The Official 3/24 2012 MCAT Thread

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doctor712

doctor712

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I'm registered, 8am. Will be on the 4 month S2N study plan, all materials in hand. This is a retake for me.

Good luck all.

D712
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Good luck everyone. Get some rest tonight and be confident tomorrow!
 
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so guys... hard? easy? what're your feelings about the general exam??

REMEMBER YOU CAN'T GIVE ANY SPECIFICS AWAY. JUST GENERAL FEELINGS.
 
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I felt that the PS and the BS were much harder than I expected :scared:I am extremely depressed.
I honestly thought that the real deal will be closer to AAMC 11...
:(
 
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Pretty vicious. Feel like I had to use every brain cell to overcome it. Are the scores posted on april 30th or may 5th? Can't remember
 
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Since West Coast is still going on. So, no details.

My son is the one who dived in this morning.

His AAMC FL average was 40.75.
His BR FL average was 43.

He came out looked pale and was very quiet.

OMG
 
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MedOldAge said:
Since West Coast is still going on. So, no details.

My son is the one who dived in this morning.

His AAMC FL average was 40.75.
His BR FL average was 43.

He came out looked pale and was very quiet.

OMG
Click to expand...

41 average on AAMC? jesus
 
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Ladies and Gentlemen,

All those shXt # before today does not mean anything.

I brought those #s up to give everybody a feel of what is going on the test today.

Today is what it counts..............and it was BRUTAL.
 
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Long time lurker, first time poster here. Took the test today. Agree with most of the folks here…tough! My AAMC range was 36-40 and I was finishing the sciences with a good 15-20 min to spare. Today I had to work right until the last minute in all sections (although I have and will always suck at verbal)…certainly did not have time to scratch the butt and ponder about.

Congrats to us all for finishing and hopefully this is the last we see of this test. As expected, I utilized only ~20% of what I studied, but such is the nature of this test :( Although I certainly feel that this was MUCH harder than ANY of the AAMC FLs I don’t feel terrible overall. It was in some ways brutal, but it was probably brutal for us all.
 
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Guys relax you're going to score around the ball park of your AAMC practice average. My average was a 31-32 on practice exams. I walked out of the exam feeling like I got hit by a bus and honestly thought I'd get a 25 tops. Come results day I scored a 29 about 2 points below my average I was a little sad but everything worked out so stay positive and DO NOT think too much about it. The wait for my scores drove me crazy, antisocial and depressed don't make my mistake. Good luck to all! Make sure you guys apply early, get those personal statements and secondaries written up after some rest.
 
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I didn't think it was that bad, though I usually have time left over for every section and I went down to the wire for every section. PS I thought was ok, though there were some random questions, honestly I don't remember too much about it. Attacked my 2 weakest points (as in I did not study 2 sections because I didn't see them on AAMC tests, so the last time I saw that material was way back when I first started). Think I reasoned out decent answers where I could though. Verbal is usually my great section, didn't think this one was all too bad but I didn't follow my plan of action to skip the hard passage, didn't realize it was difficult until I was halfway done reading it and still had no idea what was going on, then I realized the length of it... That was the 2nd passage so I was playing catch up the rest of the section and wasn't as comfortable as I usually am. BS as well attacked my weakest topic (i've known for months and just prayed it wouldn't be on there or maybe 1 discrete, not a whole passage). I'd say BS was the toughest section but reasonable.

Not sure yet if I'm going to be scheduling another exam and just keep studying. I'm so tired of this.
 
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Jeeze, you guys got me scared. I'm taking it May 12th. I really hope you all did better than you felt. :xf:

Got to go study now :scared:
 
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Doesn't everyone always say it was "super hard" coming out of the test? Every thread I've seen always has that feeling, but people usually score around their average. Relax people, the test is curved, and it seems like the test felt tough for practically everyone. The curve will reflect that. Relax.
 
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After every MCAT - OMG I DID TERRIBLE
[3 weeks later] - Hey guys! Just got my result! 39R!!!!

You guys are done, no point worrying about it now.

Did your test have a lot of OChem? I keep hearing about trends towards less and less Ochem (only 1 or 2 passages per test)
 
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Yeah, how was BS? Did it seem like a verbal section like everyone keeps saying it's getting like? A lot of Orgo? A little bit of Orgo?
 
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This was a retake for me. Test was very difficult! Ran out of time on BS and PS! I got lost on first passage of PS so that sucked. And BS...lol. I thought Verbal was lengthy but doable.
 
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SoulinNeed said:
Yeah, how was BS? Did it seem like a verbal section like everyone keeps saying it's getting like? A lot of Orgo? A little bit of Orgo?
Click to expand...

Not much organic unfortunately (one passage and a few discrete questions). I thought PS was much harder than BS even though PS is usually my strength. There were some pretty obscure questions on both science sections. Overall, it was challenging, but hopefully the curve will reflect it.
 
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This test gave me a headache.

The PS was meh. Some questions out of left field.

Verbal wasn't too bad except for the last passage. BTW, listen to everyone else, the verbal passages are LONGER on the test. I don't know if that has to do with the screen or the spacing of the passages, but it seemed longer.

BS was fine imo. It was heavy on research passages (ie, interpreting results, coming up with conclusions based on the data, etc.).

Very little organic, only a couple discretes and one fairly basic passage.
 
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Lark12 said:
This test gave me a headache.

The PS was meh. Some questions out of left field.

Verbal wasn't too bad except for the last passage. BTW, listen to everyone else, the verbal passages are LONGER on the test. I don't know if that has to do with the screen or the spacing of the passages, but it seemed longer.

BS was fine imo. It was heavy on research passages (ie, interpreting results, coming up with conclusions based on the data, etc.).

Very little organic, only a couple discretes and one fairly basic passage.
Click to expand...
So, BS focused heavily on passage stuff vs. just memorizing background knowledge?
 
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SoulinNeed said:
So, BS focused heavily on passage stuff vs. just memorizing background knowledge?
Click to expand...

It seemed like most of it was. They were nearly all research passages in which 'scientist carried out this and this procedure', data was given or hypothesis were made etc. However, some questions from the passages tied in background knowledge and related it to the passage. So for example if it was discussing a gastric disease it may ask you what happens in the stomach even though that isn't stated in the passage.

The discretes obviously were all background knowledge for the most part.

Also, I think this test had one genetics passage; other than that very little genetics.
 
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So the PS to me was a killer tougher than the AAMC, verbal was ok, the passages were long and BS was tougher than normal but doable
 
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Hey guys! I just took the exam this morning and it was pretty challenging but not impossible...I felt PS was a bit harder than most AAMC practice exams I have taken. I totally lost it at first, but then again I am a nervous wreck! Verbal wasn't too bad, however, the passages were way longer than what I have seen. I was so struggling towards the end, ran out of time, and had to guess on the last few questions. Bio was not too bad. I struggled with like one or two passages, but I felt better coming out of this section than the other 2 sections. I had no time to spare whatsoever, I truly was at it until the very last second for all sections. For those of you out there who have not taken it yet, please, please take as many practice exams as you can. Guys you could study all day, everyday, but if you don't get a taste of how the material will be presented to you on test day, you are going to be in for a rude awakening! For me, not knowing the material was not a huge factor (granted there were problems I did not know straight off the bat) because I studied my ass off, took off from work and even went to another state to study. It was more my nerves that got the best of me. I wish I could have taken more practice exams, but whatever, what's done is done. I'm just hopeful for a generous curve!!!
 
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I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that felt like they were running out of time or that it took longer to work through the questions than normal. Usually I have decent amount of time (at least 10 minutes) to go back and check things, or re-work marked problems, and I definitely felt like I didn't have the time for that at all this morning.
 
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2 Hours later, sitting at the restaurant, I start pulling words out of my son's mouth.

The following is what he said:

1 Overall, it is not hard, it is different. Some of the passages & their questions whether be PS or BS, were formulated as such he didn't think all AAMC FL & even BR FL help him the most as he hoped it would be before he walked in. He didn't have PR, GS, & Kaplan FLs for practice. So, not sure about them.

If what my son said is true, I have a strange theory. I can be dead wrong; as it is my own imagination.

a) Overall testing leaning toward NOT memorization of detail, NOT testing big picture concept, but using Big Concept as the background, start picking off asking questions on very tiny segment in details. He thought there were quite a few questions he recall they barely touched in content review books buried in 2 to 3 sentence. In fact, a few were being stated as not important.

b) I suspect they began randomly taking out the questions out of the pool and replace them with the "newer" 2015 way of asking. Application! Application! Yes, it is application all right but in a newer more details way. The Question Committee are very "smart", I am sure they sat in the room regularly combing through and talked about the popular BR, EK, PR, GS and Kaplan plan at the top of SDNer strategy. They design newer questions, and passages based on to throw people off. I am sure they have folks coming in SDN frequently. OK, enough conspiracy.

Physical Science: Physics - OK, not many long equation. not much math. no off screen chart like 1/27 and 1/28 folks experience. But some strange and trick equation. It is just overall off the way all FL practice questions were asked. There was a passage very stretch on the physiology. I can't say details out in public. Folks, it was details in 3 to 4 layers deep.

G.Chem - In general not hard test. Quite a few passages off the way, way off the way, the traditional way to ask question when using AAMC 11 or BR standard. Is it beginning a trend. I am wondering.

Verbal Reasoning - Not hard. Some long passages. My son swear it is 599 words each. He usually is quick and has time to go back checking correctness. Well, he barely had enough time to finish but not checking.

Writing - OK. What else one can say.

Biological Science.(more experimental type of questions than usual)

Biology - discrete all OK. Not that bad as Physics but also away from the tradition concept application way leaning on very detail on small segment of application.

O-Chem - about 1/4. Not many concept passages.

I was not there; I wish I was and described better.

However, one thing for sure, the folks in the "questions design committee" are at least a few step ahead of general public including the study training publishing firms. The new way for pre-2015 application questions are coming? :idea:

We don't have enough data to come to the conclusion.

In the end, I am not surprise, don't you?

Whether hard or not, it is all relative based on what we have experienced in all AAMC, BR, PR, GS content review, and FLs. One thing for sure, it is constantly change to adapt. We just happened to find out more in 2012. I am sure we will hear and see more coming in the April, May test folks.
 
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Hey guys,

Long time lurker here, I took the exam this morning and had mixed feelings about it.

When I started out in PS I was completely lost, which was weird because PS is my best section always. Eventually, I got the hang of it, and it wasn't too bad.

Verbal I felt was really not bad at all, It was probably the most confident I've ever felt in a verbal section compared to all of my practice exams. The only issue was the last passage, I was somewhat scrambling to get that one done, but overall it wasn't bad.

BS, I was the most worried about because I'm not very well rehearsed when it comes to Organic, but there barely was any orgo on there at all, I did scramble once again with the last passage, but I didn't find any thing too difficult.

I hope it went well! These next 30 days will be tough!
 
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Glad to hear im not the only one thinking PS was out of left field! The first 3 passages I felt like i was lost and having to guess a lot more than usual. And my last two full lengths I was getting 11's and 12's but today i felt like i would have been lucky to get a 9. Seriously like nothing Ive studied or practice between kaplan and aamc. Oh well..whats done is done right?
 
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First off, congrats to everyone who took it today, time for you to relax for the next month. As for my question, any tips you guys would like to give to those of us still preparing?
 
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I spent my last 2 or 3 days really going over what I consider some easier concepts and making sure I know what I think I know and Im pretty glad I did this because there were plenty of general questions that should be the "easy questions" but on the mcat I feel like you have more of a tendency to second guess Everything. So i guess my advice is that the last week go over your strengths and make sure even the most basic things that you've looked at once are solid. Those easy questions are not the ones to get wrong, and they count the same as the hard questions so nail em! good luck, hope this is at all helpful!
 
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shushumiga said:
Oh yeahhh and I took all of the TBR FLs.
Click to expand...

typicalindian said:
First off, congrats to everyone who took it today, time for you to relax for the next month. As for my question, any tips you guys would like to give to those of us still preparing?
Click to expand...

I am quoting what my son said based on his experience the past 3 months of FLs practice and the 3/24 test.

He felt he spent way too much time review all the right or wrong questions on the FLs. If he would do it again, he will go back to the "concept" of the type of questions being asked to investigate all the branching out "details". He was very upset because there were so many questions he has to guess. No confidence as he had when he took all the AAMC and BR FLs.

This suggestion of so called "tips" is contradicting what the general consensus including SN2ed suggested. I DONT know, folks. I think the AAMC committee succeed in doing a very good job throwing everybody off.

My personal gut feeling is "continue" doing successfully what we at SDN feel all along to protect ourselves to get all the foundamental questions right; and based on what we know, start investing "some" time to go back to content and dig deeper. With limited amount of time, this is not an easy task. Well, I think this way off left field questions being asked are not by accident but by very thorough design from the AAMC committee.

IDK :mad:
 
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Also, for those of you who used the TPR science workbook, do you think their many experiment based passages helped or no?
 
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victoria12 said:
I spent my last 2 or 3 days really going over what I consider some easier concepts and making sure I know what I think I know and Im pretty glad I did this because there were plenty of general questions that should be the "easy questions" but on the mcat I feel like you have more of a tendency to second guess Everything. So i guess my advice is that the last week go over your strengths and make sure even the most basic things that you've looked at once are solid. Those easy questions are not the ones to get wrong, and they count the same as the hard questions so nail em! good luck, hope this is at all helpful!
Click to expand...

Totally agree! :thumbup:

We are playing ODD when we get to that level and so close to the test day. I think that is what throw my son off.
 
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MedOldAge said:
Totally agree! :thumbup:

We are playing ODD when we get to that level and so close to the test day. I think that is what throw my son off.
Click to expand...


:idea:......your son was averaging a 41 and a 43 on AAMC and TBR FL's respectively, Im willing to bet my house dvd collection he got betwen 37-42. Please quit worrying, if I were him Id be doing back flips after those practice test scores he will be just fine.
 
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GrabSlamBoot said:
:idea:......your son was averaging a 41 and a 43 on AAMC and TBR FL's respectively, Im willing to bet my house dvd collection he got betwen 37-42. Please quit worrying, if I were him Id be doing back flips after those practice test scores he will be just fine.
Click to expand...

I don't need your house since you are one of the fellow SDNers.

Are the DVD good stuff? Private collection :rolleyes:

Very appreciate your words of comfort. Thank you.

He was fire up this morning when he walked in; and walked out very pissed. Stone face.
 
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Seriously? so the passages were harder than TBR's chapter by chapter questions? I haven't done the FL TBR so I don't know how to compare it to the actual chapter by chapter test, I been doing those as a practice and taking notes on every question I get wrong ......
 
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