I prepared very heavily for this test (3+ months of nothing but studying) and focused quite a bit on physics and chemistry since I knew those would be my weakest areas.
PS: I didn't finish-- thus, I voided my exam. There were just too many calculations. I found my test to be an even split between physics and chemistry but very, very heavy on calculations. I was averaging 3-4 minutes per problem + time for reading passages. I had 1 passage plus 2 pages of stand-alones left unanswered when I ran out of time.
VR: The passages were actually interesting and one of them was from a book I had recently read-- imagine that! The questions were very straightforward and the answers were pretty predictable. Finished with 7 minutes remaining.
BS: Very heavy on Mendelian genetics and much on molecular genetics (transcription, translation, replication...) some developmental genetics as well. I had 2 organic passages, 1 was straightforward the other was a pretty tough synthesis scheme. I had several questions regarding amino acids (structures, properties, side chains) Overall, however, I would say the BS section was slightly more difficult than the AMCAS practice tests (but not much more difficult) Finished with 10 minutes remaining.
I am very disappointed today. After spending the entire summer preparing and taking a rather late exam, I don't know If I'll be prepared to retest for this application cycle (I doubt it) I never ran out of time on any of the sections during practice and actually, typically had about 10 minutes remaining on PS. I am also bummed because it seems like today's exam was actually rather easy in comparison to the past couple of months of exams. Best of luck to everyone.
i'm pretty sure we had the exact same test. they definitely loved bicarbonate. that was all over the place. i was laughing since someone who doesnt know much on bicarbonate was gonna miss 5 questions easy. they ended up giving the answers to earlier questions in later questions, tho! this was the one thing i got lucky in and knew it simply on my own.
the thing i dread the most is torque. they definitely had torque with a simple machine on there. that passage WORKED me haha. well sorta...i'm sure i missed a few on that. lame. the PS was just very calculation heavy. i usually finish with 5-10 min left but was only left with a minute. that's not really much time to go look at marked questions. they were simple questions, but like someone said, very specific. if you don't know all the intricacies of something, you probably got worked haha.
this time around i actually didn't get screwed by the testing center. my first mcat had terrible computers. they were super old and slow with terrible, old, dim monitors. the comps were so slow that it'd take 5-10 seconds to switch pages and the clock would still be going.
HOWEVER, today's center was much better. i made sure to not retake at that first crap place. all the monitors today were LCD 17". i think it may have actually been the same monitor as my brother's, so i was already used to it!
here's where i was even more fortunate. i was scared to death of the power going out since i've heard stories on here and my own friends having that problem. being in the middle of a section and all of a sudden losing power for 10 minutes would totally ruin your pacing, concentration, etc. so here's the story today...
i was like 30 min into the VR. i read on here last night that someone hated the pounding of keyboards from the WS as he's doing his VR. i didn't have that problem my first mcat. this time, tho, the guy right behind me started pounding away, arghh! the monitors were nice, but the keyboards were old and super loud. i was starting to lose my patience when all of a sudden i hear the power goes out! i look behind me and the kids computer is turned off. haha! i looked around the room and every single computer was shut off...EXCEPT mine! hahaha! i was like "holy crap someone's watching over me!" by the time they got the other comps back on i was nearly done with my VR, so the the pounding keyboards weren't too bad in the end. i have no idea why all the computers shut off. the building still had power. it wasn't stormy or anything. i have absolutely no clue why my comp was the only one not to shut off! it was pretty nice!
anyways, yea...the BS was pretty genetics heavy. i had 1, arguably 2, ochem passages. one of those passages was biochem structures, so i don't know if you count that as ochem or bio. if counted as bio, then only one true ochem passage on a synthesis that was pretty straightforward.
the VR i thought wasn't too bad...i remembered the passages on the real test being longer. i finished with like 5 min left. half of the passages were science topics. one was environmental ethics, which i just finished a summer class on last week hehe. some of the passages towards the end were a lil more tricky. not so much the passages themselves but i had some trouble with some of the questions.
so, was it better than my first one? i don't know...i don't wanna jinx it. i at least finished the PS with some time to spare this time. the first time i had to guess on an entire passage. so yea...30 days to go
