The Official October 21, 2014 MCAT Thread

[DoctorInASaree]

Hi!

As of today, we are less than three months away from writing one of the most important exams in our lives.

What are your studying strategies? How are you feeling about the MCAT?

We're all in this together, so let's get this discussion started!

And remember, October 21st, save the date!

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[HCHopeful]

Just so everyone is aware, the difficulty of the PS section seems to be universal right now!

Reddit ->> http://www.reddit.com/r/premed/comments/2jwias/oct_21st_mcat_discussion/

 

[lumberjack89]

Unrelated, but pretty related - "like" this post if you're drinking tonight!!

 

[JMMTB]

Wow, finally can post and I agree with above/previous comments.

PS - was a lot harder, not calculation heavy (except one discrete), yet the conceptual questions weren't about whether you understood the concepts more than they were whether you understood what was in the passage. It felt like some of the questions needed more information in order to solve them. One in particular even had the answer choices hinting at the lack of information, but still was not correct. PS is normally my strength - not today.

VR - Felt like a standard AAMC practice test and even one of the passages came word for word from AAMC material (including one question!)

BS - Not too bad, but still harder, and it felt like two of the questions were exactly the same, just different wording. There was one passage that had way too many questions. OCHEM is a strength for me, so I'm going to say not enough OCHEM.

I feel like my score will be well outside of my range of AAMC scores, and even lower than what I've been getting on GS tests. Guess its time to forget out it and pray that I'm satisfied with my score.

 

[RunningGirl22]

I was just wondering if anyone voided their score? I didn't feel confident this time around, voided the score and continued onto the survey. After the survey, my exam window closed and I thought I was done. However, the proctor told me it was just a computer error and restarted my exam so I could complete the last screen (which was a page saying that I was not eligible for the trial section and the only option was to click yes).

Is this normal? Worried my score wasn't actually voided due to the glitch. Thank you!

I'm a little nervous I accidentally voided my exam and am reading different responses…some say they had to confirm that they wanted to void and others say there wasn't a confirmation. I'm curious, did you have to confirm that you did in fact want to void?

 

[BMEgirl2014]

Does anyone else feel like this MCAT reflected more of the "new" MCAT topics? I feel like there was a significant shift in focus for PS (and to a lesser extent BS). It seemed much more concentrated on certain topics that AAMC hadn't had on their old practice exams. Everything was still fair game, but it seemed very selective on what it asked about.

Hey, I agree with you. I have a sample test for 2015 MCAT. The format and difficulty of the sample test for MCAT 2015 is about the same as the MCAT exam that we took today. Some of the passages came from journal papers. That's why this PS section was so much more difficult than before. I had to void my test because I did not feel good about my performance..now I am getting depressed about this whole MCAT thing. Gosh, why do they have to make the test harder than it already is? The new MCAT is going to be 7 hours long! Is it fun to torture people who want to become a doctor to help people?

Oh well, enough rambling. Back to studying.

 

[lumberjack89]

Am I the only one that thought bio was also pretty hard? I would say both PS and BS were both hard, bio for me a little more.

For me the PS sections was harder than BS, but BS is typically a good bit easier for me than PS - at least that's what my average scores tell me. This BS section felt pretty dang hard to me though, at least as hard as the later AAMC tests, like #10 and #11, if not even harder. That's just me though.

 

[Shewillcreate]

At the moment, I'm seriously considering drinking red wine straight from the bottle.
Going into this exam I was feeling pretty confident, walking out of the test center, I felt like I wanted to shave my head and sob in a dark room.

Physical sciences: as everyone has mentioned before... I found myself tripping up and getting nervous because I was out of time. The section favored more of one subject than the other (my stronger subject) and I was upset about that. Overall the topics covered were nothing new, but I feel like the way the questions were delivered was what made this section much more difficult than I anticipated. I wound up, like most of you, guessing on a load of questions. Without giving too much information.... Did anyone else get a question that had a specific equation in the question stem??? Wtfh was that ish?!!? Was I the only one caught of guard there!??!!! Predicting 7-8.

Verbal: I very much enjoyed reading the first 3-4 passages until I got bogged down on a particular passage: "you ain't supposed to say ain't three times a day, because it just ain't proper three time a day"... Anyone catch my drift? Again here, I ran out of time. My usual strategy is guess blindly on one passage, but ended up guessing on 1.5 in the end. Keeping hope alive for my usual 9.

Biological sciences: My worst section ever!!! I was hoping for more ochem but alas, that didn't happen. It seems that everyone here found it 'on par' with the FLs but I found it to be utterly difficult! I was pressed for time the entire section due to overthinking (maybe) the questions. Arggh.... I was expecting it to be experimental heavy but damn... Some of the data and figures presented I was like "seriously?!"
Ended up guessing randomly on about 10 questions... I'd sacrifice a goat for an 8

And so it begins.... November 25th seems like an eternity and I can easily see myself putting on 10lbs from now until then due to my overwhelming desire for cake to numb the pain. May the curve have mercy on us all!!!

 

[docemmettbrown]

Am I the only one that thought bio was also pretty hard? I would say both PS and BS were both hard, bio for me a little more.

I agree that BS and PS were both difficult and I thought that BS was slightly more difficult.

 

[Shewillcreate]

Am I the only one that thought bio was also pretty hard? I would say both PS and BS were both hard, bio for me a little more.

I'm right there with you!!! BS was a nightmare for me... I..just don't know.

 

[bnicole1089]

.

 

[JMMTB]

Just reworked a problem, guessed it right, but then changed to the wrong answer in the last 5 seconds.

 

[Shewillcreate]

Just reworked a problem, guessed it right, but then changed to the wrong answer in the last 5 seconds.

Why on earth would you torture yourself like that!!?!

 

[lumberjack89]

Lest the internet pass this by, let me just say there is *so* much to love about this post from @Shewillcreate

At the moment, I'm seriously considering drinking red wine straight from the bottle.

walking out of the test center, I felt like I wanted to shave my head and sob in a dark room.

Did anyone else get a question that had a specific equation in the question stem??? Wtfh was that ish?!!? Was I the only one caught of guard there!??!!!

[Side note] - Hahhaaa I know exactly which question you're referring to, it was like some kind of y = mx + b nightmare from my pre-calculus nightmares!

I'd sacrifice a goat for an 8

This is literally the best sentence I’ve ever seen on this forum.

November 25th seems like an eternity and I can easily see myself putting on 10lbs from now until then due to my overwhelming desire for cake to numb the pain. May the curve have mercy on us all!!!

^ I might actually be in love with you. Or maybe it's the large quantity of bourbon I've drunk. Either way, if there's ANY way that life could bring us together for a bottle of vino and an evening on the town, oooooooh what an evening that would be. Please apply to the schools I’m applying to so we can meet.

Ok back to at least attempting to be constructive. Seems to me we can b*tch and moan on here all we want, but at the end of the day, even if ALL the people on S.D.N. agreed that today's test was ridiculous, we still represent a tiny fraction of the people who actually took the test today, and on any other day to boot. SO: all we can do is wait and hope. If the test was really as bad as we all think it was, we’ll score fine with a nice curve – if it wasn’t, we’ll have to reschedule because all of our scores are going to be crap.

Ok. Enough whiskey and internet for one night. See you guys tomorrow.

 

[JMMTB]

Why on earth would you torture yourself like that!!?!

Guess I should clarify- reworked the problem after the test (oh, calculators, they are amazing), and then realized I got it wrong. Frustrating is that I knew how to do the problem, just couldn't focus long enough during the actual test. Oh well.

Like the bike in your profile pic - nice classic steel.

 

[lostnconfused]

So... I walked in with the intention of voiding the exam, and was relatively calm throughout the entire thing. But like everyone else said - physical science was rough. The concerning thing was my mind just went blank. I can't really say WHY it was rough - I didn't know where to begin with lots of those problems. More importantly, not sure from this point on how to prepare for a retake... :/

But on the other hand, I thought VR and Bio was pretty fair game.

 

[blackmarble]

Lest the internet pass this by, let me just say there is *so* much to love about this post from @Shewillcreate











[Side note] - Hahhaaa I know exactly which question you're referring to, it was like some kind of y = mx + b nightmare from my pre-calculus nightmares!





This is literally the best sentence I’ve ever seen on this forum.



^ I might actually be in love with you. Or maybe it's the large quantity of bourbon I've drunk. Either way, if there's ANY way that life could bring us together for a bottle of vino and an evening on the town, oooooooh what an evening that would be. Please apply to the schools I’m applying to so we can meet.

Ok back to at least attempting to be constructive. Seems to me we can b*tch and moan on here all we want, but at the end of the day, even if ALL the people on S.D.N. agreed that today's test was ridiculous, we still represent a tiny fraction of the people who actually took the test today, and on any other day to boot. SO: all we can do is wait and hope. If the test was really as bad as we all think it was, we’ll score fine with a nice curve – if it wasn’t, we’ll have to reschedule because all of our scores are going to be crap.

Ok. Enough whiskey and internet for one night. See you guys tomorrow.

this got weird quick.

 

[Liegh5]

So glad I found this thread! I posted my own rant about this test right after I took it ha. But here are my thoughts:

PS: Yeah I was a total mess after the first section. I cried in the bathroom for a bit no joke. I thought the PS was so brutal. There were maybe two passages that I felt comfortable with ... the rest were insane. Most of them were too dense to even take the time to fully read. And even the first passage which people thought was easy I choked on like 3 of the questions. Also many of the discretes I felt required very lengthy calculations that I did not have time for. I did finish, made the most educated guesses I could and made sure to pick out the hidden descretes. I really felt like I got a 6. But it seems that everyone else thought the same so I am just praying that it has a generous scale to it! I keep comparing it to an AAMC exam but It is obvious it was harder so the scale should account for that. Prediction: A hopefull 8
VR: I thought this section was alright. There were a couple of passages I struggled with but overall I think it went okay. Prediction: 10
BS: I felt really good about this section. There were a few oddball questions in there but overall I feel pretty good about it. Although I ran out of time for one question I was about to answer ><. Prediction: 11

 

[choa06]

.

 

[pikachu311]

Hey everyone!

PS: I have no idea what to think about this because honestly, it could go either way. I felt the same way while taking practice tests though. I remember I almost cried after one of the FL practice tests and then ended up with an 11, when I was sure I was going to get a 6. I averaged ~9 on the practice tests so I am hoping for that. Predicting 9

VR: This is the reason I voided my 8/7/14 exam. I must be the slowest reader ever because the first time around I only got through 3 passages and had to fill in random answers for the other 4. After practicing for 2 months, I still only got through 5 passages yesterday, then frantically guessed on the other two. Hopefully I guessed a few correctly. I wouldn't be surprised if I got an 8 for this one. Predicting 8

BS: On my 8/7 exam, I knew everything and I felt like the exam was tailored perfectly to fit my strengths and interests..I had a blast taking this section! I was so upset that I had to void it just for VR, because I'm pretty sure I would've gotten a 15 on BS. This time around, I didn't feel nearly as confident about BS but I don't think it was horrible. It seemed to have a lot of the stuff that I tended to skim over while studying because I didn't think the topics were as important as others. Predicting 11-12

 

[YJ268]

Did anyone else get a question that had a specific equation in the question stem??? Wtfh was that ish?!!? Was I the only one caught of guard there!??!!! Predicting 7-8.

You mean the question that asked how would y=mx+b effect the following redox reaction on the moon if it was twice the size of the earth and 4 times farther away?

I swear that was a question

 

[haleyjay]

Sorry, @detu , I was wrong about the voiding. No one got to participate in the trial section. I honestly didn't know that was the case. I thought they were still offering it as long as you submitted. My apologizes. Not trying to give out false information!

If you think you clicked void, I'm sure you really did.

 

[RamAttack]

cannot wait for this month to be over

 

[bnicole1089]

I can't remember this question for the life of me.. is it possible it was experimental?

 

[bnicole1089]

xx

 

[Liegh5]

I can't remember this question for the life of me.. is it possible it was experimental?

Same ... lol we all took the same test right?? 10/21/2014 8AM?? lol

 

[Liegh5]

Does anyone have speculation on how the "curve" might work. It is consensus at the PS section in the least was a killer. I would love a Kaplan curve or an almost kaplan curve right about now! lol .... am I being too hopeful? haha

 

[HCHopeful]

I can't remember this question for the life of me.. is it possible it was experimental?

They were mixing up two questions.

 

[HCHopeful]

Does anyone have speculation on how the "curve" might work. It is consensus at the PS section in the least was a killer. I would love a Kaplan curve or an almost kaplan curve right about now! lol .... am I being too hopeful? haha

No one knows. People can speculate, sure. In the end, AAMC will do its own thing. Just trust your averages for now. If you've been a 10 PS test taker, chances are you scored around a 10. Averages generally hold out.

 

[RamAttack]

One thing I'm really happy about was that timing wasnt an issue for bio

 

[pikachu311]

I can't remember this question for the life of me.. is it possible it was experimental?

I wasn't even aware that they put experimental questions on the test until reading this thread. What if we spent way too much time on them and got them right, but then ran out of time on the others? I hope they would give us credit for getting the experimental ones correct, but not take away credit for getting them wrong. But that's probably not the case... I wish I knew this before so that I felt more comfortable moving past the questions that seemed outrageous.

 

[Herewego5]

I wasn't even aware that they put experimental questions on the test until reading this thread. What if we spent way too much time on them and got them right, but then ran out of time on the others? I hope they would give us credit for getting the experimental ones correct, but not take away credit for getting them wrong. But that's probably not the case... I wish I knew this before so that I felt more comfortable moving past the questions that seemed outrageous.

I knew that there were experimental questions on the test and I still think that I ended up spending way too much time on what could have been experimental questions and not enough time on questions that will actually be taken into account for our score. I wish I could redo that PS section.

 

[Sammy1024]

Does anyone have speculation on how the "curve" might work. It is consensus at the PS section in the least was a killer. I would love a Kaplan curve or an almost kaplan curve right about now! lol .... am I being too hopeful? haha

The curve for MCATs is pre-set. That's how they can sort of guarantee that it's a standardized test. They basically go to their evil lair and are like alright lets put these questions on a test (like so ) while they at us. Then they go alright based on these questions and the fact that we've (specifically those people) been doing this for hundreds of years (because you know they take our souls and live forever) we expect x number of people to get this correct, and determine it that way.
Then they , and start practicing for when we come to them crying.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[pikachu311]

I knew that there were experimental questions on the test and I still think that I ended up spending way too much time on what could have been experimental questions and not enough time on questions that will actually be taken into account for our score. I wish I could redo that PS section.

Yeah same here. I didn't even get to read the last 5 or 6 questions. I had to just fill in answers and hope at least one or two of them was right!

 

[Shewillcreate]

Guess I should clarify- reworked the problem after the test (oh, calculators, they are amazing), and then realized I got it wrong. Frustrating is that I knew how to do the problem, just couldn't focus long enough during the actual test. Oh well.

Like the bike in your profile pic - nice classic steel.

I'm fighting the urge to look up/rework all the questions I remember to see if I answered them correctly...ignorance is bliss....right?

And why thank you kind sir! She's a beauty



@lumberjack89 Hahahaha, it appears to me that we both had a fantastic night drowning the nightmare of y= mx+b.

 

[JMMTB]

Ya I dreamt last night that the whole PS section was in one of my TBR books and I missed like 7 of the first 10 questions. Weird dream.

I still have no idea which question y'all are talking about with y=mx+b

 

[Shewillcreate]

Ya I dreamt last night that the whole PS section was in one of my TBR books and I missed like 7 of the first 10 questions. Weird dream.

I still have no idea which question y'all are talking about with y=mx+b

You don't?? Why, that means that the legends ARE true!!! More than one test administered on the same test day.

 

[lumberjack89]

@lumberjack89 Hahahaha, it appears to me that we both had a fantastic night drowning the nightmare of y= mx+b.

^ In hindsight I should probably make it a rule not to be on internet forums while drunk, or ANY forums for that matter.

I'll still stand by the claim that "I'd sacrifice a goat for an 8" is the best collection of words I've ever seen on here, and also the last paragraph about how we're just gunna have to wait it out. One thing I'm torn about is whether or not to try registering for a January date... is anyone else going to be doing that? What if our scores come back and they're as bad as we feel like they might be?

I think I'm probably going to register, if I can find a seat, just so I've got the option. The last thing I wanna end up having to do is study for the 2015 MCAT after all the work I put towards the 2014 one!

 

[pikachu311]

Ya I dreamt last night that the whole PS section was in one of my TBR books and I missed like 7 of the first 10 questions. Weird dream.

I still have no idea which question y'all are talking about with y=mx+b

I never saw a problem with y=mx+b either! But then again, I did not get to read the last few questions so it may have been in one of those.

 

[lumberjack89]

I never saw a problem with y=mx+b either! But then again, I did not get to read the last few questions so it may have been in one of those.

Yeah this is weird, that problem was so particular and so unlike anything else I've ever seen, I feel like we would all be remembering it if we all had it on our tests... It wasn't *actually* a y = mx+b problem, by the way, that's just the closest analogy I can think of without getting too particular and violating ye olde AAMC test-taker agreement, or whatever it's called.

Maybe the tests are all the same in the sense that the portion that's actually SCORED is the same everywhere on that day, but the experimental questions might be different? If that were true it would explain how some of us got a stupidly obscure and unfamiliar stand alone problem and other people didn't. I'm tellin' ya that thing was wack - you would have remember it.

 

[JMMTB]

ok, was this a discrete or a passage based question?

 

[pikachu311]

^ In hindsight I should probably make it a rule not to be on internet forums while drunk, or ANY forums for that matter.

I'll still stand by the claim that "I'd sacrifice a goat for an 8" is the best collection of words I've ever seen on here, and also the last paragraph about how we're just gunna have to wait it out. One thing I'm torn about is whether or not to try registering for a January date... is anyone else going to be doing that? What if our scores come back and they're as bad as we feel like they might be?

I think I'm probably going to register, if I can find a seat, just so I've got the option. The last thing I wanna end up having to do is study for the 2015 MCAT after all the work I put towards the 2014 one!

Yes, I am going to register for a January date first thing tomorrow when it lets me. Just to be safe! But I registered for this 10/21 exam back in August and there weren't ANY seats in the DC area so I had to drive 2 hours. I am guessing I will have to drive even further for the January one because I think there is a high volume of people trying to take it before it changes. We can always cancel our date if we don't need to take it again. We will lose some $$ but what's new? I think some of their rules about rescheduling/canceling/voiding are ridiculous! And I feel bad for the people who are still struggling through college and have to go through this extremely expensive process.

 

[lumberjack89]

Yes, I am going to register for a January date first thing tomorrow when it lets me. Just to be safe! But I registered for this 10/21 exam back in August and there weren't ANY seats in the DC area so I had to drive 2 hours. I am guessing I will have to drive even further for the January one because I think there is a high volume of people trying to take it before it changes. We can always cancel our date if we don't need to take it again. We will lose some $$ but what's new? I think some of their rules about rescheduling/canceling/voiding are ridiculous! And I feel bad for the people who are still struggling through college and have to go through this extremely expensive process.

Same here, I drove nearly 2 hours to my facility yesterday, and I'm betting I'd have to hitch it even further in January, but I think you're right - I'm going to register for a date just in case. Worst case scenario = we like our scores and have to drop the date and lose $135ish since November 25th is still in the Gold Zone for the January dates and we'd get a partial refund. After all the registering/rescheduling/test-buying/book-buying I've done for this test, $135 seems like a nickel.

ok, was this a discrete or a passage based question?

It was a discrete.

 

[BigEinstein]

Same here, I drove nearly 2 hours to my facility yesterday, and I'm betting I'd have to hitch it even further in January, but I think you're right - I'm going to register for a date just in case. Worst case scenario = we like our scores and have to drop the date and lose $135ish since November 25th is still in the Gold Zone for the January dates and we'd get a partial refund. After all the registering/rescheduling/test-buying/book-buying I've done for this test, $135 seems like a nickel.




It was a discrete.

The answer most likely 2 pie but who cares.

 

[Liegh5]

The curve for MCATs is pre-set. That's how they can sort of guarantee that it's a standardized test. They basically go to their evil lair and are like alright lets put these questions on a test (like so ) while they at us. Then they go alright based on these questions and the fact that we've (specifically those people) been doing this for hundreds of years (because you know they take our souls and live forever) we expect x number of people to get this correct, and determine it that way.
Then they , and start practicing for when we come to them crying.

Just my 2 cents.

BAHAHAHAHHA!! So thats how it works

 

[pikachu311]

Same here, I drove nearly 2 hours to my facility yesterday, and I'm betting I'd have to hitch it even further in January, but I think you're right - I'm going to register for a date just in case. Worst case scenario = we like our scores and have to drop the date and lose $135ish since November 25th is still in the Gold Zone for the January dates and we'd get a partial refund. After all the registering/rescheduling/test-buying/book-buying I've done for this test, $135 seems like a nickel.

I feel like we took the test at the same place if we both live in DC area and drove 2 hours. Maybe not though because I live in NOVA and it seems like you're on the other side of DC

 

[lumberjack89]

I feel like we took the test at the same place if we both live in DC area and drove 2 hours. Maybe not though because I live in NOVA and it seems like you're on the other side of DC

I took it at the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Prometrics center, and yeah I'm coming from north of DC, so that site would have been a little closer to 3 hours for you, I think?

 

[pikachu311]

I took it at the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Prometrics center, and yeah I'm coming from north of DC, so that site would have been a little closer to 3 hours for you, I think?

Yeah I took mine in Glen Allen, VA.

 

[JMMTB]

Oh, that question- that one wasn't bad. So we all did take the same test. Although just realized yet another simple question I missed.

Any recommendations on how to not worry about this for the next month and a half?

 

[lumberjack89]

Oh, that question- that one wasn't bad. So we all did take the same test. Although just realized yet another simple question I missed.

Any recommendations on how to not worry about this for the next month and a half?

You could do what @Shewillcreate and I are going to be doing: eat cake and drink bourbon.

 

[patellati]

Hey
Anybody know I can resister for retake MCAT before I get previous exam score?