Official 5/19/2012 MCAT thread

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I figured since it seems there is a thread for all the other recent and upcoming test dates, I'd start one for us 5/19ers.

Two weeks to go, getting close.
 
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For my fellow 5/19-ers, what did you all think of the test today?

I thought the PS was okay, maybe a little tougher than normal but mainly because it didn't play as much to my strength which is physics.

VR- more ambiguous than I was used to. This has generally been a strength as I've scored between 12-14 on most practice tests but I don't know about this one.

BR- this is my weakest section but even then I thought this was difficult. The passages weren't too crazy but the discretes were much more difficult. I'm worried they torpedoed my score.

Practice test averages:
PS11/13/11 ~35

Prediction from today:
10/11/10 - 31
 
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I'm sorry but that exam was absolutely ridiculous...no amount of practice exams could have prepared me for that.

PS- aside from one completely obscure physics passage I thought overall this wasn't too bad of a section except for a couple of questions.

VR- extremely long passages, but made up for it with pretty straight forward questions and answers ...feel more comfortable with this than on the aamc practice exams.

BS- W.T.F. Apart from the extremely specific orgo questions...1-2 of the bio passages were probably the hardest passages (even worse than ebola on aamc11). One of them in particular was not only full of obscure concepts, but I the questions were literally just as obscure.

I averaged about 33 on the aamc practice exams, I'm just hoping the scale for my version is good...****ing bio section...
 
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HOLY CRAP!!!! That test was RIDICULOUSLY tough. The VR was very ambiguous, the PS wasn't that bad for the most part (though, I screwed up on one gimme and I'm cursing myself for it). The BS was just ridiculous. I don't even know what a few of the passages were talking about.
 
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Ya....

-Physics was a bit tough
-Verbal was pretty straight forward
-Bio was really ****ing hard.
 
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Umm the BS is so much tougher than any AAMC, GS, or TPR FL. It was mostly inferences from recent published research. One of the passages was from an article published in 2011. Read more research papers people!
 
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PS was pretty tough but not terrible. I thought VR was ok too, but man that bio section was killer! Are the scales on the real thing just like the scales on AAMC or are they generally better? Does anyone know?
 
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Chem Heavy on Physics. Threw me for a loop because it is my weakest section. Finished though and felt well about a good portion

Verbal I felt good about. Except for the last one which had some tricky ones

Bio- WTF. Seriously Two passages I had to reread twice just to answer the questions and I do not even know if that was worth it because I am not sure if I did it right. I could have done two passages the same if I knew nothing about Bio cause it was all reading comprehension and very little content. I missed a gimme discrete at the end because I didnt have enough time.

I am on waitlists at Texas Tech and UTSW. I am hoping I get off the wait list because if this MCAT score comes to matter it might have torpedoed any chance I have.

Prior MCAT score =30

Practice AAMC test averages 33

What I felt like = 22 P-10 V-12 B-0
 
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I was crunched for time during VR, that has never happened before.. Still got it done but missed an easy question at the end of it... dang it.
Feeling a little relieved that you all think the same as I do about the Bio section... That was rough.
PS- not bad at all
let the wait begin......
 
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that BS section was so much tougher.
 
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I don't know how I'm going to make it over the next month. There was one easy question on PS that I got wrong. I was just about to change the answer when time ran out.
 
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That was unpleasant. I agree all around, nice to commiserate with my fellow MCAT warriors. I wish I was a better speller as there was probably a word in each sentence of my essay that spelled rong.
 
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That one question that I could have change is going to be the difference between a 9 and a 10 on the PS, I know it. This is going to kill me.
 
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BIO wtfff...im never drinking cranberry juice again! and i was beat during that bio section, i even left a question unanswered by accident. i felt like 3 passages were just beyond comprehension.
 
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What do you guys think helped the most (TBR,TPRH, etc) for preparing for each section and relative similarity to?
 
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I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, I spent the first 10 minutes on the biological section, going WHAT.THE.BLEEP. That was sooo effing hard. I might have achieved the lowest score in BS in MCAT's hx.
 
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WTF on Biology!!?!?!?!!?!? I always averaged an 11 on bio 2 of those passages today left me brain dead!!! :boom:

physics was alright
verbal was pretty straight forward.
 
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imbackasd said:
What do you guys think helped the most (TBR,TPRH, etc) for preparing for each section and relative similarity to?
Click to expand...
For Bio, nothing. There is literally (and I've done AAMC, TBR, and TPR) nothing out there like this. It wasn't just that it was hard. It was completely different from everything else out there.

BTW, I thought Verbal was tough. My prediction is a ten on it. Now, I'm just throwing myself at the mercy of the curve.
 
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i see y'all guys thought the bio was hard. Was the information in the Bio section material learned from prepping? Or was it just totally incomprehensible? Just wondering, and hopefully y'all did well.
 
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Just to let you all know, not that it hasn't been established, but that was awful, and I scored a 15 and two 14s on my last three exams on BS.

That test's BS, I didn't even get to the last two passages other than to basically fill in circles, and the discrete questions were not easy either. I would say I'm going to be lucky to score higher than a 9 on that, and I've never scored below that on a BS section, including Kaplan's 'diagnostic.'

I had taken the first 5 FL's offered by Kaplan, and averaged a 33 on those. I took the all the available AAMC's and I averaged a 35 on those, just for a frame of reference. And I registered just to say this, I'm looking far below that if I'm lucky.

That BS section was the worst thing I've ever seen, ever.

I feel like sections that are that difficult do a horrible job of predicting prepared candidates, so I'm going to go with the AAMC failed on that one since the curve will be much lower. Hopefully my guessing capabilities were extraordinary, I'd rather not have to retake 👎
 
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torshi said:
i see y'all guys thought the bio was hard. Was the information in the Bio section material learned from prepping? Or was it just totally incomprehensible? Just wondering, and hopefully y'all did well.
Click to expand...

This may sound bleak, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for that BS section. PS was chemistry heavy, but manageable. Verbal, is, well, verbal.
 
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waiting for the scores is going to be a bitch. I feel like signing up for another MCAT just because I feel like I seriously failed the BS section. I am relieved that everyone else thought it was hard, but in all honesty, I feel like I REALLY failed it. I didn't even have time to make "educated" guesses on many questions because I didn't have enough time or had no flippin clue what the question was asking. ughh
 
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PS was much too chem heavy for my liking, really rough.
I found the verbal fairly easy.
BS was OK accept the orgo questions which I pretty much had to guess on.

Bio was much harder than usual, I usually destroy it but barely finished...PS was BS (not bio), I shouldn't have even reviewed physics at all and just focused on chem.

my prediction is: 9/11/10... maybe...I hope...lol
 
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Totally in agreement with the above about BS. It was total BS.

PS seemed pretty easy and straight forward with one tough passage set.
VR was normal, did seem a little longer in the passages which is what has been reported lately, had the typical tough passage that was poorly written

BS go ahead and sell all of your review books. Nothing compares thus far to that. Miserable experience. With double the amount of time, I still don't think it would have been much easier.

Hoping for a 27
 
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PS- Not as bad at the Jan 27th MCAT this year (Im a retaker), I was pretty happy about the chem stuff since physics is definitely my weaker subject but at least I finished with some time to review.
VR- I thought it was much easier than any AAMC, I finished with 10 minutes...this was the section I was most worried about for timing and I thought it was very straight forward although the passages were definitely seemed longer.
BS- just....wow. I honestly thought I was brain-dead after that one...I also am relieved that everyone else thought it was killer. Somehow finished on time and then was about to change an answer and the timer ran out!! I know I got that one wrong 🙁

Averaging 31-34 on practice tests
Predicted- 20s 🙁
 
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i agree with general consensus about PS and BS. i thought verbal wasn't as bad as it was going to be.
 
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Sorry to hear all the doom and gloom guys; but I can't help but chuckle at everyone's responses in every mcat thread. The takers of every subsequent MCAT make it seem like their test was 10x harder than the last lol. Hopefully you guys all did as good as you hoped.
 
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jHustle said:
Sorry to hear all the doom and gloom guys; but I can't help but chuckle at everyone's responses in every mcat thread. The takers of every subsequent MCAT make it seem like their test was 10x harder than the last lol. Hopefully you guys all did as good as you hoped.
Click to expand...

Well, in comparison to practice tests (AAMC 3-11), the BS section was legitimately 12x more difficult than anything I'd ever seen. PS was very manageable, and Verbal seemed to be as well (with some tricks and some length to it).

Obviously, everyone feels a little unsure about an exam after they finish, but I would have to agree that the BS section was pretty extreme in this case, though I'm sure each MCAT has similar ups and downs (which would be why others have a similar consensus).

I'd just say, to those who are taking it soon in the future, make sure that you're moving efficiently through extremely difficult passages, you may end up with a lot more of them than you expected, and it's not worth guessing on easy problems because you don't get to them.

Hopefully that's the response you were looking for, those who are curious about what to study.
 
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I feel pretty like someone raped my brain.

PS - Pretty damn hard.
VR - Seems alright.
BS - Savage test. Almost every single question required a lot of thinking....

I average around 37 on AAMC (13-14 PS, 12-13 VR, 11-13 BS).

This felt more like 12 PS, 12 PS, 10 BS for me....but very possibly even worse.

I was debating so hard whether to void this one or not.With my horrendous GPA (currently closer to a 3.0 than a 3.5.. although I do go to a top 5 school) and my california residence, combined with my asian ethnicity, I know something like a 34 will NOT get me into any medical school.

Unlike other tests (school midterms, SAT, GMAT etc), there is NO sense of closure after taking the MCAT. If anything, it makes you feel worse. It can be best described as -- excuse my crude metaphor -- having attempted to defecate but not being successful in pushing everything out, resulting in profound dissatisfaction and undue stress.
 
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wildcard0187 said:
Was this exam a retake for anyone? I wonder if past test takers felt this way after the exam.
Click to expand...

I was a retaker from 1/27 and I thought BS was very difficult, I finished but I know I got one question wrong already 🙁

ugh!!!!! I don't want to retake again!
 
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shoenberg3 said:
I feel pretty like someone raped my brain.

PS - Pretty damn hard.
VR - Seems alright.
BS - Savage test. Almost every single question required a lot of thinking....

I average around 37 on AAMC (13-14 PS, 12-13 VR, 11-13 BS).

This felt more like 12 PS, 12 PS, 10 BS for me....but very possibly even worse.

I was debating so hard whether to void this one or not.With my horrendous GPA (currently closer to a 3.0 than a 3.5.. although I do go to a top 5 school) and my california residence, combined with my asian ethnicity, I know something like a 34 will NOT get me into any medical school.

Unlike other tests (school midterms, SAT, GMAT etc), there is NO sense of closure after taking the MCAT. If anything, it makes you feel worse. It can be best described as -- excuse my crude metaphor -- having attempted to take a dump but you were not successful in pushing everything out so you feel extremely dissatisfied.
Click to expand...

I'd suggest just taking the month while we wait to relax. You sound like you're going to be just fine, promise. If you are thinking you still got double digits on all of them even after getting bent over, I think you're going to be happily surprised by your score on this one. The curve on this BS section is, evidently, going to be pretty lackadaisical. That means that there are going to be some very upset individuals, and some very happy ones, as minor differences in overall score will play a major part.

Nothing like a month to determine your medical school future's fate, am I right? :scared:
 
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I don't know man.
I am a retaker and the first time I took it, it felt like a 34-36 (in addition to averaging 35-36 on prax), yet I ended up with a 30.
Granted, I studied a lot between the tests and the VR felt much better this time (I got a frickin' 9 last time..).

There were so many questions in PS that I was dilly-dallying over (6+). That happens for less than 2-3 questions on practice tests. Plus, I had to flat-out guess on one of the answers, since I just didn't know how to derive the equations to fit the answer choices.

But that was child's play compared to BS, where I was vacillating between 2+ answer choices for perhaps 1/3 of the entire test (maybe 1/2 of the discretes). Once again, that happens for less than 5 questions on the practice tests. Add the inevitable mistakes I make (and I tend to make a lot), and I fear that I probably missed around 15 on this section alone.
 
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shoenberg3 said:
having attempted to defecate but not being successful in pushing everything out, resulting in profound dissatisfaction and undue stress.
Click to expand...

Wow didnt like anything could make me laugh so hard after taking that monster. A friend and I equated the BS section to being manhandled and taken advantage of by a 300 pound homeless man while subsequently being stabbed in both eyeballs with dirty hypodermic needles. Its like.....you'll live....but not well.
 
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Time for me to suit up and get sloppy at my roommate's wedding. Couldn't be happier with its timing... Open bar on the night of the mcat? Yes please.

And where were all of you people when I started this thread? I thought I was just about the only person registered for this date.

Finish my app later this week and then time to relax. It's over folks!
 
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I thought PS was reasonable. Verbal was challenging, but nothing too earth shattering.

Bio made me want to cry. Like others, I didn't understand two of the passages. It just really threw me. I couldn't manage time and finished on the dot. Also there was only 1 orgo passage. I should have spent more time on bio than orgo... Last year I got slammed by bio.

I guessed on a ton more questions that I have in the past.

My score range was a 33-36 with a 34.6 average. I would be stoked if I hit the low end. Anddd this was a retake.

Bio was just really really really farking hard.

Start reading a journal article every week in prep for this thing. It's the only way to be even close to ready.
 
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That PS section was definitely harder than Any thing I've seen before. It was so gen chem favored and had way too many crazy math calculations that I could barely make educated guesses on. I came off Tbr Cbt 6 & aamc 11 scoring 10 on each one and I'd be happy.for an 8 right now.

Verbal was alright, long but easy to read. Who knows though...

BS I thought was a lot like 11, mostly experimental. Hardly any ochem. It was rough but not as bad as the PS was for me, IMO.
 
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Well, I wanted to post my thoughts as well.

PS - I was averaging 12-13 on AAMC's and while I thought the real thing was only slightly more difficult, I was running really short on time which never happened on the practices. I felt like the test was longer than most in that there was more reading than the AAMC's and quite a bit of calculations, as others have said. Kind of freaked me out and had to guess on several but I'm hoping there's a generous curve. Kudos to all of you who made it through and worked all the questions. If you haven't taken it yet, make sure that you know how to do your math quickly and accurately. I know that sounds simple but there's not enough time to double check your steps.

VS - I felt I did about the same as AAMC's, maybe slightly worse as there were a few questions I didn't like. Overall, really similar to AAMC's, not much difference in length of passages or difficulty. We'll find out what the curve is like in about a month. My timing was the same as the AAMC's.

Writing - It is what it is...so lame...glad to know they are getting rid of it.

BS - Like others have said, it was definitely challenging, however I would disagree a little and say that it is not too much more difficult than some of the AAMC passages. Or to put it this way, there wasn't a passage on there that was more difficult than the most difficult AAMC, it was just that there were several hard passages whereas most of the AAMC's just had one killer.

If you're set to take it and you have some time, I would recommend reading more journal articles like others have said. Read the abstract, then write down the main concept...and write down what you think would be a good area of further research. If you can do this, then you're thinking critically. I would only suggest this if you're taking it a good bit out, if you've got a week left don't worry about it, just go in there, engage the material, get absorbed in the passage, and stay calm...and remember...the curve has been generous for people who thought they did terrible (in the march forums at least).
 
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In general, I thought the discretes (PS and BS, but especially the latter) were much more difficult. I've taken a lot of PS practice tests and I disagree that it was similar; I am certain that it was considerably more difficult than any of the AAMCs.
IF the scoring curve were the SAME as aamc 7-10 (hypothetically), my score would be absolutely disastrous. I sincerely hope the curve is much more generous.
 
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