The Official 4/26/13 MCAT Thread

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In lieu of the other threads popping up, I thought it'd be good for those of us taking the test to identify ourselves :thumbup:

I'm not planning on following a rigid study schedule until January, but I think I'm going to watch a single video off of wikipremed daily to lightly review.

Good luck to everyone... we will crush this exam..
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have been pushing my date behind and behind for a while. Never feeling confident to take it and get it done. Signed up for 4/26.. normandy invasion.. D day. Really hoping to get a score above 30.
 
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Hey everyone;
I first registered for the 27th but changed to the 26th at 8Am. Have been studying since 1/13 following the SN2ed schedule with some modifications. I am about halfway through the material and been scoring abt 50% on the TBR passages and the EK 1001 questions. for everything. I am using TPR verbal (scores on the first three exams are 60%, 57%, 70% then I tried the fourth but wasn't focused I know and got a 37% :( ). I took a kaplan practice test and got 21 raw but curved to 16 earlier and haven't taken AAMC practice tests yet. Is it time to change my style of studying and what should I do? Please help me out as I am so discouraged since I am halfway through and can't improve above the 50%. Thanks!
 
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Amar2014 said:
Hey everyone;
I first registered for the 27th but changed to the 26th at 8Am. Have been studying since 1/13 following the SN2ed schedule with some modifications. I am about halfway through the material and been scoring abt 50% on the TBR passages and the EK 1001 questions. for everything. I am using TPR verbal (scores on the first three exams are 60%, 57%, 70% then I tried the fourth but wasn't focused I know and got a 37% :( ). I took a kaplan practice test and got 21 raw but curved to 16 earlier and haven't taken AAMC practice tests yet. Is it time to change my style of studying and what should I do? Please help me out as I am so discouraged since I am halfway through and can't improve above the 50%. Thanks!
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How are you doing on Content? Are you forcing yourself to burn through the chapters to stay on schedule?

Maybe try the AAMC Assessments and see where you need to improve yourself?

People say generally you'll start off bad with TBR but as you learn test-taking skills and get more familiar with the passages, you should see an increase.
 
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yes I do feel that I am rushing through to catch up with schedule. I also forget stuff like details of the chapters. I look at my notes and some flash cards to refresh my memory before doing the second half of the passages. Any suggestions on how to retain information till test date? I usually read the passages and go down to my answer and the right answer unfortunately! I am gonna go slowly with review this week and take AAMC #3 on the wknd and see what happens. The problem with TBR is that I started with 50% and still around 50% even after I learned the the skills. thanks!
 
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Amar2014 said:
yes I do feel that I am rushing through to catch up with schedule. I also forget stuff like details of the chapters. I look at my notes and some flash cards to refresh my memory before doing the second half of the passages. Any suggestions on how to retain information till test date? I usually read the passages and go down to my answer and the right answer unfortunately! I am gonna go slowly with review this week and take AAMC #3 on the wknd and see what happens. The problem with TBR is that I started with 50% and still around 50% even after I learned the the skills. thanks!
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How are you post-gaming (reviewing the answers after)?

I suggest two things, though others may have some input as well:

1) Don't run to the answer key. Just mark the questions you got wrong without writing down the correct answer or reading their explanation and try again first a few hours or the following day.
2) For those you got wrong, before you look at the answer explanation go back to the passage and figure it out for yourself why you got it wrong.

If you go to the answer key right away, you let yourself off the hook for the questions you got wrong (I would look at the ones I got wrong and make excuses like "oh, stupid math" or "I would've picked that but.."). If you keep going back until you force yourself (intentionally or not) figure out the correct reasoning behind each answer, you'll develop the necessary analysis skills.. reading answer keys doesn't have the same effect.

Also, if you are down between two answers.. are you typically switching back and forth? For one of the AAMCs I took last year, I decided that I was going to write down the question # of every single marked question I ended up switching from my original gut choice. Then, afterwards, I went back and checked if my gut answer was typically correct or not.. I discovered it wasn't and my second answer was correct more often. Helps to determine what you should be comfortable trusting. (Hopefully, your instincts are better than mine haha). For future tests, if I was down between two answers, I didn't necessarily jump away from my instincts but I definitely considered the other answer much more than I had before.
 
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Sounds like a good advice (to go back and find why I got it wrong on my own). The debate between the right answer and my answer has been happening a lot to me. Another problem is the group questions, I get like two right and the third one would be half right and I would just put it in. Any advice on those? tThanks!
 
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Amar2014 said:
Sounds like a good advice (to go back and find why I got it wrong on my own). The debate between the right answer and my answer has been happening a lot to me. Another problem is the group questions, I get like two right and the third one would be half right and I would just put it in. Any advice on those? tThanks!
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You mean the roman numeral questions?

No advice from me on those.. I just flat out hate them haha.
 
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Jepstein30 said:
I suggest two things, though others may have some input as well:

1) Don't run to the answer key. Just mark the questions you got wrong without writing down the correct answer or reading their explanation and try again first a few hours or the following day.
2) For those you got wrong, before you look at the answer explanation go back to the passage and figure it out for yourself why you got it wrong.
Click to expand...

This is very good advice. :thumbup:

I've been doing this to help cement the correct rationale on certain concepts and it seems to be working fairly well.

Also, I know that some people will tell you not to do this, but if you find yourself totally bombing certain passages, come back to those passages at a later date and re-work them (if you have time, of course). This will ensure that you're truly learning the material and not just going through the motions. It's fine if you remember some of the answers, as long as you can rationalize the correct response the second time through. If you still do poorly on the passage(s) on the second go around, this indicates an obvious weakness in your content and you must review those associated concepts.

If you don't do what I just mentioned, you're going to keep getting questions wrong about the same concepts and that'll only hurt your score. The hardest part about studying for the MCAT *should* be identifying your weaknesses and fixing them.
 
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ahstern said:
Roman numeral questions make up like, 40% of my wrong answers. I hate them with a fiery passion.
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Me too. What I do now for them is write down:

I
II
III

and then check or x each answer individually. Helps a little bit because I noticed I tend to forget the question stem had a NOT or EXCEPT or something.. so I go one by one instead of all 3 at once. Still suck at them.

I also do this with any question stem that isn't a straight up question (i.e. any NOT or EXCEPT).. I write down A B C D and then cross out as I go. Simple but works for me.. I get these wrong every now and then still but not because I forgot the condition in the question stem.
 
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Jepstein30 said:
Me too. What I do now for them is write down:

I
II
III

and then check or x each answer individually. Helps a little bit because I noticed I tend to forget the question stem had a NOT or EXCEPT or something.. so I go one by one instead of all 3 at once. Still suck at them.

I also do this with any question stem that isn't a straight up question (i.e. any NOT or EXCEPT).. I write down A B C D and then cross out as I go. Simple but works for me.. I get these wrong every now and then still but not because I forgot the condition in the question stem.
Click to expand...

Fortunately on the MCAT, you can use the cross out function. It's a double-edged sword because once you cross out a statement, an in turns out to be the correct response, you have dropped your chances to zero.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Fortunately on the MCAT, you can use the cross out function. It's a double-edged sword because once you cross out a statement, an in turns out to be the correct response, you have dropped your chances to zero.
Click to expand...

well you can click it again to uncross-out it..
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
True, but my point once you cross it out, you have "mentally" eliminated it as an option.
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Yep.

Took a much needed break this weekend and barely did any studying Friday and none at all Saturday. Just opened TBR Orgo an hour ago to do the review passages from chapter 5.. I think I'm going to just call it a night though and get back at it (a few days behind) tomorrow.

I'm remembering how much fun Orgo 2 was.. nucleophilic addition everywhere!!
 
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Jepstein30 said:
Yep.

Took a much needed break this weekend and barely did any studying Friday and none at all Saturday. Just opened TBR Orgo an hour ago to do the review passages from chapter 5.. I think I'm going to just call it a night though and get back at it (a few days behind) tomorrow.

I'm remembering how much fun Orgo 2 was.. nucleophilic addition everywhere!!
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad about it. I didn't do much studying since I took the AAMC3 on Friday.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Don't feel bad about it. I didn't do much studying since I took the AAMC3 on Friday.
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:laugh:

I took the weekend off of studying as well. I was sitting here tonight watching MLS feeling sorta bad that I haven't looked at a book in 3 days, but here is this thread!

Tomorrow I will hammer the material, Disney on Tuesday, then another 2 months of intense study and practice material.
 
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just got my massive tprh science workbook in the mail - ready to take down this 1000 page beast
 
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also has anyone checked out khan academy for orgo review? or even ***********/chad?

i think berk review for orgo is just a bit insane with the amount of time we have left
 
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ahstern said:
54 days remaining! I'm so ready to get this over with.
Click to expand...

I got beat up on charges and magnetism passages in TPRH workbook. What a bummer, I thought I was doing well.

Definitely nervous about this test and my upcoming aamc #3 this weekend.
 
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O Grady said:
:thumbup: Good luck man, those g-chem and bio passages are rough
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O Grady said:
:thumbup: Good luck man, those g-chem and bio passages are rough
Click to expand...

thanks! yea im not sure how im gonna be able to carry this book around in the cta - i might get mugged by a malicious gunner but at the same time, this might be a pretty hefty weapon

right now im doing all the genetics bio passages
there are some that i get perfect scores on and some i get a couple wrong

anyone know the correlation of success on the workbook and how it might translate onto the aamc's or real mcat? only heard good things about it

Wow the advanced passages are really tough (note the forum was down for maintenance for 5 hours) - Can I ask how you were doing on the TPRH Science Workbook for the discretes and passages? Specifically Biology
 
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leric90 said:
thanks! yea im not sure how im gonna be able to carry this book around in the cta - i might get mugged by a malicious gunner but at the same time, this might be a pretty hefty weapon

right now im doing all the genetics bio passages
there are some that i get perfect scores on and some i get a couple wrong

anyone know the correlation of success on the workbook and how it might translate onto the aamc's or real mcat? only heard good things about it

Wow the advanced passages are really tough (note the forum was down for maintenance for 5 hours) - Can I ask how you were doing on the TPRH Science Workbook for the discretes and passages? Specifically Biology
Click to expand...
Genetics, replication and glycolysis are my weak areas and my scores reflect it on the bio passages. Physiology I enjoy and I do very well on those passages, even the advanced ones. I have to go back and redo genes, replication and glycolysis to feel like I have a chance at a 10 on Bio. Organic and Physiology aren't going to carry me through unfortunately.
 
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Back 5 said:
Genetics, replication and glycolysis are my weak areas and my scores reflect it on the bio passages. Physiology I enjoy and I do very well on those passages, even the advanced ones. I have to go back and redo genes, replication and glycolysis to feel like I have a chance at a 10 on Bio. Organic and Physiology aren't going to carry me through unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Do you have Chads Video? I thought his video on Glycolysis was awesome.
 
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Hello every one!!!
I'm also registered to take my test on the 26th! I'm almost done finishing up the content and hoping to start my full lengths by Saturday!!
Anyone have a good technique to use on verbal!?
I have been using Kaplan technique and could also use more tips on it!!
Can't wait to get this done with!!!
 
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Not a good day for me.

Started off my scoring 6 on EK verbal test 12.

Did 20 discretes and 9 passages of tprh Gchem with 68% success rate (I hate quantum numbers).

Did 15 discretes and 5 passages of tprh bio with 69% success rate (I hate fungus).

I'm clearly out of it. I'm going to call it a night and save my brain cells for another battle.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Not a good day for me.

Started off my scoring 6 on EK verbal test 12.

Did 20 discretes and 9 passages of tprh Gchem with 68% success rate (I hate quantum numbers).

Did 15 discretes and 5 passages of tprh bio with 69% success rate (I hate fungus).

I'm clearly out of it. I'm going to call it a night and save my brain cells for another battle.
Click to expand...

Don't fret, the latter EK verbals are BS. And 70% isn't bad considering how much time you've got left to improve!
 
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WTF?

I just took TPRHL Verbal test 1. I scored a 26/40 because I missed nearly every question in passage 2. According to the answer explanations, I completely misunderstood the ENTIRE passage. How is that possible? If it weren't for that passage, I would have scored a 31/40 if I took my average of missing 1-2 per passage.

Is this something I am likely to see on the actual MCAT where you completely miss the point of the passage and answer nearly every question wrong as a result?

If anyone has taken HL verbal test 1 and had a similar result with passage 2, let me know :eek:
 
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Back 5 said:
WTF?

I just took TPRHL Verbal test 1. I scored a 26/40 because I missed nearly every question in passage 2. According to the answer explanations, I completely misunderstood the ENTIRE passage. How is that possible? If it weren't for that passage, I would have scored a 31/40 if I took my average of missing 1-2 per passage.

Is this something I am likely to see on the actual MCAT where you completely miss the point of the passage and answer nearly every question wrong as a result?

If anyone has taken HL verbal test 1 and had a similar result with passage 2, let me know :eek:
Click to expand...


I haven't taken that test, but I understand what you mean since I took the EK101 test #12 couple of days ago and encountered a similar experience. If it wasn't for the two passages that I missed on all but one question, my score would have been 10. I ended up with 6:scared:

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but my experience with the real mcat was worse. From what I remember, I had an art passage, a natural science passage, a political passage, a social science passage, two other passages which I don't remember, and an impossible passage that was written in a foreign language. When I was taking the test, I remember labeling all B's for the art passage since I know it was going to consume my time and be impossible for me to comprehend. Then, few passages later, I was confronted with the impossible passage, so I decided to leave it and come back later to it once I'm done with the "easier" passages. With all this confusion and jumping around, I ended up forgetting to get back to that passage and left all questions unanswered.

So, yes, the real mcat verbal is probably going to be worse than prep material. AAMC verbal passages, however, are very good representation of real mcat verbal.

Therefore, I feel that there's no sufficient material to help you prepare for the verbal section. Unlike sciences, studying for verbal is very low yield unless you already have good comprehension skills.
 
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I'm going to take aamc #3 tomorrow, so I will compare. My EK verbal scores have been well well above my TPR scores. When I take the 101 tests my scores have been 11-12 consistently. I've never come across a passage where I completely missed what the author was saying like this.

BTW, are you folks making a formula sheet for the test? I remember reading about a "memory dump" during the 10-min tutorial at the beginning where you regurgitate your formula sheet for PS.

I seem to remember most of the formulas that are needed by going over the physics discrets and passages in the HL workbook, but I am still old school where I like to have the formulas in front of me incase the stress shuts off the brain for a brief period.
 
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Just finished with AAMC 4. My score is 31(12,8,11). Finally I broke the 30 barrier. I'm very excited about my performance on verbal.
 
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LaughingMan said:
And you can still bring it up 1-3 points with a 1+ months left.

Is this your first time at AAMC 4?
Click to expand...

Nope. I took this test last June. Although some passages were familiar, I had no recollection what so every of the questions, much less the answers. Perhaps my performance is a little influenced by the fact that I have read these passages once upon a time. Regardless, I feel I'm a lot more prepared than I was when I took the test last year.

On a side note, I felt the bio section was tough on this test, and this is coming form someone who took the real test last year.
 
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how far are you guys on Content review?

Im starting the chapter 8 cycle on everything in the TBR saturday. Am I following behind or on track?
 
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GandalfTheWhite said:
how far are you guys on Content review?

Im starting the chapter 8 cycle on everything in the TBR saturday. Am I following behind or on track?
Click to expand...

You'll be fine if you do a chapter a day. I'll be finishing my content in ~ 2 days seeing as I've got about 3.5 chapters of BR Physics left.
 
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osprey099 said:
You want to be doing passages as you do content review.
Click to expand...

Yea Im following the Sn2ed schedule. But Im not doing every third... im just doing first 1/3 then 2nd 1/3 after the re-read. and then do the 3/3 towards the end. I just dont like skipping passages like sn2ed outlines.

What kinda sucks about TBR is they will teach you some new techniques or info that is in the passage as opposed to in the content review.
 
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GandalfTheWhite said:
Yea Im following the Sn2ed schedule. But Im not doing every third... im just doing first 1/3 then 2nd 1/3 after the re-read. and then do the 3/3 towards the end. I just dont like skipping passages like sn2ed outlines.

What kinda sucks about TBR is they will teach you some new techniques or info that is in the passage as opposed to in the content review.
Click to expand...

That's where a lot of the learning comes from when using TBR.
 
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I just took aamc 3 and scored a 26 (6/10/10). I have not done a post-game analysis yet of my results, I'm going to take a break and watch some rugby...

BUT

I think I should have scored higher on my PS. I literally chose "C" for the last 10 questions because I was literally standing at my computer doing the "happy dance" and had to end the section and rush to the bathroom before I pooped my pants.

I always pre-game before a test, but I forgot to this morning and my PS reflected it :laugh:
 
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Back 5 said:
I just took aamc 3 and scored a 26 (6/10/10). I have not done a post-game analysis yet of my results, I'm going to take a break and watch some rugby...

BUT

I think I should have scored higher on my PS. I literally chose "C" for the last 10 questions because I was literally standing at my computer doing the "happy dance" and had to end the section and rush to the bathroom before I pooped my pants.

I always pre-game before a test, but I forgot to this morning and my PS reflected it :laugh:
Click to expand...

That's not a bad score to begin with. Especially if we consider the emergency situation you encountered at the end of your PS. Getting 100% on those ten questions could have brought your score up by 3 points. You verbal rocks though. I think AAMC 3 verbal is the most difficult ever.

Before looking at your results, I would recommend that you redo your entire PS section again and see how you score.
 
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Back 5 said:
I just took aamc 3 and scored a 26 (6/10/10). I have not done a post-game analysis yet of my results, I'm going to take a break and watch some rugby...

BUT

I think I should have scored higher on my PS. I literally chose "C" for the last 10 questions because I was literally standing at my computer doing the "happy dance" and had to end the section and rush to the bathroom before I pooped my pants.

I always pre-game before a test, but I forgot to this morning and my PS reflected it :laugh:
Click to expand...

Sometimes you have to crap out early and just deal with a sh*tty score.


You did well on the other sections though
 
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I'm thinking of setting up a plan for my remaining aamc tests. 7 weeks until the test, so I thought about this schedule:

March 15: aamc #4
March 22: aamc #5
March 29: aamc #6
April 2: aamc #7
April 5: aamc #8
April 9: aamc #9
April 12 aamc #10
April 15-19: aamc self-assessment
April 22-23: aamc #11
April 26: MCAT

Does this seem like a reasonable schedule to maintain? Should I add TPR tests into the mix as well? I plan on continuing shoring up my loose ends in content review as well as TPRHL problems etc.
 
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Back 5 said:
I'm thinking of setting up a plan for my remaining aamc tests. 7 weeks until the test, so I thought about this schedule:

March 15: aamc #4
March 22: aamc #5
March 29: aamc #6
April 2: aamc #7
April 5: aamc #8
April 9: aamc #9
April 12 aamc #10
April 15-19: aamc self-assessment
April 22-23: aamc #11
April 26: MCAT

Does this seem like a reasonable schedule to maintain? Should I add TPR tests into the mix as well? I plan on continuing shoring up my loose ends in content review as well as TPRHL problems etc.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but doing the aamc SAP this late isn't a great idea. Either do it now, or save your money and time and only focus on the aamc tests.

Honestly, I think with the aamc fl's you have plenty of material already. Besides, you need to complete the entire package before you get the results. At that point, you don't have much time to utilize this feedback to improve your self.

You still have a little more than six weeks left till the exam, and you have 8 AAMC FL's. In my opinion, take one FL every five days, and spend the time in between reviewing that FL, doing tprh sw, and going over content review to improve your weaknesses.
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
I could be wrong, but doing the aamc SAP this late isn't a great idea. Either do it now, or save your money and time and only focus on the aamc tests.

Honestly, I think with the aamc fl's you have plenty of material already. Besides, you need to complete the entire package before you get the results. At that point, you don't have much time to utilize this feedback to improve your self.

You still have a little more than six weeks left till the exam, and you have 8 AAMC FL's. In my opinion, take one FL every five days, and spend the time in between reviewing that FL, doing tprh sw, and going over content review to improve your weaknesses.
Click to expand...

He is right. But I think you should postpone your MCAT if you haven't done any other full length exam before. Or take ur exams starting tomorrow and you should at least re-do those exam in mid april to see how you are doing on the re-take.
 
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