The 1/26/08 MCAT Club

[pingouin]

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Welcome, all January 26, 2008, MCATers!!!!

This is your official place to stress, vent, hang out, party, cry, yell, or whatever else you need to do in the week before and just after your MCAT.

As a reminder, when your test is done, you are welcome to come here and discuss your experience with it. Discussing general passage topics is OK- ie, "I had PS passages on circuits, thermodynamics, and optics." However, you are NOT allowed post specific questions or answer choices from your test. Any posts which contain specific information will be deleted, and a 2-week post hold will be placed on your account. Look here for more information on this.

to each and every one of you!!!!!!!

 

[sherruns]

I concur with all the posted info on the test.
What was that roller coaster? I just couldn't believe it! Knocked me for a loop.
I thought VR was straightforward and BS was obtuse.
I did like the prompts. I wrote about Rudolph Giuliani's morals and practical politics and then I wrote about parents of diseased children looking for friends LOL....

I thought BS was just about the hardest thing and I've taken upper level Physiology, Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy. I wish it would have tested my skills, but I don't think it did. It seemed like someone wrote this who REALLY wanted to trick us on every question.

I hope this was one of the hardest and that the curve is very very large. I hope I didn't bomb PS but I WAS GLAZED after the roller coaster!

 

[worriedtodeath]

i have to say, personally i didn't think the PS section was anything like the aamc practice tests. I was constantly wondering what the F*** was going on. I came out of the ps section thinking i was going to VOID the test.
After vr and bs i started to get my confidence back. I honestly didn't think bs was that bad. But ps almost bit my nuts off. Do you guys think there will be a better curve than aamc tests?

 

[sherruns]

me too, worriedtodeath...
hey, maybe we took the wrong test! We took the test that was for future roller coaster operators of America with evil female woodpeckers in their back yards who are going to be veterinarians and inoculate fly eyes with antibiotic after they recover from getting hit in the head by the airbag due to the crash sustained when they paid too much attention to the painting of the European map as they were driving! yeah, it's all clear now! I took the wrong test! Someone handed me my butt, that's all I remember.

 

[gymkat]

That's hilarious-- I wrote about Giuliani, too! I wrote about Facebook and IM for the other essay. Perhaps not the best examples, but what can you do...

 

[sherruns]

Good luck. It's over and I'm eating chocolate and drinking wine.
What a complete buttkicker.

 

[TonEBP]

WTF!!!!

I took the test in cali and just got out. What the heck was that about!!!! Roller coaster???magnetism?? physics was my strongest point but I actually just had to guess the last passage question. I was so depressed after that section I had to go to the bathroom and hypnotize myself that I was going to do ok.
Bio was hard too. I had three ochem passages. The test sucked big time.

I didn't save my answer for the essay portion for the first question. Does anyone know if they automatically save the response that was written even if you didn't click save?

anyway, its over.
lets go party.

 

[imac4daluv]

LOLL i wrote about giulliani also

 

[hung]

on par with aamc practice exams. the bio tested you more like the verbal section than bio.

physical: train, tuning fork, mystery salt, etc, this section wasn't too bad. lots of calculations though. i felt like i did twice the amount of calculations than the aamc practice ones. it was on par with aamc difficulty probably appeared harder because of test day jitters/effects.

verbal: readable passages, tricky questions. i felt it had more implication questions.

bio: bio was another verbal section. lot more reading for bio than expected. more implication from the passage questions than expected. more mol and genetic than expected. less human body stuff. 2 ochem passages, not too bad. some detailed discretes.

 

[sherruns]

on par with aamc practice exams. the bio tested you more like the verbal section than bio.

physical: train, tuning fork, mystery salt, etc, this section wasn't too bad. lots of calculations though. i felt like i did twice the amount of calculations than the aamc practice ones. it was on par with aamc difficulty probably appeared harder because of test day jitters/effects.

verbal: readable passages, tricky questions. i felt it had more implication questions.

bio: bio was another verbal section. lot more reading for bio than expected. more implication from the passage questions than expected. more mol and genetic than expected. less human body stuff. 2 ochem passages, not too bad. some detailed discretes.

So hung are you going to go with the veterinary map reading roller coaster operator fly eyeball inoculator volatile salt pourer evil woodpecker breeding job? It comes complete with its own rod-shaped bacteria. I hear they're hiring but you have to have a dirty John Deere hat and like carnivals and bearded ladies. They won't care that you know which direction the magnetic field flows, by the way, but you'll always have plenty of corny dogs.

Just kidding, I hope you did well. 😍 peace to all as we roll off this one.

 

[mouseben]

WTF!!!!

I took the test in cali and just got out. What the heck was that about!!!! Roller coaster???magnetism?? physics was my strongest point but I actually just had to guess the last passage question. I was so depressed after that section I had to go to the bathroom and hypnotize myself that I was going to do ok.
Bio was hard too. I had three ochem passages. The test sucked big time.

I didn't save my answer for the essay portion for the first question. Does anyone know if they automatically save the response that was written even if you didn't click save?

anyway, its over.
lets go party.

Yes, I believe the tutorial said your essay would be automatically saved at the end. I did not save the first one either. It should be OK. Do not worry.

 

[thevillageidiot]

not much to add on my end.

Physical Science was okay, but pretty calculation heavy.
Verbal Reasoning was... meh.
Biological Sciences was "What the heck is this?!"
The bio section was probably designed just to screw me, being that I'm a physiological science major.

 

[sherruns]

just sort of blown away.

 

[ARID3A]

Hey all...

PS: Mystery Potassium Salt, Roller Coaster and Energy, Halo Acids, Uranium, ????
Challenging...a few questions seemed to have multiple correct answers.

VR: literary criticism, First life on Earth, Stereoisomers, IQ, Geography, woodpecker, ???
Not the hardest group of verbal passages that I've ever seen but there were a few ambiguous questions. I have no idea how I did in this section though.

BS: Western Blot and IP, bacteria in bladder cells, chromosome breakage, ester hydrolysis, synthesis of nitrogen containing compound, gull wing, cold viruses
Having research experience helped tremendously with the western blot/immunoprecipitation passage - The passage did a horrible job of explaining how everything worked. Some very tricky questions!

Good everyone!!

 

[ichimaru]

I had pretty much the same test as the rest of you guys. VR sucked for me, I only had 8 minutes for the last 2 passages, so I'm expecting to miss a large percentage of those questions (they each had 5 questions I believe, ouch). I didn't pace myself quickly enough for PS, but I thought most of it was reasonable (had to guess on most of the tuning fork psg though). I was fine with most of BS except for a couple questions on the Western blot psg. Verbal is gonna be my downfall, again 😡

 

[OB1]

The "donut guy" at AAMC is behind all this hardship. Just like everyone else who can access SDN, he can also read what you guys have to say about previously administered exams. If a lot of you gloat about how easy such-and-such version was, scoring 13's and 14's on a particular test - watch out; Mr. donut guy carefully takes note and throws out something alot harder next time. Nothing pleases him more than being able to say "oh yeah? take that you dirty camper!"

 

[pky463]

PS was hard, it's usually my best section but I walked out feeling a little dejected.
VR was not too bad but I was between 2 choices on quite a few questions 🙁
BS was OK minus the discretes (how specific can you get, geez!) and I was kinda peeved about the Ochem over-emphasis...that was way more than 35%!

 

[Pelican27]

Yeah, I'm yet another person who was shocked by those bio passages (Western blot, flies, etc). I really want to punch the test-writers in their goofy faces. There were < 5 questions on the entire section that involved organ systems, and even some of those questions seemed random. After dedicating hours upon hours of my life to making sure I knew each of those systems inside and out, I feel like I've been cheated! Organic wasn't bad, and I may have even done fine on those bio passages, but I would have felt a lot better had there been a circulatory or nervous system passage in there.

As for the other sections, I had mixed feelings about PS and felt good about VR (consistently my best section). I thought the chemistry was easy, physics wasn't terrible, but there were way too many calculations, especially for an idiot like me who really needs a calculator. Also, I'm pretty sure that one of those writing topics was on the test I took on 9/7/07. Geez.

I felt pretty good coming out of the test, but then again I had the same feeling coming out of my first run in September. I was at a different center this time that is literally 2 minutes away from my house, so I think I was more at ease being in my home environment. That really might have helped. Anyway, right now I am waiting for my boyfriend (who also took the test today and shares many of your "wtf" sentiments) to come over so we can go out and enjoy life again. Best of luck to everyone, and thank you all for sharing!

 

[Confused120]

Hey all. I am taking the test on the 26th & am having some problems. My BS & VR scores are consistently 10+, but my PS scores are fluctuating like crazy! I went from a 13 (AAMC 10) to a 6!!!! (AAMC 9) to a 9 (AAMC 8) & I still have 2 more to go. Has anyone else ever had a similar experience, or has anyone ever scored higher on test day than in practice? I know today when I was doing it & got the 9, I wasn't really "in" to it, & I know on test day I will be much more focused, but I don't know how much of a difference it will make. I really really want an 11 or above, & I thought I had it when I got that 13, but I guess not. If anyone had any advice I would greatly appreciate it!

I too had the weird PS score increase on AAMC 10. It was the only one that I got a 13 on though.

 

[Confused120]

I will definitely going back to the gym (I think I've gained 15 lbs since starting to study for the MCAT). I also plan on focusing on my research again (put it off for like two months). I also plan on doing quite a bit of relaxing... and drinking.

Oh dear...me too! I think sitting on my butt studying all the time has packed on the pounds for sure....I'm hitting the gym first thing tomorrow morning!

 

[Confused120]

OMFG... I don't know even know what was worse... the test today.. or the Aug 20th one (I took both)

PS -

HaloAcids passage, Rollercoaster ride?, Satellite, Uranium passage... someone fill the rest

When I was done.. I felt slightly crappy.. b/c it was harder than the AAMCs for sure... I was getting 14s and 15s on the AAMC tests near the end.. and didn't have nearly as much trouble on those as I did on today's test. When I was done... I felt... "oh this was probably THE hard section on today's test... BS will be ok". About the same difficulty as a Kaplan test IMO. The physics on there was hard IMO... chem was fine.

VR- Not bad at all.. surprised actually

Literary Criticism passage, Woodpecker egg attack, Origin of Earth etc.. etc..

BS-

O Chem passage, Gull wings, O Chem passage, cold virus, Phagocyting bacteria, Fly Eyes Antibody Western Blot passage

O M F G.... take any Kaplan test... multiply its difficulty by 100 and there you go...
Never in my life did I predict such a BS section... ^ I don't know what version the above poster got... but honestly, I felt like dying.
I TOTALLY (not even educated guesses) guessed on ALL but 1 question on the "Fly Western Blot" passage... that's what 4 or 5 questions? Minus 4/5 for me right off the bat. I had approximately TWENTY (20) questions marked... just saying... On an AAMC test, I have 6 questions marked max.


Honestly from looking at the 25th thread, I wish I had taken it then... I understand there's a curve... but if you are completely NOT understanding a passage at all... it is high time someone seriously revamped the AAMC or atleast its topic list.... I know what Antibodies are.. I know what a Western blot is... but the level that that passage was written at.. was plain ridiculous. I took Genetics... and still had trouble on that passage. If I had to guess on 4/5 of the questions.... with 15 minutes left.... either I'm a total ******* or there's going to be an okay curve.

I don't even understand how anyone with the "basic sciences" could have gotten through that test.

OMGGGGGG I had this test too. The Bio section was so unbelievably difficult!!!!! I had to guess throughout the passage you're talking about. It was not comprehensible. I got to it with like 19 minutes left and still could not figure it out and ran out of time. How the hell were we suppose to read the blot???

I could not see the entire blot on one screen- like when you scrolled left or right it cut of some other part you needed to see. I felt the same way- like oh the BS will be easier...but it was SO hard.

 

[Confused120]

I agree with you guys. they're not doing a great job putting these tests together.

If the AAMC is going to say that they're testing us on basic scientific theory, it would be nice to get some questions actually testing us on that.

I saw a lot of reusing passages (some similarities from yesterday's test posts) Which is completely bogus...they should invest some of that $200 we pay to actually make better/novel tests. This was my second MCAT and I actually had the same essay prompt that I had 3 yrs ago (computer and alienation)

Question though: I rushed through VR and finished with 8 minutes left (not saying that I did well). I checked the review button and saw that everything was complete (I think???). Did this happen to anyone else?
Assuming that we all had the same VR passages, if you remember your passages, do you mind trying to remind me?
so far,
french argument book, long bio passage, woodpecker, henry james.

thats 4 of the 7

Does anyone know the rest? trying to convince myself that I didn't skip one....

I had this test too. There was the one about cultivation from televison watching too.

 

[Confused120]

so, here I am venting my latent anger, which i though i wouldn't have to do after all those freakin 9 TPR diagnostics and 8 AAMC practice tests.

PS: long and hard. finished 8 secs before the time ran out. pretty confident in scoring 12+. it's good that i don't recheck my answers because i apparently tend to be swayed by the wrong answer every time i amend.

Verbal: thought it was okay. long passages, and i had to guess 2 Q's at the end (woodpecker pecking eggs and rant) because i ran out of time.

BS: was ABSURD! i didn't know basic science involved years of research experience. the only reason, i dare say, that i was able to manage those questions was because of my research experience, working in a lab for over a year and having to do those wet lab techniques like western and stuff. but, even then, those Q's were way off the board. really, i tend to finished the bio section with too much time on the end, but somehow today, i ran out of time, having to guess 3 Q's of those WB, Antibody, Mutant section. Luckily, i had already done the last free standing Q's before hand.

am pretty confident about the PS. Verbal can't tell (you know with those sleezy booty traps). BS was plain obnoxious.

as per the diff verbal passages

1. book criticism
2. geography (with sally failing her geo tests as one of the options in the answer prompt. thought that was pretty funny).
3. evolution
4. ?
5. ?
6. wookpecker
7. aminoacids stereoisomerism (L and R)

no, i think the time for getting our scores is ~ a month.

cheers to all. hope our scores take us all by pleasant surprises.

I think one of the ones missing is the cultivation psychology theory as a result from TV watching. Can't think of the other though.

 

[Chemist0157]

I felt pretty decent about the test until that BS section! What a coincidence about the abbreviation!

PS - I felt like this was my strongest section. I been studying with Kaplan books, and this section actually felt a little easier.

VR - Tricky. I really have no idea because I guessed between two answers often...I might make a 7 or I might make a 12.

BS - Blah! Very passage-based! And those passages felt so LOOONG. Half of them were just downright confusing. I'm hoping for a 10!

And who cares about the essays? 😛 I feel like I did better than last time (Q).

 

[armybound]

I think one of the ones missing is the cultivation psychology theory as a result from TV watching. Can't think of the other though.

the one about IQ tests

 

[Confused120]

Wow- looking at the posts from the January 25th administration....I'm wishing I took it then because they all keep writing about how easy it was!

I got to my test center at 11:30 but was not able to start the test until almost 12:30 due to a bunch of 7 year old with their parents....testing side by side with us mcaters by the way- wtf???

PS- I thought it was challenging but fair. Some of the questions were much more detail oriented or calculation based than what I expected from the practice tests. The passage of the roller coaster was weird as was the tuning fork.

VR- I never know what to think with this. How long the passages were shocked me...they were a lot longer than the AAMC tests.

Writing Sample- went well but it was annoying how others started the writing sample while I was still doing verbal. Their typing away was distracting.

BS- OMG this was soooooooooo not fair. Individuals taking this test are told that they will be able to succeed with Gen Bio I and II knowledge....then what in god's name was this test???? I studied night and day...so hard....learned how the human body works inside and out...saying as though we all want to be doctors....why was there not even one passage on the human body!!!!

The viruses passage was a bit more comprehendible than the rest, although I felt like the questions were really wordy....and all those orgo passages- I had 3....were definitely more than the 35% of the test I was expecting.

The flies with the messed up wings where we were suppose to assume just one locus...was confusing as hell....and the western blot made noooooooooooooooo sense and just seemed so unfair.

So many people keep saying that they didn't think it was bad due to their research experience or because they have these intense engineering/technology degrees which is wonderful for them but how was someone with just gen bio knowledge really suppose to do well on this test?

I'm really upset. I've never studied so hard in my life- I knew my Bio I and II front and back....but they don't teach western blot or immuno precipt that in depth in those courses....and the passage was hardly understandable...bio was consistently my best section...I was hoping it would makeup for any weaknesses in verbal or PS....now I'm just screwed.

 

[Leathaface2g]

Wow- looking at the posts from the January 25th administration....I'm wishing I took it then because they all keep writing about how easy it was!

I got to my test center at 11:30 but was not able to start the test until almost 12:30 due to a bunch of 7 year old with their parents....testing side by side with us mcaters by the way- wtf???

PS- I thought it was challenging but fair. Some of the questions were much more detail oriented or calculation based than what I expected from the practice tests. The passage of the roller coaster was weird as was the tuning fork.

VR- I never know what to think with this. How long the passages were shocked me...they were a lot longer than the AAMC tests.

Writing Sample- went well but it was annoying how others started the writing sample while I was still doing verbal. Their typing away was distracting.

BS- OMG this was soooooooooo not fair. Individuals taking this test are told that they will be able to succeed with Gen Bio I and II knowledge....then what in god's name was this test???? I studied night and day...so hard....learned how the human body works inside and out...saying as though we all want to be doctors....why was there not even one passage on the human body!!!!

The viruses passage was a bit more comprehendible than the rest, although I felt like the questions were really wordy....and all those orgo passages- I had 3....were definitely more than the 35% of the test I was expecting.

The flies with the messed up wings where we were suppose to assume just one locus...was confusing as hell....and the western blot made noooooooooooooooo sense and just seemed so unfair.

So many people keep saying that they didn't think it was bad due to their research experience or because they have these intense engineering/technology degrees which is wonderful for them but how was someone with just gen bio knowledge really suppose to do well on this test?

I'm really upset. I've never studied so hard in my life- I knew my Bio I and II front and back....but they don't teach western blot or immuno precipt that in depth in those courses....and the passage was hardly understandable...bio was consistently my best section...I was hoping it would makeup for any weaknesses in verbal or PS....now I'm just screwed.

That's really what upset me the most about the bio. Why is there no passages on anything related to the body? No endocrine whatsoever...no cardiac/circulatory, no digestive (maybe 1 standalone), no nervous system that I can think of, I mean wtf?! When you study bio for the mcat you expect to be tested at least in some way on some of the MAJOR bio processes in the body...

 

[mouseben]

the one about IQ tests

I do not think I got the cultivation psycology one. I remember this IQ test one, also one about language symbols. Do not remember the evolution one either.

 

[ARID3A]

you guys are absolutely right about the western blot passage. I could see it being legit if the passage provided enough background information...but in my opinion, it skipped explaining several important steps....it was hardly a fair passage.

 

[bozz]

I'm hoping they discard some of those questions... if we have econ/humanities majors taking it, how will they even get it right?

It's curved.. they probably will end up discarding some of those ridiculous ones

 

[Confused120]

That's what I find the most unfair about this test. People are trying to get into medical school because of their interest in the human body...I feel like today's biology section would have been appropriate for someone going to get their PHD/engineering degree in molecular genetics...

and because some of the people taking the test fall into that category...how are typical undergraduate students suppose to compete...fairly

 

[Confused120]

That's really what upset me the most about the bio. Why is there no passages on anything related to the body? No endocrine whatsoever...no cardiac/circulatory, no digestive (maybe 1 standalone), no nervous system that I can think of, I mean wtf?! When you study bio for the mcat you expect to be tested at least in some way on some of the MAJOR bio processes in the body...

I'm still so pissed off at that. All those hormones...all the organ systems...how they all work I mean I really went overboard knowing it inside and out and it was useless for the test. Apparently our ability to figure out fly genetics and organic reactions tells more about our potential as a physician....this test is so unfair.

 

[worriedtodeath]

As i understand it, if enough people write to aamc about specific questions or passages they considered unfair, then they would throw out those questions. It could be worth a try, especially on some of those PS passages.

 

[mouseben]

As i understand it, if enough people write to aamc about specific questions or passages they considered unfair, then they would throw out those questions. It could be worth a try, especially on some of those PS passages.

Not sure that will really help. I am guessing that if only a very low percentage of people got it right on a particular Q, then AAMC might discard that question.

 

[funkydrmonkey]

I was relaxing after I took the MCAT and finally watched Rush Hour 3. It was funny but ended to abruptly.
My 2/100 of a dollar.
PS: It was kind of hard, and I did not have time to check it, but I thanked God endlessly for not putting an ounce of light/optics on the passages. It was harder than AAMC, but come on... it is the real MCAT... it is supposed to be hard.
VR: It was hard. I screwed up on the weird firms competing passage and I had/ still have no clue what they were talking about. I also ran out of time😡! I never ran out of time on the EK practice verbals...🙁
BS: Was it really that bad. I thought it was okay... it was hard, but if you reasoned through it was okay. I had time to check through my answers, and was kind of okay about it, but the anatomy and evolution questions got me... which is bad because I used to tutor intro to evolutionary bio.
everyone and let the countdown to 2/26 begin.
BTW: it is

It is 30 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes and 45 seconds until Tuesday, February 26, 2008 (Los Angeles time)​

 

[Leathaface2g]

I was relaxing after I took the MCAT and finally watched Rush Hour 3. It was funny but ended to abruptly.
My 2/100 of a dollar.
PS: It was kind of hard, and I did not have time to check it, but I thanked God endlessly for not putting an ounce of light/optics on the passages. It was harder than AAMC, but come on... it is the real MCAT... it is supposed to be hard.
VR: It was hard. I screwed up on the weird firms competing passage and I had/ still have no clue what they were talking about. I also ran out of time😡! I never ran out of time on the EK practice verbals...🙁
BS: Was it really that bad. I thought it was okay... it was hard, but if you reasoned through it was okay. I had time to check through my answers, and was kind of okay about it, but the anatomy and evolution questions got me... which is bad because I used to tutor intro to evolutionary bio.
everyone and let the countdown to 2/26 begin.
BTW: it is

It is 30 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes and 45 seconds until Tuesday, February 26, 2008 (Los Angeles time)​

The countdown to see if I have to take it again! 😱

 

[DeMo85]

Hi all,

Are the results of the 1/25 exams scaled against one another, with the 1/26 a separate scale?.....or are both included in determining the bell-curve? Just curious, congrats for being done everyone.

D

 

[ZarbK2]

PS: okay but didn't really test all the stuff I had studied for, fluid dynamics, circuits, optics

VR: I hate those topics anyway but I did fine

WS: same as always...just writing

BS: HOLY MOTHER OF GOD im not here to get my ****ing PhD in genetics why the **** did i bother studying every mechanism in the god damn human body why why why

 

[Algorhythmik]

I've been seeing tons of people ranting and raving about how hard the Bio Section was. I'm a grad student in Molec Cell Bio right now, and I didn't find it excessively hard at all.

The Fly mutant proteins Western blot passage - as soon as you realize the effect of a mutant, it's not at all hard to go from there. It "looks" hard, but I give you my word, it isn't at all. I won't say anything more as I don't want to get into any trouble though (AAMC admins ... I'm behaving, I promise!). All they did was throw an outlandish topic and experiment at you, but the key was to keep it simple. The answers were easy once you swallowed the fact that the passage was nasty and got over it.

Same as Kaplan or any other prep teaches you. All you need is basic info to answer most questions. It doesn't matter if it's rocket science involved. Apply the basic science and see what it predicts for you. Worked like a charm for me.

Also - in PS there were 2 stoich problems that I kept screwing up and had to guess between two more seemingly appropriate values. I will also add that the roller coaster car with the magnetic braking system - there was 1 super conceptual Q in particular was REALLY hard. You had to combine knowledge from varous areas of physics to answer it; no other way around it that I can think of. Again, no details AAMC admin! Only that I left that for last and used my left over time to stare at the screen for a few minutes to answer it. I'd like to shove my first toward the face of whomever wrote that question.

GRRRRRRR ... you fried my brain, you evil AAMC person you!

VR - the woodpecker and competitive nest-egging passage ... was brutal to get through. Who knew Ornithology could be so boring and dense? Also the 13 yo Sally Geography Q's ... OMG. Did anyone think those were really hard? I regularly scored really really well on VR (12-14s) and I thought those couple of questions had 2 equally justifiable answers. OMG.

And the essays werent bad at all. Computers & Politicians for me. Lots of decent stuff to work with from literature and history. But then again I read a lot and I got a T last time I took the MCAT. lol

 

[pky463]

I've been seeing tons of people ranting and raving about how hard the Bio Section was. I'm a grad student in Molec Cell Bio right now, and I didn't find it excessively hard at all.

The Fly mutant proteins Western blot passage - as soon as you realize the effect of a mutant, it's not at all hard to go from there. It "looks" hard, but I give you my word, it isn't at all. I won't say anything more as I don't want to get into any trouble though (AAMC admins ... I'm behaving, I promise!). All they did was throw an outlandish topic and experiment at you, but the key was to keep it simple. The answers were easy once you swallowed the fact that the passage was nasty and got over it.

Same as Kaplan or any other prep teaches you. All you need is basic info to answer most questions. It doesn't matter if it's rocket science involved. Apply the basic science and see what it predicts for you. Worked like a charm for me.

Also - in PS there were 2 stoich problems that I kept screwing up and had to guess between two more seemingly appropriate values. I will also add that the roller coaster car with the magnetic braking system - there was 1 super conceptual Q in particular was REALLY hard. You had to combine knowledge from varous areas of physics to answer it; no other way around it that I can think of. Again, no details AAMC admin! Only that I left that for last and used my left over time to stare at the screen for a few minutes to answer it. I'd like to shove my first toward the face of whomever wrote that question.

GRRRRRRR ... you fried my brain, you evil AAMC person you!

VR - the woodpecker and competitive nest-egging passage ... was brutal to get through. Who knew Ornithology could be so boring and dense? Also the 13 yo Sally Geography Q's ... OMG. Did anyone think those were really hard? I regularly scored really really well on VR (12-14s) and I thought those couple of questions had 2 equally justifiable answers. OMG.

And the essays werent bad at all. Computers & Politicians for me. Lots of decent stuff to work with from literature and history. But then again I read a lot and I got a T last time I took the MCAT. lol

I think I know what question in PS you are talking about..it took me 5 minutes and I still had to guess it! 👎

 

[Algorhythmik]

I had stand-alones on NS and Circ.

 

[bozz]

I've been seeing tons of people ranting and raving about how hard the Bio Section was. I'm a grad student in Molec Cell Bio right now, and I didn't find it excessively hard at all.

The Fly mutant proteins Western blot passage - as soon as you realize the effect of a mutant, it's not at all hard to go from there. It "looks" hard, but I give you my word, it isn't at all. I won't say anything more as I don't want to get into any trouble though (AAMC admins ... I'm behaving, I promise!). All they did was throw an outlandish topic and experiment at you, but the key was to keep it simple. The answers were easy once you swallowed the fact that the passage was nasty and got over it.

Same as Kaplan or any other prep teaches you. All you need is basic info to answer most questions. It doesn't matter if it's rocket science involved. Apply the basic science and see what it predicts for you. Worked like a charm for me.

Also - in PS there were 2 stoich problems that I kept screwing up and had to guess between two more seemingly appropriate values. I will also add that the roller coaster car with the magnetic braking system - there was 1 super conceptual Q in particular was REALLY hard. You had to combine knowledge from varous areas of physics to answer it; no other way around it that I can think of. Again, no details AAMC admin! Only that I left that for last and used my left over time to stare at the screen for a few minutes to answer it. I'd like to shove my first toward the face of whomever wrote that question.

GRRRRRRR ... you fried my brain, you evil AAMC person you!

VR - the woodpecker and competitive nest-egging passage ... was brutal to get through. Who knew Ornithology could be so boring and dense? Also the 13 yo Sally Geography Q's ... OMG. Did anyone think those were really hard? I regularly scored really really well on VR (12-14s) and I thought those couple of questions had 2 equally justifiable answers. OMG.

And the essays werent bad at all. Computers & Politicians for me. Lots of decent stuff to work with from literature and history. But then again I read a lot and I got a T last time I took the MCAT. lol

I'll reply to your physics concerns in the same way.. IMO if you knew the basics, the physics is very straight forward... again, your concentration might play a major role here... an engineer would have had no problem with the PS section.. chem was straightforward.. no curveballs... physics had curveballs, but if you recognized them, you were set.

You said you were a molecular bio grad student.. many people on here such are still undergrads and have only taken basic science classes.... just like the physics concepts seem very elemental to me due to my background, the "simplicity" of the western blot passage was very apparent to you; it was just a bunch of crap covering a simple concept. Mastery of basics comes with experience... which really helps under timed conditions. The straightforwardness is not apparent for most people who are simply in their 3rd year of college. I hope that made sense.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Algorhythmik]

That is exactly right.

That fly mutant Western blot stuff was written as densely and verbosely as possible. And IMHO, the Western blot diagram ITSELF was the most helpful in answering 90% of that passage. If you took a minute to analyze it instead of just saying, whoopey, a picture, ... it had critical info.

It was funny to me. I remember thinking. Man, so many people are not gonna notice this little nugget. I can't wait to go on SDN and hear them whine. hahaha

And BOZZ - I'm glad the engineer agrees with me. I'm not an Engineer, but I have a very strong physics background and can hold my own quite well. But that damn magnetic braking question. OH MY GOD. It reminded me of a Vector Calculus Exam in college in which, at one orchestrated point, everyone got to a special problem, and the whole class was sitting their waving their hand in the air with the fingers in odd contortions. That was me today. hahaha

 

[dancermd07]

Took the test in Cali, here are my brief thoughts:

PS: a little on the hard side, some weird physics passages, not too different from AAMC

VR: surprisingly doable, some passages were a little iffy (the geography one, hahaha)

WS: awesome

BS: WHAT THE F***???? No endocrine questions, no emphasis on physiology?! What was up with that stupid Western blot passage? I thought this section was absolutely ridiculous. This was not reflective at all of the AAMC practice tests. Pretty disappointed.

I'm just glad to be done and get my regular routine back. I'll worry about it again in a month. Good luck to everyone.

*I'm not too savvy on how exams vary from each test date. People are saying they should have taken it on the 25. Are there differences in the exam administered on the 25 than on the 26?

 

[BloodySurgeon]

CONGRATS ALL its finally OVER!!!!

Very exhausted since I drive straight from the test center into my tux and left to my cuzins wedding where people forced me to dance and drink with them. Anyways, I want to clarify some things I found out from taking the test and what my opinion about the whole process was.

First if you come late during the break, the section will not start without you. Also, you will have time even before the tutorial to write down all the formulas and etc u'd like. There is a 45 and a 5 minute warning pop up similar to practice and you have ear plugs and a headphone for sound reduction.

Now on the the test...

PS-I thought it was actually quite straight-forward... chemistry was very on par with what i've seen many times and the physics had only a few really hard questions. I recognized a few discrete questions from kaplan (thx u kaplan) and the topics weren't so bad. I had only a huge problem with a question on the roller coaster... the question was simple but the answer choice didnt make sense. I cant elaborate any more without getting banned, but did anyone think there was a problem with one of the answer choices?

VR-This is my worst section... I didnt think it was too bad, but the entire time I could not concentrate and I prob fuked up on this section. The passages were longer and the questions were almost all inferences and reasoning and only 1 or 2 refer back to the passage or what is the meaning of so and so. Also, the passages were very very boring. I think thats what got to me most. It wasn't a difficult read, but it was difficult to stay attention to the reading.

BS- I never took molecular bio, immunology or microbiology so it was a shock to see every passage about it. However, the questions could still have been solved without any prior knowledge to the material. I could have not studied and done just as well. Still, I didn't think it was that much harder than the other aamcs. Maybe most people were relying more on outside knowledge then what was presented in the passage, I don't know. The orgo was easy and similar to what we've all seen. The bio had some tough discretes and the length wasn't too bad.

Writing- Easy prompts, one that Ive done before and one that was so-so.

 

[RapplixGmed]

I took the mcat yesturday and I have a few thoughts about it.

The testing center folks were all really nice!

I have never had so many fingerprints taken in recent memory.

I was surprised that they actually had CRTs there... CRTs that flicker. Rest your eyes before going into the test center because they'll take a pounding later. Do any of the test centers have LCDs? Because I would certainly travel a bit further just for that.

As other people have noted, the test does not start without you after the break. Theoretically you can wait as long as you wanted on some of the screens before you agree to start the next section.

Those orange noise blockers are really helpful! Especially because I was right beside the AC and it made a lot of ambient noise. I also started a bit late so I was able to block out the noisy keyboards while I was doing the VR. However, they do become uncomfortable after a while and you can hear your heart pounding in them. I took them off by the writing section but put them back on for BS.

Learn to love pink scratch paper.

Ok about the actual test itself:

PS: I thought this was a bit harder than the AAMCs and on par with the Kaplan physics sections. The roller coaster and space station passages were the hardest in my opinion. I expected harder chem too but there wasn't much of that. A few questions tripped me up the first and second time through and I had to guess but I was able to give a reasoned answer to all of them by the end. I think the curve for this one is going to be lenient. There was much more difficult calculations than I expected too. My engineering knowledge really helped with this one.

VR: What can I say? The verbal is usually my weakest point but I felt really good about the it. The passages were straightforward and the questions a bit less so. There were a few questions that i had to choose between two answers and one that I had to choose between three. If i found it easy, i expect others to as well so I think the curve for this will be very sharp.

WR: The key combos for copy, paste, and undo do NOT work. This surprised me at first, especially undo because I like to go back and change things often. The first essay topic was something I had done at least twice in practice tests before and I already had something memorized for. Aced it. The second one was more difficult and I don't actually think I answered the question in the way that mcat asks for but by the time i realized this, it was too late. I also realized when the times up message came up that I was missing a key word in my concluding sentence. 😱. I figure the good and the bad will balance themselves out.

BS: Good old BS... bull ****. I can never seem to expect what comes up in these things and this is a case in point. Way more molecular biology and genetics than I expected and almost no physiology. What gives? If i didn't do western blots at my job, I would have had no idea how to do that entire passage because it was explained so poorly. I'm still wondering about the flies. I expect the curve here to be lenient too.

In summary, PS and BS were hard and VR was easy... quite the opposite of what I expected. My projected score ranking is PS>BS>VR with writing completely up in the air.

Now that this evil is behind me, its time to go exercise again! 😎

 

[mheart]

Sooo. about this test. I feel like I have the same complaints about the test. WHAT WAS BIO ABOUT. Anyway, since apparently everyone feels this bad & is praying for the curve...Won't the curve be totally messed up & unrepresentative since no one did well? Now I'm not saying no one did well, & I am sure there are plenty of people who scored very high both in this forum & elsewhere. However, since so many people seem to have guessed so much, it seems that our grades will represent how well we guess more so than how much we know. I don't know if I'm saying exactly what I want to say, but does anyone else have the same thoughts??

 

[Algorhythmik]

Hey Peeps:

I took the test in FL - and I had a perfectly adjusted, slightly angle-tilted 17 inch LCD screen that was neither too bright nor too dull. Just right. And the text was plainly large enough for me to decide not to use my typical classroom glasses.

Also - yes, tons of fingerprinting and signing in and out! And my scratch paper was 8x11 yellow construction paper with nifty AAMC MCAT/Thomson logos up top stapled into a test booklet format.

Again, people are complaining about Bio, particularly the Mutant Fly Western Blot passage. All I will say is that the text was far less important than the Blot Diagram itself. I myself only noticed this after 5-6 minutes of intense scrutiny. VERY misleading and tricky. I don't think you could accurately answer the questions without realizing that. I won't say anything more detailed as the AAMC vultures might get angry and ask Zeus to fire a lightning bolt at my arse. hahaha I don't want that. lol

 

[ComicBookDude]

Sooo. about this test. I feel like I have the same complaints about the test. WHAT WAS BIO ABOUT. Anyway, since apparently everyone feels this bad & is praying for the curve...Won't the curve be totally messed up & unrepresentative since no one did well? Now I'm not saying no one did well, & I am sure there are plenty of people who scored very high both in this forum & elsewhere. However, since so many people seem to have guessed so much, it seems that our grades will represent how well we guess more so than how much we know. I don't know if I'm saying exactly what I want to say, but does anyone else have the same thoughts??

Some people did much worse then others. I'm guessing that the score distribution in these cases is similar to a normal distribution, except shifted to the left by maybe 4-5 points. I'm hoping that the cutoffs will be shifted as well.

 

[smeagol]

I didn't take the 1/26 MCAT but I'm a humanities major and I have no idea what a Western blot is =D.

Did the passage explain how to read the blot? If it didn't, I'd be very screwed.

 

[QofQuimica]

Folks,

I don't know what's gotten into you all of a sudden, but after a long period of everyone playing by the rules, now we have a rash of people wanting to discuss specific MCAT details, questions and answers. Again, this is a violation of AAMC copyrights and SDN TOS. For those who insist on ignoring the rules, we will be forced to remove posts that give specific MCAT details, and we will also have to post hold your account for one week, during which time you will not be able to post on SDN. We really don't want to have to do this to anyone else. Please, avoid discussing MCAT specifics. For more guidance on this issue, see the sticky at the top of this forum.

Some specific examples of acceptable versus posts that are too specific can be found here.