*The Official May 6th, 2016 MCAT Thread*

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DannySCR

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
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Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to see who's with me in fighting this beast on May 6th. This could be a great place to help each other out, be it through study tips, mnemonics, or simply relieving stress. Nice to meet you all!

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Ok I wanted to be done with this thread today but now I am having a panic question. I'm looking at the sample test in the C/P section, #30 and #32. How do you know that metal ions decrease the amount of CPFX to bound BSA? I'm having a brain fart here. Also #32, how do you know the binding site of CPFX on BSA is site I? I know that both of these answers have to do with the Ka and Ka/K0 but I can't figure it out for some reason.
 
Ok I wanted to be done with this thread today but now I am having a panic question. I'm looking at the sample test in the C/P section, #30 and #32. How do you know that metal ions decrease the amount of CPFX to bound BSA? I'm having a brain fart here. Also #32, how do you know the binding site of CPFX on BSA is site I? I know that both of these answers have to do with the Ka and Ka/K0 but I can't figure it out for some reason.

Your Ko is your norm. So without a metal ion, what is the affinity like. Remember the higher the Ka, the greater the affinity. Ka/Ko is comparing the ratio of affinities - aka what is CPFX w/ a metal ion vs. CPFX w/o a metal ion. If we saw a ratio over 1, that would indicate that Ka increases when we bind a metal ion. Since it's smaller, it means that the affinity is decreasing. Let me know if you need further clarification!
 
Your Ko is your norm. So without a metal ion, what is the affinity like. Remember the higher the Ka, the greater the affinity. Ka/Ko is comparing the ratio of affinities - aka what is CPFX w/ a metal ion vs. CPFX w/o a metal ion. If we saw a ratio over 1, that would indicate that Ka increases when we bind a metal ion. Since it's smaller, it means that the affinity is decreasing. Let me know if you need further clarification!
So since the ratios are less than 1 that means less CPFX will be bound?


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For 32, warfarin and ibuprofen are competing for binding to BSA w/ CPFX. However, it's possible that they don't bind to the same site as CPFX (one could bind at an active site vs allosteric site, or they bind at different allosteric sites). Okay, cool, but how do we know where CPFX binds. Remember Ka/Ko is a ratio measure of affinities. So if we saw a perfect 1/1 ratio, site binding is not being interfered with. The lower the ratio, the more the affinity is decreasing. We have two values, 0.46 (warfarin) and 0.87 (ibuprofen). Based on the values, we know warfarin is competing with CPFX because the affinity for Ka/Ko is decreasing more. Ka/Ko in this case represents [CPFX w/ warfarin or ibuprofen and BSA]/[CPFX w/ BSA only].
 
Ok, so what happens if I have to go to the bathroom during a test section? Can it just subtract time for my break? Can't find anything that details this...my bowels are making me quite nervous, honestly.

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It may be too late to have this discussion, but what are people putting down on their cheat sheets?

The basics for me include the AA structures, abbreviations, and groups as well as the nucleic acids, sin and cos numbers , elements in series (i always confuse whether voltage is constant or current and its just easier for me to write down now), and a couple quirky orgo things for me to remember basic stuff. i usually have 4 minutes left to write other stuff down though. i have been simply writing down the major psych stuff like freuds psychosexual stuff, erikson, kohlberg, and piaget, but those are more fillers for time...

I saw someone post their cheat sheet on reddit and found it very organized so I have tried to emulate it
 
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Good luck tomorrow everyone :)! And honestly I haven't studied half as hard as all you guys (so committed)! However, I have some tips for you all that have helped me when taking practice exams!

For people who are doing bad on the CARS section, I've been getting pretty strong scores on that (>80%), I recommend just looking at all the questions for the section prior to reading and really concentrating on the passage. Take it all line by line and when answering make sure it's answering what the passage is looking for and who the intended audience is (that means, don't put your own bias into it). I also recommend sticking with the passage until you finish all the questions going back and trying to answer the questions can be more time consuming because you have to pretty much reread the whole passage to remember what was going on. Also, pretty much 70% of the questions can be found by just straight up comprehending the passage and regurgitating out what it said (think simple, don't over complicate; if it say this is "A", don't try to say it could probably mean "B" by using outside knowledge).

For C/P, this section is the hardest one for me (65-70%, but I usually have like 35+ minutes left so I probably am just rushing through because it is sooooo tedious) because it actually requires a lot more rote memorization of formulas, etc (even though I'm majoring in BC haha). What has helped me was doing a lot of process of elimination, especially for the math based questions. Usually, you have a sense of what the answer should be, so if you see any huge outliers, just cross those out immediately. Also, for reactions, I've noticed that sometimes the best way to look at it is just to think simple--is it oxidation or reduction--that gets you through a little bit less than half of those questions.

Bio is my best section, 90% with always 45+ minutes left. The best thing you can do there is really understand all the graphs and charts they give you, your answers are always (99.9999% of the time) in the passages. In fact, this is key to remember for all sections: the answer is there somewhere. It is always one of the choices and it's probably in the passage. Just take your time to connect the dots. If it isn't, then it's most like another process of elimination. Also, when you read a passage and it talks about enzyme regulation or metabolism, the new MCAT doesn't really make remember these cycles--usually they give you it or tell you about it. In that case, just write it down--ex. if x goes up => y goes down => z goes down, so then when a question asks you if enzyme x=>y is messed up, then you know that z concentrations will be higher than usual.

For psych (80ish%), while there definitely are a lot of terms you might not know during the exam, a lot of the time you can derive it using basic latin roots or just thinking what that term is saying/process of elimination. Many times you know what three or two of the four terms are, and if they don't fall in line with what it is asking, then you can cross it out. Also, most psych, sociology stuff can sometimes be answered with using some common sense and thinking about what the question is trying to get at. Also, the graphs and data charts can help too. For all these sections, graphs and charts are your saviors.

Most importantly, just know that you can do it. Take it step by step. Be methodical. Don't let your mind get cloudy and think clearly. Also, just get a good night's rest please! It's ok to be nervous, but just know that life will have things work out for you whether you do well on this or not. Your life is not defined by your MCAT score and should never be--even if you get a 520. As long as you continue to be diligent and hard working, you can still become successful!
 
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So, I'm doing a few last minute unfinished CARS passages from the Q-pack and... I'm actually kind of doing well on them???¿¿??¿ These fluctuations in performance is messing with me (it could just be that the passages and questions are easier but they don't feel easier so idk?¿?
It may be too late to have this discussion, but what are people putting down on their cheat sheets?

The basics for me include the AA structures, abbreviations, and groups as well as the nucleic acids, sin and cos numbers , elements in series (i always confuse whether voltage is constant or current and its just easier for me to write down now), and a couple quirky orgo things for me to remember basic stuff. i usually have 4 minutes left to write other stuff down though. i have been simply writing down the major psych stuff like freuds psychosexual stuff, erikson, kohlberg, and piaget, but those are more fillers for time...

I saw someone post their cheat sheet on reddit and found it very organized so I have tried to emulate it
Do you have a link to the reddit cheat sheet?
I'm also going to add a chart on inhibitor effects as well as side chain protonation/deprotonation charges on mine. Maybe a few physics formulas
 
I'm getting my ass kicked on psych/sociology Section Bank. And the test is tomorrow. Any tips on getting better within the next couple hours?
 
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I'm getting my ass kicked on psych/sociology Section Bank. And the test is tomorrow. Any tips on getting better within the next couple hours?
Doing a section bank the day before is crazy. I would suggest to stop doing the section bank because theh actually represents the hard side of mcat. Good luck tomorrow
 
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I'm getting my ass kicked on psych/sociology Section Bank. And the test is tomorrow. Any tips on getting better within the next couple hours?
Which type of questions on the section bank are giving you the most trouble? Are they cause and effect, experimental, terminology problems, etc.?
 
@myevilclone Great advice.

For people struggling with CARS, you can almost always eliminate 2 choices right away for each questions because often they either have nothing to do with main idea and/or question stem, or they are saying the opposite of what the passages say. It will make your life much easier...try it out.
 
Which type of questions on the section bank are giving you the most trouble? Are they cause and effect, experimental, terminology problems, etc.?

just strictly terminology. my data interpretation is decent, but all these socio/psych terms that all basically mean the same thing are throwing me off. Mostly sociology. I absolutely hate the behavioral sciences.

Also, I figured that studying for the hardest version of the MCAT and being prepared for the worst is better than getting blindsided tomorrow morning.
 
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I'm doing section banks today too. I'm actually learning quite a bit that has IMO a high chance of being relevant tomorrow. It's also lowering my confidence... Yolo though.
 
75% correct on the scored cars is a 126. GTFO. How is that even possible. At minimum that should be 127.
 
Can somebody help me out with aversive/escape conditioning? Is it negative reinforcement, positive punishment ...?
 
Can somebody help me out with aversive/escape conditioning? Is it negative reinforcement, positive punishment ...?

Negative reinforcement. Think about escape as you have a headache and you take aspirin to relieve your headache. The relief of your headache is why its considered negative and its a desirable results which is why its reinforcement. Aversive is similar but instead of reducing a negative stimulus, you just avoid this negative stimulus all together. Think about this like a sunburn. You would avoid the sun or sit in the shade to avoid getting a sunburn.
 
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Negative reinforcement. Think about escape as you have a headache and you take aspirin to relieve your headache. The relief of your headache is why its considered negative and its a desirable results which is why its reinforcement. Aversive is similar but instead of reducing a negative stimulus, you just avoid this negative stimulus all together. Think about this like a sunburn. You would avoid the sun or sit in the shade to avoid getting a sunburn.

Wouldn't aversive conditioning be positive punishment? You engage in behavior -> something bad happens.
 
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So basically 45% of ALL test takers got >74% correct ... yeah right.

I felt the same way when I took the FL scored a few weeks ago. & if you look at score spreadsheets, the average SDN user had an increase in their actual MCAT score in comparison the FL, and I attribute part of this to CARS being graded too harshly on the FL.

Negative reinforcement. Think about escape as you have a headache and you take aspirin to relieve your headache. The relief of your headache is why its considered negative and its a desirable results which is why its reinforcement. Aversive is similar but instead of reducing a negative stimulus, you just avoid this negative stimulus all together. Think about this like a sunburn. You would avoid the sun or sit in the shade to avoid getting a sunburn.

Awesome! Thanks for this.
 
Can somebody help me out with aversive/escape conditioning? Is it negative reinforcement, positive punishment ...?

Simplest terms: rat is shocked by the floor, press lever to stop shock. It is negative because the negative stimulus is removed with increased behavior of pressing the lever.
 
Glad I'm not the only one who thought the scaled scoring was rough! I was like 75% correct for a 125-126? That seems off.
 
FL CARS was too hard. too. too. hard. I just can't imagine how someone could get a 128+ on it. There was simply too much reasoning beyond the text that the question packs did not stress as much. In fact, I felt the answers in the question packs were almost verbatim or clearly localized to one paragraph. I just can't imagine the actual exam having that many hard to decipher passages and analogies. ugghhh
 
Can somebody help me out with aversive/escape conditioning? Is it negative reinforcement, positive punishment ...?
Aversive/escape would mean negative reinforcement? Meaning that you are trying to remove something unpleasant or avoid something unpleasant to continue a behavior? I think I may confusing with other terms
 
Having trouble with the terms social cognitive theory and social construtivism

Me today:

13ns6v.jpg
 
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Having trouble with the terms social cognitive theory and social construtivism
SCT: Your environment, behavior and cognition all interact and relates to knowledge acquisition in social situations. Social construction: nothing exists without us assigning it meaning. Think about how money really doesn't mean anything unless we give it meaning.
 
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Having trouble with the terms social cognitive theory and social construtivism

Social Constructionism revolves around individuals coming together to construct or build a reality. Thousands of individuals interactions come together to define social norms, morals, ethics, etc.

Social cognitive theory is (I believe) a theory of Albert Banduras. It has to do with reciprocal determinism, where your environment, personality, and other factors all come together to determine your behavior.
 
Guys I'm panicking.. Should I score for tomorrow?

I got a 128/125/129/129 (511) on the practice taken earlier this week. I'm aiming for a 514+. I normally do better on CARS (83% on the sample test), I think I just panicked on the scored because I thought I screwed up C/P so badly. Anyways... I just finished the SB, but still haven't even finished the OG questions and want to go through all my AAMC official notecards as well as brush up more on C/P but I don't think I have enough time for all that at this point.. Should I void and try to get a seat for next Saturday?? :(


ADD: I want to apply this cycle.
 
Guys I'm panicking.. Should I score for tomorrow?
I got a 128/125/129/129 (511) on the practice taken earlier this week. I'm aiming for a 514+. I normally do better on CARS (83% on the sample test), I think I just panicked on the scored because I thought I screwed up C/P so badly. Anyways... I just finished the SB, but still haven't even finished the OG questions and want to go through all my AAMC official notecards as well as brush up more on C/P but I don't think I have enough time for all that at this point.. Should I void and try to get a seat for next Saturday?? :(
Score it! 511 is a great score and the CARS on this test had a **** curve and not representative in my opinion. You'll do great!
 
Guys I'm panicking.. Should I score for tomorrow?

I got a 128/125/129/129 (511) on the practice taken earlier this week. I'm aiming for a 514+. I normally do better on CARS (83% on the sample test), I think I just panicked on the scored because I thought I screwed up C/P so badly. Anyways... I just finished the SB, but still haven't even finished the OG questions and want to go through all my AAMC official notecards as well as brush up more on C/P but I don't think I have enough time for all that at this point.. Should I void and try to get a seat for next Saturday?? :(


ADD: I want to apply this cycle.
I think at this point everyone wishes they could do more there's no way to take his exam and be confident in everything. I'd score it- especially since CARS was your lowest and that CARS was hard
 
Man, even though I've logged in over 300 hours prep I feel like I have not retained much. I am hoping this recognition over recall thing really comes through tomorrow!!!
 
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Guys, it's been real. Thanks for helping me get through this difficult time. Best of luck everybody!!!

I can't wait for this exam to be over -- 24 hours before freedom! Then we vaguely snark on SDN about how terrible everything was :).
 
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I wish you dudes and dudettes the best of luck! I'm not taking the MCAT till may 14th, but for whatever reason, this thread has been blowing up compared to the may 14th tests date thread and thus I've been lurking silently in the shadows here...lol You guys got this!
 
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I wish you dudes and dudettes the best of luck! I'm not taking the MCAT till may 14th, but for whatever reason, this thread has been blowing up compared to the may 14th tests date thread and thus I've been lurking silently in the shadows here...lol You guys got this!
I'm taking it may 14th too. Haha does it even have a megathread?

Good luck you guys! I've been mostly lurking and stealing mnemonics and memory AIDS from you dudes so I know you guys will crush it.

Edit: leaving up that horrible autocorrect


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Felt like I needed to vomit all day. Tried reading my summary notes and the words are just floating straight out of my head. Time for a run and a beer. Can't wait to be back here tomorrow to complain about the exam with you guys.

Cheers

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Anything I've tried studying yesterday and today goes in and out of my ears, I haven't been able to confidently look at anything. Have to be confident in my preparation and go in feeling good in myself so I've tried really hard to stay away from it!! Can't wait for that drink I'm going to have immediately after already
 
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This is my third attempt (26, 503) and it's the most prepared I've ever felt.

But at the same time I still feel like I know nothing on some topics (lookin at you physics) LOL. I wonder what was going through my head the last two times going into the exam...
 
This is my third attempt (26, 503) and it's the most prepared I've ever felt.

But at the same time I still feel like I know nothing on some topics (lookin at you physics) LOL. I wonder what was going through my head the last two times going into the exam...

why would u ever retake a 502?
 
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