The Official September 4, 2014 MCAT Thread

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Asiandoodle

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Anyone taking on september 4th?
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#itshappening

My practice tests within the week have improved *dramatically* from when I posted that 25 after I figured out what areas I was getting destroyed in. Wishing everyone the best of luck tomorrow!
 
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Seems like verbal is killing all of us :'(. Let's all hope for a miracle tomorrow. Best of luck everybody!
 
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Thought the hardest part was Bio. Physical was decent with a few questions that were just like wtf. Verbal was pretty easy. Easier than the past AAMCs. Hope all of you guys did well!
 
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anyone else feel like the VR passages are waaaay longer than anything from practice materials/old aamcs?

Overall thought it wasn't bad...BS was very reasonable outside of one Orgo passage...VR very reasonable except for the passages being absurdly long

ended up having to guess on last 2-4 questions each section b/c of time issues
 
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Physical was a freaking monster. That was way harder than any other PS section I've taken.

Verbal was fair in its' questions, although the passages were ABSURDLY long. I ran out of time on the last question.

Bio was fair. I agree with Derpz that one of the O-chem questions was pretty obscure.

I had been averaging 10/12/11 range on my practice tests, but if I even get 9/11/10, I'd be surprised... PS was just such a monster man...
 
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pdl2015 said:
Physical was a freaking monster. That was way harder than any other PS section I've taken.

Verbal was fair in its' questions, although the passages were ABSURDLY long. I ran out of time on the last question.

Bio was fair. I agree with Derpz that one of the O-chem questions was pretty obscure.

I had been averaging 10/12/11 range on my practice tests, but if I even get 9/11/10, I'd be surprised... PS was just such a monster man...
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I agree. PS was tough
 
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alright that was intersting haha. So AAMC average for me was about 34-35ish. After that test, I had really mixed feelings.

The PS was definitely harder than any AAMC only because there were like two passages and some discretes that were either time consuming or just kinda didn't make sense on a conceptual sense. The first 30 questions weren't too bad for physics but then I reached these two passages that had obscure equations and weird graphs with strange variables that just had me flustered and took me some time to figure out. I definitely guessed on a decent amount...a lot harder than any aamc that I have taken. hoping for at least a 10 or 11 although my aamcs fluctuate around 12-14.

verbal i felt like it wasn't that bad. the topics were interesting and I don't think the passages were any longer than any aamc I have taken...i actually felt better on these than any aamc verbal. my aamc verbal average is around 9-10 but hoping for a ten on this.

bio for me was cake i thought except for maybe 3-4 questions that had me second guessing...was one quetsion in orgo that described a sequence of reactions that i was unfamiliar with so i just made an educated guess. there was quite a decent amount of physiology on this test which i enjoyed. thought this was easier than aamc 11 bs just because there wasn't any ebola like passage or any obscure graphs or charts....probably more like aamc 10. hoping for a 12.

had biochem for trial section and holy crap that was hard. so many words and equations and charts and graphs that i probably guessed on half of them. hope its enough to get my 30 dollars lol.
 
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Ps felt like it couldn't have focused harder on things I wasn't strong in. I was really hoping for more calculations and it was almost entirely conceptual.

Vr felt pretty good. I agree that the passages were long but there was only a couple questions I didn't feel good about. I'm generally strong in verbal so I wasn't worried here.

Bs was pretty rough for me because it felt yet again like it hit all of my weaknesses. I didn't think it was as bad as ps but it certainly wasn't as easy as I'd hoped.

Overall I feel really bad on this. I'm guessing I'll get around a 25 and have to retake it.
 
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how close would you guys say each section on TODAYS (sept 4) MCAT was with respect to AAMC 11? I thought AAMC 11 PS was FAIR (harder than the older AAMC exams), VR was usual, and the BS is ridiculous compared to older MCATs. What'd you think about the REAL mcat though?
 
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I took way too long on the first passage of VR. There was a slight mental block for me as I started the section - dunno why.

PS is my weakest section, but I didn't think it was completely terrible. And I thought BS was fine.
 
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Aceventura74 said:
how close would you guys say each section on TODAYS (sept 4) MCAT was with respect to AAMC 11? I thought AAMC 11 PS was FAIR (harder than the older AAMC exams), VR was usual, and the BS is ridiculous compared to older MCATs. What'd you think about the REAL mcat though?
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PS was MUCH more conceptual than any other AAMC exam. Very few actual calculations. I took AAMC 11 and got a 10 on PS for that one without much effort. Today's MCAT took a lot more problem solving to get to each answer, which depending on your preparation, can really hurt you in the grand scheme of having enough time.

VR was about on par. The passages honestly were a little long though. But overall they weren't hard to read, and the questions were not too off the wall. Maybe 1 or 2 I was like...uhhhh...okay, but other than that it was pretty easy.

BS had a lot of physiology on it like a previous poster mentioned. It really felt pretty easy in hindsight, but unfortunately that will probably mean not much of a curve. There were only about 8 O-chem related questions on there, and only 1 was really foreign to me.


If I had to make a suggestion to anyone looking for something to extrapolate from this exam, I'd honestly just treat every PS topic as if it would be tested with equal probability. There were things on this test that review books like Kaplan or TPR suggested wouldn't be heavily tested, and just a much more needed conceptual mastery of multiple topics in order to answer some of the questions on there. It was rough.
 
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Why are there so few posts in September 4th?? All the other MCAT dates have so many posts
 
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Am I the only one that panicked on the PS section? I panicked right off the bat upon seeing the first passage and finished the that passage in 10 minutes! So I panicked again thinking that I'll need to rush to finish the rest of the section on time, and the passages were hard!
 
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omegaz said:
Am I the only one that panicked on the PS section? I panicked right off the bat upon seeing the first passage and finished the that passage in 10 minutes! So I panicked again thinking that I'll need to rush to finish the rest of the section on time, and the passages were hard!
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I don't think I panicked but I overall feel ****ty about the PS section so much that I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to retake the whole MCAT. I ****ed up really basic stuff in the bio section so I'm pretty frustrated with the outcome overall. I wish the VR was more difficult instead, that's where I'm strongest. =/
 
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kelminak said:
I don't think I panicked but I overall feel ****ty about the PS section so much that I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to retake the whole MCAT. I ****** up really basic stuff in the bio section so I'm pretty frustrated with the outcome overall. I wish the VR was more difficult instead, that's where I'm strongest. =/
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What sucks is that I feel really good about BS and VR, but really bad about PS (which is weird because PS has always been my strongest section). My score will probably be really lopsided... I think it's because in the beginning of PS, I was too focused on picking the answer that I'm absolutely positive to be correct that I wasted a lot of time. Later on, there were at least 2 problems where I went **** it, this sounds right, so I'm going with my guts, without double checking with the passage.
 
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Yeah, there's not too much conversation on here so far. Phew glad that exam is over! Congrats everyone for making it through, lets hope we never have to deal with this again!

Edit: Wanted to add that I mostly used BR Physics, Orgo, Gen Chem and EK for Bio. TPR workbook for Verbal (pretty on point).

There were definitely a few questions in PS that I thought about a few hours after the exam and realized I got it wrong. I'm sure many of you can relate that it is the worst feeling ever. Overall, I felt that there wasn't that much physics on there but more chemistry? Maybe others can provide their input as well. PS is always a toss up depending upon which passages show up and whether the test writers are having a good or bad day.

Verbal wasn't too bad. I agree with the other posts that the passages were relatively long, but not too detail oriented (unlike TBR CBTs).

BS wasn't bad. I thought it was harder than AAMC 11, but still do-able. Decent amount of physiology, not much microbiology.
 
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Thought PS wasn't too bad but I'm better with conceptual as opposed to calculations. Anxiety ruined me for VR and had to guess on an entire passage so I'll probably be writing again.

The passages definitely look longer on the real MCAT but compared with the pdf's I use for EK I think it's mostly a difference in font/spacing usage.
BS was pretty straight forward. Lots of A+P and evolution.

Most of the organic was easy except for 1-2 questions and Orgo's by far my weakest point.

Overall it wasn't as mind-blowing as I was expecting the real MCAT to be but my nerves definitely got the best of me. I was anticipating a noisy exam room with lots of distraction but it was dead silent so that was a bonus.
 
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QueenJames said:
Sexual reproduction passage.... hmmm.. I dont THINK I had one....
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Oh god did you do the whole section?

slesium77 said:
Thought PS wasn't too bad but I'm better with conceptual as opposed to calculations. Anxiety ruined me for VR and had to guess on an entire passage so I'll probably be writing again.

The passages definitely look longer on the real MCAT but compared with the pdf's I use for EK I think it's mostly a difference in font/spacing usage.
BS was pretty straight forward. Lots of A+P and evolution.

Most of the organic was easy except for 1-2 questions and Orgo's by far my weakest point.

Overall it wasn't as mind-blowing as I was expecting the real MCAT to be but my nerves definitely got the best of me. I was anticipating a noisy exam room with lots of distraction but it was dead silent so that was a bonus.
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I thought that VR passage was really fun (and generally the whole section was). My physiology isn't terrible but they hit me in spots that I couldn't quite remember the answer. It kills me that we have to wait so long for a frickin' score!!
 
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kelminak said:
Oh god did you do the whole section?



I thought that VR passage was really fun (and generally the whole section was). My physiology isn't terrible but they hit me in spots that I couldn't quite remember the answer. It kills me that we have to wait so long for a frickin' score!!
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I did the entire section. I had time to go back and check my answers.... lolz
 
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I also completed the Sept. 4th MCAT:
PS: Not too bad except for the passage with the weird graph, but I believe if you followed your gut on the questions you would get them correct and the first passage.
VR: Surprised at how easy the passages read compared to TPR verbal, but the questions were tricky. However, doing tons of TPR verbal practice helped tremondously at eliminating wrong choices.
BS: Simply a joke if you have already taken genetics/cell bio/biochem. Found out I missed a couple freeby discretes though and also surprised to see a couple biochem discretes!

Overall, I think I am going to get anywhere from 33-40, depending on PS curve.
 
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I took it yesterday as well.

I used BR for Orgo, Gen Chem, and Physics; TPRH and EK for Biology. I only was able to finish all the BR passages, but I had a crap load more materials that I could have used if I'd not been lazy about it.

So the PS was pretty decent. I was fairly confident about most of them except for one passage which tripped me up. Verbal was killer. They were all long as hell. I have never run out of time, not on any of the practice exams I've taken, but I ran out of time yesterday. 5 minutes rolled around by the time I had gotten to passage 7, so I didn't even read it but just scanned for answers. Answered them all mostly fine, but I realized at the last second that one of the answers probably wasn't correct but didn't get to change it because I ran out of time.
BS was easy as hell, for the most part. I think I missed 2 for sure, but one of them might kinda be contestable. Finished with 25 minutes to spare and took my time going over the answers. I felt like it was a "Here, I'm sorry for the VR, have a nice BS" sort of thing, haha. Having been an Orgo TA for a year now, those passages were no sweat.

Hoping for a 36, we'll see. I guess a month from now we'll all be back to share our scores!

Also, to the guy above me: You might want to delete that post, as you're not allowed to share specifics about test questions.
 
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I agree with the posters above. I remember the PS having a lot of Gen Chem on it. the first couple passages were gen chem and I can only recall 2 physics passages (I think passage 5 and 6) but its kinda blurry in my mind right now the topics exactly lol. there was a good amount of questions where i was easily able to eliminate 2 choices but then the remaining 2 were hard to choose from....so hoping my educated guessing skills along with hopefully a generous scale can lead to a decent score in PS.

for the verbal...the passages may have been a tad longer but they were generally easy to follow the author's argument and main points and the questions weren't too difficult. didn't have many philosophy or art crap that was on the aamcs but more so humanities and science passages which generally are more easy to understand for me.

BS had a lot of physiology but it wasn't difficult physio. like i remember a whole passage on physio toward the end about a certain negative feedback pathway that literally had all the answers blatantly obvious in the passage which was kinda nice. lots of the discretes i think you may just had to have known cold but they weren't anything out of the ordinary. orgo...i always went straight to the questions and only went to passage if it was mentioned in the question
 
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Having taken Advanced Genetics and Cell Physiology last semester made this BS section a piece of cake to me. I took my time to read the passages and still had 4 minutes left in the end. I did not know a couple of OChem questions, but other than that it all went smooth.

PS was relatively hard, I went well on the physics part, but the Galvanic cell passage just killed me, I spent like 15 minutes on it. My mind totally froze :(

Verbal was REALLY interesting, I actually enjoyed reading those passages, but unfortunately had to guess almost entirely on the last one. I agree with everyone, passages were way too long.

I'm predicting 10/9/12 (PS/VR/BS) based on what I know I missed, but who knows, maybe some of my guesses were right.

Good luck to everyone else that took it!
 
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I will be very honest
That was the worst Test I have ever taken.
My PS in all my AAMCS that I took was my highest mark, the PS section the was on the real thing was monstrous
VR, not expecting much, because I was poor anyways in this section.
BS was harder than the regular AAMC's that I did.
Overall: will have to repeat the test because I have little confidence in my performance.
 
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Don't know why some people thought PS was not too bad. It was hell for me. Especially that Nernst equation passage and that Rocket passage.
 
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Took this test as well...what did you guys think compared to the AAMC practice tests? Overall, I thought it seemed denser, and had rushed to finish. Thanks!
 
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dannyboy71086 said:
Also, I noticed there are 604 replies on the September 6 MCAT...why so few on this one...just a weekday thing?
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I think it's because this was on a weekday in the morning, and most people in college are back to having classes, so this was not an option for most people.

I only took it this day because I happened to have Thursdays as free days this semester, but if I didn't, then I'd go for a weekend too.
 
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Ahh, good point.

Another question - is the experimental section assigned randomly? Or do you think there is a correlation between how you perform on a given section and the type of experimental section they give you? For example, if you do well on the BS, they give you a biochem section; verbal then social science section.

This is based on the assumption that the grading scale is already fixed, so your section performance is already known. Based on what I have read, scales seem to be set although there could be minor fluctuations; hence, the month lag to probably allow for an adequate sample size....

Thoughts? Thanks
 
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I think it is assigned randomly but that is an interesting thought..

This is going to be the longest wait ever... I haven't gone a day without thinking about the test.
 
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BrothaX said:
I think it is assigned randomly but that is an interesting thought..

This is going to be the longest wait ever... I haven't gone a day without thinking about the test.
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No doubt. Does anyone know how we find out when scores are posted? I log in and there's no information regarding the test?
 
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I think that we just go back on 10/7 around 5pm and they should be there

EDIT: by go back i mean log into the online system
 
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Most of the time the scores are released before 5. Sometimes even by 3 PM. It seems most people are saying that it was relatively easy. As such, I'm expecting there won't be much of a curve or even worse the brackets will make it absurdly difficult to achieve a high score, even if you only miss a few questions overall.

Thoughts?
 
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Sir T said:
Most of the time the scores are released before 5. Sometimes even by 3 PM. It seems most people are saying that it was relatively easy. As such, I'm expecting there won't be much of a curve or even worse the brackets will make it absurdly difficult to achieve a high score, even if you only miss a few questions overall.

Thoughts?
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Honestly that is my biggest worry/fear right now. I keep having thoughts that I made a bunch of silly mistakes since I don't remember any one passage being horrible. I feel as though to get a 12 in a section it's gonna have to be near perfect. I remember AAMC 10 I felt the verbal was easy and I got a 36/40 raw and that was still an 11.
 
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Just from my personal experience (and from friends and family members) taking the MCAT twice, usually the MCAT is curved such that the PS section is highly curved (my brother and I got over 11 while guessing at least on 12+ questions), the BS section is not curved much and the verbal section usually curves down or not by much (that's why much individuals with 35+ MCAT scores usually never break 12 on the verbal section).
 
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Sir T said:
Most of the time the scores are released before 5. Sometimes even by 3 PM. It seems most people are saying that it was relatively easy. As such, I'm expecting there won't be much of a curve or even worse the brackets will make it absurdly difficult to achieve a high score, even if you only miss a few questions overall.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Getting a little worried...I thought there were two PS passages that were definitely challenging - someone mentioned them previously, but for the sake of the AMCAS police, I will not. Did the folks you interacted with think that all sections were easy?

Also, I thought the curve is already set beforehand...https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/85436/preparing_understandingscores.html
 
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Tr4n123 said:
Just from my personal experience (and from friends and family members) taking the MCAT twice, usually the MCAT is curved such that the PS section is highly curved (my brother and I got over 11 while guessing at least on 12+ questions), the BS section is not curved much and the verbal section usually curves down or not by much (that's why much individuals with 35+ MCAT scores usually never break 12 on the verbal section).
Click to expand...

I thought there was no curve...it's already predetermined:

https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/85436/preparing_understandingscores.html

Also, this http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-is-the-mcat-curved-scored.658598/
 
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