Questions/passage didn't match!!

[wisguy]

Hey, did anyone else have problems with the verbal test today? Without being specific and violating the aamc's terms, here is the problem: I had a science passage about a the motility/physiology of one type animal and the questions were about the mating rituals/population genetics of a completely different type of animal. Did anyone else experience this??? Any clue about how the aamc will handle it?

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[whibbitts]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that mean that the people who retake just the verbal section on some random day will be more likely to do better than the people who took all three sections in one day? Part of the scoring on the MCAT is based on the stress OF the MCAT. How is it fair to put people in a virtually stress-free (or much reduced) environment where they know the only thing they have to do that day is Verbal and compare it to people who had Physics, Chem, and Bio material floating through their head, not to mention test fatigue, etc. by the time they reached verbal.

"Part of the scoring on the MCAT is based on the stress OF the MCAT" - based on that assessment all of us that got the IMPOSSIBLE passage and the order to "do the best we could" with it should get 15's for VR - agreed? How do you calculate the stress we endured in receiving such an error or the stress involved in having to re-take a test we did fine on the first time 3 months later. The stress of being unfairly separated from the rest of our fellow test takers due to an error by the AAMC. How do you factor that in? Test fatique? You're kidding me right. Test fatique is studying for the MCAT 60-hours a week for 3-months and having to re-take it because of a ridiculous error.

If they don't let us see our scores before deciding or give us the option to re-take the VR section I am frimly resolved to filing a lawsuit. It would have been one thing if everyone who received the faulty passage received it equally, but the fact the some were forewarned and that those people will be curved against those that didn't is 100% unjust and illegal. With a family full of lawyers this will be merely an another opportunity for us to come together and fight injustice.

 

[dr.kicia]

"Part of the scoring on the MCAT is based on the stress OF the MCAT" - based on that assessment all of us that got the IMPOSSIBLE passage and the order to "do the best we could" with it should get 15's for VR - agreed? How do you calculate the stress we endured in receiving such an error or the stress involved in having to re-take a test we did fine on the first time 3 months later. The stress of being unfairly separated from the rest of our fellow test takers due to an error by the AAMC. How do you factor that in? Test fatique? You're kidding me right. Test fatique is studying for the MCAT 60-hours a week for 3-months and having to re-take it because of a ridiculous error.

If they don't let us see our scores before deciding or give us the option to re-take the VR section I am frimly resolved to filing a lawsuit. It would have been one thing if everyone who received the faulty passage received it equally, but the fact the some were forewarned and that those people will be curved against those that didn't is 100% unjust and illegal. With a family full of lawyers this will be merely an another opportunity for us to come together and fight injustice.

go for it...and good luck. I think it will be hard to win.

 

[whibbitts]

go for it...and good luck. I think it will be hard to win.

some cower in the face of adversity some affect change.
just keep your head down and do what is asked of you and you'll get to the top, even if it's Stanley Milgram asking you to shock someone. who cares, you'll be "successful".

 

[dr.kicia]

some cower in the face of adversity some affect change.
just keep your head down and do what is asked of you and you'll get to the top, even if it's Stanley Milgram asking you to shock someone. who cares, you'll be "successful".

dude, you need to stop with the personal attacks here ...you are one angry individual but getting it out on ME is not going to change your score. Don't judge me because you don't know me.
If you want to sue AAMC then just go ahead and do it. My comment was not made in order to personally attack you nor it was sarcastic in any way. I was just stating a fact which is a difficulty of cases like this to be won.

suing AAMC and winning is going to be VERY hard to do. WHat you are going to prove?
Yeah they made an error...so what? They said they will not grade the passage and the test will be curved.
How can you prove you'd have had a higher score if you wouldn't stress out on your verbal section? And how will you prove you would have gotten to med school have you had a 'normal' passage and a high MCAT score etc ect...and what are you going to demend from them...a refund of your 210 bucks or money for anger management classes due to a high mental distress that AAMC have coused you?
I am just trying to be realistic. Sometimes it is better not to pretend you are a Don Kishot... Yes you can win these kind of cases but is it really worth your time? you said you have a business and can't really spend another 3 months to study for a re-take...then i assure you you if you go into a legal action it will take muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch longer then three months.
Sometimes it's just better to evaluate your risk/benefit ratio and figure out is benefit is worth the risk.

p.s
I hope you will find a peace within yourself so you won't end up as a very unhappy individuall.
Best of luck to you

 

[IckeyShuffle]

yes, in order to win a lawsuit you must show that harm came from the incident. There is no way for you to show that you were harmed in this incidence. You cant prove anything. the lawsuit definately would not be worth your time and money.

 

[whibbitts]

dude, you need to stop with the personal attacks here ...you are one angry individual but getting it out on ME is not going to change your score. Don't judge me because you don't know me.
If you want to sue AAMC then just go ahead and do it. My comment was not made in order to personally attack you nor it was sarcastic in any way. I was just stating a fact which is a difficulty of cases like this to be won.

suing AAMC and winning is going to be VERY hard to do. WHat you are going to prove?
Yeah they made an error...so what? They said they will not grade the passage and the test will be curved.
How can you prove you'd have had a higher score if you wouldn't stress out on your verbal section? And how will you prove you would have gotten to med school have you had a 'normal' passage and a high MCAT score etc ect...and what are you going to demend from them...a refund of your 210 bucks or money for anger management classes due to a high mental distress that AAMC have coused you?
I am just trying to be realistic. Sometimes it is better not to pretend you are a Don Kishot... Yes you can win these kind of cases but is it really worth your time? you said you have a business and can't really spend another 3 months to study for a re-take...then i assure you you if you go into a legal action it will take muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch longer then three months.
Sometimes it's just better to evaluate your risk/benefit ratio and figure out is benefit is worth the risk.

p.s
I hope you will find a peace within yourself so you won't end up as a very unhappy individuall.
Best of luck to you

I'm sorry if you took that personally. I'm not trying to attack you I'm attacking the idea that AAMC (or any organization for that matter) can make a mistake that seriously disrupts peoples lives and then neatly sweep them under the rug without any reprecussions. Ultimately you are right, it could be a huge waste of time trying to get the AAMC to capitulate and reimburse me for the cost of the exam, the Kaplan course and the time I lost income over the past three months - yup, I'm angry. Funny thing is I remember hearing that impossibility arguement numerous times before; when I was trying to get healthcare to remote and tribally marginalized villages in Guinea, West Africa with the Peace Corps, or when I was developing work force development programs for recovering addicts in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. Everyone said it was a waste of time, the politics and organizations involved in creating the disparities could not be forced to change, but in the end change was always affected. Perhaps your voice is reminiscent of all those in the past that explained the impossibilty of fighting and to just acquiesce to the powers that be and move on.

I'll try change me pronouns from "you" to "one" to help you not personalize the arguements. Call it a character flaw but I fight injustices rather than roll over and accept them.

 

[dr.kicia]

Dr. kicia, you might want to take a spelling class.
hahahahaha

non-native english speaker...i get it mixed up from the 3 languages i know...hard to keep it separate sometimes

 

[dr.kicia]

I'm sorry if you took that personally. I'm not trying to attack you I'm attacking the idea that AAMC (or any organization for that matter) can make a mistake that seriously disrupts peoples lives and then neatly sweep them under the rug without any reprecussions. Ultimately you are right, it could be a huge waste of time trying to get the AAMC to capitulate and reimburse me for the cost of the exam, the Kaplan course and the time I lost income over the past three months - yup, I'm angry. Funny thing is I remember hearing that impossibility arguement numerous times before; when I was trying to get healthcare to remote and tribally marginalized villages in Guinea, West Africa with the Peace Corps, or when I was developing work force development programs for recovering addicts in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. Everyone said it was a waste of time, the politics and organizations involved in creating the disparities could not be forced to change, but in the end change was always affected. Perhaps your voice is reminiscent of all those in the past that explained the impossibilty of fighting and to just acquiesce to the powers that be and move on.

I'll try change me pronouns from "you" to "one" to help you not personalize the arguements. Call it a character flaw but I fight injustices rather than roll over and accept them.

................

 

[GT2]

contrary to what most people say I think you can sue. Is it worth it... well, you determine that.

You think ETS got off the hook easily for messing up those SAT scores...

 

[moreliator]

It would have been one thing if everyone who received the faulty passage received it equally, but the fact the some were forewarned and that those people will be curved against those that didn't is 100% unjust

I agree whole-heartedly on this point - but are we 100% sure on the method they will use to compare scores? Is it possible for them to compare only tests on the east coast, etc?

This is probably my biggest concern with the whole glitch resolution - that they will not take into consideration the fact that west-coast test takers had the advantage of knowing there was a glitch.

 

[collinscs]

http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2007/070130.htm

sweet.

 

[whibbitts]

contrary to what most people say I think you can sue. Is it worth it... well, you determine that.

You think ETS got off the hook easily for messing up those SAT scores...

I have to agree with with Dr. K that it would probably be a huge waste of time. I think it would make more sense for me to craft a letter explaining what really happened and the impacts that it had on us, have you guys give me some feedback than send it out to every med school admissions dept as well as news agencies that covered the initial incident to allow them to follow up.

Dr. K, I'm sorry to hear about the situation in Poland. Working in Africa for 3 years nearly drove me insane due to the gross inequities there. Although the US is a litigious mess at times, it's because we have faught and still fight that we don't have a system as screwed up and unjust as the one you described in Poland.

 

[whibbitts]

I agree whole-heartedly on this point - but are we 100% sure on the method they will use to compare scores? Is it possible for them to compare only tests on the east coast, etc?

This is probably my biggest concern with the whole glitch resolution - that they will not take into consideration the fact that west-coast test takers had the advantage of knowing there was a glitch.

I took teh test in san Francisco, CA at 8am and had absolutely no warning. when I went into the lobby to ask about the passage the proctor said, "yeah, we've gotten some word about that..." she didn't think that maybe she should have passed that word on to the test takes. So unfortunately it's not as clear cut as eastside vs. westside.

 

[lilmirsk1]

Dr. Kicia, post your sob stories in another forum, also, this is my screen name for this website. It is not against whatever rule you speak of. This thread has been going smoothly until Dr. Kicia infiltrated. Start your career and stop monopolizing this thread. There would not be any personal attacks if you were not on this thread. Make like a tree and leave or report me to whoever you would like for telling you to do so.

 

[League54]

"Part of the scoring on the MCAT is based on the stress OF the MCAT" - based on that assessment all of us that got the IMPOSSIBLE passage and the order to "do the best we could" with it should get 15's for VR - agreed? How do you calculate the stress we endured in receiving such an error or the stress involved in having to re-take a test we did fine on the first time 3 months later. The stress of being unfairly separated from the rest of our fellow test takers due to an error by the AAMC. How do you factor that in? Test fatique? You're kidding me right. Test fatique is studying for the MCAT 60-hours a week for 3-months and having to re-take it because of a ridiculous error.

If they don't let us see our scores before deciding or give us the option to re-take the VR section I am frimly resolved to filing a lawsuit. It would have been one thing if everyone who received the faulty passage received it equally, but the fact the some were forewarned and that those people will be curved against those that didn't is 100% unjust and illegal. With a family full of lawyers this will be merely an another opportunity for us to come together and fight injustice.

Please do...if it goes class-action, I'm in.

 

[Gospe1]

So back to the MCAT. Does anyone know which address they will send the letter to? Also, this might have been asked before but I'm not caught up so is the east coast people going to be curved differently than the west coast? If someone gets an official letter please post it in the interest of all...

 

[GT2]

So back to the MCAT. Does anyone know which address they will send the letter to? Also, this might have been asked before but I'm not caught up so is the east coast people going to be curved differently than the west coast? If someone gets an official letter please post it in the interest of all...

all graded the same letters should be in Friday.

 

[noshie]

I did not take the January MCAT but I was on the website today and saw this, so I thought I would post it for you guys since I did not see it anywhere on this thread:

MCAT Test-Publishing Oversight Remedied
If you were among the examinees who sat for the MCAT on January 27, you may have noted a passage that did not relate to the subsequent questions. Please be assured that we will be able to provide you with valid scores after eliminating the problem items.

Approximately four percent of examinees voided the exam at the test center. If you were among this group, we understand that you may now wish to reverse this decision based on the knowledge that valid scores can be still be obtained.

We also realize, though, that some of you may believe your performance was negatively impacted, regardless of the validity of the scores, and would now like to void the test. If you would like to pursue this opportunity, you will receive a full refund and the voided test will not count against your yearly maximum attempts of three.

For those of you who voided your exam and now wish to obtain your scores, or for those who did not void your exam and now wish to do so, please know that the AAMC has mailed letters to all affected examinees with instructions for taking advantage of these options. Please allow for mailing time. The deadline for the AAMC to receive your reply is February 15, 2007.

The MCAT staff wishes to assure all examinees that publishing errors occur very infrequently and that technological systems are in place to quickly identify and rectify the situation. This particular problem has been resolved and should not recur. Please contact MCAT Examinee Services if you have any questions: (202) 828-0690.

 

[dr.kicia]

I did not take the January MCAT but I was on the website today and saw this, so I thought I would post it for you guys since I did not see it anywhere on this thread:

MCAT Test-Publishing Oversight Remedied
If you were among the examinees who sat for the MCAT on January 27, you may have noted a passage that did not relate to the subsequent questions. Please be assured that we will be able to provide you with valid scores after eliminating the problem items.

Approximately four percent of examinees voided the exam at the test center. If you were among this group, we understand that you may now wish to reverse this decision based on the knowledge that valid scores can be still be obtained.

We also realize, though, that some of you may believe your performance was negatively impacted, regardless of the validity of the scores, and would now like to void the test. If you would like to pursue this opportunity, you will receive a full refund and the voided test will not count against your yearly maximum attempts of three.

For those of you who voided your exam and now wish to obtain your scores, or for those who did not void your exam and now wish to do so, please know that the AAMC has mailed letters to all affected examinees with instructions for taking advantage of these options. Please allow for mailing time. The deadline for the AAMC to receive your reply is February 15, 2007.

The MCAT staff wishes to assure all examinees that publishing errors occur very infrequently and that technological systems are in place to quickly identify and rectify the situation. This particular problem has been resolved and should not recur. Please contact MCAT Examinee Services if you have any questions: (202) 828-0690.

and this is why sueing would be out of the question.
I think it is probobly the best they could do. Still will not turn back the time and many ppl wates a lot of energy, time and money for this...but i think it is the most reasonable accomodation that they could do.
Now you either wait for scores if you didn't void, void if you didn't void before but don't want the exam to be graded, or tell AAMC that you want your scores to be voided now. While no one will give you back the lost time you can at least get your money back.
I hope that this will work for everyone for the best

 

[GT2]

and this is why sueing would be out of the question.

no, it would not be out of the question.

 

[noshie]

That is absurd to sue them. It is just a mistake. People make mistakes. It was the first sitting for all CBT testing and they made a mistake. So get over it. I mean it sucks, but they have plenty of testing dates now and they are willing to get you in even if it is full. What are you going to sue them for, wasting your time? If people could sue for that then I would be a millionaire. Anyways, see it as a great opportunity to see what it was going to be like when taking the CBT test with the new format. Also you got a free practice test out of it. I think you guys are lucky actually, now you have another chance to take it and you get more time to study.

 

[dr.kicia]

That is absurd to sue them. It is just a mistake. People make mistakes. It was the first sitting for all CBT testing and they made a mistake. So get over it. I mean it sucks, but they have plenty of testing dates now and they are willing to get you in even if it is full. What are you going to sue them for, wasting your time? If people could sue for that then I would be a millionaire. Anyways, see it as a great opportunity to see what it was going to be like when taking the CBT test with the new format. Also you got a free practice test out of it. I think you guys are lucky actually, now you have another chance to take it and you get more time to study.

i don't think you will be able to convince anyone here...

I totally agree with your point.

 

[GT2]

noshie- People make mistakes yes. Are there consequences to mistakes? yes. Please read up or speak with someone who has a legal background before you make comments that it is absurd to sue.

there are so many "flaws" in your justification I rather leave them as they are for now and disagree.

 

[drizzt3117]

I'm not convinced suing the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) is the best course of action for those interested in getting into medical school...

 

[wisguy]

I have to agree with with Dr. K that it would probably be a huge waste of time. I think it would make more sense for me to craft a letter explaining what really happened and the impacts that it had on us, have you guys give me some feedback than send it out to every med school admissions dept as well as news agencies that covered the initial incident to allow them to follow up.

Dr. K, I'm sorry to hear about the situation in Poland. Working in Africa for 3 years nearly drove me insane due to the gross inequities there. Although the US is a litigious mess at times, it's because we have faught and still fight that we don't have a system as screwed up and unjust as the one you described in Poland.

I agree. I won't be retaking because it's pretty much impossible for me to get back to a testing site before Aug, but the admissions people should know. I took the test twice, so I hope they'll look at the scores from the first and second times and take the problem into account when judging any discrepancies.

I'll be gone for a few days, but does any one want to come up with a draft that we can all provide feedback on? Otherwise I could do it when I return. I really think it's best to get our scores and make sure that the schools know there was a problem.

 

[GT2]

I'm not convinced suing the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) is the best course of action for those interested in getting into medical school...

this statement I would agree upon.

wait for scores/accept then determine the cost benefit.

 

[bob123456]

I mean it sucks, but they have plenty of testing dates now and they are willing to get you in even if it is full.

Where did you hear that they will get us in even if it's full?

 

[HumbleMD]

.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

this statement I would agree upon.

wait for scores/accept then determine the cost benefit.

I agree with this. I would wait for the scores (don't void) and if verbal was outrageously low, then I'd look into a lawsuit to be able to void afterwards. I realize that some will say that's unfair to everyone else, but I don't think it's right that they won't let you see your verbal score before voiding.

I also realize it affected you on other parts of the test, but that, unfortunately, can't be resolved unless you void now. It isn't like you can see your BS score and then decide to void that section as well.

 

[caliboy007]

Well, here's the problem... if you decide to void, you WON'T test again until June. Pretty much all of the MCAT dates are full for most major cities, unless you want to go 300 miles away, which, for some of us without access to a car in college, is pretty tough. The advice I got from my pre-med advisor is take the scores and get a letter from AAMC explaining: a) what happened, and b) what they did to resolve the problem.

Now I'm sure it will be tough to get the latter considering AAMC says these are "fair results."

Has anyone received the promised phone call yet either?

 

[GT2]

Well, here's the problem... if you decide to void, you WON'T test again until June. Pretty much all of the MCAT dates are full for most major cities, unless you want to go 300 miles away, which, for some of us without access to a car in college, is pretty tough. The advice I got from my pre-med advisor is take the scores and get a letter from AAMC explaining: a) what happened, and b) what they did to resolve the problem.

Now I'm sure it will be tough to get the latter considering AAMC says these are "fair results."

Has anyone received the promised phone call yet either?

promised phone call has now turned in to a promised letter.

a valid point where if one is considering a lawsuit would would play a key role as well as a few other points which no one has brought up yet rests upon this.

 

[babycapybara]

Noone contacted me via email or phone by today as promised. I called the MCAT office, and was told a letter was in the mail and I would just have to wait for that. I just want some reassurance that they know my test was one of the affected ones.

 

[babycapybara]

Just got the official letter. I think I'll be taking no further action and wait to see my scores. Also states "you will not have an opportunity to void your scores at a later date".

I'm definitely saving this letter, maybe if my verbal score is crappy I can enclose it with my application to help explain what happened.

Nice of them to spend 4$ to priority mail this to me by today. Guess that's all I can expect from them....

 

[caliboy007]

I just called AAMC. They said a letter was in the mail. Using the good old excuse that because I was in college I would not get the mail for a couple weeks as my parents are out of town, they told me in essence "tough." They will "see about sending a duplicate letter to my colleg address." I also got a quote "Unfortunately we can't always accomodate everyone." So I asked the lady, "Oh is that the new AAMC motto?"

She would not give me a supervisor name or phone number. I asked repetitively for that. She also told me no new test dates would be scheduled and that unless there was a spot for an April exam, they could not further accomodate me. She kept putting blame on Thomson Prometric for the lack of seating, and I said then maybe AAMC should not have gone to the computer so quickly.

All in all, a pretty sad conversation. I made it quite known AAMC is not accomodating students and that their scoring system is quite unfair. She refused to admit to me that other test centers had forewarning until I pointed her to the statement on the AAMC website. She also refused to tell me exactly how they would score us and that "it is not based upon your results versus another" and i said tahts exactly how you do it, a bell curve.

Maybe if enough of us bug them, something will happen, but I doubt it. I'm glad I wasted 20 minutes of the AAMC employees' time.

 

[Four]

Hmm, accomodating more test times in April for those affected...it seemed plausible and doable on AAMC's part. Somehow, I feel you all can accomplish this through some lobbying, but right now, just access the situation.

I took it on Jan 27th, and I didn't get the passage of doom, but my deepest sympathies with you all. This was and still is being handled terribly. Just work with organizations and some people in position to find results. I don't know if automated emails or phone calls can get you all any further.

noshie, what made you think that AAMC would give additional seats to those affected? The void or no void decision seems like the only option at this moment.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

There is no reason AAMC can't, at the very least, come up with another test date for the people affected by their screw-up. No reason whatsoever. If I were you all, that's the main thing I'd be pushing for right now. There should be a test date set up in February or at the very latest, March. It's quite unfair to expect you to take the test in JUNE when you've been studying so rigorously for the last few months. Don't they realize people lighten their load at work and take a lighter class courseload and put off things like vacations and family time just to study for this thing?

 

[spart39]

Hi everbody,
I had the passage mixup on the 27th but like lots of people I want to see my scores. So I've decided to keep my test valid, but I just called AAMC and told them that I wanted a letter detailing the incident that could be sent out to med schools with my score. They put me on hold for a long time, and then took my number saying they would call be back with how to proceed, but it didn't sound like it was going to be a problem. So if you decide to keep your scores it might be a good idea to call and get a letter just in case.

 

[League54]

There is no reason AAMC can't, at the very least, come up with another test date for the people affected by their screw-up. No reason whatsoever. If I were you all, that's the main thing I'd be pushing for right now. There should be a test date set up in February or at the very latest, March. It's quite unfair to expect you to take the test in JUNE when you've been studying so rigorously for the last few months. Don't they realize people lighten their load at work and take a lighter class courseload and put off things like vacations and family time just to study for this thing?

Yea, another thing is that if this error did negatively impact my verbal score and I have to retake, there's no way I'll be able to send out my applications on June 1st like I had originally planned, I'll have to wait till the June scores are posted. I'm not going to completely freak out untill I actually see my score, but that fact will still be in the back of my head for the next 3 weeks, sigh.

 

[whibbitts]

Just curious, does anyone have any idea how many people were forewarned of the passage? If it's a small % than perhaps it didn't F' the curve that bad. If it was 20% or more than that's a huge disadvantage to those of that weren't warned.

 

[mc4435]

Just curious, does anyone have any idea how many people were forewarned of the passage? If it's a small % than perhaps it didn't F' the curve that bad. If it was 20% or more than that's a huge disadvantage to those of that weren't warned.

I am pretty sure the whole "forwarned about the passage" thing is just a rumor. Because I know for a FACT the message that all proctors got was that they should tell students to ignore the passage IF they ask about it, they were not to tell them about it beforehand. That is what happened at my test site as well.

 

[whibbitts]

To Whom It May Concern;

It is my understanding that it is the AAMC's official position that whether test takers were forewarned or not about the faulty passage was inconsequential to their performance and therefore will not be considered when scoring the tests?

I would like to verify that this is actually the AAMC's position so that I don't misrepresent your organization when presenting the story to admissions departments, media sources etc.

It has been well documented that many of the students that received the faulty passage without any forewarning wasted inordinate amounts of time trying desperately to drawing inference where there was none, which in many instances lead to us leaving the testing room while our precious test time was ticking away to report the incident to the test administrators. Many of us returned from talking to test proctors to find little to no time left to adequately address the final passage, let alone re-check any of our work.. Test takers that were forewarned, however, recognized the faulty passage immediately and didn't waste time trying to make correlations that didn't exist nor waste even more time leaving the testing room to discuss the error with proctors, leaving them with extra time to focus on the remaining portions of the test. Essentially, some test takers were given a full set of test instructions, including how to recognize the faulty passage, while others were given an incomplete set of instruction; missing that very key piece of information that indelible altered their ability to take the test. Nonetheless, the AAMC's official statement that, "some students may have tried to complete that portion before notice reached their testing sites, but they will not be graded differently, Jones said." Obviously this is a ridiculous stance for any standardized test administrator.
(http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197001914)

Do you really believe these two groups, the forewarned and not forewarned to be equal enough to grade them against each other? Do you think that is a fair test condition? Most importantly, do you think that unfair advantage given the forewarned is legal?

I will consider your official position on this as stated above unless addressed otherwise by someone from you organization.

 

[iheartrain]

i see that this is not going into a right direction. I didn't mean to offend anyone. All I am trying to say is that you guys are overreacting. Yeah it really sucks that AAMC screwed up, but ppl always get very stressed after the MCAT. I remeber how eveyone here was freaking out in April last year.

While they didn't have a screwed up passage there was always something that ppl complained about. This test was never fair but it is the reality and you can't do anything about it. Unfortunatelly dwelling on this will not change your score or turn back the time. All you can do now is wait and see what happens. You had a choice to void your score...and yeah that would suck too but i am sure that AAMC will accomodate those students somehow.

And if you were ready for the MCAT in january you will be ready in april.
I feel sorry for all of you who had to go through this and i wish you the best of luck. I hope it will turn out all good for you all.

you need to stop these posts- if you think these people are overreacting, you made your point (several times) and you can just stop reading this thread if you think it's much ado about nothing. i did not take the JAN test but if i did and had that passage i too would be furious with what happened and the lame options AAMC has given the test takers. i guarantee you wouldn't be dispensing your patronizing advice of "go to the gym" if this happened to you. if there was a class action lawsuit i would see nothing wrong with that.

 

[iheartrain]

dude, you need to stop with the personal attacks here ...you are one angry individual but getting it out on ME is not going to change your score. Don't judge me because you don't know me.
If you want to sue AAMC then just go ahead and do it. My comment was not made in order to personally attack you nor it was sarcastic in any way. I was just stating a fact which is a difficulty of cases like this to be won.

suing AAMC and winning is going to be VERY hard to do. WHat you are going to prove?
Yeah they made an error...so what? They said they will not grade the passage and the test will be curved.
How can you prove you'd have had a higher score if you wouldn't stress out on your verbal section? And how will you prove you would have gotten to med school have you had a 'normal' passage and a high MCAT score etc ect...and what are you going to demend from them...a refund of your 210 bucks or money for anger management classes due to a high mental distress that AAMC have coused you?
I am just trying to be realistic. Sometimes it is better not to pretend you are a Don Kishot... Yes you can win these kind of cases but is it really worth your time? you said you have a business and can't really spend another 3 months to study for a re-take...then i assure you you if you go into a legal action it will take muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch longer then three months.
Sometimes it's just better to evaluate your risk/benefit ratio and figure out is benefit is worth the risk.

p.s
I hope you will find a peace within yourself so you won't end up as a very unhappy individuall.
Best of luck to you

you don't know much about the law do you? people have sued over the temp of coffee that THEY spilled it on themselves- and won millions. a lawsuit again AAMC becuase they warned some but not others about the glitch could easily be won for emotional duress alone.

 

[ToGodALLGlory]

It was my proctor's first day administering the MCAT and I was the only one there taking it. They didn't know what I was talking about when I explained the error. I spent the rest of my entire test wondering if I should void and then decided not to because I thought for certain it was their error and I would probably get a retake unless I voided. It wasn't until I checked SDN when I got home that I realized it happened to so many people and it wasn't my fault in any way. How is that equivalent to someone who was warned? Why aren't they offering special retake days? I'm praying you get some answers and some positive action from AAMC with your letter.

I still haven't received any correspondence from AAMC. Anyone else?

 

[Four]

Yeah, most people have posted their automated email responses and generic letters from AAMC. And, I think that's all they're going to do.

Well, maybe if the community puts a little fear into them, they'll do more, but until then, that's about it.

 

[caliboy007]

Yeah, most people have posted their automated email responses and generic letters from AAMC. And, I think that's all they're going to do.

Well, maybe if the community puts a little fear into them, they'll do more, but until then, that's about it.

I have contacted a law firm specializing in Class Action lawsuits. I am waiting for a response to see if we have a case.

 

[whibbitts]

Ok, I just cleaned up some of the grammatical and spelling errors on my letter to AAMC explaining why it was not acceptable to score the unwarned against the warned in regards to the faulty passage. Instead of just sending the email to [email protected] and getting an automated registered complaint #, I looked up the addresses of individual AAMC staff in the directory; http://www.aamc.org/about/subjectlisting.htm and emailed everyone that I thought had any position that sounded relevant to the problem; all mcat staff, media staff, legal staff etc.

If anyone else wants to put pressure on AAMC to own up to their mistake and give us more reasonable and fair resolution options; re-taking just the section the botched (VR), setting up an immediate full test re-take, forcing everyone that got that section to have to re-take the entire exam as it is not fair to give such an advantage to the forewarned test takers - this would cause hysteria and force AAMC to a better resolution - I urge you to contact staff members directly. If you are afraid their might be some vindictive lash back on the part of the AAMC that could affect your admission to med school, realize that although they may have made some bad decisions in defining their resolution to the test problem, I assure you they would never step that far into such unscrupulous and unquestionably illegal activity.

MCAT Slaves Unite!

 

[whibbitts]

I have contacted a law firm specializing in Class Action lawsuits. I am waiting for a response to see if we have a case.

Nice work, thanks! I think our strong point is their cold admission that they knew there was a gross disparity in the testing conditions but nonetheless chose to blatantly igore that fact and move on, business as usua,l sweeping the affected under the rug.

 

[GT2]

what firm did you contact? you can PM if you'd like.

 

[bob123456]

If they think we have a case, I'm all for it.