Guessing on last passages of every section - plan to retake?

[19891006]

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Hello!
I was just curious as to whether anyone has guessed on the last passages of all sections and whether or not this put their score in the gutter? Though I timed everything before the real exam, on the real exam I ran out of time and started clicking random answers.
Thanks!

 

[19891006]

Gah - I should have voided; shoulda coulda woulda...thanks for the response

 

[tantacles]

Wait for your score.

 

[Dartmouth1230]

Gah - I should have voided; shoulda coulda woulda...thanks for the response

I pretty much guessed on the last passage of verbal when I took the MCAT (ran out of time) and I still ended up with an 11 (actually a point higher than my average). Don't sweat it, just wait for your score and decide what to do from there.

 

[19891006]

That's awesome! Has anyone guessed on the last passage of the sciences, though? Congrats on being accepted, Dartmouth1230!

 

[FattySlug]

I didn't guess but felt really bad about the verbal part and got a 10.

 

[19891006]

"bump" - kind of want to see if this trick works! maybe?

 

[Aerus]

"bump" - kind of want to see if this trick works! maybe?

There is no "trick". Some people who guess will have it lucky; others will not. There isn't a point in collecting data on who has been successful in guessing and who hasn't been. Your score is already set in stone, so a little artificial boost in your confidence isn't going to help you.

Just focus on what is important - your grades. Your MCAT is done. Wait and see what score and plan accordingly from there.

 

[MadRadLad]

Princeton Review actually recommends that you figure out which verbal passage seems to be the hardest, and skip it. Work on the other 6 ones, and then guess all one letter for the one you "skip". Their reasoning is that if it's really that hard, you'll probably get around the same amount correct whether you guess or not, so you're better off using the extra time making sure the other 6 passages are all good.

 

[235788]

worst technique ever.

 

[mirimonster]

Princeton Review actually recommends that you figure out which verbal passage seems to be the hardest, and skip it. Work on the other 6 ones, and then guess all one letter for the one you "skip". Their reasoning is that if it's really that hard, you'll probably get around the same amount correct whether you guess or not, so you're better off using the extra time making sure the other 6 passages are all good.

That is terrible advice. I hope no one ever follows this. It's fine (and good practice) to save the hardest passage for last, to focus on the questions that are most likely to give you points first, but don't just give up on the hard ones all together. That's just a defeatist attitude and is not going to score you higher on the MCAT. Lots of people do well on all of the passages in VR, which is why the curve is harder in VR than in the sciences.

 

[JFK90787]

Princeton Review actually recommends that you figure out which verbal passage seems to be the hardest, and skip it. Work on the other 6 ones, and then guess all one letter for the one you "skip". Their reasoning is that if it's really that hard, you'll probably get around the same amount correct whether you guess or not, so you're better off using the extra time making sure the other 6 passages are all good.

Yup, our tutor advocated this strategy for 2 months, saying every test had 1 'killer' passage that was designed to be impossible.Worst part was she said she averaged a 14 on AAMC practice test verbal sections, which is basically impossible using this strategy.

 

[mirimonster]

Let's say the "killer" passage has 6 questions (average). Best case scenario, you got 2 of them right by just choosing C on all of them. For a normal score distribution, you've just dropped at least 3 points off of your max possible score because you decided it wasn't worth it to even try. And that's assuming you immediately knew which one was really the "hardest" and didn't waste 5 minutes deciding which one to ignore. And none of the passages are designed to be impossible, because they're not impossible. People get the questions in those passages correct all the time. Might as well apply that method to the sciences as well. Hmmm, not a huge fan of genetics, I'll just put C for this whole passage because I'll probably get it all wrong anyways.

Sorry, OP. Got off topic. Wait for your score to come out. You may get lucky, or have done well enough on the rest of the section to make up for it. Good luck, and I hope you don't have to retake!

 

[virtuoso735]

I think if you did well on all the other passages guessing on the last one would probably give you a 10 or 11. I felt like I guessed on two or three passages on BS but ended up with a reasonable score.

 

[TheGloaming]

Yup, our tutor advocated this strategy for 2 months, saying every test had 1 'killer' passage that was designed to be impossible.Worst part was she said she averaged a 14 on AAMC practice test verbal sections, which is basically impossible using this strategy.

That technique is awful. I found that the hardest passages to read and concentrate on, seemed to have the easier questions in the end. Just because the passage seems more difficult does not mean the questions will be more difficult to answer. I also never felt there was a "killer" passage in any of the AAMC practice tests or my actual MCAT. I guess if you are brainwashed to think there is one and you go out of your way to search for one, you will "discover" the "killer" passage.