*Official June 2016 MCAT Thread*

[aalamruad]

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Hey there everyone! Figured I'd start this thread since I recently started preparing for the June 18th MCAT. For those of you who are taking the June 2nd MCAT, June 18th MCAT, or still considering one of those two dates, feel free to post here with any questions, comments, concerns, or support you have to offer!

Good luck to you all! Let's crush it.

 

[aalamruad]

Would med school know my score if I void? Or would my score show any where? And what would happen if i just dont show?

Pretty sure med schools don't see that you took it if you void.

 

[MrsSheperd]

June 2nd test taker here. Just took the Scored AAMC FL and scored a 512. Not sure if that is an inflated score because I have never scored that high in any of my previous practice FLs (ranges in 498-505 from EK, Kaplan, TPR, NS FLs).

Nice!!! I felt the same way for the same reason hahah

 

[RockMcat520]

Pretty sure med schools don't see that you took it if you void.

Thank you! But it wouldnt be an issue if i wanna sign up for the July exam?
And plus idk honestly what if med schools have access to voided scores. No one honestly knows so i rather not show up lol

 

[tavokeri9]

Would med school know my score if I void? Or would my score show any where? And what would happen if i just dont show?

I don't think they will know if you void. the fact that you voided will be indicated in your AAMC account, nowhere else. If you don't show, they will simply count that as an attempt. But no one will know.

Note that you can't sign up for any further MCAT exams until June 2 date is over

 

[tavokeri9]

I'm taking the July MCAT. Signed up for June first, chickened out of June date after AAMC question packs lol

Oh okay, are you applying this cycle? You took the scored pretty early! But that gives you lots of time to review it 🙂

And do you mean the really hard, new AAMC section banks? or the old AAMC question packs?

 

[tavokeri9]

June 2nd test taker here. Just took the Scored AAMC FL and scored a 512. Not sure if that is an inflated score because I have never scored that high in any of my previous practice FLs (ranges in 498-505 from EK, Kaplan, TPR, NS FLs).

That's a great score! Would you mind sharing what you received on the AAMC Sample Test? How about the question packs and section banks?

 

[theNDhopeful44]

Just took the Altius free 1/2 length test, and got a 512. I wonder how inflated that score is.

 

[Hospitalized]

Just took the Altius free 1/2 length test, and got a 512. I wonder how inflated that score is.

Dunno. I got a 497 on the first FL I took from them with 1 week of dedicated content review. I think they have it out as an advertisement right now though, so they might be trying some reverse psychology compared to the rest of the test prep companies who deflate their diagnostics pretty severely (I'm looking at you, Kaplan).

 

[Mr. otcoD]

I dont think I should take june 2nd. I just took NS4 and my score dropped down D:
NS1: 503
NS2: 507
NS3: 505
NS4: 500
I'm trying to get a 515 on the real one but now im not so sure

 

[theNDhopeful44]

Dunno. I got a 497 on the first FL I took from them with 1 week of dedicated content review. I think they have it out as an advertisement right now though, so they might be trying some reverse psychology compared to the rest of the test prep companies who deflate their diagnostics pretty severely (I'm looking at you, Kaplan).

It was the one with 29 questions per section (23 for CARS). It definitely felt challenging enough, but I just wanted some more practice before the ~true FL~ tomorrow.

 

[Nickerbocker]

I dont think I should take june 2nd. I just took NS4 and my score dropped down D:
NS1: 503
NS2: 507
NS3: 505
NS4: 500
I'm trying to get a 515 on the real one but now im not so sure

Have you taken the AAMC official tests (scored + un-scored) and the the section bank questions? They are definitely much more representative and would give you a better idea of where you are at in terms of the actual MCAT.

 

[Lola222]

I'm frustrated because I've been studying for 4-5 months, and I'm averaging only a 30 after all that time, and that's not in the high stakes test environment that I'm going to be in next week. I feel like i've hit a plateau and everyone seems to be getting 515+. Should I devote another 6 months in the hope of bringing my score up a few more points? I'm so frustrated.

 

[Hospitalized]

I dont think I should take june 2nd. I just took NS4 and my score dropped down D:
NS1: 503
NS2: 507
NS3: 505
NS4: 500
I'm trying to get a 515 on the real one but now im not so sure

What were your breakdowns if you don't mind me asking? Those are my exact two scores on the first two >.>

 

[Hospitalized]

I'm frustrated because I've been studying for 4-5 months, and I'm averaging only a 30 after all that time, and that's not in the high stakes test environment that I'm going to be in next week. I feel like i've hit a plateau and everyone seems to be getting 515+. Should I devote another 6 months in the hope of bringing my score up a few more points? I'm so frustrated.

Just so you know, a 30 is a score that will get you accepted into medical school. What FL's are those? There's very few people who actually score lower on the deal deal (aside from response bias) because test prep companies are having a hard time replicating the real deal. Honestly, I think any amount over 5 months is overkill (personally I think 6-8 weeks for someone just out of undergrad is easily enough).

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

June 2nd test taker here. Just took the Scored AAMC FL and scored a 512. Not sure if that is an inflated score because I have never scored that high in any of my previous practice FLs (ranges in 498-505 from EK, Kaplan, TPR, NS FLs).

Nice! How'd you do on EK?

 

[Lola222]

Just so you know, a 30 is a score that will get you accepted into medical school. What FL's are those? There's very few people who actually score lower on the deal deal (aside from response bias) because test prep companies are having a hard time replicating the real deal. Honestly, I think any amount over 5 months is overkill (personally I think 6-8 weeks for someone just out of undergrad is easily enough).

I got a 508-510 range on the unscored percentile test, and i'm taking the scored tmmrw. I didn't convert EK, since they were not very representative of the real thing, but I averaged a 65% consistently, even after content review my scores stayed the same. My science gpa is a little on the lower side, so a 30 probably won't do it for me. The fact that most people don't need very long to study makes me feel like I don't know anything haha

 

[Mr. otcoD]

Have you taken the AAMC official tests (scored + un-scored) and the the section bank questions? They are definitely much more representative and would give you a better idea of where you are at in terms of the actual MCAT.

I took those last week.
The scored one i got a 494. The unscored one was last Tuesday and I got a 501.
The section bank questions, I got (cp/bio/psych) 62%/61%/61%

What were your breakdowns if you don't mind me asking? Those are my exact two scores on the first two >.>

NS1 - 127/123/125/128
NS2-127/127(YES)/127/126
NS3-126/125/127/127
NS4-127/121(NO)/126/126

 

[Hospitalized]

Going over my NS2 exam... Some of these calculations in the C/P are ridiculous. Am I really supposed to be able to do (0.298 — 0.2725)(8.314 x 273) in my head?

 

[Hospitalized]

I took those last week.
The scored one i got a 494. The unscored one was last Tuesday and I got a 501.
The section bank questions, I got (cp/bio/psych) 62%/61%/61%


NS1 - 127/123/125/128
NS2-127/127(YES)/127/126
NS3-126/125/127/127
NS4-127/121(NO)/126/126

Man, essentially everything is riding on that CARS score for you (hate to say it). Otherwise your science scores are at least consistent. Maybe try grabbing the Qpack from AAMC?

Edit: just saw your AAMC. Not sure what to say about that. Are you giving yourself time to review your tests to understand what is going wrong?

 

[aalamruad]

I dont think I should take june 2nd. I just took NS4 and my score dropped down D:
NS1: 503
NS2: 507
NS3: 505
NS4: 500
I'm trying to get a 515 on the real one but now im not so sure

Based on your NS scores, you should get around 511-512 on the real thing.

 

[Hospitalized]

Based on your NS scores, you should get around 511-512 on the real thing.

Nah man, he got a 494 on the scored AAMC. That's a lot more telling in my opinion. I've never seen that situation before but I would definitely trust the AAMC. Unless you took the AAMC before the NS and content review.

 

[Terror Billy]

Hey guys really dumb question, but on the actual MCAT there are only going to be 4-5 questions per passage on CP, BB, and PsS right? Haha Section Bank has me a bit confused, taking the scored on Monday...

 

[Mr. otcoD]

Nah man, he got a 494 on the scored AAMC. That's a lot more telling in my opinion. I've never seen that situation before but I would definitely trust the AAMC. Unless you took the AAMC before the NS and content review.

The 494 was a LOT of stupid mistakes and i literally gave myself 2 days in between to learn a whole bunch of concepts I didn't understand and just didnt know. I took the scored one(last saturday) before the unscored one (last tuesday)

 

[Lola222]

Does anyone know what a 65% translates to from EK to the real thing? Granted I took those a month ago, but I'm literally stressed I'll take anything haha

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Does anyone know what a 65% translates to from EK to the real thing? Granted I took those a month ago, but I'm literally stressed I'll take anything haha

505

y =0.4908x+473.13

Source:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/charts-predicting-mcat-scores.1176218/

 

[sleepyhead22]

Any advice on what FL to take tomorrow? So far I've gotten 65% on EK1 and EK3, 512 on NS1, and roughly 508 on unscored. Debating whether to postpone my June 18th test, consistently getting low scores on C/P but solid scores in all other sections. Should I take the scored FL tomorrow and decide if I should postpone? Or should I do another EK FL or a TPR test (just bought the TPR psych book so I think you get some FL's with that)? Are the TPRs worth doing? I don't really want to waste my AAMC FL this far out, but I also haven't been feeling confident in what to focus on.

 

[Iz_FtB]

Any advice on what FL to take tomorrow? So far I've gotten 65% on EK1 and EK3, 512 on NS1, and roughly 508 on unscored. Debating whether to postpone my June 18th test, consistently getting low scores on C/P but solid scores in all other sections. Should I take the scored FL tomorrow and decide if I should postpone? Or should I do another EK FL or a TPR test (just bought the TPR psych book so I think you get some FL's with that)? Are the TPRs worth doing? I don't really want to waste my AAMC FL this far out, but I also haven't been feeling confident in what to focus on.

Personally, I don't think there is any advantage to waiting until the last few days before the exam to write the scored. Because if you do well on it, you can walk into the exam confident you know your stuff, which is fine, but if you do poorly, then what? The longer you wait to take the scored, the less time you'll have to use it as a teaching resource.

My feeling is to take the scored about 2 weeks out of your date, and using your performance on the exam to guide your studying in the last stretch.

 

[bYGODSGRACE]

Hey guys does anyone know the equation to convert your percentage scores on the unscored AAMC into a real number?

 

[A to the Z]

Hey guys ive been studying for a couple months now. Im not sure at what level I am at or what to improve on besides psych. Im taking my last exam which is NS FL 1 Sunday before the June 2 exam. I want to score in the 505-508 range. Atleast a 505. Break down of my scores as follows.

This was the order I took them in. Unfortunately i didnt take a specific course from a company. Im basically all over. I did khan academy/ exam cracker books.

AAMC Sample- 63%/77%/66%/58% - After the first month
Princeton Diagnostic- (498) - 123/124/125/126
Kaplan 1/2 (497) - 123/123/126/125
AAMC FL scored- (503) 126/125/128/124 --- Percent correct 71%/68%/80%/64% ( Second Month).
Next Step 1/2 -(501) 126/124/124/128

Section Banks
Chem-68%
Bio-55%
Psych-51%

Any Particular Suggestions?

 

[sks1313]

I took those last week.
The scored one i got a 494. The unscored one was last Tuesday and I got a 501.
The section bank questions, I got (cp/bio/psych) 62%/61%/61%


NS1 - 127/123/125/128
NS2-127/127(YES)/127/126
NS3-126/125/127/127
NS4-127/121(NO)/126/126

Hey man, I wouldn't fret too much about CARS. I for one am very confident with CARS and have been scoring 83% plus on AAMC material. The CARS on NS is just plain hard, and from your first three scores, it looks like you'll be fine. On my 6 NS FL's, I have scored between 125-127.

 

[sks1313]

Quick Question: do you guys know the Krebs cycle intermediates (like fumarate, malate, etc..) and their structures? Is that necessary to know?

 

[sleepyhead22]

Hey guys ive been studying for a couple months now. Im not sure at what level I am at or what to improve on besides psych. Im taking my last exam which is NS FL 1 Sunday before the June 2 exam. I want to score in the 505-508 range. Atleast a 505. Break down of my scores as follows.

This was the order I took them in. Unfortunately i didnt take a specific course from a company. Im basically all over. I did khan academy/ exam cracker books.

AAMC Sample- 63%/77%/66%/58% - After the first month
Princeton Diagnostic- (498) - 123/124/125/126
Kaplan 1/2 (497) - 123/123/126/125
AAMC FL scored- (503) 126/125/128/124 --- Percent correct 71%/68%/80%/64% ( Second Month).
Next Step 1/2 -(501) 126/124/124/128

Section Banks
Chem-68%
Bio-55%
Psych-51%

Any Particular Suggestions?

I purchased TPR Psych on amazon Monday, got it yesterday and am already halfway though it and it's been very helpful for psych. Ek psych book is really weak, so I bet you could boost your psych score by a few points just by reading the TPR book ($30). Nice work increasing your C/P, that's a weakness of mine- how did you increase your score there?

 

[BlastedHeath]

I dont think I should take june 2nd. I just took NS4 and my score dropped down D:
NS1: 503
NS2: 507
NS3: 505
NS4: 500
I'm trying to get a 515 on the real one but now im not so sure

Can you tell when you are doing poorly? Like do you need to resort to guessing or do you think you know things and miss them? Since your scores have kind of bounced around, but you have shown good scores in individual sections, might be a good idea to try to take it, see how you feel and void if necessary. Worst case scenario you get extra practice. I think it is too late to postpone anyway isn't it?


BTW, reading everyone else freaking out is really starting to cause me to freak out. I should stop checking SDN until the test. Probably won't though.

 

[Nickerbocker]

I purchased TPR Psych on amazon Monday, got it yesterday and am already halfway though it and it's been very helpful for psych. Ek psych book is really weak, so I bet you could boost your psych score by a few points just by reading the TPR boom ($30). Nice work increasing your C/P, that's a weakness of mine- how did you increase your score there?

Some pretty useful notes in this thread - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/share-your-psych-socio-notes.1148698/page-3

 

[aalamruad]

505

y =0.4908x+473.13

Source:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/charts-predicting-mcat-scores.1176218/

You're supposed to add ~8 to that for EK, after using the EK equation, so it's actually around 513

 

[A to the Z]

Quick Question: do you guys know the Krebs cycle intermediates (like fumarate, malate, etc..) and their structures? Is that necessary to know?

I spent a lot of time trying to memorize it. It's helpful on the section banks but for every other exam it was sorta useless. Know the ins and outs for the reactions and their overall purpose.

 

[theNDhopeful44]

Dunno. I got a 497 on the first FL I took from them with 1 week of dedicated content review. I think they have it out as an advertisement right now though, so they might be trying some reverse psychology compared to the rest of the test prep companies who deflate their diagnostics pretty severely (I'm looking at you, Kaplan).

Did you do the half length, 29 questions per section one?

 

[A to the Z]

I purchased TPR Psych on amazon Monday, got it yesterday and am already halfway though it and it's been very helpful for psych. Ek psych book is really weak, so I bet you could boost your psych score by a few points just by reading the TPR boom ($30). Nice work increasing your C/P, that's a weakness of mine- how did you increase your score there?

I actually do have the tpr book. Got it from my friend because I saw she was doing awesome in it compared to everything else. I've gone through it twice now and done the end of lecture quizzes. Usually got 80% what screws me is that I get it to two and end up picking the wrong one. Usually the ones asking experimental questions.

My c/p was lacking amino acids. I didn't really hammer them down on the first sample. That made a real difference on the scored. I took the section bank for Chem today. It got easier as it went for me. Like the last 50 questions were easier. After the sample i went back and re reviewed everything Chem/ phys/ bio/ bio chem etc. I even did all the khan passages and quiz questions. Once ingot a general trend for it I did the scored. The aamc questions were more straight forward than any other exam for Chem/ phys imo.

 

[sleepyhead22]

You're supposed to add ~8 to that for EK, after using the EK equation, so it's actually around 513

Well that makes me feel a lot better because I did around the same and have been stressing over my scores. Thanks for that!

 

[Nickerbocker]

Nice!!! I felt the same way for the same reason hahah

Yeah, but doing the Section Bank definitely helps me in preparing for the official FLs. My guess is that the real deal will feel like the FLs, and the difficulty would be in between the FLs and the Section Bank.

 

[Lola222]

You're supposed to add ~8 to that for EK, after using the EK equation, so it's actually around 513

Wow haha, considering I felt like the EK tests were slowly trying to destroy me, that makes me very happy! Since I got a 508-510 on the unscored, hopefully this means I can at least get a 510 🙂

 

[aalamruad]

Wow haha, considering I felt like the EK tests were slowly trying to destroy me, that makes me very happy! Since I got a 508-510 on the unscored, hopefully this means I can at least get a 510 🙂

How did you find your score for the unscored test? Did you just plug it into the formula and then add 6.44, 5.76, or 6.22 based on the range that you fell in?

 

[Lola222]

How did you find your score for the unscored test? Did you just plug it into the formula and then add 6.44, 5.76, or 6.22 based on the range that you fell in?

I didn't use a formula. There was some chart I found on here that converted percentages into scores. This formula stuff is all new to me haha

 

[Aristeidis]

AAMC scored 507- breakdown 127/124/127/129
Unscored- c/p-75%/cars-77%/b/b-75%/p/s-75% (508 after conversion)

In the order taken:
ns1-126/123/125/127 (502)
ns4-127/124/125/126 (502)
ns3- 127/124/126/127 (504)
ns2- 126/126/126/127 (505)
ns5- 126/124/127/126 (503)

I took both the aamc's in December because I wanted to write back then, figured I wasn't ready and pushed it to the summer. I know you're not suppose to retake tests, but I'm just disclaiming that so that I can get honest feedback.

EDIT: I retook the aamc's 4 months after taking it back in january. I honestly didn't remember anything from the scored when I took it the second time.

What do you guys think? Are these okay scores to be getting? I know its nothing extraordinary. My cars is a bit low but I'm shooting for about a 507 on the real deal. Does it seem realistic? It's so hard to judge based on the low scores you get on non aamc tests. Also, all the next steps were taken after the AAMC. I took AAMC tests both about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Lola222]

AAMC scored 507- breakdown 127/124/127/129
Unscored- c/p-75%/cars-77%/b/b-75%/p/s-75% (508 after conversion)

In the order taken:
ns1-126/123/125/127 (502)
ns4-127/124/125/126 (502)
ns3- 127/124/126/127 (504)
ns2- 126/126/126/127 (505)
ns5- 126/124/127/126 (503)

I took both the aamc's in December because I wanted to write back then, figured I wasn't ready and pushed it to the summer. I know you're not suppose to retake tests, but I'm just disclaiming that so that I can get honest feedback.

What do you guys think? Are these okay scores to be getting? I know its nothing extraordinary. My cars is a bit low but I'm shooting for about a 507 on the real deal. Does it seem realistic? It's so hard to judge based on the low scores you get on non aamc tests. Also, all the next steps were taken after the AAMC. I took AAMC tests both about 3 weeks ago.

I would work on the CARS. It was much easier on the unscored exam that the real one should be, so the fact that you got 77% on that means you should try and practice the next day or two if you can (I know it's hard to practice for CARS).

 

[aalamruad]

AAMC scored 507- breakdown 127/124/127/129
Unscored- c/p-75%/cars-77%/b/b-75%/p/s-75% (508 after conversion)

In the order taken:
ns1-126/123/125/127 (502)
ns4-127/124/125/126 (502)
ns3- 127/124/126/127 (504)
ns2- 126/126/126/127 (505)
ns5- 126/124/127/126 (503)

I took both the aamc's in December because I wanted to write back then, figured I wasn't ready and pushed it to the summer. I know you're not suppose to retake tests, but I'm just disclaiming that so that I can get honest feedback.

EDIT: I retook the aamc's 4 months after taking it back in january. I honestly didn't remember anything from the scored when I took it the second time.

What do you guys think? Are these okay scores to be getting? I know its nothing extraordinary. My cars is a bit low but I'm shooting for about a 507 on the real deal. Does it seem realistic? It's so hard to judge based on the low scores you get on non aamc tests. Also, all the next steps were taken after the AAMC. I took AAMC tests both about 3 weeks ago.

Looks like you're in pretty good shape!

 

[Aristeidis]

I would work on the CARS. It was much easier on the unscored exam that the real one should be, so the fact that you got 77% on that means you should try and practice the next day or two if you can (I know it's hard to practice for CARS).

Do you have any tips? At this point I just don't know what to do with cars. :'(((( Ive looked up everything and it seriously jsut comes down to whether I get caught up on a few questions or a hard passage and its just a trembling effect from there on down. How do you guys approach hard passages that make no sense or questions that throw you off. Just guess and move on? There's gotta be something!!!

 

[Lola222]

Do you have any tips? At this point I just don't know what to do with cars. :'(((( Ive looked up everything and it seriously jsut comes down to whether I get caught up on a few questions or a hard passage and its just a trembling effect from there on down. How do you guys approach hard passages that make no sense or questions that throw you off. Just guess and move on? There's gotta be something!!!

CARS is the one thing that came naturally to me. (Physics on the other hand...lol). But one thing that I emphasize is write a main idea for each paragraph! And then at the end I look over each main idea and try and establish the entire main idea, and whether the author is for, against, or neutral. Since most tests ask a lot of " What does the author feel about this" or "How would the author change___" having a solid idea of what the author supports is KEY. Don't let a passage trip you up. Take it slowly, paragraph by paragraph. It can get so overwhelming when you look at entire page of babbling nonsense, but break it up and write stuff down!

 

[aalamruad]

Took the AAMC unscored sample test today, and scored a 522! Feeling great! 🙂

My percentages were 92/91/85/95 for a total of 90.75%; all 3 conversion systems/formulas I found on SDN calculated 522 based on that percentage, so it's good to see that there's some consistency between the various conversion methods.

I still haven't touched the official guide or q-packs yet, so I'm planning to go through those before I take the scored AAMC FL during the week before June 18th. I feel like I may have gotten a bit lucky with this score, so I'm hoping that those extra ~1,500 practice questions in AAMC's MCAT prep bundle will make me less prone to a lot of variation when it's time for the real deal. Unfortunately, I'm on the quarter system, so I still have to worry about finals until June 9th haha

 

[Hospitalized]

Did you do the half length, 29 questions per section one?

I did the full length Altius. I had E-mailed a tutor from here asking if I could try it out, was not very impressed. Every time you highlight something, this huge thing comes up on the middle of the screen for like a second, very distracting.