Form DK

[Re3iRtH]

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Hey all,
I didn't see this form on the listed so I am posting it now.
What did you all think? Which section gave you the most trouble,
which was easiest, etc.. comments please 🙂

 

[joemedic]

Hey all,
I didn't see this form on the listed so I am posting it now.
What did you all think? Which section gave you the most trouble,
which was easiest, etc.. comments please 🙂

My first MCAT. It wasn't much fun. Only two or three medical related questions on the whole test (isn't this supposed to be a test for pre-med?)

Physical sciences was tough, I thought the biological section would be easier, but it was tougher than the physical sciences.

joemedic

 

[Re3iRtH]

My first MCAT. It wasn't much fun. Only two or three medical related questions on the whole test (isn't this supposed to be a test for pre-med?)

Physical sciences was tough, I thought the biological section would be easier, but it was tougher than the physical sciences.

joemedic

I actually thought the biological sciences section was very easy and actually
fun to do (i'm a chem major). did anyone think the 10 question passage
in the VR was absolutely ridiculous. I was able to get through the other
passages and read this hard passage three times, and only after the 3rd time
did i have any clue what was going on.

Physics was pretty tricky since I thought I was running out of time
and flew through the last 3-4 passages + discrete and realized i had
10 mins left when I was done.

And i agree with you, very little clinical based questions on the
entire exam (ie. the bio section).

 

[anthroguy]

Hey,

I had DK as well. I thought physical was tough, a lot things I was unsure about through that section. Verbal was harder than usual and i finished right in time. I think the 10 question passage about the EDITED was slightly hard, but found the other one even harder.

The biology was probably one of the easiest ones I've ever taken. There was minimal orgo (perhaps 18 questions w/ 2 passages and discretes), but I think a lot of people may have thought so and so I'm not looking for a curve.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Hey,

I had DK as well. I thought physical was tough, a lot things I was unsure about through that section. Verbal was harder than usual and i finished right in time. I think the 10 question passage about the EDITED was slightly hard, but found the other one even harder.

The biology was probably one of the easiest ones I've ever taken. There was minimal orgo (perhaps 18 questions w/ 2 passages and discretes), but I think a lot of people may have thought so and so I'm not looking for a curve.

But AAMC says that all the sections (the different forms)
require pretty much the same skill and will be graded as such.
So all the bio sections still factor into the whole grading system right? Someone correct me if i am wrong on this.
But i heard people says it was hard actually.

 

[BuffMed]

My first test as well. It is A LOT different than taking a practice test in the comfort of your own home. I found myself reading passages over and over just because of nervousness.

As for the 10 question passage in verbal I probably got 2.5 right (the exact odds of guessing). And as for the rest of verbal, I think I remember 3 or so passages, all the others were just a blur.

1) Based on the attitude of the passage what would you infer the examinee received as an overall score on the MCAT.

a) 28
b) 29
c) 30
d) 31



This is how I felt during the verbal!!!

 

[anthroguy]

But AAMC says that all the sections (the different forms)
require pretty much the same skill and will be graded as such.
So all the bio sections still factor into the whole grading system right? Someone correct me if i am wrong on this.
But i heard people says it was hard actually.

Hey, I don't know about that curve thing, I was figuring they would only grade people with others with similar material so you're def more knowledgable than me. I think me and the friends I took it with could have thought bio to be easy because we really focused on it more than anything else and upper levels like endo and physio seemed to help out.

 

[hangten]

PS was tough, I ran out of time at the end, had to skim the last three passages. I thought the passages were really long. Too many things about stars.

VR was ok except for the EDITED which of course had lots of questions. Also the "friend" audience experiment passage was tricky. The questions were poorly worded.

BS was better, not a lot of orgo.


I think they "normalize" the test based only on the how the other test takers did on that particular test form. Like DK against DK test takers. Difficulty between test forms are not normalized.

 

[avyy]

I actually thought the biological sciences section was very easy and actually
fun to do (i'm a chem major). did anyone think the 10 question passage
in the VR was absolutely ridiculous. I was able to get through the other
passages and read this hard passage three times, and only after the 3rd time
did i have any clue what was going on.

this was the first passage that I did because I wanted to get the longest passage out of the way and after reading it and looking at the questions, I stopped. I was soo clueless. Then I went back and finished all the other passages and spent the last 20 minutes on that one passage alone. I think that I also finally understood it after the 3rd time. 😡

 

[Sarg's kid]

I think they "normalize" the test based only on the how the other test takers did on that particular test form. Like DK against DK test takers. Difficulty between test forms are not normalized.

This is my understanding as well. It doesn't make any sense to compare you against people who didn't take the same test as you.

 

[cee]

I HATED THE IBERIAN PASSAGE.. it was definitely my "guess" passage, and to make matters worse, it was 10 questions! what the hell man. anyways, i thought PS wasnt as bad.. i freaked out the 1st 5 mins then calmed down and got in the zone.. the BS section i found to be surprisingly hard

 

[Re3iRtH]

There is no way of knowing which particular questions we think
will be the "experimental" questions, right?

 

[Liz10185]

hm- I hope the last orgo passage was experimental- I didn't have time to read it 🙁
Really? you guys thought the Iberian q's were hard? Those weren't too bad I thought, but the natural rights one drove me crazy- i think I got all those wrong. and the audience one was tough too.
I just wish that I'd taken more practice tests so I could gauge how I did. I have no clue whether I got like a 30 or a 40.
the next two months are going to be excruciating...

 

[tigre21]

PS was tough, I ran out of time at the end, had to skim the last three passages. I thought the passages were really long. Too many things about stars.

VR was ok except for the Iberian expansionism which of course had lots of questions. Also the "friend" audience experiment passage was tricky. The questions were poorly worded.


I think they "normalize" the test based only on the how the other test takers did on that particular test form. Like DK against DK test takers. Difficulty between test forms are not normalized.

hey guys,
I'm not sure exactly how the curve would work, but I was reading over what some of you have posted and even though I had a different form I had some of the passages in both Verbal and Physics that were referred to in this thread...
So maybe the fact that passages overlap from form to form is what allows different forms to be compared...of course a guess... 🙂

 

[Re3iRtH]

hey guys,
I'm not sure exactly how the curve would work, but I was reading over what some of you have posted and even though I had a different form I had some of the passages in both Verbal and Physics that were referred to in this thread...
So maybe the fact that passages overlap from form to form is what allows different forms to be compared...of course a guess... 🙂

Yea... from form to form it is the same representation of difficulty/skills.
But specific sections vary in difficulty among one form to the next.

 

[CrackaMD]

Hard Hard Hard

 

[anthroguy]

I think if you share a letter with another form, your test will be similar in many ways. There were people who were taking I think EK with me and their test was similar, but like one difference I remember was that they did not have the Iberian peninsular question.

 

[Will Ferrell]

There is no way of knowing which particular questions we think
will be the "experimental" questions, right?

I think I have a way to figure it out, but if it's true, I don't think it's supposed to be known. I'm not posting it.

If there is a way to exactly determine what passage are experimental, I'm sure prep courses figured it out and send people to the testing center just for the sake of memorizing the exam's content. They can easily determine all the experimental passages (prospective future passages) and know what's coming up on later exams.

 

[Hass1786]

hey guys
my screen name on aim is hass1786
if you guys wanta talk about specific questions let me know...
i was kinda wondering how i did on some specific questions...
just im me or pm me and ill get back to you...
thanks
hass

 

[ALaczniak]

PS - I felt like the PS wasn't too bad, and usually this is my worst subject
VR - I felt like some of the questions were a bit difficult. overall a little harder than usual
BS - Always my strength. I am a biochemistry major, so I think I did well on the biochem passages. Overall, a difficult passage, but I think it may have played to my strengths.

 

[Hass1786]

PS - I felt like the PS wasn't too bad, and usually this is my worst subject
VR - I felt like some of the questions were a bit difficult. overall a little harder than usual
BS - Always my strength. I am a biochemistry major, so I think I did well on the biochem passages. Overall, a difficult passage, but I think it may have played to my strengths.

what biochem passage?
i dont remember one being on there

 

[ALaczniak]

what biochem passage?
i dont remember one being on there

After a week and a half they're staring to fade from memory...
One passage about the proteins involved in memory (ironic as I'm having trouble specifically remembering what the passage talked about!)
Another passage about a bacterial/fungal protein involved in cell invasion

The questions weren't all necessarily biochemistry related, but I did think having a background of biochemistry made understanding the passages a little easier