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????

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[requeim]

ok that sucked for me, it seemed the passages were much longer than in any practice tests. Overall I think people are going to do really well on it, not to much hard info, I just didnt know my stuff enough, well I am trying to sign up for a new test date but it wont let me, anyone know how soon we can sign up for a different date???

so it was like the aamc tests except for the longer passages? verbal was also longer or no

 

[JoeC]

There were definitely some extremely dense verbal passages, but the questions attached were, per usual, pretty easy.

Ugh. I'm sure I did well on VR (always do), but I could not give you a guess as to how I did in PS/BS. I wish I could take it again or just know how I did, because this ambivalence is killing me. Only 30 more days of it, great!

 

[detvar1]

can anyone please tell me what the topic of the last two bio passages were today on their test? i have this dumb worry that i didn't do one of them.

thanks so much

 

[Nitrogenous]

I thought the exam today was awful. It seemed that the passages were wordy and more boring than usual (is that possible?) and the answer sets were all hard to understand. BS and writing were the only two things I felt remotely good about... I'm very disappointed. I feel a retest in my future.

 

[nkhan]

something about bacteria/streptomyocin and cell differentiation i think

PS was hardest out of all imo...usually i make 12/13's in PS since i'm an engineering major....taken 30+ practice tests ...maybe it was the nerves right at the beginning...I've never had to guess on a practice test before and I had to take educated guesses multiple times

Verbal seemed very reasonable
Biology also seemed pretty easy...I think I did really well on it.

 

[whoknows2008]

I also thought the PS was extremely difficult .... a lot of random things. I thought the BS was pretty easy, same with verbal. The questions were very straightforward for verbal. I guess we have a month to wait! Ahh!

 

[ProZak]

Well this was a very demoralizing experience.

I usually go through PS on practice tests with a solid answer for everything and get 14. However, this test just owned me. Probably my only shaky concept was all over it. VR I thought was terrible w/ the passage length and subjects - I could care less about the topics. The only things I see light on are bio and writing sample lol.

 

[BlinkUnquiet]

I took the June 13th exam and this one. In comparison of the PS, to me this one seemed harder, The 13th PS that everyone was scared of was more calculation intensive. I would take calculation over whatever this was.
Ther verbal was to my liking, one obtuse passage, the rest were ok though long.
The BS have most the of the answers in that passage.I liked that alot and little organic.
Thw writing, I could care,less wrote some mumbo jumbo bout Libby scooter valeria plame.
From my experience overall, the PS was tougher because I sux at physics

 

[Drsparta]

Y was the PS section so hard? confusing topics?

 

[JaredP1986]

Well that sucked...I thought verbal was I expected it to be, but PS and BS probably kicked my rear. I took the MCAT last year and got a 26R and had two interviews and was put on two alternate lists. I studied real hard this time and was definitely a LOT more prepared than last year, but I think after taking the test this morning that I probably did horrible...it was definitely harder than the one I had last year and the one last year made the practice tests seem easy...

 

[BlinkUnquiet]

Drsparta, to me it was harder because it was asking physics conceptually. I hate physics But some that might be easy. It's all up in air

 

[lookatme]

Hey, does anyone know the consequences for using a cell phone during breaks? I didn't know that we're not allowed to use cell phones during breaks (I didn't read MCAT Essentials carefully ) I just called my sick friend who went to the ER last night. The test administrator told me that she has to report to AAMC. Do you think MCAT will void my scores?

So, after being told from the lady that she's going to report to AAMC, I felt very nervous, but fortunately I only had BIo section left, and it felt pretty easy. I had taken the 5/10 mcat and got a 30R. I thought essay questions were okay. The verbal was hard (i think it's because i didn't take a break before that section), and PS was hard too.
But, overall I felt that it was a LOOOOOOT better than the one I took two months ago. (Probably bc I studies a LOT). I hope my score doesn't get cancelled. I worked so hard for this mcat, and it would ruin my life if they cancel it.

 

[Drsparta]

Drsparta, to me it was harder because it was asking physics conceptually. I hate physics But some that might be easy. It's all up in air

Thanks a lot blink...good luck to everyone on their test!

 

[dondada1]

ps was not bad. very few calculations. no crazy over the top diagrams. major concepts tested were chemical equilibrium, ideal fluids,calorimetry including enthalpy and heat evolved, circuitry, torque, periodic table and trends. overall, similar in passage length but slightly more difficult than the aamcs.

vr. passages fairly interesting topics. compares in difficulty level to the aamcs but three or four passaes are about a good paragraph longer. messes up your timing. overall, the passages were the usual mix of topics

ws. if you typing speed is average or above, you've nothing to worry about.

bs. like aamcs. experimental passages were fairly comprehendable on first read. questions are mostly passage base. a good mix of concepts were tested. molecular gen. simple crosses, nervous system, bateria mutations, cell determination, and amino acids. passage length and difficulty was exactly like aamc.

bottom line. do not expect the test to be easier than aamcs. gl to everyone

 

[dynezxice]

Hey, does anyone know the consequences for using a cell phone during breaks? I didn't know that we're not allowed to use cell phones during breaks (I didn't read MCAT Essentials carefully ) I just called my sick friend who went to the ER last night. The test administrator told me that she has to report to AAMC. Do you think MCAT will void my scores?

So, after being told from the lady that she's going to report to AAMC, I felt very nervous, but fortunately I only had BIo section left, and it felt pretty easy. I had taken the 5/10 mcat and got a 30R. I thought essay questions were okay. The verbal was hard (i think it's because i didn't take a break before that section), and PS was hard too.
But, overall I felt that it was a LOOOOOOT better than the one I took two months ago. (Probably bc I studies a LOT). I hope my score doesn't get cancelled. I worked so hard for this mcat, and it would ruin my life if they cancel it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. My friend called his dad during the break and he was "reported", but his scores weren't voided.

 

[mterp45]

Hey, does anyone know the consequences for using a cell phone during breaks? I didn't know that we're not allowed to use cell phones during breaks (I didn't read MCAT Essentials carefully ) I just called my sick friend who went to the ER last night. The test administrator told me that she has to report to AAMC. Do you think MCAT will void my scores?

So, after being told from the lady that she's going to report to AAMC, I felt very nervous, but fortunately I only had BIo section left, and it felt pretty easy. I had taken the 5/10 mcat and got a 30R. I thought essay questions were okay. The verbal was hard (i think it's because i didn't take a break before that section), and PS was hard too.
But, overall I felt that it was a LOOOOOOT better than the one I took two months ago. (Probably bc I studies a LOT). I hope my score doesn't get cancelled. I worked so hard for this mcat, and it would ruin my life if they cancel it.

It wouldn't ruin your life, but have you called AAMC? if they let you finish the test than you probably don't have much to worry about. Call AAMC and talk to themm about it.

 

[detvar1]

Hey, does anyone know the consequences for using a cell phone during breaks? I didn't know that we're not allowed to use cell phones during breaks (I didn't read MCAT Essentials carefully ) I just called my sick friend who went to the ER last night. The test administrator told me that she has to report to AAMC. Do you think MCAT will void my scores?

So, after being told from the lady that she's going to report to AAMC, I felt very nervous, but fortunately I only had BIo section left, and it felt pretty easy. I had taken the 5/10 mcat and got a 30R. I thought essay questions were okay. The verbal was hard (i think it's because i didn't take a break before that section), and PS was hard too.
But, overall I felt that it was a LOOOOOOT better than the one I took two months ago. (Probably bc I studies a LOT). I hope my score doesn't get cancelled. I worked so hard for this mcat, and it would ruin my life if they cancel it.

wow, sorry to hear that. how'd she know you were making the call?

 

[detvar1]

something about bacteria/streptomyocin and cell differentiation i think

PS was hardest out of all imo...usually i make 12/13's in PS since i'm an engineering major....taken 30+ practice tests ...maybe it was the nerves right at the beginning...I've never had to guess on a practice test before and I had to take educated guesses multiple times

Verbal seemed very reasonable
Biology also seemed pretty easy...I think I did really well on it.

thanks. that puts my mind a bit at ease. by cell differentiation, that was the one about retina cells right?

 

[kyo78]

oh my god....... that was terrible...... I sat by the AC and some lady was whispering the whole time so I had to use those earmuffs which hurt like hell... and I felt confused on the PS section.. maybe because i thought it was hard.. eh.

Verbal.. yeah. Just like all other aamc tests.. but I wasn't even sure If I finished 7 passages..kind of freaked out during the break.. but ok.. so was the last passage about "hudson painting school" or whatever? ARGH BUt i didn't void.. cuz I wasn't sure. >< DOES ANYONE REMEMBERRRRR?

BS was ok... I didn't like the one passage about cholesterol..This was the only section I didn't run out of time on! VR and PS I had to guess the last couple questions...

*sigh* suppose just wait for the scores and relax until then.

It just. sucked. sucked major pie hole.

 

[kyo78]

.

 

[kyo78]

can anyone please tell me what the topic of the last two bio passages were today on their test? i have this dumb worry that i didn't do one of them.

thanks so much

yeah, i thought that about th VR section... what was your last passage there? on bio.. from wat i remember one of the last ones was the retinal cells passage

 

[dondada1]

oh my god....... that was terrible...... I sat by the AC and some lady was whispering the whole time so I had to use those earmuffs which hurt like hell... and I felt confused on the PS section.. maybe because i thought it was hard.. eh.

Verbal.. yeah. Just like all other aamc tests.. but I wasn't even sure If I finished 7 passages..kind of freaked out during the break.. but ok.. so was the last passage about "hudson painting school" or whatever? ARGH BUt i didn't void.. cuz I wasn't sure. >< DOES ANYONE REMEMBERRRRR?

BS was ok... I didn't like the one passage about cholesterol..This was the only section I didn't run out of time on! VR and PS I had to guess the last couple questions...

*sigh* suppose just wait for the scores and relax until then.

It just. sucked. sucked major pie hole.

Yeah hudson painting school was my last passage.
sorry about your experience. i'm sure u did ur best

 

[detvar1]

yeah, i thought that about th VR section... what was your last passage there? on bio.. from wat i remember one of the last ones was the retinal cells passage

and after the retinal cells, did you have 3 discretes?

on the verbal, jeez, trying to think. smthng about Trex maybe? the one about soccer/penalties was the hardest i thought.

 

[kyo78]

and after the retinal cells, did you have 3 discretes?

on the verbal, jeez, trying to think. smthng about Trex maybe? the one about soccer/penalties was the hardest i thought.

YEs there were some discretes after

 

[detvar1]

.

 

[detvar1]

YEs there were some discretes after

i thought the verbal was harder than the AAMC's though. two or so passages were very tricky. longer and denser as well.

and bio was by no means a cake walk either, tho i know some ppl here saying it was easy

 

[st2205]

the one about soccer/penalties was the hardest i thought.

What?

 

[Simplify]

PS - This was the most difficult section, in my opinion. I found myself making some educated guesses here without being able to fully rationalize the answers. Lots of stuff on angular momentum, acceleration, etc. and calorimetry problems posed in a different way than I've seen.

BS - Pretty straight-forward, and comparable to AAMC practice exams. Really short on organic topics, though.

VR - Normal mindplay, nothing to report here.

 

[SayVYas]

PS - Definitely the most difficult section for me. First two passages really made me doubt myself. I totally agree with above that the questions were really posed in a new way (e.g. applying a physiological activity as a physical science passage). I think the other major issue was that there was a lot more brute fact recall required than actual reasoning (from the questions I struggled with).

VR - Had 1 (maybe two) tricky passage(s), again at the start, but other than that it wasn't too bad.

BS - Pretty straight-forward, and its easiness is probably why I didn't void my score...


From the sounds of it, curve might be generous on PS?

 

[Nitrogenous]

VR - Normal mindplay, nothing to report here.

I'm sorry, the VR section made me want to stab my eyes out. I felt like the passages were too long, and on 3 or 4 of them that I was coming into the middle of the 8th chapter of some really boring book. VR has been my best on practice AAMC's but I can tell you that this one will be my worst. My timing was completely off and I had to guess on nearly a whole section. Grrrr

 

[Simplify]

VR was longer than normal, I will agree with you there. I'd say that if you were struggling with pacing on AAMC practice exams then you might have been cutting your time really close, perhaps even having to guess. I never know what to expect on VR sections. I thought this was a little longer than normal, but I didn't feel surprised at all by the content (aside from length of 2 passages) or questions on it.

 

[glycocalyx]

What do you guys think... difficulty level similar to AAMC or PR tests?

 

[daniellema13]

Hang on....what passage about Hudson painting school?? and soccer penalties? I had nothing like that...did i miss passages?? I swear i didnt...i think my last one was about the roman bridges/ireland thing. was there one (or more) after that????

 

[Nitrogenous]

VR was longer than normal, I will agree with you there. I'd say that if you were struggling with pacing on AAMC practice exams then you might have been cutting your time really close, perhaps even having to guess. I never know what to expect on VR sections. I thought this was a little longer than normal, but I didn't feel surprised at all by the content (aside from length of 2 passages) or questions on it.

Yeah I haven't ever had much of a pacing problem on the practice. I think however that I was probably so frustrated with the physics that perhaps I let it throw me off. Who knows. I also hate really boring passages, and I thought 2 of them were dreadful.. haha.

Oh well, it's not that big of a deal in the grander scheme of things. I graduated college years ago; I'm 30, so basically the entire exam is based on classes I had 10 years ago or more. If the need be I'll pay for a review course, but I had really hoped to avoid that.

 

[Nitrogenous]

Hang on....what passage about Hudson painting school?? and soccer penalties? I had nothing like that...did i miss passages?? I swear i didnt...i think my last one was about the roman bridges/ireland thing. was there one (or more) after that????

OMG, haha, the roman bridge thing was another that made me want to jam a finger down my throat.. haha. I think that was the last one on my test too daniellema, don't sweat it.

 

[ProZak]

You really shouldn't talk about specific topics of passages. That being said, discrepancies may arise because not all the tests are the same. Some are almost all the same, some might be totally. About 10% every testing population will have COMPLETELY different tests, such as some that they offered at another time (perhaps June 13th's) so that AAMC can do comparative studies on testing populations. They might even just change one of two questions here and there. And, finally, there are "Experimental questions" that were on your test that AAMC is running trials on (with you, during the worst test of your life) to see if they can use them on later tests. These questions will not count towards your total. Who knows, maybe that one you thought was impossible was experimental. Probably not, though.

 

[SayVYas]

OMG, haha, the roman bridge thing was another that made me want to jam a finger down my throat.. haha. I think that was the last one on my test too daniellema, don't sweat it.

Strange, I had all three passages...

 

[laurenconrad]

hey guys..during my test, my computer shut off and i told the administrator and she brought back the screen at where it was before (but for a whole 5 minutes i just sat there, stared into space as she tired to fix it..i also fogot some of the info in the passage i was on)...then...some weird ms dos screen showed up on my screen when i began and started bouncing on the screen like one of those internet ads that you can't close..i didnt tell the adminstrator because i was watching my timer count down as i tried to close the screen...ummm im pretty sure that screwed me over a bit although i ignored it at the time..why do all these weird things happen to me:S what can i do about this? email aamc?

 

[daniellema13]

okay that makes me feel better. that said, is there anyone that did NOT have at least one of the two i mentioned above?

 

[Simplify]

I saw all of those.

 

[bonoz]

Oh my. My first MCAT and whoa.... destroyed... I'm destroyed.

I thought that I made a few educated guesses on Physical Sciences. But like everyone I thought it was hard.

Verbal was difficult in the beginning but soon my nerves settled. Thankfully I finished on time.

Biosciences was okay. I got stuck on one question and got rushed. The first few passages were easy I thought. It got a little harder for me with the bacterias and all that.

A hard test. Definitely. Much harder than the AAMC ones.

So can we expect a good curve or should I not even bother asking?

I hope to God that I did well, and certainly hope that everyone else did well too.

 

[bonoz]

I'm sorry, the VR section made me want to stab my eyes out. I felt like the passages were too long, and on 3 or 4 of them that I was coming into the middle of the 8th chapter of some really boring book. VR has been my best on practice AAMC's but I can tell you that this one will be my worst. My timing was completely off and I had to guess on nearly a whole section. Grrrr

Same here. Passages were so long.

 

[bonoz]

What?

+1. Soccer? I'd have destroyed that passage.

 

[st2205]

I have no idea about the soccer penalties. Was not on the test.

 

[bonoz]

You really shouldn't talk about specific topics of passages. That being said, discrepancies may arise because not all the tests are the same. Some are almost all the same, some might be totally. About 10% every testing population will have COMPLETELY different tests, such as some that they offered at another time (perhaps June 13th's) so that AAMC can do comparative studies on testing populations. They might even just change one of two questions here and there. And, finally, there are "Experimental questions" that were on your test that AAMC is running trials on (with you, during the worst test of your life) to see if they can use them on later tests. These questions will not count towards your total. Who knows, maybe that one you thought was impossible was experimental. Probably not, though.

Seriously? I never heard of that before. Something better than nothing.

 

[bonoz]

You know what happened during the test in Fairfax, VA Prometric center? During the Verbal passage, I'm pondering upon a question and everything goes black. For a moment I thought maybe I had fainted or had died. But...

What really happened was we lost power. We freaking lost power in the midst of a test. Everyone was hauled out, and called back in one by one. Took 30 minutes to fix the problem.

Do you think I have a plausible complaint on my hands to AAMC?

 

[bonoz]

You know what happened during the test in Fairfax, VA Prometric center? During the Verbal passage, I'm pondering upon a question and everything goes black. For a moment I thought maybe I had fainted or had died. But...

What really happened was we lost power. We freaking lost power in the midst of a test. Everyone was hauled out, and called back in one by one. Took 30 minutes to fix the problem.

Do you think I have a plausible complaint on my hands to AAMC?

And we didn't get any extra time, we were just expected to start off from where we left off. Don't know about you lot, but it takes me a while to regain the focus and concentration of the passage.

 

[Drsparta]

You know what happened during the test in Fairfax, VA Prometric center? During the Verbal passage, I'm pondering upon a question and everything goes black. For a moment I thought maybe I had fainted or had died. But...

What really happened was we lost power. We freaking lost power in the midst of a test. Everyone was hauled out, and called back in one by one. Took 30 minutes to fix the problem.

Do you think I have a plausible complaint on my hands to AAMC?

Thats horrible sorry bonoz...you should def give AAMC a call but I dont know what they can do about it

 

[ProZak]

That is so pathetic that prometric would not have power supplies backing their computers. If you ask me, the company and testing environments were ****. The way they structure the test with people typing while other people are on other sections and people getting up and slamming doors all the time is absolutely ridiculous. Oh and those "noise cancelling headphones" were good for reducing the sound by .00005 decibels.

The screens were small and that fingerprint scanner is the worst p.o.s. I have ever encountered. Figuring out which ones you "marked" was hell too. You have to click the question and risk changing the answer accidentally to see if that stupid little button changes colors.

And my final complaint is the absurdity of some of the facts they required on the physical science section of that test. They were pulled from left field and don't reflect your physical science ability in the slightest, nor what they said would be tested.

I bet the people at AAMC all sit around and watch the video recordings of you taking the test, placing bets on which kids are gonna knaw their hands off first when they come across some of those questions.

 

[Drsparta]

That is so pathetic that prometric would not have power supplies backing their computers. If you ask me, the company and testing environments were ****. The way they structure the test with people typing while other people are on other sections and people getting up and slamming doors all the time is absolutely ridiculous. Oh and those "noise cancelling headphones" were good for reducing the sound by .00005 decibels.

The screens were small and that fingerprint scanner is the worst p.o.s. I have ever encountered. Figuring out which ones you "marked" was hell too. You have to click the question and risk changing the answer accidentally to see if that stupid little button changes colors.

And my final complaint is the absurdity of some of the facts they required on the physical science section of that test. They were pulled from left field and don't reflect your physical science ability in the slightest, nor what they said would be tested.

I bet the people at AAMC all sit around and watch the video recordings of you taking the test, placing bets on which kids are gonna knaw their hands off first when they come across some of those questions.

Amen I completely agree with you...by the time the fingerprint scanner works half your break is up and you find yourself running back to your chair...btw i brought my own ear plugs which they inspected and deemed ok to use