The 9/4/09 MCAT Club

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I took the 2pm test as well, in some place far far far away in the galaxy.... Singapore. The questions I had were exactly the same as thegreatergood, dotdotdot, purple pearl.. in that exact same order. Which makes me wonder what if someone here took the MCAT, 12 hours earlier, and then told someone in North America those questions....? If i weren't a doctor, I would be a conspiracy theorist.

Anyway, here's how it went:

PS: Pretty easy in the beginning, I absolutely loved the flushing tank question! Captured the weird essence of the MCAT pretty well. Ran a wee bit out of time at the end, especially the solar heating/water system passage and the stupid mass flow rate, which should have been put in the front for free points! GRRR. Purplepearl: I had the Bond Dissociation Energy too.

One word of advice for everyone yet to take the MCAT: GET BERKELEY REVIEW. Enough said.

Verbal: This was super easy. I bought the EK 101 but did only 3 practice tests. Questions were relatively straightforward. It was as if the author was speaking to me. LOL

WS: Whatever, seriously. I wrote about the recent Pfizer case.

BS: When I got to the microarray siRNA questions, I was try to wipe the smirk off my face because I did an entire esasy on that. But alas! No one can ever out-smart, outlast, and outplay the MCAT. I think one of my answers were wrong. I'm a biomed major, and even I thought the questions were pretty out there. Overall, even if you did not do rote memorization of the EK Bio, every one should be pretty on par here. My biomed knowledge did play a small role, but other than that.. It all boils down to how well you read the passage.

Walked out of the test centre feeling pretty darn confident of at least a 36-40. But I'm sitting down here and re-doing the cholestrol R and S config, and damn, I had that question wrong. And the stupid alpha and epsilon pKa.. MCAT flirts and then ***k with your head.
 
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mlove said:
There was the miRNA passage as well... my mind is drawing a blank. I remember some random discretes though.
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AM Exam:
OI brittle bone Disease- collagen

My feelings:
I'm really pissed about this test. I studied for 19 months 7-12 hrs a day and now I feel defeated. I learned from my July MCAT that you can not rely on the curve.
7/2/09 Mcat: (accepted it)
I got a similar bio section to this exam (though slightly easier) and I ended up with a 9 while I scored 11 and 12s on bio aamc exam and 13 and 14s on Kaplan- go figure! I did okay on Physics in July because I had a normal test (I got an 11)
8/21/09 Mcat: (voided it)
All I have to say is that I'm pissed- the physics was so easy I could swear I got a 15. Unfortunately I had to void it because I hyperventilated and froze when I got to verbal, I know this sounds ridiculous but I was traumatized with my 5 on verbal from my July MCAT. I had to void it because of verbal; it was so painful because the ease of both bio and physics.
9/4/09 AM Mcat:
Yesterday, I didn't void the test because I promised myself I will not void if I felt verbal was doable. Now I can't sleep- I screwed so much on physics! I replayed the questions in my head and all my mistakes. It was so stupid- If I wasn't so nervous I would have gotten my usual 13. SUCH STUPID MISTAKES- my father, a physicist, and my uncle, a chemist, will be so ashamed of me!!! I'm so ashamed of myself, I take pride in physics and now the MCATS took my last piece of pride-
Question:
I'm just wondering based on old curves, what is the maximum I can get wrong to get a 9 on physics????????

I see so many PMers on this page- where are the AMers? And how did you feel????
 
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I was just wondering, you know when we take AAMC practice tests offered by TPR and Kaplan, does the AAMC get our practice test scores in their system? I know it is a very stupid question, but I had to ask.
 
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Hopanoid said:
I was just wondering, you know when we take AAMC practice tests offered by TPR and Kaplan, does the AAMC get our practice test scores in their system? I know it is a very stupid question, but I had to ask.
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No

edit, they would be on an aamc database somewhere but they don't use them for anything
 
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Scrubs 920- I completely understand how you feel. I took the AM exam and I found it KILLER. I dreamed about the PS questions and realized how many stupid stupid mistakes I made.

I'm in the same boat 🙁
 
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Scrubs920,
I know a girl who had to take this test three times. She finally got the score she wanted on her third try. Now she is doing her residency in internal medicine. Just take a break. You can not control what has passed, but you can control your future.
 
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the am bio section was so friggin hard. is it me or did the collagen passage did not tell us squat, and it was impossible to answer most of the questions on that passage?
 
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i hate to say it but im not jumping in joy to see all these people, who also took the pm mcat, found it to be not-so-difficult.
it puts the rest of us who actually found it difficult in an uneasy position with regards to the curve 🙁 (assuming there is a curve based on how well/poorly everyone did)
 
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brianmed said:
hate to be a debby downer but- i too teach chemistry and not only is voltaic said alongside alvanic in textbooks but just about every mcat review book.

but still i always use the word galvanic
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I agree. I don't teach chemistry but I have a degree in it and not only was that name used in my pchem and quantitative analysis textbooks but it was also used in one of my mcat review books (not sure if it was BR or Kaplan).
 
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How many passages are usually experimental and don't count? Are there experimental passages in all three section?

Maybe, with the dropped passages, people posting here have done better than they think?
 
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bmw e90 said:
the am bio section was so friggin hard. is it me or did the collagen passage did not tell us squat, and it was impossible to answer most of the questions on that passage?
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AM:
It (collagen) told us nothing - I had to guess (eni meni mini mo) In fact, that's what I did through out the test- I'm screwed! !!! =( I really don't want to take this exam again and throw up on the train for 3 hours! I made myself so sick; I was carrying 3 vomit bags everywhere with me on Thursday.
 
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hey guys,

I took the AM exam as well and thought it was ridiculously hard.. i took all of the AAMC practice exams as well as all of the TPR exams and this MCAT did not compare.. verbal was good (and it is usually my weakest) whereas BS and PS were pretty tough (i didn't have time left over, felt totally rushed, and most of the passages were confusing and too dense)..

do any of you know how old the AAMC online practice exams are? and are all of the new MCAT exams this difficult? if not, how is it fair that we got such a tough exam?

and does anyone know how the curve works (i read above that they set it beforehand, but how do they judge the exam if no one has taken it?)

thanks!
 
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MPowerE46 said:
hey guys,

I took the AM exam as well and thought it was ridiculously hard.. i took all of the AAMC practice exams as well as all of the TPR exams and this MCAT did not compare.. verbal was good (and it is usually my weakest) whereas BS and PS were pretty tough (i didn't have time left over, felt totally rushed, and most of the passages were confusing and too dense)..

do any of you know how old the AAMC online practice exams are? and are all of the new MCAT exams this difficult? if not, how is it fair that we got such a tough exam?

and does anyone know how the curve works (i read above that they set it beforehand, but how do they judge the exam if no one has taken it?)

thanks!
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No doubt AM was tough. The passages were very dense and the bio sections were mostly experiments (For those i can never be absolutely sure am doing the right thing). What happened to the hormones and regular bio stuff??? I dont know how the curve works but if it was set before hand, that would really really suck!
 
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mediapplicant said:
No doubt AM was tough. The passages were very dense and the bio sections were mostly experiments (For those i can never be absolutely sure am doing the right thing). What happened to the hormones and regular bio stuff??? I dont know how the curve works but if it was set before hand, that would really really suck!
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Haha so much goes into to SDN'ers hypothesizing what there curve will look like...

A curve represents the difficulty of the test.

Questions given on this test will have been given on past tests. The performance of individuals doing those passages in the past will heavily influence the scales coming in.

While it's debatable how much influence the current test takers have on the "curve" one way or another a tough test will have a corresponding grading scale.

The AAMC is a statistical analysis machine and by the end of the day Easy Test X and Tough Test Y have been graded to make them virtually equal.

You can go back to all the threads about the Ultra Death Test of April or the Worst MCAT Ever in January and inevitably one month later there are still a tonne of keeners going on about their 35's and 12-15 section scores. The place where a tough test may hurt one's scores is if the test taker responds to the unfamiliar material with more despair and panic than the test taker next to him or her. That's when tough sections hurt people's scores.

Rest assured though most people will come out with scores similar to their averages.
 
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supafield said:
Haha so much goes into to SDN'ers hypothesizing what there curve will look like...

A curve represents the difficulty of the test.

Questions given on this test will have been given on past tests. The performance of individuals doing those passages in the past will heavily influence the scales coming in.

While it's debatable how much influence the current test takers have on the "curve" one way or another a tough test will have a corresponding grading scale.

The AAMC is a statistical analysis machine and by the end of the day Easy Test X and Tough Test Y have been graded to make them virtually equal.

You can go back to all the threads about the Ultra Death Test of April or the Worst MCAT Ever in January and inevitably one month later there are still a tonne of keeners going on about their 35's and 12-15 section scores. The place where a tough test may hurt one's scores is if the test taker responds to the unfamiliar material with more despair and panic than the test taker next to him or her. That's when tough sections hurt people's scores.

Rest assured though most people will come out with scores similar to their averages.
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thanks for calming my nerves a bit; i need to just not think about what i put down for a while and breathe. ahhhhhhhhh
 
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I took the PM test and it was unreal...

VR: Was ok, the passages kept me excited to read them and helped me understand what I was reading

PS: It stared off fine, by half way through i was thinkin, "what is going on here" and scratching my head

BS: It was and always has been my best section- but it was the HARDEST I have seen...I know I did horrible for sure

Overall, no joke everyone it felt like a 18...serious, im in some trouble :scared:
 
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sandmanhere said:
I took the PM test and it was unreal...

VR: Was ok, the passages kept me excited to read them and helped me understand what I was reading

PS: It stared off fine, by half way through i was thinkin, "what is going on here" and scratching my head

BS: It was and always has been my best section- but it was the HARDEST I have seen...I know I did horrible for sure

Overall, no joke everyone it felt like a 18...serious, im in some trouble :scared:
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You'll be fine. Everyone feels like they just ran into a wall with this exam. BS was pretty rough though, very challenging. I still feel like VR was the hardest section but so far in the thread people seem to believe that was the least challenging of the three, go figure.
 
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Longshanks said:
You'll be fine. Everyone feels like they just ran into a wall with this exam. BS was pretty rough though, very challenging. I still feel like VR was the hardest section but so far in the thread people seem to believe that was the least challenging of the three, go figure.
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Agreed. VR is my best section and I felt it was pretty challenging. So you're not alone there!
 
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I seriously think it was the worse test I have taken. The AAMC tests didnt compare at all- it was structured the same but the passages and concepts were a joke. I has to make educated guesses on so many from the BS section. FAIL. And ran out of time in VR on the last passage. My last answers looked probably like B, C, B, C, B

Im open to knowing it was a sub 20....nothing I can do
 
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I agree the PM VR is really challenging. I just can't stop thinking about how VR might just ruin my entire score-- not that PS went that great anyway.

I felt like the PM VR passages were easy to read and comprehend, but when it came to the questions--such ambiguity! I finished right on time, and probably guessed (and missed) a great few. I'm really scared....... I hate how VR is weighed as much as BR and PS when VR seems relatively subjective, at least to me.

Does anyone know the approximate cut-off number of question is for a 10? I'm hoping it wouldnt be as stringent as AAMC, which is usually -10 questions for a score of 10.

Sigh.
 
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wow, I took it at 2pm in NH, and my sections were ALL completely different to what you guys were saying, and were fairly consistent with the latter AAMC practice tests. First PS passage was about friction and momentum. Verbal was about acid rain. BS - I remember being shocked there was only one orgo passage! And VERY happy there was a lot of genetics (woot Bio major)

wonder if the test center screwed up :meanie:

oh well, it will all come out in the wash. when is the anticipated score release date?

EDIT - looks like my test was more similar to the 9/3 test. weirdness. oh well.
 
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I took the AM test, I thought the same as most of you that the Bio section was a ton of orgo and not much of the bio stuff i studied for.. The PS section wasn't as bad as I expected it to be with the exception of a few physics problems, the Verbal was definitely challenging I was expecting to have maybe 2 or 3 really hard passages but I thought the majority of them were hard. I thought the essay topics were pretty easy.. Now the hard part is waiting for scores!
 
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I took the AM exam
I'm really starting to feel like crap.
I went into the exam feeling confident, but I got struck with panic right from the first question. Spent 5 minutes to do an easy density problem. However, a few questions later, my stride started to pick up and my ball got more momentum as I went on. I felt pretty confident at the end of the PS, thought VR was okay, and Bio wasn't that bad either.
However, now after speaking to people, I see that I got more wrong in PS than I thought I did. Those two stupid magnetism (qvbsin0) questions which I should have known and should have been easy for me, I put the wrong answer in.
I really feel like crap. I really don't want to think about it, but it seems that I may have done bad.
I really hope that those are all the wrong answers that I got and the rest I did perfectly fine on....
 
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Omni said:
I took the AM exam
I'm really starting to feel like crap.
I went into the exam feeling confident, but I got struck with panic right from the first question. Spent 5 minutes to do an easy density problem. However, a few questions later, my stride started to pick up and my ball got more momentum as I went on. I felt pretty confident at the end of the PS, thought VR was okay, and Bio wasn't that bad either.
However, now after speaking to people, I see that I got more wrong in PS than I thought I did. Those two stupid magnetism (qvbsin0) questions which I should have known and should have been easy for me, I put the wrong answer in.
I really feel like crap. I really don't want to think about it, but it seems that I may have done bad.
I really hope that those are all the wrong answers that I got and the rest I did perfectly fine on....
Click to expand...
a lot of people here were saying that magnetism passage was experimental , because some people didnt have it. so that means it probably wont count towards your score. i hope you feel better now
 
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Omni said:
I took the AM exam
I'm really starting to feel like crap.
I went into the exam feeling confident, but I got struck with panic right from the first question. Spent 5 minutes to do an easy density problem. However, a few questions later, my stride started to pick up and my ball got more momentum as I went on. I felt pretty confident at the end of the PS, thought VR was okay, and Bio wasn't that bad either.
However, now after speaking to people, I see that I got more wrong in PS than I thought I did. Those two stupid magnetism (qvbsin0) questions which I should have known and should have been easy for me, I put the wrong answer in.
I really feel like crap. I really don't want to think about it, but it seems that I may have done bad.
I really hope that those are all the wrong answers that I got and the rest I did perfectly fine on....
Click to expand...


I'm sure you did fine. From your earlier posts you've been studying hard for this. Everyone is going to get a few wrong on nerves during the test. Its done with though, so can't dwell on it since you can't change it now. The AM test sounds it was a bit more challenging, but I didn't experience it so can't judge, so scale should be distributed properly.
 
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man i still think about the test, even specific questions! and if that is not bad enough, in my dreams im thinking about my test and results! i hate the waiting game!
 
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hi all, i've been a lurker on this thread for quite some time. i took the AM session, and pretty much hit a wall when it came to bio. i admit that i could have done better on physics but i knew my physiology pretty damn well and it was disheartening to say the least that i didnt use any of that knowledge at all. what makes it worse though as i wait for the score is to hear from my friends who took the exam this week how easy their exams comparatively because then all i think is whyyyy couldn't i have signed up for a week later?? 🙁

i really hope that all of you get the score that you were aiming for...in the meantime, i need to stop thinking about this test!!
 
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soniye said:
hi all, i've been a lurker on this thread for quite some time. i took the AM session, and pretty much hit a wall when it came to bio. i admit that i could have done better on physics but i knew my physiology pretty damn well and it was disheartening to say the least that i didnt use any of that knowledge at all. what makes it worse though as i wait for the score is to hear from my friends who took the exam this week how easy their exams comparatively because then all i think is whyyyy couldn't i have signed up for a week later?? 🙁

i really hope that all of you get the score that you were aiming for...in the meantime, i need to stop thinking about this test!!
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I keep asking myself why I didn't take it on the 10th or something. Bummer!
 
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soniye said:
hi all, i've been a lurker on this thread for quite some time. i took the AM session, and pretty much hit a wall when it came to bio. i admit that i could have done better on physics but i knew my physiology pretty damn well and it was disheartening to say the least that i didnt use any of that knowledge at all. what makes it worse though as i wait for the score is to hear from my friends who took the exam this week how easy their exams comparatively because then all i think is whyyyy couldn't i have signed up for a week later?? 🙁

i really hope that all of you get the score that you were aiming for...in the meantime, i need to stop thinking about this test!!
Click to expand...

anecdotal, but it may make you feel better: if you look at the january threads, one test date people thought was easy and the other people thought was insanely difficult. Overall skimming through, those in the more difficult test day thread did better than the easier day.
 
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Longshanks said:
anecdotal, but it may make you feel better: if you look at the january threads, one test date people thought was easy and the other people thought was insanely difficult. Overall skimming through, those in the more difficult test day thread did better than the easier day.
Click to expand...

the scaling is a great thing!
 
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more vodka, more gin... am i still celebrating that its over or has this wait turned me into a complete raging alcoholic?? 😕
 
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Look at this pic. Laugh. Relax.

2rzs4rk.jpg
 
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Ha... I feel like ****! No way I'm waiting for these test results to come back.... I'm applying with the results from my first mcat score- which was also terrible.
 
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Urgh...this is murder...ikeep feeling like i shoulda voided that test- if i get lower then my score tht barely made the mark- 28- ill lose it

I hope since its been 2 weeks i am only remb. the ahrd parts of the exam but i remb. now that the PS toilet flush passage was hard and that the flow rates kinda sucked

also for BS I remb. i didnt love the SiRNA and stuff......

as for VR i felt nautious after taking it- i hope it didnt go worse.....


i cant beleive my dreams are riding ont his dumb exam! everything else i have going for me is pretty good and currently am already takign a yr off- i hope i dont gotta do this dumb test again
 
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brianmed said:
Urgh...this is murder...ikeep feeling like i shoulda voided that test- if i get lower then my score tht barely made the mark- 28- ill lose it

I hope since its been 2 weeks i am only remb. the ahrd parts of the exam but i remb. now that the PS toilet flush passage was hard and that the flow rates kinda sucked

also for BS I remb. i didnt love the SiRNA and stuff......

as for VR i felt nautious after taking it- i hope it didnt go worse.....


i cant beleive my dreams are riding ont his dumb exam! everything else i have going for me is pretty good and currently am already takign a yr off- i hope i dont gotta do this dumb test again
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take it easy, we're almost there, and you'll do fine.

im kicking myself about the "kiss-n-run" passage. We're covering that topic now in physio....and its so easy, but during the test was all pear shapes, ugh...
 
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I just determined that we are all in an unfortunate predicament. Our test was murder and curve will work against us. Take a look at the August 21st thread… I took that test but I was so sick that day; I just had to void it. But all I have to say that it was easiest test I've ever seen. Physics was a joke- I even finished 10 minutes early and you didn't have to read any of the passages and you still could have gotten all the questions right (so stupid). The bio section had your typical physiology questions and the verbal was verbal. I had to void it because I can't do verbal when head is fogged up and when my nose is running. Personally, everything went wrong that day- but the test was easy.

I made myself feel better- by saying they will probably have a harsher curve. However, now that they got there scores back everyone seemed to do much better on the real test then the AAMC exams. Three on my friends took the test that day and they all scored significantly better on the real thing then their AAMC average. So where is this curve??? And furthermore, when I took my July second mcat where was my verbal curve.On July second the verbal was more difficult then usually and I went down tons of points from my average (its as if there was no curve)- I did much worse on the real deal verbal then my diagnostic….. But what scares me most is that our mcat was harder then both the July 2nd test and the August 21st test!!!!!!!! ….this means I'm in trouble…. =(
 
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