2011 MCAT Trends

[auv106]

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[cham90]

Has anyone noticed any trends for the 2011 MCAT administrations. From my understanding--

*Phys/Chem- Pretty equal split, not sure what topics are covered
*Verbal- Long passages, wordy
*Writing- Usual
*Orgo/Bio- More bio, and greater focus on genetics and biochem. Is this still true?

Please any comments will be helpful. I'm taking the Sept 10th MCAT

Sounds about right to me. Bio also seems to be mimicking verbal's format. A lot of interpretation and fairly lengthy passages.

 

[muhali3]

Biology is becoming like condensed journal articles from which you have to interpret the results/data. The questions ask you if you are coming to the right conclusions.

 

[Nymphicus]

For me at least, physio seemed more emphasized than biochem or genetics. Also, the bio section had a lot of graph table interpretation and extrapolation.

 

[inquiry101]

be able to summarize long complex passages and apply your past knowledge to them. critical reading is where its all at

 

[centrigeugle]

For me at least, physio seemed more emphasized than biochem or genetics. Also, the bio section had a lot of graph table interpretation and extrapolation.

This, for me.

PS: calculations are no harder really, but instead of "what happens to the EMF when you double the voltage and half the distance" they'll give you actual values to calculate.

Physics had some really nice conceptual things I'd never thought of before.

Verbal: Not longer in the least, wtf. I don't know where people get this from. Maybe it's the resolution or the font or something.

BS: See above. Lots of cellular-and-up level stuff, very little molecular, the expected 10-15% orgo.

I think AAMC 12 will be VERY useful for the next crop of MCAT'ers.

 

[LakersInSix]

This, for me.

PS: calculations are no harder really, but instead of "what happens to the EMF when you double the voltage and half the distance" they'll give you actual values to calculate.

Physics had some really nice conceptual things I'd never thought of before.

Verbal: Not longer in the least, wtf. I don't know where people get this from. Maybe it's the resolution or the font or something.

BS: See above. Lots of cellular-and-up level stuff, very little molecular, the expected 10-15% orgo.

I think AAMC 12 will be VERY useful for the next crop of MCAT'ers.

Is AAMC 12 coming out soon? I figured it'd be 2013 since they release the test every 3 years and AAMC 11 was released in 2010 I think

 

[SN2ed]

Predicting AAMC trends is pointless. Be prepared for anything.

 

[crazedpiggy]

My April MCAT had a really strange PS and I came out of it feeling like crap though I scored higher on it than I predicted.

Verbal was convoluted as usual and longer - I think more so than AAMC but it was a blur. The science-y and detail oriented passages were especially bad - I had one on solar sails and another on entropy/chaos.

Biology was almost half orgo for me (I love that) but there were so many strange discrete genetics questions - ugh. EK Bio just did not cover genetics very well.

 

[medkiwi]

Verbal was convoluted as usual and longer - I think more so than AAMC but it was a blur. The science-y and detail oriented passages were especially bad - I had one on solar sails and another on entropy/chaos.

for those science passages, should we still focus on the main idea? or should we pay more attention to details?

 

[crazedpiggy]

For the science-y passages where you notice a lot of detail in the writing and where the author almost has no tone/opinion (i.e. he/she is writing for informative purposes) then the questions will likely be detail based. Still keep the main idea in mind but be prepared to look back to the text for many of the questions.

 

[mightymoose02]

For the science-y passages where you notice a lot of detail in the writing and where the author almost has no tone/opinion (i.e. he/she is writing for informative purposes) then the questions will likely be detail based. Still keep the main idea in mind but be prepared to look back to the text for many of the questions.

Are these science-y passages similar to the AAMC ones that are categorized as "Natural Sciences" where the passage is about some kind of scientific phenomenon? I noticed THOSE passages had almost all detail oriented questions since the main idea was "to talk about the topic" sort of thing.

But every REAL MCAT verbal section probably has one each from the AAMC categories (Natural Sciences, History, Art (history), Philosophy, Literature analysis, etc.), right??

 

[vin5cent0]

Biology is becoming like condensed journal articles from which you have to interpret the results/data. The questions ask you if you are coming to the right conclusions.

I would agree with that as well based off of the 8/18 test. Very few passages required any knowledge past what you read in it.

 

[mightymoose02]

I would agree with that as well based off of the 8/18 test. Very few passages required any knowledge past what you read in it.

So AAMC has breakdown of questions by Skill.

Would these questions from "condensed science journal" passages be under "Flexibility/adaptability in scientific reasonsing" and/or "Reasoning using Quantitative Data" from your AAMC Score Report??

Sorry just trying to narrow down the types of questions.

 

[auv106]

Thanks for answering everyone. Last question. I tend to do fine with the sciences, but my verbal score sucks. Im doing the EK 101. My scores range from 5-9..far below my science scores.

EK tip- Read for main idea and dont go back, process of elim through question stems, be cocky, stereotype author

Kaplan tip (i used to teach their SAT and this is what i taught)- read first and last paragraphs. Read first 3 sentences of each paragraph and skim. go back as needed.

SDN random person tip from 2002- Read easiest passages first, skim passages and go back for details.

*Ive tried all three and still cant get my score into the double digits.

I tend to narrow the choices down to 2 and always pick the wrong one, and i still do this even after reviewing my train of thought when i picked the wrong one.

ANY SUGGESTIONS AT ALL?

 

[fallingwater]

Has anyone noticed any trends for the 2011 MCAT administrations. From my understanding--

*Phys/Chem- Pretty equal split, not sure what topics are covered
*Verbal- Long passages, wordy
*Writing- Usual
*Orgo/Bio- More bio, and greater focus on genetics and biochem. Is this still true?

Please any comments will be helpful. I'm taking the Sept 10th MCAT

On 8/23, PS was more chem heavy. VR seemed pretty normal. WS topics were typical (one about politics, one not). BS was bio-heavy, but not that much genetics/biochem (unless you count microbiology experiment type passages as genetics).

 

[coyotelime]

My MCAT(8/12 2PM)

PS: Even split but no acid/base + circuits wtf.
VR: Long passages + convoluted questions
WS: Topics that appeared on practice tests lol(both of them)
BS: Very little physio, heavy and difficult orgo, lots of biochem/genetics/cell bio. Also definitely most like AAMC 11, verbal like.

1 test does not a trend make, so take my data with a grain of salt. But just make sure you study everything... especially bio, even if it's more verbal like