Just got back from taking the MCAT (5/11/07) - thoughts.

[deleted36260]

May 11, 2007.

BACKGROUND:
Let me first say, I took a Kaplan course that ended in April. I studied using the examkracker books and audio osmosis more than I did the kaplan books. I took AAMC 3-7 and 9-10. I took a few Kaplan FL tests.
I scored a 30-34 on my last 5 practice tests.


Now let's get on with this! AAMC 9 and 10 were GREAT examples of this real thing as far as subject matter and difficulty. Use them if you can!

Test covers a lot of genetics (nothing toooo bad), some Organic I had never seen (wtf), but overall was not horrible.

It was the easiest physics section I have had in terms of predictability of questions from the passage. That could be a matter of the studying I've been doing, but it really seemed like they were practically spelling out what I should be thinking in the passage. However, my body decided on the last two passages that I needed to hurry up and get rid of some fluid. I spent the last section shaking my leg and trying to focus ( ), so any benefit from this being an easier section to me may have been negated with said distraction.

My testing center blows! No major distractions, but horrible CRT monitors with a bad refresh rate. White flickering for 5 hours! ARRGGHH!

Those taking Kaplan and AAMC practice, I wish someone had told me this... the real thing is NOT exactly like the AAMC practice tests. There is no FIND box at the top. There's a few hot keys that are deactivated. It's not a huge deal, but it pisses me off to pay for a "realistic practice tests" from the people that make the real thing, only to find out that features aren't there. Why did they add them to the practice tests?

So, there you go

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[pauven]

i thought the physical sciences section was brutal

May 11, 2007.

BACKGROUND:
Let me first say, I took a Kaplan course that ended in April. I studied using the examkracker books and audio osmosis more than I did the kaplan books. I took AAMC 3-7 and 9-10. I took a few Kaplan FL tests.
I scored a 30-34 on my last 5 practice tests.


Now let's get on with this! AAMC 9 and 10 were GREAT examples of this real thing as far as subject matter and difficulty. Use them if you can!

Test covers a lot of genetics (nothing toooo bad), some Organic I had never seen (wtf), but overall was not horrible.

It was the easiest physics section I have had in terms of predictability of questions from the passage. That could be a matter of the studying I've been doing, but it really seemed like they were practically spelling out what I should be thinking in the passage. However, my body decided on the last two passages that I needed to hurry up and get rid of some fluid. I spent the last section shaking my leg and trying to focus ( ), so any benefit from this being an easier section to me may have been negated with said distraction.

My testing center blows! No major distractions, but horrible CRT monitors with a bad refresh rate. White flickering for 5 hours! ARRGGHH!

Those taking Kaplan and AAMC practice, I wish someone had told me this... the real thing is NOT exactly like the AAMC practice tests. There is no FIND box at the top. There's a few hot keys that are deactivated. It's not a huge deal, but it pisses me off to pay for a "realistic practice tests" from the people that make the real thing, only to find out that features aren't there. Why did they add them to the practice tests?

So, there you go

 

[vicinihil]

I had similar thoughts when I took them back in Aug...the "real" tests weren't very "real" when you were taking the REAL one. Mine was also genetics and microbio heavy and physio light while the physical science was genchem heavy and physics light. Verbal was brutual perusual so I'm taking them again.

 

[ATP Synthase]

I had similar thoughts when I took them back in Aug...the "real" tests weren't very "real" when you were taking the REAL one. Mine was also genetics and microbio heavy and physio light while the physical science was genchem heavy and physics light. Verbal was brutual perusual so I'm taking them again.

Some people say that the verbal was easier, but I found it to be harder than the practice because it was much longer....or maybe it was just because I felt that I had to throw up during the verbal section

 

[deleted36260]

Some people say that the verbal was easier, but I found it to be harder than the practice because it was much longer....or maybe it was just because I felt that I had to throw up during the verbal section

I've typically finished the VR section with 15-20 minutes to spare and constantly get 11-12 on it.

Today I finished it with 3 minutes left. Either that's really good, or really bad. We'll see

 

[ATP Synthase]

I've typically finished the VR section with 15-20 minutes to spare and constantly get 11-12 on it.

Today I finished it with 3 minutes left. Either that's really good, or really bad. We'll see

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lizard06]

As soon as I walked out of the exam today I realized that I had never hit the "save" button during the writing sections. Can someone pleeeese tell me that it saves automatically at the end of the section? Pleeeease

 

[Shilpa1125]

I agree, I thought the physical sciences were the worst I've ever taken. However, I thought the VR was one of the easiest and the Bio pretty much right on.

Glad it's done. But I'm thinking I may need to take MCAT round 2 later this summer

And yes, I'm pretty sure it saves at the end. I ran out of time on one and it wouldn't let me hit save, so I'm assuming it saves for you.

 

[inside_edition]

I agree, I thought the physical sciences were the worst I've ever taken. However, I thought the VR was one of the easiest and the Bio pretty much right on.

Glad it's done. But I'm thinking I may need to take MCAT round 2 later this summer

And yes, I'm pretty sure it saves at the end. I ran out of time on one and it wouldn't let me hit save, so I'm assuming it saves for you.

why does your name sound hot?

 

[Shilpa1125]

Haha, I have to say, that was the BEST possible response to my comment

 

[inside_edition]

Haha, I have to say, that was the BEST possible response to my comment

lol, shilpa is among the hotter indian names.

 

[134317]

Do we get to see a full score report like the AAMC practices? I'm curious about the capacitor questions (do the currents and voltages charge/discharge in a straight line, or do they level off?).

 

[inside_edition]

Do we get to see a full score report like the AAMC practices? I'm curious about the capacitor questions (do the currents and voltages charge/discharge in a straight line, or do they level off?).

i think capacitors use exponential equations(i think). i'm retaking the mcats and that's all i remember from 1 year ago.

 

[nateholman]

I thought the test was pretty friggin hard. The VR kicked my trash! PS was easy and BS was hard as well. I guess VR is always ambiguous and it is hard to tell, but I felt like I guessed on about 1/2. Hoping for a score of 9.

 

[134317]

i think capacitors use exponential equations(i think). i'm retaking the mcats and that's all i remember from 1 year ago.

I just looked it up; they do.

I didn't think we had to know this (Kaplan ), so I just thought of blinking lights, and how they blink on and off "softly" and how they have an upper limit of brightness. Or maybe they behave like this because of some A/C business. Whatever.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/capdis.html

 

[Foghorn]

Do we get to see a full score report like the AAMC practices? I'm curious about the capacitor questions (do the currents and voltages charge/discharge in a straight line, or do they level off?).

Capacitors charging and discharging are exponential processes. Since capacitance = total charge/voltage.....you can figure out the rest.

current (I) = charge/time.

I just looked it up; they do.

I didn't think we had to know this (Kaplan ), so I just thought of blinking lights, and how they blink on and off "softly" and how they have an upper limit of brightness. Or maybe they behave like this because of some A/C business. Whatever.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/capdis.html

Berkeley Review FTW!

 

[inside_edition]

I just looked it up; they do.

I didn't think we had to know this (Kaplan ), so I just thought of blinking lights, and how they blink on and off "softly" and how they have an upper limit of brightness. Or maybe they behave like this because of some A/C business. Whatever.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/capdis.html

i'm able to visualize the graph of a capacitator based on the fact that electricity uses electrons and electrons repel each other. therefore it must be hard to pack in more electrons(current) and packing them in harder increases voltage because they are repelled harder.

that's the way i think things in the PS although everything i wrote above might not be entirely scientifically correct.

edit: i'm still using what i learned in high school physics because i learned it really well then.

 

[134317]

what's "FTW"?

 

[Foghorn]

what's "FTW"?

FTW = For the win

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

 

[soccerpunk60]

i thought it all was kinda hard. i had a real hard time with verbal. bio was probably the best outta all of them..

 

[deleted36260]

As soon as I walked out of the exam today I realized that I had never hit the "save" button during the writing sections. Can someone pleeeese tell me that it saves automatically at the end of the section? Pleeeease

OH SHI!!!

Me too I hope that's nothing! I can't imagine them not having it submit what is there upon ending the section!

 

[deleted36260]

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what?

 

[CATallergy]

what?

!win the for

can't you read backwards?

 

[Swiperfox]

The test tutorial said it automatically saves when you go between passages, so that hitting save is superfluous should the computer not crash on you

 

[Kraazy]

OH SHI!!!

Me too I hope that's nothing! I can't imagine them not having it submit what is there upon ending the section!

Saves automatically, no worries! And congrats!!!

 

[viciouz]

Damn... there's two threads on this...O well... I'll post in both =)

PS- Hard, only because there were too many calculations... I didn't even finish on time

V- Eh, I don't know. I suck at it anyways

BS- Ok, just had to sort through some dense passages.

 

[einkec]

I have to say AAMC test 9 or 10 are not a good representation of the real MCAT. They are at a lower difficulty level compared to todays test!!!

 

[Kraazy]

My testing center blows! No major distractions, but horrible CRT monitors with a bad refresh rate. White flickering for 5 hours! ARRGGHH!

I second that! I got used to the nice LCDs in the comp center and on my laptop, and those CRTs sucked!

Those taking Kaplan and AAMC practice, I wish someone had told me this... the real thing is NOT exactly like the AAMC practice tests. There is no FIND box at the top. There's a few hot keys that are deactivated. It's not a huge deal, but it pisses me off to pay for a "realistic practice tests" from the people that make the real thing, only to find out that features aren't there. Why did they add them to the practice tests?

Yeah, I also didn't like that you couldn't move the middle line beween the passage and the questions, esp. since some of the figures on my test were too wide.

Overall this day went OK; I don't think I did my best, but I don't think I did horrible either. I was much more nervous than on the practice tests and I ended up marking more questions than I usually do and feeling rushed for time on every section. For some reasons I had a ****load of orgo with insane-looking structures, and not as much physio and genetics as I was expecting. And verbal was decidedly brutal.

By the way, I would recommend to anyone taking the MCAT soon to check out your testing center before test day. I decided that it would be good enough to print out directions and a map since I was using public transportation and the testing center was apparently close to a subway stop. Except that 10mn after walking out of the station I realized I was not at all where I thought I was, and going in the wrong direction. I had given myself plenty of leeway time and made it to the testing center with time to spare, but NOT the kind of adrenaline rush you want before the MCAT.

 

[badasshairday]

Kraazy, I had the same test form as you by the way you described it. Bio had way more orgo(those crazy structures with chemsit 1 2 3 and 4) and cell bio/molecular genetics then ever. There was ZERO physio passages, only a few discretes on it.

Physics was nasty, the AAMC practice tests felt like there was barely and calculations but the real one today had much more calculations. It felt like it was an intermediate between the Kaplan PS and AAMC practice test PS. The second PS passage was gross. I felt like they just gave too many annoying numbers and units to play with on the PS.

Surprisingly for me I felt that I forcused really well on the VR. VR has always been my weakest point but today I feel satisfied on my performance on it.

Also another unexpected twist to my MCAT story is that I do not feel satisfied on my sciences which is totally messed up. Blah, I hope everything works out. I was scoring 12 PS and 13 BS most of the time on practice tests but today I feel like my performance wasn't my best. My VR was what usually kept my score lower than I wanted but I realized if I focus and finish the whole thing I do decently. VR was definately loong, thank goodness for RED BULL.

 

[Inuranic]

I second that! I got used to the nice LCDs in the comp center and on my laptop, and those CRTs sucked!



Yeah, I also didn't like that you couldn't move the middle line beween the passage and the questions, esp. since some of the figures on my test were too wide.

Overall this day went OK; I don't think I did my best, but I don't think I did horrible either. I was much more nervous than on the practice tests and I ended up marking more questions than I usually do and feeling rushed for time on every section. For some reasons I had a ****load of orgo with insane-looking structures, and not as much physio and genetics as I was expecting. And verbal was decidedly brutal.

By the way, I would recommend to anyone taking the MCAT soon to check out your testing center before test day. I decided that it would be good enough to print out directions and a map since I was using public transportation and the testing center was apparently close to a subway stop. Except that 10mn after walking out of the station I realized I was not at all where I thought I was, and going in the wrong direction. I had given myself plenty of leeway time and made it to the testing center with time to spare, but NOT the kind of adrenaline rush you want before the MCAT.

Yeah, I had the WORST time getting to my test center. There were thunderstorms with heavy rain on the drive down, I got completely lost trying to find the testing center (took a cop and a kid who barely spoke English to get me there), and I backed into a wooden sign.

Let's just say I'm glad I didn't drink any coffee for a few hours before the test. I had enough adrenaline to get me through the day.

 

[IzzyMarieDMD]

I have to say AAMC test 9 or 10 are not a good representation of the real MCAT. They are at a lower difficulty level compared to todays test!!!

I completely agree. The real Physical science section was harder than any practice I have seen. Bio was tricky. Verbal was not too bad though...

 

[bunnylove]

I was not as ready as I wanted to be for this test, plus something had happened the day before, so I have been unfocused. I had really thought about not even taking the exam because I have been so upset about it.

PS: yuck. i agree TOOOO many calculations.

VS: ehhhhh. i'm really bad at it and in practice I would only usually get through half of them. They were okay. Guessed on the last two passages.

BS: ewwww. This is usually my most favorite section, but today it was horrible. what's all this about fungi? definitely did not study much about them.

Not feeling very confident. i am going to start studying for the next one!

The girl next to me had this horrible, loud, manly cough! She coughed non-stop! I could hear her through the headphones. It really messed with my concentration.

I hope there is a big curve.

 

[devlyyn]

I felt this was a difficult test overall compared to the CBT tests I took (3, 7-10). I came out of the PS feeling ok, but I still marked wayyy more than I did for the practice tests. VR felt difficult, like alot of inferences being made on what the author would have thought about something. BS took a long time, I almost couldnt finish! It just seemed like a few of the passages were really difficult to understand that I used up so much time. I especially remember one about cancer and genetics that really threw me for a loop. Overall I felt like I was unsure on alot more than usual so I could have done very well, or very poor.

 

[korpifp2831]

I thought that the physical sciences was really really hard! Verbal was decent, and the Biological was real easy. I've been averaging a 30+ but i thought the physical sciences was hard as hell. . . i'm really worried about that, what you guys think, it worried me alot. . .

 

[badasshairday]

I hope there is a big curve.

I hope so!

 

[desidon]

Me too! I just hope today was the first and last time that i had to take it!
JUST GLAD ITS ALL OVER! now i just have to deal with finals...

 

[badasshairday]

JUST GLAD ITS ALL OVER! now i just have to deal with finals...

haha me too. when are you finals? I have my finals on wednesday and thursday.

 

[Flyingpolish]

When I went to review a passage in the VR I found that all my highlights had disappeared... I needed to speed read the passage AGAIN because I only had a few minutes left to go over the questions I had issues with. Did anyone else find this to be the case? If so, WTF? why doesn't it save what you've highlighted?!?!?!?!!?!

 

[govhonors]

When I went to review a passage in the VR I found that all my highlights had disappeared... I needed to speed read the passage AGAIN because I only had a few minutes left to go over the questions I had issues with. Did anyone else find this to be the case? If so, WTF? why doesn't it save what you've highlighted?!?!?!?!!?!

yeah, it was like that on the AAMC practice tests as well...sucks, huh? lol i HATE verbal!!

hey, is it just me, or does it seem like everyone had the same test??? i know everyone at my center had the same test, and it seems like everyone on here did too! hmmmm

 

[mvenus929]

By the way, I would recommend to anyone taking the MCAT soon to check out your testing center before test day. I decided that it would be good enough to print out directions and a map since I was using public transportation and the testing center was apparently close to a subway stop. Except that 10mn after walking out of the station I realized I was not at all where I thought I was, and going in the wrong direction. I had given myself plenty of leeway time and made it to the testing center with time to spare, but NOT the kind of adrenaline rush you want before the MCAT.

I second that. Mapquest told me it was something like 3 blocks away from where it really was, and it was nice and hidden behind one of the bluffs around here. Luckily I planned a half hour leeway. Then once I got inside the building, I got so lost, because they didn't mark all the numbers on the doors. Managed to get in there on time, though. Just had to sit around for 15 minutes waiting for the people that showed up before me to finish checking in.

 

[AyCaramba]

I agree that PS was difficult; I had to flat out guess on a couple just to finish on time. This test was definitely harder than the AAMC practice ones I took (8 and 10). The writing prompts were actually kind of fun though... I had never done one to practice, just looked over some samples. I like writing though, I guess it was a good way to relieve stress during the test. The test as a whole was also really tiring... by the end of the test I was just like "screw this".

 

[credfield]

I agree with everyone else about the physics part. I normal finish with at least 10 mins left but I just barely had enough time to get it done. The other two sections went ok. I had to wait over an hour once I got to the testing center for everyone else to check in..... it drove me crazy.

 

[tfogarty]

I was certainly not 100% prepared and physical sciences was my worst subject, but this test was extremely easy compared to my previous practice tests (Kaplan/AAMC)... Perhaps I just feel that way because I was in the zone for the whole test and completed everything on time, but I really think the physics section was very light, gen chem was moderate, bio was a joke, and verbal was typical (although the passages were much easier than usual)... I hope this one turns out well, because I dont think i'll get this lucky again on the physical sciences section!

Unfortunately, easy test means higher 'curve'...

Hope everyone did great! I'm glad its over.

 

[ATP Synthase]

what?

Finishing 20-30 mins early??? I must really read slow then!!!

 

[ATP Synthase]

!win the for

can't you read backwards?

lol!

 

[desidon]

When I went to review a passage in the VR I found that all my highlights had disappeared... I needed to speed read the passage AGAIN because I only had a few minutes left to go over the questions I had issues with. Did anyone else find this to be the case? If so, WTF? why doesn't it save what you've highlighted?!?!?!?!!?!

Yep! happened to me in bio.. i read tht genetics passage, highlihted, found it too hard,,, and decided to come back to it later... I had abt 6 mins left and all highlighting was gone... and the passage was insanely complicated! can we even report this?

 

[desidon]

haha me too. when are you finals? I have my finals on wednesday and thursday.

I got one tomorrow, another on Monday, and then Wednesday haha... but i am not too worried... just glad tht MCAT is over... and now almost summer!!! yay!

 

[mtlove]

Yep! happened to me in bio.. i read tht genetics passage, highlihted, found it too hard,,, and decided to come back to it later... I had abt 6 mins left and all highlighting was gone... and the passage was insanely complicated! can we even report this?

The tutorial says that you can highlight, but it is erased when you move on.