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?
 
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Starting my BR tests tomorrow. Those of you who have done the BR exams, are they similar to the AAMC tests and should I do them in any specific order?
 
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Albein said:
Starting my BR tests tomorrow. Those of you who have done the BR exams, are they similar to the AAMC tests and should I do them in any specific order?
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They weren't a good predictor of AAMC scores for me. My BR scores were all over the place - I scored every number between a 33 and a 40 (except for 39) on my seven exams but I'm consistently getting 40s on the AAMCs I've taken so far, so I wouldn't get discouraged if your score isn't where you want it to be. That being said, the PS and BS sections are great practice, really close to the real thing. Verbal is a little off but still decent practice.
 
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sp808 said:
They weren't a good predictor of AAMC scores for me. My BR scores were all over the place - I scored every number between a 33 and a 40 (except for 39) on my seven exams but I'm consistently getting 40s on the AAMCs I've taken so far, so I wouldn't get discouraged if your score isn't where you want it to be. That being said, the PS and BS sections are great practice, really close to the real thing. Verbal is a little off but still decent practice.
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Idk if my confidence can take any hits, but I'll do my best. Hopefully, they help improve scores on my AAMC 7-11 after I'm through with these 7. Thanks!
 
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So can some one give me a run down on the order of difficulty for the AAMC practice tests??

Sent from my Nexus 7 using SDN Mobile
 
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Captain Sisko said:
who keeps destarring our thread? it was four stars an hour ago
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No idea but it's funny that people want to rate it to begin with 😛

Captain Sisko said:
way to go NED!
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Thank you! Now it's back to reality, it's not like all my weaknesses have disappeared, they just didnt appear on this test or I guessed lucky. It was a nice boost though something I very much needed to let me power through to test day.

Jr MD said:
So can some one give me a run down on the order of difficulty for the AAMC practice tests??
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No idea other than the last 3 are the hardest, followed by the previous two followed by the previous three.
 
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Congrats ned.

And we are trying to beat the January threads in every possible category, thus the need for the five star rating 🙂
 
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dellian101 said:
did AAMC 8. didn't even reach 30. kind of hopeless
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Sorry to hear this Del. Post game the (*^* out of it and of your list of weaknesses make it a point to not move on from one topic until you have it mastered. I've seen people sort of shotgun everything and that seems to be worse than mastering one thing before moving on.
I know you're not a kaplan fan but it helped me for PS to just nail down a few concepts. I'm going to try them for ochem and bio next. Ochem has been mind grueling painful but i can see why it's a weakness: I dont enjoy it 😛
 
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NuttyEngDude said:
Sorry to hear this Del. Post game the (*^* out of it and of your list of weaknesses make it a point to not move on from one topic until you have it mastered. I've seen people sort of shotgun everything and that seems to be worse than mastering one thing before moving on.
I know you're not a kaplan fan but it helped me for PS to just nail down a few concepts. I'm going to try them for ochem and bio next. Ochem has been mind grueling painful but i can see why it's a weakness: I dont enjoy it 😛
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I dont get concepts wrong I make stupid careless mistakes 🙁 except verbal. I just suck at verbal

I'll try kaplan
 
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dellian101 said:
I dont get concepts wrong I make stupid careless mistakes 🙁 except verbal. I just suck at verbal

I'll try kaplan
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Just use them for the problems dont sit down and try to do all their methods. Sounds like you know how to do it you just need some repetition. I like to intermix between companies when it comes to problems just so I dont get "used" to a certain style. This might help too.
 
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Final TBR CBT #6

PS: 13 VR: 10 BS: 10

I had numerous difficulties today, the house was very loud 🙁.

I'm shocked that I'm doing great in PS, since I used to range 9-10 and my Bio used to be 12's. I think its because TBR bio tests you more on trivia than extrapolation from passages.

Plan: relax now and review later 😛
 
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PlasmodiumVivax said:
Final TBR CBT #6

PS: 13 VR: 10 BS: 10

I had numerous difficulties today, the house was very loud 🙁.

I'm shocked that I'm doing great in PS, since I used to range 9-10 and my Bio used to be 12's. I think its because TBR bio tests you more on trivia than extrapolation from passages.

Plan: relax now and review later 😛
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👍
 
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timeturner said:
YAYYYYY! It will only go up from here 👍
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osprey099 said:
👍👍👍👍

I'm happy for you brother!
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Missed these earlier posts, thanks guys. I hope to make it a trend and not an discrepancy.


carboxylase said:
What's everyone's plans for today and/or this weekend?
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Orgo until my back and neck pain are intolerable. Verbal section, then some bio passages, I sort of have a lot of the final 1/3 of TBR left 😳 My prep is all over the map lol
 
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I've been following this thread as another 3/23 taker. The date has been haunting my every waking moment for months. Since I've found a lot of strength reading some of the replies on here, I thought I'd interject with my own levity. I had a nightmare last night that I came home and my house had been robbed. I didn't care that they stole any of my electronics but was approaching hysterics to find that they had stolen my Berkeley Review books! The MCAT is now haunting my dreams...
 
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hope2b62a said:
I've been following this thread as another 3/23 taker. The date has been haunting my every waking moment for months. Since I've found a lot of strength reading some of the replies on here, I thought I'd interject with my own levity. I had a nightmare last night that I came home and my house had been robbed. I didn't care that they stole any of my electronics but was approaching hysterics to find that they had stolen my Berkeley Review books! The MCAT is now haunting my dreams...
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:laugh: Welcome!

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



Orgo question:
Did you guys memorize the disaccharides and structures?
What about the various tests like osazones, benedicts, tollens?
 
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hope2b62a said:
I've been following this thread as another 3/23 taker. The date has been haunting my every waking moment for months. Since I've found a lot of strength reading some of the replies on here, I thought I'd interject with my own levity. I had a nightmare last night that I came home and my house had been robbed. I didn't care that they stole any of my electronics but was approaching hysterics to find that they had stolen my Berkeley Review books! The MCAT is now haunting my dreams...
Click to expand...

Factoring in the ridiculous shipping costs, Berkeley Review books would probably cost more than half of my electronics. Smart pickup by the robber.
 
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NuttyEngDude said:
Orgo question:
Did you guys memorize the disaccharides and structures?
What about the various tests like osazones, benedicts, tollens?
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According to the AAMC content outline for BS ochem you dont need to know that stuff. So idk if its worth the time/memory capacity.
If you have some time maybe just become familiar with it so your not totally shocked if you see it on the test.

ps good work on your 34 👍



My score started to drop so I took the day off yesterday and watched a movie, now my sciences are back to normal but my verbal isnt 🙁
gonna work on that today
 
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Wanted to take a BR test today but wifi at library wasn't working so I did last 1/3 of chapter 3. Equilibrium did a number on me (1 passage in particular) which was shocking because I was really comfortable with it. Tomorrow I go over my mistakes, more flash cards, and take BR 1 bright and early. I've been out of it the last few days because of less sleep than usual and broke my schedule.
 
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Chalupa Batman said:
According to the AAMC content outline for BS ochem you dont need to know that stuff. So idk if its worth the time/memory capacity.
If you have some time maybe just become familiar with it so your not totally shocked if you see it on the test.
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The BS Topics outline says "Reactions of monosaccharides." This encompasses all of the tests covered in TBR.
 
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Tutored 2 hours of gen chem and 2 hours of ochem today. Feeling a bit tired, but now I am going to start 5 verbal passages (old EK101 tests that I actually never did)

My 8th and last practice test will be AAMC FL 11. I want to take it on Saturday (one week before test day!!!). Then it's just a matter of staying practiced in verbal, reviewing any weak or fuzzy areas, and attempting problems whenever I feel like it. I'm trying to basically finish my studying by this time next week. 🙂
 
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Chalupa Batman said:
ps good work on your 34 👍
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Thanks 🙂

Albein said:
Wanted to take a BR test today but wifi at library wasn't working so I did last 1/3 of chapter 3. Equilibrium did a number on me (1 passage in particular) which was shocking because I was really comfortable with it. Tomorrow I go over my mistakes, more flash cards, and take BR 1 bright and early. I've been out of it the last few days because of less sleep than usual and broke my schedule.
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ugg 🙁

hope2b62a said:
Physics...enough said!! 👎
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yeah

Entadus said:
Tutored 2 hours of gen chem and 2 hours of ochem today. Feeling a bit tired, but now I am going to start 5 verbal passages (old EK101 tests that I actually never did)

My 8th and last practice test will be AAMC FL 11. I want to take it on Saturday (one week before test day!!!). Then it's just a matter of staying practiced in verbal, reviewing any weak or fuzzy areas, and attempting problems whenever I feel like it. I'm trying to basically finish my studying by this time next week. 🙂
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Which ones? If I havent taken them yet i'll join in.
 
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EK101 Test 11 (I have the old version with 60 questions per test)

So that last 9 passages of the book.
 
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AAMC5

12/11/11 = 34

Not quite sure what to make of this one after going 40 and 41 on 10 and 11. I felt sluggish throughout. I'm kind of depressed now... At least I didn't take this one next Wednesday like I'd planned, that'd have messed me up pretty bad.
 
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Captain Sisko said:
AAMC5

12/11/11 = 34

Not quite sure what to make of this one after going 40 and 41 on 10 and 11. I felt sluggish throughout. I'm kind of depressed now... At least I didn't take this one next Wednesday like I'd planned, that'd have messed me up pretty bad.
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Postgame it and see what your mistakes are before you make any judgments
 
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Captain Sisko said:
AAMC5

12/11/11 = 34

Not quite sure what to make of this one after going 40 and 41 on 10 and 11. I felt sluggish throughout. I'm kind of depressed now... At least I didn't take this one next Wednesday like I'd planned, that'd have messed me up pretty bad.
Click to expand...

It could just be burnout. Like NED said, postgame it. But.... wait until you're a little more fresh before you review. You know you are capable of those high scores... Just make sure you are rested and in a good head-space come the 23rd.
 
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I'm spending a large part of the day on Verbal tomorrow. It's frustrating knowing I have the potential to rock the sciences but could land in the single digits in verbal because I apparently suck at reading.

I'm going to try a new strategy every couple of days until I see improvements. Tomorrow I will attempt to read the question stems first. Whenever I tried that before I found myself just wasting time because I was so rushed to get to the passage that I didn't remember anything about them.

If nothing works, I will just revert back to my normal strategy and collect my 9 or 10.

The worst part is the two usual reasons people do poorly are disinterest in the passage material and missing certain types of questions. I enjoy almost every verbal passage I read, honestly. And, the question types I get wrong have no pattern, at all.

Very frustrating.
 
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carboxylase said:
I'm spending a large part of the day on Verbal tomorrow. It's frustrating knowing I have the potential to rock the sciences but could land in the single digits in verbal because I apparently suck at reading.

I'm going to try a new strategy every couple of days until I see improvements. Tomorrow I will attempt to read the question stems first. Whenever I tried that before I found myself just wasting time because I was so rushed to get to the passage that I didn't remember anything about them.

If nothing works, I will just revert back to my normal strategy and collect my 9 or 10.

The worst part is the two usual reasons people do poorly are disinterest in the passage material and missing certain types of questions. I enjoy almost every verbal passage I read, honestly. And, the question types I get wrong have no pattern, at all.

Very frustrating.
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I have the same issue. There's no pattern to questions I miss and I consistently hit a 9. I've tried a lot of things and nothing seems to work.
 
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Morning guys!!

I went to bed at 8:30 PM and woke up at 8AM !!! feeling GOOOOOOD. guilty. but oh well. i can have a day off 🙂


goals for today:
EK: 1 subject test.
classes.......
Review Gen Chem Adiabatic/etc
Review transcription. i hate this chapter grrr




AAMC tomorrow.

have a great day ya'lll!!!!!!!!! (see how sleep betters ones mood haha i'm jumping up and down around my house. oh also, i had nutella for breakfast.
 
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Captain Sisko said:
AAMC5

12/11/11 = 34

Not quite sure what to make of this one after going 40 and 41 on 10 and 11. I felt sluggish throughout. I'm kind of depressed now... At least I didn't take this one next Wednesday like I'd planned, that'd have messed me up pretty bad.
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didn't postgame formally but it looks like the fact that it was orgo heavy with a tough micro passage got me. i tend to do worse on weekday practices because i do them after work, but it's still disconcerting. still though, ultimately I'd be happy with a 34 on the real thing. pg tonight.
 
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