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]

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...),

Damn, did you write it down or something?

That's an impressive memory you got there!!!

 

[HowdyYall]

Ah ha. That BIO VI passage. Yeah, a bit wordy and convoluted wasn't it.

 

[ofoshoukno]

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...),

That will put some hair on your *****!

 

[DrNinja]

Wait, what was passage VI? The one on bacteria vs yeast? I don't remember any one passage being too challenging.

The PS was the most difficult IMO, the tension one totally threw me off and I had to pick up the pace for the last third of the section to finish with 3 mins left.

Verbal was a cakewalk, longer passages but easy questions.

BS was intimidating because it opened with a o-chem passage. LOL the discretes were hilarious, especially one deviously tricky one (you had to read it carefully). When I found the trick to it, I laughed and everyone in the testing center turned their head. Great way to end the test 👍 I feel I scored my average of 32.

 

[minhaj]

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

phew... thanks! it was dyslipidemia.

 

[Cougartime]

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

Yup I saw all those!

 

[Medstudent85]

How does discussing the question affect the future MCAT tester? Wouldn't the test on Thursday August 7th be completely different from this one?

 

[moto_za]

i cant remember that one either??

 

[Adnama]

What does it mean when you say you marked questions?

 

[12six]

That means you hit the "mark" box for the question so that you can know to go back later and check your work. If you take any practice test you'll see what they mean.

 

[94474]

.

 

[Yes Sir]

TPC = The periodic chart in my language

 

[moto_za]

My thoughts:

PS: Usually is my strongest section, BUT I thought it was the hardest section!

VR: Usually is my weakest section, BUT I thought it was easy, b/c the passages were easy to understand!

WR: Who gives a ****! lol Really who does!

BS: I am pretty good with this section, but todays was a little harder!

 

[94474]

.

 

[Mombosuthu]

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. Not too much calculations, had to do a lot of reasoning.

I remember reading on some post that orgo. will be very little, but I still studied orgo had and when I started BS and saw an Orgo passage, I almost laughed out loud. Overall the BS was alright and I finished with about 15 minutes left. This made me go back to the pregnant mouse passage and I thought it was alright. The key to BS was to be composed. When I say the second Orgo passage, I wanted to freak out, but they I said to my self "wait a minute, I actually like orgo!" Basically what I'm trying to say is don't form your opinion of how a normal MCAT should be composed based on what others write on SDN.

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

I really don't understand the issue of the length of the passages. I've done a lot of kaplan, Golden standard and AAMC verbal, and I never spent time worrying about the length of the passage. What I try to do is finish each passage in 8 minutes or 9 max. I did the same and finished exactly on time. The passage on the republicans and democrats whatever.. I was enjoying it at first, then suddenly it went wtf on me. I just had to mark about three questions and come back to do two of them satisfactorily.

4. Was difficulty similar to AAMC?

It was a little bit comparable. I always believed that there was no way in hell that the real MCAT would be really similar to the practice tests, so I was already expecting something harder, so it didn't really hid me as hard.

5. Any other thoughts?

Don't panic. No matter the situation or condition. I remember finishing the first passage in the PS and thinking "Man, that didn't feel too good" But I remembered when I got a 12 in the practice MCAT despite doing poorly on a passage or two. So I just move one. When I think of a question I might have missed, I shake it off by telling myself that I'm not trying to get all 52 questions right. I'm just trying to get enough right to give me a 12 or 13.

 

[moto_za]

When I think of a question I might have missed, I shake it off by telling myself that I'm not trying to get all 52 questions right. I'm just trying to get enough right to give me a 12 or 13.

😱😀👍

 

[Thornwalker]

Hey boys and girls -here are my thoughts on the day


PS- Well i was definitely more happy with it than my 5/31 test. This was really the only section i struggled with. Thank god for more gen chem! No optics or E&M baby!! Redox is a cake walk and so is the resonance stuff (i'm a biochem major).

VR- I thought that the passages were easier to understand but the questions were more ambiguous...I've never gotten below a 9 on any VR practice test (my range is usually 10-12) so i'm hoping that trend continues.

BS- Hell yes biochemistry paid of like a b*tch. I learned a lot about the enzymes and reactions they mentioned (Superoxide dismutase or the ETC and Krebs stuff). So i felt like i crushed this section. I loved the ochem (been a TA for a year now, i really like Ochem..) stuff.


Overall I thought that i did better than my 5/31 (8PS 10VR 10BS) so i hope i broke 30 this time...

Phew now its done and I can enjoy the last few weeks of my summer. Hope everyone can do the same!

 

[moto_za]

resonance in the PS section??

 

[Thornwalker]

I take that back, it was a question in an ochem passage in BS that had resonance. Those chem questions kind of just run together. Sorry for the scare 🙂

 

[Doering1]

Just took it... did anyone else that took it find the physical sciences section pretty hard? I barely finished and didnt have time to go back to any questions.

I have heard the physical sciences have been hard on all of them lately... should I be worried about not being too confident? Sign up again or wait for the score? etc...?

 

[DocM13]

It's your call. In comparison, I thought that the PS section was much easier than for the May 23rd exam (at which I got a lousy 8!) but I guess we will see won't we! Best of luck!

 

[blackmamba24]

did anyone have specific IR questions?

 

[dynezxice]

Pheww. The exam version I had wasn't too shabby. I would tell you guys the topics, but Yes Sir's beast of a post beat me to it. Refer to below.

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...),

 

[PipiChen]

It's your call. In comparison, I thought that the PS section was much easier than for the May 23rd exam (at which I got a lousy 8!) but I guess we will see won't we! Best of luck!

Was the test like the AAMC practice ones? Or a lot like the kaplan ones with sick and long questions that require you to ban your brain on the table?

And were the verbal passages longer but easier to read?

thanks

 

[Doering1]

well... I felt good going into it todays test, my last 3 practices had been 33, 33, 34.

Physical: kicked my ass I think, I got hung up balancing reactions and didnt have time to check any work and I am sure i made some careless errors. Usually my best subject but I thought it was the hardest.

verbal: LONG!

Bio: it wasnt that bad in my opinion, some tricky questions but nothing insane.

Overall: I hope physical went ok

 

[Doering1]

Was the test like the AAMC practice ones? Or a lot like the kaplan ones with sick and long questions that require you to ban your brain on the table?

And were the verbal passages longer but easier to read?

thanks

Verbal was definitely longer, not necessarily easier, but more coherent at least.

physical resembled Kaplan more i thought

 

[Vihsadas]

Merging with the official Aug 8th MCAT Thread

Guys. Please do not post specific information pertaining to your MCAT. If you think that a piece of information would make it easier for future test takers to answer an exam question, then don't post it!

 

[lilspark]

Did anybody else have the passage about satellites orbiting the earth?
I thought it was kind of hard and some of the questions were tricky. what did you think?

 

[simpleleap]

Best of luck to the first timers and retakers alike! Study STUDY STUDY!

 

[MDean86]

Did anybody else have the passage about satellites orbiting the earth?
I thought it was kind of hard and some of the questions were tricky. what did you think?

I didn't have a passage, but there was a discrete about gravitation and orbit on mine. Thankfully Audio Osmosis addressed this issue almost directly in their gravity lecture!

 

[smp33]

ya i had that passage...i thought it was annoying especially cuz i didnt know which type of orbit they were asking about when...ahh

 

[moto_za]

PS is my strength and I feel that I got kinda raped, but the discretes were pretty straightforward.....

 

[lilspark]

ya i had that passage...i thought it was annoying especially cuz i didnt know which type of orbit they were asking about when...ahh

did you think the calculation questions were kind of confusing? I am still concerned about that passage especially because my calculations weren't matching any of the answers. I checked online, and it seems some of those questions required formulas not included in our study material. I am still wondering if there was something in the passage that i missed and i should have paid attention to 😕

 

[moto_za]

sucks we still gotta wait another month for the results...oh well😎

 

[justdoit31]

did you think the calculation questions were kind of confusing? I am still concerned about that passage especially because my calculations weren't matching any of the answers. I checked online, and it seems some of those questions required formulas not included in our study material. I am still wondering if there was something in the passage that i missed and i should have paid attention to 😕

I did not have a passage on orbits but I thought some of the calcs I had were not from equations that were not in the two books I used!

 

[futuredoctor10]

I did not have a passage on orbits but I thought some of the calcs I had were not from equations that were not in the two books I used!

Without being too specific, which I know is not permitted, what general topics did these calculations involve?

 

[justdoit31]

Without being too specific, which I know is not permitted, what general topics did these calculations involve?

frequency was the main one- I only did Physics 1 and we didn't spend anytime at all on waves and the few wave equations I did study didn't seem to help me that much... who knows what my score will be.

 

[mustymullet]

here is my input, i took the 5/31 and scored REALLY bad, this is my second time and i think i did better

PS: easier than the 5/31 PS, but the passage about sound transmitters and receivers in the ocean and how pressure and temperature affected it (there was a hella confusing graph) threw me off. also had a passage with big #^% compounds, with flourine, iodine, and some other elements with questions concerning bonding and hybridization. had the solenoid question too. i'm mad they didnt have more acid-base solubility product or ph problems as i have studied that the most. a lot of balancing equations which i ran out of time to do but guessed. potential problems and molality as well as gibbs free energy as well as rate determining step question

VR- WAY EASIER TO READ than the last test, but questions were ambigous at times. mine revolved around wetlands, Darwin, freedom of possession, art in the 1700-1800s, author appreciation, split ticket voting (which was my last passage, had to guess on last few), and i forgot about the last one.

BS-this is usually my best section, but a lot more organic than i thought. there was questions about hemiacetals, sp3 carbons, NMR question, chromatography, esters vs amides, etc. on the bio side, a lot of microbio and a lot about respiration in bacteria and yeasts (hardest passage). had the hard psoriasis passage as well as mutations passage. also had a cortisol passage which i liked. there was one open question about r-selection!! i never heard of that. oh well. also had a passage that dealt with skeletal muscle and nerves (thick and thin filaments) which i enjoyed very much😍

 

[moto_za]

September 9 is the tentative release date........

 

[cloosh]

PS- hard, i had the stuff about solenoids, etc. it was noticeably harder than usual.

VR- easier to read, unclear questions

BS- normal in general, lots of cell respiration/biochem stuff (easy for me) and harder organic questions

 

[Thornwalker]

Musty I feel you about the PS on 5/31 and like my above post I agree about the verbal to, I had the exact same passages as you.

Although i did like the ochem more on the BS though (to each his own).

Sept 9th really?? Damn...well let's hope they come out early and with high numbers 😀

 

[mp56]

So after reading your thoughts on the test...I feel better. I felt that this test focused on less commonly tested concepts...and I wasnt as prepared in these areas as I was in others. Compared to practice exams...how do the real scores usually range? I'm glad its over but I am feeling a little uneasy.

 

[moto_za]

So after reading your thoughts on the test...I feel better. I felt that this test focused on less commonly tested concepts...and I wasnt as prepared in these areas as I was in others. Compared to practice exams...how do the real scores usually range? I'm glad its over but I am feeling a little uneasy.

Same here!

 

[dynezxice]

I swear, the hardest part is not studying for the mcat, it is the agonizing one month wait for your scores. On some days I have bits and pieces of questions flashing in my head and then I fret on whether my answer was right/wrong, similar to a post-traumatic stress disorder; only diff is there was no trauma in our part. hahah =)

 

[aqua zebras]

All that matters right this minute is....WE"RE DONE! (for a couple of weeks, at least)

 

[side effect]

wrong thread..im an idiot 😀

 

[ecoli]

did anyone else have the passage about muscle fibers in the PS section? That was my first passage, and it really threw me off.

I, too, almost didn't finish the PS section, but found the VR and BS were not too bad, and even interesting at times.

I wonder if the curve will even out the scores, since this seems to be a common trend (at least on this board)

 

[Mudfever]

Well at least its over now. YaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!

I started talking to some people about some of the discretes and they were like no, I think it would be _______. And then I say #$%@&^*.

So I have stopped thinking about it and will try my best not to check AAMC until I read on this thread that the scores have been released. I leave for the beach on Wednesday next week for a little while. That will help.

Here's hoping for a 45 so that you can wear a bananna hammock to your interview and leave knowing not only that you are accepted, but that they want to offer you a full scholarship.

 

[moto_za]

so i forgot to ask about this...i did not get to answer one question due to timing on verbal and unfortunately had to leave it unanswered..should I have voided my test??

 

[lilspark]

It sounds like some real mcat dates have easier versions than others. Do you think it is just people's perception or is this the case. Do you guys think that they score these mcats accordingly? I hope that's the case but it is kind of unclear. I felt that especially our physical sciences (August 5) was hard and I was scoring in the 30s in both all Kaplan full lengths and AAMC. What do you guys think?