Official August 14 MCAT Thread

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Bonesaw45

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So I have seen posts on the 20th and the 16th but nothing for the 14th. I can't wait to get this over with, counting when my kaplan course started I will have been MCATting (not a word) since October and I can't take it anymore. Most frusturating part is that I didn't have that much time to restudy, but at least I got a seat. Anyway, who's ready to take it, I know facts cold but anytime I think about the test my left arm goes numb and my face droops a little. If only I didn't get that 7 in verbal on June 15th+pity+ (I apologize for abusing smiley faces in my posts there just so cool)
 
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Wow I guess i must be stupid than, since everyone is claiming the verbal section was pretty simple. I thought the PS wasn't too bad, but than again i studied my butt off for physics and chemistry. VR my god i swear i probably cant read english, i found the passages pretty difficult but than again VR was always my weakness. And BS it was tougher than the usual AAMC practice exams, but BS and PS were always my strengths, I am hoping for a 30+
 
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Tan008 said:
PS - I thought was pretty challenging. A lot of tricky questions and not enough time to sort through all.
All in all - gaaaawwwww!!! glad I'm done at least for now :meanie:
Click to expand...

I agree the PS was really hard. Tooooo many calculations questions, I was getting real annoyed. It started off with a bang, I thought the first couple passages were tricky, but as it got to the end I thought it became easier. Did anybody else get like 70% chemistry passages? I spent too much time on the beginning passages and kind of had to rush through the last couple. Discretes were tricky though, no one of them had straight forward answers.

VR - reasonable, no tricky passages, some questions had me scratching my head, but all in all not too bad. Kinda rushed at the end spend too much time on the 6 th passage...lol

WR - haha, I was like whatever on this section, Man I really had to go to the bathroom in the second prompt... lol Didnt even finish the last paragraph I think. 😀😀

BS - I thought it was alright (fingers crossed) I think if you read the passages close enough, most of the answers were hidden in there. Some discretes were tricky though, kind of caught me off guard. But I don't know I wasn't doing so hot on the practice AAMC BS, so we will see.

SO my complains for the AAMC and testing center:
1) Stupid screen had VERY ANNOYING glare, I had a massive head ache for like 2 hours after the exam
2) It was nothing like the CBT in appearances, fonts to big, and you can't scroll the questions
3) some ***** was reading the verbal passage OUTLOUD!!! felt like punching him

Its done, I MEAN ITS DONE PEOPLE!!!!:luck:😍
 
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Just got back from the test center. I hope everything is OK.

PS. I don't know what other people are talking about when they talk about diverging and converging, I didn't get a lense passage. So it might have been a different test.

VR: I thought it was pretty lengthy, I really had to hustle in the end. Overall, I thought it was pretty challenging.

WS: I think I nailed both of them. I was actually pretty impressed with myself. haha, we'll see about that.

BS: I thought it was on the hard side. They actually wanted us to relate osmotic pressure and hydrostatic pressure? what the hell? Isn't that PS?
 
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EECStoMed said:
Just got back from the test center. I hope everything is OK.

PS. I don't know what other people are talking about when they talk about diverging and converging, I didn't get a lense passage. So it might have been a different test.

VR: I thought it was pretty lengthy, I really had to hustle in the end. Overall, I thought it was pretty challenging.

WS: I think I nailed both of them. I was actually pretty impressed with myself. haha, we'll see about that.

BS: I thought it was on the hard side. They actually wanted us to relate osmotic pressure and hydrostatic pressure? what the hell? Isn't that PS?
Click to expand...

how was your PS? Comparable to Kaplan in any shape?
 
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WonderBoy said:
how was your PS? Comparable to Kaplan in any shape?
Click to expand...

I thought it was easier, but also much wordier.

Also, I've averaged 13s on Kaplans and AAMCs but I still thought that this one was easier. My score will tell though in 30 days.
 
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My apologies if I was too specific or whatever, I tried to keep my questions to concepts rather then actual questions. But it seems that either I was not discreet enough or your not even allowed to post examples that are similar. Apologies and what not, good luck everyone I'm done thinking about this thing.
 
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RoadRunner17 said:
How did you think the practice tests you took compared to the real thing overall? I remember your posts about your practice scores in Kaplan and AAMC. I think you'll do well though based on your past posts.
Click to expand...

I thought the Kaplan practice tests were much harder, required intensive calculations on Ksp, etc... The AAMC calculations are much easier, requiring only 1-2 steps. I thought my administration of PS was on the level of difficulty of CBT 9.
 
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Could someone please verify that they did not get a lense passage? I don't remember there being a lense passage? ANYONE
 
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Oh, and btw, know your freaking amino acids. I'm talking about the structure of them. They actually had a passage based question that required you to know the similar function groups of 3 amino acids, I was liek wtf. Fortunately, I guessed right. :hardy:
 
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I ussually do pretty well on Bio (11-12) but this one was killer in my opinion. I knew all the material of the subjects that they covered but it really didnt seem to do any good. You really had to manipulate the info fast and all the damn questions were like 4 sentences long (even the stand alones!).
 
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are there different versions of the test on the same day ??

overall, not too bad but the PS was a bit rough. The VR and BS seemed like they were about the same difficulty as the practice ones.
 
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This is so strange... People who found the PS to be hard, thought that the BS was easy, and those who thought PS was easy, thought that the BS was hard! I'm the latter. Perhaps there are two versions administered.
 
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xanonymousz said:
This is so strange... People who found the PS to be hard, thought that the BS was easy, and those who thought PS was easy, thought that the BS was hard! I'm the latter. Perhaps there are two versions administered.
Click to expand...

I thought PS was easy, BS hard.
 
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i thought PS was easy, and verbal was alright, although i didn't get focused until the second passage, and i barely had time to finish. BS was terrible, i usually finish with maybe 8 minutes to spare, but when the 45 minute warning popped up, i thinki was on the 2nd passage. and thus i had to scramble for the rest of the section. whatever questions i didn't miss are pure luck.
 
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I can't believe the e-mcat website gave us the annotation function on the verbal section and then on the real cbt, i spent 1 minute furiously right clicking the mouse only to realize there is no annotation function on the real cbt...was i the only one who couldn't figure it out, or did anyone else experience this...(please):scared:
 
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EECStoMed said:
Oh, and btw, know your freaking amino acids. I'm talking about the structure of them. They actually had a passage based question that required you to know the similar function groups of 3 amino acids, I was liek wtf. Fortunately, I guessed right. :hardy:
Click to expand...

Wtf... so knowing which ones are polar/nonpolar/basic/acidic isn't enough?
 
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xanonymousz said:
This is so strange... People who found the PS to be hard, thought that the BS was easy, and those who thought PS was easy, thought that the BS was hard! I'm the latter. Perhaps there are two versions administered.
Click to expand...

Funny, I was just about to post the same thing. I'm in the same boat, I thought PS was relative easy and BS was killer.

DrMT said:
umm... i had a lense passage but it was in combo with momentum/projectile motion.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had that one too.
 
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chad5871 said:
Funny, I was just about to post the same thing. I'm in the same boat, I thought PS was relative easy and BS was killer.



Yeah I had that one too.
Click to expand...

I had a momentum/passage thing too. I don't remember anyuthing about a lense.
 
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I also had the lens/pendullum problem. It wasn't that tricky, the answer for the question was in the passage. You just had to pay attention. Overall I felt the PS was much easier than Kaplan. My test had only 5-6 calculation problems, but there were plenty of evaluation type. It was very Physics heavy in my opinion which wasn't a bad thing.

I believe that the two different times had different tests? So the 8 am test and the 12 am test had different tests, that is why the lens problem is not on everyones test.

I felt terrible about the verbal for some reason, I just hope I don't end up with a 7 of something.......
 
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i didn't get any lens problems nor any amino acid ones....but i'm really scared i messed up some problems...i wish i had voided now
 
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chad5871 said:
I'm sure you did better than you think. I just PMed someone and found out I made a really dumb mistake on PS. Now I'm feeling like crap about it.
Click to expand...

Chill man. YOu did fine. I DID NOT DO FINE in VERBAL. OMG, those dumb quetions about advertising, wtf and buidings.
 
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3 Questions....

What kind of topics did you guys have for Verbal? (Is this too specific question?? I remember other thread talking about the topics on their verbal)

I know you guys had really long passages, but anyone recall how long it was? or at least can possibly guess it? (like 600 words or 700 word per passages?)

How much info about Amino Acids do you recommand to study?

----Aug. 20th MCAT taker
 
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I also took the test today. I found the PS and BS BOTH to be really hard. Concepts on the PS were hard stuff that I had trouble understanding (hope that I at least got a 9!). The verbal section was surprisingly easier than the AAMC practice tests. I really hope to get a 30+. 😉
 
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oy...i thought physics was alright...bit harder than the practice AAMC ones. I actually thought bio was easy but verbal was BRUTAL!!! I was able to go from a 6 to 11 during practice tests but i'm def feeling a 6..lucky if i get a 7. ya those passages...especially the one about the building...holy mother of god.....mini heart attack at 1pm
 
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Hi,

I am taking this test first time on 20th Aug. There is a search function in aamc practice test, is there same function on real test /

Thanks.
 
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Lol the verbal passage about the building wasn't that bad. The physics section was the one that's killed me. Seriously, I stumped at every other question in physics. Especially the stupid one about current. The kinematics one was also bad. I didn't even know how to approach the problems. My last two last AAMC practice in physics was a 12 (AAMC 9) and 11 (AAMC 10) too! sigh.

Bio wasn't that bad. It was tough, but not as bad. The organic chem part was harder than the bio part. It was the first time in an AAMC exam that I almost ran out of time in bio.

Verbal was easier to understand though. The questions were not as tricky and not a lot of inference-question. Maybe it's just me. I've heard ppl say the VR was the hardest and physics was a cake. 🙄
 
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siriusdebate said:
Ya The Advertising....omg That Was Like Another Mini Heart Attack At 1:10pm
Click to expand...

There was a passage on advertising? I'm either blocking it from my memory or I didn't have it on my form...

pvanam said:
Hi,

I am taking this test first time on 20th Aug. There is a search function in aamc practice test, is there same function on real test /

Thanks.
Click to expand...

NO. There is no search function whatsoever on any of the sections. Usually, however, if they reference something specific in the passage, they give a paragraph reference so you can find it slightly quicker.
 
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EECStoMed said:
Chill man. YOu did fine. I DID NOT DO FINE in VERBAL. OMG, those dumb quetions about advertising, wtf and buidings.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the support. Of course I'll be a nervous wreck until September 12th. :scared: My final practice test was shaky on PS, and now I'm second-guessing myself on like every question.
 
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There's a mark/unmark option equivalent to the "guess" option in the practice test. There's also a review page where you can check whether you've answered all the questions and see the "guessed" questions.

I'm not aware that there's a "search function" in the AAMC practice test so I don't know if there's one in the real test.

Oh. There's also an option where you can also cross out answers that you think are wrong. :laugh:
 
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There doesn't seem to be that much of a consensus on today's MCAT. So many people think the PS/BS was hard, and VR easy. And others who think the VR was hard, and PS/BS easy. WOW!
 
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Im one of those guys who thought bio was very hard! My 2 friends also said bio was definitely the hardest section.
Put down your bio books; it's all passage based.

PS was normal; I think it was slightly more difficult than the AAMC...
VR was slightly easier than AAMC.

Also, for bio, I had a different test version than my friends. I had the one that had a passage concerning mouse heart weight and ventricular output (Soy rich and Soy free diets)...My friends didn't! They also had other questions that weren't in my test.

I hope I get a 30!
 
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slumber111 said:
There's a mark/unmark option equivalent to the "guess" option in the practice test. There's also a review page where you can check whether you've answered all the questions and see the "guessed" questions.

I'm not aware that there's a "search function" in the AAMC practice test so I don't know if there's one in the real test.

Oh. There's also an option where you can also cross out answers that you think are wrong. :laugh:
Click to expand...

http://www.prometric.com/demos/mcat/index.htm

Was the real MCAT similar to this interface or identical to it? Were you able to highlight on VR? Were you able to highlight on PS and BS sections?
 
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I had the same bio questions too! I agree the bio test was quite hard but it wasn't as bad as AAMC 6 tho. I mean, some of the AAMC practice tests had harder bio section.

The physics, I found, was harder than any AAMC practice though. 🙁 And when I hear ppl say it was easy, it made me wonder whether I got some of the easier questions right.
 
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You can highlight in all the 3 sections (PS, VR, and BS). It's similar to the practice tests in terms of format and layout. I couldn't figure out the way to "unhighlight" the lines I highlighted though. 😛
 
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slumber111 said:
You can highlight in all the 3 sections (PS, VR, and BS). It's similar to the practice tests in terms of format and layout. I couldn't figure out the way to "unhighlight" the lines I highlighted though. 😛
Click to expand...


On practice AAMC tests if you click on yellow (highlighted) text, it "unhighlights" it.
 
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Yea I know you can do it on the practice exams but I can't seem to "unhighlight" on the real AAMC test. It's not a big deal though :hardy:.

What's a big deal is that guy who sighed every other minute (the ridiculously loud sigh) and tapped his pencil when I was working on my sixth passage on the verbal reasoning section (8 minutes left on the clock). I seriously considered telling him to stop but can't risk wasting my time. My point: don't be like him, be considerate to other test takers.
 
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slumber111 said:
Yea I know you can do it on the practice exams but I can't seem to "unhighlight" on the real AAMC test. It's not a big deal though :hardy:.

What's a big deal is that guy who sighed every other minute (the ridiculously loud sigh) and tapped his pencil when I was working on my sixth passage on the verbal reasoning section (8 minutes left on the clock). I seriously considered telling him to stop but can't risk wasting my time. My point: don't be like him, be considerate to other test takers.
Click to expand...

Did you test center provide noise-reducing headphones and/or earplugs?
 
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