The Official 5/12/2012 MCAT Thread

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merde

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Hello fellow May 12ers! I didn't see a thread for our test day and considering we are 5 weeks away, I decided to make one! I hope everyone's preparation is going well!

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Hey a friend of mine got a PS/V/BS 8/12/12

Total: 32N

She's worried about the PS being unbalanced what do you guys think?

I wanted to bump this to see what people think about that. She has a 3.85+ gpa and good ECs
 
When doing the practice VR, if the essay was discussing "the cretaceous boundary and the extinction of dinosaurs from an asteroid," I would read the essay with great enthusiasm (since I was interested in the subject) and found the answers to be extremely easy and straightforward such that I would say to myself "I aced that passage on the asteroid killing dinosaurs". But then when I would review the questions, I would usually get 5 out of 6 of them wrong.

When the essay discussed how "a paintbrush and canvas expands the spirit and enlarges the soul", I would always have an extremely difficult time with the answers--having to do a lot of "ennie meenie, miney, moe" between B and C. Yet I would regularly get at least 5 of the 6 questions correct.

I attributed my results to poor question writing by the Kaplan people (as this was my primary source of study material for the VR section). But maybe there is some trick to VR that my brain simply can't comprehend. I have taken a few literature classes in my academic career, but could never get past the "black and white" interpretation.

For example, when a poem reads, "roses are red and violets are blue", and then the literature professor says how the poem is actually an allegory to the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, all I can say is "Where in the world did you get that interpretation?" Perhaps some are more talented at seeing deeper meaning than I am, but when you're interviewing a patient, are you really supposed to be looking for deeper meaning in what they are saying?
 
I wanted to bump this to see what people think about that. She has a 3.85+ gpa and good ECs

I have heard that a subscore of below 8 MAY be a red flag for SOME allopathic schools. Some schools place more emphasis on your BS score, while others look carefully at your VR score. But i have never heard of a medical school that focuses on your PS score. Some schools may look for consistency (10/10/10), and so this MAY be an issue for your friend at SOME schools (that's the kinda reason why you don't just apply to one school). But other schools don't care about that.

Long story short -- your friend has a very good, competitive score. She should be really proud of herself!! I say that she goes for it. Remember that MCAT/GPA is just ONE PART of the application. Make sure that you paint a coherent picture of who you are and why you want to be a physician in your expereinces and personal statement and you will be golden. Also, timing is really important!! Get your primary in early, make sure it is the best primary it can possibly be... And get your secondaries in quickly.
 
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When doing the practice VR, if the essay was discussing "the cretaceous boundary and the extinction of dinosaurs from an asteroid," I would read the essay with great enthusiasm (since I was interested in the subject) and found the answers to be extremely easy and straightforward such that I would say to myself "I aced that passage on the asteroid killing dinosaurs". But then when I would review the questions, I would usually get 5 out of 6 of them wrong.

When the essay discussed how "a paintbrush and canvas expands the spirit and enlarges the soul", I would always have an extremely difficult time with the answers--having to do a lot of "ennie meenie, miney, moe" between B and C. Yet I would regularly get at least 5 of the 6 questions correct.

I attributed my results to poor question writing by the Kaplan people (as this was my primary source of study material for the VR section). But maybe there is some trick to VR that my brain simply can't comprehend. I have taken a few literature classes in my academic career, but could never get past the "black and white" interpretation.

For example, when a poem reads, "roses are red and violets are blue", and then the literature professor says how the poem is actually an allegory to the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, all I can say is "Where in the world did you get that interpretation?" Perhaps some are more talented at seeing deeper meaning than I am, but when you're interviewing a patient, are you really supposed to be looking for deeper meaning in what they are saying?

YES! Always look for deeper meaning and connecting threads. I have a very strong sense that one of the things that we are all going to learn throughout our medical education/careers is that illnesses don't always present themselves in the same way. Things are not always black and white, and sometimes things are not what they seem.

If you have trouble seeing things in a different way, then maybe all you need is practice... just like practice makes perfect in physics and biology problems... you can also "train" yourself to think more laterally by looking at art, reading literature and poems, doing cross-word problems, taking photos, drawing..... heck, there is a lot of stuff you can do to work on your creativity. try it dude, you may surprise yourself :)
 
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9 PS / 11 VR / 12 BS = 32P

AAMC average: 29.8 (scary place to be!)

My AAMC practice tests wavered between 29-30 with one oddball 31. Of course, the last one I took was over a week before the MCAT so that extra 10 days may have paid off. A little dissapointed with PS section, but I'll take a 32!
 
9 PS / 11 VR / 12 BS = 32P

AAMC average: 29.8 (scary place to be!)

My AAMC practice tests wavered between 29-30 with one oddball 31. Of course, the last one I took was over a week before the MCAT so that extra 10 days may have paid off. A little dissapointed with PS section, but I'll take a 32!

Hey awesome job man, I'm in the same boat as you with those averages and I'll find out in a week or so.
 
10 PS 12 VR 10 BS = 32O

My AAMC practice average was around a 34, with the scores being 33, 33, 33, 33, and 37. I was a little disappointed with my writing section, because, quite frankly, I thought I did an amazing job. I managed to work in Mortal Kombat into my essay!

Anyway, I'm happy with my score. I'm confident I'll get in somewhere now. Good job, everyone else!
 
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