Hey, just officially signed up for this beast. It's early but I figured this thread could provide some moral support to keep me on track with studying🙂 I have not done a couple of the pre-requisites, so slow and steady works for me. Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you!
09/12/09 MCAT Club
- Thread starter Fudge
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Basically, if I had 6 passages with the following subject matters:
Apples
Cats
Dogs
Sea Monkeys
Bananas
Drive-by Fruitings
Everyone would get those.
Then, I'd have 2, of which one person would get one and another person would get another, like:
Austin Powers
James Bond
One person would take AP, the other JB, and both would have taken the other 6.
R
Red Leader
Judging by how many people are crying "unfair" I think the AAMC test writers did a great job.
Guys you're not exactly supposed to feel secure after one of the hardest exams you can ever take. Stop expecting it to be a walk in the park. There is nothing we can do now. Relax for the next month until your scores come in, retake if needed. This isn't Grey's Anatomy where every small thing is blown out of proportion and dramatized. It's just a test, a hard one, and important one, but in the end just an exam you can retake.
By the way I took this exam but I do not remember half the questions you guys are (illegally) talking about. O_O
Guys you're not exactly supposed to feel secure after one of the hardest exams you can ever take. Stop expecting it to be a walk in the park. There is nothing we can do now. Relax for the next month until your scores come in, retake if needed. This isn't Grey's Anatomy where every small thing is blown out of proportion and dramatized. It's just a test, a hard one, and important one, but in the end just an exam you can retake.
By the way I took this exam but I do not remember half the questions you guys are (illegally) talking about. O_O
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Yeah me too! I was all happy, smily, and almost oblivious to the fact that the MCAT was about to happen right up until I sat down at the computer desk and my heart began to beat out of my chest! That has NEVER happened to me before EVER. I am always calm, especially after the test starts. But my nerves kept taking over every couple moments up until the VR section was over :/
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Yeah, good point. AAMC materials should not be freely distributed like this in accordance with the non-disclosure agreement.
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No but I have a 3.0 GPA and the writing sample matters up here in Canada.
Also all the yellow usertitles are hilarious.
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I'm just happy that its over...my entire summer got screwed..so now time to just sit back n watch the movies that I missed 😀..and get some sleep!😴
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I thought the PS was really tough but the others manageable.
From my practice exams I was receiving PS 15 ; BS 14 ; and V 14
but I think I may have dropped down to PS 14 BS 14 V 14 🙁
JK I know what you mean!
Sorry, but I don't see why people that do very well have less of a right to be excited about their scores than anyone else. Give them their moment in the sun, just as you'll have yours when you get the score you want (and maybe you'll end up being one of these people!
). Better yet, congratulate them on getting through the same miserable test you did! And hey, wouldn't you rather people post about scores on SDN than talk about it in real life? I know I would.
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I took the test in H-burg too. You were at the center where the water went out right? I think I know who you are, you go to an Ivy league school.
R
Red Leader
Don't blame your short comings and lack of ability on other people, especially their success. Your jealousy is apparent and pathetic. Some people are just average, you may be one of them. Accept it and move on. I really hate envious pricks like you.
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Hey I'm just curious if anyone else took in NYC? Did I see you there?
You have to be trolling. It seems like every single one of your posts is only meant to be inflammatory.
But anyway, on topic, I have been trying to get this test out of my head but I just want my scores. It is funny also that I have heard at least three people in my University classes talking about how much they thought they physical science portion sucked. Hopefully we are all just overreacting.
I think everyone is bitching about the PS portion because it really, really did suck. It makes me feel a bit better. My main frusteration is that even with all the confidence and lack of worry I went in with, I ended up leaving dismayed at how I just got pwned. I was so sure I was going to dominate....it just goes to show what a really hard section can do. I really think the curve will reflect this.
the way I have looked the mcat is somewhat of a black box if you will.
A student goes in, a score comes out. Usually the function of the box is similar, therefore the scores are the same because they reflect the student's ability.
Now it was obvious that the ps section was hard, let's hope the "function" will reflect that.
Now back to crying.
the way I have looked the mcat is somewhat of a black box if you will.
A student goes in, a score comes out. Usually the function of the box is similar, therefore the scores are the same because they reflect the student's ability.
Now it was obvious that the ps section was hard, let's hope the "function" will reflect that.
Now back to crying.
R
Red Leader
Ahhh so you're one of them too? Sad. Thanks for reading through all 350 of my posts. I didn't know I had fans. Get real, look at what that guy posted, yet you say I'm inflammatory. What a canary.
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Sorry I'm so late posting about my experience. Immediately after the MCAT I drove strait to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama game, blacked out in a few hours and woke up on my fraternity couch with throw up on the floor next to me. 😱Haha, looks like I gave the pledges something to do on Sunday. Well my hangover finally wore off and I am ready to tell about my experience....
Went to the test feeling great and psyching myself up in the mirror. Brought my lucky rabbits foot into the test and sat down.
PS: I think i speak for most when I say Holy Crap! I felt that I was an expert on PS after a complete avg of 12 on the practice tests. I finished the tests with 5 minutes left to go back to half of the questions I marked. Personally I thought the entire section was much harder than any practice test and much harder than the previous 2 mcats I have taken. I agree with those of you calling it eggs in one basket test btw.
VR: I felt great and had 20 minutes left going into the 6th passage. Then Petrarch knocked me down a few pegs. I only had like 6 min for the last passage so I had to super read. VR is a crap shoot so I have no clue how I actually did.
WS: I felt like Will Ferrell in Old School During the debate. I blacked out and came to with 2 minutes left on the first prompt. Hopefully what I typed made any sense and it was brillant. The second prompt I ended up talking about child pornography so that was prob bad. But i could care less about the WS.
BS: Finally, something makes sense. I finished with 30 min to go over the tricky questions. I was happy to see only one orgo passage but actuallty changed my answer on one Q from the right one to the wrong one... stupid enamines ( Will be kicking myself for a while for that one). Some were quite tricky and difficult but I remember feeling the best after that section.
I think most of us feel the same way about the test. Hopefully our real MCAT will reflect our test avgs but can never be certain. My last MCAT was 7 pts lower than my highest AAMC and 4 pts lower than my avg so hopefully this one will be better.
Good luck with applying to all of you still doing secondaries. I dont know what to do with all this free time now when I get off work. I guess I can actually have fun now. Weird. Anyways, good luck to everyone!
Went to the test feeling great and psyching myself up in the mirror. Brought my lucky rabbits foot
into the test and sat down. PS: I think i speak for most when I say Holy Crap! I felt that I was an expert on PS after a complete avg of 12 on the practice tests. I finished the tests with 5 minutes left to go back to half of the questions I marked. Personally I thought the entire section was much harder than any practice test and much harder than the previous 2 mcats I have taken. I agree with those of you calling it eggs in one basket test btw.
VR: I felt great and had 20 minutes left going into the 6th passage. Then Petrarch knocked me down a few pegs. I only had like 6 min for the last passage so I had to super read. VR is a crap shoot so I have no clue how I actually did.
WS: I felt like Will Ferrell in Old School During the debate. I blacked out and came to with 2 minutes left on the first prompt. Hopefully what I typed made any sense and it was brillant. The second prompt I ended up talking about child pornography so that was prob bad. But i could care less about the WS.
BS: Finally, something makes sense. I finished with 30 min to go over the tricky questions. I was happy to see only one orgo passage but actuallty changed my answer on one Q from the right one to the wrong one... stupid enamines ( Will be kicking myself for a while for that one). Some were quite tricky and difficult but I remember feeling the best after that section.
I think most of us feel the same way about the test. Hopefully our real MCAT will reflect our test avgs but can never be certain. My last MCAT was 7 pts lower than my highest AAMC and 4 pts lower than my avg so hopefully this one will be better.
Good luck with applying to all of you still doing secondaries. I dont know what to do with all this free time now when I get off work. I guess I can actually have fun now. Weird. Anyways, good luck to everyone!
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To this dude....
Dear dude,
If you read the first three pages of this forum you would understand why we post our averages and why we would post our final scores. We have been talking as far back as April and have been discussing our scores, issues, strengths, weaknesses, and have comparing our scores to each others. We have been giving advice on every section of the MCAT with the hope of improving our scores. I don't know about the others but I would deff. like to know how the people that I have been communicating with for the past five months did on the real shabang. The fact is that it is you who are "UTTERLY ANNOYING AND RATHER OBNOXIOUS". I studied my ass off and I will put my score up for all to see. If it is good, then awesome. If it sucks like last time, I will still put it up. 😎
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Like DOCnAbox, I've been a bit late to post due to my attempts to drink this test away...Anyways, here goes:
PS: Not surprisingly I'm going to agree with the rest of you guys here. I took a total of 5 inorganic courses in undergrad (including the two intros) and I was completely lost on some of that stuff. The few physics passages weren't too bad, although there were a few very odd questions. My avg. was a little over 11 on AAMC PS but I would be thrilled to take home a 10 on this beast.
VR: best I've ever felt about a VR but that's not saying much. Perhaps it just seemed easy after the beastliness of PS. I also never got higher than a 10 on AAMC VR so I didn't have very high expectations.
WS: Didn't care at all...I actually also wrote about child pornography on this one.
BS: Not too bad. I'm an orgo guy so the fact that there was only one organic passage was upsetting. I do have a strong background in molecular bio/genetics so that helped a bit given how prevalent that stuff was. I also fully concur with previous posters who mentioned the awkwardness of some of the questions on this section. I'm pretty sure I changed my correct answer on the tropomyosin-actin question just because of how ambiguously it was worded. My AAMC average on bio was roughly 12 and I'd be surprised to see this one be much different.
One last question: A friend who took this test at the same time but different testing center on Saturday had a completely different test than I did. He said he had 3 orgo passages in BS and even had an enantiomer passage in VR!! I was very jealous. Have you guys heard of anyone else with this other test? It seems like all of us pretty much took the same Gchem/ genetics ladened version.
PS: Not surprisingly I'm going to agree with the rest of you guys here. I took a total of 5 inorganic courses in undergrad (including the two intros) and I was completely lost on some of that stuff. The few physics passages weren't too bad, although there were a few very odd questions. My avg. was a little over 11 on AAMC PS but I would be thrilled to take home a 10 on this beast.
VR: best I've ever felt about a VR but that's not saying much. Perhaps it just seemed easy after the beastliness of PS. I also never got higher than a 10 on AAMC VR so I didn't have very high expectations.
WS: Didn't care at all...I actually also wrote about child pornography on this one.
BS: Not too bad. I'm an orgo guy so the fact that there was only one organic passage was upsetting. I do have a strong background in molecular bio/genetics so that helped a bit given how prevalent that stuff was. I also fully concur with previous posters who mentioned the awkwardness of some of the questions on this section. I'm pretty sure I changed my correct answer on the tropomyosin-actin question just because of how ambiguously it was worded. My AAMC average on bio was roughly 12 and I'd be surprised to see this one be much different.
One last question: A friend who took this test at the same time but different testing center on Saturday had a completely different test than I did. He said he had 3 orgo passages in BS and even had an enantiomer passage in VR!! I was very jealous. Have you guys heard of anyone else with this other test? It seems like all of us pretty much took the same Gchem/ genetics ladened version.
Hey guys...
I also took the MCAT on the 12th. I previously took the test on June 18th, and compared to that I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was because I knew what to expect hence I was calmer or if it was just because the test was easier. Although, if you go back and read that thread it is much more negative than this one.
Physical Sciences: It was alright... I thought some of the questions were hard, specific, and random, especially that one on frictional forces and the screw! Also, acid-base chemistry has always been the bane of my existence, and I thought that passage was exceptionally hard.
Verbal Reasoning: About normal, until I got to the African religion one! What was that about?! I read it like 5 times, and still had no idea what it was talking about. Also, on the forest fire/environmental one I thought a lot of the answers had more than 1 correct answer, which is always annoying. I'm just glad there wasn't any philosophy....
Writing: I actually loved these prompts, especially compared to my last ones. At least with these ones, I was able to use concrete and historical examples as opposed to my last ones where I had to write about best friends and cheating boyfriends or something. I just hope the readers aren't sick of reading about Gandhi and the Revolutionary War.
Biology: The main passage that killed me was the gene sequencing and cancer cells. I had like 20 minutes left when I finished the section and went back and tried to figure this passage out. I tried, but still made educated guesses on almost every question. Seriously, what was that about?!??!! I also thought some of the other questions were a little unfair, out there, and specific. The one on enamines/imides/imines is still making me mad. I also forgot how to do Hardy Weinberg and picked the wrong answer! Argh! That should have been a gimmie point.
Anyways, overall impressions: doable, but not easy, and much better than the June 18th test.
If anyone wants to chat about their general impressions of the test, send me an IM: Someange1 (like how those headphones give you an insta headache). Also, I know it is really hard to stop thinking about the test so if you need to vent feel free! Ha! I did that the first time to a friend I actually found on SDN who gave me their chat name and it helped tremendously. This time I've been able to block it from my head (pretty easily).
I also took the MCAT on the 12th. I previously took the test on June 18th, and compared to that I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was because I knew what to expect hence I was calmer or if it was just because the test was easier. Although, if you go back and read that thread it is much more negative than this one.
Physical Sciences: It was alright... I thought some of the questions were hard, specific, and random, especially that one on frictional forces and the screw! Also, acid-base chemistry has always been the bane of my existence, and I thought that passage was exceptionally hard.
Verbal Reasoning: About normal, until I got to the African religion one! What was that about?! I read it like 5 times, and still had no idea what it was talking about. Also, on the forest fire/environmental one I thought a lot of the answers had more than 1 correct answer, which is always annoying. I'm just glad there wasn't any philosophy....
Writing: I actually loved these prompts, especially compared to my last ones. At least with these ones, I was able to use concrete and historical examples as opposed to my last ones where I had to write about best friends and cheating boyfriends or something. I just hope the readers aren't sick of reading about Gandhi and the Revolutionary War.
Biology: The main passage that killed me was the gene sequencing and cancer cells. I had like 20 minutes left when I finished the section and went back and tried to figure this passage out. I tried, but still made educated guesses on almost every question. Seriously, what was that about?!??!! I also thought some of the other questions were a little unfair, out there, and specific. The one on enamines/imides/imines is still making me mad. I also forgot how to do Hardy Weinberg and picked the wrong answer! Argh! That should have been a gimmie point.
Anyways, overall impressions: doable, but not easy, and much better than the June 18th test.
If anyone wants to chat about their general impressions of the test, send me an IM: Someange1 (like how those headphones give you an insta headache). Also, I know it is really hard to stop thinking about the test so if you need to vent feel free! Ha! I did that the first time to a friend I actually found on SDN who gave me their chat name and it helped tremendously. This time I've been able to block it from my head (pretty easily).
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Hey Everyone,
I took the PM administration and I've tried not to think about it but here are my thoughts on the test:
Physical: Like everyone else Physical was harder then the AAMC's, also I spent a lot of time doing calculations which I found a bit odd. I finished but with only 5 mins to spare. This was my weakest section.
Verbal: very Straight foward but I def agree the passage about forest fires had several questions with multiple possible answers. Overall I thought it went well but anything can happen in verbal
Writing: who cares
Bio: I thought Bio was much easier then Physical but there were def. tricky questions littered throughout the test. Like the Oxidation with LiAlH4 wtf I was so confused. Also the question about how much Na+ was reabsorbed throughout the Kidney seemed staight foward but I just couldn't figure it out. If anyone remembers those questions let me know. Other then those two questions I feel very confident.
Overall tough test but it was doable just praying Physical didn't go that bad.
I took the PM administration and I've tried not to think about it but here are my thoughts on the test:
Physical: Like everyone else Physical was harder then the AAMC's, also I spent a lot of time doing calculations which I found a bit odd. I finished but with only 5 mins to spare. This was my weakest section.
Verbal: very Straight foward but I def agree the passage about forest fires had several questions with multiple possible answers. Overall I thought it went well but anything can happen in verbal
Writing: who cares
Bio: I thought Bio was much easier then Physical but there were def. tricky questions littered throughout the test. Like the Oxidation with LiAlH4 wtf I was so confused. Also the question about how much Na+ was reabsorbed throughout the Kidney seemed staight foward but I just couldn't figure it out. If anyone remembers those questions let me know. Other then those two questions I feel very confident.
Overall tough test but it was doable just praying Physical didn't go that bad.
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Are you my f'ing doppelgänger? I had the exact experience as u if u read mine. I took it June 18th also and on my writing section for that one I wrote about cheating gfs (something relatable haha) and ****. The prompt was about always telling the truth. And on this WS I wrote about Ghandi and the revolutionary war for the first prompt. Weird... did u bring a lucky rabbits foot to the test too?
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ugghh i keep checking this forum every hr or so...
sooo i thought i'd contribute for others who want something to read like myself
PS: hahahah i probably guessed on more than 10 questions. There were so many calculations that I ended up skipping most of them and guessing, at least 4 or 5 of those questions? Then the acid and base passage, yeh, there goes another 4-5 questions, add in some crazy discretes (screw!) and there goes my PS section
VR: Seemed alrite but you never know with verbal unless you're one of those people who consistently score 12s and above, i.e. not me
WS: who cares, im hoping for something above a M (4) hopefully at least a O hahaha
BS: Finished with 15 mins left, seems like everyone finished this section early. It was suprising how little reading there was. I felt like a lot of this section was based on background knowledge which is strange since people have been posting that the new BS CBT section was based on experiments and passages where you could discern most of the answer from. Well since everyone seemed to finish this section early, the curve should be a bit harsher for this so don't really know.
I'm guessing I scored anywhere btw a 28-32 based on the crazy PS section and the responses from the BS section. 32 would be a pleasant surprise but a 28 wouldn't be too surprising either. Hopefully I land right in the middle, the magic 30 haha
sooo i thought i'd contribute for others who want something to read like myself
PS: hahahah i probably guessed on more than 10 questions. There were so many calculations that I ended up skipping most of them and guessing, at least 4 or 5 of those questions? Then the acid and base passage, yeh, there goes another 4-5 questions, add in some crazy discretes (screw!) and there goes my PS section
VR: Seemed alrite but you never know with verbal unless you're one of those people who consistently score 12s and above, i.e. not me
WS: who cares, im hoping for something above a M (4) hopefully at least a O hahaha
BS: Finished with 15 mins left, seems like everyone finished this section early. It was suprising how little reading there was. I felt like a lot of this section was based on background knowledge which is strange since people have been posting that the new BS CBT section was based on experiments and passages where you could discern most of the answer from. Well since everyone seemed to finish this section early, the curve should be a bit harsher for this so don't really know.
I'm guessing I scored anywhere btw a 28-32 based on the crazy PS section and the responses from the BS section. 32 would be a pleasant surprise but a 28 wouldn't be too surprising either. Hopefully I land right in the middle, the magic 30 haha
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I remember the Acid/Base passage being pretty brutal...
But did anyone else have the that OClO, OClO2, OClO3 etc.. passage and find it pretty terrible?
I'm pretty sure it was my last passage....
For some reason I found that one just as bad if not worse than the acid/base passage.... Maybe the passage was confusing and the questions weren't that bad... and it's just the last thing I remember from a rough physical sci lol.
But did anyone else have the that OClO, OClO2, OClO3 etc.. passage and find it pretty terrible?
I'm pretty sure it was my last passage....
For some reason I found that one just as bad if not worse than the acid/base passage.... Maybe the passage was confusing and the questions weren't that bad... and it's just the last thing I remember from a rough physical sci lol.
I had a lot of trouble with these. I considered myself an acid/base expert too. I spent the last 3 days before hte test studying hard for the acid base sections. I really couldn't understand where to derive quanitites in the equation. Everything was given in weird units and weren't related to each other. I have never seen a passage like it.
I think that was the theme of the ps section: Give you a question you probably could solve quickly, but in some convoluted set of units that you had to waste time converting and negate your ability to intuit the answer. Totally contradicts how I studied. Oh well.
I think that was the theme of the ps section: Give you a question you probably could solve quickly, but in some convoluted set of units that you had to waste time converting and negate your ability to intuit the answer. Totally contradicts how I studied. Oh well.
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I'm with you on that question man...I looked at the question/passage/answers over and over and could not come up with a legitimate answer. I probably wasted 5 minutes alone on that one.
I'm not sure what you mean with the oxidation question as LiAlH is a reducing agent...maybe I didn't have that question tho.
I also wanted to throw out there that I didn't have this dreaded cancer passage. Kind of stinks considering I did my independent project on cancer biology. That said, it could be experimental, especially given the way you guys are describing it.
Very tricky indeed, after reading this thread, my confidence is a punching bag, remembering all these dang questions. It's still standing, but taking a beating. SHEESH!
I hope all of the brilliance in my body pooled together for this thing, and maybe, just maybe, I'll have a little something to brag about on SDN. One thing that keeps me going is everyone's support around me, they all say "I'm sure you did good, I prayed for you." So if a 16J comes back, I'll know that God is my new favorite comedian.
Hope for the best for everyone!
LOL--no lucky rabbit feet for me! Well let's just hope our scores go up then... that June 18th test hurt me deep down. Actually, scratch that, I will take anything higher than my previous score. I'll be happy if that score doesn't go down!
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First time taking the real thing...seemed so much harder than the practice tests. Here's to hoping the curve & any experimentals take care of that.
Btw, aren't the curves pre-set for these based on previous test takers? Seems like the multiple choice sections could be auto-scored in seconds rather than waiting a month. :/
Btw, aren't the curves pre-set for these based on previous test takers? Seems like the multiple choice sections could be auto-scored in seconds rather than waiting a month. :/
Hey guys, just registered for the forum but been following for a couple months now. I just got done taking my MCAT last Saturday the 12th; first time I took it. So glad to be just finished with it. I ended up rescheduling my exam date twice and was forced to drive 200 miles to the test center. What a PITA.
The test was pretty difficult. Especially the strong emphasis on genetics in BS and made my fair share of guesses on PS. VR wasn't so bad, but I feel I chocked a bit on the first writing sample. I should have brought some snacks in, I was getting pretty hungry and distracted by the time I hit BS. I was also concerned because I had just over 20 min left after that section! Glad to see I wasn't the only one with ample time.
I don't know what's more stressful, pre or post-exam. This one month is gonna kill me, but there's always time to retake if necessary. Meeting with my pre-health adviser in 15 minutes to discuss options for next year. If I don't score high enough, hopefully I can atleast get in to a good post-bacc or maybe even apply to some D.O. schools. Anyway, best of luck to you all and I'll report back when scores are posted.
The test was pretty difficult. Especially the strong emphasis on genetics in BS and made my fair share of guesses on PS. VR wasn't so bad, but I feel I chocked a bit on the first writing sample. I should have brought some snacks in, I was getting pretty hungry and distracted by the time I hit BS. I was also concerned because I had just over 20 min left after that section! Glad to see I wasn't the only one with ample time.
I don't know what's more stressful, pre or post-exam. This one month is gonna kill me, but there's always time to retake if necessary. Meeting with my pre-health adviser in 15 minutes to discuss options for next year. If I don't score high enough, hopefully I can atleast get in to a good post-bacc or maybe even apply to some D.O. schools. Anyway, best of luck to you all and I'll report back when scores are posted.
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Yeah, my test from the 6/18 exam was 4 pts lower than my avg and 7 pts lower from my highest score, so hopefully this test will reflect better!
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Correct. The questions aren't graded because they haven't had a curve developed for them.
So they put them in however many times to see the likelihood of getting the question right and whether the question will be normally distributed and other statistical measures of that nature.
However, while they are introducing the question to figure this stuff out, it's not included in one's score.
What I'd like it know is, does everyone have the same number of experimental questions on a given administration, or do some people have more "real" questions? It seems unfair to make some people accountable for all of their answers while others are graded and scored on less. But I guess this is something no one can ever call the AAMC out on so maybe we'll have to live with it.
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It seems like no one really knows. I heard experimentals are around for every standardized test so we just gotta get used to it since we'll be taking a lot more of these suckers.
If you're interested, there's a lot of talk on experimentals if you search the forum:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=650587&highlight=experimental
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=639010&highlight=experimental
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I think the AAMC just made up the concept of experimentals to give premeds something to talk about while they wait for their scores, to give us enough hope that the hard questions were experimental. Otherwise we would be committed from the stress.
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First, thanks to all the contributors of this forum -- I've relied heavily on it the last two months to stay sane during this process, studying while working full time. Not recommended.
I did not have that test, but very little of my test matches up with what I've read on this thread. For example, I did not have a calculation/acid-base heavy/weird units PS section, nor the OClOx or LiAlH questions. I don't recognize any of the verbal topics listed so far as being part of my exam. And while I also had low orgo content on mine (thank god, because I haven't taken orgo or biochem yet, just did some self study) I don't recognize any of the bio passages that have been mentioned. One of my passages was about mice getting fat or thin -- anyone recognize this?
I'm wondering now if I got a completely different test from most examinees this summer, possibly due to the circumstances surrounding my exam:
I showed up at 11:50am on Saturday (sep 12 like everyone else here) ready to get this f$ckir out of the way. We were in a makeshift testing center set up in a hotel ballroom. When I gave my name to the attendant, he told me I was one of the "unlucky half". I thought we were all pretty unlucky given where we were on a beautiful Saturday afteroon. The exams were hosted on two servers -- one for 1/2 of the people writing, the other for the remaining 1/2. One of the servers had crashed.
After waiting around for 40 minutes with nothing to do but wonder what the hell was going on while the lucky half were merrily stressing away at their tests (since we can't bring anything into the exam with us, I'd brought very little with me), we were sequestered into a meeting room, and given two options: write the test another time (i.e. January...), or come back the next morning at 8am to write.
I don't need to explain to anyone here why having to come in on Sept 13th, Sunday morning to write at 8am instead of writing at 12pm on Saturday sucks for many many reasons. And of course, that night I couldn't sleep at all, even though the prior night when I actually thought I was going to write my MCAT the following day I had no problems falling asleep; in the end I got 3 hours of sleep.
So, I'm wondering if the AAMC sent us new tests because we were writing on the 13th. Whose test was mine like then, I wonder?
P.S. ThomYorke: looks like we got inspiration for our handles from the same source.
I did not have that test, but very little of my test matches up with what I've read on this thread. For example, I did not have a calculation/acid-base heavy/weird units PS section, nor the OClOx or LiAlH questions. I don't recognize any of the verbal topics listed so far as being part of my exam. And while I also had low orgo content on mine (thank god, because I haven't taken orgo or biochem yet, just did some self study) I don't recognize any of the bio passages that have been mentioned. One of my passages was about mice getting fat or thin -- anyone recognize this?
I'm wondering now if I got a completely different test from most examinees this summer, possibly due to the circumstances surrounding my exam:
I showed up at 11:50am on Saturday (sep 12 like everyone else here) ready to get this f$ckir out of the way. We were in a makeshift testing center set up in a hotel ballroom. When I gave my name to the attendant, he told me I was one of the "unlucky half". I thought we were all pretty unlucky given where we were on a beautiful Saturday afteroon. The exams were hosted on two servers -- one for 1/2 of the people writing, the other for the remaining 1/2. One of the servers had crashed.
After waiting around for 40 minutes with nothing to do but wonder what the hell was going on while the lucky half were merrily stressing away at their tests (since we can't bring anything into the exam with us, I'd brought very little with me), we were sequestered into a meeting room, and given two options: write the test another time (i.e. January...), or come back the next morning at 8am to write.
I don't need to explain to anyone here why having to come in on Sept 13th, Sunday morning to write at 8am instead of writing at 12pm on Saturday sucks for many many reasons. And of course, that night I couldn't sleep at all, even though the prior night when I actually thought I was going to write my MCAT the following day I had no problems falling asleep; in the end I got 3 hours of sleep.
So, I'm wondering if the AAMC sent us new tests because we were writing on the 13th. Whose test was mine like then, I wonder?
P.S. ThomYorke: looks like we got inspiration for our handles from the same source.
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Weird lol... you'll need to start up your own September 13th thread.
I had nothing on mice... and definitely matched up with the people on here.
I was one of the first to start at my centre so when I would leave the room I could look in the windows and see people working on the section I just wrote... almost every time I saw a passage I had just done... except for one screen after bio when I was going to my locker to go home..... One guy had a graph I definitely did not see.
By the sounds of it however, you got an absolutely different test.
While having a different test shouldn't make a difference.... I'm sorry to hear about the circumstance by which you received that different test.
That would have thrown off my sleeping and focus also....
Hopefully you still did well... best of luck.
I had nothing on mice... and definitely matched up with the people on here.
I was one of the first to start at my centre so when I would leave the room I could look in the windows and see people working on the section I just wrote... almost every time I saw a passage I had just done... except for one screen after bio when I was going to my locker to go home..... One guy had a graph I definitely did not see.
By the sounds of it however, you got an absolutely different test.
While having a different test shouldn't make a difference.... I'm sorry to hear about the circumstance by which you received that different test.
That would have thrown off my sleeping and focus also....
Hopefully you still did well... best of luck.
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Haha that is awesome dude...love the name. Hopefully Thom and the boys have been helping you to get through this agonizing wait. I know it always helps me through times like this. Funny thing, this girl at my testing center had one of the most recent tour shirts on. I guess a lot of pre-meds are into Radiohead.
As far as your test goes, I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal. If you are unhappy with your score I would definitely try to write to AAMC and see if perhaps they will refund you or provide you with a new date due to your terrible inconvenience. I know it sucks and this would provide little consolation but what else can you do?
How did you feel the test was overall as far as content goes? Easier/ harder than practice tests?
I'm still mystified that nobody that posts on here had that other version on the 12th...
Wow, thanks, this was extremely helpful! So maybe there aren't experimental passages at all, but just some questions in a passage. At least you're not wasting your time doing a passage that doesn't count, then.
Just thought I'd also share my feelings about the 9/12/09 exam. The passages I had match up with the majority of other posters on this thread.
I too felt the PS was difficult. I didn't find the material itself insanely hard, but there were a ton of calculations. I was really expecting many more questions based on relationships between variables rather than having to complete so many calculations. This killed me time wise. When the 5 minute warning came up I still had the last passage and the last group of stand alone questions to go, so I had to guess on most of them just to finish. I am pretty confident in my answers up to that point (only guessed on 2), but guessing on another 8 or so probably killed my score.
The verbal wasn't too bad until the end - I had same 2 passages everyone else hated.
The BS was great if you like genetics, but horrible if you're an orgo person. I love genetics and finished this section with about 20 minutes to go. Too bad I couldn't go back and use that time on the PS 😉
I feel that both the PS and BS were pretty narrowly focused, not at all as broad in content as the AAMC practice tests I took.
I'll see you guys back here on 10/13 or whenever the scores come out. Good luck and I hope you all get 30+ 🙂
I too felt the PS was difficult. I didn't find the material itself insanely hard, but there were a ton of calculations. I was really expecting many more questions based on relationships between variables rather than having to complete so many calculations. This killed me time wise. When the 5 minute warning came up I still had the last passage and the last group of stand alone questions to go, so I had to guess on most of them just to finish. I am pretty confident in my answers up to that point (only guessed on 2), but guessing on another 8 or so probably killed my score.
The verbal wasn't too bad until the end - I had same 2 passages everyone else hated.
The BS was great if you like genetics, but horrible if you're an orgo person. I love genetics and finished this section with about 20 minutes to go. Too bad I couldn't go back and use that time on the PS 😉
I feel that both the PS and BS were pretty narrowly focused, not at all as broad in content as the AAMC practice tests I took.
I'll see you guys back here on 10/13 or whenever the scores come out. Good luck and I hope you all get 30+ 🙂
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After guessing on a PS question because of a lack of time, i came home and remembered the question and solved it... I cant recall if i guessed the right one or not.. but it pisses me off.. lol ..
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Lol... I have had a few from the PS... where I couldn't really figure it out.... obviously because I was rushed and a little more nervous while doing the real thing... and since coming home, thought about the question and instantly realized I goofed up, or been able to think of how I should have solved it..
One thing that does seem to contribute to feelings of a brutal section though is the fact that most people (at least me) remember the questions they fought with and stumbled on so much more readily than those that they just breezed over and put down the right answer.
Also consider this.... on practice tests, you write them and you get a score directly after finishing. So even when you think a section was tough... you get a score and don't let your mind get the better of you. When you do a tough section and don't receive a score, your mind does terrible things to you as you systematically remember questions you struggled on or got wrong.
At this point just keep your fingers crossed and hopefully your AAMC average or better is waiting for you.
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9 days down....I swear this has been the longest week ever! And what makes it even worse is having to study for all these tests that I don't even care about anymore.
Ahhh, this is killing me...I want my scores NOW, NOW, NOW!!!! 😡
Ahhh, this is killing me...I want my scores NOW, NOW, NOW!!!! 😡
I had a nightmare last night that my score went DOWN. I would be devastated. Ugh.
I felt better with this test, but I also think the material was easier... I hope my feeling is because of my performance and not the easier test material 🙁
I felt better with this test, but I also think the material was easier... I hope my feeling is because of my performance and not the easier test material 🙁
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I had a nightmare last night that my score went DOWN. I would be devastated. Ugh.
I felt better with this test, but I also think the material was easier... I hope my feeling is because of my performance and not the easier test material 🙁
Easier than what? I kind of got the feeling that the general consensus on this forum was that this MCAT was far from easy...
