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The Official 5/31/12
- Thread starter nontrad777
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Quick question guys. So I know there have been talks about passages in BS recently that have been really hard where it feels like scientific research journal excerpts just thrown in, making it super intense and rather different than any TBR passage experienced.
Would the above only be valid for the minority (experimental) passages experienced in the exams, where the rest of the exam felt representative of TBR and AAMC's FLs?
Also, are experimental passages counted for your score? I could've sworn experimental passages were just...experimental...and did not count towards your MCAT score.
Thanks guys!
Would the above only be valid for the minority (experimental) passages experienced in the exams, where the rest of the exam felt representative of TBR and AAMC's FLs?
Also, are experimental passages counted for your score? I could've sworn experimental passages were just...experimental...and did not count towards your MCAT score.
Thanks guys!
Personally I thought it was similar to AAMC 11. There was one difficult BS passage on it not to dissimilar to ebola passage on 11. I think the PS was moderately more computational intensive. VR was a pain, as they throw the hardest passage at the very beginning. But overall my reflection of the test don't meet the disappointment that much of the 5/28 people talked about with regards to a BS section.
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Looks like not a lot of people took the 31th one. I felt bio was easier than expected. Ps was more calculation comprehensive but similar to the last AAMC.
I screwed up on VB. Wasn't expecting the passages to be so long and tedious. Damn. Didn't even finish on time.
I screwed up on VB. Wasn't expecting the passages to be so long and tedious. Damn. Didn't even finish on time.
Yeah man I feel ya. I tried to stick to 10 mins limit per passage and a few of the last articles I kinda had to just rush-skim it and answer the questions based half on the passage and half on intuition.
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I pretty much second what everyone else has said.
PS: Almost tripped me up, but overall I think I did great. Est. score: 13
VR: Usually my strongest section, but I honestly have no idea in this case. Every question seemed to have two answers that fit. Could go either way. Est score: 11
WS: Who knows and who cares? Est. score: P
BS: The orgo was easy as expected, but some of the bio was ridiculous. Est. score: 9
Anyone else care to hazard a guess at their scores?
PS: Almost tripped me up, but overall I think I did great. Est. score: 13
VR: Usually my strongest section, but I honestly have no idea in this case. Every question seemed to have two answers that fit. Could go either way. Est score: 11
WS: Who knows and who cares? Est. score: P
BS: The orgo was easy as expected, but some of the bio was ridiculous. Est. score: 9
Anyone else care to hazard a guess at their scores?
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I thought it was reasonable overall.
Expected score ranges: 13-15 PS, 9-11 VR, Essay R-T, 11-13 BS = 33-39 overall. AAMC average was a 34, and I'll take anything that's at least that or above.
My gut feeling score: 14 PS, 10 VR, 12 BS = 36S
PS - probably the best I've felt after taking this section. Usually get 12-13 because of some questions I had no idea on - but today, there wasn't really a single question that I wasn't pretty sure of. I didn't even read some of the passages, and I finished with 3-4 minutes left. Definitely agree that there were a lot of calculations, but many had some shortcuts. Hoping for a 15 to automatically make my overall score good, but I may have made a few mistakes.
VR - I thought the passages were very reasonable, and the topics definitely favored my preferences. There wasn't a single passage that really stumped me, while the opposite is usually the case for me. However, I didn't finish one of the passages - but the passage had the fewest amount of questions possible for a passage and I felt like I at least guessed right on a couple. I'll take a 10 here, hoping I stayed in the double digits.
BS - probably the hardest bio section that I've taken, and this is usually my strongest and favorite section. I got all of the experiment-related questions right on AAMC 11, but the experiments for this test were pretty hard. I got kinda distracted cuz the guy next to me was typing really loud, but I think I did fine. Of the ones I was confused about, I narrowed them down to 2 and after looking some of them up, I think I guessed right. At first, I thought I might have gotten an 11 but I have a little more confidence now so maybe a 12.
Expected score ranges: 13-15 PS, 9-11 VR, Essay R-T, 11-13 BS = 33-39 overall. AAMC average was a 34, and I'll take anything that's at least that or above.
My gut feeling score: 14 PS, 10 VR, 12 BS = 36S
PS - probably the best I've felt after taking this section. Usually get 12-13 because of some questions I had no idea on - but today, there wasn't really a single question that I wasn't pretty sure of. I didn't even read some of the passages, and I finished with 3-4 minutes left. Definitely agree that there were a lot of calculations, but many had some shortcuts. Hoping for a 15 to automatically make my overall score good, but I may have made a few mistakes.
VR - I thought the passages were very reasonable, and the topics definitely favored my preferences. There wasn't a single passage that really stumped me, while the opposite is usually the case for me. However, I didn't finish one of the passages - but the passage had the fewest amount of questions possible for a passage and I felt like I at least guessed right on a couple. I'll take a 10 here, hoping I stayed in the double digits.
BS - probably the hardest bio section that I've taken, and this is usually my strongest and favorite section. I got all of the experiment-related questions right on AAMC 11, but the experiments for this test were pretty hard. I got kinda distracted cuz the guy next to me was typing really loud, but I think I did fine. Of the ones I was confused about, I narrowed them down to 2 and after looking some of them up, I think I guessed right. At first, I thought I might have gotten an 11 but I have a little more confidence now so maybe a 12.
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PS had one rough/different/tricky passage in my opinion
Verbal was verbal
BS had one indecipherable passage and a couple of really out of the box discretes
The second i started reading the bio passage i skipped it - finished the rest of the section, came back to that passage with around 10 minutes left - was never really able to figure it out.
Verbal was verbal
BS had one indecipherable passage and a couple of really out of the box discretes
The second i started reading the bio passage i skipped it - finished the rest of the section, came back to that passage with around 10 minutes left - was never really able to figure it out.
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Yep, "that" passage. I'm biochem major so I thought it would be a cakewalk but nooo, it was the toughest and most ambiguous section in the whole of BS.
I know it's L just from my courses, but forgot which one it is for the other variable. Ended up picking the one that's near the end of it if you know what I mean.
First time I scored my test!! 
I just want a score that is acceptable for my state med school and if I get a 27-28, I'll be so d@mn happy!!
Anyways, is it possible that there were two versions of the test given today? Because, my experience was somewhat different to most of you.
PS: OH MY GEEZUZ!! I have no idea what I'm doing on this section! And I ran out of time!!
I thought it was pretty tough!!
VR: I'm soo happy there wasn't a passage tough to understand. I'm an ESL student and I can't get higher than 9 on this section on my practice tests. But, I didn't have a hard time on today's VR! Hope that's a good sign!
WS: No one cares, I guess.
BS: There's that one crazy passage I took forever to finish and I hated myself for spending soo much time on it. But overall, it wasn't bad.
Overall, I feel like I did OK. I'm surprisingly soo optimistic right now and that's not usually a good sign for me but what the hell! I'm just happy that my state med school is not very MCAT picky!
I just want a score that is acceptable for my state med school and if I get a 27-28, I'll be so d@mn happy!!Anyways, is it possible that there were two versions of the test given today? Because, my experience was somewhat different to most of you.
PS: OH MY GEEZUZ!! I have no idea what I'm doing on this section! And I ran out of time!!
I thought it was pretty tough!! VR: I'm soo happy there wasn't a passage tough to understand. I'm an ESL student and I can't get higher than 9 on this section on my practice tests. But, I didn't have a hard time on today's VR! Hope that's a good sign!
WS: No one cares, I guess.
BS: There's that one crazy passage I took forever to finish and I hated myself for spending soo much time on it. But overall, it wasn't bad.
Overall, I feel like I did OK. I'm surprisingly soo optimistic right now and that's not usually a good sign for me but what the hell! I'm just happy that my state med school is not very MCAT picky!
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For me:
PS: seriously? That section was so calculation heavy, that was ridiculous. There were barely ANY conceptuals for me...and those discretes.. I would much rather have done more passages than tackling some of those discretes... (ran out of time)
VR: seriously? This is usually my best section but what the **** were they thinking? Every single one of those passages were twice as long as what was on the practice test and those questions were pretty hard in my opinion. They were all those touchy feeling type of questions that could've gone one or the other (ran out of time and had to guess on ~5 questions)
BS: not that bad. The ochem discretes were pretty tough but doable with POE. There were two INCREDIBLY HARD passages to understand, much much MUCH worse than the Ebola (and I got the Ebola questions right on aamc #11). Finished with 3 mins to spare.
All in all, I'm definitely gonna have to retake. Le sigh..
PS: seriously? That section was so calculation heavy, that was ridiculous. There were barely ANY conceptuals for me...and those discretes.. I would much rather have done more passages than tackling some of those discretes... (ran out of time)
VR: seriously? This is usually my best section but what the **** were they thinking? Every single one of those passages were twice as long as what was on the practice test and those questions were pretty hard in my opinion. They were all those touchy feeling type of questions that could've gone one or the other (ran out of time and had to guess on ~5 questions)
BS: not that bad. The ochem discretes were pretty tough but doable with POE. There were two INCREDIBLY HARD passages to understand, much much MUCH worse than the Ebola (and I got the Ebola questions right on aamc #11). Finished with 3 mins to spare.
All in all, I'm definitely gonna have to retake. Le sigh.
.Double You Tee Eff. I dont about you guys but these passages were a lot harder than anything I saw when I was doing practice passages.
PS: lots of calculations. was very doable, but unfortunately I did not study content and formulas as much so that was my problem.
VR: passages seemed to be much longer than what I was used to.
Writing: I felt brain dead at this point.
BS: still felt brain dead. incredibly hard. felt like a lot of random outside knowledge was needed for the experiments. As far as content goes, I feel like learning hormones and enzymes and memorizing reactions and all that stuff did not help me. And as of now, I hate dogs, if you know what I mean.
Overall, I thought it was difficult. Definitely gonna be seeing the MCAT again this summer....unfortunately
PS: lots of calculations. was very doable, but unfortunately I did not study content and formulas as much so that was my problem.
VR: passages seemed to be much longer than what I was used to.
Writing: I felt brain dead at this point.
BS: still felt brain dead. incredibly hard. felt like a lot of random outside knowledge was needed for the experiments. As far as content goes, I feel like learning hormones and enzymes and memorizing reactions and all that stuff did not help me. And as of now, I hate dogs, if you know what I mean.
Overall, I thought it was difficult. Definitely gonna be seeing the MCAT again this summer....unfortunately
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I agree, especially with the verbal. I'm so worried about that section, it's usually my weakest section :'( And it just so happened that I thought that today's VR was especially difficult...probably the most difficult I've ever done! I'm just praying that my guessing wasn't too far off, but geez....
As for bio, that one experimental was definitely hard to underestand, even for me (an undergraduate biology major!) I thought that the other passage was harder than the dog one...
I just wish we knew our scores sooner so that we can make the appropriate decision of whether to apply this cycle or not....
on top of that I just remembered I missed a really stupid question in the physical sciences section.....ugh!!
As for bio, that one experimental was definitely hard to underestand, even for me (an undergraduate biology major!) I thought that the other passage was harder than the dog one...
I just wish we knew our scores sooner so that we can make the appropriate decision of whether to apply this cycle or not....
on top of that I just remembered I missed a really stupid question in the physical sciences section.....ugh!!
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For me:
PS: seriously? That section was so calculation heavy, that was ridiculous. There were barely ANY conceptuals for me...and those discretes.. I would much rather have done more passages than tackling some of those discretes... (ran out of time)
VR: seriously? This is usually my best section but what the **** were they thinking? Every single one of those passages were twice as long as what was on the practice test and those questions were pretty hard in my opinion. They were all those touchy feeling type of questions that could've gone one or the other (ran out of time and had to guess on ~5 questions)
BS: not that bad. The ochem discretes were pretty tough but doable with POE. There were two INCREDIBLY HARD passages to understand, much much MUCH worse than the Ebola (and I got the Ebola questions right on aamc #11). Finished with 3 mins to spare.
All in all, I'm definitely gonna have to retake. Le sigh.
Double You Tee Eff. I dont about you guys but these passages were a lot harder than anything I saw when I was doing practice passages.
PS: lots of calculations. was very doable, but unfortunately I did not study content and formulas as much so that was my problem.
VR: passages were RIDICULOUSLY long in my opinion. They seemed to be much longer than anything I practiced with.
Writing: I felt brain dead at this point.
BS: still felt brain dead. incredibly hard. felt like a lot of random outside knowledge was needed for the experiments. As far as content goes, I feel like learning hormones and enzymes and memorizing reactions and all that stuff was completely pointless. And as of now, I hate dogs, if you know what I mean.
Overall, I thought it was difficult. Definitely gonna be seeing the MCAT again this summer....unfortunately
Does re-registered MCAT date have to be 2 months away from when the first MCAT was taken?
This was probably the fairest exam. Though I wish I had memorized more stuff for BIO.
PS: Lots of calculations, but they were easy. Some of the conceptuals were difficult. For the physics passage with the board and the hinge, did you put 0 for that one question? And I think I picked something else wrong, I was a little confused by the drawing. I also couldn't figure out how to balance that equation, so that one is probably wrong too. Bah. Oh and the question that had, current, time, atomic weight as the answers, I picked atomic weight...I still can't figure out how that worked.
Verbal: Not bad. Unremarkable.
BS: The passages weren't bad. Some organic questions were hard. I thought it was D because the top was pointing up...for the kidney question, I chose ADH because the others didn't make sense. I thought that ADH could make it go down as well as up, if you know what I mean. Sigh.
I just hope I have a 30, but I'm not taking this test ever again regardless.
PS: Lots of calculations, but they were easy. Some of the conceptuals were difficult. For the physics passage with the board and the hinge, did you put 0 for that one question? And I think I picked something else wrong, I was a little confused by the drawing. I also couldn't figure out how to balance that equation, so that one is probably wrong too. Bah. Oh and the question that had, current, time, atomic weight as the answers, I picked atomic weight...I still can't figure out how that worked.
Verbal: Not bad. Unremarkable.
BS: The passages weren't bad. Some organic questions were hard. I thought it was D because the top was pointing up...for the kidney question, I chose ADH because the others didn't make sense. I thought that ADH could make it go down as well as up, if you know what I mean. Sigh.
I just hope I have a 30, but I'm not taking this test ever again regardless.
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thought that was a lot harder than the practice aamcs, one question on PS that i was completely lost in involved the aluminum block, anyone figure out how to do that one?
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Lol I wish I could answer your guys' questions...I know the answers to Maxine's questions and MikeLins. But remember we signed a contract...would hate to see you guys having your scores cancelled.
"Lol I wish I could answer your guys' questions...I know the answers to Maxine's questions and MikeLins. But remember we signed a contract...would hate to see you guys having your scores cancelled."
Speaking of, I'm paranoid now. Can someone check and tell me if I said something in my previous comment that I shouldn't have said? Cause if so, I'll delete it ASAP.
Thanks.
Speaking of, I'm paranoid now. Can someone check and tell me if I said something in my previous comment that I shouldn't have said? Cause if so, I'll delete it ASAP.
Thanks.
I'm sure it's fine. Us using 'dogs' is SO obscure, it wasn't even relevant to the passage itself. I think Maxine and MikeLins are a little more obvious. I'm so frustrated by the dog passage though (clearly evidenced by my comments), a couple of questions on there had really obscure answers and I'll say that EK Bio didn't help at all.
We can't theoretically compare so there's no way of knowing. Unless of course you have a very close friend who did today's MCAT and could nudge nudge wink wink with you in private, if you know what I mean.
Well it might work against our favor. Having a really hard exam means a generous curve, but ours will probably not be so lenient. Which is bad. I kind of wish it was a little harder.
Edit: Also if that dog passage was part of a real experiment Poor damn dog. So cruel!
Edit: Also if that dog passage was part of a real experiment
Poor damn dog. So cruel!
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Yeah you're definitely fine. Even the others are OK since no question stems were included.
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hmm maybe getting my test cancelled wouldnt be such a bad thing, i have a feeling i did horribly on it
Step 1: Get test cancelled.
Step 2: Realize you have to re-study for a test two months in the future (assuming no availability of seats), and pray you didn't burn through materials.
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VR - WTF WAS THAT I didn't understand any passage. Just got nervous, read too fast, didn't understand even one passage. Guessed on most questions. Nothing was even interesting this time. Literally chose C for pretty much an entire passage in the last minute.
PS - Ok
BS - There was one passage which was VERY confusing and I pretty much guessed on. Do you guys know which one I'm talking about? It was a bio passage, not orgo and I'm not gonna say what it specifically was about but it mentioned ecoli. Much worse than the aforementioned dog. Did anyone else struggle with this one?
VR was hardest by far, way too difficult.
Is it too late to retake in July/August even if you submit amcas very soon after it opens? Never got that, what makes an mcat too late?
PS - Ok
BS - There was one passage which was VERY confusing and I pretty much guessed on. Do you guys know which one I'm talking about? It was a bio passage, not orgo and I'm not gonna say what it specifically was about but it mentioned ecoli. Much worse than the aforementioned dog. Did anyone else struggle with this one?
VR was hardest by far, way too difficult.
Is it too late to retake in July/August even if you submit amcas very soon after it opens? Never got that, what makes an mcat too late?
Can someone tell me something....I'm SUPER paranoid. There was only one set of discretes after the last passage in PS right? I never pressed "next" after doing them because I had to go back to an earlier passage and thought I had been counting in my head. I've never seen double discreets at the end of a section before and I highly doubt there was...but my time just ran out and I've been thinking alllll day......WHAT IF?????
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You're right. One set of three discretes. There were 52 questions total in the PS section
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Ya everyone says "it's important to apply early" but beyond that I have never understood the importance of getting the MCAT in early.. Can someone please clarify how mcat score release and amcas app release relate to secondaries and interviews on the timeline? Do all secondaries have different deadlines? Basically if you make a simple timeline I'll love you
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The most important thing to realize is that schools will NOT even look at you (assuming they've already screened you and given you a secondary) until your secondary is turned in and all your letters are turned in and assigned to their school as well.
Now, there's a few things here. Realize also, that schools will only look at you once. So, if you're waiting for your first ever MCAT score to show up, most schools likely won't send you a secondary until that score is sent to them. But, once your score gets to them...most likely schools will be able to screen you and send you a secondary within a few days. Realize that many school don't even start sending out secondaries until August...regardless of when they got your primary application. Again, the ultimate thing that matters in terms of you getting in at a school is the time they have your primary, secondary, letters, and MCAT score.
Also, if you're "re-taking" the MCAT and want them to look at your new score, you're going to have to indicate you're taking it at a future date on AMCAS. Again, schools will only take the time to look at you once. If your primary indicates that you're scheduled to take another MCAT, they're going to wait to look at you when that MCAT score is in. Last year, I took the MCAT, sent in my applications, etc. I got my score and decided prematurely to re-take the MCAT. When I got e-mails from schools telling me they wouldn't look at me until my new score was in...I changed the option on my primary application that showed I was signed up for a new MCAT date. I figured my original score was good enough to be considered on...then if I got an interview, I could mention that I had since re-taken the MCAT and gotten such and such a score. I ended up not re-taking anyway, and just applying with my original score. Just realize what I'm saying here and that you're decision to re-take also comes with a decision of delaying schools from looking at your application for the first time until your new score is reported.
Otherwise, the ONLY reason people say "get your primary application in the first date" is because processing times usually increase exponentially after the first few weeks it opens...and then you might be facing even more delays. Other than that, the ONLY thing that matters is getting your secondaries in. Typically, early primary = early secondaries = early interviews. But if you're waiting on MCAT scores or a specific letter of rec. then there's nothing you submit now that's going to matter in terms of schools looking at you.
Ah very informative, thanks.
Edit: so I should coincide my apps so that they are received by the schools by at least as early as when we get our MCAT score (hopefully satisfactory)?
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