*Official June 2016 MCAT Thread*

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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aalamruad

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Hey there everyone! Figured I'd start this thread since I recently started preparing for the June 18th MCAT. For those of you who are taking the June 2nd MCAT, June 18th MCAT, or still considering one of those two dates, feel free to post here with any questions, comments, concerns, or support you have to offer!

Good luck to you all! Let's crush it.
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theNDhopeful44 said:
@MrsSheperd, how'd your FL go this past weekend?
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I chickened out :laugh: haha I will take it this week but I couldn't bring myself to start one without finishing up my last two GenChem chapters! So my new plan is to take the first one on Friday. Are you able to just take the whole exam in one sitting? I think that's one of my main concerns too
 
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Oh right, yea I was referring to the C/P and B/BC sections. The other ones i scored around 80%. I've been using Kaplan Fls mainly and have completed all of the aamc material. Yea I don't think Kaplans have been all that helpful tbh.
 
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detroitstudent said:
Is the general consensus that EK FL's are the most representative? After doing Kaplan FL 1 and the AAMC official guide I can see a big difference.


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I think NS and EK are the most representative of the test prep companies. So far, I have taken 2 NS exams and I think they were pretty good.
 
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theNDhopeful44 said:
I had a similar experience. 499 and then 497 on FL 1 and 2– needless to say I was pretty discouraged. I decided to take a few weeks to just do solid content review, and did some mixed practice with EK 30 min exams; I started seeing a lot of variations between the Kaplan and EK testing styles (EK is way more experimental-based). So where I was hitting 124's consistently on Kaplan, I was hitting anywhere between 127-130 on EK. Granted those are only the 30 min tests that I've done for almost every lecture in almost every book, but the confidence definitely helps.

But as much as the test is knowing content, I also really think it's being familiar with the test itself. I recently did FL 4 from Kaplan and received a 505 (128 in bio) and still think it's just test familiarity and practice with timing. I'm going to do another Kaplan FL this Saturday and then start to do ~2 a week plus section banks/question packs as well.

TL;DR don't get discouraged by practice test scores.
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How many FL's have you taken? I have noted Kaplan FL's questions are kind of weird. There was this one question that was talking about work done by the blood and the answer choice explained it using the PV diagram. That obviously makes no sense as PV diagrams work for gases only, ie work done by gas in a piston or something, not BLOOD! And their scoring is weird too. Of course, I am fault too as I still haven't mastered some topics and second guess myself.
 
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betterfuture said:
How many FL's have you taken? I have noted Kaplan FL's questions are kind of weird. There was this one question that was talking about work done by the blood and the answer choice explained it using the PV diagram. That obviously makes no sense as PV diagrams work for gases only, ie work done by gas in a piston or something, not BLOOD! And their scoring is weird too. Of course, I am fault too as I still haven't mastered some topics and second guess myself.
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I don't know where you got that PV diagrams are used for gases only, because it can most certainly be applied to blood, specifically in the cardio. system in terms of stroke work (work done by the ventricle to eject a volume of blood aka stroke volume into the aorta) where it is best represented using a diagram of ventricular pressure vs. volume.

However, I don't know what the question you had was, so just wanted to let you know that they do exist :).
 
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drr0zz0r said:
I don't know where you got that PV diagrams are used for gases only, because it can most certainly be applied to blood, specifically in the cardio. system in terms of stroke work (work done by the ventricle to eject a volume of blood aka stroke volume into the aorta) where it is best represented using a diagram of ventricular pressure vs. volume.

However, I don't know what the question you had was, so just wanted to let you know that they do exist :).
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I don't think this type of work is best represented with the use of a PV diagram. PV diagrams are best applicable with gases because gases are compressible which allows them to do work on a system. The type of work you are referring to is mechanical work, which is understandable when talking about the heart and the cardiovascular system.
 
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detroitstudent said:
So would you say the official guide is one of the harder AAMC materials? I scored the same for CARS/psych. Let me know how the EK exams work, good luck.


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Yea I think the OG and the B/BC section bank were the hardest things I've faced so far.

So I completed the EK exam 3 bio section and got 46/59 (78%) and I thought the questions were pretty fair and I really liked the practice working with graphs a bit. Definitely felt more representative of the AAMC passages then Kaplans. Gonna try out the C/P section in a bit.
 
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detroitstudent said:
Good score! That gives me hope after the OG. Was it similar to the 30 min exams?


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I'm not sure what the 30 min exams are, I've seen people talking about them but never looked into it. Is it like a package of half sections sold on the EK website?
 
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detroitstudent said:
I'll probably do a NS later this week, and EK this weekend.

How far out from our date should we start the question packs do you guys think?


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I did the Chemistry, Physics, and half of the Biology this past weekend. I would say section banks are the priority though. I just did the question banks to solidify my understanding, since they are basically free-standing questions.
 
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Just got a 76% on EK FL #2. Pretty happy with the 4% increase from FL #1 that I took a couple weeks ago. Anyone else taken #2 yet?
 
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How did it compare do Kaplan, if you've done any. I'm debating whether I should do the AAMC unscored sample or another Kaplan FL this weekend.
 
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Are any of you wonderful people planning on rescheduling a June 2 or June 18 test? Currently scheduled to test in May, but today is last date to reschedule for me but there's not a single available site for June within a 10 hour radius unfortunately lol. Let me know if anyone is or has any advice!
 
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To those of you who are working the AAMC q-packs: is there a way to do only a few passages at a time? It seems like the only way to practice is doing 100 questions. Also, any possibility of checking answers as you go?
 
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MrsSheperd said:
To those of you who are working the AAMC q-packs: is there a way to do only a few passages at a time? It seems like the only way to practice is doing 100 questions. Also, any possibility of checking answers as you go?
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Yeah. You can pause it, return to it later, or have it scored wherever. But once you decide to have it scored, that counts as an attempt. What I did was just split it into two full lengths (60 questions each). Also, to show you the answers, just hit show solutions under the test delvery options section.
 
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Brah of Science said:
Yeah. You can pause it, return to it later, or have it scored wherever. But once you decide to have it scored, that counts as an attempt. What I did was just split it into two full lengths (60 questions each). Also, to show you the answers, just hit show solutions under the test delvery options section.
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Thank you! That's a good idea. :) Those Bio/BC passages are hard!!
 
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Brah of Science said:
Were you referring to the section banks? I heard the B/BC and C/P suck :bang:I finished the P/S today and it wasn't too bad
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Yeah, that's what I mean. I definitely spent more time on those questions and eventually figured out the answers. But considering that I won't have the luxury of time on test day, I'm not quite sure how to tackle those passages efficiently.:scared: Do you have some good advice or any ideas??
 
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can someone post a link for the BEST CARS book? I'm dong next step and even though i suck it seems to be a little bit easy. i feel like I'm improving but don't want to jinks myself
 
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EK FL 3 kicked my ass yesterday. I've been doing really well on Bio and CARS and those sections were still good for me, but I did so terribly on the C/P section that it brought my percentage down to 63%. Guess I know what I'll be focusing on til June 18th.

Also I've heard the section banks are really tough but closer to what the MCAT has been like for April test takers. :(
 
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keepSwimmingNemo said:
can someone post a link for the BEST CARS book? I'm dong next step and even though i suck it seems to be a little bit easy. i feel like I'm improving but don't want to jinks myself
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I like EK CARS strategy (focusing on the big picture and the author's tone). I used Kaplan books my first time around (6 years ago lol) and I've done much better using the EK strategy but that could also be due to my better reading comprehension skills now versus then.
 
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Hey guys! I'm taking the exam June 18th. So I've done about a month and a half of reading/ content review, and I'm barely going to begin a month and a half of practice by the end of this week. Do you think that's enough? I haven't even taken a practice test yet.
My question sounds stupid when i think about it, cuz what does "enough" / "good" mean anyway, and it all depends on the person. But let's say I'm an average joe, is 6 weeks of practice enough to do well? Assuming I'm going to treat studying like a freakin' job!
 
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You need to take a practice test ASAP to see where you're at. My first full length was way back in feburary and I got a 499, and just got a 505 last week. So it takes practice and familiarity. Will you be able to start hitting mid-500s in 6 weeks? I can't tell you that, man.
 
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sleepyhead22 said:
EK FL 3 kicked my ass yesterday. I've been doing really well on Bio and CARS and those sections were still good for me, but I did so terribly on the C/P section that it brought my percentage down to 63%. Guess I know what I'll be focusing on til June 18th.

Also I've heard the section banks are really tough but closer to what the MCAT has been like for April test takers. :(
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I'm taking EK FL 3 today, wish me luck!
 
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sleepyhead22 said:
EK FL 3 kicked my ass yesterday. I've been doing really well on Bio and CARS and those sections were still good for me, but I did so terribly on the C/P section that it brought my percentage down to 63%. Guess I know what I'll be focusing on til June 18th.

Also I've heard the section banks are really tough but closer to what the MCAT has been like for April test takers. :(
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Pretty sure C/P was just a really hard section on EK FL 3. I got 70 overall, and 60 on C/P. It certainly seemed harder than that section on the other 2 EK FL's I've taken so far.
 
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It was heavy on data analysis and interpretation in my opinion. Not much memorization, however, there were some questions that required memorization of the CAC cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, and nitrogenous bases.
 
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Hey guys,
I am currently registered for a May 20th one seeking to change to June 18th in Texas...
What are my odds on this happening? (I saw 3 last night 4 showing up this morning and when I click on them they say "No Seats Available")
 
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@MrsSheperd Now I know what you were talking about. I noticed myself spending more time on these than usual too. I ended up just drawing little flowcharts to keep everything straight, which I thought were helpful with some of those enzyme passages.
 
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Brah of Science said:
@MrsSheperd Now I know what you were talking about. I noticed myself spending more time on these than usual too. I ended up just drawing little flowcharts to keep everything straight, which I thought were helpful with some of those enzyme passages.
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That's a good idea. I wonder how reflective those passages are compared to the real thing. I really hope that they put up some extra hard passages to motivate us to work harder until June lol *wishful thinking*
 
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