For those who've taken/will take a 2013 exam, will you do the optional section?

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Claritynow

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I am debating on doing the optional section or not. It is not a matter of the $30 gift card. I am just trying to get in my own zone and rhythm. I probably will not do it and try to keep test day as straight forward as possible. How about everyone else?
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It's at the end of the exam and it's ungraded. I'm going to guess on literally every question of the optional section because **** the AAMC.
 
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circulus vitios said:
It's at the end of the exam and it's ungraded. I'm going to guess on literally every question of the optional section because **** the AAMC.
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Why not pick one letter for all the answers? That way it is obvious that you are intentionally screwing up. Random guess is more likely to appear as though you are making an effort. Picking the same letter for each answer sends a stronger message.
 
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NinjaMed said:
Why not pick one letter for all the answers? That way it is obvious that you are intentionally screwing up. Random guess is more likely to appear as though you are making an effort. Picking the same letter for each answer sends a stronger message.
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Good idea! :laugh:
 
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NinjaMed said:
Why not pick one letter for all the answers? That way it is obvious that you are intentionally screwing up. Random guess is more likely to appear as though you are making an effort. Picking the same letter for each answer sends a stronger message.
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Yes but remember that they say you only get the $30 if you put in a "good faith effort". They may consider picking the same letter to not be a good faith effort and not give you any money. Just something to think about.
 
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I'm still going to have a nice dinner and just use the money i'd normally use for amazon to cover it.... unless i forget.

If we get a break after the bio section and before the social sciences section (if that is what it's called), then I can give it my best unstudied effort. It's so little effort for $30..... i mean... :p
 
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nisarg2010 said:
Yes but remember that they say you only get the $30 if you put in a "good faith effort". They may consider picking the same letter to not be a good faith effort and not give you any money. Just something to think about.
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Seeing as he stated that he wanted to say "**** you" to the AAMC, he probably may forgo the $30 Amazon credit and put in a "bad faith effort," thereby telling the AAMC, **** you, and "I don't need your stinking credit." That makes the message louder.
 
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Why not? For once you get to pick whatever answer you want without reading the question and not worrying about how much you scored....

I will answer it for the sake of fun and for $30 amazon gift card
 
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manchika said:
Why not? For once you get to pick whatever answer you want without reading the question and not worrying about how much you scored....

I will answer it for the sake of fun and for $30 amazon gift card
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The stipulation for getting the $30 gift card is that you make "a good faith effort"

If you finish with 40 of the 45 mins left, I'm pretty sure they wont give it to you.
 
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I know I'm in the minority here but I bolted after the test, I was tired and didn't want to be in there one second longer then I needed to be, 30 bucks is not that much and wasn't worth the extra effort.
 
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alpharez said:
The stipulation for getting the $30 gift card is that you make "a good faith effort"

If you finish with 40 of the 45 mins left, I'm pretty sure they wont give it to you.
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Randomly guess an answer, wait a minute or two, randomly guess another answer, wait a minute or two...
 
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i guess I'm in the minority here, but i love a good challenge and enjoy figuring stuff out. I intend to do my best and take as much time as i need.
 
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Captain Sisko said:
i guess I'm in the minority here, but i love a good challenge and enjoy figuring stuff out. I intend to do my best and take as much time as i need.
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I wouldn't be as angry and defiant if they hadn't raised the price of the MCAT $30 to offset the "reward."
 
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circulus vitios said:
It was $240 before they added the "optional" section. The price is now $270, with a $30 "gift" for completing the "optional" section.
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didn't know that, but I'll agree it's a little underhanded. i wonder how that compares to the amount of previous price increases, or if the rate of change for price increases has been adjusted. i suppose this could be a routine increase, but you could be right.

either way it's a monopoly. what to do?
 
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circulus vitios said:
It was $240 before they added the "optional" section. The price is now $270, with a $30 "gift" for completing the "optional" section.
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Seriously? I actually thought AAMC was being generous. I'm just gonna answer all the questions in a minute or so then dip. Forget "good faith effort" if they don't give me my money were gonna have a problem. And it's really stupid of them to think they're gonna get any amount of reliable data from this optional trial section. NOBODY is gonna try on it
 
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I finished with like 15 mins left, so we'll see what happens.

I didn't read any of the passages all the way through. I just read the question and if I knew it I answered it, if I didn't, I spent about 30 seconds searching. I was familiar with most of the topics so I think I did ok.
 
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I took the experimental section but pretty much had no idea what I was doing, since I have never taken psychology or sociology. In that sense it was kind of a waste of time, but it will be pretty humorous to see how I actually ended up doing on it. Anything above 50% will be impressive in my book lol.
 
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Neuroglia said:
I know I'm in the minority here but I bolted after the test, I was tired and didn't want to be in there one second longer then I needed to be, 30 bucks is not that much and wasn't worth the extra effort.
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I am 100 Percent with you on this one!!! I will depart as soon as I am done.
 
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Captain Sisko said:
i guess I'm in the minority here, but i love a good challenge and enjoy figuring stuff out. I intend to do my best and take as much time as i need.
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That's what I did. My xsection was heavy on biochem. I'm a chem major so I think I did very well on it, although I only used a little over half the allocated time. :naughty:
 
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I guess overall it just depends on how you feel after the first three sections. I can see myself saying freak it and leaving lol.
 
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I had every intention of doing it, but when I got to that section…. there was NO way I was going to sit through another section. I wanted the money, but I wanted to GET OUT OF THERE more. hahahah
 
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