Hey all! I switched my exam date from 23rd May to this date. Currently pursuing my masters and its been eating up the bulk of my time. Anyone else signed up for this date?
The Official August 3rd, 2013 MCAT Thread
- Thread starter Sydela
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Nope. Yesterday I just reviewed the BS section of my last FL. Today I am doing ****-all. Waking up at 6 tomorrow and giving myself a mental prep, then crushing this test.
Goodluck!
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This thread sucks. I feel like I won't have anyone to bitch/relate to Satuday afternoon.
Come join the August 2 thread
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Just put all my prep books and materials up....it felt good. I hope I don't need to get them back out ever again.
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The ps was very hard in my opinion
I thought bio was ok
Verbal section had two hard passages
All we could do now is wait
I thought bio was ok
Verbal section had two hard passages
All we could do now is wait
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Concur... but I thought VR had more than 2 hard passages....
PS was okay. Probably a bit harder than the AAMC, but i feel okay about it.
Verbal was eh. There was only one passage where I felt that understanding was a little out of my reach, and maybe 2 others with some difficulties
Bio was okay. I felt there was one passage that was quite a doozy. the other passages weren't so bad though. There were a few discretes that tripped me up a bit.
At least were done
Verbal was eh. There was only one passage where I felt that understanding was a little out of my reach, and maybe 2 others with some difficulties
Bio was okay. I felt there was one passage that was quite a doozy. the other passages weren't so bad though. There were a few discretes that tripped me up a bit.
At least were done
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I though BS was the hardest (a couple really hard passages), followed by VR. I thought PS was the easiest...
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PS was a little tough for me, VR was a breeze... but BS, wow.
I got absolutely rocked by BS.
I got absolutely rocked by BS.
PS - Felt much more difficult than AAMC FLs, had a hard time on a few passages.
VR - Not excellent but not particularly bad, the questions were fairly straight forward.
BS - Difficult, but not impossible. One passage was particularly difficult, and some Orgo was much more difficult than what I anticipated.
VR - Not excellent but not particularly bad, the questions were fairly straight forward.
BS - Difficult, but not impossible. One passage was particularly difficult, and some Orgo was much more difficult than what I anticipated.
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Not really sure what to think of today's test. I thought bio was WTF, but I expected that.
I didn't find the physical sciences section to have anything really difficult, but I simply did not have enough time to do everything.
The verbal reasoning section didn't seem to bad, I thought easier to read then AAMC #11, there was one passage that seemed very abstract, but I used TPR's strategy of skipping the hard passage (hope that doesn't backfire). My hope is a 7 on VR,
Biological sciences section contained some organic chemistry that seemed difficult. I thought the biology part was equally as confusing and not very straight forward, as I'm sure the test was designed.
I didn't find the physical sciences section to have anything really difficult, but I simply did not have enough time to do everything.
The verbal reasoning section didn't seem to bad, I thought easier to read then AAMC #11, there was one passage that seemed very abstract, but I used TPR's strategy of skipping the hard passage (hope that doesn't backfire). My hope is a 7 on VR,
Biological sciences section contained some organic chemistry that seemed difficult. I thought the biology part was equally as confusing and not very straight forward, as I'm sure the test was designed.
I usually get solid 11-12 on my sciences, but those were horrible, I'll be lucky to pull in 9s. The verbal, which is my worst section and reason for retaking as I got a 7 on the last MCAT was surprisingly easy and had one difficult passage. My prediction is a 10-11.
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I am not good at verbal but thought it was easier than all the aamc tests
The PS section rocked me pretty hard I thought. Perhaps it was because of test-day/first section anxiety? From all my aamc's and my kaplan FL's, my PS usually was 12-13, but I'm certain I didn't get close to that with this MCAT; I barely finished answering all the questions before time ran out.
I will agree with others that the VR seemed pretty straightforward. Perhaps one passage was a doozy, but I didn't find anything that stuck out as "What am I reading?".
I also didn't think BS was that bad either. I tend to average 12 based on my practices in this section, and only one passage stood out to me as difficult to wrap my head around. I also had a couple "doh!" moments walking out the center, but overall, I didn't think the BS was any harder than what I've seen in practices.
I will agree with others that the VR seemed pretty straightforward. Perhaps one passage was a doozy, but I didn't find anything that stuck out as "What am I reading?".
I also didn't think BS was that bad either. I tend to average 12 based on my practices in this section, and only one passage stood out to me as difficult to wrap my head around. I also had a couple "doh!" moments walking out the center, but overall, I didn't think the BS was any harder than what I've seen in practices.
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I thought it was OK...I was expecting a lot worse. I think my biggest problem was I kept running out of time (especially in physics and verbal)
PS- Not too bad. I thought it was somewhat easier than AAMC 11...but as I said, I ran out of time and had to quickly read/answer the last two passages.
VR- Pretty straightforward.Two of the passages were really weird, and some of the questions were worded pretty confusingly.
BS- Thankfully it wasn't orgo heavy (yay!!!). But one of the orgo passages was really hard. The rest was ok, I probably messed up on some of the more detailed bio questions. Two of the experimental passages were REALLY annoying...
I took the trial section and just couldn't deal with reading all that detailed information. It was a mixture of physics/biochem/orgo. I feel bad for the people who have to take it in 2015...
PS- Not too bad. I thought it was somewhat easier than AAMC 11...but as I said, I ran out of time and had to quickly read/answer the last two passages.
VR- Pretty straightforward.Two of the passages were really weird, and some of the questions were worded pretty confusingly.
BS- Thankfully it wasn't orgo heavy (yay!!!). But one of the orgo passages was really hard. The rest was ok, I probably messed up on some of the more detailed bio questions. Two of the experimental passages were REALLY annoying...
I took the trial section and just couldn't deal with reading all that detailed information. It was a mixture of physics/biochem/orgo. I feel bad for the people who have to take it in 2015...
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PS really hard.
VR great until after 5th passage. Guessed on a passage
BS: disappointed. I ran out of time. I may have skipped the last set of discretes and left them blank because I don't remember . I really think I ended on a passage, but when I clicked review, I don't remember seeing any incomplete. I waited too long to review!: scared:
VR great until after 5th passage. Guessed on a passage
BS: disappointed. I ran out of time. I may have skipped the last set of discretes and left them blank because I don't remember . I really think I ended on a passage, but when I clicked review, I don't remember seeing any incomplete. I waited too long to review!: scared:
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Did you take the 8am? If so, do you remember if your BS ended with some discretes, or did you end on a passage?
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This was a retake for me. I took it on June 20th after many months of prep. The June 20th PS section was so SO hard. I got rattled and ended up scoring ~ 5 points below my AAMC FL average. I thought the PS section on Aug 3rd test was difficult, but I felt more prepared for it this time. The BS section, however, was much harder than the June 20th test. I literally had no idea what was going on in one of the passages. I also thought there were a couple really tricky VR passages, but verbal is also my worst section. I'm hoping for a generous scale on the Bio section given the difficulty of some of the experiment-based passages. For reference, my AAMC average was about 34 (12 10 12) and my June 20th score was a 29 (9 8 12). I don't feel fabulous about this test but I'm hoping to at least break 30. We'll see...
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This was a retake for me. I took it on June 20th after many months of prep. The June 20th PS section was so SO hard. I got rattled and ended up scoring ~ 5 points below my AAMC FL average. I thought the PS section on Aug 3rd test was difficult, but I felt more prepared for it this time. The BS section, however, was much harder than the June 20th test. I literally had no idea what was going on in one of the passages. I also thought there were a couple really tricky VR passages, but verbal is also my worst section. I'm hoping for a generous scale on the Bio section given the difficulty of some of the experiment-based passages. For reference, my AAMC average was about 34 (12 10 12) and my June 20th score was a 29 (9 8 12). I don't feel fabulous about this test but I'm hoping to at least break 30. We'll see...
I got a full kaplan scholarship for the MCAT program so I did that. I took four of the Kaplan FL's and all of the AAMC practices, so my sample size wasn't terribly small.
I also had EK on the side.
Used Kaplan Books + Exam Krackers. Also used all of my undergraduate textbooks as references. Took 4 Kaplan FLs and all of the AAMC's and I averaged about a 36 for my last 3 (36,37,36). These were AAMC 8,10,11 respectively . I'm also a Biology major, with a minor in philosophy. So I have exposure to a fair bit of bio reading and phil certainly helps me with my verbal scores (logic classes/ reading too much Kant)
However for this Bio section (really just 1 or 2 of the passages), it isn't that you're seeing material for the first time, as much as being required to reason using multiple steps, in a very rapid manner. I'm not even sure how I would go about preparing for it. I could have studied like crazy for 2 more weeks and I doubt those passages would've been any easier. Maybe there is another resource out there that could help?
I always feel uneasy about V and PS but i found them to be at least reasonable across every passage. PS was a little more time intensive than normal, i had about 2 passages that just had heavier calculations than normal and required longer thought processes than i was accustom to from the AAMC's. The V passages may have been slightly longer on average but really that was the passage best represented by the practice tests IMO.
I guess the moral of the story is that most of the time it isn't a lack of familiarity with the material that catches you off guard. It is just the ability of the test-makers to add together two (or five
) familiar concepts together and you have such a short amount of time to decipher it.
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I took the July 13 and thought everything was easy just didn't get to finish ps and had 15 mins in bio left, so signed up to retake since ps was my best and said ill see if it goes any better and omg today was not so fun! Voided my exam in the end ill wait till results post!
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Used Kaplan Books + Exam Krackers. Also used all of my undergraduate textbooks as references. Took 4 Kaplan FLs and all of the AAMC's and I averaged about a 36 for my last 3 (36,37,36). These were AAMC 8,10,11 respectively . I'm also a Biology major, with a minor in philosophy. So I have exposure to a fair bit of bio reading and phil certainly helps me with my verbal scores (logic classes/ reading too much Kant)
However for this Bio section (really just 1 or 2 of the passages), it isn't that you're seeing material for the first time, as much as being required to reason using multiple steps, in a very rapid manner. I'm not even sure how I would go about preparing for it. I could have studied like crazy for 2 more weeks and I doubt those passages would've been any easier. Maybe there is another resource out there that could help?
I always feel uneasy about V and PS but i found them to be at least reasonable across every passage. PS was a little more time intensive than normal, i had about 2 passages that just had heavier calculations than normal and required longer thought processes than i was accustom to from the AAMC's. The V passages may have been slightly longer on average but really that was the passage best represented by the practice tests IMO.
I guess the moral of the story is that most of the time it isn't a lack of familiarity with the material that catches you off guard. It is just the ability of the test-makers to add together two (or five
I agree, I took AAMC #11 and got 13 on PS section and had five minutes left at the end. Today's test forced me to guess on at least 6-7 (most questions I was able to pick between 2), but there just wasn't enough time to process and calculate all of those questions. I did TPR course and felt much more prepared then my first test, but still feel much worse about how I did when compared to AAMC #11.
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I don't think it has to, but most of the time it does. Mine ended with three discrete.
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Same 3 discretes
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Yeah I took the 8 am one, and I'm pretty sure my bio section ended with stand alone questions (I think 3-4).
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I mainly used the TPR books for all the sciences and used EK as a supplement. For verbal I just listened to the exam crackers osmosis audio cd, and I've been using their techniques for practice and scoring fairly well. In terms of practice questions, I found the Kaplan subject/topic tests to be really (REALLY) helpful. I also purchased some AAMC tests online.
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Went there at 7 AM, sat at my computer, hit "start test" and the screen went blank. Cool. They spent 6 hours trying to upload the MCAT for many people, but it wouldn't upload. Now we are stuck re-taking god knows when. AAMC get your **** together. You should know how to fix problems like this quickly and efficiently. Some people had there MCAT go blank half-way through the BS section. Absolute bull****. I was ready YESTERDAY, not in 2 weeks or whenever-the-**** they are scheduling me. Worst experience ever.
I have exhausted all the AAMCs, all of TBR passages, a good chunk of TPRH SW. I used all the AAMC self assessments as well. I was ready yesterday. I don't even know what to do in the mean time... ALSO, I won't get my score back before September 12th now, which means if I **** up the MCAT I can not take the Sept 12th exam. This means I have to take another year off. Does anyone think they would release my score before September 12th given that they ****ed up on their part? I purposely took the Aug 3rd date so I can retake September 12th if my score comes back short of what I need.... Now that is not an option unless AAMC releases it early for me...
I have exhausted all the AAMCs, all of TBR passages, a good chunk of TPRH SW. I used all the AAMC self assessments as well. I was ready yesterday. I don't even know what to do in the mean time... ALSO, I won't get my score back before September 12th now, which means if I **** up the MCAT I can not take the Sept 12th exam. This means I have to take another year off. Does anyone think they would release my score before September 12th given that they ****ed up on their part? I purposely took the Aug 3rd date so I can retake September 12th if my score comes back short of what I need.... Now that is not an option unless AAMC releases it early for me...
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Holy ****, how have you not killed someone yet? I would've lost my **** over this that is messed up man. Best thing to do is ask them but i doubt they will do anything - the administration behind the test is terrible - besides testing on you 1024x768 screens (seriously what the fuk is up with this) they deliverately wait a month just to make the most money they can. And LOL at the 'gift card' they made up to cover the $30 increase from last year. Total BS.
To be perfectly honest, the most I got out of my kaplan course was that it kept me on track to studying the content. The test taking tips and tricks I could see merit init, but I did well on all my practice exams without doing their strategies to the T. Perhaps I should have for the actual MCAT, but I always found that the kaplan strategy was too time consuming for my tastes, I liked their textbooks though, I thought they got the job done.
Just to echo everyone's sentiments so far, I did feel like the PS was hard in that it was very time sensitive compared to the other 11/12 practices I took. I managed to finish all the questions without taking educated guesses, but I was definitely rushed. and I got timed out when I was checking over everything, which was a terrible feeling.
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I know man I was tripping out. Still a little worked up. I'm calling AAMC tmw and seeing what can be done.
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Dude that sucks. I had some technical slowness issues that caused me to skip 5 questions on the last section. Pretty pissed about it because that was the good section. However, if you are scoring well on your practice, don't stress too much. Just take it when you can and kill it. Nothing you or I can do about yesterday anymore. Unfortunately
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You think i'm still good even if I write in a couple weeks? I felt at my prime to write it yesterday and I have no motivation to keep going right now, nor do I know what to study? It would have been "okay" if I had AAMC full lengths but I used em all up. Sigh
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I have some practice Kaplan of u want to give me your email
Reading this thread just gave me the chills. I'm writting next friday, What would you guys say helped you the most? I self studied for this using TPRH books and EK. Still have 3 more AAMC test to take and all topical/subject exams from Kaplan. Any tips?
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Take and do as many test, and practice passages! The more you see the better you will feel!
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Of course. I felt pretty bad about skipping those questions. Like I literally lost probably 2 points just from that. But he'll yea you have plenty of time even if you took in January. People with good stats get in late in the cycle
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Of course. I felt pretty bad about skipping those questions. Like I literally lost probably 2 points just from that. But he'll yea you have plenty of time even if you took in January. People with good stats get in late in the cycle
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Reading this thread just gave me the chills. I'm writting next friday, What would you guys say helped you the most? I self studied for this using TPRH books and EK. Still have 3 more AAMC test to take and all topical/subject exams from Kaplan. Any tips?
Expect the actual test to be more difficult when compared to AAMC #11, stay calm and realize if you don't have enough time to answer every single question you are not the only one (physical sciences). Expect biology to be twisted and confusing, experimental, and many answers will be selected without confidence.
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Does anyone else think the bio section was really hard? Especially one of the passages (won't go into specifics). I'm kind of freaking out because this is a re-take for me and I got a 12 on bio the first time around (I panicked on the PS and that's why I decided to re-take). I hope I don't do significantly worse! I'm hoping everyone thought it was hard so maybe there will be a generous scale. I know I definitely got 6 wrong on BS... 
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That one passage was quite difficult for me my other bio section much easier!
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anyone got their amazon gift card yet for "good faith" participation? I still didn't get mine yet...
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Not yet....still waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.
I hope its on the way soon.
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Any one getting extremely anxious for their results. September 4th is less than 2 weeks away and its late in the application cycle...... I am bouncing off the walls
I'm trying to stay calm by not thinking about the results and how they will affect all the work I have put in during the last 15 months. I have applied to 16 schools, zero rejections, and zero interview invites. Everything is depending on my score improving from a 24. Hoping for at least a 26.
Im in the same boat! I applied last year but ultimately withdrew my application because of a 20 on the MCAT. This year I voided my 7/2/13 exam and ended up taking the 8/3/13 exam. Its been an up and down year. All I can say stlrams22 is to keep the faith
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