The Official July 12, 2014 MCAT Thread

[HinduHammer]

2.5 months away, let's get started. Time to study and motivate each other!!

Me so far: Taking Kaplan online. 23 diagnostic (8,12,3). Applying for class entering Fall 2015.

My studying so far has been minimal, though I am halfway through the kaplan online course. I was planning to take June 5 but decided to push it back. After my final exams next week, I will be studying mostly full-time from May 12-July 12. My biggest weakness is bio content and timing - I cannot read the passages fast enough.

What are your stories/plans/goals??

Let's do this!!!

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[GolfUSA]

hmmm but i feel like a 36 first try would be much more impressive than a 34 and then a 38 for instance. i just have such a wide range for my aamcs from 34 to 39 and i don't know where i'll fall. theres also lotsa little things that i just dont know which i could learn in a few weeks? AAAH I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOO

I honestly don't think it would make a huge difference in the end... I postponed from June 6th to July 12th which definitely helped my scores out since I needed to review the basics more in-depth, but I feel like once you're in the 34-39 range it just gets exponentially harder to improve. It's definitely up to you, but the biggest thing at this point is a bit of luck and a lot of confidence on test day.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I was calm all the way through until I took AAMC 11. I'm about to lose it now.

AAMC 3 - 11/9/12 = 32
AAMC 4 - 14/14/15 = 43!!!
AAMC 5 - 13/12/13 = 38!!
AAMC 7 - 14/8/12 = 34
AAMC 8 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 9 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 10 - 12/10/13 = 35
AAMC 11 - 11/9/10 = 30

This test was the lowest of them all. Verbal always goes bad, but my sciences are usually strong. I was completely blown away by AAMC 11, I felt like it was completely different from the previous 7. And I hear the AAMC 11 is supposed to be the most representative. I don't know what to do...

EDIT: I had the wrong order the AAMC exams.

 

[beatlemaniac]

It's easy to be unmotivated after you average 43.5 on the last two AAMC tests)))) Literally just wrap yourself in a bubble until Saturday morning, and you will be on your way to a 40 plus come game day.

Haha funny you should say that... that's pretty much exactly what I'm doing. Minimal excursions from the house, taking care to eat only foods with minimal risk of food poisoning, etc. I'm going to be a hermit until this test is over!

hmmm but i feel like a 36 first try would be much more impressive than a 34 and then a 38 for instance. i just have such a wide range for my aamcs from 34 to 39 and i don't know where i'll fall. theres also lotsa little things that i just dont know which i could learn in a few weeks? AAAH I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DOOOO

Honestly I would just take the test and see how it goes. Once you're into the mid-30s and up range, luck is definitely a factor since one or two questions can make a difference to your score. And even if you score in the bottom of your range, it's still a solid score.

I was calm all the way through until I took AAMC 11. I'm about to lose it now.

AAMC 3 - 11/9/12 = 32
AAMC 4 - 14/14/15 = 43!!!
AAMC 5 - 13/12/13 = 38!!
AAMC 7 - 14/8/12 = 34
AAMC 8 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 9 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 10 - 12/10/13 = 35
AAMC 11 - 11/9/10 = 30

This test was the lowest of them all. Verbal always goes bad, but my sciences are usually strong. I was completely blown away by AAMC 11, I felt like it was completely different from the previous 7. And I hear the AAMC 11 is supposed to be the most representative. I don't know what to do...

EDIT: I had the wrong order the AAMC exams.

Try not to let AAMC 11 shake your confidence. I'm sure we've all had a test or two where we just weren't in a good head-space. I took a Kaplan test and had my score fall by 8 points from the previous one a couple weeks ago. It's probably just a fluke, or hit all your weak areas. Shake it off and write with confidence on saturday!

 

[GolfUSA]

I was calm all the way through until I took AAMC 11. I'm about to lose it now.

AAMC 3 - 11/9/12 = 32
AAMC 4 - 14/14/15 = 43!!!
AAMC 5 - 13/12/13 = 38!!
AAMC 7 - 14/8/12 = 34
AAMC 8 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 9 - 13/10/11 = 34
AAMC 10 - 12/10/13 = 35
AAMC 11 - 11/9/10 = 30

This test was the lowest of them all. Verbal always goes bad, but my sciences are usually strong. I was completely blown away by AAMC 11, I felt like it was completely different from the previous 7. And I hear the AAMC 11 is supposed to be the most representative. I don't know what to do...

EDIT: I had the wrong order the AAMC exams.

I know what you mean... I took AAMC 11 this morning, and I can honestly say that I have never felt that mentally exhausted after any of the other tests. I think that is what people are most likely referring to when they say it is the most representative of the actual test (due to calculations and lots of experimental passages). I remember seeing reference to some study on SDN stating that people score within +/- 2 of their AAMC average with a 95% confidence interval which is reassuring. I felt like AAMC 11 had much more involved passage based questions and a couple of the discretes were like . Congratulations on that 43 for AAMC #4, that alone should tell you that you are fully prepared and capable to excel on this Saturday's exam!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Try not to let AAMC 11 shake your confidence. I'm sure we've all had a test or two where we just weren't in a good head-space. I took a Kaplan test and had my score fall by 8 points from the previous one a couple weeks ago. It's probably just a fluke, or hit all your weak areas. Shake it off and write with confidence on saturday!

All those experiments! None of the other AAMCs had those. And I felt like the other AAMCs the wrong answers were so obvious. On this one often there were multiple correct answers but one was the most correct. I don't understand, like I know the MCAT has changed and I saw that because I thought that 3, 4, 5 were considerably easier than 7, 8, 9, 10, but 11 was a world of its own. It wasn't a gradual change...

 

[skeletor06]

I feel like I'm the only person with scores lopsided in the other direction...I'm averaging 9-10 on both sciences, but 13-14 on VR. Then again, I'm applying DO, so a 9 in PS and a 10 in BS would be fine, as long as I keep my VR score up. But seeing all of you with 35+ makes me very jealous! Anyone want to swap a couple of science points for a couple of my VR points? I mean, med school's all about teamwork, right? And I did best on AAMC 8-10 and bombed the PS on 11, so I'm with @SwedishMD2B!

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

Okay. Finished AAMC 11 yesterday, which was my last practice test. Here are my overall results going into the test on Saturday:

AAMC 3 (pre-review) = 36
AAMC 4 = 41
AAMC 5 = 39
AAMC 7 = 43
AAMC 8 = 40
AAMC 9 = 41
AAMC 10 = 44
AAMC 11 = 43
AAMC average = 40.9
Kaplan average = 41.4

As long as the test doesn't throw too many curveballs, I'm feeling fairly confident. I can't wait to be done this test and have my life back!

I hope you're applying to top tier schools. You're going to smash this exam, holy crap.

 

[HinduHammer]

Hey @beatlemaniac @aimingforthat45 @GolfUSA

Question for all you 40+ ers!

Do you all "triage" the passages? Like, do you do all the discretes first then rank the passages by difficulty and attack them that way or what? Or do you just start doing the first passage and keep going? IF there is a situation where you don't know the answer or how to attack the problem or just can't get it, do you mark it and come back or figure it out before moving on?

Also, do you guys time yourselves rigorously ? Do you move on after 8 minutes per passage or whatever?


I am having such trouble getting a rhythm going!! I always end up spending like 30 minutes on the discretes and the first passage, and I have to rush so much and it sucks. But, when I have read the passage I don't want to leave any questions blank. I am still getting decent scores of like 10 per section, but I am just rushing so much for 75% of the questions its unbelievable.

Basically, what is your strategy for attacking the questions and pacing?

Also do any of you have a specific strategy for VR? I am usually good at VR stuff but have been struggling to break 10-11 and I have no idea why! (Besides pacing of course!)
THANKS!!

 

[Czarcasm]

Good luck my fellow SDNers, may this upcoming July 12th be your lucky day. I wish you all success.

 

[Czarcasm]

I feel like I'm the only person with scores lopsided in the other direction...I'm averaging 9-10 on both sciences, but 13-14 on VR. Then again, I'm applying DO, so a 9 in PS and a 10 in BS would be fine, as long as I keep my VR score up. But seeing all of you with 35+ makes me very jealous! Anyone want to swap a couple of science points for a couple of my VR points? I mean, med school's all about teamwork, right? And I did best on AAMC 8-10 and bombed the PS on 11, so I'm with @SwedishMD2B!

It's easy to feel discouraged when others are scoring so well, but know that it reflects nothing about your potential. I believe everyone is fully capable of scoring extremely well. The myth that some people just have it and others don't is simply not true. Our experiences and educational background shapes who we are today. Some are more fortunate than others, especially those who have incredibly talented teachers that have a nack for teaching. At the end of the day though, try your very best and give it you all. You got this and don't let anyone let you think otherwise. And FYI, you're scoring pretty well so this post is pretty meaningless.

 

[skeletor06]

It's easy to feel discouraged when others are scoring so well, but know that it reflects nothing about your potential. I believe everyone is fully capable of scoring extremely well. The myth that some people just have it and others don't is simply not true. Our experiences and educational background shapes who we are today. Some are more fortunate than others, especially those who have incredibly talented teachers that have a nack for teaching. At the end of the day though, try your very best and give it you all. You got this and don't let anyone let you think otherwise. And FYI, you're scoring pretty well so this post is pretty meaningless.

Thanks for the pep talk! I'm just hoping I can stick with my average science scores, and pull a 31. That's my goal!

 

[dnrs]

I am hoping I can get above a 9 on verbal on the actual exam. My scores went from 9 to 13 and back to 9.

 

[Tradewinds]

#11 today (9/12/9) 30.......Made SUCH silly mistakes on the PS section...couldn't get the ol' brain in gear and tried 'not reading' the passages for PS....it helped me on time but only because I rushed way too fast through the first two passages and felt lost looking at them even though they were simple. Looks like I'll be reading the passages first for all 3 sections on Saturday, it just seems to get me in a better mind set!
I wasn't planning on studying tomorrow, but I don't think I can bring myself not to! LOL gonna do some post test review in the early AM and then get a massage (super excited for that), evening will be movie time with the hubby =)
Must. not. panic. xxxx >>>
Best wishes all!

 

[Tradewinds]

@dnrs If you did it once you can do it again!!!!!

 

[dnrs]

@Tradewinds thank you! I surely hope so. Best of luck to you on Saturday!

Your plan for tomorrow sounds much better than mine. I was planning on doing two PR verbal tests and going over my notes.

 

[HinduHammer]

#11 today (9/12/9) 30.......Made SUCH silly mistakes on the PS section...couldn't get the ol' brain in gear and tried 'not reading' the passages for PS....it helped me on time but only because I rushed way too fast through the first two passages and felt lost looking at them even though they were simple. Looks like I'll be reading the passages first for all 3 sections on Saturday, it just seems to get me in a better mind set!
I wasn't planning on studying tomorrow, but I don't think I can bring myself not to! LOL gonna do some post test review in the early AM and then get a massage (super excited for that), evening will be movie time with the hubby =)
Must. not. panic. xxxx >>>
Best wishes all!

I am in the same boat as you (as far as timing goes!) I tried not reading passages either and I ended up making like 3 really easy mistakes that I could have avoided by reading the passage. Your scores are consistently balanced and VR is your highest, which many say is the most important section, so I think you're in good shape! For your study plans tomorrow, I've heard good last minute studying strategies is to focus on your strengths. I know you will do well, but wishing you great luck anyways!!!

@SwedishMD2B It seems that everyone has at least one outlier test so I wouldn't be too worried about AAMC 11, your many other data points put together paint a more consistent picture. Either way its best not to panic and go into the test knowing there are 45 points -- all for the taking!

 

[Ginred]

Have a relaxing Friday everyone! I wish ther

I am not in the 40+ club either, mainly because of verbal, I put so much damn effort into verbal and never got any results. All my scores are 34-35, except AAMC5 where I got a 38 and AAMC4 where I got a 43. I have no idea how I pulled a 14 on the verbal on that exam. I think the passages were really straightforward. I get 12-14's on the sciences and 9-10 on verbal. If I could get my verbal up to at least 11 I would be ecstatic.

But, from what I have been told by admissions people most schools don't really care about what your score is once you get above like 36. So 37+ is all the same to them, because once you are at that high of a score a difference between a 37 and 43 might only be like 5% more correct questions.

Interesting perspective on the the 37+ thing, I hadn't thought of that but you're absolutely right.

 

[user12]

Completed AAMC 11 today. Here are my stats:

PS-VR-BS

AAMC 3R 12 11 9 32
AAMC 4R 10 7 9 26
AAMC 5R 12 9 11 32
AAMC 6R 11 9 12 32
AAMC 7CBT 10 11 12 33
AAMC 8CBT 12 8 9 29
AAMC 9CBT 12 9 13 34
AAMC 10CBT 12 9 13 34
AAMC 11CBT 12 9 10 31

Past MCAT exams (last year): 29 (8-10-11) & 29 (11-8-10)
Average AAMC 7-11: 32.2 (11.6-9.2-11.4)
Prediction: 32 (12-9-11)
Dream score: 36 (13-10-13)

Good luck to everyone on Saturday!

im takin it the 24th, but my dream score is also a 36 with those exact numbers. but id be happy with a 34. good luck

 

[Tradewinds]

Thanks hammer! Are you taking next month?

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I am in the same boat as you (as far as timing goes!) I tried not reading passages either and I ended up making like 3 really easy mistakes that I could have avoided by reading the passage. Your scores are consistently balanced and VR is your highest, which many say is the most important section, so I think you're in good shape! For your study plans tomorrow, I've heard good last minute studying strategies is to focus on your strengths. I know you will do well, but wishing you great luck anyways!!!

@SwedishMD2B It seems that everyone has at least one outlier test so I wouldn't be too worried about AAMC 11, your many other data points put together paint a more consistent picture. Either way its best not to panic and go into the test knowing there are 45 points -- all for the taking!

Thanks!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I feel like I'm the only person with scores lopsided in the other direction...I'm averaging 9-10 on both sciences, but 13-14 on VR. Then again, I'm applying DO, so a 9 in PS and a 10 in BS would be fine, as long as I keep my VR score up. But seeing all of you with 35+ makes me very jealous! Anyone want to swap a couple of science points for a couple of my VR points? I mean, med school's all about teamwork, right? And I did best on AAMC 8-10 and bombed the PS on 11, so I'm with @SwedishMD2B!

I really can't wrap my head around how people do well on verbal. Honestly, in my opinion and I hope not to offend anyone, when people get 14s and 15s on PS and BS I am like OK that's cool, it's impressive but I feel like with enough studying you can get both of those scores up. But when someone gets a 14 or 15 on verbal, I am blown away. I just can't imagine how that is possible and I really wish I knew someone who did that well on verbal so I can just watch them take the exam and ask them about their thought process. So I'm totally impressed by your score!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Have a relaxing Friday everyone! I wish ther

Interesting perspective on the the 37+ thing, I hadn't thought of that but you're absolutely right.

I don't know how other schools do it, but one particular school showed me how they rank their applicants. They do it by points, so for example you get can get like 20 points for cGPA and 20 points for MCAT, and all these other categories and you can get up to 100 points. Then they will invite for an interview anyone with over like 75 points. Once you get converted to a point number the rest doesn't matter anymore. For that particular school, below 22 gave you 1 point, then each point higher than 22 gave you 1 point, and 36 and above gave you 15 points.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Hey @beatlemaniac @aimingforthat45 @GolfUSA

Question for all you 40+ ers!

Do you all "triage" the passages? Like, do you do all the discretes first then rank the passages by difficulty and attack them that way or what? Or do you just start doing the first passage and keep going? IF there is a situation where you don't know the answer or how to attack the problem or just can't get it, do you mark it and come back or figure it out before moving on?

Also, do you guys time yourselves rigorously ? Do you move on after 8 minutes per passage or whatever?


I am having such trouble getting a rhythm going!! I always end up spending like 30 minutes on the discretes and the first passage, and I have to rush so much and it sucks. But, when I have read the passage I don't want to leave any questions blank. I am still getting decent scores of like 10 per section, but I am just rushing so much for 75% of the questions its unbelievable.

Basically, what is your strategy for attacking the questions and pacing?

Also do any of you have a specific strategy for VR? I am usually good at VR stuff but have been struggling to break 10-11 and I have no idea why! (Besides pacing of course!)
THANKS!!

My strategy is pretty straighforward. I read the passage, and then answer the questions in order. No triaging of any sort (you're just gonna have to come back to the questions later, wasting time by flicking back and forth, and you should answer all the questions anyways).

If I come across a question that stumps me, I'll spend up to ~2 min on it trying to figure it out, and if I really can't than I just pop in my best guess answer (normally I can eliminate one or two choices at least) and move on, marking it to review later if I have time.

This is my timing for PS and BS:
Question: Time Left:
13 55
26 40
39 25
52 10 (for review)

For verbal I just make sure I'm spending 7-9 min per passage, and that normally works well for me.

 

[beatlemaniac]

I hope you're applying to top tier schools. You're going to smash this exam, holy crap.

I'm applying to Stanford, but other than that I'm applying to Canadian schools actually. I'm a BC girl and I love the west coast too much to leave it.

#11 today (9/12/9) 30.......Made SUCH silly mistakes on the PS section...couldn't get the ol' brain in gear and tried 'not reading' the passages for PS....it helped me on time but only because I rushed way too fast through the first two passages and felt lost looking at them even though they were simple. Looks like I'll be reading the passages first for all 3 sections on Saturday, it just seems to get me in a better mind set!
I wasn't planning on studying tomorrow, but I don't think I can bring myself not to! LOL gonna do some post test review in the early AM and then get a massage (super excited for that), evening will be movie time with the hubby =)
Must. not. panic. xxxx >>>
Best wishes all!

Massage sounds great!! I'm jealous. I'm doing yoga this morning, than maybe an hour or two of light studying, than probably going to go walk along the beach to chill out. Hopefully we can all manage to sleep tonight!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

OK, so I went over AAMC11 this morning with a cool and calm attitude. It actually wasn't that different.

In the PS section I just made dumb mistakes all over, like multiplying by .01 but only changing the exponent by 1. Verbal, well that's always a crapshoot. For the BS, yes it was different because of all the experiments, but I did quite well on those. One of the questions I struggled with, told you to look at figure 1 and answer the question based off of that. I spent over 5 minutes on that problem and I just couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I was thinking to myself the whole time, 'I have published several papers, why the hell can I not decipher this graph to answer the question', it was driving me crazy...I was looking at figure 2 the entire time. No wonder I couldn't figure it out. That question screwed up my timing, which effected the rest of the exam. I made lots of stupid mistakes there too, but I mainly missed the easy questions because I was rushing.

I don't know why I made so many dumb mistakes, I must have not been fully focused, although, I felt like I was focused. I could and should have done much better, but it really taught me a lesson to, first read the questions properly and secondly, to not spent to much time on any question. Knowing that my knowledge was not lacking for that exam, and that it was just lack of paying attention and focus and being flustered by one question, lead to a lower score, gives me my confidence back to give that exam a beating tomorrow!

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

Good luck tomorrow!

 

[aimingforthat45]

Did AAMC 7 today, I found out that I hadn't done it. Highest score yet.

43 (15, 14, 14).

 

[GolfUSA]

Hey @beatlemaniac @aimingforthat45 @GolfUSA

Question for all you 40+ ers!

Do you all "triage" the passages? Like, do you do all the discretes first then rank the passages by difficulty and attack them that way or what? Or do you just start doing the first passage and keep going? IF there is a situation where you don't know the answer or how to attack the problem or just can't get it, do you mark it and come back or figure it out before moving on?

Also, do you guys time yourselves rigorously ? Do you move on after 8 minutes per passage or whatever?


I am having such trouble getting a rhythm going!! I always end up spending like 30 minutes on the discretes and the first passage, and I have to rush so much and it sucks. But, when I have read the passage I don't want to leave any questions blank. I am still getting decent scores of like 10 per section, but I am just rushing so much for 75% of the questions its unbelievable.

Basically, what is your strategy for attacking the questions and pacing?

Also do any of you have a specific strategy for VR? I am usually good at VR stuff but have been struggling to break 10-11 and I have no idea why! (Besides pacing of course!)
THANKS!!

I go through the questions from beginning to end without skipping any and only marking the ones that I know there is a chance of solving if I have more time. If it's one where I am taking a 50:50 educated guess, I don't usually like to mark it because more often then not I talk myself out of the right answer. I struggle with timing on the verbal as well and never have time to review them, but my general rule of thumb is 8 minutes a passage. I try to spend about half of that reading the passage and focusing on the intro and conclusion to make sure I truly understand what they are saying. The middle paragraphs I read through much quicker because they usually illustrate the point, and if you understand the point to begin with then it flows more smoothly. However, I am clearly not the best to give advice on verbal compared to many people on here. Good luck!

 

[aimingforthat45]

Hey @beatlemaniac @aimingforthat45 @GolfUSA

Question for all you 40+ ers!

Do you all "triage" the passages? Like, do you do all the discretes first then rank the passages by difficulty and attack them that way or what? Or do you just start doing the first passage and keep going? IF there is a situation where you don't know the answer or how to attack the problem or just can't get it, do you mark it and come back or figure it out before moving on?

Also, do you guys time yourselves rigorously ? Do you move on after 8 minutes per passage or whatever?


I am having such trouble getting a rhythm going!! I always end up spending like 30 minutes on the discretes and the first passage, and I have to rush so much and it sucks. But, when I have read the passage I don't want to leave any questions blank. I am still getting decent scores of like 10 per section, but I am just rushing so much for 75% of the questions its unbelievable.

Basically, what is your strategy for attacking the questions and pacing?

Also do any of you have a specific strategy for VR? I am usually good at VR stuff but have been struggling to break 10-11 and I have no idea why! (Besides pacing of course!)
THANKS!!

Nah. I don't think triage works for me. My contention with it is how do you know how hard a passage without delving into it? yeah, a passage may seem "long" or convoluted or have a crazy amount of tables and charts, but what if the questions are simpler? Only thing that would probably lead me to triage passage is if it's on a topic I like/am strong at vs. not. But other than that, what I like to do is attack the discretes first. Aim to finish it in the first 10 mins. This does multiple things. First, these serve as a "warmup" for me. Second, they give me confidence (if I can solve them haha, they usually aren't too bad). Third, I've read that some people have just "forgotten" to do discretes because of time constraints (like they've missed a page or whatnot). Doing them first and getting them out of the way will make sure that doesn't happen.

For passage time, I don't really have a set time, but I usually keep it to between 7-9 minutes. If I feel a passage is taking way to long, i mark something down and will come back to it. I did time myself rigorously when I was practicing with passages. I would take 52 questions of physics (TBR end of the chapter tests for physics) and do them in 55 mins instead of 70 min. Always give yourself less time than on the test. Same goes with VR.

 

[aimingforthat45]

OK, so I went over AAMC11 this morning with a cool and calm attitude. It actually wasn't that different.

In the PS section I just made dumb mistakes all over, like multiplying by .01 but only changing the exponent by 1. Verbal, well that's always a crapshoot. For the BS, yes it was different because of all the experiments, but I did quite well on those. One of the questions I struggled with, told you to look at figure 1 and answer the question based off of that. I spent over 5 minutes on that problem and I just couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I was thinking to myself the whole time, 'I have published several papers, why the hell can I not decipher this graph to answer the question', it was driving me crazy...I was looking at figure 2 the entire time. No wonder I couldn't figure it out. That question screwed up my timing, which effected the rest of the exam. I made lots of stupid mistakes there too, but I mainly missed the easy questions because I was rushing.

I don't know why I made so many dumb mistakes, I must have not been fully focused, although, I felt like I was focused. I could and should have done much better, but it really taught me a lesson to, first read the questions properly and secondly, to not spent to much time on any question. Knowing that my knowledge was not lacking for that exam, and that it was just lack of paying attention and focus and being flustered by one question, lead to a lower score, gives me my confidence back to give that exam a beating tomorrow!

Also, could it be that you hyped up AAMC 11 in your head? Like based off of what you heard from SDN before? Don't give the test that advantage. Don't hype this thing up in your head. Don't go into the test expecting to try and "contain" it like some wild animal. Go into it expecting to shut the damn thing down.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Also, could it be that you hyped up AAMC 11 in your head? Like based off of what you heard from SDN before? Don't give the test that advantage. Don't hype this thing up in your head. Don't go into the test expecting to try and "contain" it like some wild animal. Go into it expecting to shut the damn thing down.

Well I don't know. I was actually looking forward to that exam. But maybe, who knows. Tomorrow is going to be great!

 

[Tradewinds]

The hype thing is a real issue, the tests on which I didn't let it get to me, I scored best on....really, all the practice exams we have taken were a REAL exam for thousands of people, so there is no sense in us psyching ourselves out, its just another test! Plus I keep reminding myself how thankful I am that we have all the old exams to review...those poor 2015'ers =/

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

The hype thing is a real issue, the tests on which I didn't let it get to me, I scored best on....really, all the practice exams we have taken were a REAL exam for thousands of people, so there is no sense in us psyching ourselves out, its just another test! Plus I keep reminding myself how thankful I am that we have all the old exams to review...those poor 2015'ers =/

No kidding. I'm really interested in seeing how the first year plays out lol

 

[Ginred]

Good day for LeBron to announce his return to Cleveland as this is my study break day! Now I can waste some time catching up on NBA free agency!

In a completely unrelated note, I got an email from a school today saying "Since you haven't taken your most recent MCAT, we're suspending review of your application until your new MCAT score arrives."

You mean that this is a school that actually looks at and considers my primary application instead of blindly throwing a secondary my way without any thought? Me gusta mucho!

 

[Ginred]

The hype thing is a real issue, the tests on which I didn't let it get to me, I scored best on....really, all the practice exams we have taken were a REAL exam for thousands of people, so there is no sense in us psyching ourselves out, its just another test! Plus I keep reminding myself how thankful I am that we have all the old exams to review...those poor 2015'ers =/

Yea, that sociology and psychology stuff would suck!

 

[BLHWK]

The hype thing is a real issue, the tests on which I didn't let it get to me, I scored best on....really, all the practice exams we have taken were a REAL exam for thousands of people, so there is no sense in us psyching ourselves out, its just another test! Plus I keep reminding myself how thankful I am that we have all the old exams to review...those poor 2015'ers =/

Yea, hopefully we all don't have to take that exam, because next year's test takers will be the guinea pigs for the new exam and based on what I've heard from people taking the trial section, it will be rough!

 

[Laurenxxxx]

MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN OUR FAVOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck everyone . Can't wait to see what we all think!

 

[HinduHammer]

Thanks hammer! Are you taking next month?

Yes maam! In 3 weeks on August 2. Sad to leave you guys and of course after reading all your awesome scores in a month I'll be kicking myself wishing I had taken it tomorrow lol...c'est la vie. Good luck tomorrow! I know you will do great. Just be relaxed and know this is just a box you have to check to fulfill that MD/DO goal! Again GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[HinduHammer]

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE TAKING THE TEST TOMORROW!!!! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!!!

 

[Rhino1000]

Good luck, guys! I'm rooting for you!

 

[beatlemaniac]

Good luck everyone! It's been grand and I hope you all do wonderfully

 

[Dtran904]

I hope everyone had a good testing experience! This was a retake for me and I feel better coming out. BS was a little tougher than expected. But all in all, a good experience.

 

[Laurenxxxx]

Mission complete. Let the countdown for scores begin.

 

[aimingforthat45]

Just got back:

PS- Not to shabby. There were around fish that I marked and was unsure of. Overall, I didn't think it was that bad. Not too many calculations. One passage was harder than the rest IMO, and so I might have screwed that up. Prediction: 11.

VR- Again, not to bad. Which scares me. It was on par with AAMC verbal difficulty (at least AAMC 10 and 11). Hope curve isn't too harsh. Prediction: 10

BS- this was probably the toughest section. Only 1 orgo passage (thank god), but still, definiltey felt tougher than the rest. About 10 of them i was unsure and had marked. I made my way through this, but we'll see how the curve turns out. Hope it's generous. Prediction: 11

Prediction: 32
Gold Standard Average: 34
AAMC average: 40 (I'm a retaker, this may by inflated)

Let the mental games/countdown begin...

 

[aimingforthat45]

I wonder what @beatlemaniac thinks?

 

[nctw]

I thought PS was the hardest section (although it is my weakest section). VR seemed harder as well due to the passage subject matter. BS discretes were fair and I thought the passages were straightforward for the most part.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[467167]

I thought PS was hardest because all of my pent up anxiety decided to come out during the first section.

VR was very reasonable.

BS was so-so for me. There were topics I didn't know all too well, but I could work through them.

 

[dnrs]

We are doooooone! Good luck everyone!

 

[dnrs]

I thought PS was very straight forward but I might have done some stupid things I don't know.

VR felt good for the first time ever and I had to rush through bio because I wasn't sure about few of the questions in the earlier passages.

Overall it felt just like the practice tests.

 

[Greenberg702]

Wow. Sounds like the MCAT is getting easier again. When I took it the AAMC was throwing curveballs on every exam (at least one section was unlike the practices).