The Official 01/28/2012 MCAT Club

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.Test Date.: Saturday, January 28, 2012
.Exam Start Time.: 1 p.m.
.Registration Opens.: October 12, 2011
...Tentative.. Score Release Date.: February 28, 2012
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Also desperately trying to catch up! Using TBR for now, almost done with phase I, third of the way done with phase II... I haven't read any of the chapters for a while now. Lookslike I'll be done with TBR phases first week of Jan... And I will start doing ExamKrackers for phys and gchem (my weakest subj) when I am almost done with TBR... We will see how much I can get done I guess!

Have you guys already started doing FLs!?
 
This is a test to be learned, prepared, taken in a limited time.
Studying for the second time, I realize that we must focus on weak part and keep moving on. This sounds easy, yet is quite challenging when there's so much topics to be covered and i often find myself reviewing the same portion of the book/problems/passages. It's the ability to quickly catching your weakness in content where you start boosting your score.

I've been good with Bio/Orgo content, didn't review much and took a section test and was shocked i only scored a 8. Since i know the content, it's the solidification of each subject i need to work on...

Verbal is hell as usual, got a bunch of books and will be pushing myself doing a test a day (Yes, it's a lot, especially when adding review would be 3 hr/day study just for verbal). But i find this more efficient than spending 3~4 months doing 3 passages a day.

Time to finish GenChem and Physics content review, let's keep ourselves active here... hopefully we will begin doing the FLs (1~2 FL / week) towards the middle of December.
 
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looking to get into this test date at the Newport News site in Virginia. If anyone currently registered for this date / place is thinking about switching, please let me know! thanks!
 
Also desperately trying to catch up! Using TBR for now, almost done with phase I, third of the way done with phase II... I haven't read any of the chapters for a while now. Lookslike I'll be done with TBR phases first week of Jan... And I will start doing ExamKrackers for phys and gchem (my weakest subj) when I am almost done with TBR... We will see how much I can get done I guess!

Have you guys already started doing FLs!?

I'll start my FL's proper first week of January. Towards the end of this months though i'll take 1 or 3 paper based FL's (kaplan and 6R). We'll see.
Switching gears a little, I'm also getting nervous now because in working on phase II i don't seem to have improved (grade-wise) a lot from phase I (so far); I feel that i am learning a lot though AND and my timing is off in physics (going over average 3 minutes per test of 52 Q's) Any suggestions? how have you handled these issues? I am hoping to improve by phase III. How do you suggest i tackle these issues??????:confused:
 
I'll start my FL's proper first week of January. Towards the end of this months though i'll take 1 or 3 paper based FL's (kaplan and 6R). We'll see.
Switching gears a little, I'm also getting nervous now because in working on phase II i don't seem to have improved (grade-wise) a lot from phase I (so far); I feel that i am learning a lot though AND and my timing is off in physics (going over average 3 minutes per test of 52 Q's) Any suggestions? how have you handled these issues? I am hoping to improve by phase III. How do you suggest i tackle these issues??????:confused:

You might consider purchasing the EK 1001 set, to help solidify your foundation in these subjects. I wouldnt put too much emphasis on timing right now until you can get the majority of the questions right. Wait until the latter part of this month then see where you stand with timing.
 
Hey, if anyone is having trouble with physics or chemistry concepts , visit this website: http://www.brightstorm.com/science/ . The videos are straightforward , short ,and helpful. Best of luck to us all! :luck:

I am so behind that I am about to cry. :/

I haven't done passages in SO LONG. I have read Gen. Chem, done several passages in there, read TBR Physics, most of TPR Biology, 5 chapters in TBR Organic. I won't be doing any MCAT until December 21st. Is anyone else in my boat?? I am so scared. :scared:

December 21st - 31st - I am planning on finishing all of TBR Phase I, half of TPR Science Workbook. And then FLs in January...one every other day. Mixed with TBR passages and TPR passages.
 
I am so behind that I am about to cry. :/

I haven't done passages in SO LONG. I have read Gen. Chem, done several passages in there, read TBR Physics, most of TPR Biology, 5 chapters in TBR Organic. I won't be doing any MCAT until December 21st. Is anyone else in my boat?? I am so scared. :scared:

December 21st - 31st - I am planning on finishing all of TBR Phase I, half of TPR Science Workbook. And then FLs in January...one every other day. Mixed with TBR passages and TPR passages.

Sameee here!!! I am totally cutting stuff out of my schedule, because I know there is noooo way I can get to them .... but as far as reading the books go, I kind of gave up on reading the chapters (using TBR books), instead I am just doing the phases and that itself is taking me a long time to do.... this is making me feel a bit nervous, but I am hoping to see where my weaknesses are and then read only those chapters/topics and instead spend more time doing the questions..... hopefully i'm not shooting myself in the :b*llZz:!

I am doing TBR phase I and II for now, then will do TPR workbook and finally finish it off with TBR III... and if I get the chance, I'll go over ExamKrackers stuff! TBR is taking longer than I expected so idk how it'll work out finishing one of the phases with half of TPR workbook in just 10 days... let me know how that goes?!

And that leaves most of my FLs for January also.... which I don't think is good, cuz idk how many points I can improve in one month by just doing FLs every other day... I guess we will find out!
 
Yep same here. Stupid school is consuming my life and the worst part is that I have few finals in Jan also.... Fuk
 
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I am so behind that I am about to cry. :/

I haven't done passages in SO LONG. I have read Gen. Chem, done several passages in there, read TBR Physics, most of TPR Biology, 5 chapters in TBR Organic. I won't be doing any MCAT until December 21st. Is anyone else in my boat?? I am so scared. :scared:

December 21st - 31st - I am planning on finishing all of TBR Phase I, half of TPR Science Workbook. And then FLs in January...one every other day. Mixed with TBR passages and TPR passages.

Yeah, I understand how you feel. I work full-time , so I study for about 4 hours during the weekdays and 6 hours each day on the weekends. Don't panic yet , we sill have time, just check those videos out on the website , then try to work passages after you have watch them. I'm doing that , so far it's been really helpful. I'm using TPR Science Workbook too, but dang... simple harmonic motion gets me every time.:smuggrin:
 
You know what you guys, I have decided that I will take AAMC 10 on January 20th..if I see a score that I like, I will take the real deal. If not, I think I will be much prepared for the March one since I will just be FLs as I will be done with content review. Study as if it's on January 28th, but take it possibly in March...
 
Taking the MCAT for the first time on the 28th. I'm excited and nervous and It's been 5 years since I took Organic and Physics and 6 years since Bio and Chem. I guess, I'm a little late huh but better late then never.

GAME ON MCAT!
 
Taking the MCAT for the first time on the 28th. I'm excited and nervous and It's been 5 years since I took Organic and Physics and 6 years since Bio and Chem. I guess, I'm a little late huh but better late then never.

GAME ON MCAT!

Welcome to the thread! Have you started reviewing content yet? I'm also taking the MCAT on the 28th. So far have BS review down and currently working on PS. This thread is very supportive, so I'm sure you'll fit right on in. If you have any questions, feel free and ask. We're all working toward a common goal! Good luck to all!

BTW Hows studying coming everyone??!
 
In my perfect world i would be almost finishing Phase II and working on EK 1001. In the real world though, I am really behind schedule. I started cutting stuff out as well...just no time!
 
i'm taking off...well partially...
I will be still doing the same schedule study, but i'm thinking towards March now...
Just didn't get much done as expected...but will still push on...
I'll probably wait until the end of this month, i'll be done with some full test...if scores not going on much i'll change to March date...
I'm a retaker and want to be 100% sure i can ace this, and want to take it when i feel that way.

Gluck to all, let's finish this test up!
 
Is it bad that I havent studied yet, technically? I studied all summer then didnt take it. I was gonna wait a few days into winter break to get to it. We'll see what happens.
 
Just got out of the exam.

These are my initial reactions:

Physical Sciences - Ran out of time again, had to guess on a full passage. Overall, the material was pretty basic and there was nothing that I was really astonished by. Out of the questions I answered, I felt pretty good about them. The fact that I had to guess on a passage is definitely going to take a point or two out of my score. I liked the passage on Giraffes and Whales haha

Verbal - AHHHH REALLY ran out of time, had to guess on two full passages. Passages were drier than usual and I felt really pressed for time. There was nothing that I was really positive on and each question seemed to have two likely answers.

Writing - The topics were easy to write about and I think I did well. But who knows, its subjective anyway.

Biology - SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO The organic was relatively simple, not like the last test I took which had some 3D molecular project that was impossible to interpret. The biology passages are getting longer and heavily rely on passage interpretation rather than outside knowledge. Discrete questions were pretty basic but I ran out of time and had to guess on like 5 discretes and two extremely long passages.

Basically, I feel like I did well on what I answered. The fact that I ran out of time is really going to injure me and I may have to take it again in May.

Anyone else?
 
Just came back...
OMg seriously

PS sooo much calculation half way through I almost forgot how to add.... but definitely do able

VR OMG really i hate you VR. I had to guess on the last two passages. Urggg I hope that whole section gets scaled to like a 15 lol
The whole time I was wishing I could press pause like on the practice exams lol

BS only one orgo but the discrete def got me. I think this was more passage based, reminded me of AAMC 8 a little.

Overall i just hope everyone did well. Come on we deserve this, we study hard to get our goal... its right there in front us... class of 2016.

Good Luck.
 
Just got out of the exam.

These are my initial reactions:

Physical Sciences - Ran out of time again, had to guess on a full passage. Overall, the material was pretty basic and there was nothing that I was really astonished by. Out of the questions I answered, I felt pretty good about them. The fact that I had to guess on a passage is definitely going to take a point or two out of my score. I liked the passage on Giraffes and Whales haha

Verbal - AHHHH REALLY ran out of time, had to guess on two full passages. Passages were drier than usual and I felt really pressed for time. There was nothing that I was really positive on and each question seemed to have two likely answers.

Writing - The topics were easy to write about and I think I did well. But who knows, its subjective anyway.

Biology - SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO The organic was relatively simple, not like the last test I took which had some 3D molecular project that was impossible to interpret. The biology passages are getting longer and heavily rely on passage interpretation rather than outside knowledge. Discrete questions were pretty basic but I ran out of time and had to guess on like 5 discretes and two extremely long passages.

Basically, I feel like I did well on what I answered. The fact that I ran out of time is really going to injure me and I may have to take it again in May.

Anyone else?

This reflects my experiences, having voided one exam and doing much worse than expected on another.

It really bugs me since I typically rip through verbal (800 SAT verbal and 13-15 on AAMC practice tests, EXCEPT for AAMC 11). But on the real thing, there seemed to be so many of these ambiguous answer choices where I eliminated down to two very likely answers..
Ended up with a 9 when I took it few months ago, which was a true shocker for me..

Any idea on which prep material drills you on such ambiguous answer choices?

Also, regarding BS, which practice tests focus more on passage interpretation rather than memorization and application?

So far, none of the practice materials really seem to reflect either of these things.. I haven't looked at TBR yet, so maybe they do a better a job of it.
 
Overall I think the test felt just like another AAMC practice exam.

PS - relatively simple/straight forward topics and maybe 4-5 trickier problems. Had to rush the last passage but overall not bad.

Verbal - Didn't feel that it was unlike any AAMC practice exams.

BS - Again, relatively straight forward concepts.. I'd say that most of the passage based questions required analysis of a table/graph in the passage
 
PS calculations were rough, but besides that I didn't think it was too bad. Verbal was long, but I didn't think it was that awful. BS was like AAMC 11 so it took a lot of thinking, but I didn't think it was awful. Overall I have no idea what to expect like I always felt on my practice tests so who knows.
 
I just finished taking the test myself (2nd time taking the MCAT, first post on these forums - I've been lurking quite a while).

PS put me for a loop, because it seemed to me every question they asked and every equation I needed to know, I forgot part of the equation. Overall, straightforward. So straightforward it almost made me think it was too simple - if only I knew most of the dang equations... however, in trying to remember some, I had to rush on the last passage a little (educated guestimated :D)

VR has always been my strong area. On my last MCAT I got a 12, and on practice tests 12/13 on VR. The verbal passages (to me) seemed to have 2 strong answers, one a little "less right" than the other. Otherwise, if you read the passages and understood them, the questions asked were fair.

W, another strong area of mine. Couldn't think of many examples, or even a direct example that fit my one statement. Ran out of time on one of my essays, :thumbdown:

BS confused me a little bit too. There were some

a) one answer
b) another answer
c) both
d) none

problems. Thought the Ochem in the BS was not as bad as I've seen before on my other exam. Some passages, like VR, made me think one question had two technically "correct" answers... maybe one a little stronger than the other, but still.

Ultimately, I feel pretty good. In a month we shall see. :)
 
It felt like another AAMC practice exam, except the verbal was longer with the BS being a little harder.
 
well.....just got done

PS- I thought it was very fair and not too calculation heavy. Last time I took the exam I got a 10 on PS and I thought I bombed it having walked out. I think I did better this time than last time so im hoping for a 10+ (although I made TWO really stupid mistakes because I was nervous and rushed for time). For PS, the discrete were straightforward and 6 out of the 7 passages were easy to moderate, with only 1 really hard passages. Definitely thought it was fair.

Verbal- o GAWWWWD. Terrible. yes, TERRIBLE. If i could use one word to describe verbal, it would be TERRIBLE. had to blindly guess on one of the passages. Passages were definitely longer than practice test. The questions were also way more wordy, and the answer choices were REALLY ambiguous. Many people at my testing center were retaking because of verbal (as was I) which just goes to show how difficult this one section really is. I just wish they would make that section 10 minutes longer so your not in SUCH a rush. Its really this one section of one exam that is holding me back from medical school....... urgh :-/. okay im done venting.

WS- first topic= blah; second topic = :D. Last time I got an R so hopefully did better this time.

BS- Definitely fair. I thought it was difficult, but not too difficult. I definitely think I did best on this section. I am a bio major and one of the last classes I took at my UG institution really helped me with one of the passages. I agree that this section is not based on wrote memorization but rather passage interpretation. However, with that being said, if you have a good biology background and specific knowledge about some topics, I think it could go a long way.

I also agree with the above poster that for bio, you REALLY need to be tuned in to the passage AND the questions. There is a lot of information in the passage and in the charts that pertains to the answer choices and often times there are 2, even 3 correct answers but only ONE of them is the BEST. This was def the case with the bio today and I felt really in tune during this section and I was able to narrow down which answer choice is the best choice on many of the problems that had multiple correct choices. Several times I caught myself falling for the trap answer and I was able to identify the best choice so I am happy about that. Just goes to show though how focussed you need to be because if you are rushed it is much easier to fall for these kinds of pitfalls.

I stared at the void screen for almost the entire 5 minutes. In the end, I decided not to void, because I thought I performed really well in BS and PS. However, with that being said and looking back now, I kinda wish I would have voided because verbal was the sole reason I was retaking. I did endless verbal practice the last 3 months but I don't think I hit near my verbal average on aamc practice test. God I hope the curve for verbal is generous.
 
I totally agree with UTSA. Ive been averaging 11-12 for verbal on AAMC practice tests 7-1 1and I can honestly say the VR today was the toughest ive seen. Felt like every question had 2 correct answers.
 
Wow I really hate the MCAT but here is how I feel about this round

PS: Very disappointing. First it was super heavy on Gen Chem, a lot more then last time. Math was a time consuming event although there was not to much of it. Passage required a lot of going back and re- reading. If feel like I had to guess on more then I usually do.

VR: All I have to say is thank you Princeton Review. The outrageously long practice passages and super dry and crappie reading preped me. The Verbal workbook is great because this time some of the passages were 8 to 9 paragraphs long of really bad reading. I was able to follow it very well though and I understood what each passage was getting at.

WS: I hate this section. You really can't practice for it and the subjects are boring. This one wasn't to bad but I know I wrote like crap.

BS: This one was different. The orgo passage was not too bad but you had to be more careful about how you used the table as some of the columns didn't line up properly. I felt like they were more interested in if you were paying attention then your orgo knowledge. The bio question had a lot of trick wording but if you were awake lots of the answers were in the passage. You could tell they put in a little extra effort to trip up people that did this test to fast. I took my time on this section and I hope it paid off.

Overall I felt like this test tried to put you out of the fight early, put you to sleep in the middle and tried to sucker punch you in the end. I think I will continue to study and re take in march if I have to. Here hoping everybody did better then we thought.
 
Interesting test center note....

The person taking the test next to me was super worried. He would sigh so very loud every five mins or so and when the verbal he totally dropped an F bomb, not super loud but loud enough that the test admin asked him to quiet down a bit. Another person was cracking there knuckles so often it sounded like rain on a simple wood roof. Wow... this test really gets to people. AAMC please write a test that doesn't cause PTSD. Thanks, WorldChanger36.
 
If you want you can ask me after the scores come out. I don't think I'm qualified to give advice unless I get a decent score.
 
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Funny, I though Physics was awful and everything else generally pretty good. I felt like everything that I studied for in terms of physics was not on there and everything I didn't did. I guess just hope for the best at this point.

EEK!
 
I really don't think today was all that bad.

People realize the seriousness of the test. Nothing wrong with that. Not like someone is holding a gun to your head.

No I agree. I just though it was a bit of comic relief to hear so many nervous people. I mean it was so unexpected I almost laughed which would have been bad. It was interesting how the whole world gets louder where you are in that testing room. I mean last time I took the test two people just got up and walked out, this time I think everybody scored it even though some of them felt worked.
 
Girl at the testing center was all, "Yeah, I didn't study, if I'm meant to be a doctor I'll do well, and if I'm not, then I won't!"

o_O

Anyway. Test:

PS - Straightforward to the point of being suspicious. I kept looking for second and third meanings where it was straightforward calculation. The only thing that threw me was the last passage, where the material made me stop and blink because it hadn't appeared on any of the practice tests I took. But I muddled through all right. Overall, I think it went well.

VR - I didn't think it was as horrendous as everyone else apparently did. I mean, it was hard, but I thought it was really only the first two passages that were really bad, and then it eased off. It was definitely a push for time, though. Long passages. And one very badly-written one that I spent way too long attempting to understand.

WS - Wrote the **** out of both of them. Totally nailed them. Was worried about those because all the AAMC prompts dealt with political-heavy things and I'm not too good with that, but these two essay went really well.

BS - Eh. There was one question that I am still kicking myself over because I'd seen one like it on a practice test, gotten it wrong, and had forgotten to look it up. So I'm pretty sure I got that one wrong. But other than that, I thought bio was pretty good as well. The ochem material was a lot better than what I'd been bracing myself for.

And now... we wait. Oh God.
 
I struggled with the noise of my neighbor too :mad:. It literally sounded like his chair collapsed from under him and he fell onto his desk every 15 minutes!! I don't know what he was doing over there and the admin guy never said a word. And it was super hot in there. Being nervous and having the heat vent blowing down on you is not a comfortable environment.
PS--I had to guess more than I usually do on practice exams because of time running out. The physics seemed pretty fair but I was only halfway through when I realized time was running out so I had to do alot of math in my head...so when it came down to choosing between two answers like .0025 or 2.5 I couldn't keep up with my decimal places in my head!
VR--strong section for me so I'm not worried. Passages weren't very interesting this time so I had to go back and re-read too much. I don't think I made any blind guesses but I know I didn't have much time to think either.
W--who cares? But it's my best section
BS--thankfully not as Orgo heavy as the last one I took. Again, I had to rush and make some guesses on questions I didn't have time to read. More passage heavy than the practice tests
I just pray I don't ever have to face that beast again! :scared:
 
I voided.

I do think though that PS and BS sections were not that bad, BS especially. I messed up my timing on PS, that's why, and that was all I can think of afterwards. Halfway through Verbal, my head just gave up because I have no idea what the F I am doing. I skipped the writing section (the prompts were not that bad BTW) and then took the BS section anyways even though I knew that I'm gonna void it anyways. That BS section was probably my biggest regret for F'ing up this test because I really thought it was not that bad.

I studied for this exam last summer and then postponed. Studied again this Winter break and then this happened. So I don't have any choice but to continue studying for it and retake it on March or April. Oh well. To those who have not voided the test, I hope ya'll get the score that you hoped for. And for the retakers, we can definitely do this. I feel like I was not taking this exam that seriously but the past few months have been a great learning experience. I found out that I suck at standardized test and that my study habits have cracks. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, right now, I am just looking at the bright side and although I never planned to study for this exam this long, I definitely got something out of it that would greatly help me in the future.
 
Girl at the testing center was all, "Yeah, I didn't study, if I'm meant to be a doctor I'll do well, and if I'm not, then I won't!"

o_O

Anyway. Test:

PS - Straightforward to the point of being suspicious. I kept looking for second and third meanings where it was straightforward calculation. The only thing that threw me was the last passage, where the material made me stop and blink because it hadn't appeared on any of the practice tests I took. But I muddled through all right. Overall, I think it went well.

VR - I didn't think it was as horrendous as everyone else apparently did. I mean, it was hard, but I thought it was really only the first two passages that were really bad, and then it eased off. It was definitely a push for time, though. Long passages. And one very badly-written one that I spent way too long attempting to understand.

WS - Wrote the **** out of both of them. Totally nailed them. Was worried about those because all the AAMC prompts dealt with political-heavy things and I'm not too good with that, but these two essay went really well.

BS - Eh. There was one question that I am still kicking myself over because I'd seen one like it on a practice test, gotten it wrong, and had forgotten to look it up. So I'm pretty sure I got that one wrong. But other than that, I thought bio was pretty good as well. The ochem material was a lot better than what I'd been bracing myself for.

And now... we wait. Oh God.

I know right?!?! ORGO WAS GREAT, it was like taking the ACT science section haha, okay maybe I won't go that far...

I agree with you about verbal, the first 2 passages really lowered my moral and made the easier ones more daunting than they should have been.
 
Hey All,

I am a new member...lurking for a while. I tested today as well and after thinking about how completely terrible the verbal was, I voided. This was my first attempt. I agree, there were two answers that were technically correct in most of the questions. I was timed out in verbal with two passages left. I definitely felt the verbal was longer than any AAMC practice exam but, it could have been my anxiety level?

Overall the topics tested seemed fair. The PS section was a little tricky and there were definitely more calculations than I anticipated.

I typically take 24 credit hours a semester so, with my load last semester I had little time to focus on preparation. It really showed in my anxiety level during the first two sections.

Can you all tell me what your verbal strategy is? I typically get timed out on verbal but, not with two passages that have all c's entered as answers...like I did on this exam. Did you all use EK? I notice that is big for users on this site.

Thanks!
Hope you all get awesome scores.

Last time I used EK and I felt confused on at least two passages. I ended up with a 6. This time I used an old TPR verbal workbook. Felt like I understood every passage well and was able to answer the questions with a good amount of surety and finished with a 54 seconds to spare. With TPR timing will never be a problem again nor will boredom. We shall see how well I did this time around. Like Ice said though I need to do well to be qualified to give advice on this.
 
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