9/9/10 mcat club

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
V

vman88

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
66
Reaction score
0
Members do not see this ad.
I'm not sure if there is already one, but I couldn't find any.

I'm about 1 month into studying but just did the EK PS 30 min exam. The microscopes and lenses caught me off guard =/

How is everyone else doing?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
seriusdoc said:
got raped...i blanked out in ps. as a result, was pressed for time.

vr has almost been my weakest...so im not expecting to do well on this section

i thought bio was insanely hard. 😡 I probably guessed on half of the questions.

looks like im going to join the 1/29/2011 mcat club.

predictions:

ps - 9
vr - 7
bs - 7
Click to expand...
same 😡
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
so much for aamc 7-10 being good indicators of mcat performance. gonna score 8 pts below my average.

looks like its gonna be a month of hell waiting for our scores...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'll be joining the 01/29/11 MCAT Club.
PS - was incredibly tough for me. I'm already weak in physics, and today just kinda beat me down.
VR - I only took a couple practice tests, but these passages seemed a bit longer and more difficult than the practice.
WS - The topics were interesting, and weren't too difficult to write about.
BS - I think I did really well on this section.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Man, I just freaking realized that I got a question in PS wrong. I think I only got a couple wrong at most, unless I'm wrong and way off on this section.
I don't know if some of you guys like Seriusdoc and Hiyaman had a different test but I didn't think PS was that bad (again unless I'm way off and made a ton of careless and stupid mistakes). I really hope that the the science sections on this test have a generous curve. I also agree about verbal. Even though the font was a lot bigger on their screen than it is on mine I thought the passages were the same length as normal. People say they are 2-3 paragraphs longer and I don't know if today was the exception but that definitely wasn't the case. I thought VR was exactly like AAMC today. At MOST they're half to 1 paragraph longer but I can't even say that much for sure, but definitely not 2-3 paragraphs on today's test. The BS on the other hand were brutally long. Again not hard just long.

I'm going to wait before deciding to go the 1/29 route. I think it could go either way hearing what you guys are saying but I'm a bit hopeful. The only section I'm super worried about is BS because I rushed 2 whole passages.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
VorenusLucius said:
I don't know if some of you guys like Seriusdoc and Hiyaman had a different test but I didn't think PS was that bad...
Click to expand...


PS wasn't that bad...but i just blanked out, probably due to nerves. by the time i got myself situated, i was running out of time and i had to make a lot of educated guesses.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
seriusdoc said:
PS wasn't that bad...but i just blanked out, probably due to nerves. by the time i got myself situated, i was running out of time and i had to make a lot of educated guesses.
Click to expand...

Yeah the nerves were incredible, never felt anything like this before.

My nervousness was probably 10x greater than how nervous i was each practice test.

At one point in the test I was thinking "wow i'm actually doing this"
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Took the 8am test

PS- The first three passages or so were reasonable/easy. Eventually it just became really hard for me. I started running out of time and had to guess on 4/6 questions on the 6th passage 🙁

Verbal- It was ok. There were some weird moments where I couldn't figure out the answer and had to rush a little at the end so this section is really up in the air. Its always hard for me to predict my score on this section.

BS- I only had 1 ochem passage and probably 8 freestanding questions. I thought it was more like a verbal test than anything else. Almost all the passage questions could be discerned from the passage itself. I was pretty confident on this section when i was taking the test and when i finished. But everyone is sayin it was really hard so I'm not sure now...Hopefully, i didnt mess it up somewhere
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
whether whole passages or just items are experimental is going to be hypothetical - aamc does not specify in the blue guidebook that i saw. a 'whole passage' must in theory sometimes be presented because they have to introduce, duh, the actual passage. after the passage is in use for scoring i would imagine new questions could be added experimentally. any given passage could have a bank of 40 questions for all i know that have been tested and marked with a given difficulty level. an algorithm could then be used to pull 7 passages and questions to fill such that they all add up to roughly the correct difficulty level/amt of time they feel you should spend on the full test. just speculating.

anyway, it seems the way the scoring works is every time a test is taken across the country, some questions are experiments, associated with a new or old passage who knows. let's say it's two physics questions. now everyone's score comes from 50 physics questions, all with their predetermined 'curve' (their predetermined difficulty level). we all get our physics sections scored. based on the fact that all low scorers missed these questions, some middle scorers did, and almost no high scorers did, these two questions will be considered midlevel difficulty. a lot of people took the test so it's a pretty reliable assessment. now the next people who take a test with these questions (no longer experimental) will be judged the curve set by those who had them as experimental questions. these questions have a SET difficulty by the time you have them for real, which is why they say there is no 'real curve'.

the scaling 'curve' comes in because an algorithm can make a test of x easy y medium z difficult questions that on average should take a certain number of minutes, but there is variance in the difficulty even among 'difficult' questions.

methinks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think the best approach is to just treat this like another practice exam. If you read some of my earlier posts, I really got my emotions removed from the test by doing practice. The best way is to just take emotion out all together and just concentrate on the material. If you notice yourself getting excited or depressed then refocus yourself because that means you're not thinking about the passages anymore. That's what I did and I didn't get nervous once. I just worried about the passages and tried to pretend they were interesting. Everytime I caught myself thinking about the exam itself or other people or anything else (and your mind will wane unless you're a jedi) then I would stop take a deep breathe and refocus. I picked this up from the 30+ thread and I think it really worked wonders for me today.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
does anyone remember ps well? im really blanking and afraid i didnt finish but thought i did... there was rocket, auditorium, two chem passages with ions/equils that kinda blur together can't really remember, electrochem and???
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Looks like we all just need to wish that the last year's test was way harder than ours, so this would give us a generous curve. :luck::luck::luck:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It was my first time taking and wow it was quite the experience. My condition was great! Got sleep but my mind felt like it woke up at like 4 am and stayed up till 6. I had an awesome breakfast also.

So i wasn't that nervous once i got there and sat down. But before that I had trouble getting my finger print to scan because my hands were shaking haha The guy told me to relax and gave me an air fist pump kind of thing and for some strange reason, i was calm.

PS- Ive read this thread and it seems that alot of people found this section very difficult but I thought it was very doable and easier than the practices. (does that mean I failed??) Makes me worried that I found it doable while people struggled. I am guessing and hoping 13

VR- This section is not my best section. My practice scores have been like a lottery number pick. I was never consistent. There were a couple that were really boring and difficult to follow. My guess 7-10

WS- ughhhhh great topics but ughhhhh....

BS- WOW. There was so much organic. transbenzyl methyl what..?!? haha soooo much. For some reason I always have to pee so bad during the bio section and of course during the real thing the same thing happened but this time i cant get up and go. So i ended up not even reading the last passage carefully and rushed to answer. I had 10 whole minutes for the last passage and the freestanding ones but my need to pee made me rush and be unfocused. (sigh..) my guess 10 (hopefully)

I personally thought it was more doable than the kaplan practice exams and on par with aamc 8 and 9. Make sure to pee. I always had to pee during the last minutes of the bio section when I did practice exams. Don't pavlov dog yourself into having the need to pee during the last minutes of the bio section >.<
month wait yay... GOOD JOB everyone👍
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ill just throw out my opinion of the test

PS, felt calculation was harder than usual (wasted a few minutes double-checking my work), had absolutely no idea what some of the 'ratio' type question were asking, think i missed a few questions that didnt require passage (i generally get these right)

VR, my weakest area; didnt think it was much different than my practice (some interesting, others boring), barely finished on time.

WS, first 30min easy; second 30min i basically refuted the prompt (bad idea, but i just wanted to bashed the damn thing) [note: never practiced til today]

BS, thought passages were longer and convoluted than the practice. Ochem questions kicked my butt!

My guess is (a rough idea): PS 9-12 ; VR 8-10 ; BS 8-11 ; WS N-P

If i can break 30, im calling this test done forever!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MCAT Reminder Notice: Don't Discuss Exam Content After You Take the MCAT, on Internet Postings or Otherwise

The AAMC has requested that SDN provide the following reminder notice to all MCAT® examinees:

When you take the MCAT exam, you agree to a nondisclosure agreement that includes a prohibition on disclosing exam content. This means:

You MAY comment on your general exam experience such as test center conditions or how you felt about a particular section, such as the writing section or biological sciences.

You MAY NOT:
  • Post the text (full or partial) of a test question and/or a test answer
  • Reconstruct a list of topics tested in a particular section
  • Mention a specific topic that was tested on an exam
  • Outline the steps or process to answer a specific question
  • Speculate about which passages are field test or experimental items

This policy is intended to protect the fairness and integrity of the examination process for all examinees. Thank you very much for you cooperation.

While you may read or hear other guidelines that are not consistent with these statements, keep in mind that this information is directly from AAMC and is meant to help you share your MCAT experience without violating the nondisclosure agreement. For more information, go to http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/taking/discussion.htm.
Click to expand...
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=763119

I don't know if you guys saw this on the front of the MCAT forum but this should scare all of us .
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
It really is too bad. I wish I had the test in front of me now like on the practice exams so we could all compare notes and argue about the answers we picked haha.

To the guy that mentioned the calculation question where the answer depended on rounding-- I think I know *exactly* what question you're talking about haha! Were you trying to pick between 25 and 30? My calculations had it come up pretty much right in between and I had to make an "educated" guess.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Glad to be done! 🙂

My testing center had technical difficulties, so my exam was delayed 2 full hours!! Part of which, we didn't know if we'd be able to test at all (until January obviously!)

But luckily they got the sytem up and running smoothly, and we got to test! 👍

I was so surprised how much adrenaline released when I clicked the begin button and saw the first PS passage, haha. It took some willpower to calm myself, and I think it went well.

Verbal was as hard as ever, but I think I picked some really good answers so we'll see :xf:

Writing was such a relief!! I didn't realize how much less stressul it is than the other sections once you've brainstormed a few ideas and gotten going. I think my essays weren't too shabby at all (for not practicing much) 😳

Bio .... I was just so tired and a few of the passages seemed hardly comprehensible on my first run-through! What a difficult section, I am predicting this will be my lowest score :idea:


See yall in 30 days, I'm removing this from my mind until I see that shiny 40 :luck: :meanie:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
1st time around back in May...

PS - 8 and i thought wtf, it's my weakness, I'll get what I want despite it.

Verbal - 10 and I was happy because I thought it was hard as f%^k, super long.

WS - P and I thought, wow what I wrote was the equivalent of defecating on the keyboard, but I got a P...sweet. I'm a writer I never practiced once though, even when I did FL's...not a good way to go in retrospect.

BS - awe f&$k are you kidding me...6...I remember a traumatic experience, I couldn't get a line in on any of the orgo and the bio passages were soooooooooooooooooooooo thick loooooooong passages looooooong Q&A stems. It really felt brutal:wtf:

fast forward to today...a totally different experience...

PS - twas what it twas...not insanely hard at all, but challenging. it's so tough to predict though anywhere 7-9...but I don't think a 7.

VR - loved it. nothing like the VR I had back in May. nothing. so refreshing. Definitely a few more "obscure moments" than I prefer, but mostly still interesting and engaging, even if obscure at times. I'm really feeling an 11... but really could be anywhere 9-12....but I don't think a 9, I mean I got a 10 in May and I thought it was the hardest verbal I'd ever seen even though I had scored lower than 10 on a couple practices (pretty much did 'em all plus Kaplan's back in the spring).

WS - Quite enjoyable and relaxing in the midst of it all. I too used Clinton. My specifics for the second were more concept oriented, but it was good and strong. If I got a P last time...I'm seriously thinking R, definitely Q.

BS - Here it is, what matters. This is all that really matters. A stutter step start...I always do the stand alones first, then go through the passages based in order...theres an up and a down, you get some you know, you get some you don't...felt OK though, cept most of the orgo. I stayed focused though and the passages were long like the first time, but I was better prepared and much much more relaxed. I felt like I could take my time and find the answers, they were there. 8-9.

So...a great day might be: PS:9, VR: 12, WS: R, BS: 9.
more likely - PS: 8, VR: 10, WS: Q, BS 8
worst case - PS: 7, VR: 9, WS: P, BS 7

be well and good luck ya'll.:xf:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Took a crap in the 10 min break between writing and bs, I felt much better after. If you gotta go, GO! Don't hold that in.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hello Guys/Gals,

I took my test on 9/3. I was curious to know if you all also had way more calculations in PS than the regular AAMC FLs? Also, did you guys have any experimental passage in BS. I'm guessing not since no one is complaining about that ONE passage..lol...anyways..congrats for finishing the exam..n relax and loose some weight..lol..that's true in my case..🙂
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
i think it was a stand alone, parallel or series? i cant remember for the life of me which one it was and woke up thinking i messed it up on the exam by making a really careless mistake. typical
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Phew! I am glad to have that OVER with!


PS: I thought this section was bizarrely easy! I even began to wonder, while taking it, if I was somehow missing any tricks! But looking back on it, I realize that much of the content was skewed toward my strengths in physical sciences (i.e. sound and waves).

VR: I really enjoyed this section! I thought most of the passages were interesting and pretty clear. There were a few questions that gave me some pause, but overall I thought it was very doable. Again, this seemed skewed toward my strength in humanities-based passages.

WS: I'm ashamed to admit I always enjoy answering the AAMC prompts! This time was no exception.

BS: Whoa! *Very* difficult, I thought. I had to read each passage *extremely* carefully and ensure that my logical reasoning was going in the right direction. I didn't think there was too much ochem on there, but what was on there was pretty hard! I honestly never mastered ochem, so I was expecting to have to guess on a number of ochem questions.

WE'RE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's all celebrate! No looking back and wondering how we answered a certain question; that can't help us in any way! Move forward and be merry!!!

~Kalyx
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Kalyx said:
Phew! I am glad to have that OVER with!


PS: I thought this section was bizarrely easy! I even began to wonder, while taking it, if I was somehow missing any tricks! But looking back on it, I realize that much of the content was skewed toward my strengths in physical sciences (i.e. sound and waves).

VR: I really enjoyed this section! I thought most of the passages were interesting and pretty clear. There were a few questions that gave me some pause, but overall I thought it was very doable. Again, this seemed skewed toward my strength in humanities-based passages.

WS: I'm ashamed to admit I always enjoy answering the AAMC prompts! This time was no exception.

BS: Whoa! *Very* difficult, I thought. I had to read each passage *extremely* carefully and ensure that my logical reasoning was going in the right direction. I didn't think there was too much ochem on there, but what was on there was pretty hard! I honestly never mastered ochem, so I was expecting to have to guess on a number of ochem questions.

WE'RE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's all celebrate! No looking back and wondering how we answered a certain question; that can't help us in any way! Move forward and be merry!!!

~Kalyx
Click to expand...
Scores aren't out yet???? That's so lame...only 29 days to go.

This is exactly how I felt throughout the exam minus the WS. Coming back on here though, I'm not so sure but after taking the exam I felt the same as you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Before the test: Went to the testing center feeling pumped that the day finally has come and I will regain my social life back.
After the test: Felt like curling up in a ball and cry

PS: I didn't manage my time very well in this section and i thought it was HARD!!!
Verbal: I felt like with verbal I can never guess my scores or measure how I did
Writing: First prompt was easy but the second one was eh...I felt like I might have misread the question
BS: Wasn't too bad...I think...

*Didnt like the fact the person before me crapped in the bathroom and it smelled REALLY BAD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
pookisantoki said:
Before the test: Went to the testing center feeling pumped that the day finally has come and I will regain my social life back.
After the test: Felt like curling up in a ball and cry

*Didnt like the fact the person before me crapped in the bathroom and it smelled REALLY BAD
Click to expand...



Sorry about that, I really didnt want to hold the crap in, just had to do it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
PS: for some reason it was very easy. I've finished 18 min to go. I wasn't sure about all the answers though. I did AAMC 9 just before the test and got 11 on PS. And only had 4 remaining min before I finished. Topics were taken from all the materials. I actually remember all the passages vividly. But for obvious reasons I cannot give you any specifics. So here is the topics covered in very broad generalization.

kinematics/force/power passage/momemtum passage
sound/wave/ aquistics > this one was killer
electro chem relating to thermodynamics.
Rate constant rate law etc


Stand alone questions weren't difficult. I had to calculate in 4 different occasion. This was a test where you had to know your science. Not much you could've figured out just by reading the passage.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Now for verbal: This verbal test was much easier to read than Jun 17th one I took. Topics dealt with things you cared about in 21st century. No more passage written in 1954. I had 16 min for last two passage. Had to guess on last question. I was relieved that there weren't anything on art, psychology, ancient philosophy. Just materials you actually can relate. Like tourism, technology, education etc.

A word of advise, Never skip the first two passages. They are the easiest ones.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Biology: Very orgo heavy. One killer passage where they virtually covered everything. Another orgo passage was easy. No biochemistry like carb, protein, or lipids. Passages on cellular machanics, immuniology, evolution and one genetic passage. And loaded with physiology.

Again just to repeat, you need to understand biology materials. Whoever said Bio section was a reading test, never seen the test I just took
Not just basic stuffs, but advanced biology.
For example in every passage, out of 5-7 question, half of them are testing straight forward materials.

You need to interpret you charts, graphs, diagrams very quickly.

Examkrackers 1001 bio book was useless. Take an immuniology class, trust me it will really help you. The test was really how genetics disease, immunological fuctions, or diverse life form relates to physiology.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Dopplereffect, I think your PS and BS posts might be too specific. If you look at the notice AAMC sent Lee, they state that we're not allowed to discuss the subjects of a passage.

Just trying to look out for you.

I hope this helps,

-LIS
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

IntoTheStorm
  • Question Question
Study plan for 9-10 months of studying
Replies
17
Views
5K
Cornfed101
Cornfed101
Mr.Smile12
AAMC MCAT Prep Team webinar December 10, 2024
Replies
1
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
W
FL avg 501.5. Actual exam on 9/13 507 (127/125/126/129). Should I retake?
Replies
5
Views
2K
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight
G
100 day mcat study plan questions!
Replies
2
Views
2K
theco_dont
T
mjo9943
MCAT Advice
Replies
2
Views
3K
Janilla
J
Top