The Official April 2016 MCAT Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

drbeat14

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
120
Reaction score
77
April Fool's you're taking the MCAT! Worst prank ever?! No really, as a serial delayer, I absolutely must take this thing on this day before application submissions this upcoming cycle in 2016. So I thought I would go ahead and start the official thread. Never to early to start an official support/study group.

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
I left the exam yesterday feeling like it was fair and felt good enough that I had a smile on my face. Now I am suddenly panicking and really starting to second guess myself. Waiting a whole month is going to be brutal. :unsure:

I was a MESS... I mean a serious mess during the 72 hours after my exam. I cannot tell you the last time I was that upset.... just second-guessing everything and thinking about all my answers, it was awful. I can positively tell you, it really does get better. Try to keep yourself busy with other things, start working on application materials, etc. I can honestly say, days have gone by in the past weeks where I have NOT thought about the exam, which is a relief... especially since it was ALL I thought about for months leading up to the test.

Sending you positive vibes! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I was a MESS... I mean a serious mess during the 72 hours after my exam. I cannot tell you the last time I was that upset.... just second-guessing everything and thinking about all my answers, it was awful. I can positively tell you, it really does get better. Try to keep yourself busy with other things, start working on application materials, etc. I can honestly say, days have gone by in the past weeks where I have NOT thought about the exam, which is a relief... especially since it was ALL I thought about for months leading up to the test.

Sending you positive vibes! :)
Thanks! I have been binge watching t.v. shows like crazy to keep myself distracted. It's like a sickness that I always end up drifting back to SDN. I need to stop coming here lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Got this from another thread about the old MCAT (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/why-does-step-1-mcat-take-so-long-to-score.927255/):

"While there may be small differences in the MCAT exam you took compared to another examinee, the scoring process accounts for these differences so that an 8 earned on physical sciences on one exam means the same thing as an 8 earned on any other exam. The percentile provided on your score report simply indicates what percentage of examinees from the previous testing year scored the same as you did on the MCAT exam.

How you score on the MCAT exam, therefore, is not reflective of the particular exam you took—including the time of day, the test date, or the time of year" -https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/85436/preparing_understandingscores.html

They do not normalize the MCAT after the test. The scale is pre-determined by how well the previous testing year did. (That means that they test all questions ahead of time) The scale of your particular test is based on the difficulty of the questions, but that does not mean that each individual question is worth more or less depending on difficulty. If you have more difficult questions on your test, the total scale will reflect that, but still each individual question is worth the same amount of points. Your "raw" score is then converted to your "scaled" score depending on the difficulty of the test. All of this is pre-determined, at least according to their website.

This means yes, everyone in your testing center could score a 40 on a given day. The reason they pre-determine the scales is so that if by random chance a bunch of geniuses choose to take the test on the same day, they're not going to kill the curve."

Hope it clears things up. I feel slightly better but still worried and paranoid :(
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Ru seriously asking this? Look it up on the AAMC content outline. You can't ask people to jeopardize their chances by giving away info that they said they wouldn't by signing the examinee agreement.

Does anyone know of anybody who has actually been denied acceptance because of "giving away information"? I think they have you sign the agreement just to scare you. It's not like they're going to link your IP address to your SDN account and say "ohhhh, so-and-so disclosed a passage to so-and-so!" I think they have better things to do. With that said, I agree - I signed a waiver so I can't any one of you any information.
 
@pty21 - I believe someone on here openly discussed the specifics of a passage, was found by the moderators and AAMC and was banned from here and who knows what the AAMC did to him/her.

My understanding, and how I behave accordingly, is this:

If you discuss the specifics of a passage, ban. When I state specifics, things like "Boy that CARS passage on Napoleon's invasion of Austria was something else; wonder why Shakespeare wrote about that?" Or things like, "Geebuz, I knew I had to know the synthesis of compound ASDF and it's pathway" ... those are specifics I can look up; I can grab the articles and review.

However, saying, "Holy Orgo, where did you come from" or "Holy AA, did not memorize all the 3-character abbreviations and got hosed here" or "My God, physics 2 why di you not show me some love; light, optics, refraction - yep, had it all" --- has been written on every premed forum I know of (here, reddit, sub-prep companies, etc).

See, you're not telling us anything we already don't exactly know. Because consolidated - everyone's comments - it comes down to this:

Use the AAMC official guide as a Bible and work each and every topic listed.

Does it help to hear someone had more orgo than another? yeah, because I would probably leave that off for last and not focus on it.
 
For someone taking it in July what materials do you guys recommend for each subject (i.e Physics, Chem, etc).

Studying now, and want to do practice problems that mirror the test as close as possible that aren't AAMC problems (Want to use AAMC problems a month and a half before my exam)

Any help on my previous questions? I know you guys are still on that exam high, so whenever possible I'd greatly appreciate it.
 
Any help on my previous questions? I know you guys are still on that exam high, so whenever possible I'd greatly appreciate it.
AAMC Section bank and AAMC Q-packs are good. I liked The Princeton Review Hyperlearning MCAT Verbal Workbook for CARS and EK 101 Passages Verbal Reasoning if you need more CARS practice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
AAMC Section bank and AAMC Q-packs are good. I liked The Princeton Review Hyperlearning MCAT Verbal Workbook for CARS and EK 101 Passages Verbal Reasoning if you need more CARS practice.

Will definitely be using the AAMC material, but before using those up do you reccomend any other materials to get me in a similar state of mind?

Thanks
 
Will definitely be using the AAMC material, but before using those up do you reccomend any other materials to get me in a similar state of mind?

Thanks
No sorry, I had more prep materials than I could finish. The exam date crept up so quickly and I only sampled some of the prep materials so it is hard to compare them all in quality. Maybe others can chime in.
 
IMHO...
AAMC Section Bank > AAMC Official Questions (NOT Question Packs) > AAMC Scored FL > AAMC Unscored FL > Khan Psych/Soc Videos > AAMC Question Packs > EK FL 1, 2, 3
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
I've been using Kaplan almost exclusively for psych/soc, but I see people recommending khan academy instead so I was wondering how many hours would you say it takes to get through?
 
I've been using Kaplan almost exclusively for psych/soc, but I see people recommending khan academy instead so I was wondering how many hours would you say it takes to get through?

Finish Kaplan for Psych and use Khan Academy for practice passages - their passages are very good. No one book will cover everything you need to know for P/S so it's good to get exposure from different sources. I'm not saying purchase two books and read them both because that would be extremely redundant but rather use Kaplan and then when you get to a concept you didn't study in a Khan passage, Google it or look up the Khan Academy video on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Rethinking some of my questions from yesterday and realizing I picked the wrong answer is torture right now..

One thing keeping me calm though is understanding that our percentages are being compared to people who didn't have the resources we had going into the exam. My friends last year that took the exam didn't even have the section banks. If they had the same or similar passages/questions, I doubt they were as prepared to answer them as we were (as scary as that sounds). I'm hoping that in itself will benefit our scores.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Finish Kaplan for Psych and use Khan Academy for practice passages - their passages are very good. No one book will cover everything you need to know for P/S so it's good to get exposure from different sources. I'm not saying purchase two books and read them both because that would be extremely redundant but rather use Kaplan and then when you get to a concept you didn't study in a Khan passage, Google it or look up the Khan Academy video on it.

Ok thanks


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Sorry if this has already been explained, but i just wanna make sure i get it. So if the curve is predetermined based off last years results, are we taking the same batch of exams as last years? I thought they made new tests for each cycle


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
I've been using Kaplan almost exclusively for psych/soc, but I see people recommending khan academy instead so I was wondering how many hours would you say it takes to get through?

Khan academy is more useful for the passages, and using the videos for quick review of topics you're having trouble with. I don't think it's necessary to watch every single video, unless that's all your using for prep
 
Does anyone know why it takes a month to get our scores if the scale is determined ahead of time? I mean the exam is on the computer it should be pretty easy... For the GRE you get your scores right away.
 
Does anyone know why it takes a month to get our scores if the scale is determined ahead of time? I mean the exam is on the computer it should be pretty easy... For the GRE you get your scores right away.
They're sadistic. Also they make money off the paranoid people who sign up for a retake during the wait. Even if they cancel when they get their score, it's only a partial refund.

Sent from my SM-G928V using SDN mobile
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Also is there a consensus as to how people tend to score on the real thing vs. their score on the scored practice exam? Someone on reddit said that people tend to get about 2 points higher on the real thing than on the scored practice exam, but I don't know how true that is... it would be great if it is lol
 
Also is there a consensus as to how people tend to score on the real thing vs. their score on the scored practice exam? Someone on reddit said that people tend to get about 2 points higher on the real thing than on the scored practice exam, but I don't know how true that is... it would be great if it is lol

The boost is likely residual due to reporting bias - you tend to report if you did better but not worse. But I would say that your scored FL is a good predictor of your real score.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Rethinking some of my questions from yesterday and realizing I picked the wrong answer is torture right now..

One thing keeping me calm though is understanding that our percentages are being compared to people who didn't have the resources we had going into the exam. My friends last year that took the exam didn't even have the section banks. If they had the same or similar passages/questions, I doubt they were as prepared to answer them as we were (as scary as that sounds). I'm hoping that in itself will benefit our scores.
..... my sister who took the [new] exam last year didn't have the Q packs or the scored AAMC and she got a 517..... :arghh:
 
Also is there a consensus as to how people tend to score on the real thing vs. their score on the scored practice exam? Someone on reddit said that people tend to get about 2 points higher on the real thing than on the scored practice exam, but I don't know how true that is... it would be great if it is lol

I'm not sure I agree with that. Maybe it's true IN GENERAL but certainly is NOT a guarantee. I got 85% on the Cars and P/S, 90% on C/P, and 95% on B/B on the score FL....but on Saturday's Cars and P/S were pretty chill, C/P ok...not bad, but B/B was toughest section of them all. The FL scored was easy. The section bank way tougher. If I get my FL score, I'd be elated but I don't feel like that's happening
 
Does anyone know why it takes a month to get our scores if the scale is determined ahead of time? I mean the exam is on the computer it should be pretty easy... For the GRE you get your scores right away.

Here are my guesses

1. They add new questions and are analyzing how students did in order to gauge the questions.

2. They are examining the video tapes for abnormalities

3. They are looking for patterns in peoples answers to see if cheating occurred
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I'm not sure I agree with that. Maybe it's true IN GENERAL but certainly is NOT a guarantee. I got 85% on the Cars and P/S, 90% on C/P, and 95% on B/B on the score FL....but on Saturday's Cars and P/S were pretty chill, C/P ok...not bad, but B/B was toughest section of them all. The FL scored was easy. The section bank way tougher. If I get my FL score, I'd be elated but I don't feel like that's happening

I had pretty much identical percentages on the scored FL. I would agree with you about the difficulty of the sections on the actual exam as well. I definitely found myself guessing in a few passages on the B/BC section, whereas in the scored FL I had a reason for nearly every answer.
 
..... my sister who took the [new] exam last year didn't have the Q packs or the scored AAMC and she got a 517..... :arghh:
Dang! That's an awesome score!

Since the concensus is that scores are relative to previous testtakers, how would the first round of people be scored for this new exam?
 
You know, the wait for the scores is rough. Imagine the wait time during application time.

This process is a grueling one and tests your resolve for sure. Sigh
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I'm pretty sure even though the test structure is new, the questions have been tested before as throwaway passages in older tests.

Sent from my SM-G928V using SDN mobile
I imagine that to be the case for the C/P and CARS. But that can't be the case for p/s or really the bulk of biochem questions since that wasn't fair game on the old exam.
 
Here are my guesses

1. They add new questions and are analyzing how students did in order to gauge the questions.

2. They are examining the video tapes for abnormalities

3. They are looking for patterns in peoples answers to see if cheating occurred

(2) and (3) aren't going to be done manually because that would take hundreds if not thousands of man hours and they would need to hire a lot of people for that. I would say they don't do (2) and rely on proctors for that whereas in (3), they would use a computer algorithm, which could be done in a week. There's just no good reason whatsoever for doing it.
 
Since the concensus is that scores are relative to previous testtakers, how would the first round of people be scored for this new exam?

The first round of people were scored based on a constructed curve, which was based on the experimental sections on the old MCAT right before it changed to the new one. This curve was based on a smaller sample size and so they knew the first percentiles were likely to be off slightly (some people speculated that it would be higher rather than lower). After the first administration, they updated their percentile rankings and each year, they re-update the list using results from the previous year.
 
The first round of people were scored based on a constructed curve, which was based on the experimental sections on the old MCAT right before it changed to the new one. This curve was based on a smaller sample size and so they knew the first percentiles were likely to be off slightly (some people speculated that it would be higher rather than lower). After the first administration, they updated their percentile rankings and each year, they re-update the list using results from the previous year.

There's no way they based it on the experimental section, people who took that didn't study for biochem or p/s. They would basically be comparing it to people who were just guessing on questions
 
(2) and (3) aren't going to be done manually because that would take hundreds if not thousands of man hours and they would need to hire a lot of people for that. I would say they don't do (2) and rely on proctors for that whereas in (3), they would use a computer algorithm, which could be done in a week. There's just no good reason whatsoever for doing it.

They might. Fast forward the video at 4x speed

My exam proctors were super chilled and were sleeping at times of the exam lol
 
There's no way they based it on the experimental section, people who took that didn't study for biochem or p/s. They would basically be comparing it to people who were just guessing on questions

Sorry, they constructed the entire scale based on the first two administrations (don't know why I said previous MCAT): https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...-4aa0-90cb-70184be8c8b8/percentilenewmcat.pdf

So the sample size was smaller and had more fluctuations in it - these percentiles were updated the next year.

The old MCAT did have experimental passages on it for the new MCAT though, and I don't know how they used those results.
 
Top