Guy got a 42S, but said it was w/ only 3 weeks of studying. How likely is this?

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This question is based off a thread I read on another forum, where a guy claimed to have gotten a 42S with only 3 weeks of studying over winter break (12-15hrs a day). I believe the score because he posted adequate proof, but what do you all think about the amount of time he supposedly studied for?

Link to the post where he says the time he spend studying. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=388621191&highlight=winter#post388621191

Link to the thread/first post where he proves his score
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=119269831
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im on that forum and that guy also got a 179/180 on his LSAT and is now thinking of going to law school instead of doing med...

hes a standarized test killer.
 
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Rayhaan said:
He's probably exaggerating a bit, or his friends were. But, either way if it's true then they are just intelligent; not really idiots since they got good scores lol.
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I was saying that people who put themselves in a position where they've not studied or only studied for a small number of days are super confident OR idiots. You're right that they seem to fall into the first category considering their scores. However, it's still really quite risky to think you're prepared without some minor assessment. After all, it's usually the not so bright ones who think they're geniuses and fail time and time again (fabulous article about that, would really recommend reading it: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/011800hth-behavior-incompetents.html )
 
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QofQuimica said:
You all are way over-analyzing this person's story. First, very few people will manage to get a 40+ on the MCAT simply because of how the test is scaled. That's true regardless of whether they studied for 1 hour or 1000 hours. Second, the amount of time that different people have to study to earn the same score varies widely. From what I've observed while teaching Kaplan on and off over the past 14 years, most students score in the high teens-low 20s on their MCAT diagnostic. A few people start out in the mid-to-high 20s range, and unsurprisingly, they tend to score 30+ with much less effort than someone who started out ten or 15 points lower.

Then there was the one kid who got a 36 on his diagnostic, and I marched him up to the front office to get an employment app. :hungover:
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didn't you get a 40+ ;)
 
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QofQuimica said:
Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? I never said it was impossible to get a 40+. I said most people won't be able to do it because of how the test is scored!
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Can you be more specific about "how the test is scored"

Are you talking about the curve?
 
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No, not the curve. I think she means the fact you're scored relative to everyone else. So people who score in the top 0.1% get over a 40. People in the top 22% get over a 30. So it's impossible for a lot of people to get a 40. That's my understanding anyway.
 
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Cramster said:
Can you be more specific about "how the test is scored"

Are you talking about the curve?
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As ACSheldor suggested, the test is scaled. Because of that, only a small percentage of people will be able to obtain scores above a 40.
 
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Eh... The test is prescaled on past test takers, not your current cohort. Theoretically, everyone could make a 45 one year.
 
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Is the exam graded on a curve?

Examinees often ask if earning a high score or higher percentile is easier or harder at different times of the testing year. They ask whether they have a better chance of earning a higher score in April or in August, for example. The question is based on an assumption that the exam is scored on a curve, and that a final score is dependent on how an individual performed in comparison to other examinees from the same test day or same time of year.
While there may be small differences in the MCAT exam you took compared to another examinee, the scoring process accounts for these differences so that an 8 earned on physical sciences on one exam means the same thing as an 8 earned on any other exam. The percentile provided on your score report simply indicates what percentage of examinees from the previous testing year scored the same as you did on the MCAT exam.
How you score on the MCAT exam, therefore, is not reflective of the particular exam you took—including the time of day, the test date, or the time of year—since any difference in difficulty level is accounted for when calculating your scale scores (see above for information about scaling).
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I think this is where I had gotten that impression, but upon rereading, it's pretty vague about how they actually decide what your numeric value is.
 
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They explain it but don't at the same time. They're very secretive and purposely confusing about how they scale their test. I think it's so no one can criticize or analyze their methods. Who knows, I just want a good score. So if the current scaling allows for me to do that then I'm okay with it.
 
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I love how you are so interested in someone else doing well that you waste your time making a thread rather than using your time wisely.

The guy is probably naturally smart and has developed good study skills, what else is there to say.
 
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:laugh:Uh oh, sorry to insult you. This is like the MCAT equivalent to discussing how someone like Strasburg could come into his first MLB game with just a week of training and get 14 Ks. I mean how ever does that happen, it's not like he's been pitching his whole life or anything. He just walked to the mound picked up the ball, threw it and struck out 14. How do I do it? How likely is this?
 
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ACSheldor said:
:laugh:Uh oh, sorry to insult you. This is like the MCAT equivalent to discussing how someone like Strasburg could come into his first MLB game with just a week of training and get 14 Ks. I mean how ever does that happen, it's not like he's been pitching his whole life or anything. He just walked to the mound picked up the ball, threw it and struck out 14. How do I do it? How likely is this?
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Its funny you should mention that. I know this guy, he goes to my gym. I call him the prodigy. I heard he got a girl pregnant and she gave birth in only 3 weeks from conception to delivery. It is all amazing stuff.
 
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Cramster said:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6283164#post6283164

Not the online class. He says so himself above

Though he claims he did "most of his studying" over 3 weeks, combining these two posts would suggest that he went through the kaplan lackadaisically over a period of the classroom course then got serious and did EK on his own over 3 weeks. Funny he didn't mention the kaplan class from the beginning.

:laugh:
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I grossly exaggerated my Kaplan training so people wouldn't get any crazy ideas of trying to do what I did (I still don't recommend it). I think I went to 3 classes total from that course; although the teacher probably knew more facts than I did at that point, his teaching style was far too slow for me.

lebronjames said:
im on that forum and that guy also got a 179/180 on his LSAT and is now thinking of going to law school instead of doing med...

hes a standarized test killer.
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+1

Although I'm still teaching the MCAT, I'm applying to law school in September.

hellohumph said:
i know him haha, he goes to my church. smart as heck and yes he likely studied only that much... his mother told my mother the same story. What is most important is that he didn't forget anything from his undergrad classes so it was basically 3 weeks of REVIEW, not learning new stuff, definitely a sufficient amount of time.
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You know my mom? :O I haven't been to church for several years; I'm surprised people still talk about me.
 
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Either way what he did won't make much difference to you but i can see where doing 500+ practice problems a day will factor into a good score.
 
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NameAlreadyTake said:
So you took the MCAT twice? One 41R and the other 42S? Why?
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Because I'm an idiot who thinks that LSAT RC skills automatically translate to MCAT VR skills. Unfortunately MCAT VR answers are much less logically justifiable and much more dependent on the whims of the test writers :-(

Hemichordate said:
http://cdn0.knowyourmeme.com/i/26021/original/Troll_fail.jpg
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youmad.jpg
 
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to the guy that said his friend got a 43 with 120 hours of studying... I'm normally one to believe (hell, I got a 39T myself with only studying for about 18-21 days or so before the MCAT, and I consider that relatively impressive)... but I've looked at the AAMC statistics, and it shows 0% getting 43-45 for the past 7 years... unless they round down to zero because the number is so low?

thoughts?
 
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benhc911 said:
to the guy that said his friend got a 43 with 120 hours of studying... I'm normally one to believe (hell, I got a 39T myself with only studying for about 18-21 days or so before the MCAT, and I consider that relatively impressive)... but I've looked at the AAMC statistics, and it shows 0% getting 43-45 for the past 7 years... unless they round down to zero because the number is so low?

thoughts?
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It's less than 0.05% so they round down.
 
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