Obsessing over things you go wrong after the test

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student113

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I know it's useless but it's hard to stop!

I have read the threads that say the post-test "feelings" are poor predictors of the score. However, instead of a general feeling of uncertainty, what about cases where you realize you made a few really stupid mistakes and are certain you got those wrong?

Is this usually reflected in the score? I wish I could just trust the curve will make it alright.
 
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One or two errors differentiate the 35+ scores but otherwise you are looking at a small change of 1 point TOPS in any.
 
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Sniper187 said:
One or two errors differentiate the 35+ scores but otherwise you are looking at a small change of 1 point TOPS in any.
Click to expand...

There is nothing you can really do about it is there. For example, after finishing the PS section, I got the last two discretes wrong because I ran out of time, meaning I guessed. When the your time has ended prompt came up, you can still see the questions, so I solved them, figured out the answer, and saw that I had picked the wrong one. I can figure out the difference it made.

On my MCAT I got VR10, PS08, BS10. Those two questions could have very well made a difference between a 30 and a 28. Had I got the 30, I probably would not be retaking, but now I definitely have to. So that feeling you are talking about does suck, all I can say is know that there is nothing you can possibly do to change the situation, so just move forward.
 
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Hopanoid said:
There is nothing you can really do about it is there. For example, after finishing the PS section, I got the last two discretes wrong because I ran out of time, meaning I guessed. When the your time has ended prompt came up, you can still see the questions, so I solved them, figured out the answer, and saw that I had picked the wrong one. I can figure out the difference it made.

On my MCAT I got VR10, PS08, BS10. Those two questions could have very well made a difference between a 30 and a 28. Had I got the 30, I probably would not be retaking, but now I definitely have to. So that feeling you are talking about does suck, all I can say is know that there is nothing you can possibly do to change the situation, so just move forward.
Click to expand...

I think the difference between a 8 and a 10 is more than 2 questions...
 
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Yeah, this always happens to me in tests, and MCAT was no exception. As soon as I got home I googled everything I could remember that I wasn't sure about. But then, when you leave, you only remember the things that stuck out because you weren't sure about them. Focus on all the stuff you know you did right!
 
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One thing you have to remember is that some of those q's you get wrong could end up being experimental.
 
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ratatat said:
One thing you have to remember is that some of those q's you get wrong could end up being experimental.
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They only do experimental passages. I don't think they have any "experimental" discretes.
 
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isn't the mcat scores by how many you get "correct" which means you don't get penalized by how many you got wrong which is why guessing compared to leaving q's blank is good on the mcat? (compared to the SATs)
 
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student113 said:
I know it's useless but it's hard to stop!

I have read the threads that say the post-test "feelings" are poor predictors of the score. However, instead of a general feeling of uncertainty, what about cases where you realize you made a few really stupid mistakes and are certain you got those wrong?

Is this usually reflected in the score? I wish I could just trust the curve will make it alright.
Click to expand...

No one ever knows if the questions they "were certain to have gotten wrong" were reflected in the score because you don't receive score sheets like the aamc practice tests, so no one has any legitimate idea what they got right or wrong.

And fussing over have beens with tests: do you still dwell over your first time or your first girl? Get over it, its water under the bridge, you did your best and move on.
 
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Oh man, I'm doing the same. My boyfriend and I took the same one and I keep on talking about it and we noticed the stupid things I got wrong were the ones he got right and his stupid ones were the ones I got right and it's just insane! I just wish they gave the scores out in a week rather than 4!

I guess the best thing is to do is just think that the curve helps you out and that sometimes those 2-3 questions rarely count unless you're striving for that 35+!


Just a question though, how would you know if something is experimental? Especially in Verbal...I skipped a whole passage in the middle accidentally and it was only when I had 3 minutes left and I checked the Review page that I noticed! 😱 So I was wondering if it's just speculation that you guys are doing.
 
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Have you guys ever thought of this? What if the passage that turns out to be the experimental one is the one that u did really well and the one you did horrible on is that one that counts? I just hope that's not gonna be my case. I know I shouldn't do this, but I just get the test off my mind. 🙁
 
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This issue has been brought up many times about experimentals and I still don't see the AAMC's reasoning behind it. You're putting brainpower into things you think are important, which wastes it when you need it. I mean, my argument is kind of weak, cause you still have the same time and whatnot, but its still right. You're using your brain for something not worth it
 
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so... during the exam, AAMC puts in questions that don't count as experiments to see how the public views them (too easy, too hard, not relevant, or just plain messed up!! lol) in order to see if they want to use them on future exams.

These questions do NOT get graded, meaning the PS section for example may really be out of 49 if there are say 3 experimental questions. So its not out of 52 anymore...

meanwhile for those three questions (which in a section like verbal make a BIG difference, go from 15 to 12 from just 3 questions) you use brainpower and time, even though the outcome from the question does not affect your score, other than that it takes time and energy away from ones that do.
 
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Doodl3s said:
This issue has been brought up many times about experimentals and I still don't see the AAMC's reasoning behind it. You're putting brainpower into things you think are important, which wastes it when you need it. I mean, my argument is kind of weak, cause you still have the same time and whatnot, but its still right. You're using your brain for something not worth it
Click to expand...

Psychometric Opportunism.
 
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So for the experimental, would they just take away those questions and your score is out of say 46 instead of 52, or do they add those six points to your total score?
Taking the time to answer something difficult would lower the score on the other sections by taking up time, so just taking away those question pts. seems a bit unfair to me.
 
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I feel like questions/passages are experimental when there are two very identical passages in the same section. IE two titration passages, one being normal and the other being very hard. It would lead one to believe that one is experimental. At least thats hwo I felt.
 
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