The official MCAT May 20th 2016

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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sofpink

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Just wondering if anyone else will be taking the MCAT on May 20 2016. I would like some support, input, and help on your MCAT strategies I am only studying 2 hours a day for the MCAT, as I am taking a full load semester. Anyone else in this track?
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Halfway through with NS #2. C/P seemed on par maybe a little harder than NS #1. CARS seemed much easier this time. All the passages are interesting except one. Anyone else taking the NS FL's? I like them a lot better than the kaplan FL's haha
 
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Spitphire said:
Halfway through with NS #2. C/P seemed on par maybe a little harder than NS #1. CARS seemed much easier this time. All the passages are interesting except one. Anyone else taking the NS FL's? I like them a lot better than the kaplan FL's haha
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I've taken NS 1-4. They are much much better than Kaplan FLs. Let us know how NS 2 goes for you. Good luck!
 
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zhonghang said:
I've taken NS 1-4. They are much much better than Kaplan FLs. Let us know how NS 2 goes for you. Good luck!
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I have been hearing good things regarding NS and Altius but I read a thread somewhere accusing NS of plagiarizing from AAMC? Was it true or did they revise their FLs because I want to buy them but was not sure. Thanks
 
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zhonghang said:
I've taken NS 1-4. They are much much better than Kaplan FLs. Let us know how NS 2 goes for you. Good luck!
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Thanks! I ended up with 504 (127/126/125/126) which im definitely happy about! Four point increase from last weeks FL. I did think the B/B section played on my weakness and that P/S was heavy on sociology which favored me.
 
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Can I just say, Princeton Review is brutal. Just took FL 1 and scored 504 (125/127/125/127). Good increase from a 497 on their free FL, which I took...I dunno, a while ago, before content review, but definitely a step down from what I've been scoring on other practice exams :/
 
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Eleithyia said:
Can I just say, Princeton Review is brutal. Just took FL 1 and scored 504 (125/127/125/127). Good increase from a 497 on their free FL, which I took...I dunno, a while ago, before content review, but definitely a step down from what I've been scoring on other practice exams :/
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I have their practice tests too and I'm not sure if I'm gonna take them. Would you say they're good review or should I just focus on NS and EK practice tests?
 
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Eleithyia said:
Can I just say, Princeton Review is brutal. Just took FL 1 and scored 504 (125/127/125/127). Good increase from a 497 on their free FL, which I took...I dunno, a while ago, before content review, but definitely a step down from what I've been scoring on other practice exams :/
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Wolfpack93 said:
I have their practice tests too and I'm not sure if I'm gonna take them. Would you say they're good review or should I just focus on NS and EK practice tests?
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i have all of their tests.. but idk if it's even worth it.. i took EK2 yesterday and though hard, thought it was good practice.. i might buy NS or atlius instead of TPRs
 
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Has anyone experienced a drop off from taking CARS as a section test vs within a full length? I dropped from 128 to 125 from last section test to the full length I took today... pretty annoying
 
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Wolfpack93 said:
I have their practice tests too and I'm not sure if I'm gonna take them. Would you say they're good review or should I just focus on NS and EK practice tests?
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Honestly, after taking a couple TPR tests I felt like they were kinda a waste of time. Yeah they're okay for gauging where you are content wise, but they really are NOTHING like AAMC's style. I would focus more on NS and EK stuff if I were you.
 
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zhonghang said:
Honestly, after taking a couple TPR tests I felt like they were kinda a waste of time. Yeah they're okay for gauging where you are content wise, but they really are NOTHING like AAMC's style. I would focus more on NS and EK stuff if I were you.
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Cool thanks for letting me know! I'll just stick to those then.
 
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betterfuture said:
I have been hearing good things regarding NS and Altius but I read a thread somewhere accusing NS of plagiarizing from AAMC? Was it true or did they revise their FLs because I want to buy them but was not sure. Thanks
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I've seen a couple threads about people claiming NS plagiarized AAMC. Personally, I have not really noticed anything like that. I've taken the AAMC sample test (unscored) and the NS 1-4 and I can say that there are definitely some similarities between them but I don't know why that would be considered a bad thing. I mean if I am trying to practice for a test given by AAMC then I'm gonna want materials that represent that style the most. NS seems to do a great job at updating their stuff to better reflect the AAMC style of questions and passages. From all of the materials I have used I have found NS and Altius to be the best. If I were you I'd go for one of the test packages from these two companies. Also, you can't go wrong with EK but their tests are not sold in a bundle and they're a little on the pricey side.
 
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zhonghang said:
I've seen a couple threads about people claiming NS plagiarized AAMC. Personally, I have not really noticed anything like that. I've taken the AAMC sample test (unscored) and the NS 1-4 and I can say that there are definitely some similarities between them but I don't know why that would be considered a bad thing. I mean if I am trying to practice for a test given by AAMC then I'm gonna want materials that represent that style the most. NS seems to do a great job at updating their stuff to better reflect the AAMC style of questions and passages. From all of the materials I have used I have found NS and Altius to be the best. If I were you I'd go for one of the test packages from these two companies. Also, you can't go wrong with EK but their tests are not sold in a bundle and they're a little on the pricey side.
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How did the unscored compare with NS tests?
 
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_Nightlight_ said:
Has anyone experienced a drop off from taking CARS as a section test vs within a full length? I dropped from 128 to 125 from last section test to the full length I took today... pretty annoying
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Yes, definitely have experiences this numerous times. My advice is to just to not let this get you down. Keep practicing and realize that each test is going to be a little different in terms of difficult. Some CARS sections are just harder than others. Try to focus on your average score across multiple tests rather than a single score from one test. Also, most companies' CARS sections are significantly more difficult/tricky when compared to AAMC.
 
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Wolfpack93 said:
How did the unscored compare with NS tests?
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I thought they were very similar in terms of passage style and question types. NS was definitely more difficult than the unscored test.

On the unscored FL I got 73% CP, 70% CARS, 80% BB, and 85% PS.

On my most recent NS test I got 68% CP, 72% CARS, 73% BB, and 75% PS.
 
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zhonghang said:
I thought they were very similar in terms of passage style and question types. NS was definitely more difficult than the unscored test.

On the unscored FL I got 73% CP, 70% CARS, 80% BB, and 85% PS.

On my most recent NS test I got 68% CP, 72% CARS, 73% BB, and 75% PS.
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Those are awesome scores, congrats!
 
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I swear doing Khan academy passages confuses me more than I am before doing them. The phonological loop of working memory only deals with verbal memory right?
 
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zhonghang said:
I've seen a couple threads about people claiming NS plagiarized AAMC. Personally, I have not really noticed anything like that. I've taken the AAMC sample test (unscored) and the NS 1-4 and I can say that there are definitely some similarities between them but I don't know why that would be considered a bad thing. I mean if I am trying to practice for a test given by AAMC then I'm gonna want materials that represent that style the most. NS seems to do a great job at updating their stuff to better reflect the AAMC style of questions and passages. From all of the materials I have used I have found NS and Altius to be the best. If I were you I'd go for one of the test packages from these two companies. Also, you can't go wrong with EK but their tests are not sold in a bundle and they're a little on the pricey side.
Click to expand...

Warning: This is all second-hand knowledge that I've gotten from reading too many threads instead of actually studying for the MCAT. I haven't actually taken any NS FLs.

I think NS changed the most egregious parts of their FLs after the initial outcry. There's thread on here (I think it's called something like LOL NextStep) where users were saying that they found one CARS passage that was exactly taken from the AAMC material – except they replaced "doctors" with "lawyers". Someone (in one of the recent MCAT threads – I follow April 2016, May 6 2016, and May 20 2016 LOL) also mentioned that NS 5 in particular had some very specific questions that matched AAMC questions as well.

The "bad thing" is that if you've taken NS before the AAMC FLs and reviewed questions that were too similar to those on the official materials, then your scores may be artificially inflated because you had essentially reviewed that question already. I'm not sure how big of a deal that is (besides the whole, plagiarism is wrong thing – especially if you're profiting off of it!), but at the higher end of the scores, getting an extra 1-2 questions right may mean going up 1 point that you wouldn't have otherwise.
 
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enchantediris said:
Warning: This is all second-hand knowledge that I've gotten from reading too many threads instead of actually studying for the MCAT. I haven't actually taken any NS FLs.

I think NS changed the most egregious parts of their FLs after the initial outcry. There's thread on here (I think it's called something like LOL NextStep) where users were saying that they found one CARS passage that was exactly taken from the AAMC material – except they replaced "doctors" with "lawyers". Someone (in one of the recent MCAT threads – I follow April 2016, May 6 2016, and May 20 2016 LOL) also mentioned that NS 5 in particular had some very specific questions that matched AAMC questions as well.

The "bad thing" is that if you've taken NS before the AAMC FLs and reviewed questions that were too similar to those on the official materials, then your scores may be artificially inflated because you had essentially reviewed that question already. I'm not sure how big of a deal that is (besides the whole, plagiarism is wrong thing – especially if you're profiting off of it!), but at the higher end of the scores, getting an extra 1-2 questions right may mean going up 1 point that you wouldn't have otherwise.
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it's funny you just brought this up about... so i literally just finished taking half of NS FL 5 and yeah there are some VERY similar questions in that test that are SUPER similar to the questions found in the AAMC sample test. luckily i took the sample test first so i was not "primed" for the questions contained in there. so after taking half of NS 5, i can definitely see what you mean with regard to artificially inflating your score on the AAMC unscored FL. my recommendation is to hold off on taking NS 5 if you are planning on taking the AAMC sample test. obviously not every passage is the same (nor are any of the passages technically plagiarized word for word) but i know if you take NS 5 first and then go take the unscored test you will see some very similar questions... just a little heads up.
 
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So I'm feeling pretty terrible since I did HORRIBLE on the biology section bank. Like 40% bad. I've honestly never seen anyone say they've done THAT bad on the SB. But I'm happy that I know the level of Biochem that I should be familiar with for the MCAT. I'm gonna buy some full lengths to start taking them weekly from here on out and I'm gonna hit Biochem HARD, memorizing the pathways and all that jazz. I hadn't spent much time going over it recently because I was more concerned about physics formulas and amino acids. I was really discouraged the past couple of days but now I'm just more motivated to crush this dang test now that it screwed me over so hard.

But seriously though.. That section bank wtf!? I didn't know I had to know structures. Not to mention how easy it was to not have any clue what the question was asking or completely misinterpret it. Without my stupid mistakes I could have easily hit 60% at least but... Damn.

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Do any of you guys know if CARS from Kaplan is representative of the actual test? What do you all recommend for CARS?
 
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I took the Sample Test recently and man, it went HORRIBLY. 59%/72%/54%/61% I'm really hoping these scores are due to me not being done with content review yet...
 
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I feel like I need to start the section banks but I'm not even close to finishing the question packs. :/
 
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Hello :)

I'm also taking the exam on May 20th. What is the difference between the section bank and the question banks?

Thanks!
 
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Formation said:
I feel like I need to start the section banks but I'm not even close to finishing the question packs. :/
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Starting the section banks tomorrow. From what everyone has said I'm pretty scared haha. But I think they're probably more important that the question packs, that's why I want to do them sooner than later so I have plenty of time to review and study what I missed.
 
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LACMA said:
Hello :)

I'm also taking the exam on May 20th. What is the difference between the section bank and the question banks?

Thanks!
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Sanction bank: questions written specifically to represent the new exam. MUCH tougher
Question packs: a collection of passages from old tests that AAMC selected as most representative of the new test. Good for content review. Relatively easy.


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How's everyone doing with timing on Kaplan exams? On the last practice test I took (FL 8), I had about 9 minutes left in C/P, 10 minutes left in CARs, 27 minutes left in B/BC, and 27 minutes left in Psych/Soc. Are the AAMC tests a lot more time consuming because I feel as though I have a lot of time left over (esp. for Psych and Bio).
 
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cantstopwontstopvu17 said:
How's everyone doing with timing on Kaplan exams? On the last practice test I took (FL 8), I had about 9 minutes left in C/P, 10 minutes left in CARs, 27 minutes left in B/BC, and 27 minutes left in Psych/Soc. Are the AAMC tests a lot more time consuming because I feel as though I have a lot of time left over (esp. for Psych and Bio).
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I only took the first three Kaplan tests, but I did have a lot of time left over on their practice tests on each section, and just like you my time was left over in bio and psych. I just took the first Next Step test and had almost no time left over in physics, a few minutes on cars, about 5 minutes on bio, and about 5 on psych. I've heard these are more representative of the AAMC so yeah I think Kaplan is a bit off with how long it takes to finish each section.
 
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Hey guys, I would like some advice. I am having serious difficulty with the psych section on practice tests. I have taken 2 kaplan practice tests so far (1 and 2) and my score on the other three sections improved from the first to the second test but my psyc score went down a bit and it was very low to begin with. I have gone over the material although I still don't consider that I fully know it but for some reason I have a very difficult time understanding the questions and answering them correctly. Any advice? I am planning on taking two practice exams per week from now until the test date and in the off days doing the AAMC question pack and banks.
 
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just finished NS1.. got a 505, was hoping for atleast 507 on this one but hopefully i improve on the next one!
 
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So is it safe to say that NS FL's are most representative of the real exam? I've only taken Kaplan's and am nowhere near where I want to be, so it'd be nice to gauge my progress with another company's test. Do you guys think it's worth spending the $99 for 4 NS FL's?
 
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born2run said:
So is it safe to say that NS FL's are most representative of the real exam? I've only taken Kaplan's and am nowhere near where I want to be, so it'd be nice to gauge my progress with another company's test. Do you guys think it's worth spending the $99 for 4 NS FL's?
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I feel like it was worth it. They're really well done and I like that they show you the percentage of people who chose a certain answer.
 
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Wolfpack93 said:
What'd you think of the C/P section? I'm on the 30 minute break right now, but I'm pretty sure I bombed it haha. CARS seemed ok.
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It seemed harder than the 1st but pretty fair. I only had like 60% correct and got a 127. lol
 
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Have taken 3 Kaplan tests so far with 507, 508, 507 scores. Ready to move away from those since everyone says they aren't accurate. Is the general consensus for non-AAMC tests: EK > NS > Altius?

Would 3 Kaplan, 4 EK, 4 NS, and all AAMC materials be a solid amount of practice for this thing?
 
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So after taking three Kaplan tests, I just took the first TPR test, and my score was = to the first Kaplan test I took and 5 points lower than the last Kaplan test I took.

Do y'all think that might be a problem, or is it just the difference between companies? It's a bit unsettling, but
 
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Does anyone else have a problem where they do pretty well on CARS but one passage blows it? I was just reviewing NS 2 and if it weren't for the neoclassicism economy nonsense passage I would've done so much better haha. I missed every single question on the passage
 
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Formation said:
So after taking three Kaplan tests, I just took the first TPR test, and my score was = to the first Kaplan test I took and 5 points lower than the last Kaplan test I took.

Do y'all think that might be a problem, or is it just the difference between companies? It's a bit unsettling, but
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to avoid the rest of the Kaplan and TPR tests at all costs haha. I would advise NS they have a much more "MCAT like" feel
 
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Wolfpack93 said:
Does anyone else have a problem where they do pretty well on CARS but one passage blows it? I was just reviewing NS 2 and if it weren't for the neoclassicism economy nonsense passage I would've done so much better haha. I missed every single question on the passage
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That passage was insanely long. I skipped over it so I could have more time for the easier passages. I ended up skimming really fast and only missing one somehow lol. Thought I killed it on the rest but apparently not haha
 
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Spitphire said:
That passage was insanely long. I skipped over it so I could have more time for the easier passages. I ended up skimming really fast and only missing one somehow lol. Thought I killed it on the rest but apparently not haha
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Damn impressive haha. I felt like I was reading gibberish the whole time
 
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