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]

PS- This section was fairly straight forward, but I know I missed an easy discrete due to being rushed at the end. I hope the curve is not too bad!
VR- I am very scared that this was too straight forward because I felt pretty good... Hope the curve doesn't kill me.
BS- More thought intensive than all the practice tests besides AAMC 11 and definitely the hardest section for me... Required some obscure knowledge and every passage based question was very involved (timing became a factor which it never has been for me on this section).
Trial- Stupidly difficult and intensive on a number of concepts that I had never heard of nor ever want to know... Please no retake!

AAMC Average ~34
Predicted Score: P12 V10 B12

 

[bus]

PS: very straight forward. Did not seem very balanced subject wise. One discrete did not make sense to me at all. I'm under impression that the curve will be pretty stringent in light of this.

VR: Meh. Always a crapshoot for me, and my worst area. Not noticeably different from the practice tests though.

BS: Toughest of the bunch (can't tell if it was because it was actually tough or if it was because I felt that PS was 100x easier). Wasn't too thrilled with some of experimental passages, but managed to (hopefully) sort them out. Thought it was harder than AAMC 11, and I would have liked more time. Quite possible that I did terribly on bio, and I can't even guestimate how I did (felt the same way wrt AAMC 11 bio but I did decently on that one).

 

[Mr. Naptime]

Compared to the horror stories my test was not too bad.

PS: what can i say its always been my weakest section and i spent too much on the first passage and had to skim and guess on a passage that was about my weakest topic in ps ... but overall i felt it was my own fault for the difficulty add nerves and ya get my score so overall not too bad mine also had a few freabies

VR: felt okay, it felt like aamc 10 and 11 so they weren't too bad but I 've been hearing that verbal surprises people that felt they did okay so I'm hoping that doesn't apply to my test haha.

BS: The people who made this mcat snuck into my house looked at my ps and said" haha you suck at PS guess what? your weakest subjects are gana be on there, but they said poor guy lets hand him this BS sections"
This section personally was stupid easy in my opinion. I hope that doesnt offend anyone but this one was comparable, in my opinion, to AAMC 5 there was so little ochem it was like it wasn't even a subject.
Every other topic in my section hit my strongest points not to mention, fell nicely onto specific classes that I have taken, so in all honesty this section was easy for me , easy graphs, straight forward in my opinion, but like I said this is kinda biased because this test was heavily related to my classes.

Overall:???
I don't know im terrible at PS so theres no way i can get an 11-12 like all you smarty pants out there, verbal was okay hoping for a 10/11, bio for me was a easy so maybe 12/13 but if i thought it was easy and I made stupid mistakes curves gana kill me so im looking at anywhere from a 28-33

 

[aimingforthat45]

Compared to the horror stories my test was not too bad.

PS: what can i say its always been my weakest section and i spent too much on the first passage and had to skim and guess on a passage that was about my weakest topic in ps ... but overall i felt it was my own fault for the difficulty add nerves and ya get my score so overall not too bad mine also had a few freabies

VR: felt okay, it felt like aamc 10 and 11 so they weren't too bad but I 've been hearing that verbal surprises people that felt they did okay so I'm hoping that doesn't apply to my test haha.

BS: The people who made this mcat snuck into my house looked at my ps and said" haha you suck at PS guess what? your weakest subjects are gana be on there, but they said poor guy lets hand him this BS sections"
This section personally was stupid easy in my opinion. I hope that doesnt offend anyone but this one was comparable, in my opinion, to AAMC 5 there was so little ochem it was like it wasn't even a subject.
Every other topic in my section hit my strongest points not to mention, fell nicely onto specific classes that I have taken, so in all honesty this section was easy for me , easy graphs, straight forward in my opinion, but like I said this is kinda biased because this test was heavily related to my classes.

Overall:???
I don't know im terrible at PS so theres no way i can get an 11-12 like all you smarty pants out there, verbal was okay hoping for a 10/11, bio for me was a easy so maybe 12/13 but if i thought it was easy and I made stupid mistakes curves gana kill me so im looking at anywhere from a 28-33

Yeah, that's what I'm most worried about. the freaking curves.

 

[skeletor06]

PS has always been my weakest section, and I really feel like I blew it, for some reason. Maybe it's just the anxiety talking, but if I get an 8-9, I'm okay with that. VR, probably no lower than 12, maybe up to a 14. BS, who knows? Maybe a 9? Anyways, I'm planning on retaking at the end of August. If I get my scores back and don't have to retake then I'm out 300 bucks, but if I DON'T register for it, then I'm screwed if this didn't pan out how I want. Ugh...

 

[henshouse]

PS - felt similar to AAMC, choked early on though and had to rush through the rest.
VR - very straight forward. Exactly like AAMC. Felt the best out of the 3 sections, and it usually feels the worst for me.
BS - Like AAMC 11 but supercharged. Lots of experiments and compound relationships. Orgo was easy though.

AAMC Avg: 11/9/11
Expected: 10/10/10

 

[GolfUSA]

PS - felt similar to AAMC, choked early on though and had to rush through the rest.
VR - very straight forward. Exactly like AAMC. Felt the best out of the 3 sections, and it usually feels the worst for me.
BS - Like AAMC 11 but supercharged. Lots of experiments and compound relationships. Orgo was easy though.

AAMC Avg: 11/9/11
Expected: 10/10/10

Same happened to me on the PS at the start. The first passage took me almost 15 minutes, and I was like but somehow I caught up to close to my normal timing.

Now I am very scared that most people found the VR pretty easy too... I feel like the curve is going to be horrible!

 

[aimingforthat45]

PS - felt similar to AAMC, choked early on though and had to rush through the rest.
VR - very straight forward. Exactly like AAMC. Felt the best out of the 3 sections, and it usually feels the worst for me.
BS - Like AAMC 11 but supercharged. Lots of experiments and compound relationships. Orgo was easy though.

AAMC Avg: 11/9/11
Expected: 10/10/10

Yeah. thank god Orgo was decently easy and minimal. I felt this Bio was harder than AAMC 11 bio. Idk.

 

[Mr. Naptime]

Yeah, that's what I'm most worried about. the freaking curves.

Completely agree, if the test was difficult then those that did okay do slightly better, great scores are great so it doesnt matter but for me I know i didnt do well in PS while everyone said it was okay so that curve is going to hurt me because all those easy questions i got wrong everybody got right so right now whether or not i decide to retake rest solely on my PS score

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Ugh, I completely screwed up timing.

PS: I didn't think it was too bad, but I think it was harder than most AAMCs. There was so much math involved. Usually I never have to do calculations but this exam required a lot of it. The passages were OK, but they were longer and a little more complicated. I had to rush a little and finished with a minute remaining. Prediction 11-12

VR: Actually felt like the passages were straightforward but, I felt that way on AAMC 11 and I got a 9 on that verbal, so, I have no idea. It's always a crapshoot. I did run out of time and was unable to answer the last question and it was an easy question :'( Prediction: 8-11

BS: Oh man I thought BS sucked! It was so long I was running out of time. The orgo passage was easy, but I screwed it up because I was rushing. I spent so much time on the first 3 passages that everything after that just sucked. It felt easier than the AAMC 11 BS, but if I had 5 more minutes I would have felt much better. The passages were VERY dense, I felt like that were just packed with details. And the questions had complex relationships using that dense information. I didn't think the BS was hard, but it was long, and I don't have a good feeling for it. Prediction: 9-10.

Overall, I should have been better with timing. I was constantly watching the time, but I just don't know what happened, I felt like I blinked and ten minutes was gone, and after that I got at least 4-5 questions wrong because I just didn't have to time to think much. I know I missed two extremely easy questions on the Orgo passage. The experimental section was terrible. Actually it was kind of like the BS section with all the experiments.

AAMC average = 35
Prediction = 30, not happy.

 

[Tradewinds]

PS - I generally don't do as well on this section....post-test: not such a great feeling. It wasn't too difficult, I suspect the 'curve' wont be much, I just had trouble recalling simple things and at this point I really can't remember much of what was tested, I wouldn't be surprised if I got an 8 =( Hopefully not less than that...

VR- Not bad, I generally like this section, and do well, so I think I did satisfactory but likely not spectacular 10-12

BS - Not too bad, some of the passages took quite a while but overall I did have time to finish. Hoping for a 10-11/12

Hope you all did well, heres to waiting!

 

[Laurenxxxx]

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

I am furious about this. I was ready to crush the organic (my favorite subject ). And the biology passages didn't make me feel better.

 

[BLHWK]

I thought the PS was doable, like most others I also felt a little crammed on time because of the first passage.
VR was pretty straightforward, I was able to mostly narrow it down to at least two choices
BS: this was the toughest section for me, I didn't study orgo which was bad on my part, so I was happy there was only one passage on it, but I had no clue what I was looking at, usually I am able to guess correctly on orgo, and that's why I never studied for it, but this time, idk.... also, the passages were very dense and time consuming... predicting a 24 - 26ish

 

[dnrs]

I don't remember the first passage being hard... Now I'm scared I messed everything up.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I don't remember the first passage being hard... Now I'm scared I messed everything up.

It wasn't hard. It was time consuming. Lots of math. I think, if I remember correctly.

 

[Tradewinds]

I am furious about this. I was ready to crush the organic (my favorite subject ). And the biology passages didn't make me feel better.

Totally agree! Wish the whole PS section was orgo! Haha

 

[MedicalMomma81]

I don't know how to feel. I agree with mostly everyone that time was the biggest issue. I feel like with more time I would have done better because the passages were peaked with info, unfortunately in the given time all that info just bogged me down. I think I did ok, but not as good as I wanted.

First Q in PS took so long my time ran out on the very last question

 

[Ginred]

PS- sounds like a common theme: The first passage threw me off a bit and it took me some time to recover, precisely because of the math that was required. The initial test day nerves certainly didn't do much to help... As a result I rushed a few of my answers and likely made some mistakes. I imagine the curve will be similar to that of AAMC 10.

PS Prediction: High- 11 Low- 9 What I really think I'll get: 10

VR- I felt that this verbal section was incredibly easy compared to the passages in the AAMC tests, which, as has been mentioned by others, may mean a harsh curve.

VR Prediction: High: 14 Low: 11 Really: 13 (Yep, high expectations here! Watch me be completely wrong when scores come out )

BS- I agree with @Laurenxxxx and @Tradewinds about orgo!!!
I don't know if anyone else did this, but I went through the sections after I finished to try and catch mistakes (works for some people, doesn't work for others. I found a tricks in wording that I was able to catch.) Anywho, on review of one of the independent questions, I flirted b/w two answer choices with about a minute left. I came to the right conclusion about 5 seconds after time expired- arrrggghh!! oh well, it's just one question. I felt that this Bio section was on par with the AAMC bio sections.

BS Prediction: High 12 Low 11 Really 12

Overall: High 37 (doubt it) Low 31 (Hope not!) Actual 34-35

And now comes the waiting. Good luck to all of you!

 

[orangetea]

Since a lot of you were saying the passages had a lot of info.. do you think it's better to practice on convoluted passages rather than content? As in were most of the answers just in the passage?

 

[alteredstate213]

PS: Agree with everyone that first passage kinda threw me off, but I recovered and had to rush through the rest of the section, which wasn't too bad except for the calculations which were time consuming.
VS: very fair. Expect a harsh curve
BS: Dense passages, lots of experimental ones. Weird discretes, and the orgo wasn't bad at all, one passage and a few discretes

Now for a month of waiting!

 

[dnrs]

I am now 100% sure I screwed up the first passage...

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

Seems everyone's first PS passage is ridiculously hard. I wonder if they've been using the same first PS passage on all the recent test dates lol

 

[shoopshoop]

Seems everyone's first PS passage is ridiculously hard. I wonder if they've been using the same first PS passage on all the recent test dates lol

more likely that everyone freaks out about the first real mcat passage and need to calm themselves down.

 

[Laurenxxxx]

My input is that PS SUCKED. Mostly the physics stuff. I don't remember having a problem with the gen chem questions.

I didn't think BS was horrible (I wish there would have been more orgo but I'll live). Passages were rough and dense but I got through them.

PS destroyed my confidence for the rest of the exam. I just kept thinking "idc what buttons I press, this will def be a retake" for the first verbals. Then I got myself together and think I finished ok. We shall see.

 

[Laurenxxxx]

Anyone else out there totally perplexed by this idea of "free time" now?

I'm glad it's Harry Potter Weekend.

 

[GTWreck1991]

Exactly the same ^^ I ran out of time for the PS..I had to rush and guess for some. I know you arent supposed to let one section ruin the rest of the exam, but its rough. I also phased in and out on the verbal section...wasnt able to sleep much last night :/ but towards the end I was able to concentrate on the last few passages. BS was okay, as expected. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Practice Exams : 32-34 Expected 29-30 Chose to have it scored anyhow

 

[QueenJames]

Were ther a lot of equations that we had to memorize or were a majority of them given to you in the passages?

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Question. Did everyones computer not shade or cross out images like the AAMC exams? Mine just put a dash beside them and I almost got something wrong because I forgot I had "crossed" it out and it looked like a negative sign in front of the number.

 

[shh67]

Hopefully this is vague enough to not be considered giving away test material - the orgo passage asked how many "x" were in the molecule, were there any?

Overall, PS was fine, so was VR, BS experimental passages weren't too bad (bit easier than the Ebola passage), but a few of the ones that required outside knowledge killed me

 

[Jason12]

Question. Did everyones computer not shade or cross out images like the AAMC exams? Mine just put a dash beside them and I almost got something wrong because I forgot I had "crossed" it out and it looked like a negative sign in front of the number.

that happened to me too a few times, it put a freaking dash beside it.. even if there was an image or graph, like aamc tests would shade it just like u said but mine put a freaking small dash on either side of the choice

 

[Jason12]

.

 

[scruggs92]

PS- There were a lot of calculations! The first passage was pretty tough. I usually finish PS with 5+ minutes, but I had 7 minutes going into the last passage and stand alone questions. Luckily I did the last passage in 5 minutes and the stand alone questions were straight forward!

VR- Seemed pretty easy. I think I probably got 30+/40. Hopefully the curve isn't too bad.

BS- Toughest section by far. The orgo passage wasn't bad, and the orgo stand alones were incredibly easy! The biology passages were harder than AAMC 11 in my opinion.

 

[aimingforthat45]

It wasn't hard. It was time consuming. Lots of math. I think, if I remember correctly.

I didn't do the first passage until later on. From what I remember, I didn't think it was THAT bad. But now y'all are talking about it, i'm starting to get worried haha.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I didn't do the first passage until later on. From what I remember, I didn't think it was THAT bad. But now y'all are talking about it, i'm starting to get worried haha.

Yeah, I don't. I know I spent like 8 minutes on it, but that is a lot of time for such few questions.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Question. Did everyones computer not shade or cross out images like the AAMC exams? Mine just put a dash beside them and I almost got something wrong because I forgot I had "crossed" it out and it looked like a negative sign in front of the number.

Yup, same here.

 

[dnrs]

Question. Did everyones computer not shade or cross out images like the AAMC exams? Mine just put a dash beside them and I almost got something wrong because I forgot I had "crossed" it out and it looked like a negative sign in front of the number.

Yeah same thing happened to me.

 

[dnrs]

Wasn't the first passage super short? It barely had any questions. Am I confusing my passages?

 

[beatlemaniac]

I wonder what @beatlemaniac thinks?

Overall, I came out of it feeling pretty good. It felt like any other practice exam to me, and my nerves weren't too bad. Everyone testing with me was really nice, and we chatted before the test as there was a delay getting the computer network to work.

PS: Felt pretty standard to me...There were definitely a few questions that I wasn't sure on, but that's always the case with AAMC exams as well. Time wasn't an issue for me, I had ten minutes to review. TBH, don't remember all that much about this section.

VR: This was actually the trickiest question for me, contrary to what most people are saying. Timing was fine, but there were a few questions that I waffled between two answer choices on and ended up having to guess. If the curve is tough (which it sounds like it will be), I might get screwed.

BS: Again, contrary to popular opinion, I found this section to be the easiest. I'm a bio-psych student, so I found that this section played to my strengths a lot. One of the experiments was actually an experiment I had previously studied in a class! Definitely my best section.

Expected: Maybe 36 - 39? Tough to tell...a lot will depend on the curve.

Congratulations to everyone who finished the test today! Freedom and sunshine await

 

[beatlemaniac]

Btw, does anyone know where we can see the date on which we get our scores?

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Btw, does anyone know where we can see the date on which we get our scores?

Aug 12, after 5pm. But apparently it comes out at 3pm often.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Aug 12, after 5pm. But apparently it comes out at 3pm often.

3 pm EST normally?

 

[shh67]

Wasn't the first passage super short? It barely had any questions. Am I confusing my passages?

Yup, had a bunch of calculations though.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

3 pm EST normally?

Yes, but it still could be after 5pm EST.

 

[467167]

I'm just really frustrated how I let the panic get to me. Anyone feeling like they might have to retake?

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I'm just really frustrated how I let the panic get to me. Anyone feeling like they might have to retake?

Ugh I might. Just because of BS, I think. I dunno. I am still trying to figure out what went wrong. And the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that I actually might have fallen asleep for 8 minutes during the BS section.

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

that happened to me too a few times, it put a freaking dash beside it.. even if there was an image or graph, like aamc tests would shade it just like u said but mine put a freaking small dash on either side of the choice

It did that on the July 2nd exam as well.

 

[ayocaptain628]

i havent taken any aamcs practice tests yet but what do you mean about images being shaded, or dashes being put beside??

 

[hopefuLD]

PS: Skipped the first passage because i knew it would take time, did not have a lot of question but still ended up guessing. Did the kaplan method and did the discrete, then chem( there were a lot) which I'm good at. I didn't think it was that bad. Didn't have a lot of WTF moments so thats a plus.

VR: Ran out of time, was overthinking way too much, But i always suck in verbal .

BS: This section was more experimental, I love ochem, so i was bummed that there was only 1 passage. Did that first which gave me extra time to figure out some of the experiments. Some of the questions were like, Really?? all that in one questions?

Expected: This is a retake, so i don't honestly know.

 

[Jason12]

It did that on the July 2nd exam as well.

Id be pissed if this trend is going to continue, cuz Im planning for a retake

 

[kibblesNbits]

PS: my weakest area, and the first passage shook me quite a bit, but the chem q's seemed straight forward to me. I've been scoring 8 - 11s on AAMCs, but feel like maybe I'll get an 8 or 9.

VR: my strongest area, and I felt like this section was similar to the AAMCs. Scores from practice tests 11 - 13, and feel like I'll score the same range...unless the curve kicks me to the curb.

BS: I also felt like this section was similar to most AAMCs with a few q's that threw me off (i.e. the immunology discrete on the last page). Scores from AAMCs range from 9 - 12, and feel like I'll score around 10 - 11. Also, the orgo passage seemed easy, but maybe I'm missing something.

Congrats to all the test takers today!!