The MCAT Twitter Thread (AKA MCAT-oholics)

[ridethecliche]

Alright, so many of us are in the same boat, right?

We all have to take this exam, and lets be honest, it sucks. It's a roadblock and it's annoying. But we HAVE to do it, so we might as well enjoy it.

At the same time, I think having a 'support group' would be helpful. So why not post about MCAT trials/tribulations here?

Did you have an awesome study session? Grasp concept that you were having trouble with? Beast that practice test?

If so, post!

Did you have a crappy study session? Are you failing miserably at figuring out something seemingly simple? Just get frustrated at that practice exam you just took?

If so, post!

MCAT-oholics unite!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[nabilesmail]

Lol I know I was being kinda silly, but almost every question I felt really bad about I got wrong. Each time it was me over thinking the question though, I need to be able to pause, get back to the basics - what is this question really asking about. I definitely let the test freak me out too much this time, when I saw something I didn't recognize I sort of mentally gave up. I need to really do the Kaplan, Stop and Think thing. What is this question asking about, what topic or topics, and what equations, formulas, or knowledge is directly involved in answering, etc.

I've done like 6 months of content review so that's not really the issue. I got all the difficult math problems right but I messed up the two easiest ones, where I thought they asked for 100 mL instead of 10 mL and when they said 2 moles and I thought it was 1. Also I let bio freak me out when I saw that crazy passage --- but I got that whole passage right and messed up some easier questions on the next page.

Next week I'll go in knowing I shouldn't be freaked out by any questions, everything they are asking for is relatively simple and only requires a concept or two per question, if not derived mostly from the passage.

I will never mess up a question regarding gas evolution or gas exchange again. Gas evolution will almost always involve an oxidation/reduction reaction, with the metal in solution being oxidized and an element being reduced and thus forming its gas and evolving out of solution.

And yeah, that bio was weird, I got two questions wrong because I disagreed with how they used two different definitions. Nabile I didn't really follow the passage that much either, I did get lucky on one question where I figured out a right answer but for the wrong reason, but several of those questions were pseudo-discretes, the actual crazy mechanism of what was going on wasn't needed for the questions.

Yeah I got that passage correct too, I just felt like it was tough to follow and I didn't know if my reasoning was completely correct- felt like I was educated guessing. That gas evolution one was UGH! I wouldn't of got that one right haha, so funny, I wrote a similar note Gas Evolution- THINK OXIDATION/REDUCTION haha

 

[ridethecliche]

Pushing the test back or breaking up?

and yeah that's crazy about that whole passage..

Both are connected. Breaking up was an awesome idea. Pushing the test back to deal with the aftereffects was a good idea as well.

 

[ridethecliche]

The most important thing I've learnt so far in taking this exam is that you don't have to understand the passage to get everything right. This is true for ALL the sections.

I often have no idea what the passage is about for physics passages where I get everything right or maybe one wrong...

 

[kasho11]

I agree, for some reason I let that test freak me out, as if it was extremely difficult, when in all honesty it wasn't. There were some difficult passages but they didn't require that much from the passages, but I still let them scare me for some reason.

Sorry still kind of ranting, mad at myself for making two stupid math mistakes and several definitional mistakes. Back to the grind tomorrow to get ready for AAMC 7 on Saturday, going to hit that target score, no mistakes.

 

[ridethecliche]

If your being stupid translates to that score, then I'd pick being stupid any day.



For now, chill out and enjoy this.

http://soundcloud.com/kaskade/kaskade-live-at-coachella-2012

 

[kasho11]

Thanks and thanks for the link, feeling pretty relaxed listening to that, pretty amazing sober so I can imagine what its like blazed or better

 

[ridethecliche]

I just bought tickets to see skrillex a week after my exam.

Now to decide if I want to see fatboy slim the night of my test. I have a feeling I'll just want to chill out though. Raging might be the last thing on my mind haha.

 

[kasho11]

I have one weekend of pure freedom after my test, then summer school + research starts. But it will be SO much easier and less stressful than mcat prep.

 

[ridethecliche]

I have one weekend of pure freedom after my test, then summer school + research starts. But it will be SO much easier and less stressful than mcat prep.

I've been studying for 6 months while working full time. I have to say that taking breaks to go out, go to concerts, and just hang out with friends was well worth it.

I feel pumped to take this thing and beast. I hope my AAMC's have predictive power even though I took them before (1 year ago though!).

I feel so much better prepared for the sciences this time that it's honestly a little silly.

 

[SaintJude]

AAMC7: 13/10/11

Yo, thank God these AAMC tests are shorter than they once were. 100 minutes per science section? By the end of that I was done....

 

[MedPR]

AAMC7: 13/10/11

Yo, thank God these AAMC tests are shorter than they once were. 100 minutes per science section? By the end of that I was done....

Pretty sure the first one I took was that long.

Anyway, only a few more days for the 4/5ers. I don't really want to look at my score :/

 

[kasho11]

Pretty sure the first one I took was that long.

Anyway, only a few more days for the 4/5ers. I don't really want to look at my score :/

You can do it! I know, I was already neurotically thinking about how I will not want to look at my score because I'll be too afraid. I'm sure you did as good or better than you thought.

 

[ridethecliche]

Took a TPR verbal exam yesterday.

30/40. About a 10 I think.

This is harder than EK, I think. I need to trouble shoot this tonight.

Taking a half day tomorrow so I can take AAMC 9 in the morning.

 

[breeniee]

it's still taking me 2-3 days to do either chem or organic chapter in TBR. Good news is that I study so thoroughly that I know the chapter inside out. Bad news is that it takes me so friggin long!!!! You guys are lucky you're done with content review and are practicing. I can't wait to get to doing just full lengths!

 

[kasho11]

Nothing like Kaplan subject tests to make you feel dumb. Good learning tools.. but still.. meh. And I'm not done with content review. I'm going over everything again.

 

[SaintJude]

Definitely agree, the Kaplan online material puts me in line. Working on finishing it-- I think it's harder than TPRH. Will take AAMC 8 tomorrow!

 

[kasho11]

Good luck with both, i have about 20 subject and topical tests left and 20 section tests. Gonna work hard for these next three weeks and finish them plus some other stuff, then taper off and just take the final 3 aamcs in my last 9 days.

Regarding the matter of "seeing the forest not just the trees" i'm going to keep calling this scribe place until they interview me because I need the clinical experience + some monayyy

 

[ridethecliche]

AAMC 9 thoughts while taking

PS: Woah. Holy crap this is pretty hard. Wasn't expecting this. I'm pretty unsure about a lot of my answers. Need to review concepts and get faster at math!
Huh. Still finished with 2 mins left. Yayz!

VR:Ugh there's a passage in here that I recognized. I think it was on a TBR exam... Still was plenty confused by the questions...
Finished with a minute left. Progress!

BS: Hm. One experiment based passage took me a little bit because I got stuck on a single question in it. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

Yay dunzo.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final break down

PS:13
VR:11
BS:12

36.
I missed an 11 in VR and a 13 in BS by one question each.

So that brings it to...

AAMC 5: 35
AAMC 7: 33
AAMC 8: 36
AAMC 9: 36

Dobedobedo.

 

[SaintJude]

Wow, great job ridethecliche.

32 out 40 in VR seems to be my magic number... And since when is BS my highest score?!

10/10/11

Although, I do know the source of my problem. And I will say that I'm still very grateful that God has guided me through this process--if He works through people, the SDN community is a true sign for that. You guys are amazing--and I'm in awe of all the smart people on this board--very inspiring.

1. For one, I've had 5 buoyancy problem on the MCAT test and have gotten every single wrong, b/c I never stopped to review that specific topic, so tonight I'm going to focus on buoyancy and hopefully nip the problem in the bud.
2. sloppiness--for some reason thought 10^-6 was smaller than 10^-10...don't know why
3. need to understand catalysts better--I've gotten a lot of questions wrong about catalysts.
4. Definition of a mole in relation to Avograd, Faraday
6. Kaplan's Stop. Think. Predict--need to use it more consistently

 

[ridethecliche]

I had a 35/40 on verbal and it was an 11.

Haha. Damn you verbal!

 

[SaintJude]

I had a 35/40 on verbal and it was an 11.

Haha. Damn you verbal!

Seriously, in that case, anything b/w 11-13 takes a lot of hard work bu then

a 13 b/w 14 is then just out of that person's hands...

Ridthecliche, how do you review your mistakes in VR? If you have, has it helped?

 

[kasho11]

Fun, not really, kinda. 29 days left here, how bout ya'll?

 

[ridethecliche]

Seriously, in that case, anything b/w 11-13 takes a lot of hard work bu then

a 13 b/w 14 is then just out of that person's hands...

Ridthecliche, how do you review your mistakes in VR? If you have, has it helped?

I honestly just look through things and read answer explanations. It's starting to come to a point where the right answer just kinda speaks to me.

Honestly, as long as I finish, I'll probably get a 10. I just need to get to the last passage with ~7 mins left. Last time I took the test, I got there with 3 mins left. Hence the 9 on test day.

I hope my scores translate...

Fun, not really, kinda. 29 days left here, how bout ya'll?

Taking mine on may 19th. Honestly, I kinda wish I'd just picked the 12th. I just want to get it over with now lol.

 

[ridethecliche]

Post Game analysis for AAMC 9.

PS: I got two things wrong when I was picking between two answers... Ugh. Seriously? Some of them the answer explanations don't do a great job of. A third mistake was really stupid. I.e., I should have had the answer, but just didn't read the answer choices correctly.

Also, I uh... Forgot the henderson hasselbach, but knew stuff well enough that I reasoned my way to the answer. I feel like I've internalized a lot of the logic here.

BS: Mistook Sn1 for Sn2... Wtf.
Also, totally misread an NMR oy...

-----------------------------------------

Here's my handy note for BS. If you're really stumped by a question. The answer is probably in the passage, or you can reason your way to it by looking at the passage.

Not sure about reactivity of things in the answer choices? Check the passage, there's probably a clue!

Confused about the question? Rephrase it.

--------------

Side note: I freaking love TBR.

 

[kasho11]

Damn man. Kaplan qbank and subject tests are tearing me a new one... hopefully AAMC 7 will go well and lift my spirits because this practice material is killing me.

 

[SaintJude]

Aamc 9--
11/11/10 -32

 

[ridethecliche]

Nice job SJ!

Switching up the order and taking AAMC 11 in the morning.

Wanted to do some passage practice tonight, but ended up just reading some TBR orgo.

I'll do some passages next week. Probably some acid-base/buffer, optics, e&m, some random bio, and some orgo. Andddd definitely verbal.

Woo!!!

I think I need a bit of a break. I've been so unfocused when I'm studying. Lucky for me that the test is in 2 weeks AND that I have some fun stuff planned for this weekend for sat night and sunday afternoon. I'll fit in some work around there.

I really do want to do some more practice of what I mentioned above!

 

[kasho11]

Good luck w 11! I've been drilling optics and waves lately, need to hit up orgo hard for a bit, get a feel for all the mechanisms, and then revisit rest of topics next week, making super condensed notes for each. I think it's a good idea too to take 11 before the rest of the AAMCs. Because it is considered by some the most accurate, I would rather take it a few weeks in advance and really go over it thoroughly. Then I'm gonna take AAMC 9 as my last test for confidence, I heard it was the easier of the later ones.

AAMC 7 tomorrow, AAMC 11 next week, then 8 10 9 week before test.

 

[ridethecliche]

I haven't taken 3 this go around. I took it twice last time, so I figured it wasn't worth it.

BUT...

The week after the MCAT. I will wake up on a saturday morning and pour myself a line of shots. I will take 2-3 shots and start AAMC 3.

After every section I will take one shot.

I will then post my score.

#winning

 

[MedPR]

4 more days!

 

[ridethecliche]

Um. Holy crap AAMC 11 is hard.

PS: I thought I was on passage 5 when I was on passage 4... With 15 mins left, I realized that I had 3 passages and discretes to finish. I finished, but just barely. It didn't count my last bubble (misclick), but I wrote down the answer and I'm going to count it in the last tally just because...

Wow...

VR: Didn't seem terrible! I think I ran out of time last year, I've become better at managing time this year. The PS 'losing track of time' thing freaked me out!


BS: I was doing fine till I hit the dreaded ebola passage. I understood what was going on, but struggled to finish. I changed one answer from right -> wrong for no reason right at the end.

Got a 33. Straight 11's. I got a 30 on this last year.

So now the score tally is...

AAMC 5: 35
AAMC 7: 33
AAMC 8: 36
AAMC 9: 36
AAMC 11: 33

I'm not happy with that score on 11. Getting a 35 or 36 would have been much better for my confidence right now. Since taking it last year, I only got one more question right on PS and BS, which led to the score increases. I'm pissed.

6 months of studying leads to one more question right on each freaking section. Screw that.

AAMC 10 was my highest raw score last year and I got a 33 on that. Looking to see progress there.

My test taking skills fell to **** when I was running short of time. I'd been doing so freaking well on not making those stupid question reading errors this time.

DAMMIT.

 

[MedPR]

Um. Holy crap AAMC 11 is hard.

PS: I thought I was on passage 5 when I was on passage 4... With 15 mins left, I realized that I had 3 passages and discretes to finish. I finished, but just barely. It didn't count my last bubble (misclick), but I wrote down the answer and I'm going to count it in the last tally just because...

Wow...

VR:



BS:

Don't get on SDN during your breaks! Don't do anything during breaks that you can't do on test day.

 

[kasho11]

WHOO! Hit my target score, barely. I felt good about PS but I got several wrong, Bio felt hard and I got more wrong, verbal I got a 15 though

Review tomorrow but for now cinco de drinko time!

 

[MedPR]

WHOO! Hit my target score, barely. I felt good about PS but I got several wrong, Bio felt hard and I got more wrong, verbal I got a 15 though

Review tomorrow but for now cinco de drinko time!

15 on VR? Nice.

 

[ridethecliche]

Updated above and here.

Last year, my score on aamc 11 was the same as my score on the real deal.
So far this year, I've done WAY better on the other aamc's (other than 11). So there has been progress. I was just really hoping to see it here too. The end result of 6 months of prep was just a 1 question increase on PS and BS. That's pretty disappointing.

Ugh.
------------------------------------------
Um. Holy crap AAMC 11 is hard.

PS: I thought I was on passage 5 when I was on passage 4... With 15 mins left, I realized that I had 3 passages and discretes to finish. I finished, but just barely. It didn't count my last bubble (misclick), but I wrote down the answer and I'm going to count it in the last tally just because...

Wow...

VR: Didn't seem terrible! I think I ran out of time last year, I've become better at managing time this year. The PS 'losing track of time' thing freaked me out!


BS: I was doing fine till I hit the dreaded ebola passage. I understood what was going on, but struggled to finish. I changed one answer from right -> wrong for no reason right at the end.

Got a 33. Straight 11's. I got a 30 on this last year.

So now the score tally is...

AAMC 5: 35
AAMC 7: 33
AAMC 8: 36
AAMC 9: 36
AAMC 11: 33

I'm not happy with that score on 11. Getting a 35 or 36 would have been much better for my confidence right now. Since taking it last year, I only got one more question right on PS and BS, which led to the score increases. I'm pissed.

6 months of studying leads to one more question right on each freaking section. Screw that.

AAMC 10 was my highest raw score last year and I got a 33 on that. Looking to see progress there.

My test taking skills fell to **** when I was running short of time. I'd been doing so freaking well on not making those stupid question reading errors this time.

DAMMIT.

 

[MedPR]

Chalk it up to burn out and rest up before your real test.

 

[ridethecliche]

Yeah, I've been feeling really exhausted for the last few days. I just really didn't feel like I was on my game.

TBH, I'd be psyched with a 33 on test day.

That said, all my other tests have had a 10-15 raw score increase.

I have aamc 10 left. I'm just going to do some light review leading up to it and this week.

Time to enjoy the rest of the weekend and take a breather. I haven't been stressed at all for the other tests. The results showed. This just really threw me.

Oy...

I haven't really done that much practice between the last test and this. I'm going to keep up the timed passages. Keeping up with those minimizes those stupid errors since you're dialing that skill in as well.

Edit: I guess drinking beer and playing video games last night wasn't the best idea either...

 

[kasho11]

Yea sounds like you probably needed a few more days off, but that's still an improvement. Being nervous for whatever reason on PS seems to screw up verbal for most people, myself included. I thought I did really well on PS today so I was feeling super good for verbal, though PS didn't turn out to be as good as I thought.

 

[SaintJude]

argh, I keep on forgetting

cocci= spherical
bacilli= rod

 

[nabilesmail]

TBR-2

12-9-12 - 33

Ugh. Maybe I need to set the bar down for what I'm going to score on my MCAT :/ I was really hoping for a 37 :/

AAMC3-33
TBR1-34
AAMC4-35
AAMC5-33
TBR2-33

 

[Dasypus]

Cocci, all those nice round letters, 'c's and 'o'. Bacilli, those nice straight 'l's. (Spirilla, the twining spirally ones)

 

[MedPR]

Yeah, I've been feeling really exhausted for the last few days. I just really didn't feel like I was on my game.

TBH, I'd be psyched with a 33 on test day.

That said, all my other tests have had a 10-15 raw score increase.

I have aamc 10 left. I'm just going to do some light review leading up to it and this week.

Time to enjoy the rest of the weekend and take a breather. I haven't been stressed at all for the other tests. The results showed. This just really threw me.

Oy...

I haven't really done that much practice between the last test and this. I'm going to keep up the timed passages. Keeping up with those minimizes those stupid errors since you're dialing that skill in as well.

Edit: I guess drinking beer and playing video games last night wasn't the best idea either...

I felt absolutely horrible on AAMC 10. I really took it easy the day before AAMC 11 and the day before the real test day. To me nothing would've been worse than, on test day, thinking to myself "Man I'm tired, I wish I had rested yesterday."

TBR-2

12-9-12 - 33

Ugh. Maybe I need to set the bar down for what I'm going to score on my MCAT :/ I was really hoping for a 37 :/

AAMC3-33
TBR1-34
AAMC4-35
AAMC5-33
TBR2-33

I was hoping for a 37-38 too and my AAMC scores look about the same as yours so far. Just remember than the difference between a 35 and a 37 could really be 1 more question right on two sections. I can't tell you how many times I was 1 point below the next cut off on a section throughout the AAMCs. I got a 35 on AAMC 10 and would've gotten a 38 if I gotten 1 more question right on each section. When you're in the mid to high 30s there is some luck involved.

 

[ridethecliche]

Looking through this exam and I'm a little disappointed...

I should have had atleast 3-4 more of the PS questions. Totally stupid mistakes, i.e. just not reading the question/answer choices properly.

I think that's the surest sign of burnout...

Going to review this test today and then take the rest of the day off. Back to the grind tomorrow methinks.

Atleast the silver lining is that I did 3 points better than last year. The hilarious thing is that I did best on the PS passages when I was rushing to finish. Note to self, if you're spending too much time on a question, you're doing it wrong.

 

[ridethecliche]

I only have AAMC 10 left now. I was going to take it wednesday, but I think I'll save it for saturday.

That way I'll take my last AAMC a week before the exam.

I'm going to spend this week reviewing weak spots from AAMC 11 and doing practice.

Had an incredibly fun weekend. Looking forward to doing some work again.



Edit: Crap. Can't do that... Uh... My tests expire on the 11th. Oops...

 

[kasho11]

Well you can take it on Friday at least? And relax Saturday? I'm starting to think I should have stuck with my May 24th test date, I'm not exactly burnt out but I just want this whole thing to be over (studying since August basically).

And AAMC 7.. so orgo heavy wth. And relatively nitpicky in that sense. Whatever. AAMC 11 this Saturday, gotta prepare. I'm still appreciating Kaplan's materials because I feel like they were all significantly more difficult than the AAMC stuff, but I'll see what 11 feels like.

Eliminated math errors and errors regarding gas questions this week, next week is to entirely eliminate all reading errors, simple mistakes, etc.

The "Mantra of the Careless" posted by Tsiana on 30+ habits, need to take it to heart

THE MANTRA OF THE CARELESS
"1. READ the goddamn question carefully
2. READ the goddamn answers carefully
3. find and JUSTIFY your answer to a hostile crowd (find answer directly the passage? justify with thoroughly written out math on a scrap page?)
Repeat for EVERY question. Not just the hard ones."

 

[MedPR]

Ah I forgot to tell you guys. A few weeks ago in my physics class we had a test on fluids and solids. One of the questions looked very familiar though it didn't come from the homework problems. Turns out it was from AAMC #11 (number 20)! It wasn't multiple choice, but the numbers looked so familiar. I wanted to ask him about it, but I didn't want him to think i was calling him out or anything lol.

 

[ridethecliche]

Just finished my review of AAMC 11. There were a few things I got wrong that I knew fine. Getting those would have netted me a 34/35 pretty easily. Sigh.

Few things:
-With graphs, always interpret them and even write it down if you have to
-Watch out for double negatives, i.e. questions that ask the opposite of what the graph is saying.

AAMC 11 wasn't THAT hard. The PS and BS just had some tough experiment/interpretation questions. Remember to make sure you understand what a graph is saying (JOT IT DOWN IF YOU HAVE TO) before you read the questions/answers. That way, you won't be swayed to figure out how things are wrong and the right answer will jump at you.

Woot!

 

[ridethecliche]

Well you can take it on Friday at least? And relax Saturday? I'm starting to think I should have stuck with my May 24th test date, I'm not exactly burnt out but I just want this whole thing to be over (studying since August basically).

And AAMC 7.. so orgo heavy wth. And relatively nitpicky in that sense. Whatever. AAMC 11 this Saturday, gotta prepare. I'm still appreciating Kaplan's materials because I feel like they were all significantly more difficult than the AAMC stuff, but I'll see what 11 feels like.

Eliminated math errors and errors regarding gas questions this week, next week is to entirely eliminate all reading errors, simple mistakes, etc.

The "Mantra of the Careless" posted by Tsiana on 30+ habits, need to take it to heart

THE MANTRA OF THE CARELESS
"1. READ the goddamn question carefully
2. READ the goddamn answers carefully
3. find and JUSTIFY your answer to a hostile crowd (find answer directly the passage? justify with thoroughly written out math on a scrap page?)
Repeat for EVERY question. Not just the hard ones."

I would add:
4. Read EVERY answer choice. This is about 'best' answer. How do you know if something you haven't even looked at is better or worse.

And I think I'd rather just take it on weds and be done with it and just do review/practice passages leading up to it.

 

[kasho11]

Searching through random MCAT stuff and found this page on Altiusprep. For those of you who haven't heard of Altius I think it's a Utah based MCAT prep program. I read about one person who used it on the 30+ habits page, he got 41 or 42 I think.

Anyways this page I found, http://www.altiustestprep.com/Pages/testimonials.aspx , is actually really helpful. I'm going to apply their strategy to attack the questions from now on, which will hopefully eliminate all "simple" mistakes. Definitely check it out!

 

[MedPR]

Searching through random MCAT stuff and found this page on Altiusprep. For those of you who haven't heard of Altius I think it's a Utah based MCAT prep program. I read about one person who used it on the 30+ habits page, he got 41 or 42 I think.

Anyways this page I found, http://www.altiustestprep.com/Pages/testimonials.aspx , is actually really helpful. I'm going to apply their strategy to attack the questions from now on, which will hopefully eliminate all "simple" mistakes. Definitely check it out!

tldr

I will forever envy those individuals who got 40+ MCAT scores even when the MCAT is a thing way way way in my past.