I took this test in the Philippines and was very pleased with the testing center experience. It was clean, comfortable, quiet, professional, and provided ample scratch paper as well as noise-shielding earphones. I was worried that taking a test in an underdeveloped country would be a disadvantage. I imagined myself in a hot, humid room, sitting on a 10 peso plastic chair in front of a stone-aged computer. Luckily I was wrong. However, there was a massive glitch in the computers and the testing center here was having a hard time downloading the test from a server in Malaysia so the test started 3 hours late. It was a bit of a hassle, but I was just glad that I was able to take the test on the day because if not, I probably would not have my scores back in time for applying early.
Did anyone else get that adrenaline rush during the test? After I finished, I sat back in my chair to relax, the rush subsided, quickly being replaced by a massive, pounding headache! It was very hard to de-stress that night because of the techno-party in my head, but overall I felt that the exam went quite well. However I was incredibly disappointed with EK. It said not to bother with amino acid structures nor remembering which types of ribosomes belong to eukaryotes and prokaryotes and yet those pieces of info were essential to two questions that I remember. I was thankful that I took the extra hour to memorize those little facts inspite of EK's instructions.
As for that hydrogen passage, it took me a long time to realize it was a simple redox question in disguise. That was key for me. I thought that HEXA passage was irritating and I wish there was more O Chem!
As for verbal, I thought it went alright. As always, I feel like I could have gotten anywhere from 7-13 so we will see.
Just to recap:
PS: Fair, but calculation heavy. Some very odd calculations that required more quantitative analysis for me compared to any of the other AAMC's. Quantitative analysis was so helpful for me in this test and I recommend people get very familiar with it and use it both during the test, and if they have time, afterwards when checking things twice.
VR: The most representative of any AAMC tests, for me. It was hard, but at least it was exactly what I expected based on AAMC tests.
BS: Hardest section for me because the passages were quite difficult to understand in entirety. Very little, basic O Chem about substitution and addition. I don't know if it was the nerves or the fatigue from the sheer length of my testing day thus far (up at 5:30, finished at 4), but I just put my head down and did my best. Could not believe that questions required exact knowledge about amino acid structures nor which kind of ribosomes prokaryotes and eukaryotes had. So for future test-takers, study these. It will only take a little time compared to the several weeks or months you take to prepare.
Ahhh.. It's nice to get this stuff off my chest. There is just no one to talk about the test, med school, nor the application process around here.
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