The Official March 22, 2014 MCAT Thread...

PRIVATE MCAT LESSONS. Click to learn more!
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Just signed up for a retake guys :'(
I forced myself to do it as a backup but I have to go out of state (Georgia). Luckily I only live a 4 hour drive from the testing center.

Oh and since we're on the dream school topic mine is Miami- 32 average MCAT. ~~~~~~
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
Members don't see this ad :)
madmuttal said:
That's the plan....I feel so out of shape for mcat by just not studying for one week!
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm TRYING to start today but it's more difficult than I thought it would be. I have been testing myself in my head to make sure I still remember equations and concepts. I really hope we all scored at our average
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dbouz said:
Yeah I'm TRYING to start today but it's more difficult than I thought it would be. I have been testing myself in my head to make sure I still remember equations and concepts. I really hope we all scored at our average
Click to expand...

ya its very hard...just remembered how i used to write down all equations that comes to my mind before taking FL to get the mind start thinking.....i should do that....what was your average like? My range was 30-35. AAMC 11 was 35....Hopefully I get the AAMC 11 score but i don't think it's likely...sigh....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
ya its very hard...just remembered how i used to write down all equations that comes to my mind before taking FL to get the mind start thinking.....i should do that....what was your average like? My range was 30-35. AAMC 11 was 35....Hopefully I get the AAMC 11 score but i don't think it's likely...sigh....
Click to expand...
My range was 30-34 on both AAMC and TPR FL's. My last practice test was AAMC 11 and was actually my highest score of 34.
I know that people say that you tend to fall within your average score but is that only if you perform the same? For example, I finished all practice tests on time and felt pretty confident in my answers. But on the actual test I ran out of time and had to rush through passages and do not feel confident at all. Does that mean I'm the case where I don't fall within my average? That is the most difficult part of trying to gauge my score. Anyone have any thoughts on this particular situation? Do others feel the same?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I guess in short, do you only score within your average if your test performance is about the same?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dbouz said:
My range was 30-34 on both AAMC and TPR FL's. My last practice test was AAMC 11 and was actually my highest score of 34.
I know that people say that you tend to fall within your average score but is that only if you perform the same? For example, I finished all practice tests on time and felt pretty confident in my answers. But on the actual test I ran out of time and had to rush through passages and do not feel confident at all. Does that mean I'm the case where I don't fall within my average? That is the most difficult part of trying to gauge my score. Anyone have any thoughts on this particular situation? Do others feel the same?
Click to expand...

For PS: I had about 8 minutes left for last passage and 3 free standings.....Last pssg was experimental and there was no way i could understand with the time pressure...thought i was screwed....but most of Qs didn't involve anything I need from pssg...so did ok on those i think...again not confident at all....got 2 of the 3 freee standings correct but just randomly guessed on one free standing which I know how to solve but didn't have the time for it...THIS KILLS ME!! sigh.....Also in AAMC 11, I was pressed for time in PS section which was calculation heavy which I didn't guess a lot on....so ya...

verbal: as usual i don't have time for last pssg which i had to guess on a lot of them.....

BS: was able to finish it with 2 minutes left....going over the marked Qs, I changed the choice for one of the Q from the correct choice! ahh!!


One thing you have to keep in mind is aamc curve is very strict...also i heard from jan poster that he/she missed atleast 6 Qs in BS but still ended up with 14.....so there is no way of knowing which makes it worse....lol
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
For PS: I had about 8 minutes left for last passage and 3 free standings.....Last pssg was experimental and there was no way i could understand with the time pressure...thought i was screwed....but most of Qs didn't involve anything I need from pssg...so did ok on those i think...again not confident at all....got 2 of the 3 freee standings correct but just randomly guessed on one free standing which I know how to solve but didn't have the time for it...THIS KILLS ME!! sigh.....Also in AAMC 11, I was pressed for time in PS section which was calculation heavy which I didn't guess a lot on....so ya...

verbal: as usual i don't have time for last pssg which i had to guess on a lot of them.....

BS: was able to finish it with 2 minutes left....going over the marked Qs, I changed the choice for one of the Q from the correct choice! ahh!!


One thing you have to keep in mind is aamc curve is very strict...also i heard from jan poster that he/she missed atleast 6 Qs in BS but still ended up with 14.....so there is no way of knowing which makes it worse....lol
Click to expand...
Honestly, from your description it sounds like you did great, haha!! I don't think I would worry if I was you.

For me..
PS: I also had 8 minutes to do last passage and free standing questions. Possibly got a lot of them wrong because I basically just made educated guesses. Couldn't really understand the passage in short amount of time.

Verbal: I was basically a zombie. I also had to entirely guess on the last passage (Put all b).. good thing it was only 5 Q's

Bio: Literally hardest thing ever. I usually always scored 13 on my practice tests. But this was a whole other level of difficulty. No idea what happened here. Think I bombed because I guessed a lot. And the orgo questions kind of threw me off. I'm usually good at orgo but they basically tested my weaknesses. Sad....

What do you mean by "strict curve"? When you say "strict" it sounds like it doesn't help you much...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dbouz said:
Honestly, from your description it sounds like you did great, haha!! I don't think I would worry if I was you.

For me..
PS: I also had 8 minutes to do last passage and free standing questions. Possibly got a lot of them wrong because I basically just made educated guesses. Couldn't really understand the passage in short amount of time.

Verbal: I was basically a zombie. I also had to entirely guess on the last passage (Put all b).. good thing it was only 5 Q's

Bio: Literally hardest thing ever. I usually always scored 13 on my practice tests. But this was a whole other level of difficulty. No idea what happened here. Think I bombed because I guessed a lot. And the orgo questions kind of threw me off. I'm usually good at orgo but they basically tested my weaknesses. Sad....

What do you mean by "strict curve"? When you say "strict" it sounds like it doesn't help you much...
Click to expand...

I remember that pssg on verbal and i remember feeling relieved by counting the number of Qs to be 5 and not 7! lol....i did the same but not all Bs...

no man...i felt and still feel horrible coming out of the exam....BS was kinda hard especially the first passage which was so convoluted but Qs weren't that hard i think....

if you look the curve for aamc, you can never get anything over 13 if u missed more than 3-4Qs....which isn't the case for real deal based on what ppl say....the guy who i described above is one example....a friend of mine took it in jan 2013 and thought PS section was hella hard and thought he bombed....he counted at least 5 Qs wrong after exam...he ended with with 14! but again all his PS scores were 13 in aamc....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Members don't see this ad :)
madmuttal said:
I remember that pssg on verbal and i remember feeling relieved by counting the number of Qs to be 5 and not 7! lol....i did the same but not all Bs...

no man...i felt and still feel horrible coming out of the exam....BS was kinda hard especially the first passage which was so convoluted but Qs weren't that hard i think....

if you look the curve for aamc, you can never get anything over 13 if u missed more than 3-4Qs....which isn't the case for real deal based on what ppl say....the guy who i described above is one example....a friend of mine took it in jan 2013 and thought PS section was hella hard and thought he bombed....he counted at least 5 Qs wrong after exam...he ended with with 14! but again all his PS scores were 13 in aamc....
Click to expand...
I see. That makes me feel a little better at least. Lets just hope for the best! I think just incase I'm gonna start studying tomorrow. I always push it forward one day but I'm serious this time! haha

I agree with the bio. I don't even remember what the first few passages were about. Hope thats not a bad sign!!! I just remember the end of the Bio section got increasingly difficult as you moved forward. I think the first few passages were ok for me.

For PS It was going pretty smoothly until the second to last passage. I got stuck... Then I went downhill from there!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dbouz said:
I see. That makes me feel a little better at least. Lets just hope for the best! I think just incase I'm gonna start studying tomorrow. I always push it forward one day but I'm serious this time! haha

I agree with the bio. I don't even remember what the first few passages were about. Hope thats not a bad sign!!! I just remember the end of the Bio section got increasingly difficult as you moved forward. I think the first few passages were ok for me.

For PS It was going pretty smoothly until the second to last passage. I got stuck... Then I went downhill from there!
Click to expand...

ya i agree on PS..i had the same experience....BS for me was hard at the beginning and it was doable as it went on.....the reason we feel differently about BS may be cuz the order of our passages were different?idk...

working on personal statement? just finished my first draft.....very frustrating....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
ya i agree on PS..i had the same experience....BS for me was hard at the beginning and it was doable as it went on.....the reason we feel differently about BS may be cuz the order of our passages were different?idk...

working on personal statement? just finished my first draft.....very frustrating....
Click to expand...
Oh I didn't know the passages were out of order for everyone... That's interesting.
Personal statement is a good way to get your mind off of things. I finished my personal statement a while back but definitely will need to revise and redo it. It's more of a first draft and it could be much better.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
ya i agree on PS..i had the same experience....BS for me was hard at the beginning and it was doable as it went on.....the reason we feel differently about BS may be cuz the order of our passages were different?idk...

working on personal statement? just finished my first draft.....very frustrating....
Click to expand...

Oh man i havent even thought about writing my PS , even thinking about it kills me
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Does anyone check AAMC site to see if just MAYBE they accidentally posted the score early? haha
Struggles of the post-MCAT student
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Upvote 0 Downvote
dbouz said:
Oh I didn't know the passages were out of order for everyone... That's interesting.
Personal statement is a good way to get your mind off of things. I finished my personal statement a while back but definitely will need to revise and redo it. It's more of a first draft and it could be much better.
Click to expand...

really really hard to not make it a cooky cutter essay.....trying really hard to make not a corny essay....1000 more characters to cut!

Also failed to start studying today!! lol
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
So here is a question: Do you guys think that this thread will turn into a similar thread that January did after they heard their results? What I mean by that is "post test predictions: 26-32. Score: 35."?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My biggest fear is opening the AAMC page, seeing 20 something, having my heart sink... then feeling a mix of despair, confusion, anger, and sadness :( (like my previous one experience)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
jjtheairplane said:
My biggest fear is opening the AAMC page, seeing 20 something, having my heart sink... then feeling a mix of despair, confusion, anger, and sadness :( (like my previous one experience)
Click to expand...

how did you prepare for the second time? how different? ya wishing all of those in this thread to not go through it again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Saxappeal1 said:
So here is a question: Do you guys think that this thread will turn into a similar thread that January did after they heard their results? What I mean by that is "post test predictions: 26-32. Score: 35."?
Click to expand...
Hope this is the case for every one of us. I can tell you guys worked hard and am really excited to see our awesome scores at the end of the month!!!
And I agree with sexappeal1. Our exam was definitely more difficult.
I've always heard that it's better to get a difficult test. Scores come out better compared to the easier exams. Let's hope that continues!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
how did you prepare for the second time? how different? ya wishing all of those in this thread to not go through it again!
Click to expand...

Pretty much restudied Physics and Chem with TPR books, did 3-4 verbal Passages a day for 3 months, used ALL of TPR's online resources including their 10 tests (got access from a friend), did 5 kaplan FL(also free) and 5 BR CBT's (bought these). This time, I just focused on content review for 1 month, and pure practice for 2.5 months.
My first time, I tried to do everything in the summer using BR and kaplan, worked for sciences but screwed up verbal. This time I fear it's the opposite, only because sciences felt SO much harder.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Saxappeal1 said:
jj how did you feel like you did the first time you took it?
Click to expand...
Ok PS (rushed last 2 passages), horrible verbal (guessed blindly on last passage), and pretty good BS (lots of orgo which I liked)
It did sort of match..10/7/11..,but again, our science sections were much harder and I'm sure I got more wrong this time around in them. Verbal was probably the same, I think I just got more confident at it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
madmuttal said:
I remember that pssg on verbal and i remember feeling relieved by counting the number of Qs to be 5 and not 7! lol....i did the same but not all Bs...

no man...i felt and still feel horrible coming out of the exam....BS was kinda hard especially the first passage which was so convoluted but Qs weren't that hard i think....

if you look the curve for aamc, you can never get anything over 13 if u missed more than 3-4Qs....which isn't the case for real deal based on what ppl say....the guy who i described above is one example....a friend of mine took it in jan 2013 and thought PS section was hella hard and thought he bombed....he counted at least 5 Qs wrong after exam...he ended with with 14! but again all his PS scores were 13 in aamc....
Click to expand...

I am guessing the people you mentioned got lucky in that most of the questions they missed turned out to be experimental. I find it hard to believe that you can miss 6 "real" questions on a section and score in the 99th percentile.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I haven't heard of any northeast MD schools accept 28 :/ especially with a bleh gpa. But, I still appreciate the hope :), although my state school median is 32 I think my best chances are there.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
jjtheairplane said:
My biggest fear is opening the AAMC page, seeing 20 something, having my heart sink... then feeling a mix of despair, confusion, anger, and sadness :( (like my previous one experience)
Click to expand...

I feel the same. The worst part is that I *know* I can score really well due to the assessments I took. However, the real deal was a complete ball buster :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
bflatminor said:
Just signed up for a retake guys :'(
I forced myself to do it as a backup but I have to go out of state (Georgia). Luckily I only live a 4 hour drive from the testing center.

Oh and since we're on the dream school topic mine is Miami- 32 average MCAT. ~~~~~~
Click to expand...

I wanna take my talents to south beach as well... AAMC average was a 29. I'm really interested in their MD MPH program.

EDIT: I think their MD average is a 31/32 and their MD MPH is a 30/31
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
I haven't really looked at other MCAT threads, but do most people post-test feel like the exam was tough? Perhaps these threads self-selected for people who are worried about how they did... Or was this exam actually that tough? I'm hoping it was!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Omppu27 said:
I haven't really looked at other MCAT threads, but do most people post-test feel like the exam was tough? Perhaps these threads self-selected for people who are worried about how they did... Or was this exam actually that tough? I'm hoping it was!
Click to expand...
That's a good point. But based off the practice AAMCs and even some of the more difficult Princeton Review practice exams I took I think ours was pretty tough. But then again I'm only one person. All we can do is hope for the best.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I definitely thought it was pretty tough compared to the practice tests and even the princeton tests. Like you said, Sax, the more difficult it is, the more it will be curved, hopefully.

(I hate this a-p-r-i-l f-o-o-l-s p-r-a-n-k, by the way)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Overall the test felt much like some of the harder AAMC FLs, but still easier in the sciences sections comparing to Kaplan and Gold standard. There were a couple questions on the Bio section that were not covered in most prep materials. They were sort of cheap shots in my opinion.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Saxappeal1 said:
So here be a question: Do ye guys think that this thread will turn into a similar thread that January did after they heard their results? What me mean by that be "post test predictions: 26-32. Score: 35."?
Click to expand...

hopefully in a good way. i got a 29 in january so in that case no I hope not >_<.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
Saxappeal1 said:
what was t' 29 breakdown by sections?
Click to expand...

9/11/9

totally different from anything i expected. I thought I got a 13 on the bio and that's like the highest i've ever scored on verbal. I thought on I got a 6 on phys sci too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Saxappeal1 said:
dat verbal doe
Click to expand...

yea seriously. I was shocked about getting a 11 in verbal considering it was my worst section.

overall I say the phys sci and bio sci in january were harder and the verbal was about equal (maybe march's was harder, they both sucked).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
mrh125 said:
yea seriously. me was shocked about gettin' a 11 in verbal considerin' it was me worst section.

overall me say t' phys sci and bio sci in january were harder and t' verbal was about equal (maybe march's was harder, they both sucked).
Click to expand...
So why did you decide to retake again? EDIT: ARRRRRRRRRGH matey
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0 Downvote
stickshifthonda said:
So why did ye decide to retake again?
Click to expand...

I missed my goal by one point and because I want to get into a MD med school and a lot of people I talked to who got a 29/28 had a lot of difficulties getting into MD schools especially with my stats (3.62 gpa/3.73 sci gpa). This process is really stressful (i swear im going to gonna bald from frustration writing my personal statement), so any chance I have to improve my application I'm taking. I also know I could do better than I did the first round (what made it super difficult is that I really didn't master the material all that well until the month before, made sloppy math mistakes, and I blew most of the aamcs exams way too early like in september/october. Also having the exam at 8am when i'm pretty much the least morning person ever didn't help). I also was doing way better on practice FLs bio sci sections than I got on the real deal. If I got a 30 on the real deal I wouldn't have touched it, but I have a knack for missing the score I need on exams by one point.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Also, I had the swine flu three days before I took the january exam, so that didnt exactly help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

agentfaithmd
AAMC MCAT Official Prep Complete Bundle Worth It?
Replies
0
Views
494
agentfaithmd
agentfaithmd
Blue Pistachio
First time MCAT prep with a target of March, 2024. Please help as I am spending June as a diagnostic period to find my pace, schedule, and strategy!!!
Replies
10
Views
2K
Blue Pistachio
Blue Pistachio
V
MCAT 4/8/22, Looking for CARS Strategies
Replies
1
Views
685
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
D
  • Question
Rescheduling March MCAT for April?
Replies
4
Views
2K
FutureOrtho2024
F
meraki_soul
  • Question
*The Official MCAT March 2018 Thread*
Replies
4
Views
2K
Mooseforkicks
M
Top