So I feel like I failed the MCAT

[Liegh5]

So I just took my MCAT, and I feel sick to my stomach. Like really, really sick. I almost cried during the first 10min break. I felt okay on both the VR and BS sections, but I feel like I got destroyed on the PS. I am praying for an 8 at best but I feel more like I earned a 6. Leading up to the MCAT I scored a 29 on AAMC 9, 29 on AAMC 11 and then a 31 on AAMC 10 in that order so I went into the test with some level of confidence to score a 29/30 ish. However, now I feel sick. I really don't think it was test day nerves because I felt the other two sections were okay. Does anybody have an input on this? People seem to be scoring around their averages, even though some say the real MCAT is harder. Is the curve much more lenient than on the AAMC exams. Did anyone else feel like they bombed it and surprisingly didn't score bad? And what also makes this worse is that I am not sure I will be able to find somewhere to retake it. Test centers are booked solid while they are still administering the old MCAT!

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[BigEinstein]

Am going through the same thing but I ended up voiding. I am so confused and I have to wait 48 hours to register new one. However, don't rely on post-test feelings. You will score +/- 2 your AAMC average

 

[BactiDoc]

Same thing happened to me in July, I was averaging 30+ on practice exams and scored a 6 on PS...a freaking 6. My gut feeling was pretty accurate, I did not score within +\- 2 of my average. Sorry to be a downer but I retook today as well and I'm on the fence about PS.

 

[zircushio]

Yo that PS section was off the chain. I think I marked 40 of the 52 questions.... lmao

 

[Liegh5]

Yo that PS section was off the chain. I think I marked 40 of the 52 questions.... lmao

It says you are pre-dental. So did you take the MCAT today or the DAT? and hahaha yeahh same for me! I got to the end of the marked question section and like everything was checked! I freaked out in the testing center lol. Hopefully everyone else felt the same so it can get a nice curve to it.

 

[Jumb0]

Hopefully everyone else felt the same so it can get a nice curve to it.

I was under the impression that they don't "curve" the exam based on how people did that day. I thought they simply decide before the administration of the exam what the scale will be based on experimental questions / whatever algorithm they use and then assign scores based strictly on this scale , with no additional "curving" .

 

[zircushio]

I took both (took DAT in April and MCAT today). I have to say, as a first time MCAT test-taker, I think the DAT was much harder...but that's neither here nor there lol

The PS section definitely caught me by surprise... is anyone else trying to remember Q's so you can work it out at home now? haha

 

[Liegh5]

I was under the impression that they don't "curve" the exam based on how people did that day. I thought they simply decide before the administration of the exam what the scale will be based on experimental questions / whatever algorithm they use and then assign scores based strictly on this scale , with no additional "curving" .

you are right lol, its not a real "curve". I just thought saying curve was easier hahaha. Point is I hope that the scale will be more generous because it has harder passages. It definitely didn't look like anything I have seen on an AAMC

 

[PeekABoo-ICU]

So I just took my MCAT, and I feel sick to my stomach. Like really, really sick. I almost cried during the first 10min break. I felt okay on both the VR and BS sections, but I feel like I got destroyed on the PS. I am praying for an 8 at best but I feel more like I earned a 6. Leading up to the MCAT I scored a 29 on AAMC 9, 29 on AAMC 11 and then a 31 on AAMC 10 in that order so I went into the test with some level of confidence to score a 29/30 ish. However, now I feel sick. I really don't think it was test day nerves because I felt the other two sections were okay. Does anybody have an input on this? People seem to be scoring around their averages, even though some say the real MCAT is harder. Is the curve much more lenient than on the AAMC exams. Did anyone else feel like they bombed it and surprisingly didn't score bad? And what also makes this worse is that I am not sure I will be able to find somewhere to retake it. Test centers are booked solid while they are still administering the old MCAT!

Had the same exact thing happen to me. I literally got the same scores as you on the practices, and the PS just ruined my confidence. on AAMC 3-11 I just zoomed through the PS, but this one was so different.

you are right lol, its not a real "curve". I just thought saying curve was easier hahaha. Point is I hope that the scale will be more generous because it has harder passages. It definitely didn't look like anything I have seen on an AAMC

I do remember someone bringing up the point that the practice AAMC's already have all the questions they throw out removed. So I guess it makes sense that today's exam "appeared" harder, but even still I don't think I scored double digits on the PS.

My theory is that today's exam was focusing more on the "new MCAT topics", and AAMC has accounted for that in the curve. Either way, it was defiantly not like other AAMC exams

 

[Sammy1024]

PS is usually my strongest subject and even I thought I was going to die during that first section. I'm hoping my 10 on my first MCAT will offset the crappy score I'm probably going to get on this PS section.

I couldn't even tell what topic was being tested in each passage.

 

[Liegh5]

Had the same exact thing happen to me. I literally got the same scores as you on the practices, and the PS just ruined my confidence. on AAMC 3-11 I just zoomed through the PS, but this one was so different.



I do remember someone bringing up the point that the practice AAMC's already have all the questions they throw out removed. So I guess it makes sense that today's exam "appeared" harder, but even still I don't think I scored double digits on the PS.

My theory is that today's exam was focusing more on the "new MCAT topics", and AAMC has accounted for that in the curve. Either way, it was defiantly not like other AAMC exams

Throw away questions?? Whatttt??? lol you lost me

 

[zircushio]

At one point it was like 3 topics being asked at once.. 😵

 

[Liegh5]

PS is usually my strongest subject and even I thought I was going to die during that first section. I'm hoping my 10 on my first MCAT will offset the crappy score I'm probably going to get on this PS section.

I couldn't even tell what topic was being tested in each passage.

I agree! The passages were too lengthy for me to even read. And even the discrete questions were lengthy. At least it seems like this really was a difficult section and it wasn't just us.

 

[Sammy1024]

Throw away questions?? Whatttt??? lol you lost me

If you read the AAMC site it says that the test has these kind of throw away questions that don't count towards your score.

I think it's that they're testing different types of questions for data but in the end it doesn't count towards your score.

 

[Liegh5]

Wow, I never knew that

If you read the AAMC site it says that the test has these kind of throw away questions that don't count towards your score.

I think it's that they're testing different types of questions for data but in the end it doesn't count towards your score.

 

[lumberjack89]

@Liegh5 and @zircushio I totally agree! I took the test today after doing pretty well on AAMCs, numerous 35s on the later AAMC tests with an average of 33 after taking all 8 of their tests, and this exam felt HORRIBLE.

The PS sections was totally unlike the other AAMC PS sections - the VR was ok, I thought the BS was a pretty weird to be honest, but the PS section was a total surprise. I can't even remember the majority of the passages because they seemed so poorly defined - i.e. on the AAMC practice tests it was obvious from the first sentence "Oh, this is going to be an optics passage, or a kinematics passage, or a thermodynamics passage," or whatever, but it seemed like all the passages were some kind of loosely related anything-goes fest of doom.

I honestly have no idea what to expect on that section, it felt bad. In 20 full length tests I took (all the AAMC and Gold Standard ones) I only was rushed for time on the PS section *once*, but I barely finished the PS section today, maybe had 4 minutes left to finish the entire last passage.

Here's to a maaaaasive bump on the PS section (and I'd take some help on the BS section too!)

 

[zircushio]

If you read the AAMC site it says that the test has these kind of throw away questions that don't count towards your score.

I think it's that they're testing different types of questions for data but in the end it doesn't count towards your score.

Let me guess, this is no longer the case? lol -_-

 

[Liegh5]

@Liegh5 and @zircushio I totally agree! I took the test today after doing pretty well on AAMCs, numerous 35s on the later AAMC tests with an average of 33 after taking all 8 of their tests, and this exam felt HORRIBLE.

The PS sections was totally unlike the other AAMC PS sections - the VR was ok, I thought the BS was a pretty weird to be honest, but the PS section was a total surprise. I can't even remember the majority of the passages because they seemed so poorly defined - i.e. on the AAMC practice tests it was obvious from the first sentence "Oh, this is going to be an optics passage, or a kinematics passage, or a thermodynamics passage," or whatever, but it seemed like all the passages were some kind of loosely related anything-goes fest of doom.

I honestly have no idea what to expect on that section, it felt bad. In 20 full length tests I took (all the AAMC and Gold Standard ones) I only was rushed for time on the PS section *once*, but I barely finished the PS section today, maybe had 4 minutes left to finish the entire last passage.

Here's to a maaaaasive bump on the PS section (and I'd take some help on the BS section too!)

Exactly. Although there were a couple of strange discretes in the BS section, I am hoping Biology brings me up. Verbal I am kind of iffy on. My hopeful breakdown is a 9/10/11 although after how I feel today I will gladly settle for a 8/10/11

 

[Oh_Gee]

So I just took my MCAT, and I feel sick to my stomach. Like really, really sick. I almost cried during the first 10min break. I felt okay on both the VR and BS sections, but I feel like I got destroyed on the PS. I am praying for an 8 at best but I feel more like I earned a 6. Leading up to the MCAT I scored a 29 on AAMC 9, 29 on AAMC 11 and then a 31 on AAMC 10 in that order so I went into the test with some level of confidence to score a 29/30 ish. However, now I feel sick. I really don't think it was test day nerves because I felt the other two sections were okay. Does anybody have an input on this? People seem to be scoring around their averages, even though some say the real MCAT is harder. Is the curve much more lenient than on the AAMC exams. Did anyone else feel like they bombed it and surprisingly didn't score bad? And what also makes this worse is that I am not sure I will be able to find somewhere to retake it. Test centers are booked solid while they are still administering the old MCAT!

i was in the same boat as you, kind of. i would average 10's on my AAMC PS sections (range 9-11) and i ended up getting 10 on the real thing even though i had a few complete guesses and way more "educated" guesses on the real thing. i fully expected a 5 or 6 on my test. although to be fair, your test sounds a lot more harder than mine was. the passages on mine were relatively straight forward and very similar to AAMC FL's which i was not expecting

 

[ConfusedChemist]

So I just took my MCAT, and I feel sick to my stomach. Like really, really sick. I almost cried during the first 10min break. I felt okay on both the VR and BS sections, but I feel like I got destroyed on the PS. I am praying for an 8 at best but I feel more like I earned a 6. Leading up to the MCAT I scored a 29 on AAMC 9, 29 on AAMC 11 and then a 31 on AAMC 10 in that order so I went into the test with some level of confidence to score a 29/30 ish. However, now I feel sick. I really don't think it was test day nerves because I felt the other two sections were okay. Does anybody have an input on this? People seem to be scoring around their averages, even though some say the real MCAT is harder. Is the curve much more lenient than on the AAMC exams. Did anyone else feel like they bombed it and surprisingly didn't score bad? And what also makes this worse is that I am not sure I will be able to find somewhere to retake it. Test centers are booked solid while they are still administering the old MCAT!

I walked out of my exam and felt horrible, super disappointed in myself because I though I bombed it. I was so rattled that I couldn't remember any of the questions (actually I still can't remember a single thing from verbal or bio).
And I got a 32. I know that's hardly anything special, but I felt like i got a 20-something (and my AAMC average was33)
So don't beat yourself up about it yet
Maybe you did fine 🙂 🙂

 

[Liegh5]

I walked out of my exam and felt horrible, super disappointed in myself because I though I bombed it. I was so rattled that I couldn't remember any of the questions (actually I still can't remember a single thing from verbal or bio).
And I got a 32. I know that's hardly anything special, but I felt like i got a 20-something (and my AAMC average was33)
So don't beat yourself up about it yet
Maybe you did fine 🙂 🙂

Don't be modest! A 32 is something to be proud of! Thanks for sharing ... I feel a little bit better

 

[efle]

For what it's worth, buddy of mine rescheduled a week later to take the MCAT again because he felt so terrible. Turned out got a 39 and wasted a deposit for no reason. It's mostly in your head

 

[kiwininja]

Hi everyone! I'm selling all of my prep materials (took the September 18th & just got my score back yesterday) if you need to retake - PM me for details or check out my post!

 

[txlonghorn2314]

It has been proven time and time again that there seems to always be one section that is unreasonably difficult...the first time I took it, it was the PS and the second time, it was the VR. BOTH times, on SDN, the thread was nothing but posts of people freaking out, hopeless, thinking they got a 1/10/9 or an 11/1/10 only to find out that they had shockingly scored much, much higher on that particular section.

I had a friend who wrote in June with me who said she literally had to blindly guess on two entire passages on the PS and marked the majority of the section (I actually had the same experience that day, except I was so demoralized that I voided the damn thing lol) She was freaking out, saying that if she were super lucky that she'd get a 4 or 5, but instead ended up getting an 11.

I retook in August and found the PS to be laughably easy, moreso than any AAMC practice test...I got a 7 (my AAMC average was a 10). Bottom line; you literally have no idea how you did. However, from my experience, that one "WTF" section tends to be the one that pleasantly surprises everyone. I'm actually waayy more afraid of a section that seems too good to be true.