May 2014 MCATers United

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TheAnonymous

TheAnonymous

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All 2014 MCATers, please unite!

Regardless of when in May you are planning to take the MCAT, let's all join this thread to keep each other informed about our progress, motivate each other, share FL scores, and to answer each other's questions.
 
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dutchie000 said:
Yeah that passage was out of this world.... I HOPE that was the trial one bc I was seriously like F it, not going to bother wasting my time. And I'm the same way guys the more I think about it the more I'm like am I even gonna get to apply this year? 🙁 I keep remembering all those dang questions and the ones I was unsure of. I specifically remember two concepts, one from gen chem and one from bio, that were so specific but I hadn't bothered to review. One of the bio ones was both in a discrete and in a passage so maybe you guys will know what I'm talking about, same with gen chem actually.
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I know right? The whole reason I took the MCAT in May was to get ahead of the group of crowd that take the MCAT and apply during August/September. I guess I am going to be joining that crowd too now.
 
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uvrsol said:
if you don't mind me asking, what was very difficult about verbal?(not asking for any specific info from exam)... was it not like aamc FLs?
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Well I think the topics for one were very boring. I didn't have not one interesting topic..and one in particular was about rocket science ( not really but in comparison). And, the answer choices were confusing. I just remember almost running out of time so I didn't get to check and make sure I had answered all of them and checked my answers. I'm with him, lol I hope that whole section was the experimental.
 
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JazD said:
Well I think the topics for one were very boring. I didn't have not one interesting topic..and one in particular was about rocket science ( it wasn't actually it's sarcasm). And, the answer choices were confusing. I just remember almost running out of time so I didn't get to check and make sure I had answered all of them and checked my answers. I'm with him, lol I hope that whole section was the experimental.
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i finally found someone to agree with...
 
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Uniqueusername814 said:
Honestly. I may purchase the Berkeley Review Books just for physics. The bio ones were super detailed but I think i need that for physics. And after that exam I'm well aware of what I need to study for bio. Ill work on getting more comfortable with verbal as well. I'm probably going to have to take a break from practice exams and try and find some problem sets from physics classes.


I thought I'd feel better today definitely feel worse. I have a pounding headache and I keep going thru the questions I can remember and trying to figure out why I put the wrong answer. Im gonna chill foe the next few days...clean and organize my stuff and then start over.... I guess... nothing else I can do.
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Berkley Review would have helped you TREMENDOUSLY. I seen a good 5 discretes that were from BR verbatim. And I seen some passage based "tricks" they warn you about as well. But, I wasn't able to master all of the topics and some of those very ones were on my test. I remember one question in particular that I knew from BR but couldn't remember the answer so I tried my best to think my way thru it. I didn't want to check my answers either because it would be torture to see if I got them wrong so I'll just wait for my score.
What helped me in bio was EK..I was thoroughly prepared for any topic in bio. The mcat guide essentials book with the 7 bio passages helped to nail down the thinking pattern mixed with the content.
I was soooooo glad I didn't have a orgo heavy test. I had prayed for this lol. BR orgo is very rigorous and I felt like it was doing more harm than good. I was ok in orgo but the way they taught it makes you feel like you haven't learned a single got damn thing. So I abandoned orgo altogether and it actually didn't hurt much. Because even the orgo passage didn't require orgo at all to answer the questions.
 
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uvrsol said:
if you don't mind me asking, what was very difficult about verbal?(not asking for any specific info from exam)... was it not like aamc FLs?
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How do you usually do on verbal? I usually get between 8-10 which is meh, but I actually disagree and thought it was on par if not easier with AAMC practice. Maybe because there was a passage on a subject I'm very passionate about. I'm hoping since I felt ok about verbal that it could offset a potential disastrous score in PS.

I PERSONALLY am terrible at the stupid questions that list 3 options and you have to say 1, 2, 1 and 2, 2 and 3. Those drive me NUTS. They appear all over the place in all the AAMC practice tests.

My plan: Buy Chad's videos again, do a day each day and then use TPRH/EK1001 discretes after watching the videos to engrain the content into my physics/gen chem illiterate brain, then the next day do a few passages on the topic I went over the day before. Then do another day of videos and TPRH/EK1001 discretes, repeat until I'm done with that for physics and gen chem. A few verbal passages every day. I will just do passages from bio and discretes on genetics and read through the AAMC outline to see if there is anything I am unfamiliar with. Once I'm done with reviewing with passages and discretes I will strictly do practice tests and review them like they are my life. Then after doing a few secondary ones I will alternate with AAMC tests. Hopefully that strategy will work.
 
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TheAnonymous said:
i finally found someone to agree with...
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I'm starting to think they may have had different verbals man..because the one I had was awful. I did all the 101 Kaplan verbal tests, all of the aamc's, and some of Kaplan's FL's and not one of these passages came close to what I seen yesterday. They weren't longer either, I realized it is the font and the size of the page that makes it seem like the passages are longer. But, they break the passages into so many different paragraphs and it threw me off, vs having the same lengthy passage with just 3-4 paragraphs they had about 5-7 paragraphs. And each paragraph had it's own main argument. So it was like I had to register a lot more info. Then the questions..they were all kinds of crazy. NONE of the normal "What is the authors view on ___?" or "What is the main theme of the passage?" or even the "Which one of these statements if true would most STRENGTHEN the main theme of the argument?" All I got was a bunch of gibberish. And yes, I hate those "only I, only III, or I,II, and III questions". Especially in a convuluted passage.
 
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And I had a lot of time left in bio..so with that being said along with feelin like it being on the easier side, Idk how to feel. The passages weren't too bad, but there was one that I had to really try harder to comprehend. I spent about 15 mins on that one passage, thank God for the passages I cruised through in under 5 mins for allowing me to do so. So now I'm feeling like the scoring of bio might not be on the lenient side so I hope I didn't get too many wrong.
 
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bonnie12 said:
So... when can we sign up for another test? I was not happy at all with my performance yesterday. I was averaging around a 32, but I am thinking I got sub 30. I definitely got a few easy bio questions wrong and the PS was difficult. I feel like I guessed on way too many questions.
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In 24 hours I think.
 
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JazD said:
Well I think the topics for one were very boring. I didn't have not one interesting topic..and one in particular was about rocket science ( not really but in comparison). And, the answer choices were confusing. I just remember almost running out of time so I didn't get to check and make sure I had answered all of them and checked my answers. I'm with him, lol I hope that whole section was the experimental.
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Did you do kaplan Sectional verbal tests? How were they compared to real deal? I've been doing them and some of those pssges are incredibly boring and dull to read.
 
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uvrsol said:
Did you do kaplan Sectional verbal tests? How were they compared to real deal? I've been doing them and some of those pssges are incredibly boring and dull to read.
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From Kaplan's verbal book or Kaplan's FL's VR? I didn't do the ones from the book. I did EK's 101 instead. Kaplan's FL VR is way easier than the MCAT. Topic wise, question stem and length of the passages are easier than the real deal. EK 101 was good practice. Thought the real thing would be similar. But the VR on my test was obviously pulled from the sky somewhere.
 
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JazD said:
From Kaplan's verbal book or Kaplan's FL's VR? I didn't do the ones from the book. I did EK's 101 instead. Kaplan's FL VR is way easier than the MCAT. Topic wise, question stem and length of the passages are easier than the real deal. EK 101 was good practice. Thought the real thing would be similar. But the VR on my test was obviously pulled from the sky somewhere.
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I'm talking about the ones online (13 of them)
 
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Glad to see I'm not the only one who seriously struggled with the PS section... Brutal. I was pretty confident about the other sections. I too will be registering for another exam soon.
 
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Honestly every day that goes by I feel like I've done worse and worse... Predicted score right now 9/9/13. Tomorrow it will probably be 9/9/12 and so on. This 30 day wait is brutal.

And Ive never gotten less then double digits in physical on the practice exams so that's how disappointed I am with my physical science performance on the exam
 
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Never mind.
 

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bonnie12 said:
I actively try not to think about the test because I keep realizing I made dumb mistakes. Only have to wait until July 1st...
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Me neither. I'll be preoccupied this entire month with shadowing and volunteering. I was tempted to check some of my answers but I opted out of furthering the torture of my soul. July 1st is when the Dark Knight Rises, so I hope.
 
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For everyone who is retaking, when are you thinking of retaking? I took the May 22 exam, and I signed up for a retake August 21. I'm not applying this cycle, and I haven't yet started restudying. I might start with some light verbal this week, but it's so hard to be motivated having no clue how I did, just knowing that I didn't feel great about it. I ordered TPRH online (used Kaplan previously), and I should have them later this week. Has anyone had any success with them? I know BR is really good for physics, but I honestly felt like content knowledge wasn't a huge problem on the exam (sans 1 orgo passage); it was just STRESS and PANIC.
 
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dutchie000 said:
I took AAMC 11 a few days before and didn't even think the PS was nearly as difficult than the real thing 🙁 your friend must be a genius...
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Well he was averaging 38 so I wouldn't be surprised if he scored somewhere along there....if only I could say the same about myself 🙁 find out June 10th
 
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23premes said:
Well he was averaging 38 so I wouldn't be surprised if he scored somewhere along there....if only I could say the same about myself 🙁 find out June 10th
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Man we got this. Don't even stress about it. There's no point. Nothing you can do now. We can all come on here June 10th and celebrate together or b*tch together. Either way it'll be all good.
We will be doctors someday.
 
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How's Monday shaping up for you all? I was going to take GS-3 this past wkend and I got so depressed with you all, i just said eff it. I will take it tonite though. But I spent most of my time with the Topicals and have almost knocked them out. I started going through OChem book 1 of TBR (revising as I have already done it), but was surprised to see how many things I have already forgotten. I feel like I've been caught perpetually in this cycle of read, forget, read, forget and there is no way out. So a part of me thinks, if my date was next week(it 07/02), i would just give this thing and hope for the best......
 
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TheAnonymous said:
What's up guys?
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Hey buddy!
Looks like sign ups are available again. Have you thought it out? What is your new plan now?
Im trying to set up an effective schedule for another 2.5 months (Aug 21). I am not trying to apply this cycle anyway
... any ideas on what to focus on after that incident on the 31st 😛 aha?
 
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Dreams01 said:
Hey buddy!
Looks like sign ups are available again. Have you thought it out? What is your new plan now?
Im trying to set up an effective schedule for another 2.5 months (Aug 21). I am not trying to apply this cycle anyway
... any ideas on what to focus on after that incident on the 31st 😛 aha?
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Unfortunately there are no spots available in July/August right now so I have to wait...

I will probably spend the next week or two getting started on my personal statement and the other parts of the application - I will also probably start doing 1-2 verbal passages a day and light content review just to keep everything fresh until I settle with my new job and get back to the schedule...

Do as many practice questions as you can !
 
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DenTony11235 said:
Can I retake the mcat before I get my scores? I'd be willing to retake like next week
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can, yes. Should? probably not. What id you did way better than you thought and do worse on the second one? I'd register for a second exam shortly after your results would be out, study like you're taking it, and if your results are better than you thought, cancel the second test and be happy.

I mean if you know you didn't answer half the questions or something I guess that would be different...
 
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Guys I don't know what to do. I know I didn't do well so I want to sign up for a retake, but I was also accepted to a post bac program that offers a MCAT prep course that starts in August... I'm wondering if it would just be worth it to take the exam after/during the post bac program -_- since I'm going to have to go that route anyway now. Any opinions?

Either way I'll continue to study but I'm just wondering if I should wait that long...
 
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Uniqueusername814 said:
Guys I don't know what to do. I know I didn't do well so I want to sign up for a retake, but I was also accepted to a post bac program that offers a MCAT prep course that starts in August... I'm wondering if it would just be worth it to take the exam after/during the post bac program -_- since I'm going to have to go that route anyway now. Any opinions?

Either way I'll continue to study but I'm just wondering if I should wait that long...
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Maybe just do some light prep and wait for your scores. It won't be that long and then you can make an informed decision.
 
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Every day brings to mind another question I got wrong on the BS section...this wait is brutal. July 2 can't come soon enough so I can be put out of my misery.
 
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Hey guys What do you guys predict is your lowest possible score and highest possible score after taking the May 31st MCAT? I think it will be cool to see what we predicted and what we actually got.

Predicted lowest : 9/9/12

Predicted highest: 11/11/14
 
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TresselforPresident said:
Man I thought the AAMC 10/11 were a joke compared to this one. This 30 day wait is all kinds of wrong
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Definitely. I had a dream last night that I was able to start with the bio section and it went well until the last three questions where I ran out of time but then when I tried to start the P.S. section that screen about scoring came up. But it wouldn let me void. So I had to score the exam -_- nightmares about this arent fun especially when I already know I didn't do well.
 
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The quiet one. said:
Hey guys What do you guys predict is your lowest possible score and highest possible score after taking the May 31st MCAT? I think it will be cool to see what we predicted and what we actually got.

Predicted lowest : 9/9/12

Predicted highest: 11/11/14
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Jeez I don't even know. I predict my highest section to be verbal and lowest PS. If that switches up somehow id be surprised
 
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