The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

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vsantav

vsantav

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Registration opens up sometime today so I thought I'd go ahead and make this thread. Anyone else taking it in August?
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Just took the AAMC FL and got a decent score according to mcatjelly's conversion sheet, really hoping I can do at least this well on the actual exam next Thursday (Fingers crossed!!)

C/P: 71% (126)
CARS: 87% (129-130)
B/B: 83% (128-129)
P/S: 78% (127)
Total: 79.75% (510-512)

I've read and heard mixed things comparing the Sample FL to the actual thing, guess it mainly falls upon what comes up on each individual exam lol.
Time to hit KA/TPR for the next week and review the FL tomorrow.
 
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EAAAGLEEE!!! said:
Just took the AAMC FL and got a decent score according to mcatjelly's conversion sheet, really hoping I can do at least this well on the actual exam next Thursday (Fingers crossed!!)

C/P: 71% (126)
CARS: 87% (129-130)
B/B: 83% (128-129)
P/S: 78% (127)
Total: 79.75% (510-512)

I've read and heard mixed things comparing the Sample FL to the actual thing, guess it mainly falls upon what comes up on each individual exam lol.
Time to hit KA/TPR for the next week and review the FL tomorrow.
Click to expand...

How was it compared to the KAPLAN?
 
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Pusheen said:
Aren't you getting 500s on TPR? That should give you a 127 or so on the real thing..
Click to expand...

I got like 124-125 in Bio consistently, about a 124 on the OG and a 123 on the AAMC FL. Although I like to believe it was due to a lot of second guessing the right answers and not reading the passages as well as I could have.

I'm hoping for a 127 in C/P and a 126 in Bio.
 
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Uh, isn't a 123 like 6 or 7 on the old scale? I'm on my phone so I can't pull up the chart. I'd think you need at least a 9 everywhere for DO.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
I got like 124-125 in Bio consistently, about a 124 on the OG and a 123 on the AAMC FL. Although I like to believe it was due to a lot of second guessing the right answers and not reading the passages as well as I could have.

I'm hoping for a 127 in C/P and a 126 in Bio.
Click to expand...
I'd probably push my test back to September and just do tons of bio passages if I were you, just to be safe. You're applying next year, right?
 
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Pusheen said:
I'd probably push my test back to September and just do tons of bio passages if I were you, just to be safe. You're applying next year, right?
Click to expand...

Applying this year, mostly DO schools. All day today I wasn't sure if I should push it back if all I'm aiming for like a 503+ at this point. I felt my AAMC FL was a fluke in terms of the Bio section. I reasonably felt the 50% I got right could have been 65-70% if it wasn't for second guessing.

I'm thinking of taking it and voiding it if it really doesn't go well and then retake it in September.
 
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GypsyHummus said:
How was it compared to the KAPLAN?
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Unfortunately I haven't taken any Kaplan exams, but the questions overall felt a lot more straightforward than TPR FL's. Doesn't necessarily mean that the passages felt easier to comprehend or were less dense in my opinion (P/S and B/B were pretty biochem and Mol Bio heavy as expected compared to TPR) but overall I would say it felt a little easier than TPR considering I was ranging between 500-505 on TPR's scale.
 
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EAAAGLEEE!!! said:
Just took the AAMC FL and got a decent score according to mcatjelly's conversion sheet, really hoping I can do at least this well on the actual exam next Thursday (Fingers crossed!!)

C/P: 71% (126)
CARS: 87% (129-130)
B/B: 83% (128-129)
P/S: 78% (127)
Total: 79.75% (510-512)

I've read and heard mixed things comparing the Sample FL to the actual thing, guess it mainly falls upon what comes up on each individual exam lol.
Time to hit KA/TPR for the next week and review the FL tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I got a similar overall score on my FL (511). I hope we both get the scores we want!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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I'm so lost on how to improve my bio. I really don't like how this is the only thing holding me back from possibly taking it next week and delaying it.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
I'm so lost on how to improve my bio. I really don't like how this is the only thing holding me back from possibly taking it next week and delaying it.
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Do you have the Kaplan quicksheets? I've found them really helpful for high yield bio content


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Schwann Lake said:
Do you have the Kaplan quicksheets? I've found them really helpful for high yield bio content


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My friend does, seeing him in a bit. I will ask to borrow it. Yeah I was also told on pre-med osteopathic that with my credentials, taking a September MCAT isn't late for the DO cycle.
 
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Dobechance said:
@EAAAGLEEE!!! Where are you getting the conversion numbers from with your percentages?
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Not sure what the rules on posting links are, but this is the post made by mcatjelly describing how to convert and the spreadsheets to use.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...score-conversion-sheet.1149516/#post-16723989

Basically you take the percentages from your P/S, CARS, and B/B and convert them to old scores our of 45.
Then you find the equivalent for your psych percentage using the Bio percentages from the old scores as well.
Then you convert each score from the old scale to the new scale and add them up.

Sorry if I didn't make it clear haha there are more instructions and a link to the spreadsheet in that thread I listed above.

Just to make it clear the scores are in no way official or provided by aamc, they are just estimates :)
 
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Dreamstoo said:
My friend does, seeing him in a bit. I will ask to borrow it. Yeah I was also told on pre-med osteopathic that with my credentials, taking a September MCAT isn't late for the DO cycle.
Click to expand...
dont give urself too much gap, u'll start to forget the contents, Id say u can improve a lot in a week or two depending on how u do it, u could do 40 passages in 40 days vs. 40 passages in 2 days and get the same results what Im saying is time doesnt improve your score its what u do that counts
 
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Since everyone is sharing, here are all my full length scores ( in order I took them):

NS 1: 128/124/126/125 - 503
NS 2: 127/125/128/126 - 506
NS 3: 125/127/127/127 - 506
Official AAMC FL: 88%/81%/73%/81%
NS 4: 127/126/126/127 - 506
NS 5: 128/125/127/128 - 508


From what I have seen on the posted test takers excel sheet, it seems like everyone does way better than all these other company tests on their real deal so I am encouraged. I can't wait to kill this beast next week and have a decent rest of summer. WE CAN DO THIS!!!
 
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DanniD said:
dont give urself too much gap, u'll start to forget the contents, Id say u can improve a lot in a week or two depending on how u do it, u could do 40 passages in 40 days vs. 40 passages in 2 days and get the same results what Im saying is time doesnt improve your score its what u do that counts
Click to expand...

Thing is, bio has always been a section I have struggle improving. I seemingly scored like 125 on 4 FLs in a row (one FL being the Official Guide) then all of a sudden I scored a ~123 on the AAMC FL (pretty much a 7 on the old scale).
Although I really do feel it was an anomaly. I went over it for hours upon hours and really felt getting a 38-44/59 was possible if I didn't second guess or overthinking the first 3 passages and wasting 20 minutes on the first 11 questions (which I apparently got most of them wrong despite realizing dumb mistakes after reviewing it).
 
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Dreamstoo said:
Thing is, bio has always been a section I have struggle improving. I seemingly scored like 125 on 4 FLs in a row (one FL being the Official Guide) then all of a sudden I scored a ~123 on the AAMC FL (pretty much a 7 on the old scale).
Although I really do feel it was an anomaly. I went over it for hours upon hours and really felt getting a 38-44/59 was possible if I didn't second guess or overthinking the first 3 passages and wasting 20 minutes on the first 11 questions (which I apparently got most of them wrong despite realizing dumb mistakes after reviewing it).
Click to expand...
if thats the case then u can fix it with doing a lot of practice problems, like I said before go through Khan bio, they have a lot of dense passages filled with graphs and figures that make u used to the wtf moment during the FL
 
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DanniD said:
if thats the case then u can fix it with doing a lot of practice problems, like I said before go through Khan bio, they have a lot of dense passages filled with graphs and figures that make u used to the wtf moment during the FL
Click to expand...

Checking them out right now, I will let you know how I feel about it. Good thing I learned from the AAMC FL is that, I was pretty accurate in predicting how the sections went. I felt ok with C/P, CARs. I personally thought Bio and Psych/Soc were difficult (well Psych/Soc wasn't difficult but I blanked out on about 5-6 definitions) and it showed because I did worse on those than I usually do. My overall score range on my AAMC FL and Official Guide are OK with me but Bio is the only thing that needs fine tuning from what it looks like.

Ty for your help, appreciate it.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
Thing is, bio has always been a section I have struggle improving. I seemingly scored like 125 on 4 FLs in a row (one FL being the Official Guide) then all of a sudden I scored a ~123 on the AAMC FL (pretty much a 7 on the old scale).
Although I really do feel it was an anomaly. I went over it for hours upon hours and really felt getting a 38-44/59 was possible if I didn't second guess or overthinking the first 3 passages and wasting 20 minutes on the first 11 questions (which I apparently got most of them wrong despite realizing dumb mistakes after reviewing it).
Click to expand...

Just a tip because I know the feeling - Second guessing/overthinking is a big problem for me too. I came up with a silly way to deal with it but it works for me most of the time. I bite my tongue everything time I do it so I remind myself not to second guess or overthink and move on. It can be very hard on these tests not to second guess though, they make it easy with multiple choices that could be right, always go with your gut instinct.
In terms of when to take the test, you just make the best decision for you.
 
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Pusheen said:
Uh, isn't a 123 like 6 or 7 on the old scale? I'm on my phone so I can't pull up the chart. I'd think you need at least a 9 everywhere for DO.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of students who get in with 7s even 6s in the harder sections, especially at the more mission oriented schools. It is in the 5 range where danger zone territory is for auto rejection.

It is entirely possible to get into a lower tiered/mission based DO school with a 24, about a 499 or 498, as long as everything else in in order. The problem is just that, you have to fit the mission. It would be much better to get a 500, 125 on all sections and not have to worry about it though.

I'm doing the official AAMC questions now, and we deff need to know all of the neurotransmitters it seems. Also, The bio section seems to be a TON of graphing, I need to really brush up on my graph reading lol.

Most of the discretes are relatively easy however compared to the Kaplan FLs.
 
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Dude, Kaplan Quicksheet is BAE. I wish I would have just used that for my content review two months ago, would have saved so much time.
 
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GypsyHummus said:
Dude, Kaplan Quicksheet is BAE. I wish I would have just used that for my content review two months ago, would have saved so much time.
Click to expand...
just skimmed through my friends. Looks really good. I think I actually have an old one from a friend back in my house somewhere. I will look for it tonight.
 
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GypsyHummus said:
There are plenty of students who get in with 7s even 6s in the harder sections, especially at the more mission oriented schools. It is in the 5 range where danger zone territory is for auto rejection.

It is entirely possible to get into a lower tiered/mission based DO school with a 24, about a 499 or 498, as long as everything else in in order. The problem is just that, you have to fit the mission. It would be much better to get a 500, 125 on all sections and not have to worry about it though.

I'm doing the official AAMC questions now, and we deff need to know all of the neurotransmitters it seems. Also, The bio section seems to be a TON of graphing, I need to really brush up on my graph reading lol.

Most of the discretes are relatively easy however compared to the Kaplan FLs.
Click to expand...

7s in PS can slide. I think I read somewhere that a 7 in BS may have to be retaken for most of the DO schools. A 6 in verbal can slide at SOME schools (friend applied with a 10/6/10 last year and had no success, applied both MD and DO although they had a few "holds").

One of my friends who eventually got into a med school this cycle got a DO interview with a 9/10/7 though as a non URM and a lower than average GPA but unique ECs.
 
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I'm starting to get a little concerned I just finished NS fl 4 and got a 504 again (125, 127, 125, 127). Apparently NS updated their scoring to be more accurate and I'm paranoid the 504 is what I'm likely to get on the real thing =/
 
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LakridsA said:
I'm starting to get a little concerned I just finished NS fl 4 and got a 504 again (125, 127, 125, 127). Apparently NS updated their scoring to be more accurate and I'm paranoid the 504 is what I'm likely to get on the real thing =/
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, that score would make me jump with joy. Everyone has different goals I guess. Keep working at it man. You can do it!
 
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Dreamstoo said:
just skimmed through my friends. Looks really good. I think I actually have an old one from a friend back in my house somewhere. I will look for it tonight.
Click to expand...

Just use the new one. I saw a pdf version of it on Reddit a while back. Check it out :)
 
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Dobechance said:
anyone been using kaplan quicksheets? are they helpful?
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SUPER helpful. I didn't even open a review book for the last 3 months because of them. Just ended up memorizing the quick sheets, and kept taking FL after FL. Honestly everything you need to know is in there with the exception of a few nitty gritty details like the AA's and some of the Psych stuff, but aside from that I'd highly recommend.
 
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I did well on my AAMC but I took another EK section and not so much. I took a Bio and got a 61% compared to my 83% on the AAMC FL. EK can be tough, in a good way, but tough.
 
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Dobechance said:
@Hatfield0429 How many did you miss in PS section for TBR 1?

I missed 10, which is 49/59. Where could I go to see how its scored?
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I just used the conversion on the back of their Bio books. 49/59 is greater than or equal to 130 and 98-99.9 percentile according to that. Basically, you killed that section! I got 37/59, which translates to 127 on that conversion.
 
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oh **** thats awesome, I got screwed by the C/P in the OG 16/30 which is why I felt the TBR test was so much easier than anything I've done but I did approach this test with a more calm mindset instead of with test anxiety! Looking back around 5-6 of the C/P section were straight up dumb dumb dumb mistakes. Really gotta avoid that. But thanks for the help in the conversion!
 
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Hatfield0429 said:
I just used the conversion on the back of their Bio books. 49/59 is greater than or equal to 130 and 98-99.9 percentile according to that. Basically, you killed that section! I got 37/59, which translates to 127 on that conversion.
Click to expand...
Is there a way you could post their scales on here? I am trying to figure out what my AAMC FL would be 46, 43, 51, 49. I was also trying to apply it to some of my other FLs.
 
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