The 7/08/08 MCAT Club

[dreams]

didnt see a thread for this date yet and I just switched mine from June 13th, so hope the extra time will help, Im about to take my 2nd FL (1st one MCAT CBT #7 VR-14,PS-5,BS-10) how is everyone else coming along????

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[PsychEpathic]

Ugh...i'll be joining you for the 7/8/08 test. Come 1:00 p.m., I'll be ! I'm pretty much getting 9s and 10s on the AAMC practice tests. I'll be happy with anything > than 27. Good luck!

 

[gogopogo]

Glad to see there's a thread for this date! I'm in hardcore study mode for this one Hopefully we won't get any of the power outages experienced by our fellow test-takers!

Best of luck to us all

 

[dreams]

maybe there is not a lot of folks signed up for this date yet, either that or maybe they are all on teh July MCAT central, who knows, maybe its just us

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

I am signed up for this date too- I haven't done a practice exam in a couple months but I wasn't doing so hot- 22-27 range depending on test... so now I am doing an intensive PS content review and working some on the other sections.

Good luck everyone!

 

[centersharpie]

I switched my testdate (AGAIN!) to this one. I am def. taking the test on this dat for sure. I'm just glad I have another month of h-core studying without distractions... except family... good luck to everyone!

 

[Vihsadas]

Good luck guys. Keep up that studying. Don't let up!

 

[RockyMD]

i just signed up today for 7/8 but hopefully i won't have to take it. I took the 5/31 test but I'm not sure how I did. I signed up for 7/8 to be on the safe side in case I have to take it again. My plan is to study this month and if I get a good score on the 5/31 I am def not taking it again!! first time was excruciating enough...

 

[dreams]

i just signed up today for 7/8 but hopefully i won't have to take it. I took the 5/31 test but I'm not sure how I did. I signed up for 7/8 to be on the safe side in case I have to take it again. My plan is to study this month and if I get a good score on the 5/31 I am def not taking it again!! first time was excruciating enough...

what parts did you find were really bad, any study tips you could suggest (of course not dealing with details form the test)?? anything that you were not prepared for or had not seen before???(once again not details from the test)??

 

[UseBandaids]

How competitive will you be taking an MCAT at this date? Is it not too late to be amongst the first rush of people or are you just making it? I am signed up for this date but not sure if it is going to hurt me in some early application way. Any ideas?

 

[dreams]

How competitive will you be taking an MCAT at this date? Is it not too late to be amongst the first rush of people or are you just making it? I am signed up for this date but not sure if it is going to hurt me in some early application way. Any ideas?

I have heard mixed things on this and it concerned me too (I have very low stats) but the reason I decided to take it in July was bc I did not feel prepared enough to get a high enough score, which is more important then when you apply. The date is not considered late, just late in the early app pool.

 

[dreams]

how is everyones prep going?? I wonder if a lot of people just are not taking it on this date, could that be good or bad??

 

[nkhan]

Signed up for 7/8 also, put it off from 5/31. Started studying 6 months ago...took all 10 GS tests all 11 Kaplans and on my 3rd AAMC now. Needless to say I'll be ready for my life back!

Good luck everyone taking it on 7/8!! I hope we all do well.


What do you guys have planned afterwards?

 

[dreams]

Signed up for 7/8 also, put it off from 5/31. Started studying 6 months ago...took all 10 GS tests all 11 Kaplans and on my 3rd AAMC now. Needless to say I'll be ready for my life back!

Good luck everyone taking it on 7/8!! I hope we all do well.


What do you guys have planned afterwards?

I will take a vacation and relax, what kind of scores have you been getting on all those practice tests???

 

[drelizabeth292]

hi everyone! im in the same july 8th boat. like the OP, i was registered for the june 13th test (Today) but changed it about 3 weeks before since i didnt feel ready. I STILL dont feel ready, better but dont ready. i took a practice FL today and got a 31. my AAMC FL range is 26-33 and my kaplan FL range is 27-35. i am so TIRED of studying, but i decided that im going to do 3 Full lengths a week now. i just want to score over a 30!!!!!
good luck to everyone else!

 

[dreams]

has anyone looked at the posts for the June 13th exam???? YIKES!!! makes me very worried about ours, anyone have a good resource for genetics review seem that this is heavy now in the BS section

 

[drelizabeth292]

i know! im pretty nervous now about physical science especially.

dreams-what technique are you using for verbal. i saw that you scored pretty high on the last full length you took..

 

[dreams]

i know! im pretty nervous now about physical science especially.

dreams-what technique are you using for verbal. i saw that you scored pretty high on the last full length you took..

quite a few people have asked me this and I have no clue what I am doing really, I just read the passages a bit slower than I normally read, than after that I just think about what the whole passage was about than I go to the questions, for these I can most of the time narrow it down to 2, I try not to think to much about it, I go back to the passage when need be, and then out of the two I look to see which one in less harsh ya know like the author would more than likely agree with... vs the author would not agree with this... and I pick that one, thats about it doesnt work always but sometimes hope that helps.

 

[drelizabeth292]

dreams-
i will give that a try since i think my problem is that i overthink/overanalyze between the 2 answers that i narrow it down to. i will let you know. im taking a verbal test every morning now-to improve since my current vr range is 8-12.

 

[nkhan]

I will take a vacation and relax, what kind of scores have you been getting on all those practice tests???

Gold Standards: low 30's
Kaplans: Mid to Upper 30's
AAMC: Mid-30's

June 13th Exam looked bad!

Lets all keep confident everyone

 

[links0311]

I'm taking it on the 8th also. Time sure does fly when you have a big test coming up.

-Links

 

[studiddy]

I was signed up for the 8th, but I looked at the score release schedule and both the 8th and 10th release on Aug 12, so I moved to the 10th. Two days isn't a big deal, but it fits my work schedule better. Good luck on the 8th. I hope these things get easier as the year progresses.

 

[UseBandaids]

Switch to the 10th for me too. Closer center (and two more days : P). Good Luck to everyone still though!

 

[drelizabeth292]

i hate verbal so much! now that i have started using mapping to try to improve my score-i have actually been doing worse. i got a 6, and an 8 the other day. i m pretty bummed out. i ordered the ek verbal book and hopefully it will arrive soon so that i can improve my score. also with the mapping im spending WAY too much time on the first few passages (11-12 minutes) and then i have to struggle and speed through the remaining ones.
is anyone else having that problem?

also to make matters worse my aamc scores are sucking. im averaging a 27.8 now.and it just seems that the more i study, the worse im doing.
aamc test 1- 8/8/10=26 (march)
test2- 8/9/9=26 (april)
test3- 9/8/9=26 (may)
test4- 11/11/11=33 FALSE HOPE AND LIES (end of may)
test5- 9/9/10=28 (2weeks ago)
test 6- 10/8/10=28 (today)

okay so that was me ranting. i just dont know what to do anymore with only 17 days left.

 

[Deepa100]

i hate verbal so much! now that i have started using mapping to try to improve my score-i have actually been doing worse. i got a 6, and an 8 the other day. i m pretty bummed out. i ordered the ek verbal book and hopefully it will arrive soon so that i can improve my score. also with the mapping im spending WAY too much time on the first few passages (11-12 minutes) and then i have to struggle and speed through the remaining ones.
is anyone else having that problem?

also to make matters worse my aamc scores are sucking. im averaging a 27.8 now.and it just seems that the more i study, the worse im doing.
aamc test 1- 8/8/10=26 (march)
test2- 8/9/9=26 (april)
test3- 9/8/9=26 (may)
test4- 11/11/11=33 FALSE HOPE AND LIES (end of may)
test5- 9/9/10=28 (2weeks ago)
test 6- 10/8/10=28 (today)

okay so that was me ranting. i just dont know what to do anymore with only 17 days left.

I am in the same boat. I just did #9 today and got the lowest ever! I have been getting 26-28 and I got a 24 today. At this point, I am thinking that I will take the test and immediately register for an Aug test date. I have been preparing sine Feb and I don't know how much more I can do...

I got 9's in most verbal but I got a 7 today. I just did not finish one of the passages. BS has improved from 6-7 to 9's but today, I got an 8. PS is not a problem for me. I somehowscore 9-12 without even studying much. That is the only bright spot!

 

[drelizabeth292]

yeah that is a good idea, Deepa100. august scores would still be submittable for this application year right?

 

[dreams]

I plan on signing up for a august date as well and yes it still will work for this app cycle..since the scores for our test date wont be out till the 12th of August I am going to sign up for one at the end of August. Good luck to everyone its coming soon!!!!

 

[Michael845]

I plan on signing up for a august date as well and yes it still will work for this app cycle..since the scores for our test date wont be out till the 12th of August I am going to sign up for one at the end of August. Good luck to everyone its coming soon!!!!

yeahhh July 8th.

 

[Deepa100]

Some of the folks on this forum tell you not to retake MCAT, ever. I would like to think that I can just take it once and be done. But after 5mo. of prep, I still feel like I will never be completely ready. So, I decided to go ahead and take the test on the July 10th anyways. I ahve already postponed it twice and I am trying not to run from it any more...

 

[dreams]

wow so I really dont think that many people are going to take it on this date wonder what that will do to the curve???

 

[gogopogo]

wow so I really dont think that many people are going to take it on this date wonder what that will do to the curve???

Bizarre as it sounds, this is exactly why I chose this day.

MCAT performance is obviously important to a lot of people, and the time they write is an equally critical choice in their success. I go to a small school, and I found that overwhelmingly, students aimed for a later date to write, preferably in August or September. So, if it happened at my school, I figured the same thing must be happening everywhere.
Hence, I write in July. I am ready for this test, so why wait?.

 

[the lost crow]

I'm also taking the test on July 8th. Hopefully, the test won't turn out as bad as last year's August 20th exam.

 

[IvyLeagueThug]

has anyone looked at the posts for the June 13th exam???? YIKES!!! makes me very worried about ours, anyone have a good resource for genetics review seem that this is heavy now in the BS section

I took Jun 13th. The only thing more insane than the genetics was the total lack of any physiology on the exam. The hours I spent on hormones, endocrine, circulatory, etc were worthless.

There is another thread here near the top about genetics prep.

I am signed up for July 18th just in case.

 

[ProZak]

Hey guys,

Glad we finally have our own MCAT section, I thought about making one but was sure someone else would .

I'm exhausted with the studying, which I have been for about 2 months (since school ended), and ready to just take the real thing and let the cards fall where they will.

practice tests have been going like this:

kaplan diagnostic: P7 V11 B8 = 26
kaplan Full lenght 1: 31
kaplan full length 2: 32
(then I started to study)
kaplan full lengths 3-7 were from 36-39

Decided to take some aamc's at this point since I heard that kaplan 8-11 were kinda BS in terms of difficulty and content resemblance to the real thing

AAMC practice tests so far have been...
AAMC CBT #3 P14 V10 B11 = 35
AAMC CBT #4 P12 V12 B13 = 37
AAMC CBT #5 P13 V12 B13 = 38
AAMC CBT #6 P13 V11 B13 = 37
AAMC CBT #7 P14 V13 B12 = 39

I'm really happy with the improvement since the diagnostic and would take any one of the grades on the AAMC practice tests I've been getting, but can't help being scared sh*tless about the real thing! Good luck to everyone taking it this day!

 

[ProZak]

DrElizabeth,

The best advice I can give you for verbal is NOT to map. It is a complete waste of time and if you want to be scoring 10+ on verbal you have to be able to do what you do with a "map" in your head. If you are anything like I started out, you probably read the passage really really quickly in hopes of getting some more time on those ridiculous souding questions that follow. You then probably panick when you read the questions and spend a lot of time going back to either your passage map or the passage itself, trying to find the answer. Unfortunately, any answer that you find by going back to the passage is probably a trap set by those evil goons over at the AAMC to trap people who are doing just that - a good sounding answer that is seemingly easily verified by a line or two in the passage.

Instead of all of the aforementioned, I suggest an alternative approach. Take a seemingly inordinate amount of time reading the passage - maybe 4-5 minutes depending on the passage. If you don't quite understand a sentence - re-read it (within reason). Do everything that you can do to understand what the author is saying and why he is saying it on your first read through. If you take the little bit of extra time to read the passage WELL, you will find that your score will improve as you continue to practice. The last part of this advice is that after you have read the passage *WELL*, you should rarely have to look back for information from the passage (at most once per passage) and this should be brief and you should already know where to look for that information - a quick verification or reminder (for a date/time/place/name).

Anyhow, hope that helps some - try to get your hands on as many practice passages as you can in the coming weeks (STRONGLY recommend the examkracker 101 books).

 

[ncguy2005]

DrElizabeth,

The best advice I can give you for verbal is NOT to map. It is a complete waste of time and if you want to be scoring 10+ on verbal you have to be able to do what you do with a "map" in your head. If you are anything like I started out, you probably read the passage really really quickly in hopes of getting some more time on those ridiculous souding questions that follow. You then probably panick when you read the questions and spend a lot of time going back to either your passage map or the passage itself, trying to find the answer. Unfortunately, any answer that you find by going back to the passage is probably a trap set by those evil goons over at the AAMC to trap people who are doing just that - a good sounding answer that is seemingly easily verified by a line or two in the passage.

Instead of all of the aforementioned, I suggest an alternative approach. Take a seemingly inordinate amount of time reading the passage - maybe 4-5 minutes depending on the passage. If you don't quite understand a sentence - re-read it (within reason). Do everything that you can do to understand what the author is saying and why he is saying it on your first read through. If you take the little bit of extra time to read the passage WELL, you will find that your score will improve as you continue to practice. The last part of this advice is that after you have read the passage *WELL*, you should rarely have to look back for information from the passage (at most once per passage) and this should be brief and you should already know where to look for that information - a quick verification or reminder (for a date/time/place/name).

Anyhow, hope that helps some - try to get your hands on as many practice passages as you can in the coming weeks (STRONGLY recommend the examkracker 101 books).

I agree... my verbal score on the aamc went from an 8 to an 11 just from really trying to understand the main idea of the passage. Really, the whole time you're reading a passage try to think "Why is the author saying this..."

just my opinion.

 

[drbeck]

10 more days til the July 8 MCAT! I'm getting scared! It's hard to choose what to focus on at this point. can a lot be accomplished in a week?

 

[gogopogo]

Woo! I can't wait!!!

Hold on, check that. I've officially lost my mind.

 

[parhumn]

hey,

i'm scheduled for this test date too but i don't feel ready yet. it's too late to cancel my test. do you guys know of any other way to get out of it? can i just not show up? will i get a 0 if i don't take the test?

if you could let me know, i'd greatly appreciate it. kinda getting worried

 

[RockyMD]

you can just stay home and nothing happens. on the other hand, since you paid 210 and you can't get it back (or change the test date), you could sit in for the test with the intention of having it voided at the end. but, if at the end of the test you felt the test wasn't as bad as you thought, you can opt to have it graded.

 

[dreams]

you can just stay home and nothing happens. on the other hand, since you paid 210 and you can't get it back (or change the test date), you could sit in for the test with the intention of having it voided at the end. but, if at the end of the test you felt the test wasn't as bad as you thought, you can opt to have it graded.

I agree if you already paid for it then at the very least use it as a practice, unless you have to travel and pay for hotel and gas,etc to get to the test and that would cost more than you would be losing by not going then I would stay home, but who knows it might go better than you think, and if you go into it with just looking at it as practice than you might even score better than you would otherwise from less stress

 

[dreams]

So does anyone know a formula for what to include in each paragraph for the WS??? I read something on here before with this but I cnat find it, just looking for something easy to use, so I dont have to worry much about this section

 

[RockyMD]

So does anyone know a formula for what to include in each paragraph for the WS??? I read something on here before with this but I cnat find it, just looking for something easy to use, so I dont have to worry much about this section

The formula is 1. Thesis 2. Antithesis 3. Synthesis (TAS)
Thesis- should sum up your stance and include an example
Antithesis- a counterargument for your thesis.. provide one or two examples.
Synthesis- sums up both sides and reconciles them somehow. you should reiterate your original argument but rephrase it.

So there are three paragraphs total. you can add more if you like, but three gets the job done

 

[parhumn]

you can just stay home and nothing happens. on the other hand, since you paid 210 and you can't get it back (or change the test date), you could sit in for the test with the intention of having it voided at the end. but, if at the end of the test you felt the test wasn't as bad as you thought, you can opt to have it graded.

thanks a bunch! but if i take it and don't think i did well, by voiding it, will it show up anywhere? like, will the med schools be able to see that i voided it?

 

[RockyMD]

no, med schools don't see the void. so staying home is the same as taking the test and then voiding afterward. so why not just take the test you paid for? as someone else mentioned, it is good practice =)

 

[parhumn]

no, med schools don't see the void. so staying home is the same as taking the test and then voiding afterward. so why not just take the test you paid for? as someone else mentioned, it is good practice =)

thanks a bunch for all your help!

 

[tastybiscuit]

10 more days til the July 8 MCAT! I'm getting scared! It's hard to choose what to focus on at this point. can a lot be accomplished in a week?

Watch a lot of Braveheart for motivation(as I am). If we don't do well on the MCAT at least we could band together in arms against Briton.

Good luck everyone

 

[dreams]

The formula is 1. Thesis 2. Antithesis 3. Synthesis (TAS)
Thesis- should sum up your stance and include an example
Antithesis- a counterargument for your thesis.. provide one or two examples.
Synthesis- sums up both sides and reconciles them somehow. you should reiterate your original argument but rephrase it.

So there are three paragraphs total. you can add more if you like, but three gets the job done

ok so no 5 paragraph highschool format is needed??? and let me get this in my terms
thesis- so pick a side agree or disagree with what is said??? and then include a example supporting your choice
antithesis- provide example that supports the opposite of how you feel
synthesis- restate both sides, show how each side relates to each other or how someone could go with either side?? then say again but in a different way why you are going the way ya are

is that right??? ya got to break it down 5 grade level for me

 

[HeyGirlHey]

the kaplan strategy says to address three tasks...

A.) explain what the prompt means/define any ambiguous terms according to how you'll address it (a lot of prompts ask, "whats best...", so you have to define what is "best", etc. etc.), and provide examples in support of the prompt
B.) counterexample
C.) reconciliation

so no, 5 paragraph format is not required. i took the mcat june 13th and basically wrote three paragraphs addressing each task. i hadnt written one practice essay until the actual test, and felt absolutely fine. WS is the most relaxing part of the mcat!


GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!! my best advice is to stay calm! seriously! when i took the test i freaked out for a few minutes and was nearly paralyzed with fear... but i told myself to get my **** together bc i hadnt studied for nothing! when (not if) you come across a ridiculous passage, take a deep breath, and realize that most of the information youll need to answer the questions are right in the passage given to you. stay positive and kill the mcat (i wish i had done all this on my test day)!!

 

[RockyMD]

hey guys, looks like i won't have to take the test on july 8th. good luck to you all! =)