The 5/31/08 MCAT Club

[Decicco]

How is studying? I've done a fair amount so far, but will have to put it on hold for two weeks for finals... then I have a whole month of 10 hour days thumbdown.

How are your practice tests? My Kaplan scores have been high (check my MDapps), but I think they are probably inflated.. I don't deserve some of the scores I've been getting, lol.

Good luck everyone!!

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[tertiarex]

As I said on my other post...I can't study for this test anymore. I've never studied so much in my life and feel totally unmotivated to keep studying. I just want to take the test!

StarSup- I admire you for keeping up! Keep going doing those problems! Also, I took AAMC 10 on monday and 9 today, and I thought that 9 was tougher than 10. So, it's up to you. I would still take it anyway because I'm neurotic like that.

As for me...I'm just reviewing some weak points but I can barely concentrate when I do it so I don't know if it's actually helping.

 

[lala2626]

yeah, i actually haven't studied at all this week or last week. i just want to get it over with... i don't feel like there's much i can do to improve anything at this point anyways...

 

[RockyMD]

yeah, i actually haven't studied at all this week or last week. i just want to get it over with... i don't feel like there's much i can do to improve anything at this point anyways...

lol, good, so it's not just me... i mean, i tried to open review books and read... but i've read them so many times i could cry... if i get a good score, the first thing i'll do is to get rid of those books... i never want to see them again!

 

[StarStup]

Haaha...the stamina is from all the coffee I've been consuming! I think I should just hook up an IV with the stuff... I have kinda an all or nothing personality though...especially with studying.
Yeah I heard that AAMC 10 was pretty hard...I think I might pass on taking it and just focus on EK 1001.
Has anyone else started to mentally analyze what other people are saying? Like you do with verbal passages? Try to find the theme or flaws in what they were saying? I found myself do this the other day. It was quite annoying. My vocabulary has seemed to increase though...but I think my personality has taken an exponential decline! Haaha.
Well, in a few days this will all be over and we can enjoy the rest of our summer! Good luck!

 

[punkiedad]

I guess this answer should be apparent, but I am going to ask anyway.......

I took the MCAT for the first time in January. Was prepared for everything, except for the WOW of this is for real......you can just guess how I did. Thus, I am retaking this Saturday.

My question is, is the test the same one, with variations from a bank of questions (some same, some different, etc.) or will it be a totally different test?

Any guidance how they structure these would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lksol]

I hope you guys have noticed the recent posts from people that have taken the MCAT this month. According to them a big portion of BS is GENETICS, so I guess we have to review our notes ASAP.

 

[RySerr21]

I hope you guys have noticed the recent posts from people that have taken the MCAT this month. According to them a big portion of BS is GENETICS, so I guess we have to review our notes ASAP.

there werent very many stand alone genetics questins. and the ones they asked were pretty typical/easy (whats the probability of X and Y having a color blind child if this...and this....). the passages were all pretty complicated but the questions that went along with them could almost always be answered by info in the passage. you just had to read carefully..

 

[RySerr21]

I guess this answer should be apparent, but I am going to ask anyway.......

I took the MCAT for the first time in January. Was prepared for everything, except for the WOW of this is for real......you can just guess how I did. Thus, I am retaking this Saturday.

My question is, is the test the same one, with variations from a bank of questions (some same, some different, etc.) or will it be a totally different test?

Any guidance how they structure these would be greatly appreciated.

its going to be the exact same format....totally and completely different test. don't expect to see any question you saw before. there might be some overlap of topics, but thats about it. this test is given many many times a year.....they have hundreds and hundreds of passages and questsions.

 

[jdeng87]

hey guys. im taking it this weekend too. my suggestion is take harder practice tests! this is my second time and the first time i took it in jan i prepared with aamc (highest score was a 42... lowest was 34) and the real mcat was much harder! i am preparing with kaplan full lengths this time because i want to be prepared. even still, some of the kaplan passages are not even as hard as the passages on my jan mcat.

aamc is not reflective of the real exam.

best of luck to you all!

 

[RySerr21]

hey guys. im taking it this weekend too. my suggestion is take harder practice tests! this is my second time and the first time i took it in jan i prepared with aamc (highest score was a 42... lowest was 34) and the real mcat was much harder! i only scored a 33S. i am preparing with kaplan full lengths this time because i want to be prepared. even still, some of the kaplan passages are not even as hard as the passages on my jan mcat.

aamc is not reflective of the real exam.

best of luck to you all!

why are you taking it again with a 33S? despite many people that agree with you, i tend to disagree. i felt that the test could have easily been AAMC 11. i dunno, thats just me. there was nothing surprising, passage lengths were all similar in every section, questions were similar....maybe my test day just lucked out. dont get me wrong, it was a hard exam but i think that AAMC did a fine job.

 

[hkmedbound]

Unless i got an 8 in one section, Im pretty sure I wouldn't even think about re-taking a 33S.... However, if I was scoring 40's on the practice tests I might reconsider.

**Officially done studying... nothing more till 8am Saturday morning... whooohoo!**​

 

[mustymullet]

hey im taking it too this saturday. i know you are allowed scrap paper, do they supply you with a pencil and the paper?? also do they not allow cell phones?

 

[RySerr21]

hey im taking it too this saturday. i know you are allowed scrap paper, do they supply you with a pencil and the paper?? also do they not allow cell phones?

you can't bring anything in to the test site. they will likely have lockers for you to put anything that you brought. i had to put in my keys, cell phone, hat, and my pencil that i brought. literally, you can bring in nothing.

they supply you with pencil and paper and if you are lucky noise cancelling headphones....they were very nice to have, especialy when people start typing on those stupid keyboards.

 

[wedogogirl]

.

 

[punkiedad]

wedogogirl,

Thanks for your encouragement. I understand how I lear, pretty well, though I do ignore it sometimes!?!?

I felt the exact same way when I came out of the test in January. Literally like I got kicked in the stomach. Everyone kept tellingme not to worry, but I knew it.

Thanks for you encouragement. Hope you did well and look forward to getting through this........

 

[Climberak]

To everyone taking the MCAT on May 31:


GOOD LUCK!

For those of you that don't believe in such things, I wish you a good test.

 

[hkmedbound]

Hi all,
Just wanted to wish everyone a good luck before tomorrow morning. Have to drive to the testing center today, and staying near by... pretty far away

Oh by the way... I heard that we are all getting a really easy version of the test, no calculation, you get to make your own essay prompts up, and the VR passages are about the extinction of the dinosaurs.. (unfortunatly there are only 20 questions though) lol...


Im sure we're all going to kill it! Good luck all

Cheers.

 

[LikeClockWork]

I'll second this. Have fun today and try not to think about the test. Oh yeah, and get to sleep early!

 

[Vihsadas]

Good luck guys! BE CONFIDENT!

 

[StarStup]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE! Well, Hopefully we are all resting today and getting ready for tomorrow. I have to drive to my testing place today too! The joys of being in a small town in the middle of nowhere PA! It won't be too bad. My friend is taking it with me tomorrow so we are driving down today and staying in a hotel. Kinda like a vacation...but not at all! Ok, well, let's all meet here tomorrow after we kill the test! Good luck again!

 

[phospho]

so stressful

 

[Vihsadas]

Merging this thread with the official May 31st MCAT thread. Good luck guys.

 

[Thornwalker]

Good luck tomorrow everyone!

 

[halekulani]

good luck tomorrow everyone :]

 

[lala2626]

anyone else still awake? i can't fall asleep and it's 2:36 am right now lol. maybe i'll just stay up til i leave for the mcat in about 5 hours.. oi, let's see how well i can function on an all nighter....

 

[What up doc]

anyone else still awake? i can't fall asleep and it's 2:36 am right now lol. maybe i'll just stay up til i leave for the mcat in about 5 hours.. oi, let's see how well i can function on an all nighter....

lol, dawg, u better drink sum nyquil and dimetapp and go 2 sleep!

 

[RySerr21]

anyone else still awake? i can't fall asleep and it's 2:36 am right now lol. maybe i'll just stay up til i leave for the mcat in about 5 hours.. oi, let's see how well i can function on an all nighter....

exactly why i scheduled my exam on a day that offered a 12:00 test.

 

[lala2626]

i thought i'd be able to fix my bad sleeping pattern before the exam date which is why i stuck with a 8am test lol... i'm tryign so hard to fall asleep but no success.. maybe i'll just drink tons of coffee at this point...

 

[LikeClockWork]

i thought i'd be able to fix my bad sleeping pattern before the exam date which is why i stuck with a 8am test lol... i'm tryign so hard to fall asleep but no success.. maybe i'll just drink tons of coffee at this point...

Oh man, I got my fingers crossed for you. Let us know how it went!

 

[Premed Worrier]

i thought i'd be able to fix my bad sleeping pattern before the exam date which is why i stuck with a 8am test lol... i'm tryign so hard to fall asleep but no success.. maybe i'll just drink tons of coffee at this point...

this person is crazy...lol...hopefully everything went well for you

 

[HurricaneSeal]

fantastic and fabulous? not so much?

 

[punkiedad]

Oh Boy...............

Started out OK, though a lot of physics...Actually got to a gen chem question and thought what is this, then remembered there was chem in PS too......VR not bad passages, though they say if you feel good coming out of a VR, you probably bombed.

For BS, it was almost all Bio....not much OChem, so this means bad news for me.....seemed like a lot of knowledge based vs passage data in bio.

thoughts?

 

[HurricaneSeal]

I unfortunately was pressed for time for the physics - I started out too slowly and then had to rush through gen chem. VR wasn't terrible and I thought the passages were at least easier in material.. except for that annoying Archimedes one - that one was aggravating.

Yeah I agree that the BS was mostly passage-based.. good for me since I suck at orgo. I just have no idea.

I did have fun with the writing, though! I admit I got a little sassy.

 

[RySerr21]

Oh Boy...............

Started out OK, though a lot of physics...Actually got to a gen chem question and thought what is this, then remembered there was chem in PS too......VR not bad passages, though they say if you feel good coming out of a VR, you probably bombed.

For BS, it was almost all Bio....not much OChem, so this means bad news for me.....seemed like a lot of knowledge based vs passage data in bio.

thoughts?

who says that? thats pretty dumb if you ask me.

 

[Ebola Virus]

Right, how easy did you guys find it? From what I've read and seen so far, it seems that the mcat test are moving away from orgo and with a heavier emphasis on reading passages on bio. I guess that's good news for bio major.

 

[punkiedad]

ryserr,

Your choice of words "dumb" shows you obvioulsy have an extensive vocabulary, are worldy and have been getting 14s on VR.

Let me rephrase for you.......In the Examkrackers VR book, they say there are a lot of tricky answers that are tacken right out of the pasages and meant to trick you. Therefore, if you really feel like you got a 15, you might have done worse than you think, as the feel good answers are often wrong.

 

[tertiarex]

I thought PS section was pretty hard, but I really really suck at physics. It was a lot of physics.

The rest of the test was pretty straight forward.

I liked the prompts.

 

[Decicco]

ITS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: Not to bad, very AAMC. Thought the circuits problem was confusing.

VR: Prolly my weakest section--long passages, but still no too hard.

BS: Not too bad, again, very AAMC. One orgo passage, and a few biochm standalones.

I expect there to be a tough curve on this exam.
Also, the non verbal passages were pretty short!

 

[Ninomiya]

sry i have to rant...am i the only one who got killed by VR here...i didn't spend my time wisely and rushed through some passages...guessing along the way...argh

now i feel like my VR score is gonna be worse than last time i took it...

and yea..i just signed up so i can rant here, pathetic much -_-

 

[Vihsadas]

Yeah! You guys did it! Now, please for the love of god get off of SDN, go to the gym, see your significant others, or whatever. Just do something else!

Now, please, please, please remember the forum rules!

You are not allowed to post any questions from your exam, or any other information that can compromise the exam! Remember that you signed a non-disclosure agreement before you took your exam...

Every single time that an MCAT is over, we have many people who are post-held because of breaking this rule. Please see this thread for the rules: ****Warning MCAT Forum Users: Posting MCAT Questions on SDN = Auto 1 Week PH****.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following question: "If I post this information, will it compromise the testability of the passage or question?"
If you are unsure, DON'T post!

These rules are here to protect you as the AAMC takes this violation very seriously. Any infringement could result in an immediate voiding of your score. The staff at SDN does not want to see that happen to any of you, so please be careful!

Good luck on score release day guys, and go out and have some fun with the summer.

- Vihsadas

 

[sportstownusa]

finally its over!!!

PS: a lot of physics. A pretty bad circuits passage. Usually i get done with about 5 mins remaining. Ended RIGHT on time this time.

VR: My weakest section. Made a 7 last time around, so my standards are pretty low, but it seemed better than last time. Equal proportions of Nat. Sci, Soc. Sci, and Humanities for me. I didn't have a Archimedes passsage, like the poster above mentioned.

BS: I barely had any time to study orgo, and only one passage. Whew. But there were some discretes from ochem that i was dumbfounded on. There was this one passage in Bio that took me a long time, and i think i messed up on it probably. There were also some questions that i thought were unfair.

Overall, hoping for atleast a 31 with a higher score than a 7 in verbal.

 

[Decicco]

Yeah! You guys did it! Now, please for the love of god get off of SDN, go to the gym, see your significant others, or whatever. Just do something else!

Now, please, please, please remember the forum rules!

You are not allowed to post any questions from your exam, or any other information that can compromise the exam! Remember that you signed a non-disclosure agreement before you took your exam...

Every single time that an MCAT is over, we have many people who are post-held because of breaking this rule. Please see this thread for the rules: ****Warning MCAT Forum Users: Posting MCAT Questions on SDN = Auto 1 Week PH****.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following question: "If I post this information, will it compromise the testability of the of passage or question?"
If you are unsure, DON'T post!

These rules are here to protect you as the AAMC takes this violation very seriously. Any infringement could result in an immediate voiding of your score. The staff at SDN does not want to see that happen to any of you, so please be careful!

Good luck on score release day guys, and go out and have some fun with the summer.

- Vihsadas

Here are some specific questions that I had trouble with:
1. The question that asked whether... just kidding. Sorry if this wasn't funny, I'm just giddy that this test is over. Ok, now time to pry myself away from SDN and go party!!

 

[RockyMD]

freak. i couldn't do a chem math problem that was straightforward. i totally didn't understand the circuits passage. in verbal, i had enough time but time ran out just as i was going to mark the last question... so i have one question not completed in verbal... not good. in bio, i'm glad i skipped the first passage seeing as how i didn't get it. argh. i know i messed up a simple orgo question on amino acids. i came out of the test center feeling kind of numb bc i thought i really didn't do well. but now i don't knw if i was being too hard on myself. crapp, to whoever said that they think the curve would be tough this time. that sucks bc i think i made a bunch of dumb mistakes. Please let this be the case where i think i didn't do so hot but then a month later i find out that i got a 30. *pretty please with a cherry on top*

 

[Ninomiya]

o i have a question, when time runs out for the writing section...it automatically saves wutever u wrote right....or do u have to click "save" urself..........

 

[virya]

My thoughts..
PS was long.. had to guess for about 8 questions
VS .. ran out of time.. As usual guessed for about 8 questions..
BS - was the best.. no guessing.. finished on time..
WS - Prompts were straight forward

 

[RockyMD]

o i have a question, when time runs out for the writing section...it automatically saves wutever u wrote right....or do u have to click "save" urself..........

yes, it does save it automatically. don't worry about it.

 

[herewego]

Which is worse, the night before or these next agonizing 30 days waiting for the biggest 2 digit (hopefully) number of your life.

PS -straight forward I thought. This was the section I studied for most because it was my lowest. Hopefully stupid mistakes didn't kill me. Ran out of time when checking things over so I didn't recheck as many as I wanted to =/. COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH WORSE! HOPE I DIDNT BLOW IT.

VS-I was a bit crunched for time, but I thought it was fair. Can't really gauge my performance because I didn't take too many VS sections, but when I did my scores were fine. Again, hopefully stupid mistakes didn't kill me.

BS- Again, bit crunched for time so I didn't check over as many as I would like. Passages were complicated but fair I thought. Again, hard to gauge my performance because I didn't take too many BS sections.

Biggest fear : stupid mistakes =/ they always kill me.

Prompts were fine, didn't prepare for them at all other than skimming over the TAS princeton review format.

I'm going to reschedule just in case though.

 

[RySerr21]

ryserr,

Your choice of words "dumb" shows you obvioulsy have an extensive vocabulary, are worldy and have been getting 14s on VR.

Let me rephrase for you.......In the Examkrackers VR book, they say there are a lot of tricky answers that are tacken right out of the pasages and meant to trick you. Therefore, if you really feel like you got a 15, you might have done worse than you think, as the feel good answers are often wrong.

i could spend my time learning complicated, more intellectual sounding synomyms for the word "dumb" but i'd rather spend my time doing more exciting things, thanks. i'm sorry that my vocabulary isn't impressive to you. don't tell the adcoms, i dont want it to ruin my application

i'm not sure why the sarcastic comment about me getting 14s on VR... i never said anything about it being easy or me doing well.

your revision is much more acceptable and is light years away from what you said before. it sounds silly (how is that for impressive vocabulary?) to say that if you feel you did well you probably bombed... that is WAY different than saying if you feel you got a 15 you might have done worse because some of the answers are tricky. if you feel you got a 15 (assuming you arent being overly optimistic) the chances of you getting below a 12 or pretty slim, which is still an amazing score and far from "bombing" (good use of vocabulary by the way, clearly you get 15s on VR).

I think i'm pretty good at predicting how I do on tests. I'm not saying I got a 14 on VR, but I have a pretty good idea of where I will score. That's why i chose to comment on your statement.

 

[mustymullet]

omg how i regret not pacing myself on ps section and verbal!!

ps: had the cathode problem and passage about spring constant with the shoe which was difficult. also had the block on an inclined plane question and other chem questions involving, some on decay, etc. had to guess on last few questions

verbal: had a passages on roosevelt and ABOUT ICEBERGS! ICEBERGS ARE YOU KIDDING ME

bs: strongest section by far, probably got a 10. thought the passage on the fibroblast and gene from embryonic stem cells was hardest passage.

essays: really good prompts: television and how its better at books with influencing people and democracy


I feel really down right now, but relieved its over. Should have paced myself better on physical sciences, but this is my first time taking it. Do people usually take the MCAT twice??

 

[lala2626]

so i was the one who had a hard time falling asleep last nite so i ended up just going in to take the 8 o'c'lock test... after i just took it, i really wanted to void it cuz i knew i could've done much better if i had slept... now i'm feeling cuz i probably should've voided it.. and i'm wondering wut if i had a good night's sleep and actually knew wut i was doing during the exam... but hey, if everyone thinks it was an annoying test... there's a chance no? lol... i was just wondering.. if you subumit ur app saying u took it today.. and let's say u do real badly and need to take it again... then do you have to call them to notify them not to start reading the apps? how does that work?