January 2008 MCAT Central

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DrJD

DrJD

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Hey all! Anyone start studying now for the January 2008 test? Seems weird that its only 6 months away... What are all of you doing to study?

Best of luck!
 
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Hey guys! Have you started the EK O-Chem yet? I pre-read the first lesson and it seems to assume that you know how to do quite a bit. Have any of the rest of you noticed this?

How is the studying going for everyone? The further into studying I get the more I realize how freakin' much there is!!!! Sometimes it can be overwhelming... How are you guys going about memorizing stuff? List? Note Cards?

Keep up the good work everybody!
 
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The bulk of my studying is going to come from doing all-nighters. Each week i'm going through a new chapter in each EK book. Then, when I'm halfway done with one of the books, i'll do an all-nighter as if I had an actual test the next day in class (this was the only way I could study, since I had a part-time job in college and still do). While doing this, i'm going over what I already learned to store into long term memory and going over missed problems from the EK1001 books. I have a day set aside just to do flashcards. To me, this works the best.

Short sets of repititions.
 
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I'm going back through my Kaplan review books right now for BS... I'm planning on making full page colored diagrams of things that need a diagram (it seems as though there are 2-3 major diagrams per chapter) that has the anatomy labeled and processes described. For me, the only way to learn is by writing and wording things in my own way.

Of course, I'm not sure if this method will work for PS which is, of course, my weakest section. Blehhhhh...

-BP
 
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I'm taking again in January.....well, if I can get a seat. I will start studying again probably this weekend. I will go back to my Princeton Review books and supplement with Kaplan. I may order "the berkley review" for verbal. We'll see.

Here I come January MCAT!
 
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vargant said:
How are ya'll doing with the EK1001 problems? Are ya'll finding them too difficult, easy, etc.?
Click to expand...


I think they're good for getting concepts down and getting fast with all the material. I'm going to do all the Orgo ones since that is my weakest area so far.

Peace.
 
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So I got the results back from my Kaplan Diag:

12P, 7V, 9B for a total of 28. The verbal is somewhat disconcerting (sp? see I don't think I can even spell anymore)......and I didn't remember much of the orgo reactions. I don't know what to think of this. Hopefully it will all work out.
 
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Do you skip around in the EK books at all? Or do you start with question #1 and go to the very end? I'm stronger in certain parts compared to others so decided to knock the stronger sections out first? Any input is appreciated!!
 
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I definitely found EK Verbal Exam 2 harder than 1, but I found 3 a bit more manageable than 2. I think I'm just getting used to the EK Verbal Strategy, which is awesome! 3 more months...
 
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Hope all the studying is going well for you guys. I was wondering how you guys were preparing for the reading and writing. I am also using EK material, and at times it can be just disappointing (if you know what i mean...).

I found the New Yorker site kinda fun to read as someone recommended for the reading previous. Well, the problem is that i usually go for the cartoon caption contest...
 
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I am also taking the MCAT in January. I just purchased the Kaplan text with CD. I've used Peterson's and Princeton Review. I know everyone generally swears by Kaplan. I'm not sure though.
 
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Jonari said:
Do you skip around in the EK books at all? Or do you start with question #1 and go to the very end? I'm stronger in certain parts compared to others so decided to knock the stronger sections out first? Any input is appreciated!!
Click to expand...


I usually just work on the sections where I need the most help. For me, I'll do all the orgo ones. Also, I think the gen. Chem one is pretty good as well. I wouldn't do sections you're already strong at. There's enough material on the MCAT that I'd work on my weaknesses first, though punching out a couple hundred questions in 1001 on a subject you already know is a great way to review and keep up your problem solving skills I'm sure.
 
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So I registered for the January 26 MCAT, and it said that the exam is at 12 noon. However, when I looked on the schedule on the AAMC website, it said that it was a morning (8 am) administration. Anyone have any info on this?
 
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dancermd07 said:
So I registered for the January 26 MCAT, and it said that the exam is at 12 noon. However, when I looked on the schedule on the AAMC website, it said that it was a morning (8 am) administration. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...

I don't know for now just be thankful you have a spot! I've had no luck yet and I'm getting pissed😡
 
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dancermd07 said:
So I registered for the January 26 MCAT, and it said that the exam is at 12 noon. However, when I looked on the schedule on the AAMC website, it said that it was a morning (8 am) administration. Anyone have any info on this?
Click to expand...

if you look on the main page where there is the a couple of things to download there are two schedules i think a lot of the people only looked at the first one and that one had the projected dates not the official ones , if you look under that you will see another file that states the score release dates and all in that one you can see that the 26 is a noon admin
 
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so I am joining this January 26th party... super excited 👍

hopefully, the difficulty in registering reflects nothing about the exam itself.

good luck to all and happy halloween🙂
 
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I was planning to take the MCAT in April, but I just got orders for Korea, and the MCAT is not offered there. I now have three and 1/2 months less than what I thought for studying. ACK! :scared: Any suggestions?
 
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Stillwaters said:
I was planning to take the MCAT in April, but I just got orders for Korea, and the MCAT is not offered there. I now have three and 1/2 months less than what I thought for studying. ACK! :scared: Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Yeah, don't stress out about it. You can do a lot between now and the next exam date, y'know.
 
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I was planning on taking it Jan. to boost my sept. score. I dont know anymore though, Jan. seems a lot closer from this side of the fall 2007 semester...I'm contemplating april 2007, while taking a easy spring load. Any takers?
 
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Food said:
I was planning on taking it Jan. to boost my sept. score. I dont know anymore though, Jan. seems a lot closer from this side of the fall 2007 semester...I'm contemplating april 2007, while taking a easy spring load. Any takers?
Click to expand...

I would def go w/ your comfort level here... If January is in your plans...it may be time to zero in on it. I guess it comes down to the dedication and time you will be able to give during next months and especially the holiday.

Good luck on your decision... the "right" call will turn out to be whichever you make 👍 :luck:
 
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1/26/08.

*Hears Die Walküre playing in the background*

Hopefully actually having registered, dropped the $210, and having the test date rapidly approaching will give me the kick in the butt necessary to put in hours every day like I was at the beginning of this semester. Stupid midterms, getting me off my game.

I'm using the EK books, AudioOsmosis, and will start working through the 1001 questions this month. How often are you guys taking full-length exams, and what strategies are you using to review your performance afterwards, and learn from your mistakes? There's a ton of good tips in the 30+ Scores thread, but few really expanded on that area and it's somewhere I need to improve my technique.
 
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Food said:
I was planning on taking it Jan. to boost my sept. score. I dont know anymore though, Jan. seems a lot closer from this side of the fall 2007 semester...I'm contemplating april 2007, while taking a easy spring load. Any takers?
Click to expand...

My current status is that I am applying this year and have taken the MCAT for the first time in Sept. I am applying to mostly TX medical schools, and have called the admissions depts and based on what they told me, if by the first few weeks, latest Dec. 31st (only for one school) that if no interview is mailed out, or contact by email or phone, then the cycle for this year is closed technically for you.

In order to have the watilist, etc, as you may know requires first an interview. On this information, taking the January, will not help those that are applying for this cycle. I will wait by December and if nothing shows up, I will hold for registering until April, hopefully. There is a chance that spots for January may be full if a response does occur, but overrall, I think April is best for me and will allow more time to recap and finish immuno and physiology and other MCAT related courses.

Best regards.
 
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lifeistough said:
... immuno and physiology and other MCAT related courses.
Click to expand...

Immuno for the 'cat? Based on the myriad of previously-used questions I've seen, kinda looks to me like the point of diminishing returns class-wise would've been somewhere around a&p or maybe straight physiology.

Good luck in April!
 
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Do you guys think EK Bio 1001 is relatively easy or too easy? Initially I was a bit discouraged, however after changing my study habits, I think that the problems aren't that challenging. I remember doing the MCAT 45 booklet, and those problems were just...🙁
 
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I'm planning on taking the test, gonna sign up as soon as finals are over this week.

My Biology is really strong since I have taken a variety of biology courses as a chemical engineer and currently at my masters program.

Physics/Chem need to be reviewed, but *hopefully* it comes back to me.

Verbal is gonna be hit or miss, hopefully it's not too bad.

Anyone have reccomendations on what diagnostic, full length test I should take? I am planning on doung a preliminary test this weekend to see where I am at and don't know any *official* tests via online sources, etc, that I can use.
 
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Jonari said:
Do you guys think EK Bio 1001 is relatively easy or too easy? Initially I was a bit discouraged, however after changing my study habits, I think that the problems aren't that challenging. I remember doing the MCAT 45 booklet, and those problems were just...🙁
Click to expand...

The purpose of the 1001 Bio book is for you to learn through working through passages and reading answer explanations. That can help reinforce the memorization of facts that you will need on the MCAT. It shouldn't be representative at all of what you'll see on the MCAT.

The MCAT 45 book is useless. Contrary to what they claim, it won't help anyone. They even recycle some of the problems from their practice exams, so when I looked at it, I recognized them and realized it would be useless for me to buy the book.
 
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SBK said:
I'm planning on taking the test, gonna sign up as soon as finals are over this week.

My Biology is really strong since I have taken a variety of biology courses as a chemical engineer and currently at my masters program.

Physics/Chem need to be reviewed, but *hopefully* it comes back to me.

Verbal is gonna be hit or miss, hopefully it's not too bad.

Anyone have reccomendations on what diagnostic, full length test I should take? I am planning on doung a preliminary test this weekend to see where I am at and don't know any *official* tests via online sources, etc, that I can use.
Click to expand...


www.e-mcat.com

That site is the official AAMC CBT exam site; you get the first test (CBT 3) for free. You should use that one as the diagnostic FL, because it offers you a nice breakdown of what you got wrong and what subject/topics they fall under.
 
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RoadRunner17 said:
The purpose of the 1001 Bio book is for you to learn through working through passages and reading answer explanations. That can help reinforce the memorization of facts that you will need on the MCAT. It shouldn't be representative at all of what you'll see on the MCAT.

The MCAT 45 book is useless. Contrary to what they claim, it won't help anyone. They even recycle some of the problems from their practice exams, so when I looked at it, I recognized them and realized it would be useless for me to buy the book.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post. Just curious, do you plan on retaking the MCAT? Would you be interested in selling your Berkley RT for Chemistry? 🙂
 
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dancermd07 said:
For those studying with EK, how has the 101 verbal passages book worked for you all?
Click to expand...

I just started using it a few months ago, kinda got lazy so I stopped in between...but my score improved from a 6 to 7 to 7 to 8 to 8 on the first five tests with no other help. The questions are definitely tough, but I think the book is very helpful based on how you use it. For me, I focused on what type of questions they asked and what to look for in the passages. As I did more and more questions, I also got used to reading the passages with increasing focus and attention to details. I have yet to do the rest of the book, but I'm hoping to only get higher scores from now on. If you want practice practice practice, this is the book to get.
 
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Well, I have officially registered to retake the MCAT on January 26th. From now until then, it's study study study...I didn't do so the first time and that's why I am retaking!
 
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Jonari said:
Thanks for the post. Just curious, do you plan on retaking the MCAT? Would you be interested in selling your Berkley RT for Chemistry? 🙂
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm not planning on retaking anytime soon. I still have my Berkeley Review books for Chem+Orgo+Physics; I haven't gotten around to putting them on for sale yet. Would prefer to sell them all at once, though. You should be able to find something on craigslist.
 
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Well, I'm getting better and better in the Verbal passages. I'm only missing a question or 2 at the most per passage, and that is usually because of stupid careless mistakes. Hope that I can sharpen my skills better. Can't wait for school to get out in a few weeks, I'll have a solid 12 weeks to study 12 hours a day. 🙂

Taking a practice MCAT tomorrow. AAMC 3.
 
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For those of you doing Kaplan,

have you noticed that the grading curve is not representative, as compared to the actual AAMC tests?

42 out of 52 would not be a 14 on the actual exam no?

I only bring this up because I remember seeing a thread a little while back where 50 out of 52 was a 12.
 
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Well, I've done 4 Kaplan FL's so far and with 40's - 42's out of 52 on sciences, the scaled scores are 12 - 14. The curve seems misleading.

To be more exact:

Bio Scaled: 12, 12, 13, 14
Bio Raw (out of 52): 42, 41, 41, 42

Physical Scaled: 14, 13, 13, 14
Physical Raw: 44, 45, 41, 42

I'm finding it difficult to believe the curves are this nice on the AAMC MCAT's. I know I know, I should just take one and find out, but I was hoping to save them until after I finished up the Kaplan FL's. Is anyone else aware of this phenomena? Should I just mix in the AAMC ones now? I think the hardest thing for me is that I make dumb mistakes and end up losing a point here or there cause I didn't read it right. A few of those on the real test with a tough curve would not be good.
 
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Yah, so I just got done with my first AAMC test (#7, chose a random one), and I have to say wow. The curve is much tougher, and a couple stupid mistakes really cost you. (13 P, 10 V, 11 B) They're def. tougher. I was clearin 38's with the Kaplan ones. Plus you have to know a lot more detail for these AAMC ones it seems, like obscure things from bio and stuff.

I find the Kaplan and EK stuff to be much easier.......just have to know concepts and everything falls into place. It seems like to score well on AAMC, you really have to know ALL THE DETAILS.

(This is a duplicate post, but i just wanted to add to the thread as it is contiguous)




Oh, and to make this post somewhat helpful........I would whole heartedly recommend taking some of the AAMC tests now, and not waiting to realize how different their "style" is compared to Kaplan's (well to anyone that has access to both!).

Good luck MCAT'ers. I'm going home for the night.
 
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Ok, I'm starting to really freak out here. We have 53/54 days until the MCAT. Where is everyone at? How is everyone doing?

I have been absolutely swamped with schoolwork. I know that its that time of year, but the pressure is on hard core and it is making it nearly impossible for me to study. Thankfully, my biochemistry class is excellent review, but that is about the only class that is.

I'm retaking (29R Aug 9 07), so I'm pretty familiar with the exam itself although I still have quite a bit of content review and I'm not underestimating the strong likelihood that I've lost some of my MCAT-taking skills.

I guess there isn't really a point to this other than to vent and to see how others are feeling. I wrap up final exams on Dec 20, and I'm very anxious to head home and put in 10hr+ days every day til the exam.

AH!

-BP
 
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Ahh I'm freaking out too! I have so much work for my classes and I don't know how much i'll be able to study for the mcats for the next 2 weeks!! I have my 10-12 hour a day study plan that starts the day after finals are over!!!!
 
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I just finished my first full-length since the actual MCAT. AAMC CBT 3 (which I know is considered to be one of the easier ones): 9PS 8VR 11BS. I'm not surprised with PS or VR... PS is my ultimate weak point, and I haven't done a verbal passage since the real thing either (got a 10). Glad I haven't totally regressed, but I have a long way to go over the next 5 weeks, ah!

I'm also PSYCHED that I took Biochem this semester... I've learned so much, and I really think it will help boost my BS... I know it was key for this CBT.

Now back to my "real" studying for finals...

-BP
 
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I think this may have been discussed elsewhere, but does anyone know the difficultly levels of each of the AAMC practice exams? I believe the earlier ones are easier and the recent ones are the hardest, but can someone please confirm this?

1 month and 10 days!
 
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From what I've read here.. I think 3 is easier, 4 and 5 are harder, then a little easier, then harder? I think the newer ones reflect more accurately the current content.

Hopefully someone can respond that has a better sense of all of them.

Happy MCAT-ing 😛

-BP
 
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