The 5/10/08 MCAT Club

[mheart]

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So I am surprised this thread has not been started yet!! How is everyone feeling about the test?? How are you spending your last week & 1/2? I am retaking from Jan 26th so this is IT! I'm more ready to have it done than nervous...what about everyone else?

 

[Blablazo]

I too would like to say how ridiculously hard the Bio was. I was getting 34-39 on the AAMC practices with 11-13 in bio and I am praying for just a 10 in that section. The lac operon bacteria passage was ridiculous and most of the others were really tough. Glad it's over though. Hope I just break 10 on bio cause I know I rocked the rest.

 

[MKR]

Hey Guys...
This is the first post here... I also took the test today and feel crappy... I thought PS was hard but still I think I did okay... Verbal paragraphs were longer than the one on practice test... I had to skim through the last one oh well nothing I can do about it.... Talk about BS could they make it any harder????
It just seems like I had a bad day... and oh yes if someone else tells me to chill out and relax now since I cannot do anything about it....I think I will snap...
I know they are right but is anyone relaxing???? The 30 day wait is going to kill me....

 

[MiketheAnimal]

I too would like to say how ridiculously hard the Bio was. I was getting 34-39 on the AAMC practices with 11-13 in bio and I am praying for just a 10 in that section. The lac operon bacteria passage was ridiculous and most of the others were really tough. Glad it's over though. Hope I just break 10 on bio cause I know I rocked the rest.

Yeah that lac operon bugged the hell out of me, as well...I spent wayyyy too much time trying to figure that one out. VR seemed fairly straightforward to me, as did PS, but BS was a bit more complicated...and the writing section was just ******ed, I completely forget what I wrote already. Man, waiting 30 days is going to SUCK!

 

[Angel Wings]

Hey Guys...
This is the first post here... I also took the test today and feel crappy... I thought PS was hard but still I think I did okay... Verbal paragraphs were longer than the one on practice test... I had to skim through the last one oh well nothing I can do about it.... Talk about BS could they make it any harder????
It just seems like I had a bad day... and oh yes if someone else tells me to chill out and relax now since I cannot do anything about it....I think I will snap...
I know they are right but is anyone relaxing???? The 30 day wait is going to kill me....

Haha I'm relaxing...I spent all day watching old episodes of ANTM. Even though I should really be preparing for finals...

Just take it easy today and eat lots of ice cream~~. Or call of one of your friends and bitch about it (although...this be more like a girl thing to do????? I don't know XD)

 

[Sillyshoes]

How was the orgo content on the BS section for you guys?
Is there a lot? My test is in about 2 weeks! ugh don't know how much effort I should put into orgo.

 

[What up doc]

first off, praise the laaawwwd that my life can finally begin again!

second off, can i get a **** you mcat?

okay now, PS was difficult. But I think I did okay. I finished with less time than I usually do, I usually finished with about 15-17 min in practice test but only had about 10 min this time...i found sum questions 2 be those ones where its like*dayum! i kno how to do this but my numbers jus wont match up* and then the time crunch...the Ra momentum discreet for instance, i changed my answer to what i belive now to be the wrong answer at the last minute! dayum...i was averaging 13/14 on my last 4 practice test....id be happy with an 11 but not too entirely shocked if i got a 13...seeing how everyone else thouht it was difficuilt...

verbal..OMG a BLESSING...now i hate to speak too soon for verbal, but i think i SLAYED this...i usually finish with about 1 min..but had a whopping 10 min left after this section...and i knew this was gonna happen...i usually bring it on test day and for all those ppl saying expect ur practice test 2 turn out like the real deal...FALSE...there are soooo many factors that come into play on test u cant replicate...i was averaging 9-11 but would be ELATED with a 13/14 on this passage...ill prolly geta 9/10 tho, cuz thats how it always happens😡...

bio...OH MY ****ING GOD! i TA for orgo...that orgo ****ED me up....the passages..DENSE DENSE DENSE!!! like KAPLAN DENSE but with maybe a little easier questons...the one antibody passage i did without looking at the passage...the one orgo passage same deal..but DUDE..lac operon and heart and a discreets MESSED me up! i was too happy with almost being done however to let it get to me and i still finished with my usual 15 min..but it really didnt matter....bio screwd me and i prolly got an 8...best case sceario 10...was averaging 11-13 on AAMCS...aamcs WAY easier....the mcat ppl suck...the aamcs are too easy...i took aamc6 on tuesday and thought i would walk into test day bustin a 40...oh how quickly my dreams were shattered...im not retaking anything 30 and up i think tho...well see...


why arent i drunk yet?

 

[zed350]

first off, praise the laaawwwd that my life can finally begin again!

second off, can i get a **** you mcat?

Man That was hilarious !!

 

[MDWannabe2009]

how many orgo passages were there?

 

[RySerr21]

why does it even matter that AMCAS tests were way easier than the real MCAT test??? the test is scaled....

in other words, on an easy test, all that means is that you can miss very fe questions and still get a good score. on this particular test (which apparently was pretty hard) you wouldn't have to get as many right to do as well.

so on the real MCAT if you got a 30 out of 52 on the bio section that might still be realy high because it was really hard... but if you got a 30 out of 52 on an "easy" AMCAS test you wouldn't do well at all.

so since it is scaled, i dont see the point in complaining that AMCAS is easier than the real deal....it all works out the same in the end. From what i have heard, taking the AMCAS practice tests is a very good predictor for the range of scores that you could possibly get on the real deal.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

I thought also the heart passage on bio was hard as ****. Even though I completely understood the passage, the questions really messed with me. Glad to know other people were as terrified of the bio as they were of the physical sciences.

I'm praying for a 28.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

And I agree...I also took AAMC 6 before the real thing and hit 36, my highest practice test score by far. I was hoping for at least a 30 on this....pretty damn sure that's not possible.

 

[What up doc]

why does it even matter that AMCAS tests were way easier than the real MCAT test??? the test is scaled....

in other words, on an easy test, all that means is that you can miss very fe questions and still get a good score. on this particular test (which apparently was pretty hard) you wouldn't have to get as many right to do as well.

so on the real MCAT if you got a 30 out of 52 on the bio section that might still be realy high because it was really hard... but if you got a 30 out of 52 on an "easy" AMCAS test you wouldn't do well at all.

so since it is scaled, i dont see the point in complaining that AMCAS is easier than the real deal....it all works out the same in the end. From what i have heard, taking the AMCAS practice tests is a very good predictor for the range of scores that you could possibly get on the real deal.

i think our fear is that we may have thought it was hard, but aamc may not have felt like it was thhhhaaat hard...and i just dont how see how curved the test could...like on an aamc u could miss 5 or 6 on a bio and still get a 13...with experimental questions and all..can ne1 imagine the curve being any more lenient...like 4real..missing 7 or 8 for a 13....9 or 10 for a 12...YEA RIGHT!

 

[stupidkid30]

Ok, finally took this thing

PS was ok, I can never tell how I do in this section.

VR seemed very feasible, but had to guess on one whole passage.

BS, can somebody tell me why MCAT Bio has become MCAT genetics? it seems as if the whole darn thing was genetics Overall I think it was ok.

WR OMG the writting section was honestly the toughest I have ever seen, it was sooooo difficult, this writting section was definetly much harder than the AAMCs, where did they get these questions, that was the thoughest section in the whole test, am hoping for an R did anyone feel the same way?

Bottom line here is Don't take the MCAT without genetics the test writers seem to have become quite fond of this subject.

 

[supafield]

This happened to me in 2006.... straight forward test until bio..... and the bio was like nothing I ever saw.... without any physio... just terribly.... it spooked me....

My question to everyone here is.... given that you now saw your bio... what would have you done different...

do you think a certain prep would have helped....

I have come to think I couldn't have prepared better I just needed to be more mentally tough, realize the passage confused me and not scrambled, rather just answered at the best of my ability keeping a reasonable pace.

I might try TPR A-D's bio.... they're heralded as very tough....
I've always held doing something stupidly tough and unrepresentative was dumb but maybe it's good practice, seeing a passage you can't handle, even with a good knowledge base and then try to work through them as best as possible.

lol I don't know? I have to try something, I don't want to walk into this trap again... at least this time I'll see it coming.

 

[Dr. Josh]

🙄

Ok, finally took this thing

PS was ok, I can never tell how I do in this section.

VR seemed very feasible, but had to guess on one whole passage.

BS, can somebody tell me why MCAT Bio has become MCAT genetics? it seems as if the whole darn thing was genetics Overall I think it was ok.

WR OMG the writting section was honestly the toughest I have ever seen, it was sooooo difficult, this writting section was definetly much harder than the AAMCs, where did they get these questions, that was the thoughest section in the whole test, am hoping for an R did anyone feel the same way?

Bottom line here is Don't take the MCAT without genetics the test writers seem to have become quite fond of this subject.

Did we take the same test? I hardly had any genetics and wish i did; I'd feel much more confident with genetics. I had never even looked at writing before and i really didn't care that much about it because unless you totally bomb it, I don't think it matters. My worst section was Bio but I'm sure I'll be retaking this test. I don't feel overly confident at all. 😡

Am I the only one to find Blablazo overly arrogant and annoying especially when we're feeling down?🙄

 

[jamesrick80]

So true there wasn't much genetics besides one passage. Also, the writing section isn't that significant to worry about.

 

[iCY]

WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT ORGO SECTION. i've never encountered questions like that in over 15 bio sections i've taken.

i think i might have underestimated it. felt very confident taking the physical sciences, verbal, the writing was a breeze. i think it made me too relaxed for the bio section.

TOO MUCH GENETICS

 

[ferreed]

Hey, y'all.

In case it hasn't been said yet, don't fret too much over the difficulty of any particular section or your whole test. There are a bunch of different test forms with different content, different levels of difficulty, and different scales for grading. Harder tests have easier scales and vice versa. So, don't worry yourself to death with post analysis. Relax, enjoy any free time you may have, and start working on your AMCAS if you're at that stage. 🙂

I had the Lac operon passage, too. It was definitely tricky and required an inordinate amount of time reading and processing to figure out what was being asked. I did research for two years in a lab that used the Lac operon extensively and I had some trouble figuring out exactly what they were asking.

I was surprised by the amount of inorganic chem and the difficulty of the organic passages. I was also surprised at the lack of thermo and electricity & magnetism questions. I walked away feeling like I hadn't focused my studies very well.

Best of luck to all! I'll be watching to see when someone posts that scores are up in about a month. I figure somebody can be manic for me and check THx daily (or hourly.) 😀

 

[ferreed]

Did we take the same test?

Probably not. There are multiple test forms with different content.

Am I the only one to find Blablazo overly arrogant and annoying especially when we're feeling down?🙄

Sounded like a reasonable statement to me. If anything, hoping for a 10 when he/she was scoring 11-13 on practice tests may be a bit pessimistic. No sense getting bent out of shape over somebody's scores.

 

[craniotomy30]

Does anyone who had the lac operon test remember the topics of the verbal passages? I can only remember 5 of them....it is driving me crazy!😕

 

[han14tra]

Great Job Everyone!
What did everyone think of the test in terms of level of difficulty? I thought it was pretty similar to the AAMC practice tests. However, the scoring on the practice tests seems to be a bit flawed. I would fluctuate between a 24 and a 30 on the practice tests. Test 10 was especially difficult for me. 😴

 

[Blablazo]

Am I the only one to find Blablazo overly arrogant and annoying especially when we're feeling down?🙄

Wasn't aiming to bring anyone down. Sorry if I did... It's just that I am in California and know that I am already at a disadvantage when it comes to state schools so a high MCAT is essential.

 

[Blablazo]

Does anyone who had the lac operon test remember the topics of the verbal passages? I can only remember 5 of them....it is driving me crazy!😕

I remember one about Issac Newton and alchemy, also one about team building in the workforce.

 

[RySerr21]

i'm curious to hear about this heart passage..... i'm a kines major and my easy subjects are things like physiology and anatomy (my "kill me now" subjects are physics and chemistry). is it against the rules or whatever to talk about the passage on the heart? i'm curious to hear how they could have made it so hard. when i first read there was a passage on the heart i got excited.....i love the heart!!!! then i read how hard it was and became intrigued.... so what were they asking about?

 

[craniotomy30]

i'm curious to hear about this heart passage..... i'm a kines major and my easy subjects are things like physiology and anatomy (my "kill me now" subjects are physics and chemistry). is it against the rules or whatever to talk about the passage on the heart? i'm curious to hear how they could have made it so hard. when i first read there was a passage on the heart i got excited.....i love the heart!!!! then i read how hard it was and became intrigued.... so what were they asking about?

The heart passage was super hard!! I don't even remember anything about it, but I remember thinking "WTF!!" And I LOVE physiology!!

 

[premed08]

I was surprised by the amount of inorganic chem and the difficulty of the organic passages. I was also surprised at the lack of thermo and electricity & magnetism questions. I walked away feeling like I hadn't focused my studies very well.
😀

what to do u mean u didn't focused your studyings enough..could u elaborate on that and what would u do differently? im taking it in 2 weeks, plz help

 

[craniotomy30]

what to do u mean u didn't focused your studyings enough..could u elaborate on that and what would u do differently? im taking it in 2 weeks, plz help

Honestly, it is hard to explain what the test was like today. While taking it, I felt that I had studied and nailed all of the concepts, but when reading the test questions, everything crumbled. It was a VERY HARD test...so everything just felt wrong. If I had to do it differently, I don't think I would change anything! I had very good practice test scores and I studied HARD, but this test was soooooo difficult, and nothing I would have done could have made it any easier!

 

[wizenedone]

Honestly, it is hard to explain what the test was like today. While taking it, I felt that I had studied and nailed all of the concepts, but when reading the test questions, everything crumbled. It was a VERY HARD test...so everything just felt wrong. If I had to do it differently, I don't think I would change anything! I had very good practice test scores and I studied HARD, but this test was soooooo difficult, and nothing I would have done could have made it any easier!

cranio! you'll be fine...just try to relax! 🙂

By the way, lol @ that last post on your mdapps

 

[ferreed]

That's the problem-- I realy don't think I CAN help you. Based on practice tests and a previous MCAT I decided to focus mostly on things I didn't know well. Unfortunately, this test really didn't cover those things much at all. If I tell you there was little o-chem and lots of general chem on my test it is possible that your test in two weeks will be exactly the opposite.

As an example, a couple of weeks ago one of the "Month/Day/2008 MCAT" threads had a bunch of posts saying something like, "Oh my gosh! It was loaded with genetics!" I didn't study genetics because I'm really comfortable with it, but when I took my test today there wasn't much on there-- maybe half a dozen questions or so in the BS. There are multiple test forms for each administration and they really do have different content.

Look at your practice tests, pick a couple of things you always miss, and work on learning the material. Two weeks isn't enough time to cover everything, so aim for high-yield stuff-- the sort of things that come up often, you mostly miss, and can be learned in a few hours.

what to do u mean u didn't focused your studyings enough..could u elaborate on that and what would u do differently? im taking it in 2 weeks, plz help

 

[RySerr21]

The heart passage was super hard!! I don't even remember anything about it, but I remember thinking "WTF!!" And I LOVE physiology!!

reaaaaaaaaally. damnet i wanna know what was so hard about it.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

the heart passage really irritated me. i chose to tackle it first because the content seemed comprehensible, but when i got to the questions i realized that i was WRONG. the questions were hard. i couldn't pull together the passage content to answer the questions. and physiology is one of my strong points.

 

[wizenedone]

The heart passage was super hard!! I don't even remember anything about it, but I remember thinking "WTF!!" And I LOVE physiology!!

Was it like EKG stuff?

 

[RySerr21]

the heart passage really irritated me. i chose to tackle it first because the content seemed comprehensible, but when i got to the questions i realized that i was WRONG. the questions were hard. i couldn't pull together the passage content to answer the questions. and physiology is one of my strong points.

AHHH its killing me. someone PM me or something and tell me what the heck the passage was asking that was so difficult. it donestn necsarrily have to be the specific questions....but i cant think of something that could be as challenging as people are making it out to be.

 

[wizenedone]

AHHH its killing me. someone PM me or something and tell me what the heck the passage was asking that was so difficult. it donestn necsarrily have to be the specific questions....but i cant think of something that could be as challenging as people are making it out to be.

well..i mean..it could be like interpreting an EKG..which isnt that easy for some people..

 

[McPoyle]

I believe it actually involved a heart transplant

 

[DrChristianTroy]

I thought that the test was difficult. However, I felt that the VR section was the worst for me - too much info in too little time. I also felt that for all of the sections, the questions that were asked did not match up to what I thought was going to be asked when reading the passages. Like I would see something in the passage and assume that it would be tested, and then those questions did not come. Instead we were given more ambiguous, un-directed questions than I have seen before. We can't do anything about it now but wait.

 

[DrChristianTroy]

AHHH its killing me. someone PM me or something and tell me what the heck the passage was asking that was so difficult. it donestn necsarrily have to be the specific questions....but i cant think of something that could be as challenging as people are making it out to be.

From what I can remember it was taking about the systems of the body and how they control Stroke Volume and Heart Rate. It then introduced the idea of a heart transplant. There were some graphs showing the HR, SV, and CO for people w/ and w/o a transplant. The issue with the passage was that it was presented poorly and the questions did not match up with what you thought the passage was going to test. It was also my last passage, so I had to move through it quickly. Hope this helps. I do not think that I can say anymore without saying too much.

 

[dtepper]

A couple of questions fellow May 10th MCAT takers:

1) How do you not kill yourself while waiting for the results?
2) How do you stop thinking about killing yourself while waiting for the results?
3) After I kill myself due to the waiting, do you think I'll go to heaven or hell?


I'm just kidding, sorta, but I do have a few real questions.

Like most of you, I'm not too happy with the way yesterday went down. What is the normal course of action? As in, if I end up doing poorly, will I still be able to register for an MCAT later in the summer or will they be all full? Should I register now and cancel later? Also, I have a 3.82 gpa, and I know that's pretty good, but I really think I bombed the MCAT and no gpa will make up for a 20J MCAT. My question is, what mcat score would you say is a good cutoff to not retake: 1) for DO 2) for MD

1) No idea 2) Thinking 29 might be alright

Thanks for any feedback guys and try to relax.

Those passages were so f'n convoluted I wanted to choke the computer... Sadly, no respiratory system there.

 

[ferreed]

My question is, what mcat score would you say is a good cutoff to not retake: 1) for DO 2) for MD

A lot of schools have average MCAT, GPA, etc. posted. UAB has something like a 29-30 average. Remember, though, that a 30 average means they accepted people who scored above and below that mark, so a 27 wouldn't necessarily sink you there.

Remember that the scale on an easy test form is much less friendly than the scale on a difficult form. Your scores may surprise you. Go think happy thoughts, or something like that.

Edited to add: Link to UAB's stats

 

[craniotomy30]

cranio! you'll be fine...just try to relax! 🙂

By the way, lol @ that last post on your mdapps

Hahaaa i know! 😉

Yea the heart passage was about heart transplants, which when I was reading it I was like "sweet"! But when I got to the questions, none of them really matched up to the passage....and they were so convulted! By that point I wanted to pick my computer up and throw it out the window....but there were no windows in the 8x8 hole that they stuck us in for the test.

 

[wizenedone]

Hahaaa i know! 😉

Yea the heart passage was about heart transplants, which when I was reading it I was like "sweet"! But when I got to the questions, none of them really matched up to the passage....and they were so convulted! By that point I wanted to pick my computer up and throw it out the window....but there were no windows in the 8x8 hole that they stuck us in for the test.

😛

you have a 4.0, all you need is 28+. You'll be fine.

 

[craniotomy30]

😛

you have a 4.0, all you need is 28+. You'll be fine.

I think that I may have gotten less than a 28....which would be lower than any of my practice scores 😎 That is how bad that test was

 

[wizenedone]

I think that I may have gotten less than a 28....which would be lower than any of my practice scores 😎 That is how bad that test was

you know funny thing is EVERYONE feels like that after the MCAT and they turn out to do awesome. What were your practice scores like?

 

[spootbat]

I'm blanking out....what was the orgo passage about? Was it the thing with the sugars? If so, I didn't have a problem with that.

 

[craniotomy30]

you know funny thing is EVERYONE feels like that after the MCAT and they turn out to do awesome. What were your practice scores like?

My practice score range was a 32-38. But that test was ridiculous and I hadn't seen anything like that ever 😡

 

[craniotomy30]

I'm blanking out....what was the orgo passage about? Was it the thing with the sugars? If so, I didn't have a problem with that.

That passage with the sugars was not bad....but there were some ochem discretes that threw me

 

[iCY]

i thought the problem was that the questions were too long. i remember looking at the heart passage and every question was the size of a paragraph. they ask you to take too many things into consideration in a hypothetical problem. a few of these wouldnt have been bad but they were everywhere!!!!!

O chem threw me off too, in 15+ full length bio sectiosn ive taken, ive never encountered sugars from ochem, so i figured it wasnt worth my time to study for it.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

i am just ***hoping*** that we had a tough test and the curve is going to be good. also, let me ask you guys this...in the bio, did you have the knapweed passage or an ecoli passage? i had a knapweed passage, which i didn't think was too bad, but my friend had an ecoli passage (in addition to the lac operon passage) and said that was hard as ****.

the hardest ones i remember were the lac operon and the heart.

 

[GeorgianCMV]

i feel very strange about the whole test. just have no clue how it actually went. it is a blur now (which probably has something to do with my intense hangover from last night).

 

[craniotomy30]

i am just ***hoping*** that we had a tough test and the curve is going to be good. also, let me ask you guys this...in the bio, did you have the knapweed passage or an ecoli passage? i had a knapweed passage, which i didn't think was too bad, but my friend had an ecoli passage (in addition to the lac operon passage) and said that was hard as ****.

the hardest ones i remember were the lac operon and the heart.

I didn't have a knapweed passage or an ecoli passage...hope I didn't skip any

I had a heart passage, a emphysema passage, a blood typing passage, a sugars passage, that bull crap lac operon passage, and another bio/ochem passage...i can't remember the other one....anybody know?