question from AAMC 5R

[mozdef]

hey guys I was doing 5r and came across a question that said "distance between adjacent crests and troughs is 1 m". Now without even thinking I took that to mean distance between adjacent crests or adjacent troughs is 1 m which would give a wavelength of 1 m. But it's really supposed to mean distance b/w a crest and an adjacent trough is 1 m, so wavelength is 2 m.

So am I the only ******* that would mistake this or is it worded kind of confusingly.

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[evoviiigsr]

its worded that way intentionally..otherwise everyone would get it right.. i remembered i missed that one too

 

[halekulani]

no i would read it as you read it

unfortunately we can't really challenge the diction chosen by the aamc test makers :\

i guess the key word there is 'and'. it would obviously be better if they used the singular form.

 

[axp107]

Nope. A ton of people missed that question.. I made a thread about it the other day.. and we all concluded that the question was VERY poorly worded

 

[mozdef]

Nice to know I wasn't the only one. You know with all the frustration that comes with the mcat they really should try to minimize on the vagueness. Normally i wouldn't mind because If I took it as something else than i deserve to get it wrong but in this question it seems like it should mean the other way around logically - and they can't and shouldn't fault us for that.

 

[MissionMD]

Just curious, how would you compare aamc cbt 5 to the other aamc. Easier/Harder/average?

 

[axp107]

Just curious, how would you compare aamc cbt 5 to the other aamc. Easier/Harder/average?

I found 4 and 5 to be easier than some of the other ones (atleast the science was)

 

[mozdef]

Just curious, how would you compare aamc cbt 5 to the other aamc. Easier/Harder/average?

Well this was my first practice test so I didn't do too well (only tried PS so far). About 10 questions I got wrong cuz of stupid mistakes and not reading the question properly or some such. Otherwise the content wasn't too hard except for some tricky questions like the gas evolved one and stupidly worded questions like the "adjacent crests and troughs" bah...

 

[chad5871]

hey guys I was doing 5r and came across a question that said "distance between adjacent crests and troughs is 1 m". Now without even thinking I took that to mean distance between adjacent crests or adjacent troughs is 1 m which would give a wavelength of 1 m. But it's really supposed to mean distance b/w a crest and an adjacent trough is 1 m, so wavelength is 2 m.

So am I the only ******* that would mistake this or is it worded kind of confusingly.

I actually read it the way they wanted it to be understood. I think if they wanted you to comprehend in your manner, they would have said "distance between adjacent crests and adjacent troughs is 1 m." I agree, though, it is a very poorly written question. I've come across several throughout my practices and it always seems so damn unfair!

What happens if we come across a question we think is worded unfairly on the real MCAT? Do they throw these questions out?