Official August 14 MCAT Thread

[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 (I apologize for abusing smiley faces in my posts there just so cool)

 

[siriusdebate]

yup they did...gigantic orange ones....really good at reducing the noise level although some guy sneezed unnecessarily loud enough that i could hear it. kind of a pain on your ears though and the left side also worked better than the right side but that could just be me

 

[mrmilad]

Who else here hates everything about Architecture? 👎

 

[chad5871]

Who else here hates everything about Architecture? 👎

Did you have both passages on architecture (the social context and the Greek one)? I didn't think they were that bad.

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

My test site (Glen Allen, VA) actually provided both noise-reducing headphones and the big, orange "lawnmower" headphones.

 

[Summer Sweet]

They actually wanted us to relate osmotic pressure and hydrostatic pressure? what the hell? Isn't that PS?

OMG, and to see it so early on, it kind of killed my confidence for the rest of the test. I don't remember ever learning anything about osmotic and hydrostatic pressure relationships 🙁

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

Verbal passages were surprisingly easy to read, but some of the ques were hard.

Know the amino acid structure--the backbone of it is enough. The aa stuff I had to think about weren't as detailed as a biochem class or something.


I'm so relieved it's over! 😎

 

[siriusdebate]

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and to make matters worse there were so many questions with that passage!!!! do i look like i wanna know why columns look the way they look? I'M NEVER LOOKING AT A COLUMN AGAIN!...unless i get a 10...in which case, i shall bow down to the first column i see

 

[chad5871]

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and to make matters worse there were so many questions with that passage!!!! do i look like i wanna know why columns look the way they look? I'M NEVER LOOKING AT A COLUMN AGAIN!...unless i get a 10...in which case, i shall bow down to the first column i see

Ha ha, this post made me laugh out loud. That one question about which argument would weaken the argument was pretty tricky.

 

[siriusdebate]

Did you have both passages on architecture (the social context and the Greek one)? I didn't think they were that bad.


actually i liked the social context one...i thought the metal antenna was bloody hilarious!!! Passages I-III were actually all right. it was at passage IV, darling ol' greek arch, that it all started downhill...or the advertising one...can't remember which one came first

 

[axp107]

Did the BS resemble any of the AAMC tests.. even 8 - 10?

 

[chemotaxis123]

i remember social context, greek, math etc.. i don't remember advertising though..did anyone else not have an advertising passage?

 

[chad5871]

actually i liked the social context one...i thought the metal antenna was bloody hilarious!!! Passages I-III were actually all right. it was at passage IV, darling ol' greek arch, that it all started downhill...or the advertising one...can't remember which one came first

What was the advertising one - I don't think I had that one. The only other two I remember are the ones with the monkeys/humans hierarchical structure and the one about scientific uniformitarianism and catastrophotism.

PS - You're missing the "end quote" tag in your post.

 

[chad5871]

Did the BS resemble any of the AAMC tests.. even 8 - 10?

No. It was much more passage-heavy and critical thinking. It was almost like Biological Sciences meets the Verbal Reasoning from hell. 🙁

 

[mrmilad]

Lol the antenna was bloody awesome. I was laughing at that one as well.


I thought the BS was pretty standard actually. On par with BS 9 and 10. There was only one tough passage, which I have blanked out on right now. But I recall it wasn't too rough.

 

[ZarbK]

I seriously hated the PS, I thought so many of the questions were ridiculously difficult. :/ Easily the hardest section on the test.

But more similar to my practice tests, I think I aced the hell out of VR and BS...hopefully 14/15 or 14/14 on that, which will help with my probably 10ish PS :/

Ugh...I hate you physics.

Edit - Pretty sure I got 30+, I'm just concerned about the spread of my score tbh :/ A low PS but high others won't look good against someone with say a more balanced score..uigh...time for a month of nightmares.

 

[roycer]

I seriously hated the PS, I thought so many of the questions were ridiculously difficult. :/ Easily the hardest section on the test.

But more similar to my practice tests, I think I aced the hell out of VR and BS...hopefully 14/15 or 14/14 on that, which will help with my probably 10ish PS :/

Ugh...I hate you physics.

Edit - Pretty sure I got 30+, I'm just concerned about the spread of my score tbh :/ A low PS but high others won't look good against someone with say a more balanced score..uigh...time for a month of nightmares.

Did you find the VR and BS similar to the AAMC practice tests?

 

[chalo]

Physical: I thought physical was challenging yet I felt that maybe I did okay. I had a hard time understanding the lens/momentum passage and the golf ball passage.

Verbal: I thought it was pretty good except for that monkey grammar passage.

Biology: Was hard! I really liked the fact that there was a lot of physiology but the questions were difficult. I also thought the micelle passage was a bit difficult.

Well I guess I'll have to wait until next month for my scores.

 

[ZarbK]

Did you find the VR and BS similar to the AAMC practice tests?

VR easier, essays were about the same...altho I really liked the topics I got.

BS about the same..I took 5 AAMC practice tests, and that really helped me get a good feel for those sections (and essays).

 

[chad5871]

Physical: I thought physical was challenging yet I felt that maybe I did okay. I had a hard time understanding the lens/momentum passage and the golf ball passage.

Verbal: I thought it was pretty good except for that monkey grammar passage.

Biology: Was hard! I really liked the fact that there was a lot of physiology but the questions were difficult. I also thought the micelle passage was a bit difficult.

Well I guess I'll have to wait until next month for my scores.

Sounds like you and I had the same test. I thought the micelle passage was one of the easiest in the BS section. Would that be considered an organic or a biology passage. If biology, that means I only had one organic passage. 😱 It ticks me off that I had not one genetics or IR/NMR problem, as those are two of my strongest areas in BS.

 

[ZarbK]

Sounds like you and I had the same test. I thought the micelle passage was one of the easiest in the BS section. Would that be considered an organic or a biology passage. If biology, that means I only had one organic passage. 😱 It ticks me off that I had not one genetics or IR/NMR problem, as those are two of my strongest areas in BS.

As far as I could tell I only had one organic passage too. I was sad cause I spent the last few days up until the test trying to get all those reactions and spectra down solid. 😀

 

[Chungta]

I was very bad at time management. I didn't get to the last page on PS =( I think I spent too much time with calculations. And usually the last page contains individual questions so I was upset I didn't skip to that first... VR was my main concern with time since I've never finished it in time before but for some reason, this section seemed relatively easy. I had to rush the last passage though... BS was long. I skimmed through the last 3 passages. I tried to answer them best to my knowledge without having to refer to the passage- they were mostly molec bio questions i think...

all in all, better feeling than first test taken on may 31st.

 

[rushrules1]

OMG, and to see it so early on, it kind of killed my confidence for the rest of the test. I don't remember ever learning anything about osmotic and hydrostatic pressure relationships 🙁

osmotic pressure = hydrostatic pressure aka gauge pressure

 

[lsk87]

ok im scared bc i had the golfball passage and the micelle passage but no lens passage...i don't think i left any blank?

 

[EECStoMed]

osmotic pressure = hydrostatic pressure aka gauge pressure

That is wrong@!

 

[chad5871]

ok im scared bc i had the golfball passage and the micelle passage but no lens passage...i don't think i left any blank?

There were slight variations of the test - some people had different combinations of passages.

 

[mrmilad]

This is a handy tool to visualize osmotic pressure with. Imagine os pressure as pressure sucking IN, and hydrostatic pressure, as pressure pushing out of a solution. EK puts it this way, and it was a helpful tool.

 

[M.Furfur]

desijigga,

you have no right of posting MCAT answers, please delete it before the moderator sees it and kicks you out of the forum.

On another note, while thinking about the exam in bed, I discovered 2 extremely stupid mistakes in the PS section and now I am going completely crazy about it. Even that I know that there is nothing I can do!!!!

 

[chad5871]

desijigga,

you have no right of posting MCAT answers, please delete it before the moderator sees it and kicks you out of the forum.

On another note, while thinking about the exam in bed, I discovered 2 extremely stupid mistakes in the PS section and now I am going completely crazy about it. Even that I know that there is nothing I can do!!!!

Don't worry, I did the same thing except I've thought of three stupid mistakes (one in each section). Almost everyone makes them, and one additional question wrong usually isn't enough to bump you down to a lower scaled score. I would stop freaking out and try to relax -- there's nothing you can do about it now!

 

[chad5871]

POST NUMBER 500!!!

Did anyone else notice that there were two discrete questions in BS that were explicitly on an AAMC practice exam? I think they were from AAMC 9 or 10, but I can't remember for sure. Maybe my brain was just playing tricks on me, but I am fairly certain of it.

 

[funshoayo1]

Mennn i am just glad this krap is over.......
Probably one of the hardest exam I have done in my life....

PS: Wasnt too bad...questions were very straight forward....had passages on Wave/particle nature of light, Galvanic cells, impulse passage, gases....wasnt too bad

VErbal: Mennn I hate verbal..those passages were long and boring...common guys who gives a **** about greek temples? I know I dont...blanked out on most on the passages.......

BIO: Mennnn those passages were tough.....oh well...Overall,,, I had a mixed feeling..becos Physical science was easy, verbal and bio was freaking hard...Oh well....I hope i just dont have to go thru this krap again..

 

[DrMT]

POST NUMBER 500!!!

Did anyone else notice that there were two discrete questions in BS that were explicitly on an AAMC practice exam? I think they were from AAMC 9 or 10, but I can't remember for sure. Maybe my brain was just playing tricks on me, but I am fairly certain of it.

yeah, i remember one... i was just thinking... wow.... that's almost verbatim

 

[chad5871]

yeah, i remember one... i was just thinking... wow.... that's almost verbatim

Yeah I was pretty surprised. I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one.

 

[dislikedrphil]

I thought the physical section was TOUGH. It is however, my weakest section. Bio I thought was more difficult than the AAMC ones but it was ok. I found that with the practice tests, I'd have easily like 15-20 minutes to spare whereas on the actual MCAT, I had to use every minute.

The verbal I thought was a bit easier than the practice mcats I've taken. Didn't like the monkey passage though. Also, I hate the idea that not everyone starts at the same time! I had to sit through the end of verbal with the sound of this guy clacking away at his keyboard. The headphones kind of hurt my ears so I didn't really use them. IMO, I think the key to verbal is actually reading the whole passage. TPR method does not work for me.

I never took AAMC 9 or 10, but I did pick out 1-2 questions from other practice tests. (I took 3,4,7,8). I can't remember if it was physical or bio or both. I too thought the micelle passage was hard in bio! Also the golf ball one in physical.

 

[LadyLightning20]

Who else here hates everything about Architecture? 👎

memememememememe!!!! why did we have TWO stupid passages on architecture, seriously. Don't they have anything better to do?

 

[dhowe2909]

On my test one question was definitely verbatim from practice test 9 or 10. One of the bio questions. I took all the aamc tests, and that's the only one I recognized. Some others seemed similar but modified.

 

[mrmilad]

I also remember the question, I was kinda shocked. At first I thought my mind was starting to shut down so I reread the question and it was almost identical to a bio question I had previously done.

 

[mrmilad]

Wow, I don't know what's harder, getting ready for the test or waiting for the scores.... This is gonna be a long month.

 

[detvar]

if someone could PLEASE answer this for me...

did you think this test was closer to the AAMC prac tests or the Kaplan FL tests? in what way?

thank you so much, this would really help me out!! 🙂

 

[chad5871]

I thought the physical section was TOUGH. It is however, my weakest section. Bio I thought was more difficult than the AAMC ones but it was ok. I found that with the practice tests, I'd have easily like 15-20 minutes to spare whereas on the actual MCAT, I had to use every minute.

The verbal I thought was a bit easier than the practice mcats I've taken. Didn't like the monkey passage though. Also, I hate the idea that not everyone starts at the same time! I had to sit through the end of verbal with the sound of this guy clacking away at his keyboard. The headphones kind of hurt my ears so I didn't really use them. IMO, I think the key to verbal is actually reading the whole passage. TPR method does not work for me.

I never took AAMC 9 or 10, but I did pick out 1-2 questions from other practice tests. (I took 3,4,7,8). I can't remember if it was physical or bio or both. I too thought the micelle passage was hard in bio! Also the golf ball one in physical.

I didn't think the monkeys one was that bad - I think the Parthenon one was the worst. Also the micelles passage in Bio was fairly straightforward, or so I thought.... I hope I did okay!

 

[chad5871]

if someone could PLEASE answer this for me...

did you think this test was closer to the AAMC prac tests or the Kaplan FL tests? in what way?

thank you so much, this would really help me out!! 🙂

PS for me was on par with AAMC's. One passage in particular was a little more difficult than usual, but the rest were about as I expected.

VR for me was pretty similar to the AAMC's, maybe slightly easier. I felt very comfortable with VR going into the test, though, so that may have made a difference.

BS was not like anything I had seen, Kaplan or AAMC. It was much more reading comprehension/reading between the lines than it was straight content knowledge. Honestly I did not expect anything like that.

 

[AMmd]

On my test one question was definitely verbatim from practice test 9 or 10. One of the bio questions. I took all the aamc tests, and that's the only one I recognized. Some others seemed similar but modified.

yeah I had an exact same question on my test (aug 9th) but this time it was in PS ... too bad I wasnt sure about the answer lol

 

[Rock Solid]

yeah I had an exact same question on my test (aug 9th) but this time it was in PS ... too bad I wasnt sure about the answer lol

AM MD...maybe you could pm me and refresh my memory about that...i took the test August 9th and dont remember one like that...but, I dont remeber much now anyway.

 

[schoi401]

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)

I was trying to find the striking function, usually RT click does it. But on the real test it's the left click and this should have been covered in the tutorial in the beginning which I skipped... 👎

 

[schoi401]

Amino acid was on BS.

This was more of an orgo question than a bio question, if we are talking about the same question... but I could be wrong because I had to rush through the last passage and 3 discretes questions within 8 min... I don't recall much what happened during that last 8 min. It could be one of those questions 😛

Thinking back about 24 hrs after the test, I did one thing right when I studied for the bio section. I studied a lot of things that I felt "beyond the scope of the MCAT," but I studied nonetheless and it ended up rewarding me tremendously on the real test. Don't kid yourself with this phrase. I was a bit surprised/relieved when I saw some of the questions, especially in biological sciences + some orgo.

I can vaguely remember this one orgo problem on the test that I had a trouble though. I swear this problem had come across during my studies at one point but for some reason I must have been under the impression, "beyond the scope of the MCAT," cause I didn't know the answer. I had to make an educated guess. Soooo regretful of not having studied in depth 😡. Don't make the same mistake I made! If you've seen a problem in some MCAT book, it's there because they prolly thought it's a potential MCAT question! It's not to annoy you or tire you out by overpreparing. There's no such thing as overpreparing for the MCAT! (I scored betw. 9-14 on practices in bio section to give you perspectives)

 

[whateva07]

monkey passage on verbal...i soo do not remember!!? I remember the architecture ones.

 

[chad5871]

monkey passage on verbal...i soo do not remember!!? I remember the architecture ones.

You might have had an advertising passage instead. I talked to a friend and he had the advertising one in place of the monkey one. There was also one on uniformitarianism, common student beliefs in math, and the increase in the work week within the United States.

 

[whateva07]

You might have had an advertising passage instead. I talked to a friend and he had the advertising one in place of the monkey one. There was also one on uniformitarianism, common student beliefs in math, and the increase in the work week within the United States.

Yea I remember all of those...yea got the advertising one.

 

[Kaydubz]

For the people who thought BS was insane, what passage topics did you get? I thought PS was much more challenging.

I had the passage topics, not questions of hydro vs osmotic, micelles, evolution of nuclei, limb development, brain and respiration, synthesis of some kind of organic ring comound, and steroid receptors.

*crosses fingers not to get postheld 😉*

 

[chad5871]

For the people who thought BS was insane, what passage topics did you get? I thought PS was much more challenging.

I had the passage topics, not questions of hydro vs osmotic, micelles, evolution of nuclei, limb development, brain and respiration, synthesis of some kind of organic ring comound, and steroid receptors.

*crosses fingers not to get postheld 😉*

Those were my exact BS passages, but I thought it was insane. Actually the hydro/osmotic, micelles, evolution, and organic passages weren't that bad. It was just the brain/respiration, limb development, and receptors passages that threw me off. Kudos to remembering all of the topics!

What PS topics did you have?

 

[quiksilver87]

Those were my exact BS passages, but I thought it was insane. Actually the hydro/osmotic, micelles, evolution, and organic passages weren't that bad. It was just the brain/respiration, limb development, and receptors passages that threw me off. Kudos to remembering all of the topics!

What PS topics did you have?

I dont remember a brain respiration passage! yes limb development and the archaebacteria passage were the hardest....
I actually had a passage in BS that concerned experiments with mice...Using soy-rich/soy-free diets...

 

[chad5871]

I dont remember a brain respiration passage! yes limb development and the archaebacteria passage were the hardest....
I actually had a passage in BS that concerned experiments with mice...Using soy-rich/soy-free diets...

Yeah I definitely did not have that one. Was it hard? The brain/respiration one was tricky but not impossible.

 

[Kaydubz]

Those were my exact BS passages, but I thought it was insane. Actually the hydro/osmotic, micelles, evolution, and organic passages weren't that bad. It was just the brain/respiration, limb development, and receptors passages that threw me off. Kudos to remembering all of the topics!

What PS topics did you have?

Hmm...

Chemistry with NADH I think, theory of light, circuit and gas, pendulum and momentum and optics, golf ball and impulse, finding the amount of metal using some weird contraption, redox solution chem.

While we're at it,

Social architecture, math learning, rosetta stone, geology theory, grammatical monkeys, greek or roman architecture, work hours.

Well that was a nice brain exercise. 🙂