The 07/17/09 MCAT Club

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For those of us taking the test on the 17th of July.

Registration opens today...sometime today.

I'm nervous. 2 years of post-bacc, volunteering, pipetting (sp?) and counting flies all comes down to this.

Good luck everyone.
 
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Hindiana_Jones said:
Each form has different passages. You didn't skip any passages.
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I know that...but among all the test takers it would be highly unlikely that I got a passage NO ONE else did....It's more likely that i skipped a passage somehow than for me to get a unique one among the thousands that took it today.

And no I didnt have the terpenes one. For those that had a VR similar to mine, was the lifesystems one related to the one about organisms being shaped structurally?
 
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verbal has been my strongest section...but this one sucked!!! They were soo loong! I hated the civil war passage! I felt absolutely drained by the time I got to the last one...ugh...exactly what the verbal section is designed to do 🙁 I hate having to wait a month....especially having people ask how I did constantly.
 
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loik22 said:
You got robbed, ask for a refund! That was one of the best ???? questions I have seen in MCAT material. It was in the VR, and tried to connect elephant aliens and spaceship landing on a planet... Go figure.
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Ha ha. No, I mean I didn't think it was that bad. :laugh:
 
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did anyone have the horrendous smoking passage in verbal? that whole verbal section = FML. almost voided because of it, but this is it for me...no more mcat.
 
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sdguy2008 said:
did anyone have the horrendous smoking passage in verbal? that whole verbal section = FML. almost voided because of it, but this is it for me...no more mcat.
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I had forgotten about it... Yeah, not so funny. The first passage in my case, way to start and lose 10 minutes!
 
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sdguy2008 said:
did anyone have the horrendous smoking passage in verbal? that whole verbal section = FML. almost voided because of it, but this is it for me...no more mcat.
Click to expand...

That passage sucked!

loik22 said:
I had forgotten about it... Yeah, not so funny. The first passage in my case, way to start and lose 10 minutes!
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Yeah, it wasn't the first passage for me, but it definitely cost me quite a bit of time. I was short at the end because of it.
 
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wow, can i just say that test was HORRIBLE.

PS i thought was pretty fair at first, but now that i think about it, there were some VERY tricky questions. i actually didn't run out of time for PS like i normally do, but i definitely did not have enough time to go over the questions that i had guessed on.

verbal was absolutely the hardest section for me. i think i guessed on 95% of the questions - there's a strong chance that i could have gotten a 0/40 :scared: so i'm pretty worried about that section. i don't know how some of you found it easy! but verbal has always been difficult for me.

writing..eh...i kind of treated it as a formality and didn't take enough time to formulate my thoughts. just kinda spewed out whatever was on my mind, and ended it. i was too antsy for bio.

BS. what the HECK that was ridiculous. the ochem in particular was pretty bad. and the bio passages.... definitely like verbal reasoning section. give me a break, i'm not a physician yet, i don't know how to identify pathogens/causes/appropriate treatments.

i still think that verbal was the worst section. especially because i didn't feel good about ANY of the passages. not even one.

ahhhhhhh!
 
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dbltree88 said:
verbal was absolutely the hardest section for me. i think i guessed on 95% of the questions - there's a strong chance that i could have gotten a 0/40 :scared: so i'm pretty worried about that section. i don't know how some of you found it easy! but verbal has always been difficult for me.
Click to expand...

Don't feel too bad, I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to verbal. It's by far my weakest section, and having written the MCAT we got, my fear of getting destroyed by VR has only escalated.
 
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loik22 said:
You got robbed, ask for a refund! That was one of the best ???? questions I have seen in MCAT material. It was in the VR, and tried to connect elephant aliens and spaceship landing on a planet... Go figure.
Click to expand...
One of the answers seemed true to me, I don't remember what the other options were. The question was a little tricky but I don't think it was that hard.
 
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dbltree88 said:
verbal was absolutely the hardest section for me. i think i guessed on 95% of the questions - there's a strong chance that i could have gotten a 0/40 :scared: so i'm pretty worried about that section. i don't know how some of you found it easy! but verbal has always been difficult for me.
Click to expand...

oh gosh, dbltree88, i completely agree with you! i feel absolutely horrible about verbal! I don't know how everyone else feels ok about verbal. i don't think i understood a single passage, and I pretty much guessed on almost every single question! there's a possibility i could have gotten all of them wrong. ahhhhh i am soooooo worried about verbal!
 
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dbltree88 said:
wow, can i just say that test was HORRIBLE.

PS i thought was pretty fair at first, but now that i think about it, there were some VERY tricky questions. i actually didn't run out of time for PS like i normally do, but i definitely did not have enough time to go over the questions that i had guessed on.

verbal was absolutely the hardest section for me. i think i guessed on 95% of the questions - there's a strong chance that i could have gotten a 0/40 :scared: so i'm pretty worried about that section. i don't know how some of you found it easy! but verbal has always been difficult for me.

writing..eh...i kind of treated it as a formality and didn't take enough time to formulate my thoughts. just kinda spewed out whatever was on my mind, and ended it. i was too antsy for bio.

BS. what the HECK that was ridiculous. the ochem in particular was pretty bad. and the bio passages.... definitely like verbal reasoning section. give me a break, i'm not a physician yet, i don't know how to identify pathogens/causes/appropriate treatments.

i still think that verbal was the worst section. especially because i didn't feel good about ANY of the passages. not even one.

ahhhhhhh!
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hahaha. im really sorry for laughing, but its only because i sympathize so much with you about the part i bolded (especially the 0/40 part!). i didnt feel good about ANY verbal passage, and i am going to start praying tonight and all the way until we get our scores that i pulled off a 9. i had 2 full passages to go with 10 minutes left. all i can do about it is laugh i guess.
 
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hmmm right after the test i felt pretty good - the PS and VR i thought were fair, i know i missed some chem problems, but i think i felt the same as i do for the aamc tests. i had the wind passage too and thought it was ok - i used a lot of intuition for that...maybe i was off. the BS was really hard though, even the discrete questions.

i shouldn't read SDN after the mcat....freaks me out. now i'm doubting more questions that i was ok with right after taking it...
 
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Its wierd how I actually felt prepared after taking some of those AAMC practice full lengths.... but today's test.... BLAHHHHH

For some reason, I was doing really well on time for the first half of the verbal section, then came the civil war one....and BAM.....there was a complete slow down from there........ sigh

Also, the BS section....wth?!?! (aka Verbal Part 2) When did they decide to put in so much Orgo?! And that wierd math problem too......blahhhhh

Oh well....at least we are all done right?!?!?! Nothing we can do about it for the next 30 days...... =/
 
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I just counted the carbons in a bunch of those orgo questions, and there was only one answer with the right amount of carbons on most all of them. Hope I wasn't approaching them wrong?
 
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DrWiki said:
I just counted the carbons in a bunch of those orgo questions, and there was only one answer with the right amount of carbons on most all of them. Hope I wasn't approaching them wrong?
Click to expand...

i did that as well. i think it makes sense. i knew nothing about those mechanisms and answered all the 'what is the product' questions that way.
 
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so here are my thoughts:

PS was within the range of the practice test, maybe slightly harder.

VR, I thought, although longer was actually easier in terms of the passage content.

WS, I have never had such hard prompts. I couldn't think of a "specific" counterexample for either one, esp. the University one if you had that. Just rambled...don't really care.

BS, Wow... That kicked my ass. Had no clue what a couple of passages were even getting at... Vomiting one was hard but only had 4 associated questions luckily. But even my discretes were hard. I mean, it was probably my fault, but they NEVER ask about muscle/skeletal stuff and I had 2 maybe 3 questions dealing with actin/myosin. WTF? Overall, this was the sole reason I even slightly considered voiding, but definitely went through with it. Not feeling good though
 
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capn jazz said:
ALSO: did anyone have a bio discrete about Hardy Weinberg???? I swear to God there was an error in the answer choices but I can't be sure. I tried to work out some math and I picked the one that looked closest to what I believe the answer was, but I seriously feel like it was slightly off.
Click to expand...

yes... seemed to me the correct choice was missing. i stared at that one for a while. anyone else?
 
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roaming said:
quadratic? i had the same orgo calculation passage as well and did not have to use quadratic...i thought quadratic was no-no on the mcat?? maybe i read it wrong...
Click to expand...


well the fact that i guessed is a good indication that i didn't have clue. might have been a lot simpler than i made it out to be.
 
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well i'm relieved that some of you feel the same way about it! let's just hope i guessed decently enough to get a 7 or 8......bleh. highest i'd gotten on practices was a 10 but when i got that score i at least understood the passages. for this test, even if the passages were semi-understandable, the questions were pretty killer - i'd eliminate one or two, then just hope i could guess the right one.

i'm still bumming about the other sections too. those biological passages had the most obscure information in it - some of the answers could have gone either way. and for one of the passages on sanitation/nuclear plant i couldn't freakin figure out what the pathogen was lol (i hope i'm not breaking the forum rules?). might have been my stupidity/panic but i hope i guessed right!

i'm trying to stop thinking about it but i can't get off of this site, or figure ou what else to do for that matter 😛
 
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Anyone had that feeling like you should be studying? Usually if I'm doing anything but studying for the MCAT I feel guilty.. crazy having free time again!
 
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That test was cracked out...

Seriously...I really don't know where half of the BS stuff came from...

I took all of the AAMC practice exams and never saw similar questions to most of that stuff...

I am praying that my score ends up decent...

I didn't feel the verbal was too bad, but I have felt that way on practice exams and done poorly too...

I guess the countdown begins, I guess every night I will be praying for a large "curve" of sorts to be reflected in the scaled scores...

Does anybody know if the scores are predetermined or if they are reflective of how the test-takers performed (i.e. a curve or questions thrown out, etc.)
 
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Hey Guys- this is my 3rd time taking the MCATs and it was by far the most manageable than the other times I have taken it (minus verbal). The March 28, 2009 exam was a KILLER and had really long passages for each section (also had really hard topics and I felt I was taking another exam)

PS- Wind and Walking stick passage were tough but everything else was
manageable

Verbal- always been my hardest section- Last 3 were hard and had to rush.They were on average 2 paragraphs longer than AAMC and were slightly easier to read, but the questions were really tricky🙁

Writing: I usually do average, but I wrote so much for the topics that were given today. Hopefully, that is a good sign.

BS- I love Orgo, but I only had 2 passages on that. With the exception of 5-7 questions, this sections was okay and not that hard.

However, I do make a lot of careless mistakes and hopefully I didn't make too many today.

Let us just pray that we all do well!

Good Luck
 
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jbru3423 said:
That test was cracked out...

Seriously...I really don't know where half of the BS stuff came from...

I took all of the AAMC practice exams and never saw similar questions to most of that stuff...

Also, this had to be the first MCAT that did not test Physiology at all, as well as not testing anything on the Kidneys/Respiratory system...

I am praying that my score ends up decent...

I didn't feel the verbal was too bad, but I have felt that way on practice exams and done poorly too...

I guess the countdown begins, I guess every night I will be praying for a large "curve" of sorts to be reflected in the scaled scores...

Does anybody know if the scores are predetermined or if they are reflective of how the test-takers performed (i.e. a curve or questions thrown out, etc.)
Click to expand...

I had one question about lungs and one about ADH for kidneys, but yeah, not too much. As I understand it, the test is pre-curved. I must imagine (if just for my own sanity) they do some further checking afterwards though, otherwise its completely egregious that they don't give us a score right away.
 
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I had the terpenes section, which I thought was very difficult since I think my MCAT PR book had nothing (or very little) about it. It sounds like not many people had this one. Does anyone know if that means it is more likely to be the "experimental" section that is supposedly not counted?
 
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fsjones said:
I had the terpenes section, which I thought was very difficult since I think my MCAT PR book had nothing (or very little) about it. It sounds like not many people had this one. Does anyone know if that means it is more likely to be the "experimental" section that is supposedly not counted?
Click to expand...

I don't know abt others.. I sure didn't have it. So what if it's an experimental passage?.. Are your scores not counted for that passage?!.. is that it?.. Someone please clarify that for me.
 
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roaming said:
on my test they gave two equations. i used the other one. i thought they were the same equations written in different forms to make calculations easier. maybe i was wrong.
Click to expand...
You did it right. I double checked and you get the same answer with both equations.
 
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kingM said:
Hey Guys- this is my 3rd time taking the MCATs and it was by far the most manageable than the other times I have taken it (minus verbal). The March 28, 2009 exam was a KILLER and had really long passages for each section (also had really hard topics and I felt I was taking another exam)

PS- Wind and Walking stick passage were tough but everything else was
manageable

Verbal- always been my hardest section- Last 3 were hard and had to rush.They were on average 2 paragraphs longer than AAMC and were slightly easier to read, but the questions were really tricky🙁

Writing: I usually do average, but I wrote so much for the topics that were given today. Hopefully, that is a good sign.

BS- I love Orgo, but I only had 2 passages on that. With the exception of 5-7 questions, this sections was okay and not that hard.

However, I do make a lot of careless mistakes and hopefully I didn't make too many today.

Let us just pray that we all do well!

Good Luck
Click to expand...

did you guys find that the PS and BS passages were LONGER than the AAMC practice passages?
 
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PS:
-Cathode ray tube: :wtf: the passage seemed hard, but I can't remember any of the questions except for one that I had to completely guess on
-halo-cyanide passage: there were two questions that gave me trouble. I think I figured one out and I had a pretty good idea for the other
-fluid/density passage: I wasn't happy when I saw fluids because it's not one of my best topics, but the questions didn't seem that bad
-electrochem passage: It didn't seem too hard, I'm hoping I didn't do anything stupid
-wind rotating devices: it was confusing but I had a good idea on all the questions
-? was the one about radioactive decay one of the above, or a separate passage?
-?

Usually I get all the discretes, but there were 2 I wasn't sure on.
On the AAMCs there were usually around 2 questions I had no idea on, and I felt good on the rest. Today, there were like 4 I had no idea on, and it seemed like there were more than usual that I wasn't quite sure on. I answered these logically (they made sense at the time) so I think I still have a good chance at a good score.

VR:
-psychic: interesting
-wwI: I liked this one too
-civil war: I thought this one was kind of interesting. A few of the questions were tricky but I think I got them
-life systems: my least favorite
-aliens: I thought it was pretty easy to understand. Maybe I missed something, but I didn't think the elephant question was bad.
-philosophy of science: 2nd least favorite, I think I missed one of the questions
-?

This is usually my best section. One of the passages seemed long, but overall I thought it was similar to the AAMC tests. There was one question I kept going back and forth between two answers (I can't remember which right now) but I felt confident on all the other answers. I probably missed a few that I think I got right, but I will be surprised if I don't get at least a 12. I took a break after this section and was feeling really good about how I'd done so far.

writing: the first topic was easy but I think my second essay was terrible.
Are we allowed to talk about the writing sample? Both of the topics I had are on the aamc website.

BS:
-vomit: AAAHHH! Not a good way to start the section. I thought about skipping it and coming back at the end. My answers made sense so mayble I'll get lucky.
-monkey expt: My answers made sense, but I had to guess on a few
-aldol condensation passage: I think I had to guess on one question
-leukocyte adhesion deficiency passage: I thought it was pretty tricky but there was only one question I had to completely guess on
-plant expt: When I read the passage it seemed easy to understand, but the questions were tricky
-racemic/meso: I think the melting point question was kind of ridiculous. I answered it based on polarity which made sense at the time, but I looked it up just now and it was wrong. Has anyone heard of Carnelley’s Rule? You can figure it out without that, but still it seems like this question was just there to trick you.
-?

Some of the discretes seemed hard too. The question about rigor mortis was really similar to one in the hyperlearning workbook, so I think my last minute studying helped me on at least one question (and by last minute I mean like 4 hours).

Unlike some of you, I was happy to see those questions that you had to calculate on. I'm good at math, so they seemed like free points. BS is usually my worst, so I wasn't surprised it was harder than the other sections for me, but I marked 15! It seemed way harder than the AAMCs.

Prediction:
PS: 12. I always got 11-13. I think there's a chance for a 13. I don't feel bad about it, but I know I missed more than on the AAMCs.
VR: 13. This is the section I feel best about. I'm hoping for a 14 to make up for BS.
W: N. One good essay, one bad. Why N? I've never had one scored, but I like to think I'm not that bad of a writer.
BS: 10. Meh. I don't know what to think. It seemed harder, but I still feel like I made good guesses on the ones I didn't know. I could see this one going from 8-12 just based on my guesses.
If I get my predicted score I will be happy, but I'm worried I might get a 9 in BS. It will be too late for me to retake, so I'm hoping if that happens, either my PS or VR score will make up for it.

Why do we have to wait a month?!!?! :bang:
 
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I think i'm missing something really obvious here but there was a standalone on PS about electron configurations (matching) and unless im missing something on the nature of one of the elements, none of the choices seemed right. Normally would've been an easy question..

The BS questions on enantiomers and there ratios with those two formulas really got me. Did NOT know what to do there at all...basically ran out of time for those three questions and had to guess.

I wish i got the passage on ADH and kidneys that some others seemed to have. I think that wouldve gave me only two Ochem passages instead of three.

Also there were a couple IR and NMR ranges I wish I memorized...the questions were alot more specific about the functional group shifts than I thought...
 
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ace12 said:
I think i'm missing something really obvious here but there was a standalone on PS about electron configurations (matching) and unless im missing something on the nature of one of the elements, none of the choices seemed right. Normally would've been an easy question..
Click to expand...

Ok.. I dont want my account to be banned for a week so I am removing my previous post.
 
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