The Official January 10, 2015 MCAT Thread

[Jhakaasmaan]

Hey everyone, first time posting here and I thought I would go ahead a make a thread for those writing on this test date.

115 days out!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lumberjack89]

I feel like most people think of 35 year old parents with kids as non-traditional applicants.

Hahhaaa exactly! Yeah I'm not that, but I'm also not a 21-year-old junior applying in the summer of my junior/senior year, so I decided to stick myself under the non-traditional banner as well.

I graduated in 2011, worked as a scribe for 14 months full time, then got a master's degree in philosophy during 2012-2014. Long story, but "traditional" isn't exactly the word I would choose.

I totally agree regarding the maturation process. I'm approaching medicine from a very different perspective than I would have if I applied when I was 21. Not to knock anyone that's doing that; if I HAD gone that route I'd be 4th year by now, which would have been nice.

C'est la vie!

 

[mslm5401]

@lazyindy Thanks so much for sharing your verbal method! I tried it today, and found that I had trouble staying within the time frame. Have you found that your verbal speed has improved with practice? I (ashamedly) haven't practiced nearly enough (I've done a couple passages from the self assessments and EK 101... but verbal has been on the backburner since my content base is fairly weak). What do you use as practice? TPRH? EK 101?

Yeah I took a ton of full lengths thinking that would improve my score if I studied off of them, but as you can see my first attempt on AAMC #3 matched my AAMC #11 attempt just days before the real exam despite taking 16 FLs in between, so go figure!

Wow that sounds so frustrating! And even more so that your actual MCAT score was 4 points lower than your average. How did you feel coming out of the actual test? I'm sure you'll do great come January-- with all that practice, you should be golden

I am following SN2/studying for finals.
So today I am finishing off reviewing my AAMC #4 and then doing a bunch of studying for finals.
After that I am going to review the Nitrogen chemistry chapter in TBR - not too solid on it yet.

I just took AAMC 4 today! I had a 12/11/11 breakdown for a total of 34, which is really nice to see after getting a 30 on #3. I'm about to review that over the next few hours, and then I'm putting MCAT on hold for the next week until finals are over. Finals are never fun... I totally feel you :/

 

[lumberjack89]

^ Oh and to your former question @TXhopeful, I don't think I ever did the last 3rd of BR: I switched into taking tons of full lengths.

If there was one thing I would have done differently it would be to not bother so much with the "rules" of a program like Sn2ed, nor take as many full lengths, but rather to take that extra time and really be honest about my weaknesses and address them.

I don't know about you, but as a non-trad I knew what my weaknesses were before going in, and they never really changed because I gave every topic the same attention whether it was a strength or a weakness. Unfortunately because I took that programmatic approach (study as much of everything as possible) I ended up improving my score overall, yes, but not really working out my weaknesses. So I was getting better, but instead of slowly becoming more balanced, I found that the Sn2ed schedule just took my strengths and made them stronger, while doing little to "fix" my weaknesses. If I were you I would stop spending so much time reviewing aaaall the concepts, and instead focus mostly on your weaknesses with content review and passages OUTSIDE of the full-length context. Yes take FLs to get your stamina and timing on point, but drill your weaknesses exclusively between FLs.

Ultimately strengths require very little maintenance work - they're strengths because they come intuitively to you. Focus on the things that don't, and I think you'll profit by it.

Wow that sounds so frustrating! And even more so that your actual MCAT score was 4 points lower than your average. How did you feel coming out of the actual test? I'm sure you'll do great come January-- with all that practice, you should be golden

@mslm5401 hahaaa walking out of that prometrics felt like walking out of a slaughterhouse ( ), and a month later I had the score to prove it. I have to say whatever was going on with the Oct. 21 test, it felt *nothing* like any of the other AAMC tests, or the Gold Standard ones either. It was wack. Oh well, here's hoping January 10th is a test more suited to my strengths!

 

[nystin]

Anyone... Have a link to a good post game strategy for AAMC practice exam? I am ready to post game my first test!

 

[mslm5401]

hahaaa walking out of that prometrics felt like walking out of a slaughterhouse ( ), and a month later I had the score to prove it. I have to say whatever was going on with the Oct. 21 test, it felt *nothing* like any of the other AAMC tests, or the Gold Standard ones either. It was wack. Oh well, here's hoping January 10th is a test more suited to my strengths!

That emoji is great lol
And damn. That sounds awful. Was it that topics were different (more obscure, etc.?) or that the questions were asked differently (e.g. less straightforward)? And yeah, let's hope this is a good one.

 

[mslm5401]

Anyone... Have a link to a good post game strategy for AAMC practice exam? I am ready to post game my first test!

Ahh how'd you're first test go?
I talked to a bunch of people who took the MCAT this year and the most successful ones said they made a chart with each question, the topic, the piece of information they didnt know, and the reason they got it wrong (not thinking it through, simply didn't know, stupid mistake, etc.). They also included questions they weren't sure of but ended up getting right. I did that for my first one and I then later went back and read the topics in TBR that I seemed to mess up on. After doing that, I went up 4 points on this last test. But that could totally be a fluke. Anyone else have input?

 

[lazyindy]

@mslm5401 Yes i forgot to add that I timed myself 7 mins per passage from TPRH. On the real deal you'll get around 8.5 mins per passage but you should practice with 8 or 7.5 at the least to learn how to read more efficiently and work through the questions faster. Why don't you try my method UNTIMED first and see how you do? then slowly incorporate it to your VR routine on timed passages. TPRH verbal book had the most similar passages to the one I saw on Nov 7, although the real ones were slightly more convoluted and boring. I highly recommend that book to anyone. Do about 3 passages a day from TPRH

 

[nystin]

Ahh how'd you're first test go?
I talked to a bunch of people who took the MCAT this year and the most successful ones said they made a chart with each question, the topic, the piece of information they didnt know, and the reason they got it wrong (not thinking it through, simply didn't know, stupid mistake, etc.). They also included questions they weren't sure of but ended up getting right. I did that for my first one and I then later went back and read the topics in TBR that I seemed to mess up on. After doing that, I went up 4 points on this last test. But that could totally be a fluke. Anyone else have input?

Mediocre. Not amazing. But I have an idea of where my holes are......... Just need to post game...heavily.

 

[lazyindy]

anyone want to take a crack at this question?:

 

[lazyindy]

Since the aorta and pulmonary arteries are connected in babies whose ductus arteriosus failed to obliterate, wouldn't blood flow from the aorta to the pulm. arteries since aortal pressure >>> pulmonary pressure?

 

[mslm5401]

@lazyindy Thanks for your tips! Haha yeah, usually I average about 7-7.5 min per passage, but your method took me about 8.5 which feels like it's cutting really close. I do have TPRH, which I've done a few passages from (like, 3), and I like it a lot better than EK101 already.
Also, regarding the question, this might be a stretch, but here's my take: The pulmonary artery is now connected to both the aorta and the lungs, so the pulmonary artery doesn't experience any change in pressure. That said, not all of the deoxygenated blood is reaching the lungs to be reoxygenated-- some of it is recycled right back into the bloodstream through the aorta, and thus there is an increased partial pressure of CO2 and a decreased partial pressure of O2 throughout the system.

 

[ayocaptain628]

View attachment 187735

anyone want to take a crack at this question?:

Kill a and b bc partial pressure does not change in pulmonary arteries
It's the same

What does change is the partial pressure in the systemic arteries
Y?
The ductus arteriosus is a detour route .:. Not as much blood getting reoxygenated .:. D

 

[lazyindy]

thanks @mslm5401 and @ayocaptain628 ! I guess I skipped over the ductus arteriosis in my content review, didn't think it would show up on a practice test.

 

[lumberjack89]

View attachment 187735

anyone want to take a crack at this question?:

I remember thinking the same thing on this GS question! The funny thing about some of the GS questions is that even the explanations aren't satisfying. When I got something wrong on an AAMC test or in the Berkeley or Princeton Review material, I would at least agree after reading the explanation that I had got it wrong. But with the GS material, some of their explanations are *highly* debatable, which is why each and every question has a forum dedicated to it with people (including GS mods) arguing over which answer "should" be right.

GS was good practice/drilling, but very dissimilar to the AAMC material.

 

[ayocaptain628]

thanks @mslm5401 and @ayocaptain628 ! I guess I skipped over the ductus arteriosis in my content review, didn't think it would show up on a practice test.

What practice test is this from? Out of curiosity
Ductus arteriosis is one of three prime examples that u can see for fetal development problems: the other two being the ductus venous and the foramen ovale

 

[lazyindy]

What practice test is this from? Out of curiosity
Ductus arteriosis is one of three prime examples that u can see for fetal development problems: the other two being the ductus venous and the foramen ovale

GS 1. I'll take note of that. thanks!

 

[mslm5401]

Ductus arteriosis is one of three prime examples that u can see for fetal development problems: the other two being the ductus venous and the foramen ovale

Hahahaha I don't know what any of that means...
I do think it's possible to figure out some of those kinds of bio problems with critical thinking though. And an AAMC question would probably give some background with which to deal with this question, kinda like how GS just did. But yeah, it's definitely better to know more than less. I should hit up those books lol

 

[ConfusedChemist]

View attachment 187735

anyone want to take a crack at this question?:

Here's my take on it...before the baby is born it's blood is re-oxygenated through diffusion, whatever with the mother/placenta so the ductous thingy re-routes the blood away from the lungs since they aren't responsible for oxygenation in vitro. But then the baby is born (aka away from it's mother and oxygen from placenta) and it tries to breath. But this ducotous thing is still there, and when the blood gets pumped to go to the lungs to get oxygenated it gets re-routes into the aorta and goes into circulation before it gets oxygenated
and so O2 drops in the tissues, since there's no longer a placenta or whatever there to give it O2

 

[Cawolf]

@ConfusedChemist Your take is incorrect.

@lazyindy I would agree with your answer selection and state that seems like a poor question.

PDA results in left to right shunting of blood from the aorta (high pressure) to the pulmonary artery (lower pressure). Therefore oxygenated blood that should be going to the systemic vasculature is shunted into the pulmonary arteries. This results in pulmonary hypertension and likely CHF if untreated. Therefore the pulmonary circulation does have increased PO2, but the systemic circulation also has less PO2. In my opinion one could argue for either observation, depending on the patient.

Here is a good reference from "Circulation", the journal of the AHA.

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/114/17/1873.long

 

[lumberjack89]

Hahahaha I don't know what any of that means...
I do think it's possible to figure out some of those kinds of bio problems with critical thinking though. And an AAMC question would probably give some background with which to deal with this question, kinda like how GS just did. But yeah, it's definitely better to know more than less. I should hit up those books lol

I'm with @mslm5401 on this one; never heard of those developmental pathologies before, and I *just* finished reading the entire BR and EK content prep sets, not to mention having my undergrad in neurophysiology and 3+ years of exposure in high acuity medical units.

Cheers to you @Cawolf and @ayocaptain628 - how did you know/remember that kind of minutia, just out of curiosity? You didn't find it in MCAT-specific prep material did you? If you did, I've been using the wrong material all along, which... means.... I...........

 

[Cawolf]

@lumberjack89 Oh no it's way out of the MCAT scope. I would think they want to answer based on relative pressure.

I have worked in an allied health field for some time that led me to teach basic cardiac physiology and electrophysiology to new students in my field. PDA is one of the many reasons you may hear a pronounced murmur, so I mention it.

If you are interested in this kind of thing, one time I had an adult patient with Eisenmenger's Sydrome - from a long standing uncorrected PDA. It's really fascinating stuff. The shunt actually reverses direction!

 

[mslm5401]

@Cawolf Wow, you know so much! What field were you in? Do you consider yourself a non-trad? That's so cool

 

[Cawolf]

Well, I have very basic knowledge about a lot. I look forward to being educated much more in depth should I get into medical school.

I would say I am a non-trad student - I graduated in 2008 and have worked since then, until the post-bac program I am just wrapping up.

I am a paramedic.

 

[mslm5401]

@Cawolf You must have so much hands-on knowledge that comes in handy for the MCAT in terms of bio. That's honestly so cool. And your finals are part of your post-bacc program? Good luck this week

 

[Cawolf]

@mslm5401

I am mainly hoping that my experience can get me an interview at some schools.

Yes, just orgo left though.

Thanks!

 

[TXhopeful]

^ Oh and to your former question @TXhopeful, I don't think I ever did the last 3rd of BR: I switched into taking tons of full lengths. If there was one thing I would have done differently it would be to not bother so much with the "rules" of a program like Sn2ed, nor take as many full lengths, but rather to take that extra time and really be honest about my weaknesses and address them.

I agree about the SN2 schedule. The great thing about the schedule is the amount of practice passages and TBR strategy. It's been absolutely priceless. Now that I'm at the end of it, I feel like my time can be put to better use focusing on my weaknesses. Some of my weaknesses happen to be the early TBR chapters, so I've done the last 1/3 up to about the 4th chapter. I found the most improvement last time I studied (and postponed) when I took a ton of practice tests and read through verbal passages like crazy.
I also agree with whatever user said that the best way to do this MCAT thing is a modified "cramming".

 

[nystin]

Hello! Question.. I started my AAMC practice last week and I won't have time to unfortunately do all of them. Can anyone reccomend...which ones I must absolutely do? I have done just 3 so far. Please lemme know!

 

[petyr_baelish]

Hello! Question.. I started my AAMC practice last week and I won't have time to unfortunately do all of them. Can anyone reccomend...which ones I must absolutely do? I have done just 3 so far. Please lemme know!

The later ones are best. 9,10,11 at a minimum. If I were only to do a few more practice tests, I would postgame like a maniac in between so that I could see those confidence-boosting score jumps.

 

[nystin]

The later ones are best. 9,10,11 at a minimum. If I were only to do a few more practice tests, I would postgame like a maniac in between so that I could see those confidence-boosting score jumps.

I definitely planning on doing 9, 8, 11. I am gonna try and do 1 more. Just trying to decide which one...probably, #7. If I have time.. I'll go back to the old ones!

 

[lumberjack89]

I definitely planning on doing 9, 8, 11. I am gonna try and do 1 more. Just trying to decide which one...probably, #7. If I have time.. I'll go back to the old ones!

Yep, #7 is a good bet - generally speaking the later AAMC tests are more like the contemporary MCAT exam. The older (lower numbered) AAMC tests use some archaic terms and problems that don't represent the current MCAT quite as well. So, if you've only got time for 3 or 4 tests, do the last ones.

 

[nystin]

Yep, #7 is a good bet - generally speaking the later AAMC tests are more like the contemporary MCAT exam. The older (lower numbered) AAMC tests use some archaic terms and problems that don't represent the current MCAT quite as well. So, if you've only got time for 3 or 4 tests, do the last ones.

Thank you for replying. Appreciate it! Onwards to attack these!

 

[Cawolf]

Good luck.

 

[TXhopeful]

I'm taking AAMC #4 today. I decided to buy #5 and #7 with it, so just for giggles I wanted to look for a promo code before I checked out. All of the sources I looked at were like, "LOL, what's an AAMC promo code?".

 

[Cawolf]

Yah - no deals on those other than the package with 4 and official guide.

Good luck on 4 - it had some good questions!

 

[mslm5401]

@TXhopeful Yeah good luck on four!!! You'll kill it

 

[GCSDOC]

@TXhopeful Yeah good luck on four!!! You'll kill it

I got owned by VR on #4

 

[Cawolf]

Hm - I thought there were some challenging questions on 4 but overall I found 3 much harder.

 

[TXhopeful]

Improved by 2 points from #3, which still is extremely low compared to some of you guys, but I have lower expectations
24: 8/7/9
Circuits killed me on PS, and I need to work on verbal like a mo-fo, but I was pleased with my BS score! Always so much more interesting when they have real-life examples (sepsis, etc.)

 

[nystin]

Improved by 2 points from #3, which still is extremely low compared to some of you guys, but I have lower expectations
24: 8/7/9
Circuits killed me on PS, and I need to work on verbal like a mo-fo, but I was pleased with my BS score! Always so much more interesting when they have real-life examples (sepsis, etc.)

This makes me nervous to take Anynore exams.... I get discouraged easily but good thing is I manage to pick myself up pretty quickly....

 

[Cawolf]

Improved by 2 points from #3, which still is extremely low compared to some of you guys, but I have lower expectations
24: 8/7/9
Circuits killed me on PS, and I need to work on verbal like a mo-fo, but I was pleased with my BS score! Always so much more interesting when they have real-life examples (sepsis, etc.)

Congrats on the increase? What is your target?

A 9 in BS is definitely solid!

 

[TXhopeful]

This makes me nervous to take Anynore exams.... I get discouraged easily but good thing is I manage to pick myself up pretty quickly....

Don't be nervous! I was so excited to start taking practice tests, so after making a 22 on #3, I was devastated. There's a girl with the username @avenlea who just posted in the 30+ MCAT thread that keeps me going if you want to go read her post! It's on the very last page.
Don't psych yourself out...psych yourself in. I have to work on "fake confidence" with myself all the time and even though it's "fake", it's much better than wallowing in self-doubt.

Congrats on the increase? What is your target?

A 9 in BS is definitely solid!

Target is anywhere from 27-30. In that range I think I'll have a great shot at DO with my EC's and GPA.

 

[Cawolf]

@TXhopeful nice! I bet you can get there.

 

[nystin]

Don't be nervous! I was so excited to start taking practice tests, so after making a 22 on #3, I was devastated. There's a girl with the username @avenlea who just posted in the 30+ MCAT thread that keeps me going if you want to go read her post! It's on the very last page.
Don't psych yourself out...psych yourself in. I have to work on "fake confidence" with myself all the time and even though it's "fake", it's much better than wallowing in self-doubt.



Target is anywhere from 27-30. In that range I think I'll have a great shot at DO with my EC's and GPA.

Thank you!!!!! just read her post...damn! HOPE!!! All I can do is give it all I got and hope for the best! About to review my AAMC practice right now...for the remainder of the evening. Woo.

 

[AspiringOrtho09]

Took my first FL after my first exam which was Oct 25th. My exam score was a 11/7/9 - 27. I really want to have the option of applying to MD schools so now I am here facing a retake.

Started off with AAMC #3 - 8/8/11. Huge swings in the ps and bs sections. I felt they were complete opposite of the Oct 25 exam in terms of difficulty, but since AAMC#3 isn't generally considered characteristic of the current MCAT, I'm not too worried. I'm just glad my score didn't drop since I am now working full time and don't have as much time to study as I would like.

Any suggestions on how to raise the verbal score in this quick amount of time? My strategy so far has been doing the passages in order instead of wasting time ranking, and trying to actively read as much as possible without losing focus, which isn't an easy task for me. Maybe more practice would help but I don't want to continue doing the same thing and over and over again expecting different results... that's insanity right?

 

[TXhopeful]

Any suggestions on how to raise the verbal score in this quick amount of time? Maybe more practice would help but I don't want to continue doing the same thing and over and over again expecting different results... that's insanity right?

I would say I read a little faster than average and there's no way I could go through and do the ranking either. That and passage mapping (where you write out the main idea of each paragraph) seems like such a waste of time. I've tried doing the "skim the questions first" thing and find that it doesn't really benefit me either way, unless a specific phrase or quotation from the passage is used in the questions.
I do see a definite improvement after doing a large volume of passages. 7 passages in 60 minutes everyday might be one of the only fool-proof ways to improve. Repetition, repetition.
If you have any other methods, let me know! I'm open to trying some more out.

 

[Cawolf]

I follow a plan that is essentially a derivative of the plan posted here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/verbsies-the-draupadi-method.1099968/

My verbal scores have improved quite a bit this way. I tried a lot of methods and "strategies" before finding what worked for me - months of passages!

I would suggest doing passages in timed blocks of two for no more than 15 minutes each. Find what works for you and stick with it.

 

[nystin]

Reviewing the full length and I am realizing...wow. Sometimes if I don't know a question/concept at all, I'll blank and just not even attempt it or not give it an honest attempt(I know bad). Damn. And I am realizing. ..wow if I would have just read the question carefully or gone back to the passage I could have gotten rid of 3 choices leading to the right answer. Yay for full lengths!!

 

[lazyindy]

Reviewing the full length and I am realizing...wow. Sometimes if I don't know a question/concept at all, I'll blank and just not even attempt it or not give it an honest attempt(I know bad). Damn. And I am realizing. ..wow if I would have just read the question carefully or gone back to the passage I could have gotten rid of 3 choices leading to the right answer. Yay for full lengths!!

I see my post-gaming strategy working for you eh?

 

[nystin]

I see my post-gaming strategy working for you eh?

You bet!! I am using it right now....thanks again. Following it down to the tee!

 

[ReggieNoble22]

Don't be nervous! I was so excited to start taking practice tests, so after making a 22 on #3, I was devastated. There's a girl with the username @avenlea who just posted in the 30+ MCAT thread that keeps me going if you want to go read her post! It's on the very last page.
Don't psych yourself out...psych yourself in. I have to work on "fake confidence" with myself all the time and even though it's "fake", it's much better than wallowing in self-doubt.



Target is anywhere from 27-30. In that range I think I'll have a great shot at DO with my EC's and GPA.

Fake it till you make it buddy