The Official 4/27/13 MCAT Thread

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This might be considered a bit early, but full-time college students need to prepare ahead of time, especially when they are doing a research and volunteering, which requires them to spend at least 30-40 hours per week...

Let's share plans, strategies, schedules, and so on to help each other to crack this exam.
 
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Do you think they make certain sections on a given test harder on purpose? And make the curve easier? Because it seems on every one of the test threads theres one section that was impossible/much harder than the others.
 
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Test wasnt too bad, but like someone said, PS was confusing, especially first passage, and threw me off for rest of the section. VR and BS were not too bad, similar to practice tests.
 
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burntorange said:
Tell me about it. Felt the same way - majority of PS seemed rather different than any practice AAMC, verbal was just longgg, and BS was experimental all the way. I've already come to terms knowing I did bad, which is good since now I won't be disappointed with a bad score. 🙁
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I won't be surprised at all by a bad score....expecting it...
 
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I really like how I spent $35 x6 on official full lengths that were completely worthless. I should do a charge back on my credit card.
 
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PS: yes, very difficult. Harder than practice exams I thought. After this section, I had to push thoughts of giving up away just to move onto the next sections.

Verbal: As expected. I didn't think they were overly difficult but I don't normally do that well in verbal so not expecting too much from this section.

BIO: was as expected as well. The passages all had topics I was familiar with, but I didn't have much time left to review answers at the end. The questions were complex but not impossible.

I averaged around 30-32 on practice tests but expecting lower range because that PS was ridiculous.

Let the waiting begin and partying start!
 
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PS- thought it really wasn't too bad.. one passage that took me a while to muddle through, but pretty confident I did alright overall.

Verbal- Thought it was way less intense than some of the practice FLs. Long, but not nearly as dense. Got through with a good amount of time to spare and recheck.

BS- ouch. It wasn't horrible, but I had to make more educated guesses than I would have liked. If anything is going to be a heart breaker, itll be this. Like others have said, much longer/more experimental than I could have imagined.

Overall, not too bad. I walked out feeling like I had done solid work. Glad you guys mentioned that typo. It was clear what to go with, but it definitely threw me off a little ( Went back at least 3 times to be SURE). I hope the best for everyone, it seems like we all got our business handed to us in one section or another.
 
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I'm pretty bummed. Looked up answers that I remembered guessing on and seems my instinct was just off. 😕

PS - I liked it. Fairly straight forward, although I know I made at least a few very stupid mistakes.
V - I found the passages very dry, but questions felt easier to me on this test than others (with the exception of one passage, which I had to reread at least two or three times).
BS - I'm honestly afraid I bombed this section. I was hoping for a test that really emphasized analyses from experiments and I hope I did okay on that part because the organic questions did not feel easy to me.
Experimental - Really wish this was already part of the test. Felt very easy, finished it in less than 20 minutes, and everything just made sense. It was nothing like I expected it to be, but nice to end on a positive note, I guess.

Still, not really sure where to go from here. I considered voiding my exam, but didn't. Hopefully I don't regret it. 🙄

It's going to be a long month!
 
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I think the overall difficulty of the current test is not represented well on AAMC FLs except for one (11). I think VR is the only generally consistent section across all FLs in terms of difficulty and as compared with the real thing, though they are much shorter than what we got today!
 
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cjorgensen754 said:
WHY WAS THE VR SO ESPECIALLY BRUTAL?! I was getting averages of 13 on my FL practices in that section with ~6minutes to spare. This one.. I'd be happy with a 8 and had to guess on almost the entire last passage! What were people's strategies for battling the long/dense passages??
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I have no proof that my strategy for verbal actually helped, but I took a few seconds after reading each passage to jot down a one or two sentence summary of my thoughts on what the main topic of the passage was (i.e. "Author is upset about lack of snowfall in Hawaii. Feels people there are missing out on essential life experiences, but psychologists disagree.").
 
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Did anyone else have to wait nearly an hour AFTER 1:00 to start? I got there at 12:30 like the email said and waited 75 minutes to get checked in, probably did not start until 2:00. When I retake, I will either get there at 12:00 so I can start by 1:00 or get there at 12:58 so I start by 2:00
 
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stlrams22 said:
Did anyone else have to wait nearly an hour AFTER 1:00 to start? I got there at 12:30 like the email said and waited 75 minutes to get checked in, probably did not start until 2:00. When I retake, I will either get there at 12:00 so I can start by 1:00 or get there at 12:58 so I start by 2:00
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For me it was the opposite. I arrived at around 12:15ish and then they checked me in and I started at 12:30 sharp 😱 It was definitely a shock when I first opened the test and saw that first PS passage.
 
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positivityrocks said:
I'm pretty bummed. Looked up answers that I remembered guessing on and seems my instinct was just off. 😕

PS - I liked it. Fairly straight forward, although I know I made at least a few very stupid mistakes.
V - I found the passages very dry, but questions felt easier to me on this test than others (with the exception of one passage, which I had to reread at least two or three times).
BS - I'm honestly afraid I bombed this section. I was hoping for a test that really emphasized analyses from experiments and I hope I did okay on that part because the organic questions did not feel easy to me.
Experimental - Really wish this was already part of the test. Felt very easy, finished it in less than 20 minutes, and everything just made sense. It was nothing like I expected it to be, but nice to end on a positive note, I guess.

Still, not really sure where to go from here. I considered voiding my exam, but didn't. Hopefully I don't regret it. 🙄

It's going to be a long month!
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For my trial, I didn't receive any "new questions". It was basically new Physical Science + Biological Sciences questions 🙁 Really wanted to test out the new topics especially on like Psychology.

Also guys, each section is CURVED (your performance is relative to others). It seems like the general consensus is the PS was different/harder than usual, so your score "shouldn't" be all that affected. Anyways, we'll find out in a month! 😀
 
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supermintyfresh said:
For my trial, I didn't receive any "new questions". It was basically new Physical Science + Biological Sciences questions 🙁 Really wanted to test out the new topics especially on like Psychology.

Also guys, each section is CURVED (your performance is relative to others). It seems like the general consensus is the PS was different/harder than usual, so your score "shouldn't" be all that affected. Anyways, we'll find out in a month! 😀
Click to expand...

I've been told the curve is preset though👎
 
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supermintyfresh said:
For my trial, I didn't receive any "new questions". It was basically new Physical Science + Biological Sciences questions 🙁 Really wanted to test out the new topics especially on like Psychology.

Also guys, each section is CURVED (your performance is relative to others). It seems like the general consensus is the PS was different/harder than usual, so your score "shouldn't" be all that affected. Anyways, we'll find out in a month! 😀
Click to expand...

I kept telling myself during the test that my final score was relative to each test taker and reminding myself that if I have no idea what the hell this question is asking, I'm probably not the only one. It helped me to stay calm during the test. If the curve is similar to AAMC practice tests, then I have no doubt my score will be significantly lower. I wish I could have taken the MCAT 5 years earlier. I would have done much better (assuming the AAMC practice tests were comparative to the actual test when released).
 
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So I know I got 9 wrong on PS right off the bat, not to mention questions I don't know I got wrong yet... (9?) Verbal was OK but I was so upset about PS that I probably messed this up too (10?) And BS was bad as well (9?) Really should have voided 🙁

Ugh anyone think the curve would somehow get me a 32?? (10/12/10?)
 
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karmin said:
So I know I got 9 wrong on PS right off the bat, not to mention questions I don't know I got wrong yet... (9?) Verbal was OK but I was so upset about PS that I probably messed this up too (10?) And BS was bad as well (9?) Really should have voided 🙁

Ugh anyone think the curve would somehow get me a 32?? (10/12/10?)
Click to expand...

If you KNOW you got 9 wrong, then a 10 might not be realistic. Just my opinion, but starting at a 33 is risky.
 
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supermintyfresh said:
Also guys, each section is CURVED (your performance is relative to others). It seems like the general consensus is the PS was different/harder than usual, so your score "shouldn't" be all that affected. Anyways, we'll find out in a month! 😀
Click to expand...

Thanks for cheering me up a bit! 🙂 I got a 28 (8PS, 10V, 10PS) last year and this was probably my only chance to retake this year (most likely scheduled for brain surgery within the next few months). I'm already thinking backup plans (less-competitive MD schools, DO, etc.) and generally just feeling like I was too focused on bringing up PS score this time, but hoping it somehow all works out.

stlrams22 said:
Did anyone else have to wait nearly an hour AFTER 1:00 to start? I got there at 12:30 like the email said and waited 75 minutes to get checked in, probably did not start until 2:00. When I retake, I will either get there at 12:00 so I can start by 1:00 or get there at 12:58 so I start by 2:00
Click to expand...

I didn't have to wait too long. Started just shortly before 1pm, but did find it slightly annoying/weird that I couldn't use my own pens/pencils. 😕 Everything else about my test center was pretty nice though.
 
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how much will a decrease in MCAT score affect your app? I got a 31 before... expecting 28 🙁 🙁 🙁 will they look at my previous score too or just my new one?
 
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positivityrocks said:
Thanks for cheering me up a bit! 🙂 I got a 28 (8PS, 10V, 10PS) last year and this was probably my only chance to retake this year (most likely scheduled for brain surgery within the next few months). I'm already thinking backup plans (less-competitive MD schools, DO, etc.) and generally just feeling like I was too focused on bringing up PS score this time, but hoping it somehow all works out.



I didn't have to wait too long. Started just shortly before 1pm, but did find it slightly annoying/weird that I couldn't use my own pens/pencils. 😕 Everything else about my test center was pretty nice though.
Click to expand...

The most annoying part is going on breaks, it is ridiculous to go through the entire process to check in each time. The workers at my center were rude and stupid....she took my driver's license, told me my signature didn't match it (probably not since it was from high school), and asked me to write my signature how it appeared on my license. I didn't remember what it looked like and the hag wouldn't let me see my license so I could reproduce my old signature. I scribbled something down, didn't look like my old signature, and the ignorant lady told me I had to sign in and out like that for the rest of the day. I ignored her request and she didn't say anything, she can't prevent me from taking the test for that, just a hag on a power trip.
 
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PS: Thought it was calculation heavy. Calculations weren't that bad though. Overall, I think it may have been a little more difficult than the hardest PS section on an AAMC test (probably AAMC 11)

V: Incredibly dense and boring passages. They were much harder than the passages on AAMC 10 and 11. It was really easy to narrow down to two choices but difficult to pick the right one. 🙁

BS: Wasn't that bad. Lot's of experimental questions but no way near the difficulty of the AAMC 11 ebola passage.

Overall, the AAMC tests are not representative of the real exam anymore.
 
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I thought PS was easier than the full lengths and the verbal was WAY harder, but maybe because I am more of a problem solver than a humanities type of guy. This verbal section was the exact opposite of what I was hoping for - the passages were nearly twice as long as normal practice passages, which made it very hard to organize different points in the passage and follow what was going on, especially when you are so timed-down! At the end of the third passage, I looked at the timer and it said 25:00! I was like wholey ****!
 
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Do you usually practice on widescreen monitors? It may seem that they are longer but in actuality they are just condensed (less words per line).
 
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GomerPyle said:
I thought PS was easier than the full lengths and the verbal was WAY harder, but maybe because I am more of a problem solver than a humanities type of guy. This verbal section was the exact opposite of what I was hoping for - the passages were nearly twice as long as normal practice passages, which made it very hard to organize different points in the passage and follow what was going on, especially when you are so timed-down! At the end of the third passage, I looked at the timer and it said 25:00! I was like wholey ****!
Click to expand...

.
 
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stlrams22 said:
The most annoying part is going on breaks, it is ridiculous to go through the entire process to check in each time. The workers at my center were rude and stupid....she took my driver's license, told me my signature didn't match it (probably not since it was from high school), and asked me to write my signature how it appeared on my license. I didn't remember what it looked like and the hag wouldn't let me see my license so I could reproduce my old signature. I scribbled something down, didn't look like my old signature, and the ignorant lady told me I had to sign in and out like that for the rest of the day. I ignored her request and she didn't say anything, she can't prevent me from taking the test for that, just a hag on a power trip.
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Yeah that process took a while and is the same for any Prometric ETS Testing Center. I realized that even though the break is "10 minutes", you can still stay on the page before you start the section for even longer. Hence, "Unlimited Break"?! I wonder if I can just take a 20 minute power nap while on that page. 😀
 
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supermintyfresh said:
Yeah that process took a while and is the same for any Prometric ETS Testing Center. I realized that even though the break is "10 minutes", you can still stay on the page before you start the section for even longer. Hence, "Unlimited Break"?! I wonder if I can just take a 20 minute power nap while on that page. 😀
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I know somebody who did that (while they were writing notes on their scratch paper) and found out the exam timer does start regardless of whether you pass that screen or not (after a certain amount of time you are on that screen I assume).
 
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MMa23 said:
Do you usually practice on widescreen monitors? It may seem that they are longer but in actuality they are just condensed (less words per line).
Click to expand...

Hmm...maybe, but it did take me a lot longer to read. Maybe it was the nerves? Who knows...I felt they were much longer and had more paragraphs.
 
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PsychDO2018 said:


You will still have people, who will deny this out of ignorance or out of fear, just look at the "changing landscape of the MCAT thread thats floating around here)
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Seriously. Across all of my AAMC FLs, I could finish VR with 10 minutes to spare; PS with 15 minutes to spare; and BS with 10 minutes to spare. On the real thing I had a little over 5 minutes on each to spare.
 
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How does anyone know they got X number of questions wrong per section? How can you remember specifically what was asked?
 
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I thought the PS was relatively easy compared to what I was used to, there was maybe one passage that was tricky.

Verbal, WTF. Usually there's one or two passages I find challenging, with the rest easy. This one there were a bunch of tough passages.

Biology is usually my best section, but this was way harder than usual. The orgo discretes were especially difficult.

No idea what to expect.
 
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circulus vitios said:
It's a lower bound, and the questions stick out because I had no idea wtf they were talking about.
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I have vague recollections of the questions. I had some funky question with pictures on a discrete...but I cannot tell you what they were asking me nor what answer I chose 😎

I can remember the topics that were discussed in verbal and bio but, again, I cannot recall any specific questions and what my answers were.

Sometimes I think that's a blessing because I must wait with baited breath like everyone else, and other times I wish I could remember the entire test so I could self "score" and not be surprised in a month.
 
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PsychDO2018 said:


You will still have people, who will deny this out of ignorance or out of fear, just look at the "changing landscape of the MCAT thread thats floating around here)
Click to expand...

I don't think yesterday's exam was significantly different from most of the AAMC practice exams (excluding AAMC 3). Obviously, the questions and the topics were not the same but it did not take any longer nor did it feel any more convoluted.
 
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Now the questions are slowly coming back to me. Was there an orgo discrete that seemed to have 2 answers, depending on how you drew the structure?
 
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I think I remember something like that. However, if I recall there was one extra carbon on one or something. Though, I could be mixing things up. The orgo questions are a bit of a blur. I don't remember if they were hard or easy or what.
 
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I felt very well-prepared going into the exam, after taking nine full-length practices (a mix of AAMC and Kaplan). And yet I was unnerved by the PS section. It's a blur now, but I remember feeling like I guessed on many questions and that in general the section didn't test me on the physics/chem that I had studied, and I had tried to study broadly.

It felt like I would score possibly 2 to 3 points lower than on my practices in PS, but I am obviously hoping that isn't true.
 
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