The Official September 6, 2014 MCAT Thread

[oxelhs]

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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[GoZagsMD]

Hey congrats on cracking the 10 in VR! I wish I could say the same for me.

Got a 36 on AAMC 9 today (15/9/12). I had to rush through the last passage of VR because I wasted too much time on one of the previous passages. Rookie mistake. Consequently ended up getting 4 mistakes on the final passage which cost me dearly since I was 1 point away from a 10.

I really need to work on choosing an answer and moving on in verbal. I tend to run out of time on the last passage and have to rush through.

Got a 36 on AAMC 9 as well PS/VR/BS-14/9/13

I had the same exact problem with the last passage, I had like 5 minutes left when I started that one and hardly read the passage at all. Actually had some annoying @$$ distractions throughout the VR that ended up frustrating me (hoping that had something to do with the VR score going back down to 9 from 10, prob not though) but none the less pretty frustrating as it seems nearly impossible for me to consistently break that 10 in VR.

Will be sure to take the rest of the night off then hit the books hard tomorrow with lots of VR practice.

Good luck yall with a week left to go!

 

[t0ny]

Got a 36 on AAMC 9 as well PS/VR/BS-14/9/13

I had the same exact problem with the last passage, I had like 5 minutes left when I started that one and hardly read the passage at all. Actually had some annoying @$$ distractions throughout the VR that ended up frustrating me (hoping that had something to do with the VR score going back down to 9 from 10, prob not though) but none the less pretty frustrating as it seems nearly impossible for me to consistently break that 10 in VR.

Will be sure to take the rest of the night off then hit the books hard tomorrow with lots of VR practice.

Good luck yall with a week left to go!

Yeh I need to start getting more into the "choose an answer and move on" attitude because I keep losing time on last passage

 

[oneirologist]

Taking AAMC 11 today! Let's see how this goes...

 

[MCATologist]

Got a 36 on AAMC 9 as well PS/VR/BS-14/9/13

I had the same exact problem with the last passage, I had like 5 minutes left when I started that one and hardly read the passage at all. Actually had some annoying @$$ distractions throughout the VR that ended up frustrating me (hoping that had something to do with the VR score going back down to 9 from 10, prob not though) but none the less pretty frustrating as it seems nearly impossible for me to consistently break that 10 in VR.

Will be sure to take the rest of the night off then hit the books hard tomorrow with lots of VR practice.

Good luck yall with a week left to go!

Dang what did y'all do for PS??? BS is good for me and VR is getting there but I've been stuck between 9-10 on PS with only one 11.

 

[Romz]

Just took AAMC # 8

34
(13 - 10 - 11)

Wtf happened to my BS now...(sigh). Sooo close to a 35 with a 14 in PS. I share your dilemma, @musicalfeet. Lol

 

[GoZagsMD]

Taking AAMC 11 today! Let's see how this goes...

Good luck man! Do you think it would be worth it to take AAMC 10 untimed and then do AAMC 11 times on like Tuesday? I want to get through all of them to try and diagnose possible problem areas in content and I'm afraid of burning out if I crammed them both in this next week..

Dang what did y'all do for PS??? BS is good for me and VR is getting there but I've been stuck between 9-10 on PS with only one 11.

I think I've come to realize that much of PS is passage-based, many of the answers can be extrapolated straight from the passage as long as you can make sense of the jargon. That, and something that I've relied on is working with dimensional analysis, units rather than concepts, with certain questions. Say a question asks about calculating a buoyant force, I usually have no idea what the equation for buoyant force is but I know force is measured in Newtons and so I just manipulate the numbers in the passage/question so that the answer ends up with kgm/s^2.. stuff like that can be used on physics and gen chem. IDK if thats a widespread strategy or not...?

Just took AAMC # 8

34
(13 - 10 - 11)

Wtf happened to my BS now...(sigh). Sooo close to a 35 with a 14 in PS. I share your dilemma, @musicalfeet. Lol

I got an 11 on BS too for AAMC 8.. mostly from stupid mistakes about the function of the pancreas and organelles if I remember correctly. I wouldn't worry too much about that

 

[Romz]

I got an 11 on BS too for AAMC 8.. mostly from stupid mistakes about the function of the pancreas and organelles if I remember correctly. I wouldn't worry too much about that

Thanks for the kind words bud. I just checked my mistakes in BS and the majority of them were on that -explicit- lizard passage, with only a few "stupid/D'oh" mistakes. I seriously need to review genetics too...

 

[musicalfeet]

Thanks for the kind words bud. I just checked my mistakes in BS and the majority of them were on that -explicit- lizard passage, with only a few "stupid/D'oh" mistakes. I seriously need to review genetics too...

Haha yes..I remember the lizard passage. I wonder if the stupid mistakes are due to fatigue? I made a lot of weird mistakes there too, where after I checked the answer I was like " DUH, makes so much more sense!". Actually, a lot of mistakes on BS are like that--it's probably mental fatigue. *Adrenaline don't fail me now* haha.

I've kind of just zen-ed out and figured either I'm going to score around my average which in all reality isn't too bad, and hope for a miracle come med school application time (hey..it worked once for my postbac!). Things in life will probably just work out the way they're supposed to--and maybe by some miracle stroke of luck, I'll score above my AAMC average. (I tend to be a skeptic...but reading a couple other hopeful, inspiring threads is changing that a bit).

[Edit: Although, when I find myself getting pessimistic, I guess the only thing that makes me a bit bummed about my AAMC avg is probably the fact that I'm going to be the post-bac in my year with the lowest MCAT score...that never feels good]

 

[Romz]

Haha yes..I remember the lizard passage. I wonder if the stupid mistakes are due to fatigue? I made a lot of weird mistakes there too, where after I checked the answer I was like " DUH, makes so much more sense!". Actually, a lot of mistakes on BS are like that--it's probably mental fatigue. *Adrenaline don't fail me now* haha.

I've kind of just zen-ed out and figured either I'm going to score around my average which in all reality isn't too bad, and hope for a miracle come med school application time (hey..it worked once for my postbac!). Things in life will probably just work out the way they're supposed to--and maybe by some miracle stroke of luck, I'll score above my AAMC average. (I tend to be a skeptic...but reading a couple other hopeful, inspiring threads is changing that a bit).

[Edit: Although, when I find myself getting pessimistic, I guess the only thing that makes me a bit bummed about my AAMC avg is probably the fact that I'm going to be the post-bac in my year with the lowest MCAT score...that never feels good]

Yeah I'm usually exhausted by the time I'm writing BS. I don't want to take caffeine pills or any of that jazz just because I'll prob get overly anxious and tank the section.

Oh I didn't know you were taking a post-bac. I was considering taking one in the US as well - I'm just debating whether it should be an SMP or not. I ended up with a 3.2 cGPA last year, which dropped me to a cGPA of 3.5 overall. I still do have faith I can go MD/DO after a post bacc. You mind sharing which one you're doing?

Also yeah - always stay hopeful that, with effort, you'll make it.

 

[musicalfeet]

Yeah I'm usually exhausted by the time I'm writing BS. I don't want to take caffeine pills or any of that jazz just because I'll prob get overly anxious and tank the section.

Oh I didn't know you were taking a post-bac. I was considering taking one in the US as well - I'm just debating whether it should be an SMP or not. I ended up with a 3.2 cGPA last year, which dropped me to a cGPA of 3.5 overall. I still do have faith I can go MD/DO after a post bacc. You mind sharing which one you're doing?

Also yeah - always stay hopeful that, with effort, you'll make it.

Oh haha I'm in a career-changer post-bac. But...I graduated with a 3.4cGPA because I really didn't care much about school then (music performance major). I'm in my final year of my classes though, and if I can continue to get A's, I could possibly repair my cGPA up to a 3.6. I'm also really trying to stay in CA, which was why I was clamoring for a 35+.

 

[oneirologist]

Well, they're not lying when they say AAMC 11 is hard. Had an upward trend with the AAMC tests but dropped with 11. Some of my mistakes were silly though... which makes me even more frustrated! What am I doing making silly mistakes?!

 

[Romz]

Well, they're not lying when they say AAMC 11 is hard. Had an upward trend with the AAMC tests but dropped with 11. Some of my mistakes were silly though... which makes me even more frustrated! What am I doing making silly mistakes?!

Ahhhhh That's intimidating to hear.

If it's any comfort to you, AAMC 9, 10 and 11 are all supposed to be relatively similar to one another in terms of the real thing. AAMC 11 can just be your outlier

 

[t0ny]

Alright everyone. Time to do AAMC 10 today for me! Got a 36 on AAMC 9 so hoping for an improvement, but honestly I just want a 10 in verbal and I'll be happy.

 

[oxelhs]

Alright everyone. Time to do AAMC 10 today for me! Got a 36 on AAMC 9 so hoping for an improvement, but honestly I just want a 10 in verbal and I'll be happy.

Good luck! I'm writing my final FL today - hoping to score 32+.

 

[GoZagsMD]

Alright everyone. Time to do AAMC 10 today for me! Got a 36 on AAMC 9 so hoping for an improvement, but honestly I just want a 10 in verbal and I'll be happy.

Good luck brother! Is that your last FL? or are you gonna try and cram 11 in before saturday?

 

[t0ny]

Good luck brother! Is that your last FL? or are you gonna try and cram 11 in before saturday?

Thanks! Naw I still have 11 left. Going to do it Wednesday probably maybe Thursday.

 

[oneirologist]

Ahhhhh That's intimidating to hear.

If it's any comfort to you, AAMC 9, 10 and 11 are all supposed to be relatively similar to one another in terms of the real thing. AAMC 11 can just be your outlier

I got one of my highest scores on 9 and I'm taking 10 on Wednesday so yeah hopefully 11 was just a bad day for me :3 Thanks!

 

[GoZagsMD]

can you guys let me know what scores you got on 10 in comparison to 8 and 9 and 11 if youve done it?? Im skipping 10 and doing 11 tomorrow and I just wanna know if 10 was still in your average or lower with respect to those other ones.

 

[kbr115]

I got a 30 (11/9/10) on AAMC #9 but got a 28 (11/7!/10) on AAMC #10 today. I read that there is an error in the scoring of the verbal. A question I got marked wrong for was actually correct, which ends up giving me an 8 in VR. Still disappointing though. Not sure what I can do this week to get a 30-32.

 

[JJD777]

can you guys let me know what scores you got on 10 in comparison to 8 and 9 and 11 if youve done it?? Im skipping 10 and doing 11 tomorrow and I just wanna know if 10 was still in your average or lower with respect to those other ones.

This is purely anecdotal but I got a higher score on 10 than either 8 or 9. My sciences were about the same but my Verbal shot up. I don't think it was any easier though.

 

[musicalfeet]

can you guys let me know what scores you got on 10 in comparison to 8 and 9 and 11 if youve done it?? Im skipping 10 and doing 11 tomorrow and I just wanna know if 10 was still in your average or lower with respect to those other ones.

Scored pretty much the same on the sciences (one question away each for PS and BS from my goal); tanked on Verbal. Verbal is a bit unpredictable because what other people find interesting is not necessarily what you find interesting and it varies a lot depending on how you feel that day. Got the lowest on Verbal I've ever gotten on the AAMCs, but a large part of it is probably lack of focus. (I hated that last passage...SO BORING and I just couldn't see the point)

 

[oxelhs]

Ughh scored 12/7/11 on TPR Cracking #2. Felt unsure about verbal but ended getting questions I thought I had nailed wrong. 4/6 wrong on the last passage. Really too late to do anything except hope my focus is there come test day.

 

[t0ny]

Well that was really strange. I got 35 (12/9/14) on AAMC 10. I usually get 14 on PS and get 12 on BS. VR was the usual crap shoot it usually is. I REALLY need a 10 on verbal

 

[GoZagsMD]

Well that was really strange. I got 35 (12/9/14) on AAMC 10. I usually get 14 on PS and get 12 on BS. VR was the usual crap shoot it usually is. I REALLY need a 10 on verbal

and thats about the average you got on the previous FLs? Nice score btw its always good to see those high scores this late still

 

[t0ny]

and thats about the average you got on the previous FLs? Nice score btw its always good to see those high scores this late still

I don't know what I'm doing wrong with verbal. It hasn't improved since I started writing FL. I'm gonna take a full day tomorrow to try to fix it and do AAMC 11 on Wednesday.

 

[kbr115]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong with verbal. It hasn't improved since I started writing FL. I'm gonna take a full day tomorrow to try to fix it and do AAMC 11 on Wednesday.

What's your plan for tackling verbal tomorrow? I really don't want verbal to screw me on the actual MCAT.

 

[t0ny]

What's your plan for tackling verbal tomorrow? I really don't want verbal to screw me on the actual MCAT.

I know there is SOMETHING that's not clicking, not sure what it is. So I'm going to do EK 101 verbal test Untimed, 1 by one to see what my thought process that I'm lacking is. Then do 2 Verbal tests timmed (one from TPRH and one from EK101) to practice.

 

[kbr115]

I know there is SOMETHING that's not clicking, not sure what it is. So I'm going to do EK 101 verbal test Untimed, 1 by one to see what my thought process that I'm lacking is. Then do 2 Verbal tests timmed (one from TPRH and one from EK101) to practice.

I'm not sure how to handle the next few days. I don't know what will help me more, working on my sciences or practicing verbal passages. I just never know how verbal is going to turn out each practice test.

 

[Romz]

So as you all know, I recently wrote AAMC # 8 and got a 13 - 10 - 11 distribution.

I went to check my exam to start reviewing it and noticed I couldn't click on any of the links for the in-depth analysis.

It turns out that my exams have expired since I bought them a year ago on August 31st. The peculiar thing is that I had recently re-paid the full 230$ for all of the practice exams in the beginning of August, yet my deadline had not reset until today? I basically have zero access to any of my FL I've written thus far and haven't even reviewed my mistakes from BS AAMC #8.

Wtf. Am I able to call them and ask to have my access granted back considering I did repay for these exams before the deadline? I could've saved a hell of a lot of money otherwise...

I'm pissed.

 

[JJD777]

35 AAMC 11 (13/11/11)

 

[j306c954]

Took the MCAT 8/1 didn't feel great about it (I know no one does, but I was seated in a really bad spot next to the door and got extremely distracted, and ended up having to guess on a lot because I ran out of time)
Depending on my score (which is released tomorrow, yikes), I may take it again on 9/6


I just want this to be over

 

[oneirologist]

Took the MCAT 8/1 didn't feel great about it (I know no one does, but I was seated in a really bad spot next to the door and got extremely distracted, and ended up having to guess on a lot because I ran out of time)
Depending on my score (which is released tomorrow, yikes), I may take it again on 9/6


I just want this to be over

Hope you're happy with your score tomorrow!

Do you get seated close to the door if you're one of the earlier or later examinees entering the room? Or I guess it could be different for every center...

 

[j306c954]

Hope you're happy with your score tomorrow!

Do you get seated close to the door if you're one of the earlier or later examinees entering the room? Or I guess it could be different for every center...

I was later. I mean I still got there about 20 minutes before

 

[t0ny]

8:45 anatomy class then verbal reasoning for at least a few hours. Going to finish the day with 10 PS passages

 

[GoZagsMD]

8:45 anatomy class then verbal reasoning for at least a few hours. Going to finish the day with 10 PS passages

AAMC 11 for me today

 

[t0ny]

AAMC 11 for me today

Best of luck! Doing it tomorrow.

 

[oxelhs]

So here are all my scores on FLs:

TPR 1: 9/9/12 = 30
TPR 2: 8/9/10 = 27
TPR 3: 11/10/10 = 31
TPR 4: 10/7/11 = 28
TPR 5: 10/10/11 = 31
TPR Online Review: 6/10/8 = 24 (wot)
TPR Cracking 1: 12/9/12 = 33
TPR Cracking 2: 12/7/11 = 30

AAMC 5: 12/11/10
AAMC 10: 13/11/15

Average: 10.3/9.3/11 = 30.6

Pretty much where I was last year. Verbal hasn't gotten that much better. Barring the one brutal 24 I got and careless mistakes, I think I can hit a 33. Hopefully.

 

[GoZagsMD]

So here are all my scores on FLs:

TPR 1: 9/9/12 = 30
TPR 2: 8/9/10 = 27
TPR 3: 11/10/10 = 31
TPR 4: 10/7/11 = 28
TPR 5: 10/10/11 = 31
TPR Online Review: 6/10/8 = 24 (wot)
TPR Cracking 1: 12/9/12 = 33
TPR Cracking 2: 12/7/11 = 30

AAMC 5: 12/11/10
AAMC 10: 13/11/15

Average: 10.3/9.3/11 = 30.6

Pretty much where I was last year. Verbal hasn't gotten that much better. Barring the one brutal 24 I got and careless mistakes, I think I can hit a 33. Hopefully.

Would kill to hit those 11s in VR. Way to go on AAMC 10!! You'll do great

 

[t0ny]

So here are all my scores on FLs:

TPR 1: 9/9/12 = 30
TPR 2: 8/9/10 = 27
TPR 3: 11/10/10 = 31
TPR 4: 10/7/11 = 28
TPR 5: 10/10/11 = 31
TPR Online Review: 6/10/8 = 24 (wot)
TPR Cracking 1: 12/9/12 = 33
TPR Cracking 2: 12/7/11 = 30

AAMC 5: 12/11/10
AAMC 10: 13/11/15

Average: 10.3/9.3/11 = 30.6

Pretty much where I was last year. Verbal hasn't gotten that much better. Barring the one brutal 24 I got and careless mistakes, I think I can hit a 33. Hopefully.

Way to absolutely murder AAMC 10. Great job you're peaking at the right time

 

[oxelhs]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I guess AAMC 10 hit all my strengths. Except verbal. Verbal is never strong hahaha

 

[t0ny]

Well tomorrow it's AAMC 11. Last FL before the real deal. So far I'm averaging a 35 (13/9/13). I rly am hoping to get a 37 but it will all depend on my verbal.

 

[mspeedwagon]

Good luck on the last one. I worked my way from a 22 (AAMC 3) to a 27 (AAMC 11) and am hoping for anything between 26 - 30 (ideally a 9/9/9 or 10/10/10 would be nice). I'm older and applying primarily to DO though. If I were fresh out of school, I'd probably be aiming higher.

Well tomorrow it's AAMC 11. Last FL before the real deal. So far I'm averaging a 35 (13/9/13). I rly am hoping to get a 37 but it will all depend on my verbal.

 

[GoZagsMD]

whoa that PS section on AAMC 11 was rough for me... hopefully it turns out better than I expected but it feels like i got a little more studying to do before Saturday hahaha best of luck to yall off to to VR and BS.

 

[mspeedwagon]

PS was a little calculation heavy. All the questions were simple, but needed a lot more time. I scored by usual 9 on it (I scored a 9 on pretty much all the tests and am always one question away from a 10, which is what I want to score come Saturday).

whoa that PS section on AAMC 11 was rough for me... hopefully it turns out better than I expected but it feels like i got a little more studying to do before Saturday hahaha best of luck to yall off to to VR and BS.

 

[centillion]

Literally AAMC 11...

PS - 11
VR - 12
BS - 12

I was one question away from the next highest score in each of them... so 3 questions away from a 38. I give up.

 

[JJD777]

I thought the BS was much more difficult to understand on 11. PS was also calc heavy and I barely had enough time to finish but I still did alright.

 

[GoZagsMD]

I thought the BS was much more difficult to understand on 11. PS was also calc heavy and I barely had enough time to finish but I still did alright.

Yeah I ended up getting a 33 12/10/11

pretty pumped to see a 10 in VR but woooow that BS was super rough for me that virus passage was killer.
looks like I have quite a bit of studying to do before saturday

 

[GoZagsMD]

And it also seemed to me that more/complex outside knowledge was necessary for AAMC 11 compared to the other AAMCs. I hope its not that bad on the actual test =\

 

[MrTaco92]

Damn guys, test day is almost here. Did you guys make any special plans for friday? Better yet, any special plans for saturday night?

 

[oxelhs]

Pretty much done and dusted. I'm going through mcatreview.org today and just forming a mental picture of everything conceptually. Tomorrow and Friday I'm taking completely off. All the best guys!

As for Saturday, I don't want to have anything planned so that I'm focused solely on the test.