The Official 3/23/13 MCAT Thread

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Redpancreas

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Figured I'd start this one out. I'll be registering for the MCAT first thing tomorrow. Who else is taking it on this date? How do you all plan on studying over the school year?
 
So my range on verbal seems to be anywhere from 23-27. How do you guys review the passages the next day? Maybe my way reviewing the next days isn't correct and that's the reason for my lack of improvement.
 
Also, what do you guys think about doing the self assessment passages on days when I'm reviewing my practice tests?
 
So my range on verbal seems to be anywhere from 23-27. How do you guys review the passages the next day? Maybe my way reviewing the next days isn't correct and that's the reason for my lack of improvement.

Try to categorize the question types. Look for patterns, for example, are you missing a lot of inferring or draw the conclusion questions? if so, you need more practice with those (most people miss these). If you are missing detail questions, perhaps you should look into passage mapping. The problem is there is no one size fits all solution other than identifying the problem. But once you identify the problem you can tailor something that fits your learning style.


Also, what do you guys think about doing the self assessment passages on days when I'm reviewing my practice tests?

Yes. Best case scenario with unlimited time is right after you finish and are confident with your content review.
 
Try to categorize the question types. Look for patterns, for example, are you missing a lot of inferring or draw the conclusion questions? if so, you need more practice with those (most people miss these). If you are missing detail questions, perhaps you should look into passage mapping. The problem is there is no one size fits all solution other than identifying the problem. But once you identify the problem you can tailor something that fits your learning style.




Yes. Best case scenario with unlimited time is right after you finish and are confident with your content review.

I'll have to analyze the verbal more carefully then. I'm at the last part of sn2's schedule. Hopefully I can be done with the 2/3 of last chapters today or tomorrow, 2 days of brushing up on all content and formula/concept sheets and then I'll do a few exams and then start alternating assessment passages with FL AAMC exams. Thanks for the help!
 
AAMC 10

14/12/14

Big help was getting earplugs. They're awesome. I felt able to concentrate so much better with them- I finished PS about 10 minutes early, VR about 5, and BS over 20. Going back to double check really helped with the 14's- 2 missed questions on each section there. VR was surprisingly easy. Didn't get to a tough passage until maybe the 6th or 7th. And I had enough time in the bank to go slow.

Per MCAT regs the plugs are allowed- they come in individual packs. Linky:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NIBKB2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Took AAMC 4 first thing this morning:

28 - 10PS/9V/9BS

Although this doesn't compare to some of the scores some of you are getting, I am OK/happy with this being my starting point...here's to hoping to a steady increase from here on!

Next...AAMC 5 on Wednesday. Lets hang in there!
 
So I gotta question for you cool AAMC practice test takers...

When you guys are taking your tests how are feeling??? I know its a weird question lol Like do you feel like when you're answering questions you KNOW your stuff down pact or are their some topics you feel a little shaky on...we can't have EVERY SINGLE topic the AAMC wants us to know down pact right??? Do you get a sense of what I'm asking??

I'm just a tad scared to take my practice tests cause ill get destroyed on some passages and then miss none on some...and since the real thing is going to be random passages on everything we've studied...idk :\ now I'm just going on and on...help guys! 🙁

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using SDN Mobile
 
Took AAMC 4 today and got a 29 (9P/10V/10B). Gotta work harder and nail my content gaps in physics and bio.
 
So I gotta question for you cool AAMC practice test takers...

When you guys are taking your tests how are feeling??? I know its a weird question lol Like do you feel like when you're answering questions you KNOW your stuff down pact or are their some topics you feel a little shaky on...we can't have EVERY SINGLE topic the AAMC wants us to know down pact right??? Do you get a sense of what I'm asking??

I'm just a tad scared to take my practice tests cause ill get destroyed on some passages and then miss none on some...and since the real thing is going to be random passages on everything we've studied...idk :\ now I'm just going on and on...help guys! 🙁

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch Q using SDN Mobile

During the practice test itself? Yeah, but I try to not let that affect me when I'm doing it because I know I work better stress free. In fact, that's another benefit to wearing those earplugs- I'm actually able to hear my heartbeat if I start getting freaked out. A good reminder to sit back, calm down for a second before moving on.

If you're worried about getting destroyed on some but not on others, is that fear based on having taken some already? If so it'd be good to keep a running list of problematic areas and focus on them between your practices. If not, there's no way you'll find out til you try.

confidence! Good luck!
 
Last edited:
During the actual test itself? Yeah, but I try to not let that affect me when I'm doing it because I know I work better stress free. In fact, that's another benefit to wearing those earplugs- I'm actually able to hear my heartbeat if I start getting freaked out. A good reminder to sit back, calm down for a second before moving on.

If you're worried about getting destroyed on some but not on others, is that fear based on having taken some already? If so it'd be good to keep a running list of problematic areas and focus on them between your practices. If not, there's no way you'll find out til you try.

confidence! Good luck!

Thanks Captain. I haven't taken any yet. I guess the fear stems from working this hard (going to bed right now after studying from 3pm to 5am..I'm a night owl 🙂) and obtaining a low score...but your right! Confidence!!!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using SDN Mobile
 
do any of you guys have a tip for answering experiment based questions? content and discrete -- i'm good at. what about questions such as "experimenter did this because.....". or which is the BEST way for something. sometimes i feel like two of the answers are both good, and i can't find the tiny detail that would put one detail higher than the other.
 
do any of you guys have a tip for answering experiment based questions? content and discrete -- i'm good at. what about questions such as "experimenter did this because.....". or which is the BEST way for something. sometimes i feel like two of the answers are both good, and i can't find the tiny detail that would put one detail higher than the other.

These generally involve reading comprehension and interpretation skills, background knowledge or a proportioned combination. For instance, if you have an Organic passage stating the investigator used alcohol or DMSO as a solvent, or an experiment was carried out at low temperature, or the products were washed in a nitric acid, questions about "why" are probably in order. Sometimes the answers reside in interpreting passage information but sometimes they expect you to use previous knowledge to answer these questions.
 
hard at work or hardly working, everyone?

24 hours without a post, it's like we're all watching the turmoil in the January threads. how's everyone doing?
 
hard at work or hardly working, everyone?

24 hours without a post, it's like we're all watching the turmoil in the January threads. how's everyone doing?

Little bit of both, mostly the latter.
So after analyzing my verbal passages in BR the last few days, I don't have a pattern of the type of questions I'm missing. It's really just hit or miss based on whether or not I really understood the passage or not.
Also, does anyone have any extra links that might help with optics? I'm especially struggling with questions when they use the eye as an example and talking about focal length when things are immersed in some liquid substances. Since high school (many many years ago) lens questions and optics in general, has been an Achilles heal.
 
hard at work or hardly working, everyone?

24 hours without a post, it's like we're all watching the turmoil in the January threads. how's everyone doing?

haha is there turmoil going on? I should have a look-see :naughty:

working hard for sure, finished almost all the chem and physics discretes in the TPRSW and took some of the diagnostic tests from TPR. i'm going to copy entadus's idea of doing all the tpr passaages over the next two weeks.


edit: ok after sifting a few pages, i dont have the time or patience to go looking for turmoil, lol.
 
Little bit of both, mostly the latter.
So after analyzing my verbal passages in BR the last few days, I don't have a pattern of the type of questions I'm missing. It's really just hit or miss based on whether or not I really understood the passage or not.

Heya Albein, You may be hitting your upper limit on verbal or might need a lot of pure bulk practice passages.

Unless you sciences are strong or you're scoring exceptionally weak in verbal, I would put this to the background and work on the sciences while just doing more verbal as your regular study plan outlines (assuming your study plan outlines this 😛 )


Also, does anyone have any extra links that might help with optics? I'm especially struggling with questions when they use the eye as an example and talking about focal length when things are immersed in some liquid substances. Since high school (many many years ago) lens questions and optics in general, has been an Achilles heal.

i used my physics text book for extra problems.
 
Heya Albein, You may be hitting your upper limit on verbal or might need a lot of pure bulk practice passages.

Unless you sciences are strong or you're scoring exceptionally weak in verbal, I would put this to the background and work on the sciences while just doing more verbal as your regular study plan outlines (assuming your study plan outlines this 😛 )




i used my physics text book for extra problems.

Call it stubbornness, but I refuse to believe a 5-7 is my upper limit for verbal. I did better when I took the MCAT last year. I'll just have to try and improve my focus and look for strategies that may help me. You may be right, but I don't want to believe it.
 
Call it stubbornness, but I refuse to believe a 5-7 is my upper limit for verbal. I did better when I took the MCAT last year. I'll just have to try and improve my focus and look for strategies that may help me. You may be right, but I don't want to believe it.

Sorry man i thought you were already in the double digits. I was worried when I wrote it that it was not the right words. What I am trying to say is you may be hitting diminishing returns for time spent, so your time may better spent getting points out of the sciences. If you are getting 5-7 on verbal you are missing enough questions for there to be a pattern or at the very least a bulk list of question types. Most likely you are missing the main idea and point of view type of questions, once you get a good grasp on this your score will jump, but it's hard to say, you have to find the pattern in this group.
 
Sorry man i thought you were already in the double digits. I was worried when I wrote it that it was not the right words. What I am trying to say is you may be hitting diminishing returns for time spent, so your time may better spent getting points out of the sciences. If you are getting 5-7 on verbal you are missing enough questions for there to be a pattern or at the very least a bulk list of question types. Most likely you are missing the main idea and point of view type of questions, once you get a good grasp on this your score will jump, but it's hard to say, you have to find the pattern in this group.

It's cool. If I was in the double digits, I wouldn't be as stressed about verbal. I would've given basically the same advice. I'll just keep plugging away and hope it gets better. I'm still spending majority of my time on the sciences, I just do a few verbal passages each day before I start sciences and then review them the next day.
 
I'll just keep plugging away and hope it gets better.

well, try to come up with something, make it a point to focus on a certain question type even if it's not your biggest weakness but something you have missed, make that your next goal. Make it directed study.

then watch the arnold video for motivation 😛
 
well, try to come up with something, make it a point to focus on a certain question type even if it's not your biggest weakness but something you have missed, make that your next goal. Make it directed study.

then watch the arnold video for motivation 😛

I like the Eric Thomas "Secrets to Success" one although I've played it out.
 
Took AAMC test 5

12/10/12

I took this test a year ago and scored a 28 without any review, but I'm happy with the results. I didn't feel like I had any confidence throughout the test.
 
so i went on thx to see if aamc messed up and gave me a good score by accident, but no dice. looks like I've another 25 days of fun plus a month of purgatory to go. oh well
 
AAMC 10

14/12/14

Big help was getting earplugs. They're awesome. I felt able to concentrate so much better with them- I finished PS about 10 minutes early, VR about 5, and BS over 20. Going back to double check really helped with the 14's- 2 missed questions on each section there. VR was surprisingly easy. Didn't get to a tough passage until maybe the 6th or 7th. And I had enough time in the bank to go slow.

Per MCAT regs the plugs are allowed- they come in individual packs. Linky:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NIBKB2/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Holy moly, very nice score Capt. Sisko. I wasn't planning on taking AAMC 10 for another 2 weeks, I sure hope it's as easy as you made it look :meanie:

hard at work or hardly working, everyone?

24 hours without a post, it's like we're all watching the turmoil in the January threads. how's everyone doing?

HARDLY WORKING! :laugh: I haven't touched any MCAT stuff since my last practice test on Thurs. My goal is to get back into it today by reviewing my test (hey better late than never). I am feeling a little better, still not 100% though. I will probably delay my next practice test from tomorrow until Thursday.

I wish the test were over but there is still more to be done. I have to get back on that horse :beat:
 
Took AAMC 9 today after looking at the plethora of 35+ scores in the 1/24 and 1/26 threads and feeling bad about myself.

AAMC 9: 36 (13PS, 11V, 12BS)

Definitely boosted by confidence (first 11 on aamc verbal EVER!!! 🙂). There's definitely still room for improvement though.
 
Took AAMC 9 today after looking at the plethora of 35+ scores in the 1/24 and 1/26 threads and feeling bad about myself.

AAMC 9: 36 (13PS, 11V, 12BS)

Definitely boosted by confidence (first 11 on aamc verbal EVER!!! 🙂). There's definitely still room for improvement though.

After reading your post, I went to look at it and wow. Don't think I've ever seen that many high scores. Keep your head up. Hopefully we all repeat and good job on the score.
 
Took AAMC 4 this morning and got a 32 (11P/10V/11B). I'm excited because this is the first time I've scored above a 30! However, I took this test over a year ago (scored a 28) and even though I did not remember any of the answers, I'm still wondering if these results are actually predictive of my score 🙁

Anyway, I'm debating whether to go crazy and take 2~3 FLs a week (I've only taken 2 so far) or to take less FLs and mainly focus on doing more practice questions/passages to improve my weak areas. How many FLs are you guys planning on taking?
 
Took AAMC 4 this morning and got a 32 (11P/10V/11B). I'm excited because this is the first time I've scored above a 30! However, I took this test over a year ago (scored a 28) and even though I did not remember any of the answers, I'm still wondering if these results are actually predictive of my score 🙁

Anyway, I'm debating whether to go crazy and take 2~3 FLs a week (I've only taken 2 so far) or to take less FLs and mainly focus on doing more practice questions/passages to improve my weak areas. How many FLs are you guys planning on taking?

nice job.

I've two gold standard exams and five aamcs to go before the big day. I'll take the gold standards today and next Wednesday, and aamc 6R this weekend before closing out the realistic tests. I'm thinking aamc 11 on the 9th so i have time to process my score, apparently it and 10 are different from the others.


edit, awesome job osprey! once i hit my goal of 35 on the aamcs i felt this huge relief- hope the rest of yours is less stressful now!

for now, I'm off to design something. it's what we engineers do! 🙂
 
New goal: want to break the 40...25 days left letsssgooooooo

but seriously though now i just want to sleep and do nothing
 
I feel a big break coming with my score.

If personal history has shown me anything, I tend to hit a plateau for a long time without gaining any ground, then there comes a point when everything just clicks.

Back onto the MCAT: Can someone break down titratons for me? As in:
  • how is the titrant standardized? how do we know the compound we are using to standardize it is even accurately measured?
  • what are the final results we are physically looking for (i.e. HOW do we know the titration is over? an indicator?)
  • I've heard that titrations are good for both determining pKa of the unknown solution & for determining unknown compounds molecular weight. Which is it? If the latter, how do we determine that?

Sorry, if this is too much to ask. I've exhausted Google and everything either breaks it down to simply or too detailed.
 
GS9 (with EK Verbal test 6)

9/8/13

No, that's not the date of my Harvard interview 🙂

Totally got crushed by the PS, which by all accounts is hard even by GS standards. Helpful because it's identified weaknesses in acid/base and optics. What's disconcerting is the 8 on the EK verbal test. I'm going to have to go back and rethink my strategy, which thus far had been to just read and then answer. Bio shows a trend in winning. I think this is something like 4-5 practices in a row at 13 or above. Which is weird since I've an engineering background.
 
New goal: want to break the 40...25 days left letsssgooooooo

but seriously though now i just want to sleep and do nothing
👍 I feel the same way.... I will sleep and do nothing in due time.....😀

I feel a big break coming with my score.

If personal history has shown me anything, I tend to hit a plateau for a long time without gaining any ground, then there comes a point when everything just clicks.

Back onto the MCAT: Can someone break down titratons for me? As in:
I also feel the same way, lol.....

  • how is the titrant standardized? how do we know the compound we are using to standardize it is even accurately measured?
  • what are the final results we are physically looking for (i.e. HOW do we know the titration is over? an indicator?)
  • I've heard that titrations are good for both determining pKa of the unknown solution & for determining unknown compounds molecular weight. Which is it? If the latter, how do we determine that?

Sorry, if this is too much to ask. I've exhausted Google and everything either breaks it down to simply or too detailed.
Yeah this is a tall order, maybe GTLO or someone who isnt testing on our date can help you out here. You want to get acids/bases and titrations mastered though, it's high yield.



GS9 (with EK Verbal test 6)

9/8/13

Totally got crushed by the PS, which by all accounts is hard even by GS standards. Helpful because it's identified weaknesses in acid/base and optics. What's disconcerting is the 8 on the EK verbal test. I'm going to have to go back and rethink my strategy, which thus far had been to just read and then answer. Bio shows a trend in winning. I think this is something like 4-5 practices in a row at 13 or above. Which is weird since I've an engineering background.

stretching yourself i see. I will have to be honest there is a bit of hurt pride as an engineer and not scoring well in the PS section. I feel ya. 😛


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

Been doing lots of diagnostics and drills to see where my content weaknesses are:

BS section i'm getting a large percentage of my bio questions right but missing almost all the orgo questions....not good. I will drill these pretty hard.

PS section 1/3 mistakes from math, like squaring numbers when i mean to just add them or not subtracting fractions correctly, or worse, thinking i need to square them, then square them in my head, write them down and square them again 🙁 ..... The other 2/3 of my mistakes are from content. Optics is giving me grief again... *sigh*
-----
stupid mistakes will disappear.... just need more practice............
-----

Verbal -- I am doing much worse with my kaplan material but much better with EK101 and TPR material, EK101 test 6 I didnt do as well on either, getting a 9. 😡
I havent touched the TBR verbal material in a while..... I might skip this and just use the kaplan materials in its place.

For what it's worth I've read somewhere on this site that the EK101 passages get much harder after test 5 or so (if I am remembering it correctly).

---------
Keep working hard guys.........



ps - entadus come back! 😛



edit: Carboxylase, I'll try to write something up before i fall asleep tonight.
 
edit: Carboxylase, I'll try to write something up before i fall asleep tonight.
Try this:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/acids-and-bases/v/acid-base-introduction

Back onto the MCAT: Can someone break down titratons for me? As in:
  • how is the titrant standardized? how do we know the compound we are using to standardize it is even accurately measured?down to simply or too detailed.
The Khan Academy link should be sufficient, here's some more info:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=755984
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=526524

  • what are the final results we are physically looking for (i.e. HOW do we know the titration is over? an indicator?)
The titration can give you data to plot a titration curve, you can be "over" if you plot the whole of the curve or if you are just looking for a specific point such as when neutralization of the base or acid occurs. This would then be shown by an indicator.

These may or may not help but I listed them for the next two questions.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=982295
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=981649

  • I've heard that titrations are good for both determining pKa of the unknown solution & for determining unknown compounds molecular weight. Which is it? If the latter, how do we determine that?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=982295
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=981649


Not sure I can give you more on this, it's a broad topic/question.
 
I feel a big break coming with my score.

If personal history has shown me anything, I tend to hit a plateau for a long time without gaining any ground, then there comes a point when everything just clicks.

Back onto the MCAT: Can someone break down titratons for me? As in:
  • how is the titrant standardized? how do we know the compound we are using to standardize it is even accurately measured?
  • what are the final results we are physically looking for (i.e. HOW do we know the titration is over? an indicator?)
  • I've heard that titrations are good for both determining pKa of the unknown solution & for determining unknown compounds molecular weight. Which is it? If the latter, how do we determine that?

Sorry, if this is too much to ask. I've exhausted Google and everything either breaks it down to simply or too detailed.

I think that the pH=pKa at the half equivalence point of the titration, where half the buffer is consumed. It's the midpoint of the flat section before the slope gets steep
 
Hey Sisko,

out of curiosity, what did you use to prep for orgo?


thanks

br first book and last chapter of second book. disclaimer is my postbac is almost all organic and biochemistry so it's really fresh in my mind. a whole ton of protein synthesis, nucleic acids and other bio molecules.

do you know of any good drills i can use for the basic organic reactions? sn and e essentially.
 
do you know of any good drills i can use for the basic organic reactions? sn and e essentially.

thanks. i dont, i am trying to work on that too. I will let you know what i find, i'm spending today on just orgo.

edit:
plan for the day
1. orgo via TPR, EK, and 1001
2. final 1/3 of tbr
3. and 4 passages from each section of TPR
4. cry myself to sleep
 
thanks. i dont, i am trying to work on that too. I will let you know what i find, i'm spending today on just orgo.

edit:
plan for the day
1. orgo via TPR, EK, and 1001
2. final 1/3 of tbr
3. and 4 passages from each section of TPR
4. cry myself to sleep

yeah i had nightmares about verbal last night. i dreamt i got a 36 with the 6 in vr, had to take it over again. my illusions of coasting into this exam have evaporated. fortunately since i haven't really studied verbal I've a ton of practice material available!
 
hehe #4 was meant to be a joke 😛 you'll be fine, you took a killer unrepresentative gs test, dont let it rattle you but let it motivate you to peak at the right time 🙂

regarding sn1/sn2: i could have sworn i felt i had sn1/sn2 mastered, i'll go over my notes and see what i did
 
Dang Nutty were you really up all night?

Do you guys think it's very bad to drink caffeine when you're getting over a cold?

AAMC #8 today? Yay/nay? 😕
 
Still can't find a test spot in California, I'm registered for April 26th but I want to take the test on March 23rd.

Finished all of Kaplan's PS section tests, great practice but INSANELY difficult. Highest score was 80% and lowest 56% with an average around 70%.

Has anyone been using TBR CBT's? I plan on taking number 3 this saturday and do atleast 5 of them.
 
Still can't find a test spot in California, I'm registered for April 26th but I want to take the test on March 23rd.

Finished all of Kaplan's PS section tests, great practice but INSANELY difficult. Highest score was 80% and lowest 56% with an average around 70%.

Has anyone been using TBR CBT's? I plan on taking number 3 this saturday and do atleast 5 of them.

I'm going to start taking them either Sunday or Monday. I just finished content review but want to do a mini review of my notes before getting started on them.
 
Try this:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry/acids-and-bases/v/acid-base-introduction


The Khan Academy link should be sufficient, here's some more info:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=755984
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=526524


The titration can give you data to plot a titration curve, you can be "over" if you plot the whole of the curve or if you are just looking for a specific point such as when neutralization of the base or acid occurs. This would then be shown by an indicator.

These may or may not help but I listed them for the next two questions.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=982295
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=981649



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=982295
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=981649


Not sure I can give you more on this, it's a broad topic/question.

This is so useful, thanks!

I'm also getting most of the orgo questions wrong on my tests, gotta start taking a bunch of practice passages for that 🙁
 
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