The Official May 22, 2015 MCAT Thread

[fenderboi930]

I think many of you will agree that today is a great day to officially prepare for the May 22nd MCAT!!!

I was against the April 2015 MCAT because a typical 3 month schedule doesn't seem to work for
students and/or working test takers. With a little over 4 months of preparation we can go in with confidence!
It's all new and really scary--so let's kick MCAT butt together!!

I was also wondering, wouldn't many professional MCAT test takers and tutors want to take the MCAT 2015 as soon
as possible (April MCAT) so they can better they're material or teaching? Wouldn't that just destroy the curve?

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[lukester43]

I only used their books...or just one psy specifically. So their classes wasn't that great? I always wondered if I should've paid the money and if it would've helped.

Anyway, with that I am out, goodbye and helloo JUNE THREAD! :3

Nooo, class was TERRIBLE. It used to be content based with a little strategy, but now with so much content they switched to all strategy. And I feel like besdies CARS, I didn't need any strategy help, plus their CARS approach was really bad.

 

[success16]

Success16,
The email states "If you elected to have your exam scored AND wish to have those scores reported, You do not need to take further action. If you were affected by todays issues, you can schedule a new exam date WITHOUT FEE, or you may request a refund. "

Bottom line is, I take that as I will most definitely not be paying another $300

Now I didn't hit "submit" but I didn't hit void (I let time expire, defaulting to scoring the exam, my thinking was that they can't force me to void an exam in 4 minutes, without knowing if I will be able to get another seat in 2015, for the application cycle, when its their tech problems.)

Exactly, if you didn't hit submit or void then you are fine. You will be able to reschedule for free, at least that's what I got from the email and what my proctors told me.

 

[LaPola19_MD]

For those who took ek and/or next step FL. Did you feel they were good preparation for the exam?

 

[Levrone]

I took 3 EK FL's and I liked them, they were a good representation of the real thing.. But they're not perfect. And I think EK physics is more complicated

 

[mdeluxe8]

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone would be willing to help me out here...took the test today and I really don't know how I did. I typically felt as if I had done terribly after every practice test I had taken (all kaplan and AAMC, plus all AAMC for old exam)...and I ended up doing okay. I pretty much felt the same today, CARS was a disaster...
I did however notice the lag and was getting increasing frustrated that it was taking sometime in between questions. Honestly it didn't really cross my mind to complain to someone because I just figured that's how it was going to be. Now after reading how big of a deal it was to everyone else...I am very nervous and wondering if I would be able to retake on the 2nd. I was able to finish the test and click submit, but there was the same sort of error that others above have mentioned about my screen freezing and the proctor actually having to go back in to click something...which I have no idea what he clicked and that upset me.
Additionally, the lunch break itself was an absolute disgrace. My bag would not fit into the locker so I placed it on top as instructed. During the break, feeling rushed and on the clock, there was no seating and I grabbed my bag and went to the bathroom. I used the bathroom (honestly) and ate a f****** snickers bar. When I came back out I was met by the proctor saying "why do you have your bag, are you studying?"...I thought I was going to drop dead. I was not, and would never, do that. I explained that to the lady and she basically wouldn't continue the conversation with me. She told me to go back in and "someone would come and get me if they decided to cancel my test." So basically I went back in, wrote "it's over anyway..." on the top of my scratch paper and finished the damn test. To me, none of us should have to endure that after all of the time we have put in. I feel as if this may have severely impacted my score.

Not looking for anyone's sympathy or anything like that, I have been reading the ongoing posts and respect all of you a lot for enduring this as well...just looking for some honest advice; I don't know what to do.

 

[BeachBaby]

yep

 

[mdeluxe8]

Sorry if I wasted anyones time here...just found this via AAMC:
Test Center Concerns submitted in the timeframe noted above will receive a written response detailing the findings of our investigation. If a testing irregularity is confirmed, you may provide the written response to any interested party as documentation of the incident. The AAMC will not reverse your decision to void or score your exam as a result of a confirmed test center problem. No exceptions will be made to this policy under any circumstances. Furthermore, examinees who complete their exam and submit it for scoring despite the occurrence of a testing irregularity are not eligible for a refund or a free retest.
...alrighty then I guess!

 

[WhaleFace]

Exact same issue over here...what general area were you testing in (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, etc.)? I'm trying to figure out if this was an isolated thing or if it happened across the country. Any clue when we'll hear about rescheduling?

Happened to me too! Midwesterner

 

[stonyalltheway]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...most-difficult-section.1138371/#post-16506257

 

[Glazedonutlove]

K now I'm starting to think I actually failed every section especially verbal

 

[UCD82]

My weakness has always been PS. My strength has always been Bio (like most of us). I actually felt better about the PS section compared to my previous attempt at the MCAT. CARS felt decent. PSYC/SOC had some random stuff and asked a question that I honestly thought they would not be A-holes enough to ask. However, I thought the BIO was actually pretty hard. Talked to a friend who thought the same (we did nit discuss specifics just in case the AAMC is watching) Well now its a waiting game

 

[Glazedonutlove]

HOW DO PEOPLE WAIT 3 weeks

 

[Digsbe]

I took it today, I was in one of the test centers where the exam had crashed for people and there were 2 minute loading times on some questions resulting in nearly everyone unable to complete reading comprehension and whizzing through the rest of the test. About 4 people walked out and set up arrangements to reschedule. I felt very strongly about biology, decent on chem, decent to poor on psych and honestly felt very good about reading comprehension up until the point that the test began bugging out and I wasn't able to complete it, left 3 questions blank because they physically wouldn't load, with 10 minutes left on the timer I was going to guess the rest and then review them so I'd at least have answers but even in 10 minutes I could load roughly 10 questions worth of material

I'm hoping things turn out alright, the testing center said they would be sending in a report and I'd get a call next week on how to proceed with everything regarding the glitches on their end.

 

[daftypatty]

Hey guys, do you have any tips/suggestions for the June takers after having taken today's exam? Specifically, anything DIFFERENT you would have done in your studying?

From what I'm reading so far, this is what I'm taking away:
- Physics should NOT be de-emphasized. I was actually going to switch to EK for physics, but it looks like I'm going to start using TBR again just in case.
- The prep companies seem to be missing a lot of information/terms for the Psych/sociology sections? Out of the 3, which would you recommend the most for this section? (EK vs. Kaplan vs. TPR)
- Amino acids & metabolic pathways in Biochem were very important, as suspected

 

[Mr. Beefy Lion]

I'm sure you all did well. After taking the exam what would you recommend for practice questions? I feel like i e studied enough content but I can't get my hands on enough problems...

 

[BabyShoes]

Don't fret boys and girls. I walked out of the April test thinking I bombed the physical section (I blind guessed on ~4-5 questions because I ran out of time). I wound up scoring 81-96% on physical in my percentile report.

On the other hand, I thought I aced the bio section and scored 61-76%.

Hope I made you all feel better.

 

[takeonme]

I took it today, I was in one of the test centers where the exam had crashed for people and there were 2 minute loading times on some questions resulting in nearly everyone unable to complete reading comprehension and whizzing through the rest of the test. About 4 people walked out and set up arrangements to reschedule. I felt very strongly about biology, decent on chem, decent to poor on psych and honestly felt very good about reading comprehension up until the point that the test began bugging out and I wasn't able to complete it, left 3 questions blank because they physically wouldn't load, with 10 minutes left on the timer I was going to guess the rest and then review them so I'd at least have answers but even in 10 minutes I could load roughly 10 questions worth of material

I'm hoping things turn out alright, the testing center said they would be sending in a report and I'd get a call next week on how to proceed with everything regarding the glitches on their end.

did you submit for your exam to be scored? my testing center said they would be sending a report too but never mentioned that if you submit, you arent eligible for retest, etc.

 

[Digsbe]

did you submit for your exam to be scored? my testing center said they would be sending a report too but never mentioned that if you submit, you arent eligible for retest, etc.

I did submit it to be scored, they never told us not to submit or that doing so would impact things, they just told us to finish the test and expect a call next week on how to proceed given the lag issues. They mentioned as well that they would put a special note on the score reports too indicating there were technical difficulties. They did tell people they could walk out and reschedule though at the halfway point, I drove about 750 miles to get to my testing center so rescheduling isn't really an option for me assuming it's at the same site. I'll just wait to see what they say next week when I get a call.

 

[Youngm2194]

Idk if it was answered previously, but how to the Khan Academy questions compare to the actual MCAT when y'all took it? Since it's in conjunction with AAMC it seems like they'd be more representative than EK, KP, TPR, TBR, etc. questions but I wasn't sure how "good" they were to be exact. In my opinion they don't seem to be as difficult as I thought they would be.

 

[IKnowNothingSometimes]

Nooo, class was TERRIBLE. It used to be content based with a little strategy, but now with so much content they switched to all strategy. And I feel like besdies CARS, I didn't need any strategy help, plus their CARS approach was really bad.

The best approach to me is still EK's. straight forward. Just understand the author's point of view and understand the question stems.

Idk if it was answered previously, but how to the Khan Academy questions compare to the actual MCAT when y'all took it? Since it's in conjunction with AAMC it seems like they'd be more representative than EK, KP, TPR, TBR, etc. questions but I wasn't sure how "good" they were to be exact. In my opinion they don't seem to be as difficult as I thought they would be.

Used their videos not the questions, but I guess I have those now for my retake. They helped a lot especially psychology (i've never taken a course before in my life).

 

[Ulgarmoose]

To people asking what I'd do differently, etc.

Admittedly I'm pretty clueless as to how I did. Did I pick correctly on those 5 questions I had to 50/50? Who knows. Given that, I have no idea if I should have done anything differently at all

Killed CARS though, I'm sure.

 

[newbeginnings]

So in terms of FL is it more of AAMC>>>>>>>>>EK>TPR>Kaplan?

 

[success16]

I did submit it to be scored, they never told us not to submit or that doing so would impact things, they just told us to finish the test and expect a call next week on how to proceed given the lag issues. They mentioned as well that they would put a special note on the score reports too indicating there were technical difficulties. They did tell people they could walk out and reschedule though at the halfway point, I drove about 750 miles to get to my testing center so rescheduling isn't really an option for me assuming it's at the same site. I'll just wait to see what they say next week when I get a call.

I wouldn't wait to get a call. Call them yourself if you are thinking of rescheduling for June 2nd. We only have till Wednesday to file a claim. Also, the policy clearly states that if you submitted your test you won't be eligible for free retest or refund.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

To people asking what I'd do differently, etc.

Admittedly I'm pretty clueless as to how I did. Did I pick correctly on those 5 questions I had to 50/50? Who knows. Given that, I have no idea if I should have done anything differently at all

Killed CARS though, I'm sure.

Killed as in Aced it or did bad? It seems like most people here thought it was awful lol

 

[eartwj]

Were the EK 30 min exams much easier than the test and are the books good material to study out of? I have 3 TPR FL and the Sample Test, so far.

 

[takeonme]

I wouldn't wait to get a call. Call them yourself if you are thinking of rescheduling for June 2nd. We only have till Wednesday to file a claim. Also, the policy clearly states that if you submitted your test you won't be eligible for free retest or refund.

i saw that while filling out the test center concern form. it appears that at other test centers (such as mine and @Digsbe), we were not informed of this policy. granted, it is on the mcat essentials, but it sucks for people who were at an extreme disadvantage and lost a lot of time and didn't know if they submitted, they wouldnt have the potential option of a free retest

i did also see this in the essentials document:


anyways, who knows what will happen now? im glad its over but if the possibility of a retake happens, i may go for it given that i felt absolutely horrible about CARS

 

[StarFall]

Why do some people ask what's on it or if x or y was on it?

 

[happyhippo1958]

Did it not bug anyone else the number of simple spelling errors on the exam and changes in fonts and font sizes in the middle of the passages?

 

[carpediem22]

Were the EK 30 min exams much easier than the test and are the books good material to study out of? I have 3 TPR FL and the Sample Test, so far.

1) Y'all need to learn patience. Bombarding this thread -- which exists to enable us May test-takers to discuss our experience with each other -- with questions for your own benefit on the same day as the exam is probably the most selfish thing you could do. You'll want to learn this before you become a doctor, for the sake of your patients.

2) That being said, I've had my first anxiety-free sleep in a month so I will take a shot at this question. I studied by EK with the books, as well as some TBR books and the TPR psych/soc book. I felt that EK was adequate for most things (NOT psych/soc -- either wait until they revise it, or get TPR), but did not cover some of the annoyingly minor details that popped up in a few of the free-standing questions. Particularly bio. However this was probably 2-3 points at most. It was, however, grossly insufficient in biochemistry. I took a biochemistry course designed for biochem majors, so luckily I was able to handle most of those questions (which came up on both bio and PS). I used my course's lecture slides to review for this. These were extremely helpful, though I think I probably still missed a few questions.

Based on my experience I would de-emphasize physics. As the AAMC outline suggests, physics now occupies a very little percentage of total questions. You still need to know your stuff for those few questions/passages you will get, but I wouldn't focus your energy on it.

CARS was hard. The reason there is discrepancy on this thread is because people had different versions of the exam. But make no mistake, the practice was a breeze compared to this. The passages were more complicated and longer. That being said, I think I still did OK on this. I don't know how you would prepare for this because I didn't really. I majored in history in college so I am fairly comfortable analyzing convoluted texts.

I finished all sections with enough time to go back and review my marked questions. PS I finished with about 10 minutes for review, CARS I finished with about 7 minutes, Bio I don't remember but not much time, and PSYCH/SOC I finished with 25 minutes (!!). For some context, I was struggling to finish PS on time in all of the EK exams. So if you are careful not to spend to much time stressing over hard questions (mark them, pick your best guess, and move on!), you can finish on time easily and have time to go back and re-think the ones you marked.

I don't know how I scored yesterday so take my advice with a grain of salt. On the AAMC practice I scored 75/92/87/90 with about a month and a half left to study and content review not finished. But I thought the practice exam was much easier than the real thing. I think that in some ways you are better off really knowing your stuff (content review!) than doing a million practice passages. Unless you are not comfortable reading scientific literature in the way it is presented on the AAMC FL -- in that case, my advice would be to read real papers.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

Seriously. Stop asking us what's on the exam. Just freaking study for it and stop annoying everyone here

 

[IKnowNothingSometimes]

Seriously. Stop asking us what's on the exam. Just freaking study for it and stop annoying everyone here

I think people have already answered most questions that can be asked too..... No company will prepare you that well besides the actual sample test.

 

[SweetSunshine2001]

Seriously i hate the AAMC! They are such **holes
1. They create this whole new test... That theyve been working on for 3 years and only make 1 practice test
2. They decrease the number of testing dates significantly and they increase the number of examines on at the same time on the same NEW software... Without TESTING IT! And everyones computers crash!!
I submitted but it defintely freaked me out and made me screw up passages BECAUSE OF THAT! I had to drive 2 hours to my testing site/hotel fees and all! I seriously hate them! So unprofessional!

 

[IKnowNothingSometimes]

Seriously i hate the AAMC! They are such **holes
1. They create this whole new test... That theyve been working on for 3 years and only make 1 practice test
2. They decrease the number of testing dates significantly and they increase the number of examines on at the same time on the same NEW software... Without TESTING IT! And everyones computers crash!!
I submitted but it defintely freaked me out and made me screw up passages BECAUSE OF THAT! I had to drive 2 hours to my testing site/hotel fees and all! I seriously hate them! So unprofessional!

If you mind me asking, did you contact them via there website (aamc)? Did they contact you back to schedule a new date? And did you have to pay again?

Also, since i'm freaking out about next time in case it happens to me, was hitting submit even after the crash the correct action?

 

[takeonme]

Seriously i hate the AAMC! They are such **holes
1. They create this whole new test... That theyve been working on for 3 years and only make 1 practice test
2. They decrease the number of testing dates significantly and they increase the number of examines on at the same time on the same NEW software... Without TESTING IT! And everyones computers crash!!
I submitted but it defintely freaked me out and made me screw up passages BECAUSE OF THAT! I had to drive 2 hours to my testing site/hotel fees and all! I seriously hate them! So unprofessional!

I wonder if any April people had the same problem

 

[SweetSunshine2001]

If you mind me asking, did you contact them via there website (aamc)? Did they contact you back to schedule a new date? And did you have to pay again?

Also, since i'm freaking out about next time in case it happens to me, was hitting submit even after the crash the correct action?

I think the April batch was much smaller than us!
I did get an email if i wanted to retest for free june 2nd and have this voided and i was one of the ppl that hit submit and completed the test!

Im just contomplating retesting in june I ACTUALLY have a JOB! And i took time off to travel for my test! Theyre just unprofessional to bring on a huge change like this WITHOUT an ounce of thought!

 

[carpediem22]

I'm kindof worried that so many people are canceling their scores and retaking. Will AAMC calculate percentiles from June 2nd and May 22nd combined, or separately?

Either way, it's going to mess with the percentiles. Realistically the people voiding their scores and re-taking on the June 2nd date are people who did not feel good about how they performed. Thus the sample left over will be overall higher-scoring. This depends on 1) Whether people who submitted yesterday despite the issues have the option to go back and cancel (seems unfair to me if that's the case -- you could then cancel based on how you did, skewing the sample) 2) How many testing centers actually had these issues. I can't tell if it's a substantial portion or just a few centers.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

I'm kindof worried that so many people are canceling their scores and retaking. Will AAMC calculate percentiles from June 2nd and May 22nd combined, or separately?

Either way, it's going to mess with the percentiles. Realistically the people voiding their scores and re-taking on the June 2nd date are people who did not feel good about how they performed. Thus the sample left over will be overall higher-scoring. This depends on 1) Whether people who submitted yesterday despite the issues have the option to go back and cancel (seems unfair to me if that's the case -- you could then cancel based on how you did, skewing the sample) 2) How many testing centers actually had these issues. I can't tell if it's a substantial portion or just a few centers.

I feel like they would have to use different percentiles since the repeaters have an obvious advantage? Wish they planned it out better so this problem never happened!

 

[carpediem22]

But think about it: if they used different percentiles, then those of us who don't have the option to void might be competing with a much higher-scoring sample. People who submitted on test day despite server issues now have the option to think about how they did, and base their void decision on that. So obviously, the people who don't cancel are more likely to be people who did well despite issues. Since percentiles are everything, that makes it harder to get a good percentile.

This will only affect things if there are a lot of people being given this option.

 

[reticence]

Yeah this whole situation kind of sucks. I don't know how many people had these issues yesterday, so I don't know how much the percentiles will be affected if that many people had significant issues/had to void entirely. Part of me wants to see how I did on the May 22 exam before thinking about a re-take, even knowing that Bio and Verbal gave me trouble (the lag hit me during those two sections, I don't know if the lag hit everyone in the same place).

If the percentiles for the new June 2nd test come out later than June 12, then that makes me think they will be a separate set of percentiles and not included in the April/May exams.

 

[carpediem22]

Yeah this whole situation kind of sucks. I don't know how many people had these issues yesterday, so I don't know how much the percentiles will be affected if that many people had significant issues/had to void entirely. Part of me wants to see how I did on the May 22 exam before thinking about a re-take, even knowing that Bio and Verbal gave me trouble (the lag hit me during those two sections, I don't know if the lag hit everyone in the same place).

If the percentiles for the new June 2nd test come out later than June 12, then that makes me think they will be a separate set of percentiles and not included in the April/May exams.

How long do you have to decide? They aren't giving you the option of voiding after you get your percentile, right?

I'm honestly not sure what people mean by the lag. I wouldn't call my computer fast per-say, as it did take a few seconds to load questions, but I thought that was normal. Unless it actually took a full 10 seconds for each question to load I can't see how that would really affect much. The computer crashes are a totally different ball-game though -- I can definitely see how that would negatively impact performance!

 

[SweetSunshine2001]

How long do you have to decide? They aren't giving you the option of voiding after you get your percentile, right?

I'm honestly not sure what people mean by the lag. I wouldn't call my computer fast per-say, as it did take a few seconds to load questions, but I thought that was normal. Unless it actually took a full 10 seconds for each question to load I can't see how that would really affect much. The computer crashes are a totally different ball-game though -- I can definitely see how that would negatively impact performance!

My lag time was 15-20 per question! Couldnt scroll through the passage! Couldnt highlight! Just super scary!

 

[Annaleise]

How long do you have to decide? They aren't giving you the option of voiding after you get your percentile, right?

I'm honestly not sure what people mean by the lag. I wouldn't call my computer fast per-say, as it did take a few seconds to load questions, but I thought that was normal. Unless it actually took a full 10 seconds for each question to load I can't see how that would really affect much. The computer crashes are a totally different ball-game though -- I can definitely see how that would negatively impact performance!

It was a very significant lag. At my site, everyone was affected and it was a very tense situation. Personally, any time I clicked on the screen - either to scroll in the passage or select an answer - there would be a 5 second delay while it "processed." When I clicked the "next" to go to the next question, the whole screen would go blank and by the time the next screen appeared the timer had dropped 16 to 19 seconds. I definitely lost AT LEAST 20 minutes in the verbal section, and I generally average about 8-9 minutes per passage + set of questions anyway. So yes, it was very significant and not just a normal delay.

 

[reticence]

How long do you have to decide? They aren't giving you the option of voiding after you get your percentile, right?

I'm honestly not sure what people mean by the lag. I wouldn't call my computer fast per-say, as it did take a few seconds to load questions, but I thought that was normal. Unless it actually took a full 10 seconds for each question to load I can't see how that would really affect much. The computer crashes are a totally different ball-game though -- I can definitely see how that would negatively impact performance!

As I understand it, you need to let AAMC know soon that you want the June 2nd test date if you had significant problems on May 22nd. Preliminary percentiles for the May 22nd test come out June 12 or so. I wouldn't have re-taken on the June 2nd date regardless of my percentile if that's what you were asking.

I didn't have the lag as bad as others but it was definitely noticeable. During the Bio/Verbal sections I was getting up to 10-15 seconds of nothing after clicking the "Next" tab, which cost me about 6-8 more seconds than normal (per question). I did think that it was just typical old/slow computer issues at first, but when I came back here after the exam I saw that others had to void because their computer's lag was either impossible to get through or their computer just plain crashed. I'm actually trying to confirm with AAMC if my exam can be scored without any issues - I got an error message after submitting Psych/Soc, so I didn't see the survey or the void option. When I talked to the test admins they said they called AAMC and that our exams were okay but I wanted to be certain if possible.

Verbal was the worst section for the lag to hit.

 

[nomdeplume1234]

It's pretty unimaginable that they would have computer issues. After giving CBT for years and having years to prepare and charging $300 per test they really should have had their stuff together. Hopefully we can read about it in the WSJ or NYT .

 

[carpediem22]

Wow ouch. That sucks.

Well, I hope AAMC makes this right for everyone who had lag and everyone who didn't. They will have to do some crazy statistical analyses to normalize everything.

There are WAY too many variables in the MCAT this cycle. I pity the medical school adcoms who have to make sense of it all.

 

[mdeluxe8]

Okay so maybe I'm looking at things a bit different after sleeping on it...someone tell me if I'm crazy or not. By the logic above (which I'm not really disagreeing with) those who finished and submitted could be screwed. But, if the majority of people who submitted to be scores are not eligible for a retest then I don't see how it negatively impacts us. First of all, a lot of people felt that cars was bad, which is a good thing right? Second of all, there were a lot of people, it seems, that dealt with the lag and still battled through it. So, isn't that an advantage to those of us that submitted because even the best of the best had extremely limited time? Maybe I'm more optimistic now but really, this is kind of like a race...I would rather race against the fastest driver in the world when he has less time to complete the same amount of laps as me.

 

[DrHart]

How widespread was this lag? Would anyone mind sharing their state/region? It looks like many people had issues... that would really suck :/

 

[carpediem22]

I tested outside of Boston and as far as I can tell, no lag. Slow old computers, but nothing devastating.

 

[Annaleise]

I still submitted my exam - there was a big disadvantage since the majority of my time lost was in CARS, where every second counts (at least for me). But bio wasn't bad and the questions didn't require a lot of time - either I knew it or I didn't and all the time in the world wouldn't make it appear in my brain, unfortunately
But even though I submitted, I still got an email saying that I could choose to void my exam. I spoke to AAMC to clarify and even if you submitted your exam to be scored, you may void them and you can still get a free retake if you feel like the computer errors compromised my score.
Although I was affected, it's not worth it for me to retake. It definitely stressed me out during CARS but despite the errors, I don't feel like I did horribly. Hopefully that doesn't blow up in my face in a few weeks...

 

[Annaleise]

I took the exam in New York.