The Official 01/30/09 MCAT Club

[BloodySurgeon]

Since January is nearby, I decided to refine the January MCAT club to it's two dates. For those of you who are taking it on Friday, January 30th, here is the place where you can vent, discuss, and support each other for this upcoming test. Best of luck guys!

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[MedStudentWanna]

heh, well i got my mind set after that PS section. I told myself that it was harder than usual (which im glad to see that everyone thought) and that I needed to concentrate on the rest of the test.

Just thought all the Verbal topics were easy and straightforward.

For the BS, wow OMG I am a damn pro at hormones (not bragging, sorry if it sounds that way), its DEF my strongest biology section and I was disappointed to see few (very few) hormone questions.. Did see alot of genetics and allele problems.. which I hate.

Mendelian or molecular Genetics? Was there much physiology?

 

[jh8cw]

I'm dying to ask...was there a word search function for verbal available on the exam?

No.

And for verbal, passages were about 50% longer. I definitely felt this reading quickly through them. I had to rush the geological passage, which was jammed pack with details (like a Kaplan passage).

I received 11, 13, 13 on practice AAMC verbal sections a week prior to taking this exam.

 

[MCATstudent7]

I can't remember exactly, but from I remember there was a good bit of Mendelian (2 passages? someone correct me if i am wrong). I was very disappointed to see a lack of hormones, as I already mentioned. There were some molecular genetics questions as well.

There was a hormonal imbalance on this MCAT AAMC !

 

[MCATstudent7]

No.

And for verbal, passages were about 50% longer. I definitely felt this reading quickly through them. I had to rush the geological passage, which was jammed pack with details (like a Kaplan passage).

I received 11, 13, 13 on practice AAMC verbal sections a week prior to taking this exam.

That geological one was probably the toughest one. The passages were long but the information was easier to interpret in my opinion.

 

[jh8cw]

There definitely were genetics questions. A couple were definitely Mendelian. I didn't feel any of the passages were strictly genetics.

To clarify, the main topic of several biology passages dealt with a mixture of subject matters.

 

[jh8cw]

I had very long passages too and the questions are always peppered with flair from my experiences. I'm not a biology major; history and philosophy are my majors, so I'm used to all that flowery crap they use.

I just felt like it was tougher to formulate the main idea given the length of the passages. It felt like rambling at times. I suppose you may be right about the scholastic flair - maybe it's just the way I feel reading about pysch (two passages).

 

[MCATstudent7]

Yeah that is probably a better assessment of the passages.

I only took 4 practice MCATs and I felt like this one was definitely harder. I don't know if it was because it was gameday or what.

I really really really liked that passage about the event-based / time-based.. those were like gimme questions to me. If I had to pick 2 passages I didn't like, they would be the first one about the painting style and the geological one about plate tectonics.

 

[ksmi117]

So, my impression...

PS was more tricky that AAMC (honestly, I don't really remember what was even on it... haha)

VR was long as others said... idk what to think about it, I never do

BS was extremely easy, never seen a practice test that easy... maybe it was my focus on BS studying this last week or just stuff I knew, but I thought it was the easiest I've seen.

My computer did stop working with 5 minutes left in BS. I had finished everything and was on my second time through checking. I was so beyond worried that it would lose everything, but it didn't, so that was good. Just a minor bump in the road.

 

[Ibn Rushd]

I'm taking it tomorrow! Would it be reasonable to conclude that because you guys didn't get many hormone questions, that tomorrow's test takers will?

 

[glerese]

after today i'm guessing that it's actually possible to do worse the second time around.. very disappointed--i feel like i know a lot more than what my scores today will illustrate.

 

[ksmi117]

I'm taking it tomorrow! Would it be reasonable to conclude that because you guys didn't get many hormone questions, that tomorrow's test takers will?

I don't think anyone can answer that question. But seriously, don't freak, it's not so bad. Just treat it like another practice test.

 

[CHOPSTIX]

Did anyone think the test was really hard? The questions in physical and biological sciences seemed like they came from left field. Maybe its just me

 

[Ibn Rushd]

Was the testing room cold? Did you guys have a snack during breaks? Did the proctors let anyone start before 8am?

 

[ksmi117]

Was the testing room cold? Did you guys have a snack during breaks? Did the proctors let anyone start before 8am?

The room was nice. No snack for me. And I started at 7:30am.

 

[jh8cw]

Testing room was cold where I took it. Yes, snacks are allowed. Contrary to what's written on this board, reading in between exam sections (breaks) was not allowed at the testing center.

 

[MCATstudent7]

I'm taking it tomorrow! Would it be reasonable to conclude that because you guys didn't get many hormone questions, that tomorrow's test takers will?

The absolute best advice I or anyone can give you is Do NOT Panic! This alone can make or break your test. IF you don't do well on the first section, it's ok, chances are other people are not doing that well either.

 

[jh8cw]

With the test content fresh on the back of my mind, I can say with almost absolute certainty (that for this test) the science sections resembled Kaplan more so than the AAMC tests. I suppose the only question is the curve.

I took AAMC 4-11 and Kaplan FLs 1-9.

 

[stormisover87]

How was the orgo? I found that orgo on the AAMC practice tests was pretty watered down and easy to figure out. Is it like that on the actual test or harder?

 

[ksmi117]

With the test content fresh on the back of my mind, I can say with almost absolute certainty (that for this test) the science sections resembled Kaplan more so than the AAMC tests. I suppose the only question is the curve.

I took AAMC 4-11 and Kaplan FLs 1-9.

I didn't take any Kaplan tests, but I can say that PS was nothing like the AAMC ones. It was just weird.

 

[Ibn Rushd]

With the test content fresh on the back of my mind, I can say with almost absolute certainty (that for this test) the science sections resembled Kaplan more so than the AAMC tests. I suppose the only question is the curve.

Well the questions certainly weren't designed to resemble Kaplan. AAMC wrote the test after all. It may appear that way to you, but I don't think it's fair to say that the real deal was more like Kaplan or Princeton or Berkeley or what have you. It it was it is. This is coming from someone who hasn't taken it yet.

 

[aarm08]

With the test content fresh on the back of my mind, I can say with almost absolute certainty (that for this test) the science sections resembled Kaplan more so than the AAMC tests. I suppose the only question is the curve.

I took AAMC 4-11 and Kaplan FLs 1-9.

Agreed, I took AAMC 3-10 and four Kaplans (can't remember the numbers, I jumped around). I'm hoping that the curve follows the trend and is more like Kaplan than AAMC...we'll see.

 

[jh8cw]

Ibn, to clarify, I just felt the passages were less focused with each containing broader themes of physical science. After reading an AAMC passage, I usually know what sort of questions they are going to ask. I didn't feel that way after reading the actual test passages. The questions were definitely less calculation based (which is one of the hallmarks of Kaplan PS section) and so in that way truer to the AAMC format.

I remember there was one Kaplan test, where I quit the test in digust after thinking I did so terribly. I ended up with a 12, with the curve. I don't think I feel as if I've done as terribly on this test, but it wasn't the sort of feeling I had after completing an AAMC test.

In any case, your test may be vastly different from mine. Who knows right? Best of luck!

 

[dray5150]

It was definitely the hardest I've taken out of all the Kaplan, TBR, AAMC. I'm trying to tell myself that the curve will help out but I just fill like I bombed PS. Calculations I knew the formulas for just weren't in the answer choices....

Verbal was longer which caused me to rush and guess a little more than I've had to do on any of the previous AAMCS.

Bio like you guys said was heavy on genetics and molecular genitcs.

I feel pretty disgusted. I was averaging 27-29 on AAMCs which is all I need to be competitive in my home state. I just got a feeling I made way lower!

It is what it is..
I'm going to get drunk.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Any physiology in BS? The AAMC tests focus a lot on physiology. Also more Chemistry of Physics in PS?

 

[jh8cw]

I didn't take any Kaplan tests, but I can say that PS was nothing like the AAMC ones. It was just weird.

How bout that last PS passage? Was it a bit too metaphorical/philosophical or what?

 

[jh8cw]

Any physiology in BS? The AAMC tests focus a lot on physiology. Also more Chemistry of Physics in PS?

On this test, there was definitely a few passages relevant to physiology, although I would not say they were purely testing physiology related principles. Some passages were given in the context of physiology. I hope that makes sense.

Chemistry of physics? Not so sure what this means. If you meant "or" definitely a bit more chemistry.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

On this test, there was definitely a few passages relevant to physiology, although I would not say they were purely testing it.

Chemistry of physics? Not so sure what this means. If you meant "or" definitely a bit more chemistry.

Yes I meant "or" not "of". Thanks!

 

[jh8cw]

Yes I meant "or" not "of". Thanks!

No problem. I'm here stuck on SDN after the test (when I should be relaxing) because I have to gather my thoughts for a few hours (for MD-PhD interview next week).

I also thought it would help those who may be curious, since my impression of the test is fresh on the back of my mind.

 

[Revilla]

No problem. I'm here stuck on SDN after the test (when I should be relaxing) because I have to gather my thoughts for a few hours (for MD-PhD interview next week).

I also thought it would help those who may be curious, since my impression of the test is fresh on the back of my mind.

Best of luck at your interview!

 

[jh8cw]

Best of luck at your interview!

Thanks, I wish I knew my score going in to the interview, but such is the way of the MCAT. Good luck on the test, especially if you're taking it tomorrow.

 

[Revilla]

Thanks, I wish I knew my score going in to the interview, but such is the way of the MCAT. Good luck on the test, especially if you're taking it tomorrow.

Thanks! I appreciate it!

 

[Yope]

In my opinion, physics was easiest, followed by verbal (tougher than AAMC 10), followed by bio.

lots of detail oriented questions in bio. lots of genetics questions.

 

[Black Joker]

PS- the discrete questions are okay. some passage are weird. One regarding electrolytic titration. One regarding airplane.

VB- my worst section, it's a killer. The passages are long and sometimes repetitive. But not really hard to understand.

WR- pretty easy. But I have to make up examples.

BS- DNA and genetics. The discrete questions are okay. The ochem is pretty hard compared to the ones in the AAMC old exams.

Well, got to get my verbal up. Others I think is manageable.

Planning to take off for a week, then get back to it.

Good luck to the 31st MCAT takers!

 

[MCATstudent7]

It was definitely the hardest I've taken out of all the Kaplan, TBR, AAMC. I'm trying to tell myself that the curve will help out but I just fill like I bombed PS. Calculations I knew the formulas for just weren't in the answer choices....

Verbal was longer which caused me to rush and guess a little more than I've had to do on any of the previous AAMCS.

Bio like you guys said was heavy on genetics and molecular genitcs.

I feel pretty disgusted. I was averaging 27-29 on AAMCs which is all I need to be competitive in my home state. I just got a feeling I made way lower!

It is what it is..
I'm going to get drunk.

That's what I'm doing right now! Haha cheers man and don't stress yourself out too much, we still got schoolwork to take care of in this next month.

 

[MCATstudent7]

PS- the discrete questions are okay. some passage are weird. One regarding electrolytic titration. One regarding airplane.

VB- my worst section, it's a killer. The passages are long and sometimes repetitive. But not really hard to understand.

WR- pretty easy. But I have to make up examples.

BS- DNA and genetics. The discrete questions are okay. The ochem is pretty hard compared to the ones in the AAMC old exams.

Well, got to get my verbal up. Others I think is manageable.

Planning to take off for a week, then get back to it.

Good luck to the 31st MCAT takers!

This is the best review of the test I've seen thus far. Nailed the PS section, discrete were definitely easy, passages not so much.

Verbal I liked a lot, but I take a lot of philosophy classes so I learn to ignore the fluff.

BS definitely a lot of genetics, which I was taught not to pay as much detail to as other things in the biology books. Unfortunately, there was A LOT. OChem was definitely harder in this test as well.

 

[Mountie]

Hey Guys:

I am wondering that is it going to be same passage for both 30 and 31?? Are those questions going to cover the similar material or similar level of difficulity?

 

[Ibn Rushd]

^ No, people taking it on the 31st will get different passages. The difficulty should be the same, more or less.

 

[Revilla]

Hey Guys:

I am wondering that is it going to be same passage for both 30 and 31?? Are those questions going to cover the similar material or similar level of difficulity?

No. Every form of the test is different. Even the people who take it on the same day don't always have the same exact test and people who take it on a different day definitely don't have the same test.

 

[TexanGal]

My friend and I took this test together so we're going to let you guys know what we thought....

Verbal Reasoning: For me, hands down the hardest. It was harder than ANY practice test I've ever taken... including Kaplan verbal and old AAMC tests. The passages were massively long... ALL of them. With older practice tests, there would be long and short passages... today, though, they were ridiculous. Ridiculous. Verbal was my strong point and I feel like I'll be lucky if I get a 10.

Biological Sciences: The questions were definitely way more passage based. There were few discrete questions. There were so many theories and hypothesis... you had to make a lot of conclusions on your own. Too many inference questions. Memorizing everything in your biology review books would not have helped at all... we know every single dang hormone and everything about every system in the body- none of that was tested. Genetics was pretty much the only thing, which was not too bad. As for organic chemistry... hardly any, but was definitely extremely confusing with the passage information.

Physical Sciences: I honestly don't really remember. It was okay.

Sorry not too insightful, but we firmly believe this was the most difficult test EVER. Everybody from the testing center felt the same way- especially where verbal was concerned. Never thought I'd contemplate voiding my scores and ended up contemplating if I should or not... lol

 

[thinker]

PS: I found that very difficult. I was doing very well on AAMC practice exams with PS.. so this was a major surprise and it put me in a terrible mood for VR

VR: I think it was fair all in all. I believe i did good. did it seem like they had a bit less of those humanities passages? or even the humanities one were slightly scientific in their tone or subject?

Writing sample: easy!

BS: Easy also.. I actually finished with 17 minutes still left. I was happy to see a lot of genetic questions since i like genetics. but some spectroscopy questions in Org chem were tricky.


I'm just really worried about PS and this has completely ruined the after-exam fun that was supposed to happen

it's my second time to write.. so i'm not sure if i should book another exam for April (If i still can).. or wait until the scores come out and risk not getting a seat. what would you guys do??

 

[fairy tale]

I'm so glad it's over.. No matter what I'm not taking it again. In general, I feel pretty good about the whole thing. Hope it's not a false feeling

PS was harder than what I've seen before. (i'm a re-taker) I thought there were too many calculations, but overall it was managable. I'm glad I focused on PS while studying.
VR my weakest section. It was not too bad, but I should've practiced more to better manage my time.
BS I thought it was easy. I finished with 7 min to spare, and was able to double check everything. Last time when I took the MCAT the passages were very long, not this time though.
Overall, I think the test was pretty fair, except for maybe PS. I'm not a fan of gen chem, and like others said, there were definitely more chemistry problems today. I expected more orgo, which is my favorite, but no luck here.
Anyway, I'm really glad it's over. Good luck to everybody!! now.. painful waiting..

 

[MCATstudent7]

My friend and I took this test together so we're going to let you guys know what we thought....

Verbal Reasoning: For me, hands down the hardest. It was harder than ANY practice test I've ever taken... including Kaplan verbal and old AAMC tests. The passages were massively long... ALL of them. With older practice tests, there would be long and short passages... today, though, they were ridiculous. Ridiculous. Verbal was my strong point and I feel like I'll be lucky if I get a 10.

Biological Sciences: The questions were definitely way more passage based. There were few discrete questions. There were so many theories and hypothesis... you had to make a lot of conclusions on your own. Too many inference questions. Memorizing everything in your biology review books would not have helped at all... we know every single dang hormone and everything about every system in the body- none of that was tested. Genetics was pretty much the only thing, which was not too bad. As for organic chemistry... hardly any, but was definitely extremely confusing with the passage information.

Physical Sciences: I honestly don't really remember. It was okay.

Sorry not too insightful, but we firmly believe this was the most difficult test EVER. Everybody from the testing center felt the same way- especially where verbal was concerned. Never thought I'd contemplate voiding my scores and ended up contemplating if I should or not... lol

Hey man, I know exactly how you feel and I was contemplating the same thing at the end of the test. If you think about it though, if you prepared well and didn't do as well as you thought you would, chances are everyone else is in the same boat!

Good luck to you and follow my advice:

Drink copious amounts of alcohol tonight.

 

[jh8cw]

My friend and I took this test together so we're going to let you guys know what we thought....

Verbal Reasoning: For me, hands down the hardest. It was harder than ANY practice test I've ever taken... including Kaplan verbal and old AAMC tests. The passages were massively long... ALL of them. With older practice tests, there would be long and short passages... today, though, they were ridiculous. Ridiculous. Verbal was my strong point and I feel like I'll be lucky if I get a 10.

Biological Sciences: The questions were definitely way more passage based. There were few discrete questions. There were so many theories and hypothesis... you had to make a lot of conclusions on your own. Too many inference questions. Memorizing everything in your biology review books would not have helped at all... we know every single dang hormone and everything about every system in the body- none of that was tested. Genetics was pretty much the only thing, which was not too bad. As for organic chemistry... hardly any, but was definitely extremely confusing with the passage information.

Physical Sciences: I honestly don't really remember. It was okay.

Sorry not too insightful, but we firmly believe this was the most difficult test EVER. Everybody from the testing center felt the same way- especially where verbal was concerned. Never thought I'd contemplate voiding my scores and ended up contemplating if I should or not... lol

Verbal worries me the most, because I had to do more guessing than usual. And I had to really push it through the geological passage. My greatest fear is that my nerves got the best of me during the section. That would suck, given that I've taken about 35 full verbal sections.

 

[swamprat]

PS: Harder than any aamc i've taken. i'd equate it to kaplan's PS minus some long calculations. i'd say more of what i expected it to be like, yet still a dissapointment because it wasn't easy.

VR: thought the beginning of it was decent and as it rolled on i realized my timing was running out so i had to speed up (probably due to the long-ness of the passages.) Verbal I rlly can never tell, but I really am not expecting much, jusr hopefully an 8 or better :-x

BS: A lot harder than what I was expecting. There really was nothing that a textbook could have tought you. There were a lot of questions on analyzing experiments from the passage... and they were very trick(i.e. the genetics one with the mice or the immunoglobin's one. also one of the organic ones involving glycolysis).

all in all, i always had plenty of time at the end of the sections(~20 minutes, minus VR) to go back and go over answers. but this may be because my method is to go through everything once really quickly hitting all the easy questions and marking and moving on anything that takes me longer than a minute to figure out.

 

[aarm08]

PS: Harder than any aamc i've taken. i'd equate it to kaplan's PS minus some long calculations. i'd say more of what i expected it to be like, yet still a dissapointment because it wasn't easy.

VR: thought the beginning of it was decent and as it rolled on i realized my timing was running out so i had to speed up (probably due to the long-ness of the passages.) Verbal I rlly can never tell, but I really am not expecting much, jusr hopefully an 8 or better :-x

BS: A lot harder than what I was expecting. There really was nothing that a textbook could have tought you. There were a lot of questions on analyzing experiments from the passage... and they were very trick(i.e. the genetics one with the mice or the immunoglobin's one. also one of the organic ones involving glycolysis).

all in all, i always had plenty of time at the end of the sections(~20 minutes, minus VR) to go back and go over answers. but this may be because my method is to go through everything once really quickly hitting all the easy questions and marking and moving on anything that takes me longer than a minute to figure out.

I also finished the sections with plenty of time (even went back on VR in spite of the long passages and looked at ones I wasn't sure of)...unfortunately I think that having plenty of time in BS may have been a bad thing for me, as I'm pretty sure I may have over-thought at least a few answers and changed from right to wrong because of it, which is a major bummer. I agree that BS was trickier than it first seemed...

 

[Tutmos]

Were there any outlandish experimental passages? I voided my Aug26th because of one passage in BS that was really extreme, it was apparently a current research paper or something people claimed wouldn't even be scored. I got suckered into it and wasted huge amounts of time trying to understand it and had to rush through the rest of the bio section because of it. Was there anything like that? Yes I take it tomorrow.


BTW: Be happy your 30th seemed somewhat hard. That means there will be a good distribution between people. When the exam seems easy to everyone it means very minor errors or mistakes will destroy your score. There was a test in June last year I read the thread for and everyone was tooting their horn about how easy it was after the exam. When you scroll to the days scores were released everyone was crushed by how bad their score was when they thought they did great. I mean almost everyone scored lower than they expected so be happy that it seemed somewhat hard.

 

[isaacmn]

oh my lord, the real exam is not anything comparable to the practice. The VR was long, lots of passages in the sciences but its doable. What freaked me out is how fast those times goes... like someone is winding them down or something lol. I didnt finish some of the verbal questions and I hate that, at least should have guessed, the time just read .3 sec and am like holy cow, I thought I just saw 1.51 and am not sure maybe u really have time to think through that much. When you click to take the test, the time whew goes by fast. Pace yourself though, I definitely did that, I just skipped around. More genetics and molecular biology, as well as a few hormone questions. Again, some of the answer you put, most of the time you are not 100% sure. But move on. Verbal is insane...longer also. Organic was doable.

yah, the things you are thought or read about only works for some not all passage based questions and some passage based, think like a scientist, that is the idea, dont think like the book has thought you too.

 

[RRTinCO]

This test was different....... had a different feel all around. I agree pretty much with what everyone has said so far.
PS: Passages seemed much more involved than practice
VR: Longer than usual, but my timing had drastically improved recently so I finished with time to spare. (I never know how to feel after a VR test)
WS: Didn't get as in depth as I wanted, typing jitters
BS: I've always killed Ochem, but it seemed harder. A lot more passage based than practice.
I'm not sure how to feel, good or bad. I feel the same way I did after my practice tests.

 

[swamprat]

Were there any outlandish experimental passages? I voided my Aug26th because of one passage in BS that was really extreme, it was apparently a current research paper or something people claimed wouldn't even be scored. I got suckered into it and wasted huge amounts of time trying to understand it and had to rush through the rest of the bio section because of it. Was there anything like that? Yes I take it tomorrow.


BTW: Be happy your 30th seemed somewhat hard. That means there will be a good distribution between people. When the exam seems easy to everyone it means very minor errors or mistakes will destroy your score. There was a test in June last year I read the thread for and everyone was tooting their horn about how easy it was after the exam. When you scroll to the days scores were released everyone was crushed by how bad their score was when they thought they did great. I mean almost everyone scored lower than they expected so be happy that it seemed somewhat hard.

Yeah I'm crossing my fingers that your right . And also yeah there were several experimental passages that def took some time to sort out what's what. But like I said my method was get through the easy stuff and not get bogged down and then go back. I personally just feel so much better once I go through the whole section and have seen every question - it makes it more easy for me to go back and actually waste time on a tricky question. Unfortunatly, there were questions I had to skip and basically just have an educated guess on due to the time constraints.

 

[Revilla]

BTW: Be happy your 30th seemed somewhat hard. That means there will be a good distribution between people. When the exam seems easy to everyone it means very minor errors or mistakes will destroy your score. There was a test in June last year I read the thread for and everyone was tooting their horn about how easy it was after the exam. When you scroll to the days scores were released everyone was crushed by how bad their score was when they thought they did great. I mean almost everyone scored lower than they expected so be happy that it seemed somewhat hard.

Actually, that was the July exam, which is the one I took the first time. I was thrilled, thought I did extremely well, just as everyone else did. Scores came out and suffice it to say, I'm retaking. I scored 8-10 points lower than my AAMC practice tests.

The June exam (June 13th) was unusually difficult and everyone complained about how hard it was on SDN. When scores came out, most people were quite happy. Many even said they scored higher than their practice exams.