The 08/05/08 MCAT Club

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utjsm08

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Thought we should get this thread started!

My name is Jon and I'm a re-taker from May 10th. Was really hoping for a 30+ but ended up with a 29P. PS 12 VR 07 BS 10 . One point on verbal is what is making me retake!!! Good luck to everyone, and lets hope the AAMC gods will be in our favor on test day....bc my May 10th test was hard as hell. :D
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utjsm08 said:
Thought we should get this thread started!

My name is Jon and I'm a re-taker from May 10th. Was really hoping for a 30+ but ended up with a 29P. PS 12 VR 07 BS 10 . One point on verbal is what is making me retake!!! Good luck to everyone, and lets hope the AAMC gods will be in our favor on test day....bc my May 10th test was hard as hell. :D
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Let's make it an August 5th and 7th MCAT Club, so I can join! Plus, the scores are being released at the same time so we can all celebrate together. I'm retaking due to my verbal score as well. The first time was back in August of '06; the last paper and pencil version. As far as studying goes, the first time around I took a Kaplan class and used EK to supplement the PS section. This time, it's all EK. Right now I am about 2/3 done with all of the review books. As soon as those are done I'll be jumping into the 1001 books. I am really hoping to bump my overall score by several points.
 
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im retaking from may 10th too.


is it just me...or is August 5 do or die at this point?!
 
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aug 5th here as well from the may 10th administration...

sum prolly would say im retarted for retaking (PS:13 V:11 BS:10)...but i kno i can do better!

ive planned 2 void my test if i dont feel at least as good/bad as i did on may 10th

i cant beleeve i gotta go thru this again...oh well, there are worse things in life
 
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What up doc said:
aug 5th here as well from the may 10th administration...

sum prolly would say im retarted for retaking (PS:13 V:11 BS:10)...but i kno i can do better!

ive planned 2 void my test if i dont feel at least as good/bad as i did on may 10th

i cant beleeve i gotta go thru this again...oh well, there are worse things in life
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Good luck, but its really not that great of an idea IMHO--in fact, I think ******ed is appropriate. I think lots of interviewers will have a good time harassing you if you don't get like 38+. Everyone knows that the difference between a mid thirties and high thirties is like 3 raw answers, so a 34 is impressive, but retaking a 34 is dreaded "gunner" label. JM.02
 
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tncekm said:
Good luck, but its really not that great of an idea IMHO--in fact, I think ******ed is appropriate. I think lots of interviewers will have a good time harassing you if you don't get like 38+. Everyone knows that the difference between a mid thirties and high thirties is like 3 raw answers, so a 34 is impressive, but retaking a 34 is dreaded "gunner" label. JM.02
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I agree... doesn't seem worth it unless you need to compensate for an embarassingly low gpa.
 
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i'm a retaker from May 10th too...26M, 11 PS 6 VR 9 BS. i need to do something drastically different on verbal, because obviously my approach isn't working. and yes, this is do or die on august 5th.
 
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that damn may 10th bio. i was getting consistent 13's on AAMC practice tests.
 
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JA Prufrock said:
I agree... doesn't seem worth it unless you need to compensate for an embarassingly low gpa.
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fortunately my gpa is not the reason...my reason is my pride (7 month + studying) and the fact that i really, really want a scholarship....also, i underperformed....and my bio was obnoxiously hard...if my bio is hard again ill just void and say f it...

does anyone know what the verdict is on taking the test in aug? how late will be now? will it really put us in that much of disadvantage?
 
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What up doc said:
fortunately my gpa is not the reason...my reason is my pride (7 month + studying) and the fact that i really, really want a scholarship....also, i underperformed....and my bio was obnoxiously hard...if my bio is hard again ill just void and say f it...

does anyone know what the verdict is on taking the test in aug? how late will be now? will it really put us in that much of disadvantage?
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Pride can be a foolish thing. I say take your great score and be happy. I can only wish to have such a score!

If you do retake it, then you better *know* when to void.
 
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What up doc said:
fortunately my gpa is not the reason...my reason is my pride (7 month + studying) and the fact that i really, really want a scholarship....also, i underperformed....and my bio was obnoxiously hard...if my bio is hard again ill just void and say f it...

does anyone know what the verdict is on taking the test in aug? how late will be now? will it really put us in that much of disadvantage?
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I am also retaking from May 10, but i didn't do as well as you did. In fact I bombed the test thinking I had done well enough to apply. I had everything else ready to go.

I dont know if this helps but I live in Florida and I sent in my AMCAS pending the August 5 results. (like i said...its do or die). I applied to all the Florida schools and I called them to see how they feel about August MCATS. They said if the rest of the application is good they will still send out a secondary and you can send it in pending the results. It doesn't really put you ahead, but you can get that out of the way.


I assume many schools have the same policy, and if you already scored high (as you did), then you can get started on that too. The major consensus from every school was that yes, August is late to take the MCAT and apply, but plenty of people have done it and gotten in. There will be less seats available, but if you're a strong applicant, you should be just fine.


Maybe you will get 5 acceptances when you could have gotten 8-10 (thats just a random number)
 
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Retaking with a 34....you must LOVE this exam sitting for this exam...lol. But, I do understand your point if you aiming for those full-rides :cool:.

I too studied at least 8 months and worked my arse off. I thought the bio on May 10th would be similar to AAMCs and I would at least get a 12+ like my practice tests, boy was I wrong...that was some hard S***. Im praying for an easier bio section and really hope get my verbal to a decent level.

Anyone have strategies on how they did well on verbal? I can use all the advice on the section I can get.
 
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utjsm08 said:
Retaking with a 34....you must LOVE this exam sitting for this exam...lol. But, I do understand your point if you aiming for those full-rides :cool:.

I too studied at least 8 months and worked my arse off. I thought the bio on May 10th would be similar to AAMCs and I would at least get a 12+ like my practice tests, boy was I wrong...that was some hard S***. Im praying for an easier bio section and really hope get my verbal to a decent level.

Anyone have strategies on how they did well on verbal? I can use all the advice on the section I can get.
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same with me. 6 in verbal, 9 in bio. UGH. i don't know what to do about verbal.
 
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GeorgianCMV said:
same with me. 6 in verbal, 9 in bio. UGH. i don't know what to do about verbal.
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I wanted to join in on this thread. I'm also a retaker from May 10th but I'm taking it Aug 22 since I'll be in Cinci till the 2nd of Aug for SPEP. F'ed up Verbal and Bio. 13/6/11 R. For those of you who screwed up verbal, what new approaches are you guys taking. I think I've used up all my test resources for Verbal (PR,EK, Kaplan). Any new strategies yall trying?
 
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Taking for the first time on August 5th. I must be insane because I really only started studying last month.

Anyway, doing research, studying MCATs and writing application essays is my plan to hermitize myself for the next month and a half.

I need to start taking practice exams, because I'm hoping (and making sacrifices to the med school gods) that I get a 35 or better. I have no idea if this is a realistic goal right now, though.
 
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ecoli said:
Taking for the first time on August 5th. I must be insane because I really only started studying last month.

Anyway, doing research, studying MCATs and writing application essays is my plan to hermitize myself for the next month and a half.

I need to start taking practice exams, because I'm hoping (and making sacrifices to the med school gods) that I get a 35 or better. I have no idea if this is a realistic goal right now, though.
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Its realistic, just be willing to accept that even if your practice scores are 35+ that its very likely you can end up with a lower score than that on the actual MCAT. Some people seem to think that "averaging" X on practice MCAT's means that you should be coming out of the exam with X or better when in reality all it means that is in all probability you should score somewhere around X.
 
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tncekm said:
Its realistic, just be willing to accept that even if your practice scores are 35+ that its very likely you can end up with a lower score than that on the actual MCAT. Some people seem to think that "averaging" X on practice MCAT's means that you should be coming out of the exam with X or better when in reality all it means that is in all probability you should score somewhere around X.
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Well yeah, I'm not going to get teary-eyed if I get a 34. 35 is my general goal with the hopes I can get higher (obviously). I tend to work harder if I have a specific goal in mind.
 
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ecoli said:
Well yeah, I'm not going to get teary-eyed if I get a 34. 35 is my general goal with the hopes I can get higher (obviously). I tend to work harder if I have a specific goal in mind.
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Well, 34 is essentially 35, so that's not what I was talking about. I'm talking about the possibility of scoring 30ish. I was averaging almost 36 after my content review (scores didn't vary wildly either), and I honestly feel like I could have come out of the MCAT on Friday with a 26. :( Just be prepared.

A specific goal is good if it makes you work harder though :thumbup:
 
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Hey
I just took the MCAT on June 13, am deathly terrified of how I did (as are we all, I think, just look at the June 13th thread!! It's huge!). I registered for Aug 5, because I will likely need to re-take it

My plan:
Electricity. Oh god, electricity. Electricity, magnetism, and electrochemistry will be my oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen (and maybe my nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, sodium, calcium...) for the next few weeks. By that I mean that I will be living off of these things, and every moment of my life will be devoted to learning them.

And in case I end up having done well and won't need to take it in August? Well, then I'll just end up smarter. Not bad for a worst-case scenario!
 
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I was going to take a July test but pushed it to Aug 5th. I'm in ecoli's boat !! I wish everyone success!
 
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I'm also taking the MCAT on August 5th . But I'm really confused about if it's LATE or not??? IS it a late date in terms of being on top of things in the application process?
 
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hey guys, it seems to be the consensus that May 10th test was hard as hell. But isn't all MCAT curved for that particular test, so even if you thought it was hard, it must have been hard as well for everyone else. Doesn't the resulting curve then compensate?
 
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What up doc said:
aug 5th here as well from the may 10th administration...

sum prolly would say im retarted for retaking (PS:13 V:11 BS:10)...but i kno i can do better!

ive planned 2 void my test if i dont feel at least as good/bad as i did on may 10th

i cant beleeve i gotta go thru this again...oh well, there are worse things in life
Click to expand...

what updoc, thought i'd give you a little encouragement. my best friend goes to berkeley, and his roomie had been consistently getting practice test scores within the 40s.... on his real test he scored a 36. against EVERYONEs advice, he chose to retake it. He almost voided at the end, but chose to submit it and ended up with a 41. so in the end, if you know you can do better....then knock it out of the park.
 
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heyy..i was orginally thinking of taking the test aug 5th because I have a sports camp from aug 6th to aug 10th, and wanted to be completely in MCAT mode when I took the test, but as the day is approaching I'm considering pushing it back to aug 15th instead..but i was thinkin will those 4 days at camp, where i'll have minimial studying but possibly time to thumb through practices and those 5 days when I get back will those couple of days make a difference, you know more time for studying?? Or will it be mediocre at best and do more harm than good..any advice??
 
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Hi, so i too was supposed to take the MCAT on July 10th but my last Kaplan FL was only a 28 (with an 8 in bio!! which pisses me off cus I consider biology to be one of my strong points, but i guess not) I am chickening out. I havent officially changed the date and I dont exactly know what I'm waiting, I guess a miracle, but I'll change it today or tomorrow for sure. I hate doing this though cus the August MCAT takers are like the runts of the bunch but you have stay positive and I guess its better to come in to the examroom confident knowing you studied as well as you could have instead of feeling underprepared and freaking out even before you see an exam question. I'm so tired of being intimidated by this test....
 
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madame99 said:
Hi, so i too was supposed to take the MCAT on July 10th but my last Kaplan FL was only a 28 (with an 8 in bio!! which pisses me off cus I consider biology to be one of my strong points, but i guess not) I am chickening out. I havent officially changed the date and I dont exactly know what I'm waiting, I guess a miracle, but I'll change it today or tomorrow for sure. I hate doing this though cus the August MCAT takers are like the runts of the bunch but you have stay positive and I guess its better to come in to the examroom confident knowing you studied as well as you could have instead of feeling underprepared and freaking out even before you see an exam question. I'm so tired of being intimidated by this test....
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you are ready to change your date (which is more than 2 weeks away by the way) based on one test? what have you been gettin consistently? if your 8 is a fluke then you have nothing to worry about. i think you are jumping the gun here for that reason AND the fact that a 28 is a great score. you dont need a 36. hows the rest of your app including gpa? like you said, dont be intimidated by this test or from the people that lurk around SDN.
 
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RACH16 said:
heyy..i was orginally thinking of taking the test aug 5th because I have a sports camp from aug 6th to aug 10th, and wanted to be completely in MCAT mode when I took the test, but as the day is approaching I'm considering pushing it back to aug 15th instead..but i was thinkin will those 4 days at camp, where i'll have minimial studying but possibly time to thumb through practices and those 5 days when I get back will those couple of days make a difference, you know more time for studying?? Or will it be mediocre at best and do more harm than good..any advice??
Click to expand...

I would think that going to camp would distract me and I couldn't focus on either one that week (sports or mcat)
 
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I officially switched to this test date :(

Its not that I didn't want to be with you- I was planning on doing the test July 8th though and I recently injured my shoulder and studying has been difficuilt so I need a lil more time to get ready for this beast and face the orthopedic surgeon this week to figure out what is the next step to staying healthy!

Am I the only 1st time taker on this day? I am pissed because I really wanted to get interview invites in Aug and now that thought is just a dream- o well... I have a big God and I will be a doctor- either this year or next we shall see!
 
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So, I'm retaking from May 10th as I said before. Verbal is definitely my weakness so most of my time will be spent there. Bio I did ok (10)...but I definitely think I can improve. I got a 12 in PS and I don't want this score to drop below a 10, so how much review/practice should I give to this section considering I want my VR to go from a 7 to a 10 and my bio from a 10 to a 12? Thanks!
 
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hey madame, you should seriously change your date as sooon as possible b/c the deadline to opt out of the July 8 test w/o voiding is tomorrow. I'm assuming the 10th is not so far.
 
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I'm thinking of choosing august 5th, but i've gotten so much conflicting information. My advisor seems to think it's too late and that I should pick July 18th, but I don't know if I will be prepared fully by then. I'm so confused.
 
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I need some advice. I just took the May 23rd MCAT and received my results (28S---VR 9 PS 8 BS 11) which I was extremely unhappy with meaning I have a 4.00 G.P.A., lots of volunteer and leadership experience as well as healthcare experience. Do you think that it is wise for me to retake? What if I do worse even though I feel that I can do much better?
 
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Hey there,

I took on May 31, but voided b/c I only finished half of the verbal section and I usually finished the practice ones. The passages were twice as long as practice ones (every one of them). And the bad part is that I think I did pretty good on the other sections. Took 4 min and 30 sec to make the decision. Ohh well.

So I am taking on Aug 5th.

Good luck to everyone.
 
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I'm in your same boat, Delta! For those of you who are retaking, how accurately would you say the AAMC practice tests reflect your actual score? I sat for my first full length practice today and am curious as to whether or not it's a good indicator of where I'm at. Thanks!
 
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joining the 8/5/08 MCAT.
Good luck studying everyone. I know we all suffering our good summer studying for the fair game.

I've taken 1~2 AAMC and Kaplan full length, it seems like Kaplan full lengths have Longer passages than AAMC in Verbal AND Biological science section. AAMC rather looks very simple in its passages, also from time to time the questions look quite confusing.

i've read several threads here, and it seems like the AAMC ones are more "similar" to the real exams.

in real MCAT, do the passage lengths vary from exams to exam? or is it similar to AAMC ones?
 
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TinaK22 said:
I'm thinking of choosing august 5th, but i've gotten so much conflicting information. My advisor seems to think it's too late and that I should pick July 18th, but I don't know if I will be prepared fully by then. I'm so confused.
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Take the MCAT when you feel you are ready. Don't worry about what other people think, because they don't know your situation well enough. The latest mcat that is considered late by many schools is in september, so you are not late if you take it in Aug. As long as you have your AAMC application verified and submitted secondaries before you take the exam, you are in great shape!
 
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DocM13 said:
I need some advice. I just took the May 23rd MCAT and received my results (28S---VR 9 PS 8 BS 11) which I was extremely unhappy with meaning I have a 4.00 G.P.A., lots of volunteer and leadership experience as well as healthcare experience. Do you think that it is wise for me to retake? What if I do worse even though I feel that I can do much better?
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If you feel you can do better, definitely retake it. I just looked at your MDapps, you're only applying to less than 10 schools??
 
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Hey guys! So I'm thinking of changing my test date to Aug 5th as well. I'm registered for July 18th at the moment but I'm not feeling ready. Do you think this will be very disadvantageous to my application as I'm applying this cycle? I'm really going crazy over this.
 
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this just in, i officially dropped my aug 5ht test date! i finally got some sense kicked in 2 me by various MS1's and MS2's and i am sitting with my may 10th score...but if i get screwd i will regret it for a looooong time...good luck to you ppls, i truly, truly sympathize with you all :luck:
 
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What up doc said:
this just in, i officially dropped my aug 5ht test date! i finally got some sense kicked in 2 me by various MS1's and MS2's and i am sitting with my may 10th score...but if i get screwd i will regret it for a looooong time...good luck to you ppls, i truly, truly sympathize with you all :luck:
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Good move, IMHO. Best of luck.
 
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6/13 Retaker... probably the first of many in this group lol based on how hard it was. Wanted double digits in all sections, and a 31 overall, but got 28 (8 on PS and two 10s). I signed up for this date after my test, and I was hoping I'd cancel it - no offense, guys! - but here I am. Best of luck to all of us, and especially those who are just re-starting the study mode like me... it'll be a crazy 3 weeks!!
 
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first time test taker here
self studying and almost done with review... should be done next week with 2 weeks to just work practice test and do last minute review
hopefully this will go well!
 
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