The Official May 31, 2014 MCAT Thread

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k12123

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Not sure if there's a thread on this but I couldn't find one. If there is, please let me know! Anyway, I took the TBR course from September(ish?)-December and was going to take the exam on January but wasn't ready enough go forward. Anyway I will be starting SN2's 3 month plan either today or tomorrow using the TBR books as well as EKs with TBR, TPR, and AAMC FLs. So who's with me??

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so this was rough. i'm sure that a lot of my stress comes from the fact that i don't know my score right now, but i also think i seriously need to prepare to retake.
i also thought PS was awful, but it's my weak spot and anxiety-inducing.
 
do you know if there is a known certain number of those types of experimental questions or does it vary among different tests?

No way to know for sure, but each section will have some experimental items that will not count towards your score. Which implies that it could be an entire passage with questions, a few experimental questions for passages that are field tested, or experimental discretes. There is no way to know for sure, unless you work for AAMC.
 
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No way to know for sure, but each section will have some experimental items that will not count towards your score. Which implies that it could be an entire passage with questions, a few experimental questions for passages that are field tested, or experimental discretes. There is no way to know for sure, unless you work for AAMC.

How sure are you that every exam will have these?
 
Hopefully the experimental ones were the ones I got wrong.

No kidding were all hoping the same. I too, thought ps was abnormally difficult. There a few power calculations that had two values for resistance. Wtf? Bio section wasn't too bad but the Vzn passage tripped me up.
 
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No kidding were all hoping the same. I too, thought ps was abnormally difficult. There a few power calculations that had two values for resistance. Wtf? Bio section wasn't too bad but the Vzn passage tripped me up.

R(T)= R1 + R2 lol
 
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seems like everyone felt similarly about certain bio passages and the PS in general. I honestly have no idea how I did. I'm grateful that I didn't have any test center problems or bothersome proctors and fellow test takers. There were only 8 of us in my center, which was nice.
 
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Anybody here that was rocking the PS section on AAMCs feel like it was more difficult? I consistently score 13s every time time and im hoping it says that way
 
It's written somewhere on their website. So I hope that it'll be that one ridiculously out of this world hard PS question
 
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No kidding were all hoping the same. I too, thought ps was abnormally difficult. There a few power calculations that had two values for resistance. Wtf? Bio section wasn't too bad but the Vzn passage tripped me up.

Don't talk about specifics they'll ban you :(
 
This test went poorly. Within one hour of finishing, I realized I got 4 bio discretes 100% wrong that were in my notes.
 
Those discretes I got wrong were soooo easy too, if I weren't under pressure and had a full night's sleep, would've been a piece of cake.
 
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Not knowing the score is even worst feeling than knowing the test didnt go so well.
 
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That PS section was particularly difficult. Physics is my subject and I found myself making more 'educated guesses' than I typically do. It is good to see that this is the general consensus though, as it hopefully indicates a generous scale.
As for the VR and BS, I feel they were more similar to AAMC practice test difficulty.. BS may even have been a tad easier.
 
I am an engineering major, and the PS is always my strongest section. I took the april mcat and voided due to a redic hard bio section. I studied hard as hell for bio and ofcourse now the bio was easy, and physics was so different then anything, plus i made a bunch of stupid mistakes on gen chem. can i never catch a break? ... I know i missed atleast 10 on physics probably more. Anyways I feel like you can never prepare or anticipate based of a section. In april my physics was so easy just like aamc directly same concepts. I think every exam has 1 hard section, bio or physics, and it rotates. Advice to all, study balls for both
 
Ugh now so nervous about sending in app before seeing mcat score, but i will take the gamble. If i do bad i can retake in end of july/early august hopefully and still be competitive? I cant believe the physics is what would throw me off, very upset at myself. Time to drink and bake some home made buffalo chicken pizza with the girly.. Cheers all
 
I'm also an engineering undergrad and that PS portion was a brutal outlier. I don't know, perhaps the exam has "evolved" since AAMC 11 or whatever the newer ones are. Perhaps there are more applicants which requires the exam designers to raise the bar.
 
Hey Guys,

PS: Ok (more towards the difficult side)
Verbal: Very difficult
BS: Fairly easy

Am I the only one who thought verbal was hard? Sad days...
 
I was getting a pretty consistent 15 in PS in AAMC 9 - 11, but I definitely screwed the pooch on PS today. I know of at least 1 that I got wrong (dumb dumb dumb mistake, just calculated wrong) and there was one that seemed SO easy yet I just couldn't get it. I'm more pissed at myself than anything.

Edit:

Does anyone know the question that I"m talking about? There was one that I swear just did not have the correct answer listed, and the question itself was pretty easy. That said, I was pretty nervous so I might just not have read the choices that well
 
Hey Guys,

PS: Ok (more towards the difficult side)
Verbal: Very difficult
BS: Fairly easy

Am I the only one who thought verbal was hard? Sad days...

Verbal's always a tossup, because they can give you a killer passage and easy questions, or easy passages and tough questions. I don't feel like any passage was a killer per se, but some of those questions were so arguable. Of course, they always are lol
 
I am an engineering major, and the PS is always my strongest section. I took the april mcat and voided due to a redic hard bio section. I studied hard as hell for bio and ofcourse now the bio was easy, and physics was so different then anything, plus i made a bunch of stupid mistakes on gen chem. can i never catch a break? ... I know i missed atleast 10 on physics probably more. Anyways I feel like you can never prepare or anticipate based of a section. In april my physics was so easy just like aamc directly same concepts. I think every exam has 1 hard section, bio or physics, and it rotates. Advice to all, study balls for both
Aside from anesthesia, EM, CC, and some specialties in surgery, physicians generally have more time to make critical decisions than what the MCAT tries to evaluate us on. We didn't go to engineering school to design a bridge in minutes. I remember taking calculus-based physics (ten years ago) and having generally all the time in the world to solve 5 problems. All or nothing, so you got a 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100 on the exam. For whatever reason, it is okay to test an examinee on how fast they can take shallow material and spit out correct answers -- and that (a 30 avg) evidently results in better physicians. That would result in a lot of poor bridges.

Perhaps I'm just oozing because it is important to get difficult concepts correct in ample time, rather than simple concepts correct hastily. Or maybe I'm just irritated that I have to wait 30 days for a few numbers.
 
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I was getting a pretty consistent 15 in PS in AAMC 9 - 11, but I definitely screwed the pooch on PS today. I know of at least 1 that I got wrong (dumb dumb dumb mistake, just calculated wrong) and there was one that seemed SO easy yet I just couldn't get it. I'm more pissed at myself than anything.

Edit:

Does anyone know the question that I"m talking about? There was one that I swear just did not have the correct answer listed, and the question itself was pretty easy. That said, I was pretty nervous so I might just not have read the choices that well

You missed just 1? I'm jelly. I missed a ton on BS, much more than I miss on my practice tests. I'm not sure which question you're talking about, I felt like all of the PS had legit answers.
 
You missed just 1? I'm jelly. I missed a ton on BS, much more than I miss on my practice tests. I'm not sure which question you're talking about, I felt like all of the PS had legit answers.

Nooo I wish I missed just one, but I know of at least one that I got wrong. On the one I couldn't get, maybe I was just stressed and didn't read the choices correctly. I can't mention the question but.... it might have involved something big and white?

I got an answer but one of the components was inverse to what the answer choices had listed. And I tried it again and again and couldn't figure out what I did wrong. I might ponder it more tomorrow if I feel particularly masochistic
 
Ugh now so nervous about sending in app before seeing mcat score, but i will take the gamble. If i do bad i can retake in end of july/early august hopefully and still be competitive? I cant believe the physics is what would throw me off, very upset at myself. Time to drink and bake some home made buffalo chicken pizza with the girly.. Cheers all

me too. But i guess i will submit it and get it verified in the meantime the scores come back.
 
Nooo I wish I missed just one, but I know of at least one that I got wrong. On the one I couldn't get, maybe I was just stressed and didn't read the choices correctly. I can't mention the question but.... it might have involved something big and white?

I think I know which one you are taking about. That whole passage was kinda messy. That passage did throw me off. While trying to calculate the answer I lost a good chunk of time :(
 
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I think I know which one you are taking about. That whole passage was kinda messy. That passage did throw me off. While trying to calculate the answer I lost a good chunk of time :(

Yeah that passage was tricky. The one question at the end also had some poorly worded answer choices. Of course, I picked the "best one" but the answer wasn't very specific

Does anyone know when we can submit our apps to AMCAS for MD?

Isn't it June 3rd? I might be wrong though
 
BS was rough for me because I didn't budget my time that well and had about 7 minutes to go through the last 6-8 questions. On AAMC FL's I had been finishing bio most quickly. I thought PS was tough but fair and for whatever reason the VR first passage had me scratching my head longer than the other passages (VR was my highest section when I took it back in 2011 - I got an 11 on it).
 
I got my ass handed by physics. Now I don't know if I need to take a gap year or not... Felt like I got a 7 on that section !
 
Yeah that passage was tricky. The one question at the end also had some poorly worded answer choices. Of course, I picked the "best one" but the answer wasn't very specific



Isn't it June 3rd? I might be wrong though

Oh that passage. I think I got the last question right then second guessed myself and got it wrong. The question you're referring to was quite confusing, I remember it.
 
Ok, so after reading the comments, it made me feel better about my performance. I took the MCAT exactly one month ago, and messed up the first PS section with 1 full passage guessing and end up voiding the test. My thought on the test today:
1) PS section --> harder than I was expecting (this is to show that you can never really be ready for this MCAT test, I ended up having 2-3 questions with calculation completely guessing on those)
2) Verbal section --> HARD for me (but easier than most FL I took because I at least understood all of the passages)
3) Bio section --> 1, 2, 3, 4 passages .... why are these so easy ..... bam bam bam wth????? (these passages are not hard, but can easily throw you off), I end up skipping passage number 5, finish passage #6 in 5 mins and come back to finish passage #5 right on time (didn't even have time to check my marked questions)

I am an ESL student and I consistently score above 10 on both PS and Bio, but keep getting a 6 on the Verbal. I plan on continue to study for the test for another 2 months to improve my verbal while getting my application together. This entire process of applying to medical school, studying for the MCAT, working full time, wondering whether you are good enough to be in medical school, being afraid of letting your loved ones down ... I literally will run across the street naked if I get an accepted letter to medical school this year. I think the most important thing for us premed here (traditional and non-traditional) is to NEVER GIVE UP
 
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I forgot to ask, did any one try the trial section? I got biochemistry, 4 passages, and my thought was 'damn, I really need to ace the test my 3rd time because I am not taking the new version of MCAT'. Why do they think that they have to add more stuff for us to study?? who used biochemistry in medical school (well except maybe to understand some underlying pathways that caused the diseases, drug kinetics, blah blah). I honestly tried 2 passages and answered 80% of the questions that I know the answers, the rest was too complicated, too much extra information, too tired to read and think anymore. Any one is going to take the new 2015 test??
 
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Pretty much in agreement with everyone else.

PS was really tough compared to most aamc full lengths I took. Kind of similar to some of the Kaplan but still I thought it was challenging.

VR always a toss up for me. I barely finished the section in time and I really have no clue how I think I did.

BS I thought it was relatively easy. I was pretty confident with it and actually finished with 15 or so minutes to spare.

I did the trial section but I was exhausted by that point and only really put in any effort in the first 3 sets of questions. It was pretty difficult without a thorough recent review of biochemistry
 
Lol, after I took the test my boyfriend had to restrain me all of yesterday from compulsively checking SDN.

But now that I'm finally on here, I feel kind of relieved that everybody agrees that PS was difficult. I had a 12.5 average on all my AAMC PS's and thought I got UTTERLY DESTROYED on this section. It also played to possibly EVERY SINGLE one of my weaknesses and absolutely NONE of my strengths. I panicked and guessed on a couple of calculation problems (due to time), made somewhat "educated guesses" at a few conceptual problems, and got at least one calculation problem incorrect because I rushed through it. -_-

VR seemed fair, but it can go either way.

BS on par or even slightly easier than the practice exams. But I know that I got at least 1 or 2 easy discretes wrong.

Just hoping that VR and BS compensate for the terrible PS score to come...
 
I thought the PS had a lot of easy questions, but there was obviously a couple of difficult passages and discrete questions. The verbal reasoning was the most difficult section in my opinion. It might have to do with the fact that I'm not particularly strong in this section, but the questions seemed more ambiguous than I had hoped for, but you never know with this section. The BS section was super straightforward and overall the easiest section on this exam. Overall, this exam was fair, but a lot more challenging than any of the practice exams. I'm just hoping for a generous curve :)
 
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