The Official September 6, 2014 MCAT Thread

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oxelhs

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Bit early, but post here if you're writing on this date. For me, it's looking to be third time's the charm hopefully.

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I've been lurking on this thread since the day before the exam andddd I think it's time I chime in. I studied for a solid 3 months, one month on my own and 2 with Kaplan. I've been having a lovely mental breakdown since I left the testing center. Here is how my test day went:

-I went to check out the center a few days beforehand, easy drive, found the testing room and bathrooms without a problem.
-The day of, I actually slept for a decent amount and got to the center early, which is a surprise considering I'm always late to everything. I was nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be.
-So come check in time, the lady did my finger prints and then her computer was starting to have problems. I ended up sitting there for over 30 mins for them to restart their computer and restart the computer I was going to be testing at THREE times and it took 3 people to do it. So after they finally solved their computer problem, they went to go take a picture of me with a regular camera because their computer camera broke and guess what.... right when they went to push the button to take the picture, the camera battery died. They ended up not taking my picture until after the exam.

After over an hour of waiting I am finally in the room! I ended up having a severe panic attack during PS and spent 5 minutes trying to keep it together while marking C for an entire passage and contemplating leaving and voiding my test. Luckily I calmed down and actually read that passage and changed my C's to actual answers. I'm convinced I skipped a passage or something because I finished on time and I NEVER finished PS on time on any practice test. Verbal was well... verbal. Nothing unusually difficult. BS was ridiculous and I ended up running out of time and leaving a question or 2 blank :(

The worst part is that I think I may have accidentally voided my exam. I could have sworn I clicked the "score" button but at the end, but the trial section that I opted to take never opened!!!! I am planning on calling aamc tomorrow to see if they know whether or not I voided. I really hope that it was issue with the computer :/

I knew I shouldn't have chosen locker # 13 ....


awww man. You're gonna be okay Bud.. just remember in 10+ years from now well be looking back at this and thinking ... Sept. 6th what a bitter sweet memory. I am positive you will hear good news from AAMC and your score will reflect all the studying you did!
 
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awww man. You're gonna be okay Bud.. just remember in 10+ years from now well be looking back at this and thinking ... Sept. 6th what a bitter sweet memory. I am positive you will hear good news from AAMC and your score will reflect all the studying you did!

Thanks, I really hope so. In the meantime, I plan on signing up for a January date. Perhaps I'm just being a neurotic pre-med.... but the worst that would happen is I lose some money cancelling it.
 
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A question: How many questions do you recall getting wrong, and then how would you qualify your performance based on that vibe? How did that compare to your experience after practice exams?

FU*&*&*&*&*&*&#&%&#*#((@*#**$&&&$&&$&$&$

For PS, I'm pretty sure I missed 2 questions off the bat (but honestly...one of them wasn't even really on the AAMC outline! I double checked and double checked...I think they took it off because it was on the really old outlines, but not the recent one I printed). I think some of the questions were tricky--but besides that one tough passage, I didn't feel like there was anything else I was like " uh I Have no idea".

BS..I know I missed 4 Q's off the bat, and possibly more. T_T I feel terrible about that section. Some of the discretes I was definitely like "wtf are you even talking about", and one of the Ochem passages just didn't make sense to me. I have decent Ochem intuition though..so I mainly relied on that to get me through. I know there was one discrete that I honestly could have made a good argument for 2 of the answer choices (it was bio related)

I'm pretty sure they still have experimental questions on the MCAT--so I'm hoping some of the ones I already I know I missed are experimental :(. If they are, I still have hope to be around my average (if the scaling is generous). If it's scaled anything like AAMC 10, then I probably got sub30 -_-. My record for practice AAMCs were remarkably consistent (like..straight 33's the entire time) even when I thought I did poorly, and also times when I thought I scored a 35+ on an AAMC and lo and behold, still a 33. Honestly, we have no idea how the scaling or scoring is going to be, and we have no idea which questions we missed were experimental or not. I think that part is up to luck and out of our control. Still...plan on retaking if I get below my avg, because my avg wasn't even where I wanted to be.
 
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Anyone else find that on VR the passages weren't too hard to understand but a few of the questions were tough? I had 2 that I either had absolutely no clue what was asking and just random guessed or it was between 2 and i could not for the life of me guess one... I finished with 9 minutes on the clock but probably spent 6 minutes trying to figure out the last 2 (failed pretty miserably) and then 3 minutes reviewing half the test, didn't change anything though.
 
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anyone who's done the MCAT before when you receive your scores do they tell you what you got wrong or how many you got wrong at least?
 
anyone who's done the MCAT before when you receive your scores do they tell you what you got wrong or how many you got wrong at least?

I heard they don't..

btw just signed up for 1/15 test date! In WA though..while I'm in CA. Great. Gonna fly over there and stay with a friend. Probably rent a car to get there..haha
 
Also that the answer to one question was in another..

This was something that I thought was the only saving grace of this test. It did seem that a couple of the answers were located within the questions of another
 
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Is it ever wise to retake before knowing your score? I feel like the only + would be that you're still retaining all that info, whereas waiting a few months would mean forgetting material during the month before score release.

Hoping and praying that I won't have to retake though. It just threw me off because I felt like only a small percentage of everything I studied could actually be applied to the exam, whereas some of the questions (a certain BS one.....) I felt like I didn't know how to tackle- just had to make an educated guess.
 
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Is it ever wise to retake before knowing your score? I feel like the only + would be that you're still retaining all that info, whereas waiting a few months would mean forgetting material during the month before score release.

Hoping and praying that I won't have to retake though. It just threw me off because I felt like only a small percentage of everything I studied could actually be applied to the exam, whereas some of the questions (a certain BS one.....) I felt like I didn't know how to tackle- just had to make an educated guess.

I was wondering the same thing. But what if you ended up scoring both of them and doing nearly the same on both?
 
I was wondering the same thing. But what if you ended up scoring both of them and doing nearly the same on both?
And what if you score less? I whole heatedly think you should NEVER write again until you get your score.

I thought I bombed it last year and still ended up pulling a 31. Take home message: you never know so have some faith
 
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Is it ever wise to retake before knowing your score? I feel like the only + would be that you're still retaining all that info, whereas waiting a few months would mean forgetting material during the month before score release.

Hoping and praying that I won't have to retake though. It just threw me off because I felt like only a small percentage of everything I studied could actually be applied to the exam, whereas some of the questions (a certain BS one.....) I felt like I didn't know how to tackle- just had to make an educated guess.

I think it's better to wait--if it makes you feel better, you can immediately book a seat for a retake (what I did). I don't think it's likely you'll forget that much. You should have technically already taken these classes before--so all the material is familiar. Plus, you've already studied for the MCAT, so the third time you see the same material, it should come back to you even faster than before, so technically mostly what you'd need to do is the fine tuning and practicing to really improve.
 
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anyone use kaplan from this test day and found it similar to the real deal (in terms of using the topical and sectional tests?)
 
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I guess I am the unconventional lurker on sdn, most people who post on this site get 30s and over and I am a member of the 30 and below family who do not really have anything to brag about. But I need some advice.

Thoughts on the Sept. 6th exam:

PS- the easiest out of the three which surprised me because I hate physics with a passion but I still managed to complete this section right on time. So I am expecting 10-12 on it.
VR- this is the only section I have no idea on how I did because the first time I took the MCAT (june 13th) I thought I rocked this section and ended up with a 5!!!I felt the passages on this one were long and tedious. I had to guess on 3 questions of the last passage. I am just praying for anything better than a 5 (I mean really how low can I get).
BS- I felt like this section back stabbed me in the back, I always rely on this section to lift up my overall score and this time IT LET ME DOWN :( I am still expecting a 9-11).
I am so close to sign up for it again on September 18th before I get my score, is that bad? I know it is too soon but I still have all the material in my head and waiting will only make it harder. Most of the MD schools I am applying to have a sept 18 MCAT deadline. This will be my third and last try before the MCAT changes next year. So should I sign up for the 18th or wait to get my score?
 
I guess I am the unconventional lurker on sdn, most people who post on this site get 30s and over and I am a member of the 30 and below family who do not really have anything to brag about. But I need some advice.

Thoughts on the Sept. 6th exam:

PS- the easiest out of the three which surprised me because I hate physics with a passion but I still managed to complete this section right on time. So I am expecting 10-12 on it.
VR- this is the only section I have no idea on how I did because the first time I took the MCAT (june 13th) I thought I rocked this section and ended up with a 5!!!I felt the passages on this one were long and tedious. I had to guess on 3 questions of the last passage. I am just praying for anything better than a 5 (I mean really how low can I get).
BS- I felt like this section back stabbed me in the back, I always rely on this section to lift up my overall score and this time IT LET ME DOWN :( I am still expecting a 9-11).
I am so close to sign up for it again on September 18th before I get my score, is that bad? I know it is too soon but I still have all the material in my head and waiting will only make it harder. Most of the MD schools I am applying to have a sept 18 MCAT deadline. This will be my third and last try before the MCAT changes next year. So should I sign up for the 18th or wait to get my score?

Looks like VR is the only one you're worried about--I'd say wait. I thought the verbal wasn't easy at all...there's a possibility I could have done really badly on it haha
 
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I guess I am the unconventional lurker on sdn, most people who post on this site get 30s and over and I am a member of the 30 and below family who do not really have anything to brag about. But I need some advice.

Thoughts on the Sept. 6th exam:

PS- the easiest out of the three which surprised me because I hate physics with a passion but I still managed to complete this section right on time. So I am expecting 10-12 on it.
VR- this is the only section I have no idea on how I did because the first time I took the MCAT (june 13th) I thought I rocked this section and ended up with a 5!!!I felt the passages on this one were long and tedious. I had to guess on 3 questions of the last passage. I am just praying for anything better than a 5 (I mean really how low can I get).
BS- I felt like this section back stabbed me in the back, I always rely on this section to lift up my overall score and this time IT LET ME DOWN :( I am still expecting a 9-11).
I am so close to sign up for it again on September 18th before I get my score, is that bad? I know it is too soon but I still have all the material in my head and waiting will only make it harder. Most of the MD schools I am applying to have a sept 18 MCAT deadline. This will be my third and last try before the MCAT changes next year. So should I sign up for the 18th or wait to get my score?


Hey dude,

I would say wait. I think I am considerably older than most of the responders here, giving me a different outlook. This may seem scary, but if the deadline is 09/18 you probably need to apply next cycle. Given my limited knowledge of your situation, this is how I would proceed: Wait to see how you performed on this test. You may be surprised in one or more sections. I usually do well on the verbal sections (avg. little over 11 and I've never scored lower than a 10), and I thought this verbal was considerably harder, though not ridiculous, than all of the other verbal sections I've encountered in the AAMCs. I have this opinion mostly because the passages were longer and a few of the questions, particularly towards the end, seemed to have an extra dash of ambiguity in there.

By waiting you will have concrete evidence of where additional weaknesses lie. I remember taking a few bio sections where I genuinely thought I did very poorly, but wound up getting 13s. My post-test perception was different than my performance. The same may be the case with you as well.

This is my plan. I already signed up for the 10/25 MCAT. I am giving myself a few days to decompress and catch up on material for this semester's classes. Then I'll hit the MCAT again. I think I really failed mentally on this exam. I just didn't execute.

One year may seem like a very long time to wait. It does suck. But to be in the field you want and have some pride because of your accomplishments is certainly worth it.
 
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anyone use kaplan from this test day and found it similar to the real deal (in terms of using the topical and sectional tests?)
I used Kaplan and in my opinion the topical tests were very difficult and test material in ridiculous detail. Same with their subject tests. I did like using them as an addition study resource. I did all of the section tests and I thought those were good practice. PS was wayyyyyy more difficult on Kaplan than AAMC and the actual test. Verbal was verbal, but again I felt like Kaplan verbal was more difficult because they asked very convoluted questions as opposed to AAMC being more straightforward. BS was similar and was good practice, but none actually prepared me for the bio on 9/6.

Hope this helps!
 
It's kind of funny (in a sad way) that so many of us on this thread already signed up for another MCAT date already and mostly because of the Biological Sciences section. I can say without a shadow of doubt that neither EK or Kaplan prepared me for the Bio Section I encountered. I really hope we're all pleasantly surprised by a fairly large curve come Oct 7th.
 
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I think a large curve is the only thing that would get me a satisfactory score to be honest. I'm about to reschedule for january just in case
 
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I didn't take 9/06, but my friend who did said the Bio was harder than verbal, and he's not even a native English speaker. That worries me greatly haha
 
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I think a large curve is the only thing that would get me a satisfactory score to be honest.

This. If the Bio and Verbal sections were as difficult as they seemed, the curve might be on our side! Although I noticed that the verbal scale was nearly the sane for every AAMC, which is a little scary tbh.
 
What was so hard about the biological sciences section?

There was one passage with only like 4 or 5 questions early on that was tricky because, unless you studied it randomly somehow, it required a lot of figuring out.
But then I thought the discretes were all very fair... nothing was really that oddball or random about them.
And then the other passages were pretty okay in terms of analyzing experimental results.
The orgo stuff was a little bit more than usual but it wasn't horrible.

What exactly made it so hard for you guys?
 
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What was so hard about the biological sciences section?

There was one passage with only like 4 or 5 questions early on that was tricky because, unless you studied it randomly somehow, it required a lot of figuring out.
But then I thought the discretes were all very fair... nothing was really that oddball or random about them.
And then the other passages were pretty okay in terms of analyzing experimental results.
The orgo stuff was a little bit more than usual but it wasn't horrible.

What exactly made it so hard for you guys?
I think I know what passage you are talking about... Thankfully, I shadowed a physician of that particular specialty over summer. Otherwise, I would have been completely lost on that passage.
 
I think I know what passage you are talking about... Thankfully, I shadowed a physician of that particular specialty over summer. Otherwise, I would have been completely lost on that passage.

Ugh you suck haha. I am pretty sure I only got 4/5 or 3/5 on that one... which is frustrating.
 
What was so hard about the biological sciences section?

There was one passage with only like 4 or 5 questions early on that was tricky because, unless you studied it randomly somehow, it required a lot of figuring out.
But then I thought the discretes were all very fair... nothing was really that oddball or random about them.
And then the other passages were pretty okay in terms of analyzing experimental results.
The orgo stuff was a little bit more than usual but it wasn't horrible.

What exactly made it so hard for you guys?


Quick context, I'm freaking out a little bit for this test, so if I come off brusque please dismiss it.

Here's why I think it was very hard.

1) Quantity and difficulty of the Orgo: I am saying this for several reasons? There was nothing in any AAMC that was even remotely like this exam's orgo content. I think that is as close as one can get to an objective fact coming from an MCAT opinion. I would like to challenge any reader of this post to reference material in the AAMCs that was even remotely like the Orgo we encountered on 09/06. Obviously leave out any specific content references. I did fairly well in my Orgo classes (A-'s both semesters, Honestly, 1st semester would have been an A except for lab grade. 93 test average). Organic chemistry can get quite difficult very quickly. It's easier to get an answer wrong when you think you knew it. So I think a lot of us feel insecure about this area.

2) The "pure" bio passages were very long. Really not that much to deal with, but it takes a little more time to read through it. Also, more terms get defined, so it was more difficult for me to keep variables straight in my head and then identify the consequences of manipulating variables or understand how those variables may be represented graphically. Hopefully this makes sense.

3) It was unrelenting: I would say this about all three sections, but particularly for the verbal and bio sections. Thinking back on it, the one genuinely effed up thing about PS was the lack of diversity in topics tested. I'm pretty good with waves and EM stuff, but if I wasn't I think I would be justifiably upset with AAMC. And I don't know, the one passage I recall that seemed like pure Gen Chem, was weird. But PS is hard for me.

Back to BS and its unrelenting nature. A couple of other posters have commented that it was heavily experimental. I would qualify that. It was, but it was more graphical/data for me (think of the physiology passage). Why is this problematic? Well, in the practice exams and passages, I was fairly confident when I knew or didn't know content/processes questions. But when experiments, graphs, and data get in the mix, I was much more likely to make mistakes without realizing it. This is what is concerning for me. Maybe it's true with other individuals as well.

4) This dovetails a little bit off of 3. When I don't "know" a question, I usually (50-80%) can get it down to two reasonable answer choices. On many questions I was trying to guess between three of the answer choices. I would say this is another that I feel very uncomfortable with the exam.

DAMMNNNN!!! I wrote a lot. Hopefully, somebody finds this post helpful, and like I said in the beginning, please keep this post in context. Plus, I'm super hammered right now.
 
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Quick context, I'm freaking out a little bit for this test, so if I come off brusque please dismiss it.

Here's why I think it was very hard.

1) Quantity and difficulty of the Orgo: I am saying this for several reasons? There was nothing in any AAMC that was even remotely like this exam's orgo content. I think that is as close as one can get to an objective fact coming from an MCAT opinion. I would like to challenge any reader of this post to reference material in the AAMCs that was even remotely like the Orgo we encountered on 09/06. Obviously leave out any specific content references. I did fairly well in my Orgo classes (A-'s both semesters, Honestly, 1st semester would have been an A except for lab grade. 93 test average). Organic chemistry can get quite difficult very quickly. It's easier to get an answer wrong when you think you knew it. So I think a lot of us feel insecure about this area.

2) The "pure" bio passages were very long. Really not that much to deal with, but it takes a little more time to read through it. Also, more terms get defined, so it was more difficult for me to keep variables straight in my head and then identify the consequences of manipulating variables or understand how those variables may be represented graphically. Hopefully this makes sense.

3) It was unrelenting: I would say this about all three sections, but particularly for the verbal and bio sections. Thinking back on it, the one genuinely effed up thing about PS was the lack of diversity in topics tested. I'm pretty good with waves and EM stuff, but if I wasn't I think I would be justifiably upset with AAMC. And I don't know, the one passage I recall that seemed like pure Gen Chem, was weird. But PS is hard for me.

Back to BS and its unrelenting nature. A couple of other posters have commented that it was heavily experimental. I would qualify that. It was, but it was more graphical/data for me (think of the physiology passage). Why is this problematic? Well, in the practice exams and passages, I was fairly confident when I knew or didn't know content/processes questions. But when experiments, graphs, and data get in the mix, I was much more likely to make mistakes without realizing it. This is what is concerning for me. Maybe it's true with other individuals as well.

4) This dovetails a little bit off of 3. When I don't "know" a question, I usually (50-80%) can get it down to two reasonable answer choices. On many questions I was trying to guess between three of the answer choices. I would say this is another that I feel very uncomfortable with the exam.

DAMMNNNN!!! I wrote a lot. Hopefully, somebody finds this post helpful, and like I said in the beginning, please keep this post in context. Plus, I'm super hammered right now.

Ah okay that makes sense and I agree with your points.

I'm particularly miffed that a lot of the stuff I studied for bio content wise wasn't even mentioned.
 
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Ah okay that makes sense and I agree with your points.

I'm particularly miffed that a lot of the stuff I studied for bio content wise wasn't even mentioned.


RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

I read all (not literally) the posts, and the guides, and asked all the premeds and postbaccs about the MCAT. So I heard the same stuff as everybody, especially "it has nothing to do with content."

Having said that, I'll take that one orgo passage as an example (it was kind of short, but had a lot of figures and reactions with big molecules). Yes, if I looked long enough at the passage and experimented a little bit with some mechanisms I probably could have hit between 80-90% on that passage, but that would be testing my Orgo skills and knowledge, not necessarily my critical thinking/reading comp/experimental analysis/whatever the f*** they're looking for. WTF.

Just commiserating with you a little bit.
 
I used Kaplan and in my opinion the topical tests were very difficult and test material in ridiculous detail. Same with their subject tests. I did like using them as an addition study resource. I did all of the section tests and I thought those were good practice. PS was wayyyyyy more difficult on Kaplan than AAMC and the actual test. Verbal was verbal, but again I felt like Kaplan verbal was more difficult because they asked very convoluted questions as opposed to AAMC being more straightforward. BS was similar and was good practice, but none actually prepared me for the bio on 9/6.

Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply -- did you feel PS helped at all, even though it was more difficult?

Also, did you use any other resources (comparisons?)
 
I think I am going to go ahead and schedule for 10/25 as well. I'm iffy on this whole deal as I really can't say for sure that I did "that" bad, but on the other hand, I was one of the many here who are a bit concerned.
 
So has anyone made any strides in "stop thinking about it"? I've been miserably failing and feeling worse and worse about it with each passing day. Starting to think I may have scored in the 20's -_-"
 
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So has anyone made any strides in "stop thinking about it"? I've been miserably failing and feeling worse and worse about it with each passing day. Starting to think I may have scored in the 20's -_-"

I can't stop thinking about it. I will replay my DUMB thought processes over and over in my head for two certain PS problems that I messed up on. I'm so annoyed because they were things I understood, but I think I was freaking out and not thinking straight on the exam. It makes me feel really really bad to know that I messed up on something I actually understand :(
 
I can't stop thinking about it. I will replay my DUMB thought processes over and over in my head for two certain PS problems that I messed up on. I'm so annoyed because they were things I understood, but I think I was freaking out and not thinking straight on the exam. It makes me feel really really bad to know that I messed up on something I KNOW :(((

I know that feeling--unfortunately I don't remember enough of the test to know which ones I made dumb mistakes on. So I guess thankfully that's not grating one me. I can't stop thinking about the things I just didn't know or couldn't figure out. Namely, the 3 PS that I ended up looking up and the 4 BS ones too. Especially the PS..I'm worried that the answer was in the passage all along and I couldn't find it.
 
I can't stop thinking about it. I will replay my DUMB thought processes over and over in my head for two certain PS problems that I messed up on. I'm so annoyed because they were things I understood, but I think I was freaking out and not thinking straight on the exam. It makes me feel really really bad to know that I messed up on something I KNOW :(((

YESSS so true. I walked out of the PS section feeling good, then right in the middle of VR I remembered that on a few problems I forgot take square roots, divided by 2, etc. +pissed+
 
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For those of you that are asking for specific topics or what this mystery "one topic" was that was on the exam, you know that as much as I would love to write and outline of everything that was on there, I clearly can't. But here is what I can offer you, given that I too, like a of others signed up for my last and third time to take this test in January.

This is not an exam that you can prepare for like you do in your undergraduate courses. It's a whole different ball game and you can take my advice with a grain of salt but I truly believe this is the way to go. So knowing your content is important but how well you know your content is EXTREMELY important. One of the BIGGEST mistakes I did was learning the content but looking at the Forrest instead of the trees. For example if you are going to learn the ideal gas law, would you ALSO be able to reconstruct the formula if it was given in the different context? Yes you should know mitosis but would you be able to tell me how the process differs for a 3N organism for example? TBR prepares you REALLLY WELL, especially if you were fortunate enough to take their review course.. which helped a lot by giving extra passages, cheat sheets, tips etc. Kaplan on the other hand prepares you for the difficulty of the exam. I know others on here discount Kaplan but I can promise you that two of the PS passages I had.. were also passages that had come up in Kaplan, I might have not studied them as well because let's be honest we soo over 1000s of questions so who is going to remember them specifically, but I had seen that exact experiment. AAMC on the other hand prepares you for question types. They have a certain way of testing you, and that is what the exams should be used for. This time, I am going to get my AAMC exams AND THE OUTLINE (DO NOT IGNORE THE OUTLINE) and go through each topic, then use Kaplan/TBR to find problems/passages on them. It's really learning how to play the game, studying RIGHT not A LOT is key here.

Also a very good friend showed me this, and okay it might be SUPER lame but it will put a smile on your face:)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Don't give up people, if it was easy everybody would have the same dream!
 
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I've been lurking on this thread since the day before the exam andddd I think it's time I chime in. I studied for a solid 3 months, one month on my own and 2 with Kaplan. I've been having a lovely mental breakdown since I left the testing center. Here is how my test day went:

-I went to check out the center a few days beforehand, easy drive, found the testing room and bathrooms without a problem.
-The day of, I actually slept for a decent amount and got to the center early, which is a surprise considering I'm always late to everything. I was nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be.
-So come check in time, the lady did my finger prints and then her computer was starting to have problems. I ended up sitting there for over 30 mins for them to restart their computer and restart the computer I was going to be testing at THREE times and it took 3 people to do it. So after they finally solved their computer problem, they went to go take a picture of me with a regular camera because their computer camera broke and guess what.... right when they went to push the button to take the picture, the camera battery died. They ended up not taking my picture until after the exam.

After over an hour of waiting I am finally in the room! I ended up having a severe panic attack during PS and spent 5 minutes trying to keep it together while marking C for an entire passage and contemplating leaving and voiding my test. Luckily I calmed down and actually read that passage and changed my C's to actual answers. I'm convinced I skipped a passage or something because I finished on time and I NEVER finished PS on time on any practice test. Verbal was well... verbal. Nothing unusually difficult. BS was ridiculous and I ended up running out of time and leaving a question or 2 blank :(

The worst part is that I think I may have accidentally voided my exam. I could have sworn I clicked the "score" button but at the end, but the trial section that I opted to take never opened!!!! I am planning on calling aamc tomorrow to see if they know whether or not I voided. I really hope that it was issue with the computer :/

I knew I shouldn't have chosen locker # 13 ....
i'm a Sep. 12 taker here. so be prepared to wait forever is what you're saying? i will nervous poop all over their waiting room if they pull that on me
 
Lol I was having the same mini panic attack because I don't exactly remember taking a square root. Then I remembered that there was one question that was kinda like that, but you had to take the square root or else there were no other answers that matched.

That's likely the one I was thinking about, but now that you bring that up I did get an answer that was amongst the answer choices so I probably didn't really forget. But who knows? :(
 
That's likely the one I was thinking about, but now that you bring that up I did get an answer that was amongst the answer choices so I probably didn't really forget. But who knows? :(
Yeah I don't remember needing to take a square root to get to the right answer o_o
 
So has anyone made any strides in "stop thinking about it"? I've been miserably failing and feeling worse and worse about it with each passing day. Starting to think I may have scored in the 20's -_-"


NOT EVEN CLOSE! I think that is evident by my posts hahaha. I thought being on SDN would make it worse, but it actually helped me to vent a little and get some perspective. I still think I pulled a sub-30, but now I feel better about it. Wait, that's not true. F***!
 
NOT EVEN CLOSE! I think that is evident by my posts hahaha. I thought being on SDN would make it worse, but it actually helped me to vent a little and get some perspective. I still think I pulled a sub-30, but now I feel better about it. Wait, that's not true. F***!

I think ranting/whining about it on SDN helps me better cope in real life haha. Like, I can function normally as a result--I think if I had to hold my neuroticism in, I'll probably act like a miserable old hag for awhile
 
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what AAMC FL would you guys say this was most like?
Honestly, I would say that none of them are very similar. There is a totally different feel to the actual exam. No gimme discrete questions and passages are way more dense. You will get material that you have not studied, and you will have to adjust accordingly.
 
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what AAMC FL would you guys say this was most like?

11 was closest to the bio passages in my opinion, and that 11's passages would be moderate to easy in comparison.

This may sound strange, but I think the Orgo was most similar to 8 or 9. I can't remember. Having said that, I don't think the Orgo portions were anything like the Orgo I encountered in the AAMCs. Could be just me. TBR would have probably been more helpful, especially concerning Oxygen-containing compounds.

I think I would like to qualify my opinion of the bio section, not that any of you care. This is purely cathartic. I did a lot of passages from TBR's Molecular Biology book. I would say in total 30-40+. The passages on 09/06 may have been comparable with the difficult passages in TBR. But here is the difference for me. In TBR, when you got a nasty passage, 2-4 out of the 7 or so questions would be difficult (mainly interpretation/manipulation for me) and the rest would be easy or moderate, but on this exam I really thought 5 or 6 out of 7 were just very difficult questions. For me I label a question difficult, when I'm not very sure of exactly what they're asking or when I don't feel confident about WHY I am selecting answer.
 
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So uh...I'm browsing through the August MCAT threads that have had their scores posted---it's freaking me out even more to see their scores. I'm going to be a wreck in 30-ish days.
 
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