The 7/08/08 MCAT Club

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dreams

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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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They also need LCD monitors, because i m already a slow reader due to it being on comp for verbal section. I will rather see the whole passage in entirety, than scrolling up and down,counting paragraphs. They need to go back to the Numbering system for each line.Will help me a lot. That's my rant for 2day.
Good luck to all that took the exam.
 
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
good call with the earplugs. that's a good idea.

were you able to use both the headphones and earplugs?
 
I thought PS was definitely a time strain and some of the verbal passages were a bit dense. BS wasn't too bad. However, the AC was out in my testing center in DC...and we were all dying because it was like a sauna in the room. We were having issues getting fingerprinted going in and out of the room because our hands were so sweaty. Gross. :( Now onto the 30 day wait... Good luck everyone!
 
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I thought PS was definitely a time strain and some of the verbal passages were a bit dense. BS wasn't too bad. However, the AC was out in my testing center in DC...and we were all dying because it was like a sauna in the room. We were having issues getting fingerprinted going in and out of the room because our hands were so sweaty. Gross. :( Now onto the 30 day wait... Good luck everyone!

Hah. Wow. Things like these are the last thing a stressed out MCAT test taker needs on test day. Sorry.
 
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?

Similar thing happened to me earlier this year. You are supposed to complain to the administrator, then write to AAMC within 5 (or 10) days after your test and complain. They will take a month to send you a letter where they "apologize and wish you luck." Don't expect AAMC to take responsibility here. They treat you like nothing.
 
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.

Be glad they didn't time your "time lost" as "time used."
 
my prometric was tiny and had ONE bathroom. every time i went on my break and needed to use the restroom (i drank a lot of apple juice!) i had to wait for ~half my break. and even though it'd probably exaggerate the bathroom problem, i wish they'd sign everyone in and then start all at the same time because people walking in and out really distract me. plus the guy behind me thought it'd be a good idea to have a conversation with the proctor as the proctor was walking him to his booth. :scared::scared:

but: WE MADE IT! here's to hoping everyone's all smiles in a month :hardy::hardy:
 
I AM SO GLAD TO BE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow what a relief.

i felt that ps wasnt too bad. i sailed through the first few passages and then got stuck on one in the middle for i swear 10 minutes before I realized how long i was confused for. (some sort of electrochem/electric field passage. still not sure what they were talking about)
then i only had 22 minutes 3 passages and the discretes. so the second half went by really fast.

i have had the hardest time studying and improving my verbal section. a week and a half ago, (after finishing all the VR tests in kaplan's online class and also vr book) i bought the EK verbal book which is supposed to be the best. and my verbal range on those ended up being between 7-11 but no consistencies. i knew that this would be a hard one. the passages seemed more boring and longer than usual and i just didnt understand what a few questions were even asking me-but this was probably due to the timing issue which i could not keep undercontrol. i finished them all though...

biology was the one that i was least worried about-probably cuz ive spent so much time on it the last few weeks. the passages that everyone has mentioned, i had and thought were pretty hard. (especially the cell differentiation) i think i had only 1 ochem passage-which makes me mad since i spent so much time studying for it. and the weirdest thing is that i have always finished BS with at least 15-20 minutes to spare and today i had 1 minute left. wow.

well who knows?! everytime that i took a practice test and felt crappy about it, i did average so i'm hoping for that. in all reality if i score at least a 27 i will be okay with it. Im keeping my fingers crossed though, since VR pretty much murdered me.

30 days!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Why does it take SO long to get the results? why not 1 week? its all computerized and should be automatized....)
 
(Why does it take SO long to get the results? why not 1 week? its all computerized and should be automatized....)

i just wanted to chime in and say that its because of the stupid essay that requires human graders, for most of the other exam DAT, OAT etc. they all get their score right away because of no essay. Blame the Essay that no one really cares about

My mcat is on thursday, wish me luck, lol:D
 
i just wanted to chime in and say that its because of the stupid essay that requires human graders, for most of the other exam DAT, OAT etc. they all get their score right away because of no essay. Blame the Essay that no one really cares about

My mcat is on thursday, wish me luck, lol:D

Best of luck mate.
 
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Did anyone find the question about converting kcal to kJ a bit strange? I've never seen an MCAT question about a conversion between two units..?
 
I took the MCAT this morning, and it felt like a kick in the head. The PS section was the killer for me; not only was it harder than the PS sections on AAMC practice MCAT's, but the material seemed utterly different. I'd studied the hell out of mechanics, momentum, machines, buoyant force, even radioactive decay, but very little of those subjects seemed to show up on this PS. Instead, it seemed to be all torque problems (including a bunch about 2 spaceships tied together with a rope, which were really hideous). The unexpected subject matter got me flustered, and I really lost time on those problems. I ended up running out of time with 8 or 9 questions to go. I'd been doing fairly well on PS in the practice MCATs I took (10's and 11's), but there's no way I did that today--at least I don't think there is.

The verbal section seemed OK to me, but that long, long passage about the evolution of language ability was really excruciating.

The BS section was no way as bad as the PS, but also very different from the practice tests I'd taken. There were very few orgo questions, but the ones that did appear were extremely difficult, with molecules I'd never even seen before. But there was one bio passage that really bothered me, because I think there may have been some text missing from it which was supposed to contain important information.

This passage concerned 2 theories about cell differentiation, and described 2 experiments which supposedly supported the second theory. But one of the experiment descriptions seemed incomplete, because after briefly describing the setup, it suddenly jumped into talking about the results, including "labeled precursor cells" found on growth plates. But there had been no mention of either precursor cells or labeling. There was a question relating to this expt., which seemed to relate to information we had never been given. I was totally mystified and had to guess.

I finished my postbacc classes on May 13th, and started studying for this test on the 15th--seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day. But I don't think I'll have much to show for all that work now. What a bummer.
 
ok so before when I posted I was pissed, now I am sad and thinking that I might never get passed this monster, RETAKE is for me

PS- oh my god what was all that about??? I think everyone will do better than they think on this section for sure, I just know that I am not good at acid/base, buffers, and the whole torque thing was a no no, so I would say I guessed on over 75% of this section

VR-I thought the length of the first passage was going to be a fluke, since I have never heard anyone on here say anything about the passages on the real thing being so much longer than the practices, but oh no each one was long and so dense I was just lost after reading it

BS- not bad at all but I made a lot of mistakes taking questions to detailed and not looking at the big picture, orgo was not bad considering I looked at it for 2.5s when I was reviewing, not to much genetics thank god and overall I think this was the best and from what everyone else is saying I would say ya miss 1 and ya get a 14. but that one passage on the cell diff stuff, so confused
 
(including a bunch about 2 spaceships tied together with a rope, which were really hideous).

I'm starting to get confused. All this stuff about soccer penalties, spaceships... did they change the way the MCAT is done so that it's not all standardized questions?
 
I'm starting to get confused. All this stuff about soccer penalties, spaceships... did they change the way the MCAT is done so that it's not all standardized questions?

Everyone's mcat was similar but most will vary by a passage or two in each section..... the standardization takes place on a much larger scale... people you write with today but anyone who has written that passage in the past few years apparently.... so not to worry
 
I'm starting to get confused. All this stuff about soccer penalties, spaceships... did they change the way the MCAT is done so that it's not all standardized questions?

I didnt have anything on space nothing or soccer, I took in in FL
 
Hey all..Im pretty much with the majority that this test was very very tough. On the AAMC tests I was averaging from a 28-33, but id say id be very lucky to hit a 28 on this bad boy..

PS- Started off badd..was really unsure on the first passage, got me a bit flustered and it was tough to recover. And it was a really tough PS section too..had to take random guesses on like 3 or 4 at the end.

VR- Who knows...I got through everything, and felt like what i put down seemed ok, but really who knows

BS- started off ok,; then had to speed up towards the end to finish; the last passages were tough because of the time constraints....

Overall, even if i sucked hard which i am anticipating; i guess at least it was a good learning experience. Hopefully next time I'll keep my cool a little more and not let myself get flustered so much in the beginning. Ah well 2 months of studying down the drain.....
 
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Everyone's mcat was similar but most will vary by a passage or two in each section..... the standardization takes place on a much larger scale... people you write with today but anyone who has written that passage in the past few years apparently.... so not to worry

Interesting, didn't know that!
 
What was difficult about the cholesterol passage? It didn't stand out to me as a particularly different than normal. Did I miss something about it?
 
The "labeled precursor cells" was referring to the undifferentiated cells that contained the viral vector.Was this info missing from your passage?? (it was a very vague description if i remember right) These cells were allowed to grow to see how many differentiated cell types contained the vector (and thus arose from the precursor). (This wasn't stated explicitly but assumed). I wonder what could be done if someone truly had info missing from their passages...i hope their would be a way to prove it! Doubtful though.

To sst...i didn't have anything about spaceships or soccer either, lol. Kinda ****ty if different tests are included for standardization purposes on a given date...
I had a passage about cell diff but not dealing with viral vectors
 
What was difficult about the cholesterol passage? It didn't stand out to me as a particularly different than normal. Did I miss something about it?

I dont think there was anything difficult about that passage.

My test did not have a passage about spaceships or soccer.

I missed 3 questions on the organic part of Bio section. Not sure what I did with the rest of this exam. Physics was not too bad. (as far as I can remember)
 
Yea the cell diff passage with viral vectors threw me off. I felt like there wasn't enough information to answer certain questions. However, the rest of the bio was pretty good in my opinion. PS was ok...I made a few errors but I thought it could've been better and verbal was decent in terms of difficulty.
 
Yea the cell diff passage with viral vectors threw me off. I felt like there wasn't enough information to answer certain questions. However, the rest of the bio was pretty good in my opinion. PS was ok...I made a few errors but I thought it could've been better and verbal was decent in terms of difficulty.

I am not sure what was so difficult about the cell diff passage? I thought it was pretty straightforward.

There was just one reference to an experiment done with viral vectors and one question from it.

I am sure that passage would have looked extremely difficult if one was really short on time and trying to skip through.
 
Yea, I didn't think it was entirely difficult. I think it must've been exhaustion that had set in. It took me about 3 times to actually understand the cholesterol passage which wasn't so bad but I'm content hopefully the results indicate my confidence lol.
 
I am not sure what was so difficult about the cell diff passage? I thought it was pretty straightforward.

There was just one reference to an experiment done with viral vectors and one question from it.

I am sure that passage would have looked extremely difficult if one was really short on time and trying to skip through.

My thoughts exactly. Actually thinking back, the first question was a dense read, and I spent like 3-4 minutes trying to understand exactly what it was asking for. I imagine if you were short on time, it would have been rough.
 
My thoughts exactly. Actually thinking back, the first question was a dense read, and I spent like 3-4 minutes trying to understand exactly what it was asking for. I imagine if you were short on time, it would have been rough.

This was a bizarre test. I was very good with my time on the Physics section and all of a sudden I had to scramble to make sure I finished in time. Mostly due to the last passage. There was a question about moving charge and the magnetic field which I think was incomplete. I still dont know the answer to that question.

The verbal started out semi difficult and then it eased up. The big deal was to not panick. MCAT is a very sensitive exam. If you panick slightly or lose your confidence this exam will break your back.

Biology in my opinion was OK except for those organic questions which I struggled with. The bacteria stuff was silly easy. The gene expression passage took alot of my time. That was a tricky one.
 
congrats on being done everyone!

If you went over 10 minutes for your break, did the next section start immediately after the break ended?

I'm taking it on Thursday and just wanted to know. Thanks!
 
I am not sure what was so difficult about the cell diff passage? I thought it was pretty straightforward.

There was just one reference to an experiment done with viral vectors and one question from it.

I am sure that passage would have looked extremely difficult if one was really short on time and trying to skip through.

Just wondering. Did you feel in that the questions were mostly based on the passage?
 
congrats on being done everyone!

If you went over 10 minutes for your break, did the next section start immediately after the break ended?

I'm taking it on Thursday and just wanted to know. Thanks!

Yes. It shows a pop-up "YOU HAVE RUN OUT OF TIME". You click 'ok' and it takes you to next section's screen. I took my time before each section. I think I was the last one of the "MCAT" people to leave.
 
PS- Started off badd..was really unsure on the first passage, got me a bit flustered and it was tough to recover. And it was a really tough PS section too..had to take random guesses on like 3 or 4 at the end.

Was so confused with the first passage about heats and acid/base chemistry.
 
The 'AAMC should allow calculators' thread reminded me of this one question on the test where I had to multiply 0.015*0.015.

Now with no time constraints I can do this it would take me maybe a minute. But on the real thing when you have 3 passages to go and 25 minutes it gets hard.
 
I felt likewise. I think it was asking us to use the right hand rule to find out the direction of magnetic field, but they didn't give us the force?

Exactly. They will probably throw that one out. How much time I spent on that. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah..that question about the charge/magnetic field I also think was incomplete, I was even thinking of writing to AAMC about it...
 
no, the next section doesn't start until you click "next." so you can theoretically sit at your cube for ages until you feel like starting the next section.

i realize that it's all subjective, but my personal opinion is that the PS was easier, the VR was average, and the BS was harder than the AAMC exams i've taken. hopefully this translates into a predictable score! some of my bio passages/questions were verbal-ish, in the way that they were difficult to read, and involved flipping around experimental data in a +/- fashion ("which of the following would LEAST support the thesis that so-and-so was NOT responsible for such-and-such?")

btw, my PS involved the spaceship-tether and thigh-calf problems; the VR included the soccer, lit. crit., hudson river society, T rex, irish bridges, & language development; and the BS included passages on a couple climbing a mountain, the cell differentiation passage that everyone seems to hate, cholesterol, transcription factors/lung cancer, a passage about hydration levels and how they affect various bodily states, one about a strep +/- bacteria experiment, and an ochem passage about amino acids and their drug derivatives that threw me for a loop. usually i can count on ochem for some easy points, but today's ochem was strangely hard.
 
Yes. It shows a pop-up "YOU HAVE RUN OUT OF TIME". You click 'ok' and it takes you to next section's screen. I took my time before each section. I think I was the last one of the "MCAT" people to leave.

Wait...so you can either take the 10 min break or spend that additional 10 mins in your section???
 
No, once you skip into the next section the timer starts immediately. You don't get any bonus time by holding your bodily fluids. :)
 
once your section is over, it's over, and you then go into a 10-minute break. there's no extending individual test sections. however, once you return to your desk after the 10 minutes are up, the next section doesn't begin until you click "next." so you have a chance to sit and collect your thoughts until you're ready to attack the next section.
 
btw... skinwoman my god you have an amazing memory. I couldn't remember probably 2/3 of the passages i had (though thanks to you i now remember a lot more!)... i can't believe i had forgotten about the one with the couple climbing the mountain...that almost made me laugh out loud!

I agree with those that thought the cell diff and cholesterol passages were pretty straightforward. However, the questions for those passages were wordy and if you're exhausted and pressed for time i can see where they'd be pretty tough.
 
no, the next section doesn't start until you click "next." so you can theoretically sit at your cube for ages until you feel like starting the next section.

i realize that it's all subjective, but my personal opinion is that the PS was easier, the VR was average, and the BS was harder than the AAMC exams i've taken. hopefully this translates into a predictable score! some of my bio passages/questions were verbal-ish, in the way that they were difficult to read, and involved flipping around experimental data in a +/- fashion ("which of the following would LEAST support the thesis that so-and-so was NOT responsible for such-and-such?")

btw, my PS involved the spaceship-tether and thigh-calf problems; the VR included the soccer, lit. crit., hudson river society, T rex, irish bridges, & language development; and the BS included passages on a couple climbing a mountain, the cell differentiation passage that everyone seems to hate, cholesterol, transcription factors/lung cancer, a passage about hydration levels and how they affect various bodily states, one about a strep +/- bacteria experiment, and an ochem passage about amino acids and their drug derivatives that threw me for a loop. usually i can count on ochem for some easy points, but today's ochem was strangely hard.

What was the soccer passage like? I'm sure it must have been easy?
 
btw... skinwoman my god you have an amazing memory. I couldn't remember probably 2/3 of the passages i had (though thanks to you i now remember a lot more!)... i can't believe i had forgotten about the one with the couple climbing the mountain...that almost made me laugh out loud!

I agree with those that thought the cell diff and cholesterol passages were pretty straightforward. However, the questions for those passages were wordy and if you're exhausted and pressed for time i can see where they'd be pretty tough.

The couple climbing the mountain was my favourite passage. Straight-forward, simple, and medically related; a bit realistic too - well maybe not.
 
heh...once i started thinking of passages, i kept thinking of more. there was also that multi-discipline passage about various parts of the body -- i think it was the last one on the VR or BS part of my test -- where it incorporated hearing, blood pressure, flow, optics, and some new formula i didn't even end up using.

i was totally psyched to see the soccer passage. i had just finished watching the euro 2008 championship all last month so it was very engaging. language development, not so much. i'm just happy that i finished verbal with a little time to review marked questions. any practice test where i rush through the last passage = lower score.
 
Guys. You may NOT discuss specific questions from your MCAT exam. Some of these posts cross that line. Please read the sticky located here for an explanation of our policies regarding divluging exam content: ****Warning MCAT Forum Users: Posting MCAT Questions on SDN = Auto 1 Week PH****

These rules are here to protect you and the integrity of test. If you divulge the answers or questions from your exam, the AAMC holds the right to void your score. Please do not do that.

If you are unsure if whether what you are posting crosses the line, ask yourself this:
"Would giving this information hinder the testability of the question? Would it make it easier for other people to answer?"
If the answer is "yes" do not post it!

Thank you.
 
heh...once i started thinking of passages, i kept thinking of more. there was also that multi-discipline passage about various parts of the body -- i think it was the last one on the VR or BS part of my test -- where it incorporated hearing, blood pressure, flow, optics, and some new formula i didn't even end up using.

i was totally psyched to see the soccer passage. i had just finished watching the euro 2008 championship all last month so it was very engaging. language development, not so much. i'm just happy that i finished verbal with a little time to review marked questions. any practice test where i rush through the last passage = lower score.

Hah. I know. I'm a huge soccer fan; so huge in fact that I don't call it soccer, no, I call it what it really is: football - because you use your feet to kick a ball - football.
 
To add, I just went through and deleted the posts that crossed the line. As per the policy, we'll be issuing post holds this evening.

Some posts were deleted because they quoted prohibited MCAT content. That doesn't warrant a post hold, but please people: use some common sense.

-Your tired and cranky MCAT SMod who's in the midst of packing and moving
 
To add, I just went through and deleted the posts that crossed the line. As per the policy, we'll be issuing post holds this evening.

Some posts were deleted because they quoted prohibited MCAT content. That doesn't warrant a post hold, but please people: use some common sense.

-Your tired and cranky MCAT SMod who's in the midst of packing and moving

Poor pingouin, you try so hard yet they fail to heed your warnings. People, please follow AAMC and TOS regulations. AAMC representatives DO monitor these forums and we are only looking after your best interest. In a lighter note, you are done with the exam and there is nothing to be done except enjoying your summer vacation. Best of luck everyone and I hope you all do well.
 
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