The 08/05/08 MCAT Club

[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. 😀

 

[J ROD]

Hope the test today was a decent one and representative of practice tests!

Could everyone list the topics that were covered for PS and BS?

Of course, please no specific questions just the topics!

Do not want to get anyone post hold.

At least, it's over!!!!

 

[side effect]

I bet all the 8/5ers are kicking some serious BS *** right now 😎

 

[BlueElmo]

Hi guys, I hope you guys did well! The usual questions:

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?
2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?
3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?
4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?
5. Any other thoughts?

 

[Yes Sir]

Just got done sons

 

[justdoit31]

I am done with it (hopefully this will be the last time but we shall see!)

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?

testing site was good- temp great, people really nice, computers seemed fine to me... the noise reduction headphones were uncomfortable but better than the noise from other testers.

2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?

PS- hmmm I honestly don't remember much- I had a wierd passage on tension and then a lot on frequency (wasn't sure where to go with it though as it didn't seem to work with any normal equations!)... also redox reactions, and some stoich- this section was by far my worst!

VR- passages much longer than the practice I did- always had 5-10 minutes left and on this one I nearly ran out (had 12 minutes for last 2 passages and had to skim and don't think the results were great)

BS- my better section though I did have 2 whole passages on orgo... lots of genetics some physiology (endocrine and a lil cardio/immuno)... the passage on mice nearly killed me though

WR- pretty good first prompt used some international travel stuff. second prompt I totally disagreed with and had to BS some stuff but used Hurricane Katrina.

3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?

see above- longer for me and had to rush through final 3 passages

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?

I only did 3 of the AAMC test- I thought it was more random but we shall see what those major MCAT overachievers think!

5. Any other thoughts?
Glad it is over but could be a re-applicant next year if I don't do well- I won't be retaking this fall- if I don't do well I will most likely take a PR class then do it again but in May instead!

 

[ofoshoukno]

Hi guys, I hope you guys did well! The usual questions:

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?
2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?
3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?
4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?
5. Any other thoughts?

and what topic you wished you spent more time on?

good luck to all!

 

[smp33]

hey guys
so i just finished. i am a june 13th and aug 5th second time test taker ha,

ps-->
i thought that the PS on june 13th was a LOT more straightforward, and PS is usually my best section, so that was kinda annoying but pacing wise it was ok and thre were still some paragraphs and discretes that werent so bad.

VR-->
i thought the VR was straightforward...june 13 VR was tough for sure.
i recommend those of u who havent taken the test practice pacing and take the VR practice test sections in 55 mins instead of the full 60 because youre in for a surprise when it comes to the actual test day and how rushed you feel! pacing makes ALL the difference

BS-->
also more straightforward than june 13...LESS genetics, still one passage, two orgo pass instead of one, no orgo discretes....a little more physio in bio and also microbio which was not on june 13 from what i recall


writing sample-->
it was really diff from my last test, whic was more about leaders and politics. It was media/TV influencing public opinions and then about wealth/helping the unfortunate (i used katrina too haha!)


good luck to everyone else!

 

[shilgy]

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?

I took my test overseas, so I am not sure if I had the same test as everyone else. For me it was great. Very nice people, and only 1 other test taker!!!

2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?

General - equal mix of chem and phys. we had some stoichometry, bouyancy, wavelength, oxid red.
BS - orgo was easy, genetics, muscular system

3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?
Verbal passages were def. longer and I ran out of time!

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?
PS - MUCH HARDER! it was actually crazy and I was thinking of canceling my scores and taking it again on the 15th, but in the end I just realize that it is curved so ill take my chances.

5. Any other thoughts?

I hope other people thought PS was ridiculously hard. if not, im screwed

 

[Cougartime]

I am done with it (hopefully this will be the last time but we shall see!)

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?

testing site was good- temp great, people really nice, computers seemed fine to me... the noise reduction headphones were uncomfortable but better than the noise from other testers.

2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?

PS- hmmm I honestly don't remember much- I had a wierd passage on tension and then a lot on frequency (wasn't sure where to go with it though as it didn't seem to work with any normal equations!)... also redox reactions, and some stoich- this section was by far my worst!

VR- passages much longer than the practice I did- always had 5-10 minutes left and on this one I nearly ran out (had 12 minutes for last 2 passages and had to skim and don't think the results were great)

BS- my better section though I did have 2 whole passages on orgo... lots of genetics some physiology (endocrine and a lil cardio/immuno)... the passage on mice nearly killed me though

WR- pretty good first prompt used some international travel stuff. second prompt I totally disagreed with and had to BS some stuff but used Hurricane Katrina.

3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?

see above- longer for me and had to rush through final 3 passages

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?

I only did 3 of the AAMC test- I thought it was more random but we shall see what those major MCAT overachievers think!

5. Any other thoughts?
Glad it is over but could be a re-applicant next year if I don't do well- I won't be retaking this fall- if I don't do well I will most likely take a PR class then do it again but in May instead!

I just got done myself and can say I had different essay questions but other than that - DITTO to this post.

Oh also the Bio had a LOT of genetics!

The VR was NOTHING at all like the practice ones and I did 3 AAMC ones - not even close on length or difficulty of question posed.

 

[justdoit31]

I just got done myself and can say I had different essay questions but other than that - DITTO to this post.

Oh also the Bio had a LOT of genetics!

The VR was NOTHING at all like the practice ones and I did 3 AAMC ones - not even close on length or difficulty of question posed.

you very well could have had different essays but my first one was not at all internationally related I used some international stuff for countering- who knows...

and the genetics and PS were no fun!

 

[12six]

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?

Took it in Fairlawn, NJ... it was warm in the waiting room, which I was in for a solid hour, but it wasn't too bad inside the testing room. Computer screens were nice and new, my chair was, like, bitten into, though. It had the foam missing and there was a nail under there and if you really pushed it down, theoretically, it could hurt. I also had a stomach virus so I got a nice tour of the restrooms haha... nothing like penn plaza facilities, that's for sure, you needed a key to get in, and it was attached to 5 master locks to weigh it down lol but I really didn't mind too much. Staff was very laid-back.

2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?

PS - I'm gonna forget all this soon, so I'll just lay it all out there now: (including both passage-based and discretes) I saw a teeny bit of solenoids (weird, huh?) maybe one question, there was the usual stoich/balancing/redox/chem eq passage, some other redox, some circuitry discretes, not much rotational motion, surprisingly, a coefficient of friction problem, and some tricky ones that you had to read carefully to avoid choosing the wrong inviting answer. Fairly calculation-light, I think, and IMHO easier than June 13th, but then again, I studied way more for this test than for 6/13...
BS, on the other hand, I got really intimidated by. Mine opened with an orgo passage, and while I was skipping around the discretes, I noticed yet ANOTHER orgo passage. So I did the bio ones first, but in the end, it was the BIO passages that proved most difficult. Two passages in particular, one about synthesizing hGH and the other about Psoriasis, really looked VERY tough at the outset. Another about Menkes syndrome was not particularly easy. I came back to them later since I usually have a good 10 minutes after finishing and this time thankfully was no exception, and most of the Q's seemed a little bit less confusing the second go-around but by no means were these passages easy. The topics I remember include kidney homeostasis, muscles, nerve stuff, lots of experimental-data related business. Orgo had some heavy spectroscopy goin on.

3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?

Verbal was hard, yet reasonable. I don't remember too much about June 13th verbal, but I think there were no "WTF-passages" here... they were longer than the AAMC practice tests, though, that's for sure. I did have some timing issues that I wasn't encountering in my practice tests, and with 14 minutes to go I realized I still had two more whole passages, so I kinda sped up the pace and did the next passage in like 3 and a half minutes, but I only marked like 10 Q's which is not too bad for me, personally, and I think usually I was able to narrow it down to one, sometimes to only two, and rarely I was stuck with three good-looking choices.

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?

PS - Difficult to say. I marked 7 Q's which is very low for me, but it may have been deceptively hard. I'm not so sure that it wasn't, but either way, it tested fairly predictable topics so I FELT prepared, anyway.
VR - May have been a little harder than the AAMC's. Here's hoping for a nice curve.
BS - Hard. Definitely hard. Can't say it was like an AAMC in difficulty, but I can't say it was way harder... bottom line, know orgo.

5. Any other thoughts?

Know orgo. And stay calm!!! The worst thing you can do is freak out... that hour in the waiting room got me so relaxed, I was way less tense when I started than June 13th. Also, I tried memorizing a bunch of PS formulas and writing them down during tutorial time... it helped a little. Don't waste your time on it if you're not really good at memorization. Also, a little trick... at least it worked this time... I let the clock run out on my break, and nothing happened. You can theoretically extend your break... I don't know if this has implications for later on, like maybe they'll give me a 1 on each section bc of it, but since I did it for like 5 seconds, just to see, then if they're really checking that, they probably won't care. Not like I'm the first person who ever tried that, I'm sure.

But the most important thing is... IT'S OVER!!!!
(hopefully😀)

 

[MDean86]

1. How was the testing site? The computers? The general environment?

The testing site was fine, everyone was nice and I had no issues with noise or temperature. The computer ran fine and I had no issues with it.

2. What were some general topics tested in PS and BS?

Like has been posted, PS was a pretty good mix of everything. I would definitely say that you need to know your electrochem/redox, it was abundant on practice tests just as it was on the real deal. There was a physics passage I had a hard time with because I didn't really understand what the graph was showing. I understood the passage but the figure itself threw me off and there were a couple of questions about it. Overall, I do think it was more difficult than the AAMC tests, but not by a whole lot. I feel like I struggled and spent to much time on questions that I should have either just marked an answer for or come back to later. My recommendation would be that if you run into some hard questions, don't waste too much time on them, it can really interrupt your pacing.

As far as BS goes, it started with this terrible looking organic passage. It was a struggle for me because it tested some pretty specific information that I was somewhat weak on. I NEVER skipped any questions in any of the practice tests I took but I skipped three in the first passage and just came back to them at the end so that I wasn't lingering too long. It definitely threw off my timing and confidence a bit, but I think I rebounded from it. The bio questions weren't too bad, a passage on genetics and maybe a discrete or two. They weren't too bad, just know your basic genetic terminology and concepts. It's possible that other MCATs were a little more challenging with the genetics knowledge tested, but I feel like people are just making way too big of an issue about the MCAT genetics. It doesn't go any further past basic science knowledge than any of the other concepts.

3. Were verbal passages longer than your practice ones? Timing issues?

I thought the passages were a little long, but I also thought they were mildly interesting which made them go by faster. Maybe I was just in the zone but I feel like these passages were far less dense than others (see AAMC 8) I've seen. Maybe there's a trade off with passage length/readability. I think I did pretty well here and it might end up being my strongest section. I wasn't pressed for time but I did finish with only about 2 or 3 minutes to go.

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?

Overall the difficulty was comparable, although I did get hit with a few questions that were weak spots for me. I think the big difference is the stress of the test. When you're sitting there taking the real thing and you're unsure about an answer, you really start second guessing yourself and taking extra time. When you're at home and are unsure, you just end up taking your best shot at a question and moving on. When I was taking my practice tests I tried to imagine what I would feel like if I was taking the real test and I came upon a question I wasn't one hundred percent sure about. I think it helped me understand the dynamic of what I was going through with the test a little better (not that it made it any less stressful).

5. Any other thoughts?

I do feel like I underperformed on the test due to some difficult questions/passages, but I'm hoping I'll be okay. I averaged a 36 on my AAMC practice tests, and I think I'm going to end up somewhere along the lines of a 31-32 on the real MCAT. Hopefully everyone else struggled with the concepts I did and I can make my average, but I think I'll be a little below which will take me out of range of some of the schools I applied to. Oh well, I guess you can't win them all.

One other thing, I will say that I really enjoyed the writing prompts, they were right up my philosophical alley, haha. I think that really helped because it felt like an extended break and I was fresh and ready to go for BS. If you've got any questions, feel free to ask.

Thank goodness it's finally over...

 

[12six]

Oh, yeah!!! btw, I had almost NO OPTICS!!!

I thought that was kind of weird.

And I checked... I didn't skip any questions 😛

 

[BNSN]

I do feel like I underperformed on the test due to some difficult questions/passages, but I'm hoping I'll be okay. I averaged a 36 on my AAMC practice tests, and I think I'm going to end up somewhere along the lines of a 31-32 on the real MCAT. Hopefully everyone else struggled with the concepts I did and I can make my average, but I think I'll be a little below which will take me out of range of some of the schools I applied to. Oh well, I guess you can't win them all.

Bingo! Same exact situation here. My AAMC average was about 38, but I feel quite poorly right now. I just underperformed from what I could have, mostly because of the stress of the actual test.

The test really was not terrible, but the PS section hit me good with a few questions and Bio section really knocked me for a loop on 2 bio passages. As I left the exam, ALL 4 people there with me working on the test were on passage VI (I think)....you know which one I'm talking about, guys. The one that made you go "WHAT? ARE THESE EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONS?" At least it did for me.

But, anyways. Whatev. I'm done. It wasn't a defeat, but it wasn't a successful exam either. I guess we'll just have to wait.

 

[cornpops21]

Can anyone shed light as to what Genetics topics were tested? Was it Punnett squares, Hardy-weinberg, pedigrees, transcription, mutations?

 

[12six]

Bingo! Same exact situation here. My AAMC average was about 38, but I feel quite poorly right now. I just underperformed from what I could have, mostly because of the stress of the actual test.

The test really was not terrible, but the PS section hit me good with a few questions and Bio section really knocked me for a loop on 2 bio passages. As I left the exam, ALL 4 people there with me working on the test were on passage VI (I think)....you know which one I'm talking about, guys. The one that made you go "WHAT? ARE THESE EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONS?" At least it did for me.

But, anyways. Whatev. I'm done. It wasn't a defeat, but it wasn't a successful exam either. I guess we'll just have to wait.

Yeah. lol I thought that Bio passage MUST have been experimental, too. It was like it was on steroids or something ;-)

 

[minhaj]

PS - I didnt think it was that bad but you never know. what the hell is unity? that threw me off a little. First passage was like a bio passage kinda freaked me out but the questions weren't that bad. there was one about satellites and their orbits, buoyant force, stoichiometry. Overall i think the passages in PS were kinda convoluted but the questions were not that bad. i had 14 mins left at the end of this section. i usually have 18-20 mins left over. Aamc 9 would be pretty close to it.

VR - LONG ASS PASSAGES! these passages at least have 10-12 more lines than the aamc's. not difficult to read tho. mine were kinda interesting. I had 8 min left at the end. usually have about 12-14mins. overall, aamc are pretty close in difficulty but shorter.

BS - Two orgo passages with maybe one or two orgo discreetes even if that. Not that hard at all. i just went straight for the questions w/o reading the passage. I wish i had read mass spec and how to figure out m/z ratio. There was a discrete on k/r strategists. Not a lot of genetics, one passage that was kinda related to genetics, restriction enzyme stuff. pretty simple punnet square questions. passages on physiology, bacterial cellular respiration, platelets, mutations. I had 21 mins left after i was done, i usually have about 28 min.

Overall i thought I was kinda hard but that could have been because of the nerves. Lets see what happens 🙂

Edit: on BS there were quite a few questions on TLC and Rf values.

 

[BNSN]

Can anyone shed light as to what Genetics topics were tested? Was it Punnett squares, Hardy-weinberg, pedigrees, transcription, mutations?

Molecular + mutations.

And, 12six...yeah. Seriously. I was thinking they were experimental as I was doing them. I had no idea what they wanted or what they were testing on atleast 3 of the 6 questions.

 

[12six]

Yup. Exactly... but overall, I think the weirdest part of the whole thing was that saw very very few straightforward easy questions. I already took it 6/13 and I was still surprised by the sheer lack of simple Qs.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

Testing conditions were totally fine. People were reasonably nice, etc.

I thought the PS was straightforward. I felt like there was more gen chem than physics, which is good for me. This PS was better than the May 10th PS I thought. I gave myself a mild heart attack though...I did have to bubble in 4 questions sort of quickly because I accidentally skipped a short 4-question passage and had to rush through it once I realized I had. I am still sad and upset about that. I'm hoping one or two of those answers was "C"!

I thought that verbal was brutal. I had to guess on an entire passage. The split-ticket voting passage was AWFUL. It totally threw off my time. My eyes just glaze over when I read all that political jargon. I liked the passage about biographies and felt I did well on that and the canines detecting cancers passage.

BS was by far my best section. The May 10th bio was so much harder than today's bio that it was not even comparable. The toughest passage that I had today was one about bacterial cellular respiration. I felt that the other passages were fair. The May 10th test was COMPLETELY genetics and molecular bio. And stereochemistry. The orgo on today's test I felt was very straight forward and easy. I hope I didn't make too many careless errors. A few discretes were tricky.

 

[BNSN]

12siz, some of the bio discretes were very very easy, but the passage questions were not. Almost none of the BS passage questions were easy. I thought some of the orgo passages Q's were simple, but def not bio

 

[MDean86]

Two orgo passages with maybe one or two orgo discreetes even if that. Not that hard at all. i just went straight for the questions w/o reading the passage. I wish i had read mass spec and how to figure out m/z ratio.

I agree with you that the orgo wasn't really hard, you just had to know what you were doing. I didn't spend a lot of time studying orgo lab-technique but two or three of the questions from the first passage dealt with it. Definitely not a great way to start for me.

 

[thymeofearth]

The PS was Bull SH** seriously what the F all these questions about formal charge and balancing , there were 3 questions on balancing equations (wasting so much time)
anyways, I hope the curve will fix some guesses and mistakes ( this was definitely harder than the AMCAS ones posted online)... I feel pretty bad and I hope am wrong

 

[BNSN]

Yeah...unity. Hah.

 

[12six]

BNSN, keep in mind not everyone gets the same discretes. so i did see some very easy bio discretes, but really really few. it was disappointing.

 

[BNSN]

Probably one of the tougher discretes.

But nothing compares to Bio passage VI 🙁

 

[BNSN]

BNSN, keep in mind not everyone gets the same discretes. so i did see some very easy bio discretes, but really really few. it was disappointing.

Oh, I did not know that. Sorry 🙁 Do you get easier passages in that case?

 

[12six]

Well I still got passage VI [A.K.A. The Passage From Hell] so I guess not... but I'm not too bummed about it, I usually end up doing OK on bio no matter how badly I think I did, so hopefully that is the case with this one.

 

[Leugim0710]

The PS section to me was the hardest of all ( I run out of time) which made it even harder. VR was relatively easy, yes the passages were much longer but pretty straigt forward. The BS was to me the easiest of all. Overall the test was ok.

 

[12six]

Though I did not see the "unity" discrete. :-D

 

[BNSN]

I hope so! Passage VI was pretty much total doom. I guess we can only hope we got more questions right than the guy next to us 😛

Do you think the scale will be more generous than the AAMC scales? If the AAMC exam scales are used, I am looking at a very disappointing grade

 

[BNSN]

Though I did not see the "unity" discrete. :-D

Haha. That makes it all even 😛

 

[12six]

I hope so! Passage VI was pretty much total doom. I guess we can only hope we got more questions right than the guy next to us 😛

Do you think the scale will be more generous than the AAMC scales? If the AAMC exam scales are used, I am looking at a very disappointing grade

Who really knows? But I'm guessing it will be more generous than AAMC 10's scale was, hehe

 

[Jorje286]

When people say it's harder than the AAMC practise tests, do they mean that the direct testing of concept comprehension is harder or that the passages are harder to understand and the questions about them are tougher?

 

[BNSN]

The questions that test your basic science were quite simple. I mean...gibbs energy, hybridization, etc. All easy.

The hard ones were the ones dependent on deduction from the passage...especially Passage VI!!!!

 

[ofoshoukno]

Testing conditions were totally fine. People were reasonably nice, etc.

I thought the PS was straightforward. I felt like there was more gen chem than physics, which is good for me. This PS was better than the May 10th PS I thought. I gave myself a mild heart attack though...I did have to bubble in 4 questions sort of quickly because I accidentally skipped a short 4-question passage and had to rush through it once I realized I had. I am still sad and upset about that. I'm hoping one or two of those answers was "C"!

I thought that verbal was brutal. I had to guess on an entire passage. The split-ticket voting passage was AWFUL. It totally threw off my time. My eyes just glaze over when I read all that political jargon. I liked the passage about biographies and felt I did well on that and the canines detecting cancers passage.

BS was by far my best section. The May 10th bio was so much harder than today's bio that it was not even comparable. The toughest passage that I had today was one about bacterial cellular respiration. I felt that the other passages were fair. The May 10th test was COMPLETELY genetics and molecular bio. And stereochemistry. The orgo on today's test I felt was very straight forward and easy. I hope I didn't make too many careless errors. A few discretes were tricky.

after reading your post and everyone else's its safe to say that there are multiple versions of the exam on the same test date.

A friend of mine had 3 orgo passages(WTF)

 

[ofoshoukno]

The questions that test your basic science were quite simple. I mean...gibbs energy, hybridization, etc. All easy.

The hard ones were the ones dependent on deduction from the passage...especially Passage VI!!!!

Are the experimental questions the ones you look at and go "WTF, that was never in my prep book" questions?

 

[Jorje286]

The questions that test your basic science were quite simple. I mean...gibbs energy, hybridization, etc. All easy.

The hard ones were the ones dependent on deduction from the passage...especially Passage VI!!!!

OK thanks.. I'm looking to see how much time should I spend more on the topics. I guess full concentration and focus is more important than knowing the ins and outs of the topics.

 

[BNSN]

Not quite. You know what they're asking. You've just never seen them tested that way. That one passage...Passage VI...was "HOW CAN THESE ANSWER CHOICES BE RIGHT?" for at least 3 of the 6 questions. Another passage was almost as bad.

But, I THINK (HOPE!!) I was able to make fairly educated guesses on most of those questions.

 

[BNSN]

OK thanks.. I'm looking to see how much time should I spend more on the topics. I guess full concentration and focus is more important than knowing the ins and outs of the topics.

Yes! Don't get panicked. I didn't, but I did go a little too fast through the passages because I didn't want to skip anything.

 

[minhaj]

BNSN what was passage VI on? restriction enzymes?
Jorje, the best advice i can give you is not to take anything for granted. know everything. dont skip on a few things that you are not going to be that important

 

[BNSN]

BNSN what was passage VI on? restriction enzymes?
Jorje, the best advice i can give you is not to take anything for granted. know everything. dont skip on a few things that you are not going to be that important

To be as generalized as I can...it was the one of bacteria.

 

[yaba]

PS: All i can say is ehhhhhhhhhhh it was alright. I mean there was one passage that was pretty killer but it wasnt the hardest PS ive ever seen. I took the april 19th mcat and that PS was straight out of hell. I mean that thing bent me over and had its way with me. This one was more subtle on its approach but still felt like it was a bit tricky, kinda like kaplan. The AAMC versions are less trivial in my opinion, but on the kaplan exams if you get to an answer too fast you may want to read the question again. Overall i give this section a 7 out of 10 on the holy **** scale.

VR: The buzz on this website has been the issues with the length of the passages. From the april exam, I thought these things grew a couple of inches. I found todays test lengthy and towards the end boring. There was like one wtf passage, two easy ones, and the rest just kinda hard. I give it a 8.5 out of 10 on the holy **** scale.

WS: who cares its not a real section (j/k but seriously who cares)

BS: I laughed when I saw the first passage because it was orgo but overall the questions wernt killer. There was one passage on psoriasis that was like wtf. The rest was kind of descent. I give it a 7 out of 10. Anyways I hope this helps

 

[Yes Sir]

When taking the test I thought it was harder than AAMC tests 8,9,10 but after thinking about the test I think it was reasonable. The PS section didn't require much calculations and very few questions about Force, Work, Energy were tested which I found suprising. I finished with 7 minutes on PS which was my average. I thought the BS section was reasonable and finished with 17 minutes left. Very few ochem questions required any knowledge of memorized reactions, but the rest were very straight forward. There was ALOT of molecular biology questions which didn't necesarily require lots of memorized knowledge, but you better be comfortable reading molecular genetics passages (take a class if you have a chance). I never know how to feel after a verbal section (I got a 13, 11, 9 on AAMC 8,9,10 respectively). I will say I finished verbal on time and didn't have any totally killer passages. Here are topics I remember being tested:


PS:
Physics: dimensional analysis, freely falling bodies question, conservation of momentum conditions, index of refraction comparison, many wave questions, v=freq*wave calculation, nature of solenoids, density, resistance in parallel/series circuit, emission spectrum, radioactive decay particles (gamma, beta, alpha)

Chem: absoroption/emission spectra, names of groups on TPC, mole fraction, hydrogen bonding, molality, mass %, oxidation numbers, disproportionation reaction (dumb as hell), balancing chemical equations, Gibbs energy and enthalpy, rate law, strong acids, half reaction / electrochemistry calculation, neutralization reaction

Bio
Ochem: H-NMR, TLC chromatography, mass/charge ratio's, discerning hybridization of atoms, hemiacetals, acetal reactions, effect of substituents on ester reaction, resonance structure,

Bio: Basic metabolism (many many questions on glycolysis, electron transport chain, Citric acid cycle etc.), semi conservative nature of DNA replication, gel electrophoresis, types of mutations, RNA in ribosomes, proto-oncogene vs. tumor supressor gene, X-linked inheritence punit square question, expression length of mutated proteins, r vs. k-selection, cytoplasmic inheritence, mitochondrial inheritence, aspects of Yeast, chemotaxis in immune system cells, reproduction via fission, Plasma membrane/ location of TM proteins on apical/basolateral membranes, sarcoplasmic reticulum, Phases of cell cycles (specifically S phase), hypothalmus secretions, afferent/efferent nerves, efferent response of skeletal muscles in reflex arc, cortisol, antagonistic control of muscles, anatomy of heart, breathing mechanism with diaphram and differential pressure, secretion location of pancreas, nephron structure, phylogeny question (Kingdom phylum class...),

 

[minhaj]

yikes, that was a rather nasty one.

 

[BNSN]

Why does the AAMC make us wait one month 🙁

The GRE kids got their grade right away 🙁

 

[minhaj]

i didnt have the one with psoriasis.. i am freaking out thinking if i skipped over it. did anyone else not have a passage on psoriasis?

 

[HowdyYall]

Finally over.

I thought it went well, though PS did get my heart pumping a little.

Can someone give me a clue as to which one BIO VI was? I don't recall this devil passage.

 

[Leugim0710]

i didnt have the one with psoriasis.. i am freaking out thinking if i skipped over it. did anyone else not have a passage on psoriasis?

I do not think it was psoriasis, but something about diapsilis ( something like that).

 

[Yes Sir]

I did not have a passage about psoriasis, although I did have that passage about menin (I think this is the killer Passage VI?). The MCAT decided to toss in a couple rare topics in my opinion:

-Solenoids, Thin Layer Chromatography (Rf values), r vs. K-selection

I know they listed as topics but I like questions about IR, easy magnetic field questions, and asexual vs. sexual reproduction (no r-K selection please)