Official 5/19/2012 MCAT thread

[hopeful22213]

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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[Machine33]

Sros, you got me cracking up right now! Haha

 

[ebbandflow83]

Sorry for making you feel so lonely, Hopeful. Nothing like a tragedy to bring people together. I concur with everyone. Hoping for double digits on BS. I think I killed the VR and PS but if everyone thinks that, the curve might bring it down. Everyone try to put it out of your mind and focus on applying now. Nothing we can do on the MCAT front anymore. Except retake I guess, but EFF that.

 

[PJS87]

if it makes anybody feel any better about their performance on bs, i had to leave some questions on the bs section blank and am not even quite sure how many since i didn't get to finish randomly guessing on my blank questions that i marked thinking i would have time to go back, but unfortunately the time expired
i would usually be happy that it was bio heavy and there was only 1 orgo passage but after today, i guess another orgo passage would have been nice if it was easier than bio passages

 

[healingcuring]

The test today was really long, passages in every section were so long... Just need to do the reading well.
PS: ok, but way tougher than AAMC practice tests.
VR: long passages, but straightforward.
BS: hard, but a lot of personal experience may save time on many questions.

AAMC average: 39-42.
Predict: 40

 

[SaCkO]

The test today was really long, passages in every section were so long... Just need to do the reading well.
PS: ok, but way tougher than AAMC practice tests.
VR: long passages, but straightforward.
BS: hard, but a lot of personal experience may save time on many questions.

AAMC average: 39-42.
Predict: 40

May i ask what is your major and what do you do in life?
My other question is why do you need medical school?
Buy a white coat or build your own space shuttle and travel to neptune and be the president of neptune and head of research over there.

 

[healingcuring]

it sounds like you see me as alien LOL....
to answer your question, my major is Biochem, and I do everything like most other pre-med people do.....and it is hard to tell you why I need med school like crazy... but I do know why...

 

[shoenberg3]

The test today was really long, passages in every section were so long... Just need to do the reading well.
PS: ok, but way tougher than AAMC practice tests.
VR: long passages, but straightforward.
BS: hard, but a lot of personal experience may save time on many questions.

AAMC average: 39-42.
Predict: 40

I don't like you. Kindly gloat somewhere else.

 

[Whiteshoes]

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.

Not even TBR? I thought TBR was suppose to prepare you for the new experimental type bio passages?

 

[SoulinNeed]

Not even TBR? I thought TBR was suppose to prepare you for the new experimental type bio passages?

In my opinion, no, it didn't. I've done plenty of "experimental" type questions, but not of this difficulty.

 

[dweji16]

So while sitting down after the last break to do the bio section I was wondering why some people were leaving when only a few minutes had passed after the start of that section....

1 minute and 2 clicks later later... I learned why... -_-

 

[09ine]

So while sitting down after the last break to do the bio section I was wondering why some people were leaving when only a few minutes had passed after the start of that section....

1 minute and 2 clicks later later... I learned why... -_-

What happened? Not all people start at the same time at centers.

 

[dweji16]

What happened? Not all people start at the same time at centers.

Well... People who had gone in ahead of me to end their break started coming back out 5 minutes later as I was going back in... That's how I knew. :cry:

 

[09ine]

Well... People who had gone in ahead of me to end their break started coming back out 5 minutes later as I was going back in... That's how I knew. :cry:

Still slightly confused, did you just miss out on 8 minutes or something?

 

[WorriedDO]

dang

 

[dweji16]

Still slightly confused, did you just miss out on 8 minutes or something?

Now I'm confused that you're confused....

Say..... at 11:30 I was in the middle of my break and I see some fellow mcaters walking back in to the room to do their last section.. 5 minutes later at 11:35 I go back to my station and I see those people who had walked in 5 minutes ago leave shaking their heads. Make sense?

 

[TheAvgPreMed]

I completely agree with a lot of you about the exam.

PS: wasn't too bad however there were so many calculations I couldn't finish in time and had to guess. The thing that bothers me is that I absolutely knew how to solve it but there was no way to correctly calculate it in the time frame. You pretty much have to see it and instantly know how to calculate without spending any time to think. I'm pretty good at math too but the calculations aren't like the easy ones on AAMC. They are slightly more obscure and not as straight forward.

VR: I normally had problems with this section. I am a retaker and I got a 10/5/10 on my first try. This second time around I spent an insane amount of time studying verbal and I felt this verbal was very fair. I didn't feel like it was any longer than AAMC exams except one passage but it was only maybe a few sentences. I had problems with one passage (the long one) which happened to have the most questions but the rest was fair.

WS: Nothing out of the norm. I got an S on my first try and I didn't feel like I did any worse.

BS: Not too bad but I know exactly which passage everyone is talking about. It was the 4th or 5th passage and I had 40 minutes left. I literally spent 20-25 minutes on that single passage and still didn't really understand the charts fully. I spent way too much time on it and I probably should have skipped it and did it last. LOL at the "cranberry" one too. I had to read that one a few times but luckily it didn't have a lot of questions.

Overall: AAMCs are nothing like the real MCAT. In my opinion, its a waste of money and do nothing but give you false hope on difficulty especially the early ones. I felt princeton review's practice exams were much closer because they were harder and had more difficult calculations. Out of all of the AAMCs, 11 was the closest but still not a match.

 

[WorriedDO]

overall: Aamcs are nothing like the real mcat. In my opinion, its a waste of money and do nothing but give you false hope on difficulty especially the early ones. I felt princeton review's practice exams were much closer because they were harder and had more difficult calculations. Out of all of the aamcs, 11 was the closest but still not a match.

+1

 

[anandpatel24]

all anyone can do now is to have faith in a higher power! honestly i feel like i studied for months and not one dam thing i learned was tested on the bio. but hey **** happens.

 

[torshi]

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.

 

[torshi]

Now I'm confused that you're confused....

Say..... at 11:30 I was in the middle of my break and I see some fellow mcaters walking back in to the room to do their last section.. 5 minutes later at 11:35 I go back to my station and I see those people who had walked in 5 minutes ago leave shaking their heads. Make sense?

They went in earlier then you, once you went in 5 min later they left so in reality they were in there for 5 min then they left and you just started, and realized/
I get it

 

[Ost3oclast]

I remember coming on here awhile back to ask if BR would sufficiently prepare me for this thing. "They" totally convinced me that BR was more difficult than the real thing...."they" lied. Hahaha in all seriousness though....after hours of thinking about it....im already starting to think of the retake that I'm sure I will be doing. Yuck.

 

[WorriedDO]

Yeah, same here. nothing would've help for the Bio other than a large curve.... I have a little I did better than low to mid 20's. Which is a shame looking at my last few practice tests.... 5-3 months for nought. To the Bars!!!

 

[Member10020]

I'm a retaker. I didn't study much for the last one and learned my lesson.So for the last five months, I pored over all things mcat and felt reasonably prepared, scoring in the mid 30s on AAMC and Kaplan practice exams (believe it or not, this is a dramatic improvement over last year).

*sigh*

PS- Ridiculous! While I didn't find it particularly hard, there were so many questions I planned to come back to but didn't have the chance to. I like to make sure I haven't made mistakes with calculations because my mind is a troll. I finished with only 6 minutes to spare. Not nearly enough to review the questions I marked.

Verbal- Not bad, but then again, I always think so. I can never gauge this section, so I'm not going to try now.

BS- *I doubt there's a word that accurately describes how I felt (and still feel) about this section*. As the first person to start the exam at my test center, I had the tremendous pleasure of doing my BS to the continuous click-clacking of a dozen plus keyboards. It didn't help that the passages were awful. I finished with around 15 minutes to spare which I used for review. It's the most disheartening feeling to have all that time and still feel unable to confidently change any of your answers.

*yet another sigh*
Here's to hoping the curve gods are on our side

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

Overall: AAMCs are nothing like the real MCAT. In my opinion, its a waste of money and do nothing but give you false hope on difficulty especially the early ones. I felt princeton review's practice exams were much closer because they were harder and had more difficult calculations. Out of all of the AAMCs, 11 was the closest but still not a match.

I agree with this--then again I'm just a bad practice test taker (don't focus,etc.)

 

[Ost3oclast]

Funny test story though......I had 12 minutes left in Verbal and through my earplugs and "sound canceling headphones" i start hearing the consistent sound of music being played what seemed like 2 feet from the wall....I mean loud music....picture a rave where everyone is using X and coke with their faces painted kind of music. After that section I walk out of the testing room and asked the guy " what is that music bro it is obnoxious!?" he says " oh there is a Curves Fitness for women center next door".......really who thought to put that **** right there......really? It continued through WS and half of bs....ionically stopped after the "god of all passages" though

 

[FalconSlice]

WTF on Biology!!?!?!?!!?!? I always averaged an 11 on bio 2 of those passages today left me brain dead!!!

physics was alright
verbal was pretty straight forward.

There's something you never hear!!!

 

[cinamin]

Funny test story though......I had 12 minutes left in Verbal and through my earplugs and "sound canceling headphones" i start hearing the consistent sound of music being played what seemed like 2 feet from the wall....I mean loud music....picture a rave where everyone is using X and coke with their faces painted kind of music. After that section I walk out of the testing room and asked the guy " what is that music bro it is obnoxious!?" he says " oh there is a Curves Fitness for women center next door".......really who thought to put that **** right there......really? It continued through WS and half of bs....ionically stopped after the "god of all passages" though

How awful!!!!!

 

[UrshumMurshum]

Guys just to be honest with you it's probably likely that "horrible" passage won't even affect your score. AAMC loves to put in crazy experimental passages just to eff with your mind.

 

[TipToad]

I think the problem was that they had multiple crazy passages.

But honestly, the curve will probably reflect that. I'm pretty sure the cutoff for a 12 will be much lower than the normal 44-46.

 

[wildcard0187]

I just have to put a lot of faith in the "curve". It would really suck if it didn't reflect my practice scores. Someone I know scored 6 friggin points lower on the actual exam than his practice exams. Now I see how that's possible.

It's going to be one agonizing month.

 

[psilovethomas]

My SO took the exam today and feels the same way as everyone else- the PS was pretty easy and the BS was very difficult. We are wondering how the curve works- has it ever been very drastic? how many points on average are added to adjust scores? Thanks.

 

[UrshumMurshum]

My SO took the exam today and feels the same way as everyone else- the PS was pretty easy and the BS was very difficult. We are wondering how the curve works- has it ever been very drastic? how many points on average are added to adjust scores? Thanks.

Cole said he took the BS without studying, guessed on 26 questions and came out with a 6. So I reckon if you guessed on only 14 questions you're looking at probably a 11?

 

[Ost3oclast]

From what I gather the curve its preset....lets just hope aamc thought the same way we did today in terms of difficulty when they curved it.

 

[CliveStaples]

PS - I felt like it was harder than any of the AAMC tests that I took. Required a lot more reading of long passages than it required knowledge of formulas (as far as physics is concerned). I was hitting between a 9-11 on my AAMC practice tests and I am just praying for a 10 and not a 9.

VR - I felt like all 7 of them were long reads but only a couple of the questions gave me the whole "well, both A and C are right, so which one is more right" and then there's always the couple you miss that you were sure about. I was hitting an 11 as my lowest on here so I am hoping that's what I scored. Maybe with some luck that will end up being a 12

BS - What a crapstorm. 2 of the passages were absolutely brutal time killers. Only one organic passage was absolutely stunning, but I don't think studying any more Bio would have prepared me for this test. AAMC tests I feel really didn't prepare me for this. I can think of 2 that I looked up and got wrong, but there were definitely a few that just gave me pause. Did not have time to review all the questions I marked because of the time it took to think through a couple of the passages. Score predicting here is tough, considering I doubt very many people were prepared for this. I really wouldn't be surprised if I scored as low as an 8 or 9 (I would assume that I really didn't understand one of the passages) or even as high as an 11 or 12 (if I struck gold and the curve is favorable)

Altogether, I hope the lowest I made is a 28 and the highest I'll hope for is a 32 or 33. That's a vital score differential (difference between being average or below average) so this is going to be a long month of waiting.

Random tip: I remember one of the teachers of the Princeton Review class I took talked about how we should all be hoping for hard tests, because you generally score better than you expect as opposed to getting an easy test and only a couple missed questions really hurt your score. Trying to hold onto that and the advice of a friend who scored a 32 and felt like he bombed it last year.

We all worked hard, now let's party hard.

 

[augeremt]

Not even TBR? I thought TBR was suppose to prepare you for the new experimental type bio passages?

TBR bio passages are specific and particular, but nothing compared to some of the ones we had today.

I was going to go with just cracking a couple beers to celebrate

Instead, I'm now holding a bottle of vodka as my head looks like this

Couldn't have said it better myself, buddy.

And this:

I remember coming on here awhile back to ask if BR would sufficiently prepare me for this thing. "They" totally convinced me that BR was more difficult than the real thing...."they" lied. Hahaha in all seriousness though....after hours of thinking about it....im already starting to think of the retake that I'm sure I will be doing. Yuck.

I am so glad many of you feel the same way. I was starting to worry that I just hadn't studied enough. But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that more studying would have made no difference in my score. It's going to be a very long month waiting for these results.

And BTW, no practice exam or TBR bio passage could've prepared me for the a**r***** that was the BS. That was just brutal and completely unexpected.

On the bright side, I was not in the 50% of test-takers in my room whose computer froze during the exam. That would've been the nail in the coffin.

 

[substantianigra]

I just took this test too.

PS: longer than normal AAMC practice test. Definitely more working involved. 2 passages I thought were tough. Ran out of time on this and had to guess 2 sections.
VS: Pretty much like the other AAMC tests.
BS: This section seemed surprisingly tough to me. I normally ace this section on the practice tests (13-15). I also don't have to read much of the passage, just look for info and can often answer the questions from knowledge and finish with about 5-7 minutes to spare. I could not finish this bio section after that long passage. I've never ever ran out of time for the BS section on any practice test i've ever done. I'm fine with the material, but they just need to give us more time if they are going to throw up long passages where all the info is associated with every aspect of the passage.


for some background I average a 34-39 on AMMC practice tests. Averaging around PS: 13 VR:11 BS:13

I was pretty stunned by it and ended up voiding the exam. Will probably take it at a later date.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I just took this test too.

I was pretty stunned by it and ended up voiding the exam. Will probably take it at a later date.

I thought PS was reasonable, i think i forgot to fill in one question on my verbal, and I ran out of time and guessed on my last two or so passages on my bio sciences... I wanted so badly to do what you did, but I cannot get myself to go through all this shiat again, especially since I knew all the material, just the experimental pieces of bio were far more than the content pieces, which was absurd compared to what both the aamc and practice companies say it will mostly be focused on content here, and data interpretation takes a long time. There were also several very difficult passages instead of one or two.

Does the aamc scale based on this particular test performance or an average of how these passages do individually on other tests? I feel like several experimental pieces ended up compounding the exams difficulty, and should be hugely curved for...

I wish you all the best of luck, and may God have mercy on our souls (based on your respective faith or lack thereof, of course).

This is going to be the worst month, filling in applications after I am unsure of how I did.

PS I apologize for any writing errors... I polished off my last pulls of vodka in the 1.75 two hours ago... it is now 8 am... it was full at 1 pm as of yesterday. Thanks for the (hopefully temporary) drinking problem, aamc

 

[excitedtoapply]

And now we have to wait 30 days! I need to find my zen place. I didn't think the anticipation would be that bad but find that I am thinking about the MCAT more now then I did a week ago!

 

[ridethecliche]

I actually found a mistake on the test I think.

There was a figure where a carbon was bound to 5 things. I was like uhhh.

It was the last question on my BS.

I need to get @ aamc about it.

 

[Belle Melodie]

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!

Where can these research papers be found? Sorry im still new to this whole thing.

Thanks

 

[gunslinga]

.

 

[Ost3oclast]

1. I only had to refer to the passage a few times in the ps section for unfamiliar equations. For chemistry,yes you could answer alot of questions without alot of reference to the passage with the exception of small tid bits of info.

2. No. Ive got research under my belt and have read journal articles. It didnt help me one bit on the passage we are all talking about. That thing was like nothing ever. Other than that passage the BS section was closer to aamc tests except about twice as difficult. Honestly I dont know what I would do to prepare for a BS like that.

 

[ridethecliche]

I honestly wish they'd give us the figures in paper form.

You figure this crap out by writing all over data, not by staring at it on a screen. It just doesn't emulate how I would do this in real life at all.

This is why I hate CBT's.

 

[EnginrTheFuture]

In real life I would hope neither of us would try to read and understand a complex biological paper or excerpt in 2.5 minutes ... this whole thing is a game, just play the best you can.

 

[DeMoNdOgDFM]

The BS section was unreal. I am very strong in biology, and I thought a few of the passages were tough to understand. I used EK Bio and I think I only 2% of the stuff covered in that book was directly tested. Rest was just like the verbal section: read and interpret

 

[ridethecliche]

In real life I would hope neither of us would try to read and understand a complex biological paper or excerpt in 2.5 minutes ... this whole thing is a game, just play the best you can.

I did well on the AAMC 6R paper version because I wrote all over it.

And uhhh, if you've ever worked in a lab and had a lab meeting where you've been called on to explain a paper you didn't read, then being able to do so is really helpful.

Especially when your adviser would curse and throw chocolate at you if you weren't paying attention. God I miss that woman hahah.

 

[beachbum87]

Hello friends, as a 5/24 MCAT test taker, I would appreciate if you could answer my questions:
1. From your experience on the exam, do you think it was possible for you to NOT read the passage for the PS section and tackle the questions immediately? I've tried this approach on the AAMC practice tests and like it a lot. But then again, the real MCAT is not very much like the AAMC practice tests....
2. A lot of you have said that the BS section was based on experimental data analysis. For those of you who have done research and have had to read journal articles and write your own, did this help you at all in figuring out what the passage questions were asking? In general, did it make the BS section a bit more bearable?
Thanks and best of luck with ze scores

Gunslinga,

1. I would say just do what you've been doing, feeling comfortable is probably more important than trying to change your method at this point. Everyone is different, and everyone has expertise in different areas, so you may not even find the PS to be that difficult. It would be a shame to change your method only to find out that you would have aced it if you had kept doing what you were doing. Since no one is allowed to share what content was on it, the only thing you can know for sure is that most people thought it was longer (more reading, more calculations) than AAMC's, so just do what you do and keep pressing on, not getting hung up on any questions.

2. I know this may be oversimplifying things, but just know your bio cold and be prepared to think, not simply regurgitate. If you know your stuff but anticipate the worst, then it might not seem too bad. I had read some of March's forums before taking the test, so I was expecting it to be really bad. When you do that, at least you don't waste time being surprised.

 

[beachbum87]

One last piece of advice for the BS section.

[YOUTUBE]e-6rJPRVDuM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[ChuckDiesel]

I actually found a mistake on the test I think.

There was a figure where a carbon was bound to 5 things. I was like uhhh.

It was the last question on my BS.

I need to get @ aamc about it.

I remember seeing that and thinking about it for a second but didn't give it much thought since everything in that section was so crazy. I can't remember the context of the question now though.

Generally BS is my strongest section but it was slow going to pick apart those passages for sure. I would say they were similar to the ebola passage on AAMC 11 but even more confusing. Even worse, the questions were not straight forward at all. PS and VR were not too bad. I'm much stronger in Gen. Chem than Physics so that helped.

Leaving the test center afterwards, I couldn't even figure out how to open the door. My brain was pissed about what had just happened and decided to quit for the day. Luckily some lady came and let me out haha

Now we wait...

 

[PreMedOrDead]

I actually found a mistake on the test I think.

There was a figure where a carbon was bound to 5 things. I was like uhhh.

It was the last question on my BS.

I need to get @ aamc about it.

How do we report such things? I remember that question and it was the icing on the cake of that biological sciences section... I still think the whole thing is a cruel joke.

Anyone regretting not voiding? I sure am... all I can think about