The Official July 12, 2014 MCAT Thread

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HinduHammer

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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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Thats's probably the main reason they wait so long to show the scores, every other test I've heard you get your score on the spot but no, they decide to make most students doubt themselves to the point where they out 275 to make sure their plans for the future aren't delayed and still have a shot, and the kicker is you don't get 50% of that money and you didn't take the test:wtf:, I think this whole waiting process is absolutely bull and delays students plan for no reason but money.

Yeah, I took the GRE a few years ago for grad school, and our grades came up immediately. It was great knowing that, because it helped you know where you stood. I mean, if you're a year or two from applying it might not be so bad, because you can wait for your score to come out before you make a decision. In my case, I'm a non-trad, and I have to make a decision now. I can't afford to wait! This way, I'm going to be studying 5-6 hours a day for a month for an exam that I might not even need to take, and that's going to cost me an arm and a leg just to register for. Ugh.
 
I didn't take the trial section, and because I have a B.A. and M.S. in Psychology my viewpoint might be biased, but let's be honest. LOTS of the stuff you learn for the MCAT isn't going to be relevant to being a physician, and is completely unrelated to medicine. Take most of the physics stuff, for example. Sure, if it was Biophysics it might be useful, but kinematics? Rotational motion? Hooke's Law? Give me a break. That stuff is useless. Why in the hell do I need to know the general equation for the force of gravity? We take a year of physics, yet we're not required to take physiology, or really any upper-level Biology.

The truth is, even though the psychology stuff might be a bit farfetched, as a physician you're interacting with patients. It might be useful to take courses that help you gain perspective on what other people's lives are like. I can tell you right now that my psychology coursework is going to be much more useful to me in clinical practice than is knowing how to figure out the range of a projectile. Just my two cents.

I very much enjoyed the psychology and sociology classes that I have taken, and I 100% agree that understanding people is a bigger part of being a physician than understanding the nuances of physics. However, had you taken this horrible section of the test, you would probably understand more of what I mean. I would have taken even more psychology (I was planning on getting a minor) if my scholarships had not run out at 120 hours. Like I said, I even enjoyed reading the passages, and the studies that were discussed were very interesting. The problem was with the way they were testing it because it appears that you will just have to memorize a bunch of terminology which does not help you understand people any better.
 
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Yeah, I took the GRE a few years ago for grad school, and our grades came up immediately. It was great knowing that, because it helped you know where you stood. I mean, if you're a year or two from applying it might not be so bad, because you can wait for your score to come out before you make a decision. In my case, I'm a non-trad, and I have to make a decision now. I can't afford to wait! This way, I'm going to be studying 5-6 hours a day for a month for an exam that I might not even need to take, and that's going to cost me an arm and a leg just to register for. Ugh.
Exactly, it would be nice to know or at least have a decent guess. This sucks for me because I'm going into my last year of undergrad and want to avoid taking a year off. What makes my situation more annoying with this score is that my application is going to be based mostly on mcat because i did terrible my first year and then spent the last 2 trying to boost my grades up. I've done pretty well but that hasn't left me much time for extracurriculars and my GPA doesn't represent my capabilities so if I have to take this again it might not be until September meaning I would have to take a year off because i don't have a 3.9 or anything nearly that competitive to have a decent shot this late with an average score:( . They should really change this 1 month policy its dum and nerve racking.
 
Exactly, it would be nice to know or at least have a decent guess. This sucks for me because I'm going into my last year of undergrad and want to avoid taking a year off. What makes my situation more annoying with this score is that my application is going to be based mostly on mcat because i did terrible my first year and then spent the last 2 trying to boost my grades up. I've done pretty well but that hasn't left me much time for extracurriculars and my GPA doesn't represent my capabilities so if I have to take this again it might not be until September meaning I would have to take a year off because i don't have a 3.9 or anything nearly that competitive to have a decent shot this late with an average score:( . They should really change this 1 month policy its dum and nerve racking.

I finished undergrad more than 5 years ago and I have been working on fixing things to fix my application.

You'll be OK.

I hope you get a good score, but if you don't and have to take it again and take a year off, you'll still be OK. Don't stress over things you can't control. One step at a time.
 
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PS: The curve is going to be tough, there were some hard questions, but nothing was ambiguous to the point where you couldnt get every question if you understood it.

VB: I think the curve is going to be pretty average. The sections were very straight forward, but the fact that the easiest passage was at the end is going to knock down all the people who have trouble finishing but get 10-11 when they manage to finish.

BS: The most generous curve, a couple of very ambiguous questions, even though the majority of the section was answerable.
 
I had the psych/soc trial section. I have taken both intro psych and intro soc but was SO lost on this. I can remember only one question that I thought, "oh I so know this!". Granted, I haven't taken psych and soc for over a year but still. I would be pissed if I had to learn all of that material on top of everything else.

All I can say is, good luck 2015.... I will retake the MCAT for a decent score 5 times in the next six months if I have to before the 2015 rolls around.

What is the reasoning for the change? To be a more well rounded physician? Or to further weed out the weak?

I'm one of the few people that had the full biochem portion and that was kinda rough. I would rather take the exam multiple times this year over biochem, the passages were dense and then most of the questions were half discrete anyways so reading the passages was pointless.
 
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For me, it was a pure mixture of Psychology and Sociology. I took an Intro Sociology and Intro + 2 Upper level Psychology classes for for Gen Ed Requirements... However, my major was Biochemistry so I should not have even mentioned that I took those classes when I signed up for the MCAT. The passages were interesting, and easy enough to understand, but when I got to the questions there were a ton of concepts I had never heard of that were not mentioned in the passage and that you were meant to apply to what was discussed in the passage.

If it had been more data interpretation, I would have been ok with it, but the amount of concepts that people will have to memorize for the new MCAT is not only going to suck, but be completely unrelated to medicine and irrelevant to being a good physician. What about you? I honestly couldn't believe they were going to add this amount of new memorization to the test which already takes a solid 3-4 months to study for... I can only imagine that these new subjects alone will add another 2 months of solid memorizing to be completely comfortable with before test day.
My trial section was biochem since I am also a biochem major. My first impression was WTF! To understand the passages and answering the questions demands a very detail knowledge of biochemical concepts especially in amino acid structures, enzyme kinetics and metabolic pathways. On the other hand looking at the curriculum for the first year of medical school I found that we will need to learn all these concepts anyway and even in more detail. So in someway I think it will be beneficial to have a soolid background in biochemistry.
 
I'm one of the few people that had the full biochem portion and that was kinda rough. I would rather take the exam multiple times this year over biochem, the passages were dense and then most of the questions were half discrete anyways so reading the passages was pointless.
Same here. It was brutal.
 
PS: The curve is going to be tough, there were some hard questions, but nothing was ambiguous to the point where you couldnt get every question if you understood it.

VB: I think the curve is going to be pretty average. The sections were very straight forward, but the fact that the easiest passage was at the end is going to knock down all the people who have trouble finishing but get 10-11 when they manage to finish.

BS: The most generous curve, a couple of very ambiguous questions, even though the majority of the section was answerable.

You think BS will have a generous curve because that was the most difficult section? VR I agree with you. And I didn't find the PS standard, I found it difficult...I'm worried the curve will hurt me there :/
 
You think BS will have a generous curve because that was the most difficult section? VR I agree with you. And I didn't find the PS standard, I found it difficult...I'm worried the curve will hurt me there :/

No one can predict what the curve will be. Just reading on this thread alone, people had way different opinions. I personally thought BS wasn't bad but PS destroyed me. No use in worrying and trying to figure it out compared to what a few other people think. We won't know anything until August 12.
 
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You think BS will have a generous curve because that was the most difficult section? VR I agree with you. And I didn't find the PS standard, I found it difficult...I'm worried the curve will hurt me there :/

I think the curve will be similar to AAMC 11, but a little bit less generous.

All these curves for the older AAMC's doesn't take into account that the caliber has increased since they were released. They are probably all more generous than they are now.

No one can predict what the curve will be. Just reading on this thread alone, people had way different opinions. I personally thought BS wasn't bad but PS destroyed me. No use in worrying and trying to figure it out compared to what a few other people think. We won't know anything until August 12.

I obviously can't say anything for sure, but the pattern is clear in how all the AAMC practices are curved. The difficulty really doesn't factor into the curve, you will usually see that the more "weird" and ambiguous questions there are in a section, the more generous the curve.

Most people had trouble with the first passage, but it didn't have any ambiguity, it was pure reasoning and quantitative skills.
 
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I understand that it takes a while to scale the scores, resolve any complaints about specific questions, etc, but wouldn't it be possible to tell us the raw score right away? And then we could wait however long for the final scaled score?
 
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I understand that it takes a while to scale the scores, resolve any complaints about specific questions, etc, but wouldn't it be possible to tell us the raw score right away? And then we could wait however long for the final scaled score?

But what would the AAMC get out of doing that?
 
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Around how many experimental questions are there in each section? And are those questions discretes or passage based?
It depends on the passages that you get for each test. Most of them are going to be passage based but you get the occasional discrete question that asks you to interpret a graph, or to predict a change, or explain why the trend is the way it is something along those lines.
 
Oh, definitely nothing. It would require just a tinnny bit of compassion/courtesy on their part. I guess it's unreasonable to expect them to just do something nice haha
I wouldn't say anything, they get $100+ for every poor student who is so nervous about their test they sign up for another and when they get their score and don't retake they still get some money. If the student doesn't like the score, they(aamc) gets $275 easy ones, I have been rattling my brain for a while and this is the only logical conclusion I can come too, which is pretty sad.
 
Man, I walked out of that test feeling horrible. I know I missed simple concepts and I almost wanted to hit the void button. How are you guys coping with the waiting stress?
 
Man, I walked out of that test feeling horrible. I know I missed simple concepts and I almost wanted to hit the void button. How are you guys coping with the waiting stress?



Taking a week off to read some fun books. Starting to study again on Monday to prepare for the August 12 realization that I'll need to retake. Last Saturday was certainly a learning experience! Studying for the MCAT while working full time just didn't work.
 
I thought PS was pretty tough, had a couple discretes I didn't know how to answer. VR and BS weren't too bad but I'm pretty nervous about PS.
 
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I used Princeton Review's practice tests and AAMC's. I did well on AAMC 9 and mediocre on 11. Overall, I don't think PR's practice test format/style prepared me for this MCAT. What prep materials did y'all use? Anyone else feeling the same?
 
Man, I walked out of that test feeling horrible. I know I missed simple concepts and I almost wanted to hit the void button. How are you guys coping with the waiting stress?

Working out like a mad fiend here. Helps me get rid of excess energy, and hopefully, I'll look better come interview time. LOL

I know what you mean about having the exam get you down. I have my up & down days, and it is so difficult to not dwell on the various problems. Hang in there! Hopefully your score will be better than you think!
 
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I used Princeton Review's practice tests and AAMC's. I did well on AAMC 9 and mediocre on 11. Overall, I don't think PR's practice test format/style prepared me for this MCAT. What prep materials did y'all use? Anyone else feeling the same?

Gold standard was the closest in my opinion... The AAMC just works as hard as possible to make the passages foreign to you even if the subject is familiar, and I don't think any of the prep companies replicated this successfully. It really just requires more work on their part, but I wish there had been more practice material like it... I would have paid a premium for it.
 
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Man, I sure hope so! Is it bad I stopped working out since I was busy with MCAT prep for 3 months? Is anyone studying again just in case they have to retake? Or are y'all banking on doing better than y'all thought?
 
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Nah. I know for sure I got below what I wanted..mainly due to the PS section. I ran out of time because I made a terrible decision to get all of Passage I right, which wasnt the best idea. So I had to quickly guess on around 4-5 questions...I anticipate a 9-10...instead of the 12 I consistently got on practice exams. Otherwise, I expect other sections to be the same. Either way, getting a 30-31 compared to the 33-34 will be disappointing enough for me to take it again.
 
Nah. I know for sure I got below what I wanted..mainly due to the PS section. I ran out of time because I made a terrible decision to get all of Passage I right, which wasnt the best idea. So I had to quickly guess on around 4-5 questions...I anticipate a 9-10...instead of the 12 I consistently got on practice exams. Otherwise, I expect other sections to be the same. Either way, getting a 30-31 compared to the 33-34 will be disappointing enough for me to take it again.
judging from other test takers, the scale is surprising for physical sciences. However, there are still quite a few disappointed with score. Only can wait and see
 
judging from other test takers, the scale is surprising for physical sciences. However, there are still quite a few disappointed with score. Only can wait and see

Yeah, thats why I feel like I didnt do too well on the PS. Most people stated it was straightforward...which in reality, it was. I simply made a test-taking mistake that forced me to guess on a few questions. And yeah, only thing I can do is wait and see.
 
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My range was 31-36 on my practice AAMCs, but my mean score was probably a 33. None of the practice exams (at all) served as a representation of the 7/12/14 MCAT.

From what I can tell, PS was the most controversial section on this particular exam — which means the curve should be strongest in that department.

Rescheduled for a retake on July 24th.

Wish me luck.
 
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Man, I sure hope so! Is it bad I stopped working out since I was busy with MCAT prep for 3 months? Is anyone studying again just in case they have to retake? Or are y'all banking on doing better than y'all thought?

Can't say I'm studying again, but I am skimming notes and doing random passages to keep it fresh in case I get my score and it's not good. I won't take it again until after I get my scores but I should be prepared to take it a couple weeks after the scores come out in case I need to take it.
 
My range was 31-36 on my practice AAMCs, but my mean score was probably a 33. None of the practice exams (at all) served as a representation of the 7/12/14 MCAT.

From what I can tell, PS was the most controversial section on this particular exam — which means the curve should be strongest in that department.

Rescheduled for a retake on July 24th.

Wish me luck.

You're so right! I was so shocked by the passage style and question format….and here I was thinking I picked up a pattern from the AAMC's :(
 
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My range was 31-36 on my practice AAMCs, but my mean score was probably a 33. None of the practice exams (at all) served as a representation of the 7/12/14 MCAT.

From what I can tell, PS was the most controversial section on this particular exam — which means the curve should be strongest in that department.

Rescheduled for a retake on July 24th.

Wish me luck.

Just curious, why a retake before you even know your score? What if you ended up doing just fine and the retake you do worse?
 
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My section was all biochem and a couple physics questions for some reason... It was rough I powered through it because I have already taken biochem 1 and 2 but those passages were rough the amount of background information you had to know was more than biochem and more difficult, they seemed to only focus on certain parts of biochem but it wasn't pretty and its safe to say that after that I would rather take a year off than subject myself to the 2015 mcat.

That is weird. Why the sudden shift away from passage comprehension to recall? Is the entire MCAT changing in such manner?
 
Just curious, why a retake before you even know your score? What if you ended up doing just fine and the retake you do worse?

Good question. I'd like to be able to apply as soon as possible and have my scores in sooner than later. I feel ready for the exam and I really do think I got slammed with an unlucky one this past Saturday. If I wait longer, I'll become dormant and the knowledge will seep out of me. By the time I get my scores back, it'd take at least a month to regain all that knowledge.
 
Man, I sure hope so! Is it bad I stopped working out since I was busy with MCAT prep for 3 months? Is anyone studying again just in case they have to retake? Or are y'all banking on doing better than y'all thought?
If it makes you feel better, I may or may not have gained some weight this summer due to skipping a regular workout routine...
 
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hey, how hard were the discrete questions on this exam... on like a scale from 1-10... 1 being a joke and 10 being 'I've never even seen or heard of that before'
 
hey, how hard were the discrete questions on this exam... on like a scale from 1-10... 1 being a joke and 10 being 'I've never even seen or heard of that before'

Mostly average except one that was a 10. Overall maybe 6? 6.5?
 
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