The Official August 28, 2013 MCAT Thread [8-28-13]

[Josh7]

Thought I'd create the thread for us

I'm on Day 17 of the Sn2ed study schedule. The schedule is tough and TBR can be pretty harsh but hopefully it pays off on August 28th

How are you guys studying?

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[lolcat]

so i went ahead and took another one even though i said i wouldnt. did aamc9 and got 11/7/11. if i could read properly i would be cracking 30s wth man

 

[IL Pre Med]

so i went ahead and took another one even though i said i wouldnt. did aamc9 and got 11/7/11. if i could read properly i would be cracking 30s wth man

I feel your pain, verbal is a complete crapshoot for me that's why I'm leaving it alone till Wednesday.

 

[lolcat]

yeah i wish i could get at least a 9. oh well it is what it is now. time to relax until wednesday

 

[texan2414]

I did AAMC 9 as well - got a 12/7/11. (my verbal average is about 9)

The verbal was insaaaaaaaaaane on AAMC 9 - guess at this point, I am just going to relax and decompress to optimize performance on Wednesday.

Best of luck to all.

 

[prepod89]

so is our best bet to do nothing tomorrow? should I at least go through some notecards or write out formulas or do we really finally get a day off haha

 

[IL Pre Med]

I'm going to a museum with my girlfriend tomorrow, definitely some much needed time off. I haven't had a full day off since May.

Woo! That's it people, I am officially done studying. Ran through my notes and formula sheets for the past few hours and I'm finished.

 

[Nabeel06]

I would say it's safe to assume they wouldn't ask something that has a discrepancy like that, I think they're more likely to ask something like "how many ATP made in Glycolysis" or "How many NET ATP made in Glycolysis" lol

I think studying right now is pointless because I'm so burnt out, just trying to sharpen up methods/tactics etc. I think every problem I've seen during quizzes, tests, fl's etc. I've been able to solve, sometimes it just takes more time than usual. If you take the exam like you've been getting 45's this whole time without trying, you'll do well!

PS anyone taking the exam in Toledo?

 

[Nabeel06]

A tip too, if anyone is having issues with concentration during the exam. I usually take all the breaks to walk to the bathroom (even if I don't have to go) I try to speed walk. But before the section starts I'll do a quick micro activity that requires attentiveness, such as drawing or even closing my eyes and focusing on something specific. I have to do this before BS because I feel spaced out from the other 2 sections.

What's everyone doing tomorrow? I think I need to get a massage! My backs been killing me from sitting all day lol

 

[Nabeel06]

so is our best bet to do nothing tomorrow? should I at least go through some notecards or write out formulas or do we really finally get a day off haha

I'd say relax all day lol maybe before bed if you want to spend 15-20 mins on looking at formulas & what not. I'll probably get to the testing center 30-45mins before, hang out in my car and just look at my formula sheet that deals with the topics I always had the hardest time with.

 

[withsomeluck]

I took AAMC 9 today, here are my scores so far:

AAMC 4: 10-9-10 29
AAMC 8: 12-7-10 29
AAMC 11: 12-8-9 29
AAMC 9: 12-10-11 33

I don't know if it was just luck, or perhaps I just found AAMC 9 a lot easier, but scores jumped up 4 points. I was really surprised with VR:10; I usually average around a 8/9.

So how is everyone else going to use the rest of today and tomorrow? Are you guys ready?

**Is anyone applying for this cycle? Whether if it's for MD or DO???

 

[ClassicJandT]

Damn, maybe I shouldn't have taken AAMC 11, ugh.

Ended up with my lowest practice exam score after getting my highest on AAMC 10. Oh well, still got a balanced score but a little disappointed with some of the mistakes I made. It's alright though, glad I'm done. I still need to finish reviewing AAMC 11 VR tom but other than that I will just relax, watch a movie or something, and just try to get a good night's rest. Final numbers were around an average of 33 total with PS10, VR12, BS11 and I will be happy with anything +/- 2 points of that. Good luck everyone and try to relax tom before the big day!


AAMC #: PS VR BS Total
AAMC 03: 10 12 10 32
AAMC 04: 10 11 11 32
AAMC 05: 11 13 11 35
AAMC 07: 10 12 12 34
AAMC 08: 07 13 11 31
AAMC 09: 11 11 11 33
AAMC 10: 12 12 11 35
AAMC 11: 10 11 10 31

 

[prepod89]

Nutritionally, is there anything we can do to help us tomorrow? I was thinking about a fruit smoothie (banana strawberry almond milk chia seeds apple etc) and also a salad in the morning..but I don't want to have to run to the bathroom 30 minutes into the PS section lol..I know greens are good for the brain..anyone else have any plans for what to eat today and tomorrow morning? Or am I just being a weirdo again

 

[JSA10C]

My plan for today is to review my study guide. Mainly only the bio and orgo sections since they do not take long. After that I am going to sleep at 8 so that I am refreshed at 6. I suggest you guys do the same, especially if you are making stupid mistakes where you misread something (it helps me).

Best of luck guys, remember confidence is key!

 

[Brownman55]

First off I'd just like to tell everyone taking the exam tomorrow GOOD LUCK!

I'm sure everyone feels the same at this point and wants to get this over with as badly as I do. It sure has been a long three months for me. Alas, tomorrow everyone will finally get to relax, as much as one can while waiting for scores at least. The nervousness hasn't hit met yet, maybe it will later tonight or tomorrow when I'm driving to the testing center.

 

[Sill]

Good Luck Tomorrow Everyone!!

 

[meetsub]

.

 

[lolcat]

ive been bumming all day. feel i should do something productive. i might hit the gym with the brahs

 

[prepod89]

yep I'm taking it in hamilton new jersey

or trenton..whatever it is.

 

[IL Pre Med]

ive been bumming all day. feel i should do something productive. i might hit the gym with the brahs

Hey I didn't know you were a bro!

 

[lolcat]

haha its prob because of my username

 

[mysticaloasis]

I've been feeling antsy all day; I know I have certain weaknesses (esp. physics and o-chem) and I decided to skim those notes.

About 30 minutes in, I threw in the towel -- I'd be reviewing all day if I kept at it.

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow! Remember, you can rationalize a lot of answers from the passages or just by process of elimination! Confidence is key

 

[papoosh]

Goodnight and good luck to everyone tomorrow. You got this!!!

 

[IL Pre Med]

That was not bad at all, nothing out of the ordinary, I was expecting worse. Will post more later when I'm home and sober.

 

[papoosh]

Well im exhausted. cant make any predictions, but im def not gonna do as well as my practice scores (33 average) I totally burned out on verbal's final passage and guessed on like 4 of them. One of the bio passages was brutal, and a few of the discretes. PS was okay. I'm very sad about my verbal performance. I hope to god i can get a high twenties and be over with it. Im done with this garbage.

 

[CanadianL]

felt alright overall
PS and VR were OK, but BS was more iffy

 

[Cipher9422]

BS was the most difficult out of the three. There was one passage in particular that I thought was more intense than any Bio passage on the aamc practice exams. Idk though people usually say that the actual always feels harder than the practice ones. SDN'ers also say aamc 11=Actual. So hopefully that holds true.

 

[CanadianL]

glad i'm not the only one who felt BS was harder

 

[lolcat]

wow that was pretty bad lol. ps was ok, vr was a blur (as always), and bs had some dense passages. i just couldnt get my head right i was def burnt out

 

[pastiche]

(delete)

 

[Sill]

I thought PS: Normal VR: Normal BS: WTF?

 

[prepod89]

Welp..looks like I'm either gonna need to retake or find another career path

 

[kgibran]

Honestly didn't think PS was that bad. I felt it was easier than 11. Verbal was tough and BS had a two tough passages but overall I thought it was ok...

 

[texan2414]

Just finished the exam... this was my retake.. man this was rough.

PS: almost exclusively G-Chem; very little physics. Calculation-heavy for sure! A broad view of topics in chemistry with each passage testing multiple concepts. Had a few left-field questions (completely random "either-you-know-it-or-you-dont" type). But overall, this was a tad more difficult than my first take in June. I guessed on about 4-5 questions (2 of them were doable but just required enormous amount of time).

VR: It started out rough (social sciences are my weakness) but towards the end got very comfortable. I am quite confident of the answers I put in the latter half of the exam than the first for sure! One passage was quite interesting and had me silently talking back to the author

BS: INSANEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Organic chemistry was fair but man oh man.......... I was reliving ebola virus passage over and over and over on one particular nasty passage. A few discretes were random trivia information. When I transitioned over to the Trial section, I was actually wishing that the biochem passages on my trial section were on my BS section. I am hoping questions are scaled appropriately for difficulty. MCAT I took in June had a very reasonable BS section and I ended up doing fine on that, but after today's performance, I don't even know if I broke an 8 on it.

Overall, it was a fair test - as long as Bio is curved lol.

I think the best way to prepare for bio is to ditch practice books and pick up Journal of Biological Chemistry or other scientific journals.

 

[Sik965]

Hmm..for me the VR and PS seemed pretty much the same as the practice exams in terms of difficulty, so far so good.

Enter BS...WTF?! I've never had so much trouble on a BS section ever. I used to finish it comfortably with 10 mins to spare or sometimes more but I finished this one with only 2 mins left.

 

[Ryush]

Thought PS was on the more difficult side, Verbal was on the easier side and BS was a mix of easy and really difficult. Some of the BS discretes I had a lot of trouble with, which is not the usual case

Overall doubt I made my AAMC average. Felt much better after my first take last year, and that was on the lower end of my AAMC average. Guess I won't know until I get my scores though.

 

[texan2414]

Hmm..for me the VR and PS seemed pretty much the same as the practice exams in terms of difficulty, so far so good.

Enter BS...WTF?! I've never had so much trouble on a BS section ever. I used to finish it comfortably with 10 mins to spare or sometimes more but I finished this one with only 2 mins left.

-----------------------------

I agree with your point that the PS felt similar to the practice tests. But there were a handful of random bull**** questions that I was like wtf... But maybe those questions are separating 12s from 13s from 14s from 15s, etc.

Verbal is a crapshoot for everyone. I do agree that the questions resembled practice tests.

 

[papoosh]

if anyone wants to skype, PM me your skype address.

 

[redtiger]

PS - Think I rushed through this section a bit. I had 20 mins left by the time I was done but I did some double checking online afterwards and made some stupid mistakes . Estimating I missed 6-7 questions...hopefully good enough for a 12. I feel like the scale should be very approximate to aamc 11 for this section.

VR - As others have said, kind of a blur. Hoping for a 10 at least.

BS - Felt okay, but not amazing. Expecting a scale a bit more generous than AAMC 11 by 1 or 2 questions. I'm pretty sure I got all of the discretes except 2 of them. As for the passages, there were two that were considerably difficult. Expecting 7-8 wrong total. Hoping that's good enough for a 12.

 

[texan2414]

I hope 10 wrong is a 12

 

[medstudent05]

This was a retake for me as well and omgg it was hard (shouldn't have expected anything less, anyways).

PS: Everyone's saying it was expected/do-able, but I thought that was the hardest section on the exam. Like someone mentioned earlier, there were a lot of the questions where either you knew it or you didn't. And the calculations were long and hard. Was guessing a lot in the end to maintain the pace. Anybody else with me?

 

[texan2414]

This was a retake for me as well and omgg it was hard (shouldn't have expected anything less, anyways).

PS: Everyone's saying it was expected/do-able, but I thought that was the hardest section on the exam. Like someone mentioned earlier, there were a lot of the questions where either you knew it or you didn't. And the calculations were long and hard. Was guessing a lot in the end to maintain the pace. Anybody else with me?

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Was your PS harder than the BS?

In my exam, the BS came from a different alien universe compared to the difficulty of PS.

 

[csj10]

Glad I'm not alone on thinking the BS section was tough.

Usually after a test I have some feeling about what kind of score I got, but this time I've got no idea lol. It's gonna be a long month.

 

[SweetMedTea]

I think the best way to prepare for bio is to ditch practice books and pick up Journal of Biological Chemistry or other scientific journals.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[Brownman55]

Well that was exciting... not really but anyways


PS: This is usually my weakest area, there are a couple questions that I scratched my head over but over all I think this PS was easier than the AAMC practice tests.

VR: I actually enjoyed these passages and felt like these were also, for the most part, easier than practice tests. Verbal has always been my strongest section out of the three so hopefully I can make up for the inevitable points I lost in PS and BS.

BS: Started pretty easy ended with me bashing a brick to my head. Overall it was more difficult than practice tests. I thought the O-chem was really easy on this though. Some of these damn experimental passages though.... I also know I missed a super easy discrete.. fml. That is the way of the world I guess. I completely agree though you could have never studied anything in regards to Bio and read the passages and probably have done fine.

Trial Section: I had Psych... gave up half way through and just read the questions and answered.

I'm just glad we're done... Time to party, after I do my homework.

 

[medstudent05]

-------------------------

Was your PS harder than the BS?

In my exam, the BS came from a different alien universe compared to the difficulty of PS.

Yeah, I thought so...but I think I'm the only one that felt that way, which is kinda freaking me out.

 

[redtiger]

Wouldn't worry about it too much. You have a sample size of n=10 here lol. Obviously there will also be some selection bias too since this is SDN.

 

[TrillyBassily]

I actually didnt think the PS was that calculation heavy, it was mostly chem so there weren't that many numbers to crunch, maybe I'm just nuts though.

I'm trying to recall any of the passages from all 3 sections and I feel as though my mind is blocking them out right now.

 

[raghavram92]

PS: pretty easy. Things were straightforward providing you reviewed all the equations. Mostly chem which helped my cause a tad bit. Some questions that were out of place but nothing IMPOSSIBLE. Expected a lot worse.

Verbal: Had WAYYY too much fun reading some of the passages...time was such a big issue. As expected verbal was a mission. Though the passages were quite interesting.

BS: Out of the three, surprised me the most. Easy content but questions were just phrased in an unnecessarily difficult manner. Time consuming!!!

Ended up leaving out the last two questions in each of the sections. Content covered was pretty basic if you knew your stuff. Princeton review material prepared me very well. Regret not practicing enough questions, mainly full length!

Not looking forward to these scores at all!! =/ time to take a break and hit the tests for a january re-write!

 

[texan2414]

PS: pretty easy. Things were straightforward providing you reviewed all the equations. Mostly chem which helped my cause a tad bit. Some questions that were out of place but nothing IMPOSSIBLE. Expected a lot worse.

Verbal: Had WAYYY too much fun reading some of the passages...time was such a big issue. As expected verbal was a mission. Though the passages were quite interesting.

BS: Out of the three, surprised me the most. Easy content but questions were just phrased in an unnecessarily difficult manner. Time consuming!!!

Ended up leaving out the last two questions in each of the sections. Content covered was pretty basic if you knew your stuff. Princeton review material prepared me very well. Regret not practicing enough questions, mainly full length!

Not looking forward to these scores at all!! =/ time to take a break and hit the tests for a january re-write!

-----------------------------------

I disagree. Princeton's bio was useless today

 

[ghostlife]

PS: Was a bit easier than what I experienced on AAMC practice tests - but my timing got off a bit and I may have rushed thru the last portion of it.

VR: I thought the VR passages were about the same as AAMC, but some of the questions really derailed me. Had to guess on the last 2-3 questions because of time.

BS: I'm glad that I wasn't the only one that felt like this section was rough compared to AAMC tests.

Overall, yeah I have no clue how I really did. Best of luck to everyone though! Regardless, it's time to celebrate until I cry about my score later.