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

Boost your MCAT score by 12 points or more.
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Crosbyfan87 said:
Hey guys! I wrote the MCAT yesterday too. I only did AAMC 9, 10 and 11 for practice.

AAMC 9 - 12/9/12
AAMC 10 - 13/9/12
AAMC 11 - 13/10/12

Clearly, PS was my best section, but I, too, thought that PS was very challenging. 2 passages were extremely "WTF?" type, and for AAMC 10 and 11, I finished them both with ~7 mins left. I was in a rush the whole time, and barely finished (pretty calculation heavy too).

So while I was doing that section, I felt horrible, but when I clicked "Review All" (in the last 1-2 mins), I felt more confident about my answers. In retrospect, the questions themselves weren't that bad. However, there were some calculations I just couldn't do and had to guess on... (b/c I felt that they didn't give us enough information to calculate it). Did anyone else feel that for 1 calculation question?

Anyways, I'm hoping for a 11.

P.S. The hardest passage in Bio was the organic chemistry one. Wouldn't have expected that at all. I'm very strong in Organic Chem and was praying that half of Bio would be that... but that was a challenging O-Chem passage compared to practice ones.
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I felt the same way about some of the calculations. couldn't find the information for some of them
 
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Hey, it seems like the consensus is that PS sucks. Check out the May 8, 2014 mcat thread, the PS from that day was probably around the same. I retook today because of how low my PS was from may 8 lol but considering I thought I got a 2-3 ending up with a 9 wasn't too bad. Curves are fun
 
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premed1590 said:
Hey, it seems like the consensus is that PS sucks. Check out the May 8, 2014 mcat thread, the PS from that day was probably around the same. I retook today because of how low my PS was from may 8 lol but considering I thought I got a 2-3 ending up with a 9 wasn't too bad. Curves are fun
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I am also a retaker from May 8th and to be honest, even though yesterday's PS wasn't easy at all, it was NO WHERE NEAR how hard the May 8th one was. That thing is going to go down in history haha
 
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PsychoPass987 said:
I second this. I don't know why so many people think BS was easy, because there were quite a few tricky discretes, and passage questions throughout the section. It was definitely easier than the PS section though.
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God I wish you could elaborate on this more or something.... Now I feel like BS went over my head or something. I got a 12 the first time I took the test and it felt exactly the way this one did but now you have me worried that I didn't know what I was doing or something
 
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dopa-mean said:
God I wish you could elaborate on this more or something.... Now I feel like BS went over my head or something. I got a 12 the first time I took the test and it felt exactly the way this one did but now you have me worried that I didn't know what I was doing or something
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lol some people are going to think a section is easy and some are going to think a section is hard. hehe it is the way it is ;)
 
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dopa-mean said:
God I wish you could elaborate on this more or something.... Now I feel like BS went over my head or something. I got a 12 the first time I took the test and it felt exactly the way this one did but now you have me worried that I didn't know what I was doing or something
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the bio was NOT that bad I don't think you have to worry much. not a single discrete was terrible. the orgo passage was a little iffy, but there were only like 5 or 6 questions in it. and there was ONE experimental bio passage that caused a little pain because two of the questions didn't have clear cut answers. but the majority of bio passages you could race through and not look back. NOTHING like aamc 11 where you had to spend 15 minutes on the ebola passage. if physical was like bio, id be chilling right now.
 
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dopa-mean said:
God I wish you could elaborate on this more or something.... Now I feel like BS went over my head or something. I got a 12 the first time I took the test and it felt exactly the way this one did but now you have me worried that I didn't know what I was doing or something
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Well, I didn't think the BS exam was hard, but it wasn't a cakewalk. On many occasions with the discretes, I had to double-check answers to ensure that I wasn't falling for any traps. A lot of the questions pertained to very specific details, but I don't think it was all that bad if one had knowledge of the topics. Because everyone here says that this exam was "easy", I'm worrying that there will be very little room for error to get a 13-14 on this section. Personally, I'm expecting a 11-12, but we'll never know how the curve is like until people receive their scores.
 
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user12 said:
the bio was NOT that bad I don't think you have to worry much. not a single discrete was terrible. the orgo passage was a little iffy, but there were only like 5 or 6 questions in it. and there was ONE experimental bio passage that caused a little pain because two of the questions didn't have clear cut answers. but the majority of bio passages you could race through and not look back. NOTHING like aamc 11 where you had to spend 15 minutes on the ebola passage. if physical was like bio, id be chilling right now.
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How do you know it's experimental?
 
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im gonna try to keep my head right and refrain from consuming any alcoholic beverages until I retake in 3 weeks. once I get some revenge on the physical sciences, then ill crack open some cold ones
 
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I just remembered a couple questions on PS that I definitely got wrong. ...I seriously need to distract myself :(
 
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Are you guys submitting secondaries right now? Or waiting on your MCAT score to come back before submitting? I'm afraid if I submit now, they'll only see my first MCAT score and just reject automatically.
 
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Pericynthion said:
Are you guys submitting secondaries right now? Or waiting on your MCAT score to come back before submitting? I'm afraid if I submit now, they'll only see my first MCAT score and just reject automatically.
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If your application indicates that you have a pending MCAT score, they will actually process and put your application in line for your review and as soon as the second score becomes available, your review will begin. I have submitted secondaries and the status now says "Hold - MCAT score." So don't worry, the first score won't be used for review prior to the second score. Unless you are applying to schools that screen for secondaries, in which case a very brief review will be done using the available credentials to determine whether you should get a secondary.
I suggest submitting everything so that when the score is available, there is no added delay and the review can begin right away.
 
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dopa-mean said:
If your application indicates that you have a pending MCAT score, they will actually process and put your application in line for your review and as soon as the second score becomes available, your review will begin. I have submitted secondaries and the status now says "Hold - MCAT score." So don't worry, the first score won't be used for review prior to the second score. Unless you are applying to schools that screen for secondaries, in which case a very brief review will be done using the available credentials to determine whether you should get a secondary.
I suggest submitting everything so that when the score is available, there is no added delay and the review can begin right away.
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Gotcha. Thanks for your advice! I'm gonna get cracking on them now...the only good thing is a lot of them ask the same essay question. That'll cut down on the amount of writing.
 
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I scheduled my retake for 9/10. I know I got a question on BS wrong because I changed from the right answer, and I'm not confident about my PS score, because I think I could have done much better if I had better time management on PS.

So I have another 6 weeks to continue working on my weak areas and take practice exams, while I complete my application and work on secondaries.
 
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khronos said:
I scheduled my retake for 9/10. I know I got a question on BS wrong because I changed from the right answer, and I'm not confident about my PS score, because I think I could have done much better if I had better time management on PS.

So I have another 6 weeks to continue working on my weak areas and take practice exams, while I complete my application and work on secondaries.
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Oh, I didn't realize you were also applying this cycle. Do you think a September test date/October score release date would be too late?
 
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Pericynthion said:
Oh, I didn't realize you were also applying this cycle. Do you think a September test date/October score release date would be too late?
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Probably, but it's my backup plan. Besides, I'd rather spend the remaining free time I have this summer preparing, rather than trying to prepare while I'm taking classes. 9/10 is around the second week of class for me, so I won't have any other exams from school around then.
 
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khronos said:
I scheduled my retake for 9/10. I know I got a question on BS wrong because I changed from the right answer, and I'm not confident about my PS score, because I think I could have done much better if I had better time management on PS.

So I have another 6 weeks to continue working on my weak areas and take practice exams, while I complete my application and work on secondaries.
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Are you informing the schools about your retake? I think I did terrible on the PS section, but I wanna wait until I get my score. I wouldn't retake if I get a ~26. MCAT score will be automatically released to AMCAS. I don't know how to inform the schools about my retake? Should I just update AMCAS or call individual schools right after I get my score? I am afraid that they would reject me as soon as they see my first score......
 
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CharuMD said:
Are you informing the schools about your retake? I think I did terrible on the PS section, but I wanna wait until I get my score. I wouldn't retake if I get a ~26. MCAT score will be automatically released to AMCAS. I don't know how to inform the schools about my retake? Should I just update AMCAS or call individual schools right after I get my score? I am afraid that they would reject me as soon as they see my first score......
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If you're taking another MCAT, add that to your primary AMCAS application (under Standardized Tests). Schools will see that other date and hold on reviewing your file until that second score is in.

Or at least they're SUPPOSED to. I've heard rumours that some schools won't wait but I think the best thing to do is just add another test date to your application so the schools will know to wait for your second one.
 
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Pericynthion said:
If you're taking another MCAT, add that to your primary AMCAS application (under Standardized Tests). Schools will see that other date and hold on reviewing your file until that second score is in.

Or at least they're SUPPOSED to. I've heard rumours that some schools won't wait but I think the best thing to do is just add another test date to your application so the schools will know to wait for your second one.
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Thanks for your suggestion. I guess I'll do that And call them later if I decide not to take it again.....
 
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Registered for the September 18th MCAT... just in case. I dont know how I did so better safe than sorry!
 
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just signed up for the aug 7 exam. wanted aug 15 but it was filled. $325. yeah, that's a fair price.
 
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meowsterchris said:
I'm taking my experience with this PS section as a sign that I need way more practice with decoding tricky passages / quick calculations. Probably going to retake Jan. 10th... or I somehow pulled a 9 with all that guessing who knows...
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would NOT retake it jan 10 if I were you. id retake way before that. if for some reason something goes WRONG on the jan 10th as well, then you'll be stuck taking the new one, which is going to be an entirely different kind of hell- especially judging by that experimental biochemistry section I took after the exam, where I felt like I was reading several published journal articles... in Chinese. id try for an earlier date, then if you need to take it once more (God forbid) youll still be able to take the old exam.
 
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I HATED the test environment of the Prometric center i was at. I could not concentrate and I was struggling with some questions that I knew were easy but for some reason I couldn't figure it out quickly. PS was definitely hardest, followed by VR. BS was "easier".
 
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Praying that I won't need to retake for a third time. Yall are freaking me out haha
 
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For those of you guys applying this cycle, considering all goes according to plan and the scores released on August 26th are fine.... How worried are you about being "late" in the cycle? I don't know if having everything else in and just waiting on the score is good enough to not have to worry too much
 
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Now that the exam is over, I don't know how to spend my time until my score is released... I have a month off. Any tv series suggestions? lol
 
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wsu11 said:
Now that the exam is over, I don't know how to spend my time until my score is released... I have a month off. Any tv series suggestions? lol
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Haha this was me after my test in april. I watched dexter scrubs and greys anatomy
 
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wsu11 said:
Now that the exam is over, I don't know how to spend my time until my score is released... I have a month off. Any tv series suggestions? lol
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The Americans or Hannibal! Or orange is the new black for something a little lighter but still intense.
 
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I don't know if there are any 24 fans, but I watched the latest season a few days ago. pretty sick, i'd recommend it. certainly better than orange is the new black.
 
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