-11.

VR was the worst. I usually struggle with time a little on this section but the added pressure of this being a real exam and me being flustered from PS certainly didn't help. Not feeling too good about this section. I'm guessing 9.

BS has always been my strong suit by far. Maybe it was the fact that my nerves finally calmed down by this point or just my overall comfortability with the material, but either way this seemed super easy for me. Finished with 15 minutes to spare and double checked everything. I doubt I missed anything here but I'm going to leave a little room for error. I'm guessing 14-15.

So overall...I'm expecting a 34-35. Not quite what I would like but good enough where I would not retake. Oh well, now the excruciatingly painful wait begins...

:yawn:
 
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PS: Well, it was more calculation intensive than the AAMC exams, but I felt like I spent more time on the questions compared to practice exams. I had to guess on a few calculations only because I didn't have the time to arrive at answers. I'm usually pretty good (averaging 12-14) at this section, but I'm expecting like a 10-11 on this section.

Does anyone have that feeling that every single passage on the PS section had at least 3-4 relatively easy questions that took like 5 seconds to answer and 1-3 medium/difficult questions that took a few minutes to answer? I'm hoping for a generous curve, but I don't know if there will be one given so many easy questions on every single passage and on most discretes.

Verbal: It was the only section where I had the most confidence in only because it was very similar to AAMC11 verbal. Normally, I'm not that good with verbal, but I felt like I could get a 10-11 on this section. I'll just expect 8-9, because it's hard to predict the curve for verbal.

BS: Questions were pretty straightforward for the most part, but experiment heavy. The organic chem passage was probably one of the more challenging ones in the exam. A few discretes were somewhat tricky/challenging. Prediction: 10-12

Prediction: 10/8/10 - low end - expect the worst, right? I took the actual exam last year, but this is a re-take for me.
 
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kenjixshadow said:
No, I wanted to see how I did. Plus if I somehow bring up at least 2 points by my retake, which I'm aiming for August 7th, it wouldn't look too bad to many med schools.
Click to expand...
I thought I would wait for my score.....but then it's gonna be too late :(
 
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PS: I worked on the discretes first, which was kinda a mistake because they took more time than I thought... leaving me no time left for the last few passages (which I thought were the most calc-intensive)... I swear I wanted to cry when I had literally no time to think or even form a legitimate guess......

VR: Do-able and interesting probably means for a harsher curve ....

BS: Do-able, with 90% being Bio..
 
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PS: I'm really in awe of people who thought this section was decent. I thought it was a beast. Two asinine passages that I basically completely guessed on. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't run out of time making me guess on a few easy questions, which I knew I could've answered if I had a few more minutes.

Verbal: Thought it was fair and slightly on the easy side. One passage was a bit confusing and one I didn't have time to go back and check my answers so I made educated guesses. I hope the curve for this isn't too stringent because the timing was a bit tight.

BS: Only one orgo section which was not that bad. One bio passage was a bit confusing but overall, I thought I did well on the bio.

So now the waiting game begins. I don't know if I'll have to retake because of the PS (I will be grateful beyond belief if I score even a 9 considering how I did). I wouldn't feel so bad had I just missed the two passages but then I ran out of time for some of the easier ones. I hope I guessed at least a few right to get what I need and just move on with the process.

I'm curious if anyone is thinking of retaking (due to PS) before they get their scores back. What do you think?
 
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EndoAdduct said:
I'm curious if anyone is thinking of retaking (due to PS) before they get their scores back. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a good idea to be honest. As I said earlier, post test feelings can only be so accurate, and the scale of the test has historically made up for more difficult sections. Trust your averages. I don't think it's a good idea to jump into another test without even knowing how this really went.
 
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quickie32 said:
PS: I worked on the discretes first, which was kinda a mistake because they took more time than I thought... leaving me no time left for the last few passages (which I thought were the most calc-intensive)... I swear I wanted to cry when I had literally no time to think or even form a legitimate guess......

VR: Do-able and interesting probably means for a harsher curve ....

BS: Do-able, with 90% being Bio..
Click to expand...

Did the same with PS and ended up over-analyzing a couple of discretes which blew my timing. Totally agree on VR...I fear there will be a strict curve here. Extremely thrilled with the lack of orgo in BS though.
 
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dopa-mean said:
I don't think it's a good idea to be honest. As I said earlier, post test feelings can only be so accurate, and the scale of the test has historically made up for more difficult sections. Trust your averages. I don't think it's a good idea to jump into another test without even knowing how this really went.
Click to expand...
I am on the same page! but I already applied to some schools and received secondaries...with an MCAT hold! My plan was to work on secondaries after taking the MCAT. I want to retake but if I wait for my score, it will be too late. Don't know what to do with these secondaries or what to tell the schools! I don't want them to think that I'm rushing myself :( Any suggestions?
 
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