September 2015 MCAT Thread

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DAF16

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Registration for the September MCAT opens up soon, so I thought I would make the thread.
Who else will be taking the test in September?
 
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Wow thanks for that post @HopefulPilot. Also, I'm surprised how representative the actual FL was compared to the real rest. It looks like the test takers in August were railed by their real MCAT (supposedly the hardest C/P section ever)
September 3rd for the win?
 
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HopefulPilot said:
Honestly I was sooo happy with the content of my test. The cars though.... So hard. Harder than any other fl I've taken... by like 20%. Look over the Reddit/r/MCAT thread to see how different tests happened today.
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:O Holy crap. Well at least you're finally done! Hahaha that's awesome.

I think I'm starting to get some actual anxiety for my test on the 12th. Feeling anxious for literally no reason at all. I'm just chillin here... :| This is really weird.
 
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Took the exam today:

C/P- barely any physics for me, maybe 3 questions total. I was surprised.
Cars- holy sheet those passages are longer, maybe because the font was huge, but when I practiced I was finishing passages in roughly 4 minutes, these took 6.
BB- a lot of fluff in these passages, just have to be able to follow the passage and don't get hung up on all the different names of variables
PS- good lord that was difficult, saw a lot of terms I never seen nor heard of before, I used EK and TPR and still had trouble. A good amount was also experimental questions

Overall- I felt prepared, but I can not tell if I did well or bombed. CP and BB I felt were my strongest while CARS and PS are a toss up between 125 (hopefully) or higher. AAMC FL was alright but no way was it as easy as the real deal. I could easily tell I did well on the AAMC FL but the real FL is more like a toss up.

Goodluck future Sept. test takers!
 
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I FINALLY hit 500 on kaplan fl 5! Breakdown: 124/125/127/124 (psych always gets me)
It was strange because I felt I was doing so bad on this one that I almost threw up during the lunch break. I did not expect it to be my best score yet. It might be low compared to most of you on this thread, but I was happy to see the 500. Time for an energy drink and review.
 
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For endurance, I eat as big of a breakfast as possible. This morning I had 4eggs, chicken breast 6oz, 2/3 cup pasta, 4-6tbsp cottage cheese(super secret), 1tbsp feta cheese, 1 cup yogurt, 3 cups milk, and a couple tea cookies.

For the most part, I was not hungry and had a very constant flow of energy, my liver stores felt stable through the exam. During each break I topped off with: banana, granola, cookie, peanuts, gatoraide, being careful not to over do it. I timed an overcompensation peak to occur around this day, such that I would be at a peak of strength and endurance. To elaborate, (because you may find it useful to know) when an experienced lifter completes a cycle of "work" (consider in a 1-hour of period you perform the following: 3x5x clean and jerk at 65%pr, 3x15x squats below parallel 75%pr, 3x7x incline press 75%pr, 1x5x deadlift 85%pr and then top off with accessory) suffice to say that is a done day, the next day and for days afterwards I spend sore and more or less "Wrecked", walking kinda funny and noticing many aches and pains. Give me 10~days and I am recovered at a modest 3400kcal/day with my bodyweight (165lbs). After the 10-12 days of recovery, I am generally stronger and ready for an increase in weight/lifts as I make progress this way. If I decide to lift, I increase weight slightly, and mark my progress down for proof it exists. If I decide NOT to lift, I will peak a few days later (peak in strength/power) and taper off, the way peaks tend to do once the stimulus is gone. So today was the 12th day, around the theoretical peak of my strength and recovery. Indeed, I was taking stairs four at a time and sprinting at 14.4mph GPS clocked for short distances without becoming very breathless (given the distance) which is a definite sign I had a significant store of anaerobic capacity. If my mind wasn't ready, my body was.

#1337 !!!!
 
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Took the exam this morning as well!

To everyone who thinks it's not worth it to study physics.... go study physics. There are multiple versions of the exam per test day and my C/P had a lot more physics that I expected
 
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sleepsound said:
Took the exam this morning as well!

To everyone who thinks it's not worth it to study physics.... go study physics. There are multiple versions of the exam per test day and my C/P was mostly physics and some biochem
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Oh no! My test is next friday and I BARELY covered physics! What do you think I should do for physics from now til then?
 
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Just finished taking the MCAT today..

Here are my thoughts

C/P - literally like a biochem section..maybe 1-2 physics questions, 1 orgo question (if any) and a lot of enzymes/thermodynamics. Also a few REALLY obscure biochem discretes that even my own college biochem professor didn't emphasize

CARS - around the 7th passage got extremely hard..passages were much longer than the AAMC FL. I would say the AAMC FL is NOT a good indicator of what the CARS section will look like. The FL had passages that were 1) short 2) easy to understand 3) questions that were also very easy/didn't require that much critical thinking.
lot of people I talked to after said that CARS was a massacre..lets see how it turns out

Bio/Biochem - A LOT of biochem..i think there were 0-1 genetics questions and very few systems questions

Psych/Soc- super tricky. I studied all the EK terms and the AAMC terms using Khan Academy but there were still some few obscure concepts that had me in between 2 answers..there def is not enough good practice material out there for psych/soc.

I used mostly EK FLs to study. I found EK to be overall quite helpful for the hard sciences.
 
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medgirl1993 said:
Oh no! My test is next friday and I BARELY covered physics! What do you think I should do for physics from now til then?
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i think they are trolling. never seen anyone emphasize physics. i myself took the mcat in april and thats all I'm saying. the major emphasis for this new test IS BIOCHEM. SO I WOULD KNOW BIOCHEM INSIDE OUTSDIE ALL AROUND AND ALL OF IT. WHATEVER YOU CAN UNDERSTAND OF BIOCHEM JUST DO IT.IM PUTING physics on the back burner but touch on it from time to time. i feel like they are all calculation based and ill get them wrong on the test anywyas.
 
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[QUOTED POST EDITED OUT BY MOD STAFF DUE TO COPYRIGHT CONCERNS]

I don't think this is violating the AAMC because it's a general science question, but if it is let me know. The bolded part of the quoted post is something I've seen people say about the more recent MCAT exams. It seems as if these questions about replacing one AA for another AA is a common biochem question, not only on the MCAT, but in biochem courses. Where can we learn about this/practice this?

Also, predoc it seems as if your exam had no biology? How would you have studied biochem/orgo better? Did you use the Khan videos?
 
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[QUOTED POST EDITED BY MOD STAFF DUE TO COPYRIGHT CONCERNS]

what is EK strategy?
 
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keepSwimmingNemo said:
troll. not you the person who said physics was on it
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I'm not trolling I swear!! I had 3 physics passages + several FSQ's! I'm being honest and just trying to help. It's atypical and unlikely but it could happen and it did happen to me today

Sorry I guess I exaggerated when I said "mostly physics", but there was definitely a substantial amount of physics and a lot more than I expected -- doesn't hurt to be prepared

To anyone that's interested, this might give you a better idea:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/3jflwz/september_3rd_exam_day_reaction_thread/
 
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It all depends on your actual exam. I've talked to people in my break yesterday and some said they had A LOT of physics, while other, like me, had barely any physics at all. I had like 1 physics passage with half the questions on it that are biochem and i think 1-2 discreets only
 
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Can anyone think of a really solid passage that tests biochem skills specifically? Even though I've taken biochem and combed through the AAMC outline I still get really freaked out when people say "Know your biochem!" because I'm not sure where the line is drawn between intro bio (not including physio or micro), organic chem, and biochem...?

Also I want to say thank you to those of you who have come back to this thread post-test to share your experience. I really appreciate it and wish you good luck on your scores!!! :luck:
 
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I am REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping that my C/P section is mostly amino acid biochemistry/enzymology. That's probably the one topic in the entire hard science sections of the MCAT that I am absolutely confident in.
 
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Quick question, would latent learning be classified under operant conditioning?

Edit: I'm leaning towards no..and if so, could it be classified under a learning category?
 
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Do you guys know what terms like: "-/-, +/-, bp, start sites" mean? I've especially been seeing -/- and +/- and +/+ a lot and do not understand what they mean. Thanks in advance!
 
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Only 1 more week guys....

Took NS 4 today: 128/127/129/128=512.... hopefully it means something good? I'd be more than happy with this as my actual score... but that 127 in CARS seems just out of reach...

Hope everyone's studying is going well!

Edit: for those of you who haven't taken the AAMC FL yet, I strongly recommend that you stay away from the NS 4 (and 5!). NS 4 had some very similar passages as the AAMC FL. sad that Next Step had to do this.
 
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TheAnonymous said:
Only 1 more week guys....

Took NS 4 today: 128/127/129/128=512.... hopefully it means something good? I'd be more than happy with this as my actual score... but that 127 in CARS seems just out of reach...

Hope everyone's studying is going well!
Click to expand...
nice job!
 
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HopefulPilot said:
so... just sitting around waiting for the next 32 days...

Looked up two 50/50 questions I had. +1/-1. Changed a right answer to wrong at the last second. I'm not going to look up any more I remember haha.
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Just sit back and enjoy your well deserved relaxation. I have no doubt you did very well on the exam. 🙂
 
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Hi everyone, haven't been on much since the beginning of the thread. Signed up for Sept 23. About to start doing EK FLs and also doing AAMC qpacks. I kinda stupidly did the AAMC FL right after I signed up for the test, back in late April.

It's getting closer! Looks like some really great practice scores on this thread. Keep up the good work everyone 🙂
 
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TheAnonymous said:
.... hopefully it means something good? I'd be more than happy with this as my actual score...
Click to expand...

Oh jeez, I was thinking you had already taken the exam and were still taking practice FLs to gauge your score... I was like, that is some next-level pre-med neuroticism! Anyway, sounds like you're on track for a great score to me! 🙂
 
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Time to take the AAMC FL tomorrow... So nervous. Aiyahhhh!!

How's everyone doing who's taking the test on the 11/12th? Nervous? Burning out? Losing motivation? Scared? Confident af?

 
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medgirl1993 said:
Do you guys know what terms like: "-/-, +/-, bp, start sites" mean? I've especially been seeing -/- and +/- and +/+ a lot and do not understand what they mean. Thanks in advance!
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I think the pluses and minuses mean like homozygous recessive, heterozygous, and homozygous dominant (respectively) in the context of alleles, but the meaning could vary between passages. +/- would just be like an intermediate between -/- and +/+
Also bp could maybe mean base pairs or blood pressure? Not sure what kind of passages you're looking at that say it. Not sure about "start site" either without some context of the passage.
 
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jimmypod said:
Time to take the AAMC FL tomorrow... So nervous. Aiyahhhh!!

How's everyone doing who's taking the test on the 11/12th? Nervous? Burning out? Losing motivation? Scared? Confident af?
Click to expand...
Taking my AAMC FL tomorrow too! (Although I already took it wayyy back in May when I started my prep)
Feeling pretty confident, but also just ready to be done with this shiz and move on with my life
 
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Hey September folks 🙂 Just discovered this page...I was hoping one of you could help me out...

I just finished taking the AAMC FL practice test and scored what I figured was a 505

Chem 126 % correct: 68.00% (40/59)
CARS 126 % correct: 72.00% (38/53)
Bio 126 % correct: 69.00% (41/59)
Psych 127 % correct: 76.00% (45/59)
Total 505 % correct total: 71.00% (164/230)

I've been studying for the MCAT for about 4 months, and have taken 4TPR FL's (2 of which I got 501 on and 2 I got 499 on), and 2 Kaplan FLs (both 496). I've also done a bunch of AAMC question packs and have been getting in the 70s range for most of the questions.

I have about a week left (I test on Sept 12th) until the MCAT, and judging by mcatjelly's pages and other people's scores, I figure that my actual MCAT score isnt going much higher than a max of 510, which I feel at this point I'd only get with luck and extreme concept reviewing. Do you have any tips for me to boost my score during this last week? (I really don't want to have to do the test again if i can help it). I still have another Kaplan FL left which I'll do soon just to build endurance, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how I can improve my score between now and then.

Thanks...🙁 #feelingdiscouraged
 
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HopefulPilot said:
With a week left, I'd skip the Kaplan fl. You've taken enough to know timing. I would spend the time thoroughly going over the aamc og and fl (I got an entire passage on the real thing right because I spent 20 minutes going over one question on one of those a few days earlier), weak areas over, and RELAXING.

Don't study the last day. Get a good night of sleep. I laid in bed for an hour before I fell asleep but that's alright if you give yourself a ton of time the night before.

Go in there knowing you have gave it your best effort. Don't think about prior sections as you move through it.

My mantra was "the answer is on the test." It's multiple choice, so even if you select a random guess, you still have a chance of getting it right.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I hear from multiple sources that studying the aamc questions is a good way to go. Are the AAMC CARS questions from the Qpacks good practice as well? I found them a little different from the FL.
Also, I noticed a lot of gene-related cell bio questons on the Bio section during the AAMC FL..coupled with experimental design and data interpretation questions. Is that what everyone means by "excessive biochem" on the MCAT?
Thanks again
 
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Bernoulli's Equation applied to the Circulatory System

I just found a great quote that is a wonderful read from @Vihsadas, especially when comparing ideal vs nonideal fluids and how these distinctions cause Bernoulli's equation to break down when it is tried on our blood vessels.

Vihsadas said:
Very simply, hydrostatic pressure is the pressure of blood against the vessel wall during blood flow. This force causes blood to seep out of the vessel.

I don't have EK, but blood flow in the cardiovascular system definitely does not follow bernoulli's equation.

I won't go into the math of it or an in depth explanation of Bernoulli's equation because it's not MCAT relevant. Therefore, some of the things I will say are gross oversimplifications but do lend a superficial understanding of how this concept applies to the cardiovascular system. Bernoulli's principle basically states that when the velocity of of a fluid through a tube increases, the pressure (more specifically, what is known as the fluid's 'gravitational potential energy') decreases. That is pressure and kinetic energy are 'traded' for one another in an ideal fluid flow system. This is essentially a type of conservation of energy.

Picture the following situation:
You have a tube that abruptly changes radius from a large radius to a small radius and an ideal fluid is flowing from the large radius section to the small radius section. In this situation, the fluid pressure of the fluid in the large radius part of the tube is actually greater than the pressure in the small radius part of the tube. In addition, note that the fluid velocity is higher in the small part of the tube than the large part of the tube.
Bernoulli's principle is basically saying that as a fluid's velocity goes up, it's fluid pressure must go down, and as it's velocity goes down, it's fluid pressure must go up. In essence, this is a form of conservation of energy; the increase in kinetic energy of the fluid going from the large part of the tube to the small part of the tube occurs at the expense of a drop in fluid pressure.

**EDIT: Wikipedia actually explains this decently well. It's a little too in depth for the MCAT, but here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_principle ** (See Diagram)

Okay so realizing that fact, now think about what is observed to happen in the blood vessels.

As you go from the aorta to the capillaries, The cross-sectional area of the sum of the tubes increases.
1) That is, the cross-sectional area of the capillaries summed together is far greater than the cross-sectional area of the aorta.
2) Also remember that fluid velocity is higher in the aorta than in the capillaries.
3) In addition, blood pressure is observed to decrease from the aorta to the capillaries. That is, pressure decreases as you move toward the veins.

But wait a minute...didn't we just say that Bernoulli's principle states that if the velocity of a fluid were to decrease, that there must be a concurrent increase in the pressure of the fluid? Doesn't that imply that pressure should increase as we move from the aorta (small cross-sectional area) to the capillaries (large cross-sectional area)? Yes, that is Bernoulli's principle. Hmmm...so what's wrong? This means that Bernoulli's principle is not satisfied by the circulatory system!! But why?

It should be noted that Bernoulli's principle only really applies under some very ideal conditions: Non-turbulent flow, laminar flow, incompressible fluids and low mach numbers. The cardiovascular system does not satisfy those requirements save low mach numbers and incompressibility (and even incompressibility is not satisfied at the level of the capillaries for reasons explained below.)

Now if you were talking flow JUST in a large single tube artery, then you could make an approximation with Bernoulli's equation. The cardiovascular system, however is not a laminar flow system, but rather a pulsatile flow system (think beating heart), it also has many imperfect bifurcations (branches) which cause turbulent flow, and also, its has particles in the fluid (Cells, proteins, etc.) which are not a negligible size as the arteries branch off into smaller and smaller tubes. In capillaries, the red blood cells can be the same width as the capillary itself. In those situations, the fluid is no longer incompressible...heck some would argue it's not even really a fluid. Thus, overall, Bernoulli's equation does not hold for the circulatory system!

We can conceptually break the 'equilibrium' between pressure and kinetic energy from Bernoulli's equation into two principles based on cross-sectional area:
**Note that the following argument is not entirely accurate, and is functional only in terms of the cardiovascular system.

1) "As Cross-sectional area increases, fluid velocity decreases"

and

2) "As Cross-sectional area increases, fluid pressure increases."

For the cardiovascular system, the first one is true, and is seen in the continuity equation: A1v1 = A2v2. In other words, as we move from aorta to capillaries, the fluid velocity decreases.

The second part though, is not true. In fact, as we move from aorta (small cross-sectional area, high velocity) to capillaries (large cross-sectional area, low velocity), the pressure decreases. It does not increase! This is contradictory to Bernoulli's principle for ideal fluids.

So you must be very careful when applying Bernoulli's principle to the cardiovascular system. You must keep straight that the cardiovascular system as a whole does not follow the ideal laws of fluid flow!
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Can someone clarify something for me?

A lot of people have been saying to know the pKas of the amino acids. Do you mean know the SPECIFIC pKas to the decimal? Or do you mean a general idea of the pKas? For example, pKa 9-10 for amino group and 2-3 for carboxylic group. Also, it's pretty obvious that the pIs of acidic amino acids are less than those of basic amino acids.

Is that enough? Or do you SERIOUSLY need to know the specific pKas of amino acids? Like would questions on the MCAT compare whether lysine or arginine is closer to the + terminal of a gel electrophoresis experiment (this would be tough considering they're both basic amino acids)?

Thanks!
 
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ieatshrimp24 said:
Can someone clarify something for me?

A lot of people have been saying to know the pKas of the amino acids. Do you mean know the SPECIFIC pKas to the decimal? Or do you mean a general idea of the pKas? For example, pKa 9-10 for amino group and 2-3 for carboxylic group. Also, it's pretty obvious that the pIs of acidic amino acids are less than those of basic amino acids.

Is that enough? Or do you SERIOUSLY need to know the specific pKas of amino acids? Like would questions on the MCAT compare whether lysine or arginine is closer to the + terminal of a gel electrophoresis experiment (this would be tough considering they're both basic amino acids)?

Thanks!
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I think they mean know the pKa of when the amino acid dissociates. For ex, an uncharged amino acid with only 2 ionizable groups (take glycine for example) has a COOH and an -NH3+ group. At low pH, the amino acid is positively charged. Once it crosses pKa 2 (of the COOH group), the -COOH's deprotonates when pH crosses 2 (and becomes more basic, say at pH 5)..because there are far less H+'s in solution for it to stay protonated. The NH3+ group stays protonated being basic, so the aa becomes positively charged. At isoelectric point (pI= (pKa1+ pka2)/2), all glycine molecules in solution become zwitterions.
Once pH increases and crosses pKa of NH3 (around 9), NH3+ gets deprotonated and the resulting charge becomes negative (from COO-). So at high pH a neutral amino acid is negative.

Amino acids with multiple ionizable groups (glutamate, aspartate etc) have an extra COOH or NH3, so that plays in to the charge of the amino acid...
 
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Death in family - not my dad - am flying "home" on Tue night after class, funeral on Weds, burial on Th in a different location, flying back on Th night, driving on Fr to MCAT site, sitting for MCAT and then 🙁 voiding the exam. It will be my practice test.

I will then withdraw from this cycle 😢 , take the test in January, have everything ready to go June 1, and apply. At the age of 51.

Good luck to everyone taking it for real on the 11th, 12th, and 23rd. Go nail this thing!!! 🙂 🙂
 
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@Ad2b Oh dear...good luck with everything man. Hope your mcat goes well in Jan, and sorry for your loss 🙁
 
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Should I do the qpacks first, or the AAMC FL? I was originally going to take the FL tomorrow and then do the qpacks on Mon/Tue/Wed but I wasn't sure if I should get a bit more studying in before the AAMC FL? My exam is on Sept 12....

Hope everyone's studying is going well. It will all be over soon 🙂

And @Ad2b so sorry for your loss, I wish the best to you and your family
 
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If you feel confident enough, do the FL tomorrow so that you are familiar with the question style. If you need more concept reviewing, do it on monday. But i wouldn't delay too much
 
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I encountered a question that asks for the smallest substance amoung the following : Na+, Cl-, Proteins and K+. I went with atomic radii and chose Cl- but the answer is Na+. So does this question refer to the smallest by mass? or is it because the sodium cation has one less electron (kinda like Neon) and that the Cl- anion has one extra electron, making it as big as Argon?
 
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@orgogogo - do the q-packs first. But since you are so close to the 12th, I guess I'd do the ones in your WORST section today and tomorrow. Take the questions one at a time and check your answer (use accommodated feature, write down EVERY ONE of the questions you get wrong or are fuzzy on) and then take the FL on Monday.

If you can do two q-packs today, do that and then the FL tomorrow.
 
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Hey all, haven't posted in a while! Life, being as insane as it is, ended up giving me some pretty unfortunate events.
Anyhow, thought I'd give my scoop on the exam.
Only got 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep due to it being so humid + hot in my dorm room that I couldn't sleep at all; I was so confident and not nervous, but then once I had laid in bed from 8:30 to 12 and still couldn't sleep started getting pretty mad lol, but still feel like I did well (fingers crossed!!). My brain is split between "yea you probably didn't do bad at all!" and "yep, you failed it." but I think it's only normal.

P/C: felt easy enough, definitely very fair. Lots of orgo, biochem, obscure gen-chem questions and a very small amount of easy physics. Thought it was very fair. Like I said, only got 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep the night before so was tired to stat, then adrenaline kicked in, freaked out for about 5 minutes that I was "OMG taking the REAL MCAT" then it was smooth sailing from there.

CARS: CARS felt as good as CARS can feel. CARS has always been the subject I feel subjectively worst on, but overall I am optimistic. (Who am I kidding we all know after 2 days you feel like you failed everything!!) Passages were pretty long, some difficult ones without a doubt, but finished with a few minutes to spare and during this section I had some crazy conviction to absolutely murder this test. My goodness if people heard what I was saying to myself they would probably think I'm crazy. The adrenaline/focus was kicking in so hard, and I was literally about to cry. I feel as if I read and understood those passages like a fanatic!

Bio/Biochem: again, easy enough. Very, very fair. Questions weren't "easy"; at least not all of them; but again, feel very good. Lots of biochem, physiology, cell bio; the whole mix. Luckily I studied so much, there was only one question discrete question I actually didn't know and had to try to reason out. I truly used all the reasoning power I had and hopefully chose the right answers; again, only time will tell.

P/S: Probably the subjectively most difficult section, for myself. There were actually a few 50/50's here. Probably a 50/50 split between psych/soc concepts as well. Reasoned the very best I could, and overall, again, feel as though it went okay.

All-in-all; gave it everything I had; absolutely everything. If it went as well as I hope I'll make sure to detail everything I did.
Also, for reference, I took the AAMC FL about 8 days before and got 96% right. Granted I had actually slept more than 3 hours lol!

As soon as the test was over, about 2 minutes later, my brain instantly crashed, was very proud of myself for keeping the laser focus and concentration even with so little sleep. We'll see if the okay-ish/wellness I feel about the test carries over to the score 😛

Definitely do all the AAMC question packs (definitely try to keep them in the time limit per question as the actual exam), do all the NS exams, and AAMC FL; as they are the most representative by far. Actually, my test was just like a harder version of the AAMC FL pretty much. All passages seemed a fair bit longer, but definitely very similar feeling.

I'll make a much longer post detailing everything I did; or maybe just a thread, after scores come out. Who knows though, just gunna let it slip my mind and stay peaceful.

MOST importantly; just do lots of practice exams, lots and lots. Even though I didn't get any sleep (did I mention I didn't get any sleep? ha feel like I mentioned it 16 times already) it felt pretty okay.

For those who haven't taken it: don't freak out. If you take kaplan, TPr, NS, EK exams; it is literally just another test. Even if you can't sleep the night before; have faith the adrenaline will carry you through (it did for me!). Don't worry too much about your practice exam scores; worry about why you got questions wrong and how to fix it; look at your defective thought patterns and change them. Make sure you thoroughly go through every AAMC question to see how the AAMC thinks. This is key as well; especially for CARS. (CARS question packs are a must IMO).
 
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I hate reading period at this point. News? no. Magazines? no. Game stuff? no. I just want to sleep.
 
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Ad2b said:
Death in family - not my dad - am flying "home" on Tue night after class, funeral on Weds, burial on Th in a different location, flying back on Th night, driving on Fr to MCAT site, sitting for MCAT and then 🙁 voiding the exam. It will be my practice test.

I will then withdraw from this cycle 😢 , take the test in January, have everything ready to go June 1, and apply. At the age of 51.

Good luck to everyone taking it for real on the 11th, 12th, and 23rd. Go nail this thing!!! 🙂 🙂
Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss. Wish you the best of luck next year.

@howlcat People mean know the pKa values for each group. For example, here are some pKa values:

-NH3+ (alpha amino of a single AA): ~9.5
-NH3+ (N-terminus): ~8
-SH: ~8.5
-Arg R group: 12.5
-Tyr R group: 10.5
-Lys R group: 10.5

Of course EXACT values differ, but these are close enough approximations to answer titration curve questions/total charge questions at X pH where pKa values aren't necessarily given.

@orgogogo There is a lot of physiology in the Bio QPacks.
 
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orgogogo said:
For those who have done the qpacks, how much physiology is in the bio ones?
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Not that much, from what I remember, but please make sure you devote at least some time to physiology. The q-packs go over some general physiology, but I would honestly recommend skimming through old anatomy powerpoints/chapters you may have.
 
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