*Official MCAT January 2017 Thread*

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Singerpremed

Singerpremed

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Hi, I know there are many people who are also studying for the MCAT in January and I would like to connect with you guys and get insights. I'm currently taking a live online Kaplan MCAT course. I go to the University of Florida.
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ch91 said:
That's a great idea, I'm going to try it next time. I feel like that would be good if I run out of time on C/P (I seemingly always do thus far)...on CARS I actually tried NS's last minute strategy of reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph and it works surprising well in a time crunch. I definitely need to work on this before the 28th though...


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That's not a bad idea. However I still think it's best to fill in a random answer FIRST, then go back. It's a good strategy for when you do go back.

5 minutes seems premature but you will be surprised. Better safe than sorry too.
 
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Are you guys memorizing sin angles?? I just did a practice quiz on Kaplan where about 1/3 of the questions required you to know that sin45 = (sqrt2)/2 etc.
 
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Thoth said:
Are you guys memorizing sin angles?? I just did a practice quiz on Kaplan where about 1/3 of the questions required you to know that sin45 = (sqrt2)/2 etc.
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Only these:

cos (30) = 0.87 cos (60) = 0.5
sin (30) = 0.5 sin (60) = 0.87
both (45) = sqrt2/2

Anything in between? As degrees go up, sin value is getting closer to 1 while cos value is going farther from 1.
 
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Allina23 said:
Has anyone else felt that the CARS question pack #1 was more difficult than the AAMC #1 and sample test?
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I haven't done the sample test yet, but QP1 CARS was much harder than the OG and FL1 CARS sections.

If you google this you'll see lots of discussion on here and Reddit about how QP1 is ridiculous hard (specifically, the first half).
 
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AnotherLawyer said:
I haven't done the sample test yet, but QP1 CARS was much harder than the OG and FL1 CARS sections.

If you google this you'll see lots of discussion on here and Reddit about how QP1 is ridiculous hard (specifically, the first half).
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Thanks that makes me feel a lot better!
 
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Wouldn't high level of Acetyl CoA feed into the Krebs Cycle and increase level of Oxaloacetate...
upload_2017-1-12_15-15-14.png
 
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shield349 said:
Wouldn't high level of Acetyl CoA feed into the Krebs Cycle and increase level of Oxaloacetate...
View attachment 213357
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As the explanation states, a low carb diet results in triacylglyceride (fatty acid (FA)) breakdown in adipose tissues for energy, since sugars are not being consumed. Yep, in the liver, the acetyl CoA will feed into krebs for a little bit and generate energy, but then once the adipose tissues start breaking down their FAs and sending the resulting glycerol and acetyl CoA to the liver, the acetyl CoA will inhibit PDH and activate pyruvate carboxylase. This will stimulate gluconeogenesis which, yes, will at first create oxaloacetate (OAA), but that OAA will quickly be turned into PEP and shunted up through the gluconeogenesis pathway to turn into exportable glucose (in the liver). The acetyl CoA (sent from the adipose tissue) which had previously inhibited PDH and stimulated pyruvate carboxylase will then be turned into ketone bodies in the liver, and sent as another exportable form of energy (for the brain, and other tissues that use ketone bodies).
SOOOOO moral of the story, the ketone bodies will INCREASE in the blood levels on a low carb diet, but the OAA will be turned into PEP (IN the liver cells, NOT the blood) to increase glucose concentrations in the blood stream.
 
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mrjan said:
As the explanation states, a low carb diet results in triacylglyceride (fatty acid (FA)) breakdown in adipose tissues for energy, since sugars are not being consumed. Yep, in the liver, the acetyl CoA will feed into krebs for a little bit and generate energy, but then once the adipose tissues start breaking down their FAs and sending the resulting glycerol and acetyl CoA to the liver, the acetyl CoA will inhibit PDH and activate pyruvate carboxylase. This will stimulate gluconeogenesis which, yes, will at first create oxaloacetate (OAA), but that OAA will quickly be turned into PEP and shunted up through the gluconeogenesis pathway to turn into exportable glucose (in the liver). The acetyl CoA (sent from the adipose tissue) which had previously inhibited PDH and stimulated pyruvate carboxylase will then be turned into ketone bodies in the liver, and sent as another exportable form of energy (for the brain, and other tissues that use ketone bodies).
SOOOOO moral of the story, the ketone bodies will INCREASE in the blood levels on a low carb diet, but the OAA will be turned into PEP (IN the liver cells, NOT the blood) to increase glucose concentrations in the blood stream.
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Someone is ready for the Bio section. I have some review to do.
 
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Slowly plowing through the C/P SB.

Is there a recommended order I should take the two scored FLs? I was thinking of doing 2 this weekend then 1.
 
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SangriaSalsa said:
Are you taking it 19th? I am on the 28th, so I'm taking AAMC #2 on the 21st. I bought the whole $200 pack thing from AAMC, so I've done about 70% of all of it. These last couple weeks just fine tuning and keeping the mind fresh
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I'm a 19th-taker, yes! I'm about done with AAMC stuff as well. For me, however, the last item is the AAMC #2 on Saturday, review on Sunday... then MTuW are about "keeping the mind fresh"... To be honest, I'm strugglin! I've been at this about 6 or so months and I'm just ready for it. Ready to check it off the list. It's difficult to do much more in preparation...!
 
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Any body think that the biology section bank was kind of hard? It may just be that I am hitting burn out. . .
 
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H_Scheck said:
Any body think that the biology section bank was kind of hard? It may just be that I am hitting burn out. . .
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I thought it was hard in that it focused more on your understanding of research design and interpreting experimental results than testing actual content information, which is what I imagine the MCAT more to be like.
 
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Ya these section banks are murderous!

Probably wasn't the best idea to schedule each 100 q category for each day, 3 days in a row on the first few days of school starting...

Scored 60-70% lol welp.

Avoiding panic and taking the "I'll take this as a learning opportunity" approach..
 
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DrivenAndDangerous said:
Ya these section banks are murderous!

Probably wasn't the best idea to schedule each 100 q category for each day, 3 days in a row on the first few days of school starting...

Scored 60-70% lol welp.

Avoiding panic and taking the "I'll take this as a learning opportunity" approach..
Click to expand...

Use the section banks as an example of the harder questions and the curve-breaking questions. I scored 62% on Chem/phys and 69% on biology and a few days later got a 516 on AAMC 1 (129/128/130/129).
 
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Carmiche said:
Use the section banks as an example of the harder questions and the curve-breaking questions. I scored 62% on Chem/phys and 69% on biology and a few days later got a 516 on AAMC 1 (129/128/130/129).
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That's refreshing, thank you.

Took AAMC FL 1 and received 512 BEFORE starting the section banks, so we'll see if they translate to a boost when I take AAMC FL 2 tomorrow!
 
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mrjan said:
Yo and hello. Just posting for the hell of it, and making myself available for questions.
Took the real mcat last summer - scored 511 but CARS was a heartbreaker up here in Canada (scored 125 - eye roll.)
Managed to bump my practice scores up a bit in the last few months. Won't bore you with the details of those because I've essentially taken them all.
But to answer some of the above questions - yes, I have done Testing Solutions for CARS. Curled into a ball and cried after nearly every test but the real deal is a cake walk now.
And to a second question asked above - I have done AAMC FL2. Score is as follows: 517 (129:130:130:128)

Open to any questions about the whole process/writing twice/testing solutions/AAMC Fls (and FLs from any other company for that matter)/applying in Canada/study strategies/life strategies/favourite dog breed, etc.

Hang in there champs - you're all superstars and we WILL get there. Deep breaths and naps and snacks and hugs are the keys.
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ahh, that's reassuring. i've taken 5 testing solutions sets and scoring about 123-125. aaaagh. any tips on improving speed? how do you approach each passage? i finish with maybe a few minutes left and not enough time to go over my answers to catch silly mistakes. also been working on the CARS Qpack 1, man it's a killer.
still have to take FL 2 so hopefully i'll see some CARS improvement!
keep at it guys, just a little bit more! confidence is key. then we can binge on all the netflix and cookies we want :p
 
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Finished section banks today and thought psych soc was really rough. Finished with 69% in psych and didn't feel like I had seen a lot of the stuff. Got a 84% in bio and 81 C/P which I think is a good sign
 
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Groggs said:
Finished section banks today and thought psych soc was really rough. Finished with 69% in psych and didn't feel like I had seen a lot of the stuff. Got a 84% in bio and 81 C/P which I think is a good sign
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Dude, based on your past scores and this... you're killing it. Great job!
 
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Hey guys can you help me out? I'm having trouble understanding the different research designs and when to use them can you guys explain the differences? (from the AAMC material it seems like the different research designs are: experimental, ethnographic, survey, comparative, cross sectional, longitudinal, correlational and case study)
 
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Orthopedics101 said:
Hey guys can you help me out? I'm having trouble understanding the different research designs and when to use them can you guys explain the differences? (from the AAMC material it seems like the different research designs are: experimental, ethnographic, survey, comparative, cross sectional, longitudinal, correlational and case study)
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Experimental/randomized - control vs. experimental groups
Cross sectional - studying subjects at a certain point in their lives (I tend to think of this as a tv show like Friends)
Longitudinal/case study - long term observation and periodic check ups on subjects (case study is a type of longitudinal study)
Ethnographic - anthropology, basically; studying culture/a group of people
Correlational - looks for relationships between things

I had to look up comparative and understood it as using animals to learn about human behavior like Pavlov and Skinner in terms of psychology. Comparative research in sociology compares different societies
 
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First time posting my results.
I start studying like 1 month ago and use Kplan books for FL1 and then use AAMC Questions Pack for practice Test. Thats all I have studied so far.
These are my Scores on AAMC.

AAMC FL1 (practice Exam) : 509 (128,127,127,127) 82 percentile
AAMC (practice Test #1): (C/P: 86% CAR:91% B/B:80% P/S:85%) I think this translates to ( 129, 130, 128, 129 ) How would I know my Score and Total percentile ? ( 516 ? 86% ? )

How much should I expect on Real Exam from the above scores. (+-/3 or more..)
I will take FL2 next Sat and may take NS1 next week.. Trying to Get 520 but might be a stretch..
What is the best book or online material to improve on B/B ?
 
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skyisblu said:
First time posting my results.
I start studying like 1 month ago and use Kplan books for FL1 and then use AAMC Questions Pack for practice Test. Thats all I have studied so far.
These are my Scores on AAMC.

AAMC FL1 (practice Exam) : 509 (128,127,127,127) 82 percentile
AAMC (practice Test #1): (C/P: 86% CAR:91% B/B:80% P/S:85%) I think this translates to ( 129, 130, 128, 129 ) How would I know my Score and Total percentile ? ( 516 ? 86% ? )

How much should I expect on Real Exam from the above scores. (+-/3 or more..)
I will take FL2 next Sat and may take NS1 next week.. Trying to Get 520 but might be a stretch..
What is the best book or online material to improve on B/B ?
Click to expand...
520 might be a stretch, but who knows. The FL2 will be a really good indicator. I just used kaplan for bio/biochem, khan academy has good videos
 
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I just took EK#3, that was really hard. I got 70%, compared to 71% on #1 and 74% on #2. It looks like most people say #3 is harder, and EK seems hard in general, so I'm not too worried. Having the 512 on AAMC #1 helps me feel pretty good. Next saturday AAMC #2 gonna be really important
 
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shield349 said:
Not my first take, took scored FL in May, so only the Scored FL 2 will be a fair gauge of my ability, let me know what you think of it when you take it.
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Took the AAMC Scored 2 pretty pumped! 513
130 (86%) C/P
126 (77%) CARS
130 (90%) BB
127 (81%) P/S

I thought the Psych was pretty hard honestly! The biology section went well after going over the biology section bank I had a 2 point jump from scored 1 (128-130)
 
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Took AAMC scored 2 wound up with 521: 132,130,130,129. For those who haven't done them I thought having practiced the section banks was very helpful for this one.
 
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AAMC FL #2: 513 (129/127/128/129)

I'm aight with it. Wanted a greater increase from AAMC FL 1 (512)... & goal is 515 on real deal (maybe not anymore lol), but I'm happy with anything over a 510.

Best of luck to you all! I'm coastin until Thursday
 
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Finished AAMC FL 2 as well, got a 515 (131/129/129/126). I noticed the scaling for P/S was kinda weird. I got 47/59 right but got a 126. On FL 1 I got 49/59 right and got a 128.
 
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H_Scheck said:
Took the AAMC Scored 2 pretty pumped! 513
130 (86%) C/P
126 (77%) CARS
130 (90%) BB
127 (81%) P/S

I thought the Psych was pretty hard honestly! The biology section went well after going over the biology section bank I had a 2 point jump from scored 1 (128-130)
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That's great man, the Bio score is very impressive, I've improved on a lot of things, improving on the Bio is something that isn't happening fast enough. When are you taking the exam?
 
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shield349 said:
That's great man, the Bio score is very impressive, I've improved on a lot of things, improving on the Bio is something that isn't happening fast enough. When are you taking the exam?
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Thanks I love the sciences! It is the CARS and P/S that kick my butt. . . I never could figure out CARS!I take it the 28th but I want to finish all of the AAMC material early and then just spend the last week reviewing some little things. Honestly, I wish I was taking it on the 19th just to get it over with!
 
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H_Scheck said:
Thanks I love the sciences! It is the CARS and P/S that kick my butt. . . I never could figure out CARS!I take it the 28th but I want to finish all of the AAMC material early and then just spend the last week reviewing some little things. Honestly, I wish I was taking it on the 19th just to get it over with!
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I'm taking it on the 28th as well, I was planning on taking AAMC 2 last on Sunday 22nd. CARS definitely not my thing either, somehow I did pretty well in my last 2 practice exams, I think a lot of it is confidence and attention to detail.
 
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Is anyone else scoring well but lacking confidence? I got a 515 on FL1 and 519 (estimated) on the unscored a week later. But I feel like on many questions I get the right answer not because I know it but because I can eliminate a choice or two and then make an educated guess. So I wonder, what if my guessing isn't quite so good on test day? Do other people feel like this?
 
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shield349 said:
I'm taking it on the 28th as well, I was planning on taking AAMC 2 last on Sunday 22nd. CARS definitely not my thing either, somehow I did pretty well in my last 2 practice exams, I think a lot of it is confidence and attention to detail.
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I am glad I am not the only one that thinks CARS is hard! Best of luck on the scored 2, I hope it goes well for you! I'm taking FL 11 from kaplan next weekend just to maintain stamina . . .uggh . . . I hate those tests likely I'll get something low haha
 
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Took AAMC FL#2 yesterday --521 (130, 130, 132, 129). Light review until Thursday. Good Luck everyone!
 
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AnotherLawyer said:
Is anyone else scoring well but lacking confidence? I got a 515 on FL1 and 519 (estimated) on the unscored a week later. But I feel like on many questions I get the right answer not because I know it but because I can eliminate a choice or two and then make an educated guess. So I wonder, what if my guessing isn't quite so good on test day? Do other people feel like this?
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Those are phenomenal scores, I would just trust yourself on test day! For me it seems like almost everybody is doing extremely well in this thread. Which scares me because its a curved test but then again I think the people that post in these threads are not as representative of the population as others. The scores I see on here are the scores people are comfortable sharing and I see less of the lower scores. I don't know if I am making sense but odds are you deserve 95% + scores that you are receiving and you will do great on test day! I am a retaker and I got close to the score I did the AAMC FL1 when I took it 507 last june and a 505 on the real mcat. This is why I am retaking it and now I have a (FL 1 512 which can only say so much because I already took it, FL 2 513, and Unscored of ~515), I am pretty confident that I can land a 510+ so you should be nailing at least a 513!
 
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H_Scheck said:
Those are phenomenal scores, I would just trust yourself on test day! For me it seems like almost everybody is doing extremely well in this thread. Which scares me because its a curved test but then again I think the people that post in these threads are not as representative of the population as others. The scores I see on here are the scores people are comfortable sharing and I see less of the lower scores. I don't know if I am making sense but odds are you deserve 95% + scores that you are receiving and you will do great on test day!
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This is reporting bias. Yes, I think it's real. And no, I won't tell you my scores.
 
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