Section Bank General Question

[Hopeful_Doc123]

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Hi All,

I am scheduled for April 13 and have thus far taken two AAMC FL's (512, 516), and have been getting about 85-90% on the question packs offered by the AAMC (I used Kaplan so I got everything as part of the course). I started the AAMC Section Bank today and it is very, very difficult. I am averaging closer to 70%, with each of the questions being harder than the last. I was wondering if anyone knew how they make these questions, and why they are so difficult?

Thank you!

 

[ADr.1Day]

Hey, from what I understood. Most people see a significant drop in the percent they get correct on the section bank. This study portion of the MCAT is brute. Although enough practice and understanding why you are missing the problems should help you grasp newer and/or similar material.

 

[907914]

Hi All,

I am scheduled for April 13 and have thus far taken two AAMC FL's (512, 516), and have been getting about 85-90% on the question packs offered by the AAMC (I used Kaplan so I got everything as part of the course). I started the AAMC Section Bank today and it is very, very difficult. I am averaging closer to 70%, with each of the questions being harder than the last. I was wondering if anyone knew how they make these questions, and why they are so difficult?

Thank you!

The section banks are reflective of new MCAT style and content, but they go a little too deep on the critical thinking side of things. Your goal with the SB should not be to get as many correct as you can (especially 9 days out from real deal) you should just be studying everything in there, both right and wrong, to understand the material and the thought process that got you there.

 

[Ad2b]

You might see 1 or 2 passages with the difficulty of the SB's ... maybe 3 but not likely ... remember that as you go through real thing

 

[907914]

You might see 1 or 2 passages with the difficulty of the SB's ... maybe 3 but not likely ... remember that as you go through real thing

My entire Biology section was at the SB difficulty just last Friday (save for the easy discretes).

 

[Ad2b]

My entire Biology section was at the SB difficulty just last Friday (save for the easy discretes).

That was your experience. In both times I've taken it, I saw at most 3 passages that were like the SB's. Passages to read were always a mess but the questions afterwards were pretty easy.

 

[907914]

That was your experience. In both times I've taken it, I saw at most 3 passages that were like the SB's. Passages to read were always a mess but the questions afterwards were pretty easy.

Oh yes, it is definitely highly variable - you are correct.

I just wanted OP to understand that it is not always going to only be a couple of difficult passages.

Not trying to scare you, OP.

 

[Hopeful_Doc123]

Thank you for your response! I was not super thrown-off by the passages themselves, but the questions seemed far more difficult than what I expected. Often there would be complex protein expression analysis, and the question would be something like "which of the following amino acids can be phosphorylated". I took the 2017 AAMC FL last week and thought it was fairly reasonable, I just don't know if it drastically changed this year.

 

[907914]

Thank you for your response! I was not super thrown-off by the passages themselves, but the questions seemed far more difficult than what I expected. Often there would be complex protein expression analysis, and the question would be something like "which of the following amino acids can be phosphorylated". I took the 2017 AAMC FL last week and thought it was fairly reasonable, I just don't know if it drastically changed this year.

That is a seductive reasoning question - you would just have to know which ones have an OH group on them (as those can easily be phosphorylated)

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

My entire Biology section was at the SB difficulty just last Friday (save for the easy discretes).

I have to concur 100% with this. I took mine last September. My B/B and C/P sections were most similar to SBs in difficulty and what they demanded of me.