April 7th MCAT bio

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

chalo

Junior Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2006
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Members do not see this ad.
After reading the "Holy **** that sucked" thread a lot of you commented on how the bio section was difficult, I would like to know what type of questions did they ask on Bio that made the bio section so difficult.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
It wasn't so much that it was ridiculously hard (don't get me wrong, it was hard)... i mean the mol genetics is always going to be mol genetics, but some stuff just seemed they thought "what havent we tested on in about 81273123 years and it has to be something they wont suspect either...... oh that... lets test that"

moral of the story? know everything.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Exactly some of it was just more or less odd, I can't really give a direct description of it it went by pretty quick but I echo killinsounds comment, know everything.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Knowing everything is key. And being really smart. Oh, and really really focused, too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What are you guys referring to when you say molecular genetics?

chromosome structure? meiosis/mitosis? inheritance?

also - what other genetics is there other than molecular genetics? lol

someone please give me an example of a topic that was hit on april 7th bio

thanks!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Blondnuttyboy said:
What are you guys referring to when you say molecular genetics?

chromosome structure? meiosis/mitosis? inheritance?

also - what other genetics is there other than molecular genetics? lol

someone please give me an example of a topic that was hit on april 7th bio

thanks!
Click to expand...


another example of genetics would be mendelian genetics.

seriously, just study everything... EVERYTHING.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I don't know about the rest of you, but my bio section had three passages related to molecular genetics, 2 related to orgo, and 2 biochemistry/metabolism related passages. Sure molecular genetics seems hard, but there is only so much you can study from just reading a stupid book. Most of the answers can be inferred from the passage information. Genearlly 2 answers will always be stupid, leaving you with a 50/50 shot. I'd say my test was similar to bio sections seen in AAMC 9/10.


As for the orgo---> these questions should be easy points for everyone. The questions regard very basic knowledge of mechanisms. Generally, such mechanistic questions can be answered from just passage material alone.


The molecular genetic problems seem hard because the passage information is generally very dense so by the time you get to the problem you might be kind of confused. It helps to just get a main gist of the passage but spend most time actually understanding what exactly the question is asking. Don't be afraid of bio! Be afraid of verbal...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
exactly true for the august one. the passage was VERY dense and close to impossible to understand, but the questions weren't too bad if you ever had a genetics course. agree with you on orgo, every orgo passage i've seen is almost either always real fundamental 1st semester stuff or carbonyl stuff. i would seriously kill for metabolism questions on the one on thursday...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Psychotropic said:
I don't know about the rest of you, but my bio section had three passages related to molecular genetics, 2 related to orgo, and 2 biochemistry/metabolism related passages. Sure molecular genetics seems hard, but there is only so much you can study from just reading a stupid book. Most of the answers can be inferred from the passage information. Genearlly 2 answers will always be stupid, leaving you with a 50/50 shot. I'd say my test was similar to bio sections seen in AAMC 9/10.


As for the orgo---> these questions should be easy points for everyone. The questions regard very basic knowledge of mechanisms. Generally, such mechanistic questions can be answered from just passage material alone.


The molecular genetic problems seem hard because the passage information is generally very dense so by the time you get to the problem you might be kind of confused. It helps to just get a main gist of the passage but spend most time actually understanding what exactly the question is asking. Don't be afraid of bio! Be afraid of verbal...
Click to expand...


I completely agree. I also had only 2 orgo passages that were very easy
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
BrutusBuckeyeMD said:
I completely agree. I also had only 2 orgo passages that were very easy
Click to expand...

Well people, either we had different tests, or some of us just freak out when we know that we didn't get EVERY SINGLE QUESTION correct... and we don't know which questions were the experimental ones.

Probably some combination of the three.

(Once again... AAMC responds: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie:)

We'll make it guys. Don't worry about it. What is meant to happen shall happen.🙂
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MSTPbound said:
Well people, either we had different tests, or some of us just freak out when we know that we didn't get EVERY SINGLE QUESTION correct... and we don't know which questions were the experimental ones.

Probably some combination of the three.

(Once again... AAMC responds: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie: :meanie:)

We'll make it guys. Don't worry about it. What is meant to happen shall happen.🙂
Click to expand...

I don't know about you guys but I'm so scared I'm going to wear a diaper in case I wet myself on Thursday... 😱
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
:scared: DUUUUUUUUDE! You guys have put the fear of god into me since I am taking the April 16th exam. I finally got a 30 on the AAMC 8r exam (the highest I have ever gotten) and I thought about taking this last week on cruise control, but all these people talking about how ridiculosly hard the exam was has scared the s**t out of me! I think I am going to go into overdrive this last week. Gonna review everything as many times as possible and take 2 more AAMC tests. Don't you hate it that the AAMC always finds a way to screw you over. They can break almost any student down!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Banjo64dd said:
:scared: DUUUUUUUUDE! You guys have put the fear of god into me since I am taking the April 16th exam. I finally got a 30 on the AAMC 8r exam (the highest I have ever gotten) and I thought about taking this last week on cruise control, but all these people talking about how ridiculosly hard the exam was has scared the s**t out of me! I think I am going to go into overdrive this last week. Gonna review everything as many times as possible and take 2 more AAMC tests. Don't you hate it that the AAMC always finds a way to screw you over. They can break almost any student down!
Click to expand...

Well, bust a$$ on molecular genetics and review your orgo..
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MSTPbound said:
and we don't know which questions were the experimental ones.
Click to expand...

Are there really experimental questions that they don't score?? Can this be true? It seems like they won't be able to appropriately (fairly?) standardize the test if they did such a thing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It seems from several threads that phyisiology was not tested on the Bio section of the MCAT. Is that true, or were there a lot of physio questions in the discrete section.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Upvote 0 Downvote
KnuxNole said:
It seems from several threads that phyisiology was not tested on the Bio section of the MCAT. Is that true, or were there a lot of physio questions in the discrete section.
Click to expand...

Oh you can DEFINITELY count on physio... I think (at least in my case) that none of us mention it because this is pretty much a given... and probably considered a source of "easy points." 😉
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How many different test forms are there??? Whatever bio section i had def sucked
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
killinsound said:
i dont think i did well
Click to expand...

LOL. No problem killin... just promise that the criteria you use for deciding whether to retake is not "did or didn't break 40".

It doesn't sound like you had a bad day, but in the unlikely event that you did, you'll definitely get it the second time around (most likely breaking 40).

And, if you do have to retake, I'll very likely be retaking as well... in fact between the two of us, I'm the more likely to have to retake.

Just let me know so I can make sure I don't pick your day again.😉
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
my cut off range is 33-34 for retaking... i think if i get a 34 i won't retake. if i get a 33 however, i would strongly consider it because its less than 5 points from the low end of my range and im from california with a so-so GPA.

it's not so much i had a bad day, but i just felt weird during the whole BS section... maybe im getting really paranoid again
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I definitely felt really weird about the BS section, too. I think it was the test and question format; the questions just didn't feel right.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
dochoov said:
I definitely felt really weird about the BS section, too. I think it was the test and question format; the questions just didn't feel right.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean guys. But I think (and I hope) that there is something to what killinsound mentioned at an earlier time... on the real thing, you're so hypersensitive about not knowing every single answer that it totally f***s with your sense of performance.

If you're the type to obsess over what you missed, and forget what you handled well... like I am... it's next to impossible to arrive at an objective self-assessment of performance.

I'm actually kind of glad for the one-month break - I think if I got my score right after the exam like I did on practice tests, I might have ended up in the ER before making it home.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Can you guys be more specific about molecular genetics? (*you can do this w/o posting specific questions that violate copywrite....)

i.e. - Cell Cycle Checkpoint Mechanisms? Holiday Junctions? Myc or Securin complexes?
Or lab methods? phototroph, auxotroph, complementation, polymorphic markers?

as you might tell im a molecular biology major, lol. i'm just curious.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nelsondb said:
Can you guys be more specific about molecular genetics? (*you can do this w/o posting specific questions that violate copywrite....)

i.e. - Cell Cycle Checkpoint Mechanisms? Holiday Junctions? Myc or Securin complexes?
Or lab methods? phototroph, auxotroph, complementation, polymorphic markers?

as you might tell im a molecular biology major, lol. i'm just curious.
Click to expand...

I didn't take the April MCAT but I would image it's only on DNA/RNA/Protein synthesis and some Mendelian genetics... Maybe a pedigree or so, introns and exons, linkage, etc... Nothing very advanced...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Blondnuttyboy said:
What are you guys referring to when you say molecular genetics?

chromosome structure? meiosis/mitosis? inheritance?

also - what other genetics is there other than molecular genetics? lol

someone please give me an example of a topic that was hit on april 7th bio

thanks!
Click to expand...

molecular genetics is basically transcription, translation, gene regulation, etc.

Mendelian Genetics is inheritance patterns, hw equilibrium, traits, etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nelsondb said:
Can you guys be more specific about molecular genetics? (*you can do this w/o posting specific questions that violate copywrite....)

i.e. - Cell Cycle Checkpoint Mechanisms? Holiday Junctions? Myc or Securin complexes?
Or lab methods? phototroph, auxotroph, complementation, polymorphic markers?

as you might tell im a molecular biology major, lol. i'm just curious.
Click to expand...

Not sure what all the hype is regarding molecular on the MCAT..You're not going to see anything more complicated than the lac operon (at the intro molecular level, which is fair game). Maybe people are reading too much into the passages, and are trying to visualize/map the regulatory path(s). I guess these passages are popular since they test recollection and make for good logic puzzles. 🙂

EDIT: After reading over the EK section on the lac operon, I would go further. Do a search for 3000 level type questions. If you had a mutation in one gene, or two genes, how would it affect transcriptional levels, what proteins would accumulate. If the mutation was a frameshift in the first gene, what would be the results for the operon (could you restore functionality of the operon by bringing in an external copy of just that gene). If one gene is overexpressed, what would happen, etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MSTPbound said:
I know what you mean guys. But I think (and I hope) that there is something to what killinsound mentioned at an earlier time... on the real thing, you're so hypersensitive about not knowing every single answer that it totally f***s with your sense of performance.

If you're the type to obsess over what you missed, and forget what you handled well... like I am... it's next to impossible to arrive at an objective self-assessment of performance.

I'm actually kind of glad for the one-month break - I think if I got my score right after the exam like I did on practice tests, I might have ended up in the ER before making it home.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's exactly the type of person I am. I can list 5 mistakes I made on the test off the top of my head, but other than that, I can't even recall the other passages that went well (maybe there weren't any 😱)

But then again... Maybe I didn't do as badly as I thought, who knows.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I was just wondering... for all of you who took the bio...

were the questions analogous to the ones given by EK, TPR, or Kaplan in terms of difficulty?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Paragraph missing in MCAT bio section today
Replies
16
Views
3K
jayam1947
J
mjo9943
MCAT Advice
Replies
2
Views
3K
Janilla
J
M
Should I retake the MCAT?
Replies
5
Views
2K
Dral
Dral
LMAGZ
MCAT Advice
Replies
2
Views
2K
Rachapkis
Rachapkis
M
MCAT 516 - need advice
Replies
0
Views
430
medquestions123
M
Top