The Official April 2016 MCAT Thread

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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.
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For those of you using Kaplan books, how are you guys doing on the questions at the end of each chapter? I feel like I am not doing well at all. The best score I got was 12/15 in physics but I'm averaging pretty low scores in general
 
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Ryomagoku said:
For those of you using Kaplan books, how are you guys doing on the questions at the end of each chapter? I feel like I am not doing well at all. The best score I got was 12/15 in physics but I'm averaging pretty low scores in general
Click to expand...


Honestly I haven't even done them since the beginning. I kinda feel like they are a waste of time. Go online and do the corresponding passages for each chapter after you finish it instead of those discrete questions. They aren't mcat style


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Ryomagoku said:
For those of you using Kaplan books, how are you guys doing on the questions at the end of each chapter? I feel like I am not doing well at all. The best score I got was 12/15 in physics but I'm averaging pretty low scores in general
Click to expand...

They're not passage-based and they go into waaayyyyy too much detail instead of emphasizing the bigger picture as the new MCAT is supposed to do. I use them to assess how much of the content review I understand but I don't put too much store in the results because some of them are really nit-picky with details that, even if the MCAT were to test on (which I'm guessing it won't), you probably wouldn't remember anyway so it's low-yield. Get through content review so you have enough background knowledge to begin practice passages and FLs.
 
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Nevadatim89 said:
Honestly I haven't even done them since the beginning. I kinda feel like they are a waste of time. Go online and do the corresponding passages for each chapter after you finish it instead of those discrete questions. They aren't mcat style


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Click to expand...
aldol16 said:
They're not passage-based and they go into waaayyyyy too much detail instead of emphasizing the bigger picture as the new MCAT is supposed to do. I use them to assess how much of the content review I understand but I don't put too much store in the results because some of them are really nit-picky with details that, even if the MCAT were to test on (which I'm guessing it won't), you probably wouldn't remember anyway so it's low-yield. Get through content review so you have enough background knowledge to begin practice passages and FLs.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the responses.

I think I'm just gonna read the chapters first. I was planning to read the chapters first, do the questions after, read books again, and take FLs.
 
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Yorick said:
I did NextStep for psych/soci, which I think was helpful because that book had 600+ practice questions, which I found useful for getting the content down, and I found TBR to be pretty good. The questions definitely require thinking and are cumulative in content- I like them because a passage will have "pseudo-discrete" questions and a biochem passage may have a physiology question thrown in there and vice versa. The passages are also pretty informative and the answer explanations are in-depth too.

I did about half of the Khan passages so far, I like that they're very diverse in content, but I can't speak for how well the questions match up against AAMC yet.
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Hey Yorick--awesome, that's super helpful to know! Did you only use TBR for biochem/physiology? I'm trying to decide if TBR passages would be useful for genchem, orgo, and physics, or if that would be extraneous.
 
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gunsandroes said:
Hey Yorick--awesome, that's super helpful to know! Did you only use TBR for biochem/physiology? I'm trying to decide if TBR passages would be useful for genchem, orgo, and physics, or if that would be extraneous.
Click to expand...

I did only use TBR for biology/phys. I heard TBR is great for gen chem, but I didn't get the other BR books because those particular subjects are relatively very fresh in my mind from things like being a TA and biochem and physiology were really the main science sections I needed to focus on and do more practice passages, which TPR and Kaplan are lacking in in their books.
 
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1. When/how are you guys incorporating AAMC materials? I don't know when to take the two AAMC tests - opinions seem mixed on whether you should save them for the end or do them early. I was thinking do one a month out, and the second two weeks out.

2. Also not sure how to incorporate the section banks and question banks. When/how are you all planning on using those resources? As a pseudo-FL or peppered throughout as practice passages?

3. I made a plan of action for my last month before the test, and currently plan on doing 3 FLs per week. Is that too many? One every other day, reviewing the day after, with a break day each week.
 
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gribear said:
1. When/how are you guys incorporating AAMC materials? I don't know when to take the two AAMC tests - opinions seem mixed on whether you should save them for the end or do them early. I was thinking do one a month out, and the second two weeks out.

2. Also not sure how to incorporate the section banks and question banks. When/how are you all planning on using those resources? As a pseudo-FL or peppered throughout as practice passages?

3. I made a plan of action for my last month before the test, and currently plan on doing 3 FLs per week. Is that too many? One every other day, reviewing the day after, with a break day each week.
Click to expand...

1. I'm gonna be taking one of the AAMC tests at the end of February and the second one two weeks prior. The former will be my second FL ever so it'll be a good gauge of what material I still need to crank down on.

2. I'm starting the question banks tomorrow and will be using them throughout the next week as practice passages. I'll be doing the same for the section banks but closer to my test date (4/1).

3. Depends on your ability to focus. Personally, I know 7.5 hours of staring at a screen and figuring out what enzyme belongs to which pathway coming from what organ will absolutely drain me. Beginning in March, I'll be doing one FL every three days (days two and three would consist of review and break respectively). I'll also be starting my new job in March so my schedule is going to have to be a bit more flexible.
 
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Yorick said:
I've taken 3/4 TPR FLs, 1 Kaplan, and the NS diagnostic and FL 1 so far. I plan on getting the EK exams, probably TBR and the AAMC exams. I'm taking a FL every Saturday and Sunday and increase as needed until I take them all by the April 1. I also will do the Section Bank.
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Hey what do you think of the Kaplan exams compared to the NS exams? I have taken NS diagnostic and NS FL 1 & 2. Scored a 508, 510 and 510. I am hoping the NS scores are deflated at least somewhat compared to the real exam. I plan on doing the 4 EK exams and maybe three more NS exams before I take the official practice exams.

I just finished the AAMC Bio Q packs 1&2, they were ridiculously easy compared to NS. Working on the AAMC CARS pack 1 and it seems harder than NS, so kind of unsure about where I stand.
 
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smr said:
Hey what do you think of the Kaplan exams compared to the NS exams? I have taken NS diagnostic and NS FL 1 & 2. Scored a 508, 510 and 510. I am hoping the NS scores are deflated at least somewhat compared to the real exam. I plan on doing the 4 EK exams and maybe three more NS exams before I take the official practice exams.

I just finished the AAMC Bio Q packs 1&2, they were ridiculously easy compared to NS. Working on the AAMC CARS pack 1 and it seems harder than NS, so kind of unsure about where I stand.
Click to expand...

I thought they were about equal...my scores have been consistent in hovering at or above 510, so I don't remember either exams being more difficult than the other.
 
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Is it just me or is e-MCAT ridiculously slow/unusable? All of the actual testing pages either take an incredibly long time to load or just don't load at all. I've tried using both Chrome and Safari.
 
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Phoodie said:
Is it just me or is e-MCAT ridiculously slow/unusable? All of the actual testing pages either take an incredibly long time to load or just don't load at all. I've tried using both Chrome and Safari.
Click to expand...

No same here. It's laggy and I have to sometimes click on "next question" like 3 times for it to respond.
 
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O731 said:
No same here. It's laggy and I have to sometimes click on "next question" like 3 times for it to respond.
Click to expand...

It finally started going smoothly after the first few questions (~0845 EST). I ended up using incognito mode in Chrome
 
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A month ago, I took the unscored AAMC Fl and got the following results: 63% C/P 94% CARS 75% B/B 80% Beh
How is that?

I finished the AAMC Biology Vol 1. last week and I scored 83%. How is that?

How am I doing so far? I take the exam April 1st.
( I literally am freaking out right now as the date draws closer)

I am gonna finish the section bank for B/B today and post results as well
 
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WanderingGuitarist said:
A month ago, I took the unscored AAMC Fl and got the following results: 63% C/P 94% CARS 75% B/B 80% Beh
How is that?

I finished the AAMC Biology Vol 1. last week and I scored 83%. How is that?

How am I doing so far? I take the exam April 1st.
( I literally am freaking out right now as the date draws closer)

I am gonna finish the section bank for B/B today and post results as well
Click to expand...
If you do well (>75%) on the section bank, it means you are really ready!
 
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Spitphire said:
How much more difficult did you find the section bank compared to bio qpack 1?
Click to expand...

I'd say almost twice as hard. You REALLY need to know your material.

The main thing I noticed is that the section bank focused on small parts of your studying you might have overlooked ( I can state them but I don't wanna spoil it for others who want a fresh look at it)

The passages were very difficult in understanding as well.

Overall though, if you know your material, you can eliminate atleast 1-2 answer choices per question and then its up to critical thinking
 
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Hi there,

I am currently registered for the April 23rd MCAT, but I do not know if I am prepared enough to take it. I have been studying slightly but not much, and now with only two months left, I am considering pushing the MCAT back to either May 20th or June 2nd. Knowing that I will be done with school, I will have little more time to review without any academic or other distractions; however, I will get my scores a month later, and primary applications are begin getting accepted at the beginning of June. I want to know if I would be putting myself at disadvantage by taking the MCAT at one of these later two dates considering that my primary application will not be fully complete until either mid to end of June to beginning of July. Any advice and input would be most helpful. Thank you.
 
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WanderingGuitarist said:
I'd say almost twice as hard. You REALLY need to know your material.

The main thing I noticed is that the section bank focused on small parts of your studying you might have overlooked ( I can state them but I don't wanna spoil it for others who want a fresh look at it)

The passages were very difficult in understanding as well.

Overall though, if you know your material, you can eliminate atleast 1-2 answer choices per question and then its up to critical thinking
Click to expand...
I thought as much. The qpack seemed very easy so I was skeptical.
 
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DPATEL4 said:
I am currently registered for the April 23rd MCAT, but I do not know if I am prepared enough to take it. I have been studying slightly but not much, and now with only two months left, I am considering pushing the MCAT back to either May 20th or June 2nd.
Click to expand...

Hey! I am in the exact same position as you, as I was thinking of just sucking it up and pushing through. I don't think it is good to apply late, and I feel like we still have some time (~2 months!) that hopefully we can improve upon? I was thinking of taking the official practice next month to see if I need to push it back or not, and not decide too early!
 
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Spitphire said:
How much more difficult did you find the section bank compared to bio qpack 1?
Click to expand...

I actually found the Bio Section Bank to be easier than the QPack, although moderate level in difficulty in absolute terms. I think it emphasizes critical thinking and interpreting data more than rote memorization, which I guess was to my benefit, as my knowledge of Bio facts is pretty rusty.
 
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DPATEL4 said:
Hi there,

I am currently registered for the April 23rd MCAT, but I do not know if I am prepared enough to take it. I have been studying slightly but not much, and now with only two months left, I am considering pushing the MCAT back to either May 20th or June 2nd. Knowing that I will be done with school, I will have little more time to review without any academic or other distractions; however, I will get my scores a month later, and primary applications are begin getting accepted at the beginning of June. I want to know if I would be putting myself at disadvantage by taking the MCAT at one of these later two dates considering that my primary application will not be fully complete until either mid to end of June to beginning of July. Any advice and input would be most helpful. Thank you.
Click to expand...
kitkat13 said:
Hey! I am in the exact same position as you, as I was thinking of just sucking it up and pushing through. I don't think it is good to apply late, and I feel like we still have some time (~2 months!) that hopefully we can improve upon? I was thinking of taking the official practice next month to see if I need to push it back or not, and not decide too early!
Click to expand...

I'm on the same boat. This week was my break from school. So what I did was trying to read as much as I can. With that said, I was able to read half of the content review books within 6 days. I still have a bit left with the content review. However, I decided to dedicate more time on content review, as in re read them one more time with practice passages and then read the ones I was not sure with passages. Then jump onto full lengths.
Physics has been my greatest strength but it became my weakest. So I just started reading nova physics along with Kaplan and I enjoyed reading.
I'm sure you will be fine. Two months! Try to finish content review in like three weeks and dedicate the rest on full lengths and reviews!
 
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Ryomagoku said:
. With that said, I was able to read half of the content review books within 6 days. I still have a bit left with the content review
Click to expand...

Just wondering, where you just plowing through them? Or did you find your self retaining a lot? Because I feel like that would be super hard for me :O
 
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kitkat13 said:
Just wondering, where you just plowing through them? Or did you find your self retaining a lot? Because I feel like that would be super hard for me :O
Click to expand...

This is the thing. For many of us, it's been a few years since we learned those concepts. That said, I believe it is just as important to get familiarize yourself with the topics again.
And, I do not retain much of the information I read. But here comes the new strategy. While I read only for the ones I know, I took very concise notes for the topics that I felt weak on as I read.
I have been very weak in ochem in college, so I took notes on the topics I knew I didn't do so well in college such as SN1,2 E1,2 what is epimer etc. and I started to see some results. When I did the questions on the end of each chapter on Kaplan book, I got 14/15 on the topics I sucked at.
This is where second time content review and re reading parts those I sucked at come in handy.
So I will be re reading by doing passages in Berkeley review book. Then re read again only those I didn't do well on. Proceed with aamc question packs, then FLs, using aamc one last.
 
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I'm planning on taking a FL every weekend starting from next week until the test (23rd). For the Princeton Review FL's, do I have to type in the ISBN of each book to get all the practice tests? I typed in the ISBN for the Physics book but was only granted access to MCAT Review Test 2.
 
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Shooting for a 508+ on the 4/23 exam but I took my first TPR practice test and scored a 501 (124, 124, 127, 126). Received a 495 on the PR demo test before doing content review, so that was a nice bump up to see (about cried seeing how little I actually knew starting out). Starting to supplement with some Khan physics and chemistry to hopefully raise that score. Any insight on how that 501 would translate to the actual MCAT? Planning on taking both AAMC exams after I finish my PR tests as well, but just wanting some outside opinions. I've seen tons of people on here jumping 5-10 points on the actual exam from their PR and Kaplan tests and was wondering if anyone knows if that seems to be a fairly common trend..?

If you're struggling getting down your amino acids, dowload amino acid structure quiz/card by Solvyev. It's great! I raised my B/B scores 6 points from the demo to the first practice exam. Also, I have started using Kaplan's 1000 flashcard pack and it's been nice to have to get away from a book for a while!
 
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Its not that bad.

Water soluble: B,C ( WBC)

Fat soluble: A,D,E,K ( FADEK)

The tough part is knowing what molecule is what vitamin.
For example thiamin is vitamin B.
 
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jhu2016 said:
Hey guys, I'm struggling with Chem/Phys section.
Should I read TBR for these subjects?
Click to expand...

For physics, I enjoy reading nova physics which is pretty concise and with passages at the end of the chapter.
For Chem, I can't speak much of as I am finishing up the content review. But I would assume Berekely review would be a big help
 
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Do you guys get this question? It's from EK 1001. #580

If a second ideal fluid with a specific gravity of 2.0 were passed through the pipe at the same volume flow rate the pressure at any point in the pipe would:

  1. decrease by a factor of 2.

  2. remain the same.

  3. increase by a factor of 2.

  4. More information is required to predict the change

    in pressure.
The answer is 3. But, how does it make any sense. If I use Bernoulli's, as density increases, I would think pressure decreases.

#hatephysics
 
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Density is pgh.

So... now you have 2 p. it's now 2pgh.

The pressure in Bernoulli's equation is delta P, so the difference in pressure. You use that when the flow is due to movement from high pressure to low pressure. However, there is ANOTHER pressure (pgh) that adds to that, which is the pressure of the fluid and height. So you're essentially "adding in extra pressure" to the starting pressure (delta P). That's what changes from increase density.

Honestly, the physics on the MCAT is pretty cookie cutter, atleast compared to the stuff we did in physics class. Just look for where the p (density) is in the equation, and plug in your value.
 
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O731 said:
Density is pgh.

So... now you have 2 p. it's now 2pgh.

The pressure in Bernoulli's equation is delta P, so the difference in pressure. You use that when the flow is due to movement from high pressure to low pressure. However, there is ANOTHER pressure (pgh) that adds to that, which is the pressure of the fluid and height. So you're essentially "adding in extra pressure" to the starting pressure (delta P). That's what changes from increase density.

Honestly, the physics on the MCAT is pretty cookie cutter, atleast compared to the stuff we did in physics class. Just look for where the p (density) is in the equation, and plug in your value.
Click to expand...

Gotcha! Thank you. I know P = pgh, but I thought it was already incorporated in Bernoulli's. The physics classes at my college are ridiculous. They do not teach us anything.
 
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DingDongD said:
Gotcha! Thank you. I know P = pgh, but I thought it was already incorporated in Bernoulli's. The physics classes at my college are ridiculous. They do not teach us anything.
Click to expand...

Honestly, when it comes to physics. When you're stumped, the best thing to do is just use the equation. You have to keep in mind that these equations were made to illustrate the physical processes in question, so the person who made the formula generally did all of the thinking for you and simply stated his finding in an equation. Units and equations will save you're ass when your stuck.

So...in the case with your question on pressure: If you just wrote out Bernoulli's equation, you would have just simply seen that it was Delta P + 1/2 pv^2 + pgh

Now, they said that the flow rate was the same, so delta P and the kinetic part were held constant. Just plug a 2 in there and there ya go.
 
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I have taken two Kaplan full lengths and one from Princeton review. On all three I have scored < 500 (between 488-492). Do you guys think this is a sign I should reschedule my exam? I'm not sure what I should do. After each FL I go through and review the material. I haven't taken any AAMC stuff as of yet.
 
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Ryomagoku said:
Try go over the content review again? Like read MCAT review org page or quick sheet from Kaplan?
Click to expand...

Don't underestimate content review. Yeah the test is about reasoning and interpreting passages, but without the proper tools (content) you won't be able to cut apart the arguments. Imagine if someone gave you a toothbrush, pillow, and some cheese, and then asked you to build a house. You wouldn't even know where to begin.
 
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It may be too late, but I really recommend TBR. I scored a 506 and 508 on two Princeton practice exams using almost exclusively Berkeley review books, and those scores are before finishing content. They encourage you to think in an MCAT way while you're reviewing and the passages are awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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O731 said:
Don't underestimate content review. Yeah the test is about reasoning and interpreting passages, but without the proper tools (content) you won't be able to cut apart the arguments. Imagine if someone gave you a toothbrush, pillow, and some cheese, and then asked you to build a house. You wouldn't even know where to begin.
Click to expand...

I am not underestimating the content review at all. The person already took three FLs. I am pretty sure he or she did the content review already. What I am suggesting is if he or she feels unsure on some equations and generic details, why not supplement with those choices I mentioned. then, one can focus on the FLs and reviewing FLs why he or she got it wrong more and better.
No clue where you're coming from. It is the person's choice what to do. He or she asked a question, and I gave an opinion. If that person feels like not improving, then he or she can postpone.
 
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kitkat13 said:
Sorry just wondering, did you only do passages from TBR and do the content from TPR?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

I did content from Berkeley and passages from Berkeley. I got the TPR online course but haven't really been using it (sad, waste of money) beyond some Amplifire modules and online CARS passages.


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gribear said:
I did content from Berkeley and passages from Berkeley. I got the TPR online course but haven't really been using it (sad, waste of money) beyond some Amplifire modules and online CARS passages.


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I feel you! I cant believe I shelled out 2k for this crying. I really do like their online CARS passages though! They are hard but steller (with explanations as well).
Which version of TBR are you using?
 
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