The Official April 5th, 2014 MCAT Thread!

[BeachBlondie]

139 days!

You know, for a couple of weeks I thought I would just not subscribe to any particular SDN MCAT thread. Figured it wasn't necessary. But, frankly, knowing that there are other people out there--pissed about not remembering values for logs, and trying to sort out where epinephrine is secreted from ("Was that the adrenal cortex... or adrenal medulla?")--makes this slog towards test date bearable

Best of luck, fellow lost souls!

(P.S...... it's from the medulla )

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[kouentou13]

Not signing up for a re-take.

 

[BeachBlondie]

I'm not signing up for a retake until I see the score. Even though it is most likely already graded, I have this irrational belief that having a retake date will somehow jinx any chance of a miracle.

 

[spark369]

Hey Everyone, I am a new member here, Let me throw some of my opinions about the April 5th exam.
Overall, just like the majority have mentioned, I thought the exam was harder than any of the practices tests I took.

PS- I am usually good at this section, but I don't think it was as "staraight forward" as what others say, I know I missed couple of them for sure, and I barely finished them within time. I would still say that this section was relatively easier than other two sections for me but it was still more difficult than the practice AAMC..

VS- I never know how I do on this section. Really, I dont even know what I will get on this since my practice score was fluctuating a lot. I had like 4 min left for 1 passage(but this could be my own issue since I am a slow reader), ...other passages were relatively okay to read which were on par with practice AAMC in terms of difficulty. But this is regardless my weakest section so I will just have to wait. Can anyone leave some feedback on how they felt on VS?

BS- Yes, this one was the most difficult section out of all three, with hard emphasis on orgo for some reason. I ran out of time in this section and I had to read questions multiple times because I wasnt clear what they are really asking for. This one felt more like verbal instead of science to me, I dont think it really tested what I studied or prepped for. This section made me feel like whatever I did for BS prep was completely useless.

I dont know how much it will help but I am hoping for lenient curve...
This wait time is so stressful..

 

[TheAnonymous]

Hey Everyone, I am a new member here, Let me throw some of my opinions about the April 5th exam.
Overall, just like the majority have mentioned, I thought the exam was harder than any of the practices tests I took.

PS- I am usually good at this section, but I don't think it was as "staraight forward" as what others say, I know I missed couple of them for sure, and I barely finished them within time. I would still say that this section was relatively easier than other two sections for me but it was still more difficult than the practice AAMC..

VS- I never know how I do on this section. Really, I dont even know what I will get on this since my practice score was fluctuating a lot. I had like 4 min left for 1 passage(but this could be my own issue since I am a slow reader), ...other passages were relatively okay to read which were on par with practice AAMC in terms of difficulty. But this is regardless my weakest section so I will just have to wait. Can anyone leave some feedback on how they felt on VS?

BS- Yes, this one was the most difficult section out of all three, with hard emphasis on orgo for some reason. I ran out of time in this section and I had to read questions multiple times because I wasnt clear what they are really asking for. This one felt more like verbal instead of science to me, I dont think it really tested what I studied or prepped for. This section made me feel like whatever I did for BS prep was completely useless.

I dont know how much it will help but I am hoping for lenient curve...
This wait time is so stressful..

Thanks for your input. May I ask what your suggestion is regarding the BS section for future MCATers? What would you do differently if you were to study again? Any particular resource you think would have helped? Same thing with regards to Orgo.

Thanks a lot

 

[JoeT]

I just made an account because I NEEDED to communicate with other people who took that test. That has to be healthier than making backup plans and backup-backup plans in case I don't get into med school, right?

Here are my thoughts on the test-- It was definitely weird. I prepped pretty hard; 2+ hours per day, did a Kaplan test prep course, 10 AAMC test, 10 Kaplan tests, basically lived/slept/breathed MCAT for 5 months. I'm not sure how much any of that helped. There were a few discretes that I knew from flashcards I made, but for every 1 of those, there were 3 questions that my studying didn't prepare me for. I knew all of the material better, I knew how to handle the actual test, but still... it feels like my work and effort didn't directly translate.

I have no idea how I did. I could have scored anywhere from a 24-36 and I wouldn't be surprised. Oh well. I think that's the fallacy of "preparing" for the MCAT-- The pool of available topics is so large that it's just not possible to know everything cold. You could know 90% of the possible material inside/out and get an MCAT heavy on the 10% you don't. it's a moving target. My advice to people preparing to take it is to focus more on passage reading because you can generally find the answers to questions within the passage.

PS- Seemed heavy on gen chem, but it may have just felt that way. There were some tricky questions, but it was probably the most similar to AAMC practices.

VR- The passages were much longer than AAMC or Kaplan practices. This is my strongest section (usually 12-14 on practices) and there were a few Q's I had to guess on. The trick with VR, for anyone who hasn't taken it, is to not get stuck on 1 passage. Chances are there's going to be 1 that you struggle with, and if you get hung up, it hurts all of your other ones. I spent about 10m on the first passage, which is way longer than I usually do, so I had to rush a bit on some of the easier ones. Hopefully I didn't miss a word on the easy ones.

BS- This section was BS (Ha!). I only did light prep for orgo since it's such a small section, but I could have studied nothing but Orgo and I still would have struggled with the passage. It was very obscure. I don't think there was a way to prepare for it. I also felt that some of the bio was a little out of scope, and was barely tangentially related to topics specified as MCAT material. Thankfully everyone else seems to feel the same way, so the curve should be generous.

Good luck everyone!

 

[kouentou13]

This thread is wearing me down. And yet, it's the only place I can go. Irony at it's finest.

What really is a lenient curve?

Scoring a 14 on the practice tests was a reflection of missing around 3 questions. I remember the curve difference between AAMC 9 and 10 (10 being a harder scale), BUT it wasn't that big of a difference from what I remember. Is it even possible to have a grading scale we haven't seen before, something where missing 6 question is a 14?

Anyone with actual examples/experience care to comment?

 

[Bbqchickenman]

This thread is wearing me down. And yet, it's the only place I can go. Irony at it's finest.

What really is a lenient curve?

Scoring a 14 on the practice tests was a reflection of missing around 3 questions. I remember the curve difference between AAMC 9 and 10 (10 being a harder scale), BUT it was that big of a difference from what I remember. Is it even possible to have a grading scale we haven't seen before, something where missing 6 question is a 14?

Anyone with actual examples/experience care to comment?

I'm thinking the same thing... would their real curve be that different from the practice test curves they released?

 

[neworleans8]

That's my concern too. Even when the curve was slightly more lenient on practice tests it was like the difference between 1 or 2 questions. I don't really understand how this accounts for what seems like very significant differences in difficulty between tests.

 

[Nogo]

Which Orgo materials did you prep with?

Sorry for the late response, I prepped with PR

 

[nctw]

Sorry for the late response, I prepped with PR

Wow. And they seem to even be more in-depth than EK

 

[Slave to the Game]

There are still experimental questions in the 3 graded sections IIRC, which don't count toward your score, so don't give up hope (unless if I'm completely wrong).

 

[tpha5256]

There are still experimental questions in the 3 graded sections IIRC, which don't count toward your score, so don't give up hope (unless if I'm completely wrong).

I have mixed feelings about the experimental questions. On one hand, I'll be glad that they don't count towards our scores if we got them wrong. However, these questions were likely the hard ones that chewed away the clock so I want my efforts to not go in vain.

 

[Nogo]

Wow. And they seem to even be more in-depth than EK

I took an educated guess on literally the entire passage. At this point I really think my BS score is below a 10.

I have mixed feelings about the experimental questions. On one hand, I'll be glad that they don't count towards our scores if we got them wrong. However, these questions were likely the hard ones that chewed away the clock so I want my efforts to not go in vain.

I, for the most part, went into the test with the goal of not spending too much time on the difficult questions and simply mark and move on. I really hope that was the best plan of action and get the easier questions right, minimizing the amount of wrong questions I could have gotten.

 

[roxor88]

I thought there are different versions of the test given on the same day..

When you say BS was hard....it could've been easier to people who got a different version.

 

[BeachBlondie]

This thread is wearing me down. And yet, it's the only place I can go. Irony at it's finest.

What really is a lenient curve?

Scoring a 14 on the practice tests was a reflection of missing around 3 questions. I remember the curve difference between AAMC 9 and 10 (10 being a harder scale), BUT it wasn't that big of a difference from what I remember. Is it even possible to have a grading scale we haven't seen before, something where missing 6 question is a 14?

Anyone with actual examples/experience care to comment?

While this is only second-hand anecdotal evidence, I thought it might help quell some of your concern.

So... my MCAT position is admittedly bullocks. If I don't get a 35 or above, I have to take it again (*grumble grumble* non-trad GPA...hmph). This isn't just an arbitrary score that I fabricated; this was the suggestion of two different admissions members. Thus, if I didn't score better than 95% of test takers, I'm back on the grind. As you can imagine, my wait for this score is horrid -- oh, yeah.... you know, just OUTPACE all of these people who freaking made it their entire undergraduate career to immerse themselves in the sciences.... yeah.... no big deal....

Anyway, my point is that I've been scouring the boards for any indication of what might possibly befall me on May 6th, while only knowing 2 things: 1) The exam we took was challenging, and 2) I felt incredibly prepared (at least when I walked into the test center). Other than that, I have no idea what my score could possibly be. But, in the course of my searches, I have come across past test takers who seemed to unanimously lament their particular test date (not unlike we all did). One of those particular people stands out to me: he confirmed, for certain, that he missed at least 8 questions in PS. Somehow, this person remembered that many questions, looked them up online, and confirmed that he got them wrong. Obviously, he signed up for another test date, thinking that he tanked at least one section. But, when he got his score back? He had a 14 in PS. And was absolutely shocked.

So, I think we can all admit that the real MCAT is beefed up from the level of the practice exams. I can only speculate, but it seems to me that the corresponding scale follows suit.... at least to some degree.

EDIT: ....you know, all of this helps me sleep at night anyway

 

[deleted380953]

While this is only second-hand anecdotal evidence, I thought it might help quell some of your concern.

So... my MCAT position is admittedly bullocks. If I don't get a 35 or above, I have to take it again (*grumble grumble* non-trad GPA...hmph). This isn't just an arbitrary score that I fabricated; this was the suggestion of two different admissions members. Thus, if I didn't score better than 95% of test takers, I'm back on the grind. As you can imagine, my wait for this score is horrid -- oh, yeah.... you know, just OUTPACE all of these people who freaking made it their entire undergraduate career to immerse themselves in the sciences.... yeah.... no big deal....

We're the adcoms you asked for advice from WashU or something? Granted other things in your app are in order, I wouldn't have thought that a 34 won't hold you back from most schools compared to a 35, even with a lowish gpa

Is there a link to the guy who got 8 questions wrong on PS? Not that I don't believe it, I just want to read if he had any other impressions

 

[BeachBlondie]

We're the adcoms you asked for advice from WashU or something? Granted other things in your app are in order, I wouldn't have thought that a 34 won't hold you back from most schools compared to a 35, even with a lowish gpa

Is there a link to the guy who got 8 questions wrong on PS? Not that I don't believe it, I just want to read if he had any other impressions

One was from U-Miami, the other was from UCSD. But, I'm a California resident, so it's a bit rough. The rest of my application is golden (I've got published research coming out of my ears; international podium presentations; volunteering like whoa), so they said that a solid (i.e. 35+ MCAT) will be enough to get me some serious looks. That's all I can really expect with a 3.3-ish.

Let me see if I can find that post. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I don't know where I would even begin...

 

[deleted380953]

I'm a California resident

My sympathies go out to you

 

[BeachBlondie]

My sympathies go out to you

HAHAHA! Right?!

While not the exact post I was talking about, here is a thread in which a guy "guessed on 1.5 passages and got a 14 BS"...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/dont-rely-on-your-feelings-after-your-mcat.926933/

 

[lpp06]

One was from U-Miami, the other was from UCSD. But, I'm a California resident, so it's a bit rough. The rest of my application is golden (I've got published research coming out of my ears; international podium presentations; volunteering like whoa), so they said that a solid (i.e. 35+ MCAT) will be enough to get me some serious looks. That's all I can really expect with a 3.3-ish.

Let me see if I can find that post. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I don't know where I would even begin...

I always feel when AdCom's give advice they always do so to extremes to save their hide. Of course a 35+ with ridiculous EC's is gonna get you a serious look, even with a completely sub par GPA those 2 areas alone indicate a probable very strong candidate for 90% of schools. But if they said, "With your EC's, a 30-32 MCAT will get you some looks" and it turns out you don't get any consideration, and AdCom runs the risk of getting called out and having their integrity questioned.

Not saying you don't need a 35, but always take all advice, AdCom, SDN member, whomever, with a grain of salt.

I say this because I had a happen chance meeting with an AdCom and his significant other and some of the things he/she made me feel about my chances of getting into a school left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. They made it feel that because I wasn't travelling the globe curing AIDS (see hyperbole) that I wasn't proving my desire to join the medical community. Really made me understand that this process involves so many people with different expectations and outlooks. One AdCom's opinion will not reflect the general population of AdCom's

 

[BeachBlondie]

I always feel when AdCom's give advice they always do so to extremes to save their hide. Of course a 35+ with ridiculous EC's is gonna get you a serious look, even with a completely sub par GPA those 2 areas alone indicate a probable very strong candidate for 90% of schools. But if they said, "With your EC's, a 30-32 MCAT will get you some looks" and it turns out you don't get any consideration, and AdCom runs the risk of getting called out and having their integrity questioned.

Not saying you don't need a 35, but always take all advice, AdCom, SDN member, whomever, with a grain of salt.

I say this because I had a happen chance meeting with an AdCom and his significant other and some of the things he/she made me feel about my chances of getting into a school left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. They made it feel that because I wasn't travelling the globe curing AIDS (see hyperbole) that I wasn't proving my desire to join the medical community. Really made me understand that this process involves so many people with different expectations and outlooks. One AdCom's opinion will not reflect the general population of AdCom's

May be partly true, sure. But, when most of your state schools have a 2% acceptance rate, it's certainly easy to see where the stickler advice comes from.

At any rate, your post made me smile and realize that all hope is not lost. So, thanks for that

 

[Bbqchickenman]

One was from U-Miami, the other was from UCSD. But, I'm a California resident, so it's a bit rough. The rest of my application is golden (I've got published research coming out of my ears; international podium presentations; volunteering like whoa), so they said that a solid (i.e. 35+ MCAT) will be enough to get me some serious looks. That's all I can really expect with a 3.3-ish.

Let me see if I can find that post. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I don't know where I would even begin...

You said you were in journalism for the past few years. And you have published research and international podium presentations and volunteering? How....

 

[BeachBlondie]

You said you were in journalism for the past few years. And you have published research and international podium presentations and volunteering? How....

You misquote me -- I was sportscasting over 6 years ago. I've been a bioengineering and clinical researcher for the past 4 years, specifically in orthopaedics. A lot has happened since I decided to go to medical school in 2007 (check the membership length on my SDN handle).

 

[Bbqchickenman]

You misquote me -- I was sportscasting over 6 years ago. I've been a bioengineering and clinical researcher for the past 4 years, specifically in orthopaedics. A lot has happened since I decided to go to medical school in 2007 (check the membership length on my SDN handle).

Wow thats a pretty cool trajectory

 

[BeachBlondie]

Wow thats a pretty cool trajectory

Ah-thank you

 

[kouentou13]

Beachblondie, thank you for relieving some of my concerns about the scale.

 

[BeachBlondie]

Beachblondie, thank you for relieving some of my concerns about the scale.

Hell, man, if we can't help each other get through this, what's the point of this website??

 

[getsome111]

@BeachBlondie don't feel crazy, I'm absolutely retaking if I scored under 35--there just isn't any other way being a nontraditional

 

[BeachBlondie]

@BeachBlondie don't feel crazy, I'm absolutely retaking if I scored under 35--there just isn't any other way being a nontraditional

 

[asyouwish]

@BeachBlondie , I think you might be the closest I've seen to a SDN twin. I'm a fellow April 5th sufferer just lurking, and stressing, and lurking. Also a CA resident and old-ass non-trad.

 

[BeachBlondie]

@BeachBlondie , I think you might be the closest I've seen to a SDN twin. I'm a fellow April 5th sufferer just lurking, and stressing, and lurking. Also a CA resident and old-ass non-trad.

I see you get hyphy in the Yay Area. Good people up there.

 

[petyr_baelish]

One was from U-Miami, the other was from UCSD. But, I'm a California resident, so it's a bit rough. The rest of my application is golden (I've got published research coming out of my ears; international podium presentations; volunteering like whoa), so they said that a solid (i.e. 35+ MCAT) will be enough to get me some serious looks. That's all I can really expect with a 3.3-ish.

Let me see if I can find that post. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I don't know where I would even begin...

UCSD is like...my dream school. Growing up in UTC will do that to a kid. I have the same GPA as you too. But I'm no longer a Cali resident so I will not be applying.

 

[BeachBlondie]

UCSD is like...my dream school. Growing up in UTC will do that to a kid. I have the same GPA as you too. But I'm no longer a Cali resident so I will not be applying.

San Diego is home to me, as well. Just show me the applicant ahead of me in the lineup.... I'm not above going all Tonya Harding on it.

(kidding! .....................kind of)

 

[BeachBlondie]

I'm going to be REALLY honest, here:

My train of thought for the last week and a half has been, "I think I got a 32....", "UGHHHHHHHHH ...... what if it's a 28???!! ," "You know what? I could have earned a 37. I just may have," "*sigh*.....I don't even want to see it. It's a 30."

....We still have 3 weeks until scores come back.

hahaha this is insanity. I'm going to the gym.

 

[Nogo]

@BeachBlondie don't feel crazy, I'm absolutely retaking if I scored under 35--there just isn't any other way being a nontraditional

****.. You guys with your super high goals.. I'm a nontrad also, and I was satisfied with just a 30.. You guys make me feel like I'm undershooting it.. ahhhhh

 

[Bbqchickenman]

At least you dont have your MCAT next week and your most predictive AAMC 10 and 11 coming up in the next few days! I'm flippin out reading what people have said about 10

 

[kouentou13]

^ Really? Did you just compare our post-test anxiety to the anxiety felt before taking AAMC 10? Just wait.

 

[deleted380953]

At least you dont have your MCAT next week and your most predictive AAMC 10 and 11 coming up in the next few days! I'm flippin out reading what people have said about 10

If you feel that way before taking a practice test, I can't imagine how you'll feel the month after the actual exam

 

[tpha5256]

If you feel that way before taking a practice test, I can't imagine how you'll feel the month after the actual exam

Oddly enough, I've started to feel better about the exam since we took it 1.5 weeks ago. But by better, I mean calmer cause it's moving to the back of mind now that I've started to focus on PS and LORs. I'm pretty sure I'm going to panic again the week of May 6th. T_T

 

[AngelOfAvarice]

I'm hoping so. I think their interpretation of "straight forward" and our interpretation of "straight forward" are in different dimensions. For instance? Some kid posted that his physical sciences section was as expected; he had 20 minutes to spare. I thought that OURS was "as expected" but still only had 5 minutes left!

...you'd probably be hard-pressed to find ANYONE in here who had greater than 5-ish minutes left on any of the sections we took. But, of course, I am speaking in broad generalizations.

I had 15-20 to spare for all three sections... that said, I changed an answer from correct to incorrect in the PS, so it was not necessarily an advantage. If you spent time reviewing the question as you were answering it, it may be a good thing.

 

[neworleans8]

I didn't have much time, but in hindsight may have been better to have had none. Like I said before, went back and second guessed myself on a few and am pretty certain I changed at least 1-2 correct answers in section.

 

[Bbqchickenman]

Would like to hear what you guys thought of PS compared to AAMC 9 10 and 11. Particularly the discretes, did you feel like they were straight forward and you flew through them?
AAMC 9 and 10 PS are eerily straight forward... pretty much testing for precision in answering simple questions, rather than Kaplan which asks HARD calculation and critical thinking questions.

 

[bisonboy]

^ Really? Did you just compare our post-test anxiety to the anxiety felt before taking AAMC 10? Just wait.

Word.

 

[cerno]

Interesting thread. Might have been kind of fun to find this before the April 5th MCAT. Anyways, these 17 days left are sure killer, but I guess what's done is done.

Very late, but I'll contribute my thoughts for anyone still curious.

Took Kaplan Course prior to the test. Took all the Kaplan tests besides #6, and I also took AAMC #7.

Physical - I found to be far easier than any test I have taken. I did miss one discrete carelessly, but everything else felt far simpler than the time consuming questions on the Kaplan tests (great practice though). Very straight forward. Had 10 minutes to spare.

Verbal - The passages were far longer than I was used to thanks to Kaplan's practice tests having short passages. First portion threw me off a bit with the length and initial difficulty, but I recovered midway through and had 5 minutes to spare. Seemed similar in difficulty to what I had expected. The initial fluster may have cost me a couple questions, but nothing catastrophic.

Bio - Things really turned for the worst here. The organic based passages were certainly harder than anything I have seen on either AAMC or Kaplan. I had to guess on far more than I wanted to. Ended with 10 minutes to spare, but spent these ten minutes going back to the hard passages without too much success.

Overall it felt reasonably similar in difficulty to the Kaplan tests, but much harder than AAMC #7. This test, however, is extremely hard to peg where I scored, unlike the practice tests. I have about a 9 point range of where I think I could have landed, but I'm hoping I'm just being a bit pessimistic, because it was the real thing.

Cheers and good luck waiting around.

I agree word for word with all these comments (using TPR instead of Kaplan), although I did think PS was not easier than the AAMCs, but about what you'd expect.

 

[ZapadniyRus]

Interesting thread. Might have been kind of fun to find this before the April 5th MCAT. Anyways, these 17 days left are sure killer, but I guess what's done is done.

Very late, but I'll contribute my thoughts for anyone still curious.

Took Kaplan Course prior to the test. Took all the Kaplan tests besides #6, and I also took AAMC #7.

Physical - I found to be far easier than any test I have taken. I did miss one discrete carelessly, but everything else felt far simpler than the time consuming questions on the Kaplan tests (great practice though). Very straight forward. Had 10 minutes to spare.

Verbal - The passages were far longer than I was used to thanks to Kaplan's practice tests having short passages. First portion threw me off a bit with the length and initial difficulty, but I recovered midway through and had 5 minutes to spare. Seemed similar in difficulty to what I had expected. The initial fluster may have cost me a couple questions, but nothing catastrophic.

Bio - Things really turned for the worst here. The organic based passages were certainly harder than anything I have seen on either AAMC or Kaplan. I had to guess on far more than I wanted to. Ended with 10 minutes to spare, but spent these ten minutes going back to the hard passages without too much success.

Overall it felt reasonably similar in difficulty to the Kaplan tests, but much harder than AAMC #7. This test, however, is extremely hard to peg where I scored, unlike the practice tests. I have about a 9 point range of where I think I could have landed, but I'm hoping I'm just being a bit pessimistic, because it was the real thing.

Cheers and good luck waiting around.

I had 10+ minutes to spare on all the sections too, I'm starting to worry that I rushed through the exam

For the practice exams I could usually solve the problems and check my answers in the time they gave me, so I'm hoping I didn't mess up too bad

 

[wkevin5]

Long time lurker since forever, thought I might give my insight as well.

I used berkeley review for all the content review except bio which I used TPR/TPRH.

PS: Due to either nervousness or test anxiety, all sections including PS, I blanked out after reading the first passage, not having ANY idea what was said in passage which gave me a panic attack and I can hear my heart beating 120+ a min. After I got to passage 3 and 4 though, I started to calm down and finished with 10 min to spare, which was more than enough to look over the previous sections. Definitely agree with others out there that BR helped with all the test strategies and shortcut. Felt most confident about this section. Guessing for at least a 11

VR: Again, first passage, spent 4-5 min just reading the passage, but NO CLUE what was going on. Had to re-read which wasted a lot of time and thought this first one was a killer. Had to fly by the rest of the sections without double checking answers. Really though, don't know how I did, but since I averaged a 9 on aamc, hopefully I'll get at least an 8.

BR: Yup, this one killed me. Generally I'm very comfortable with Ochem but didn't think anything could have prepared me for this section other than just doing all the "extra difficult" TPRH experimental passages. Even then, those are jokes compared to this real deal. I guess you just have to master passage comprehension, synthesis of information, analyzing and have lots of luck! Felt like I just got murdered after finishing this section and was in no mood to complete the trial section. Praying for a lenient curve and at least a 10

My post-exam feel are pretty indicative of my scores. When I feel good after taking an aamc test, I did well, if I felt awful, I did poorly. This one made me feel like I got 25, although it will be a miracle if I get a 30 and I will gladly run away with it. Needless to say, the agonizing wait during these past few weeks have been giving me nightmares, dreamed I got a 15 on this, retook and got 20, then decided to go to Brazil for med school (why brazil?... no idea..)

 

[tpha5256]

Long time lurker since forever, thought I might give my insight as well.

I used berkeley review for all the content review except bio which I used TPR/TPRH.

PS: Due to either nervousness or test anxiety, all sections including PS, I blanked out after reading the first passage, not having ANY idea what was said in passage which gave me a panic attack and I can hear my heart beating 120+ a min. After I got to passage 3 and 4 though, I started to calm down and finished with 10 min to spare, which was more than enough to look over the previous sections. Definitely agree with others out there that BR helped with all the test strategies and shortcut. Felt most confident about this section. Guessing for at least a 11

VR: Again, first passage, spent 4-5 min just reading the passage, but NO CLUE what was going on. Had to re-read which wasted a lot of time and thought this first one was a killer. Had to fly by the rest of the sections without double checking answers. Really though, don't know how I did, but since I averaged a 9 on aamc, hopefully I'll get at least an 8.

BR: Yup, this one killed me. Generally I'm very comfortable with Ochem but didn't think anything could have prepared me for this section other than just doing all the "extra difficult" TPRH experimental passages. Even then, those are jokes compared to this real deal. I guess you just have to master passage comprehension, synthesis of information, analyzing and have lots of luck! Felt like I just got murdered after finishing this section and was in no mood to complete the trial section. Praying for a lenient curve and at least a 10

My post-exam feel are pretty indicative of my scores. When I feel good after taking an aamc test, I did well, if I felt awful, I did poorly. This one made me feel like I got 25, although it will be a miracle if I get a 30 and I will gladly run away with it. Needless to say, the agonizing wait during these past few weeks have been giving me nightmares, dreamed I got a 15 on this, retook and got 20, then decided to go to Brazil for med school (why brazil?... no idea..)

I think the post-score release period for the April 5th MCAT is going to be an emotional roller coaster, especially for the bio section. Can't wait to see everyone's interpretations/reactions...

 

[MaybeDr]

How has it only been 2 weeks it's felt like an eternity!

 

[AKMCAT]

Hey guys. I'm taking the MCAT in 3 days and just finished AAMC 11 and did poorly on the physical science section. I usually have at least 5-10 minutes to spare. However, I ran out of time and missed 5 questions. I was wondering how your test was in comparison the AAMC 11. Was it more calculation based or conceptual? I'm really bummed out. I made a lot of stupid mistakes because I wasted too much time on a couple problems due to lack of noticing to convert units etc. I would appreciate any input from any of you Thank you so much !

 

[tpha5256]

Hey guys. I'm taking the MCAT in 3 days and just finished AAMC 11 and did poorly on the physical science section. I usually have at least 5-10 minutes to spare. However, I ran out of time and missed 5 questions. I was wondering how your test was in comparison the AAMC 11. Was it more calculation based or conceptual? I'm really bummed out. I made a lot of stupid mistakes because I wasted too much time on a couple problems due to lack of noticing to convert units etc. I would appreciate any input from any of you Thank you so much !

Personally, I thought the April 5 MCAT was a bit more difficult than AAMC 11's PS section. It was more calculation based and they integrated more physics and chemistry together. Paying attention to units is key, especially when the answers are presented as a bunch of numbers being multiplied and divided. On the real thing, I highly suggest you don't let yourself get caught up by any single problem. It's worth the same value as any other question and you want to work off of momentum. Worst case scenario: you get caught up on a problem and the passages progressively get harder.

Another thing I realized after taking the test was this: to best simulate testing conditions, take your practice exam on a monitor with a size similar to that of the one at the testing center! I use 23 in. monitors at home and those things are luxurious compared to the monitor I had to stare at on April 5. Since I was so accustomed to seeing the entire passage and all the answers on the screen, having to scroll up and down really contributed to the pressure I felt in those last critical minutes.