Official July 24, 2014 MCAT Thread(because just once wasn't fun enough!)

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Whatsup guys. Just got back from a well needed camping/hiking/white water rafting trip in North Carolina. It was great way to unwind after the MCAT.

I thought physical was tough but not unfair...definitely could have used more time. The questions that asked about understanding what was going on in the complex passages like the metal, prism thing whatever that was about stumped me. Short on time for verbal bc of the longer passages and i felt myself narrowing down to 2 really good sounding ones but not being confident in my commitment to an answer choice a lot of the time. Bio was bio, always a crapshoot for me. Well see how it goes.

May sign up for another test and just take a random stab without reprepping hardcore.
 
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user12 said:
I don't know if there are any 24 fans, but I watched the latest season a few days ago. pretty sick, i'd recommend it. certainly better than orange is the new black.
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Respectfully disagree. I've seen all of 24 including the latest season. I loved the first season and most of the second, but then subsequent seasons ended up being the same thing over and over and over again. Poor character development, unrealistic action, etc. It's an addicting show, but nothing great. Anyways, I'd rather not get into a TV discussion on this thread haha.

Felt horrible about PS and verbal - I guessed on SO many. BS was decent except I literally guessed on every orgo problem. I'm just hoping I score higher than my 27 from the May 31st exam. Anyone else take the May 31 exam??
 
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Sevenup93 said:
Respectfully disagree. I've seen all of 24 including the latest season. I loved the first season and most of the second, but then subsequent seasons ended up being the same thing over and over and over again. Poor character development, unrealistic action, etc. It's an addicting show, but nothing great. Anyways, I'd rather not get into a TV discussion on this thread haha.

Felt horrible about PS and verbal - I guessed on SO many. BS was decent except I literally guessed on every orgo problem. I'm just hoping I score higher than my 27 from the May 31st exam. Anyone else take the May 31 exam??
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I took it May 31! I thought that everything on this test was MUCH easier than the May 31st test. Last time I was a nervous wreck bc it was my first time taking it and also there was a power outage in the middle of verbal...I retook it this time thinking that I was going to void but I thought it was much smoother this time so I didn't. Idk if that was a good idea b/c I didn't study from the first test to the second haha. I ran out of time on PS and guessed on a few but it was like 2 hard passages compared to last time when the PS felt like it was in a foreign language...
 
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Sevenup93 said:
Respectfully disagree. I've seen all of 24 including the latest season. I loved the first season and most of the second, but then subsequent seasons ended up being the same thing over and over and over again. Poor character development, unrealistic action, etc. It's an addicting show, but nothing great. Anyways, I'd rather not get into a TV discussion on this thread haha.

Felt horrible about PS and verbal - I guessed on SO many. BS was decent except I literally guessed on every orgo problem. I'm just hoping I score higher than my 27 from the May 31st exam. Anyone else take the May 31 exam??
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ah I will agree 24 is unrealistic, you have to take every thing with a grain of salt. but come on! Kiefer Sutherland is the man. and im pretty sure season 5 won an emmy.
 
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vik66 said:
Whatsup guys. Just got back from a well needed camping/hiking/white water rafting trip in North Carolina. It was great way to unwind after the MCAT.

I thought physical was tough but not unfair...definitely could have used more time. The questions that asked about understanding what was going on in the complex passages like the metal, prism thing whatever that was about stumped me. Short on time for verbal bc of the longer passages and i felt myself narrowing down to 2 really good sounding ones but not being confident in my commitment to an answer choice a lot of the time. Bio was bio, always a crapshoot for me. Well see how it goes.

May sign up for another test and just take a random stab without reprepping hardcore.
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I felt the same way as you about PS. I thought it was a little tough (calculation heavy) but overall was very fair. Verbal was a slap in the face for me haha. The questions took me much longer to answer than any of the practice AAMC tests so I had to guess on 2 on the last passage..idk maybe it was nerves. Bio was by far the easiest of the sections. After the orgo passage, I got into an excellent groove and finished with 6 minutes to spare.

Either way, its over! I'm currently killing time watching the new season of Orange is the New Black..good stuff haha
 
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dopa-mean said:
I keep finding mistakes and then hating myself for thinking about it. It's turning into a vicious cycle. I need some major distractions.
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story of my life (7/2 taker). I miss seeing score right away after practice tests! Now if I think I got a question wrong, it is not necessarily indicative of my score, but it eats me up alive!
 
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ricecakeMD said:
I took it May 31! I thought that everything on this test was MUCH easier than the May 31st test. Last time I was a nervous wreck bc it was my first time taking it and also there was a power outage in the middle of verbal...I retook it this time thinking that I was going to void but I thought it was much smoother this time so I didn't. Idk if that was a good idea b/c I didn't study from the first test to the second haha. I ran out of time on PS and guessed on a few but it was like 2 hard passages compared to last time when the PS felt like it was in a foreign language...
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I thought the PS on this one was harder! Last time, I thought I did bad in PS and BS both, but ended up doing okay in those and doing terrible in verbal. So I am hoping the curve will save me on this one too (but the fact that you're a may 31 taker and you found this one easier doesn't make me feel good). On may 31st, I thought all the physics passages were hard, but the gen chem was pretty easy. On this one, the gen chem was so convoluted and the PS section as a whole had tons of calculations. I had like 10 unanswered questions with 2 min left. SIGH. I also somehow found the verbal on this one tougher too. I read the passages, understood them, but then I just couldn't answer the damn questions. Only 4 more weeks for scores!
 
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Sevenup93 said:
I thought the PS on this one was harder! Last time, I thought I did bad in PS and BS both, but ended up doing okay in those and doing terrible in verbal. So I am hoping the curve will save me on this one too (but the fact that you're a may 31 taker and you found this one easier doesn't make me feel good). On may 31st, I thought all the physics passages were hard, but the gen chem was pretty easy. On this one, the gen chem was so convoluted and the PS section as a whole had tons of calculations. I had like 10 unanswered questions with 2 min left. SIGH. I also somehow found the verbal on this one tougher too. I read the passages, understood them, but then I just couldn't answer the damn questions. Only 4 more weeks for scores!
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Oh...I think that last time the physics section tripped me up bc it began with the induced fields questions...I didn't understand the passage on metal detectors at all. Starting with a hard passage kinda screwed over my thinking for the rest of the test. I still did ok (11) on it though and I also messed up the worse on verbal (8). Verbal sucked for me last time bc the power went out in the middle of it and I didn't understand one passage on quantum computers at all...it was so confusing. I think because this time I was counting on voiding, I didn't feel so nervous and was able to concentrate so my general after-test feeling was just much happier...but I could just be deluding myself haha. I definitely ran out of time for physics and made educated guesses for some and random guesses for others and I can't even remember what genchem was on it so don't worry I'm with ya there. I just think that physics will always have a relatively easier curve and since most people felt bad about it on May 31st but still did fine, it should be more or less of the same case here. GL! 🙂
 
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ricecakeMD said:
Oh...I think that last time the physics section tripped me up bc it began with the induced fields questions...I didn't understand the passage on metal detectors at all. Starting with a hard passage kinda screwed over my thinking for the rest of the test. I still did ok (11) on it though and I also messed up the worse on verbal (8). Verbal sucked for me last time bc the power went out in the middle of it and I didn't understand one passage on quantum computers at all...it was so confusing. I think because this time I was counting on voiding, I didn't feel so nervous and was able to concentrate so my general after-test feeling was just much happier...but I could just be deluding myself haha. I definitely ran out of time for physics and made educated guesses for some and random guesses for others and I can't even remember what genchem was on it so don't worry I'm with ya there. I just think that physics will always have a relatively easier curve and since most people felt bad about it on May 31st but still did fine, it should be more or less of the same case here. GL! 🙂
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Thanks! Good luck to you too! I do feel a little more confident on the bio for this one though (minus the orgo).
 
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kenjixshadow said:
I'm retaking it on August 7th. I'm starting to think it's a mistake now. I couldn't literately keep myself studying. I either get distracted by secondary applications or movies...I did some couple GS exams and Berkeley review questions. They were really challenging and many calculations. Hopefully they'll help in 1 week.
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How are you able to take it 2 weeks later? I always thought AAMC made you wait 1 month before signing up for a second MCAT
 
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Sorry to be arriving here so late!

I took this exam...here was my prep.
AAMC 3 (completely cold, no review): 9p/10v/9b

AAMC 4 (four weeks light study) 8/12/13

AAMC 5 (intense study of physics, slacking on bio/orgo) 10/10/11

This exam was pretty hard on calculations to me. I self-taught physics and because I reviewed it so hard I felt actually okay doing it for the first time. That said, left four questions blank by stupid mistake running out of time. Glad I reviewed right before I went in to keep the formulae fresh.
Prediction: 10, if I'm lucky.

Verbal- always hard for me to tell. When I try hard on verbal I score high (12-15 on it's own) so it's hard to give an assessment. I will say the passages were interesting and a mental break before bio.
Prediction: 12, if I'm unlucky

Bio- I loved this section, big nerd who loves systems and experimental questions and I was happy to see some specific things I had reviewed on there. Also got lucky and had extensive background knowledge about one of the passages, so I saved lots of time and got all of them right. The Orgo passage was definitely challenging, I had to really spend time thinking through a lot of fundamentals to answer the questions (you all know what I mean). All in all, fair questions and the usual AAMC tricks.
Prediction: 12

This was my first and hopefully only MCAT, applying this cycle. Good luck all!
 
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user12 said:
ah I will agree 24 is unrealistic, you have to take every thing with a grain of salt. but come on! Kiefer Sutherland is the man. and im pretty sure season 5 won an emmy.
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Freddie Prinze Jr. disagrees. He didn't cotton to Kiefer too well, I reckon. But yeah, 24 was a great show!

I've recently started (and finished) House of Cards, and it's really great!

Back on topic, I felt personally victimized by the PS section on this test.
 
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21Rush12 said:
Sorry to be arriving here so late!

I took this exam...here was my prep.
AAMC 3 (completely cold, no review): 9p/10v/9b

AAMC 4 (four weeks light study) 8/12/13

AAMC 5 (intense study of physics, slacking on bio/orgo) 10/10/11

This exam was pretty hard on calculations to me. I self-taught physics and because I reviewed it so hard I felt actually okay doing it for the first time. That said, left four questions blank by stupid mistake running out of time. Glad I reviewed right before I went in to keep the formulae fresh.
Prediction: 10, if I'm lucky.

Verbal- always hard for me to tell. When I try hard on verbal I score high (12-15 on it's own) so it's hard to give an assessment. I will say the passages were interesting and a mental break before bio.
Prediction: 12, if I'm unlucky

Bio- I loved this section, big nerd who loves systems and experimental questions and I was happy to see some specific things I had reviewed on there. Also got lucky and had extensive background knowledge about one of the passages, so I saved lots of time and got all of them right. The Orgo passage was definitely challenging, I had to really spend time thinking through a lot of fundamentals to answer the questions (you all know what I mean). All in all, fair questions and the usual AAMC tricks.
Prediction: 12

This was my first and hopefully only MCAT, applying this cycle. Good luck all!
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I'm jealous of your verbal.
 
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kenjixshadow said:
I personally think we should have our own little communities where test takers can discussion questions to see which they missed so they can learn from it and prepare better for the retake.
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Yeah but then you'll have the AAMC on your ass lol
I almost feel like you're better off just talking in person to someone instead of having the internet document your discussions.
 
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user12 said:
I'm jealous of your verbal.
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Thanks user12...I don't know how I do it, I don't study verbal at all, just have always had that ability. I'm seriously lacking in math skills, which is why physics kills me.

All I want is 32 so I can get into my second-tier allo school with my 3.4/3.4 GPA.
 
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It's *finally* August! 25 more days to go. Time seems to go so slowly while waiting for the scores to come back but the days leading up to the exam went by so quickly.
 
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Ugh. That yahoo answers question... another one I think I got wrong. I need to block this website.
 
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Are you guys waiting on scores to full out secondaries? Like are yalls scores going to decide where you apply?
 
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vik66 said:
Are you guys waiting on scores to full out secondaries? Like are yalls scores going to decide where you apply?
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If you're applying this cycle, I don't think you should wait that long. A late August score release + more time needed to write secondaries will put you at a disadvantage.

You should at least start pre-writing your secondaries to the schools you want to apply to. That way you'll at least have a very quick turn around time for their applications but you'll still be a little bit late in the queue.
 
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This month is dragging on sooooooo long. Does anyone else check MCAT Thx every day even though they know that it isn't August 26th yet? This wait is killing me. I've calculated every possible score in my head. ughhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! Good luck everyone hope your months are going by quicker than mine!
 
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^ that was actually a good idea, I should have done the same. That was if score 1 isnt good, you have score 2 to look forward to...all hope isnt lost...any its not far enough to forget material. Did you study for the second time?
 
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Are we sure that it will actually be 30 days? I've been told by many friends who have taken the test that it's generally three weeks. I've been hoping for this coming Thursday to be the release date.

As for secondaries, I definitely agree; testing this late in the season means send it all out as soon as it comes in. The ADCOM (at least at the school I have a connection to) won't assess an applicant until all things are in place (MCAT, secondary). So I'm just completing them as they come in.
 
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21Rush12 said:
Are we sure that it will actually be 30 days? I've been told by many friends who have taken the test that it's generally three weeks. I've been hoping for this coming Thursday to be the release date.

As for secondaries, I definitely agree; testing this late in the season means send it all out as soon as it comes in. The ADCOM (at least at the school I have a connection to) won't assess an applicant until all things are in place (MCAT, secondary). So I'm just completing them as they come in.
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According to AMCAS, the official score release date is August 26th... don't expect the scores to be released any sooner.
 
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I took the aug 7 exam. it sucked a little bit. PS was better though. hey, if you're looking for a good show to watch to sort of pass the time, you should check out fargo. it's real good
 
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Agreed. Fargo was done really well. I never thought I'd be able to hate Bilbo and his unhateable face, but alas, I hated the sight of it by the end of the season.

Now, I have to remind myself he's playing a different character when I watch the Hobbit or Sherlock.

Also, if you have netflix, watch 'How the universe works'. Soooo good. Also, reinforces gravitational physics stuff. 'Anthony Bourdain's touring the world and eating food" or whatever it's called is also good, but I found his narration to be annoying.
 
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kenjixshadow said:
Have anyone start working on their secondaries yet? I'm going to start mine today. Been slacking past couple days, I think I'm having too much fun lol.
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I already submitted all mine, but I already had my first set of MCAT scores to apply with.....

On a different note.... 2 weeks left! FINGERS CROSSED 🙂
 
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