The Official 8/4/12 MCAT Thread

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Who's in? I just rescheduled from June 21st. I've been studying off and on since late march, but really started to kick it in about three weeks ago. Applying DO this cycle.

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I forgot to emphasize this: I have taken 2 actual MCATs, 9 Kaplan FLs, 5 AAMCs, and countless BS passages. I have never taken a BS test that difficult. Not even close.
 
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😱 I feel raped and violated too. Compared to my July 6th take, I definitely should have scored that one instead of this one.

For today...

PS: Mostly chemistry which I was happy with, but way to calculation heavy for me to feel comfortable. I am slow at calculations, so I found myself guessing on a lot of questions just to finish in time. Don't feel that great about it at all.

VR: I was struggling before but this may have been ok. I guess on 2 questions at the end due to time. I voided my July 6th section to improve this area (guessed on 2 passage on that test). Hope it was a 7 minimum.

WS: Love this section because both topics were easy. Too bad it means absolutely nothing to adcoms. Good break too.

BS: That first passage hit me and I kept rolling down hill from their. This was so hard. Mostly bio and not so much orgo which was great but a LOT HARDER. I had a lot of WTF moments on this test. July 6th was experimental too with 2 orgo passages, but it was much better/easy than today's section.

I will be lucky to get a 20. I feel that bad about it. Debating if I should sign up for a 4th retake for September or wait till next year and take a course. I hate this test!
 
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So my thoughts about the test:

PS: was not bad at all, there were few calc problems I had no idea about but the majority was doable
VB: was great, passages were interesting and the questions, on par with practice
WS: Straight forward
BS: difficult, very specific for bio and orgo, indepth information(things mcat review book said not to focus on) was needed. Know for sure I missed 4, really counting on that curve.

Overall experience: it was good, tricky questions here and there but in general a very reasonable exam
 
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EarthtoneJon said:
I forgot to emphasize this: I have taken 2 actual MCATs, 9 Kaplan FLs, 5 AAMCs, and countless BS passages. I have never taken a BS test that difficult. Not even close.
Click to expand...

I agree, like I said in the early post, there were questions which tested on knowledge MCAT review books specifically said not to worry about. However, those were not the majority and I feel that if you read and understood the info in passages, remaining was doable. I did run out time so had to mark two without even reading, and while the screen went time up, I realized the answer I had pick without reading was the wrong one(25% probability of a right guess my ass).
 
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anyone else feeling strange? like 3 months of work in one little evening? i feel awkward, what is everyone else up to?
 
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Hope everyone is glad to be done with this! Already logged on the Thx for some odd reason.... this is going to be a long month!
 
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aspiringdoc09 said:
😱 I feel raped and violated too. Compared to my July 6th take, I definitely should have scored that one instead of this one.

For today...

PS: Mostly chemistry which I was happy with, but way to calculation heavy for me to feel comfortable. I am slow at calculations, so I found myself guessing on a lot of questions just to finish in time. Don't feel that great about it at all.

VR: I was struggling before but this may have been ok. I guess on 2 questions at the end due to time. I voided my July 6th section to improve this area (guessed on 2 passage on that test). Hope it was a 7 minimum.

WS: Love this section because both topics were easy. Too bad it means absolutely nothing to adcoms. Good break too.

BS: That first passage hit me and I kept rolling down hill from their. This was so hard. Mostly bio and not so much orgo which was great but a LOT HARDER. I had a lot of WTF moments on this test. July 6th was experimental too with 2 orgo passages, but it was much better/easy than today's section.

I will be lucky to get a 20. I feel that bad about it. Debating if I should sign up for a 4th retake for September or wait till next year and take a course. I hate this test!
Click to expand...

Word.

I feel the EXACT same way about everything you said.
 
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aspiringdoc09 said:
😱 I feel raped and violated too. Compared to my July 6th take, I definitely should have scored that one instead of this one.

For today...

PS: Mostly chemistry which I was happy with, but way to calculation heavy for me to feel comfortable. I am slow at calculations, so I found myself guessing on a lot of questions just to finish in time. Don't feel that great about it at all.

VR: I was struggling before but this may have been ok. I guess on 2 questions at the end due to time. I voided my July 6th section to improve this area (guessed on 2 passage on that test). Hope it was a 7 minimum.

WS: Love this section because both topics were easy. Too bad it means absolutely nothing to adcoms. Good break too.

BS: That first passage hit me and I kept rolling down hill from their. This was so hard. Mostly bio and not so much orgo which was great but a LOT HARDER. I had a lot of WTF moments on this test. July 6th was experimental too with 2 orgo passages, but it was much better/easy than today's section.

I will be lucky to get a 20. I feel that bad about it. Debating if I should sign up for a 4th retake for September or wait till next year and take a course. I hate this test!
Click to expand...

Not good bro... You should have scored yur July 6 like me and wait for result, but have a test date as back up. If u can register in Sep 7, or Sep 11 go for it. 4th retake? I hope its not the 4th one in the same year!
 
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I took the MCAT 2 years ago and didn't do so hot. Prepared again this summer and here's what I thought of the test.

PS - Chemistry and physics were reasonable, no crazy passages that is not understandable. However, I totally stomped on some hard questions. I spent time to find the answers but just could not get the answer.

VR - Alot longer than practice test. But definitely more enjoyable to read. Easier than expected.

WS - Relatively easy topics!

BS - Bio passages are definitely more convoluted and in depth. Not that similar to practice test and contained some concepts somebody probably never would have thought to remember. I know I didn't.

Overall, it felt easier than the test I took 2 years ago for some reason. I didn't even finish the test last time. Just glad it's over, enjoy your summers!
 
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Hope people don't mind answering this, but out of curiosity, compared to TBR and TPRH Bio Passages, how much harder were the bio passages on this test?

Or was it so difficult that it didn't matter what BS passages book you prepped from?
 
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argama said:
Hope people don't mind answering this, but out of curiosity, compared to TBR and TPRH Bio Passages, how much harder were the bio passages on this test?

Or was it so difficult that it didn't matter what BS passages book you prepped from?
Click to expand...

Can't say for TPRH but TBR question would be easier in comparison with some of the passages on the bio section. But as drake would put it, "...learn to work with the negatives, to make a better picture." lol
 
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bbvm16 said:
I'm hesitant to say what I thought of each section, because how I feel never corresponds to how I end up doing. But, for what it's worth I'll share anyways haha...

PS is kind of a blur but from what I can remember I thought it went ok. Nothing too crazy or difficult, felt pretty similar to AAMC 11

VR was good I thought (although I never can tell...) but by good I mean in terms of the passage content - I thought most of them were easy to follow and somewhat interesting. Some of the questions were tricky though.

WS topics I was pretty happy with, but I hardly practiced for this section so I have no idea what my score will be lol. Oh, and I made up every example haha...

BS was hard! Definitely felt really difficult. I couldn't tell if I was just burning out at the end or if it really was super hard, but I think it was pretty difficult. There were a bunch of questions I just had to randomly guess on because I didn't have time to actually figure it out or I had no idea how to haha. Hope the curve on this section is nice!!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the test went - I guess I'll know for sure when I see my score in about 30 days! Hope everyone did great 🙂
Click to expand...

Ok so I just want to clarify. We ARE allowed to make up examples correct? I've heard so many different things about this and I am always worried if I do make something up that they will find out and dock me or something lol Maybe that's just me being my ol' paranoid self
 
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Singhp03 said:
Can't say for TPRH but TBR question would be easier in comparison with some of the passages on the bio section. But as drake would put it, "...learn to work with the negatives, to make a better picture." lol
Click to expand...

so pretty much, TBR was similar but it still came down to whether you can make sense what's going on?
 
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It is harder than TBR as far as understanding what is going on and following the passage. Also wasted a lot of time. Not all passages but two in particular.
 
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Ahh I see 🙁 Well I hope the curve for your test will be generous

Still grinding away here w/2.7 weeks left >____<
And def not feeling ready 🙁(
 
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Went into the test thinking 50-50 about voiding.

PS: I didn't think it was too bad. There were a handful of very easy, very straightforward questions. There were also a few that were quite tough, but I thought it was par for the course. Projected score: 8-9+

VR: The first passage bogged me down, then I got into a groove and breezed through the next five. The last passage really had me scratching my head. It was like the author that wrote it was trying to be confusing and vague on purpose.

BS: Insane. Just insane. The passages were convoluted and unclear, there was more biochemistry than I'm happy with, and there was very little Organic. I'm very strong in Organic, so this was frustrating. There was one discrete in particular that simply pissed me off. I checked the Biological Science aamc outline again, and it was definitely outside the scope of the required content. To know the information for that discreet would require the test taker to have memorized a vastly bigger, and completely useless, collection of data.

Rant over. I voided because of bull**** biology. To those that got their exams scored, I sincerely hope there is a forgiving scale because that was the hardest BS sections I've ever had the pleasure to be raped by.
 
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argama said:
so pretty much, TBR was similar but it still came down to whether you can make sense what's going on?
Click to expand...

Exactly, if u could work thought the rubbish quickly and use your background knowledge to generate a picture of what was happening(reading charts was a must) majority of the test was in fact doable. There are off course those question that u etheir know or don't, in which case guess and move on. But if anything, I would say TBR helps you best get exposure to passage, and questions, which appearing challenging at first. For me, TBR was key in reading bio passages.
 
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argama said:
Hope people don't mind answering this, but out of curiosity, compared to TBR and TPRH Bio Passages, how much harder were the bio passages on this test?

Or was it so difficult that it didn't matter what BS passages book you prepped from?
Click to expand...

These were just different. The BS passages today were the kind that you could spend an hour each on and still be clueless.

Met a guy at my testing center who voided due to BS. He told me his AAMC Average from 7-11 was a 39. :scared:
 
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retaker here

PS: Very fair. I looked up a few questions after the test and when I found out I was wrong, I felt like a complete idiot for getting such easy questions wrong. That one ice cube question and the sky question. OMG sigh...Prediction: 8-10

VR: I spent way too much time on the first passage, almost like 11 minutes -_- but managed to pick up the pace and guess on only about 3 or 4 questions. I thought this section wasn't too bad. There didn't seem like a killer passage at all...I guess I wasn't in the "VR" mode until later passages. Also, the passages were quite interesting for once! Prediction: 8-10

WS: I used an example from the verbal section here while it was still fresh in my mind. Not a concern at all.

BS: As a retaker, I had a monstrous BS section, so I kind of expected this. I felt so bad having to guess the last two or three questions because I spent so much time on those long passages. Previously, I felt overwhelmed, but I guess experience helped me here. Hoping the curve is generous to me. Prediction: 9-10

Yeah I know, my predicted scores aren't as high as most of you SDN overachievers, but it will be a major improvement for me (at least a 6 point improvement) if I can get those scores. If I can get at least a 30, I will be so happy.

My test center administrator was giving me a hard time about my signature because it missed one loop compared to the one on my driver's license, so I had to resign the sign-in sheet a few times until I got it -_- I had the feeling he recognized me from before, and for whatever reason he was kind of cold towards me.

Now comes the anxiety associated with the wait 🙁 🙁 🙁
 
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the hardest part about this test was those two passages in bio. the amount of details and depth they go into is hard to keep track of and it's just all so confusing. the questions they asked with those passages too.. jeeeeeeeez. i didn't really expect it i was guessing prob one of those passages, but there were 2!

best situation: 13/10/11
 
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brickbybrick said:
Ok so I just want to clarify. We ARE allowed to make up examples correct? I've heard so many different things about this and I am always worried if I do make something up that they will find out and dock me or something lol Maybe that's just me being my ol' paranoid self
Click to expand...

Yep you are allowed to make up examples. They don't check that your examples are real, but they just have to seem believable to the marker. I live in Canada so all my examples had to do with random Canadian things (that I made up lol) and so since the markers are American, there's no chance they would know if they were true or not. Also, my examples tend to be about small local organizations so again there's no way to know if they are true or not in the 45 seconds it takes the marker to grade your essay (according to my Kaplan instructor hah). And for extra reassurance, my Kaplan instruction told us to make up examples, as did my friend's Princeton instructor. Hope that calmed you down!
 
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PS: It wasn't that bad, I was comfortable with most of the question except the calculations. I missed the sky problem lol, Hoping for a 10+

VR: Ehh I didn't feel confident about this section. I would say there were a few questions where I had to guess between the 2 remaining answers. Hoping for a 8+

WS: I wrote a lot, but this section doesn't matter "that" much.

BS: Ok this is the section where I felt really really good about. I would agree that the passages were hard because there were a lot of advanced genetics questions (gene expression, RNA silencing, etc). Topics that most MCAT prep books do not cover. However, my major at my university just happens to be genetics and I swear that one of the passages was 80% like one of the questions on my final exam this past quarter. I honestly think that the test writers ran out of materials from lower division
bio classes. Now they are using materials that you would only learn from your upper division science classes. Hoping for a 12+

Please let there be a decent curve! I just want a 30 :scared:

My average aamc mcat FL were PS: 11 VR: 9 BS 12.5
 
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Stalking this thread.

From the sound of it you guys are freaking out over over two very weird passages and some questions that weren't on the AAMC outline/any prep book. Has it occurred to you guys yet that those were probably the experimental questions? It's doubtful two entire passages were experimental, but the questions that would have tested something you weren't supposed to know...I mean, come on, that's obvious. Could very well be the case that AAMC has already started testing the biochem questions for the 2015 test which would explain a lot about the experiences of test takers on BS in the last couple of years. True, AAMC is explicitly testing them in the experimental section they're replacing WS with in 2013, but those could very well just be the questions that couldn't possibly be slipped into the current test without being completely out of place (ex: the psychology questions).

Anyway, good luck guys, hope I'm right about the experimental stuff and that the curve makes up for the insane BS section.
 
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OCDOCDOCD said:
Stalking this thread.

From the sound of it you guys are freaking out over over two very weird passages and some questions that weren't on the AAMC outline/any prep book. Has it occurred to you guys yet that those were probably the experimental questions? It's doubtful two entire passages were experimental, but the questions that would have tested something you weren't supposed to know...I mean, come on, that's obvious. Could very well be the case that AAMC has already started testing the biochem questions for the 2015 test which would explain a lot about the experiences of test takers on BS in the last couple of years. True, AAMC is explicitly testing them in the experimental section they're replacing WS with in 2013, but those could very well just be the questions that couldn't possibly be slipped into the current test without being completely out of place (ex: the psychology questions).

Anyway, good luck guys, hope I'm right about the experimental stuff and that the curve makes up for the insane BS section.
Click to expand...

Well, you're sort of right. The entire section was hard, it wasn't just those two bastard passages. The organic discreets were pretty tough, except for one that was hard to screw up. I read the first passage, which was enjoyable and interesting, then moved on the the question series and had a huge "WTF" moment. I thought I got the hard one out of the way early, but it only got worse as it went on.

I would put $100 on one of those tough passages being experimental. I spent 20 minutes on one of them, and read it at least 5 times trying to make sense of any of it. I've taken Physiology, Histology, Immuno, Virology, Genetics, Advanced Cell bio, and it had me stumped from beginning to end. It made me embarrassed to be a Biology major. :laugh:

I'm betting the grading scale will be very forgiving, and people that scored will be pleasantly surprised.
 
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PS: Was very difficult for me. The calculations were not simple and it bogged down my time even when i didn't get the right answers. Way tooo calculation heavy.

Verbal: I rushed through the last two passages. The last passage was seriously WTF are you talking about.

Writing: Good topics. nice break

Biology: Very easy. Im a double bio major so all the indepth stuff i knew about for bio. Just very weak with orgo. So hopefully balances out.

I definitely felt depressed after the exam through 😡
 
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johnaddams said:
Not good bro... You should have scored yur July 6 like me and wait for result, but have a test date as back up. If u can register in Sep 7, or Sep 11 go for it. 4th retake? I hope its not the 4th one in the same year!
Click to expand...

I'm a chick by the way. No. I took it twice back in 2009 prematurely back to back to apply -bad move but spilled milk now. I know those scores expired for most schools, but a 3rd/4th try is still bad in my opinion. However, I will take it as many times as I need to get in. Call me crazy but...Yesterday was my third try after a year of studying, but I don't feel any better about it.
 
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Everyone who is complaining about a hard passage is referring to the genetics passage right? Because I have been messaged about how crazy the heart passage was and I certainly don't remember having a passage on the heart.

Oh and I was leaving the parking lot at Home Depot today and I had someone waiting for my spot. The car appeared to be moderately priced so I had trouble making a decision about leaving fast or slow. :laugh:
 
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I spent about 15 min on one passage. I was still somewhat confused after rereading three times. I felt the questions were not only difficult in terms of content but it was also very tricky.
 
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changebyforce said:
Everyone who is complaining about a hard passage is referring to the genetics passage right? Because I have been messaged about how crazy the heart passage was and I certainly don't remember having a passage on the heart.

Oh and I was leaving the parking lot at Home Depot today and I had someone waiting for my spot. The car appeared to be moderately priced so I had trouble making a decision about leaving fast or slow. :laugh:
Click to expand...

lol
 
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I didn't want to quote too much but to the person who answered my writing sample, making up examples question, thank you haha that makes me feel a lot better. Most of what I wrote was factual but it was based on interviews I saw a while ago randomly on Discovery so I doubt they'll believe it (since I don't think I explained it too well) but I know now I'm just REALLY second guessing myself

changebyforce said:
Everyone who is complaining about a hard passage is referring to the genetics passage right? Because I have been messaged about how crazy the heart passage was and I certainly don't remember having a passage on the heart.

Oh and I was leaving the parking lot at Home Depot today and I had someone waiting for my spot. The car appeared to be moderately priced so I had trouble making a decision about leaving fast or slow. :laugh:
Click to expand...

I'm 90% positive they are all referring to that one, ya haha that's the one I'm referring to anyway.

And as far as your Home Depot dilema, I literally laughed out loud hahahaha :laugh:

FarMD2012,

Is it bad that I found both hard? Even though the first passage entailed stuff that I reallly thought I knew and understood...until the questions came round. I'd say those were probably the hardest two in that section, for me anyway and from what I can remember
 
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But yea the questions were definitely challenging. I have a medical background and I definitely felt you needed some in depth extrapolations from the passages to arrive to the correct answers. The other passage, just hahahaha
 
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The second passage was the hardest one. When I saw the passage, I knew it was like one of the questions that I've had in my advanced euk genetics class, but questions like that takes a long time to interpret the data. So I skipped that passage and saved it for last.

Overall, I do agree there were some experimental passages which were hard and can make the test takers frustrated.
 
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FarMD2012,
Ya for sure. I have even done a lab experiment myself based on what was involved and I still couldn't figure it out. I lost confidence immediately with the first question haha

And ya the second passage was ridiculous and unnecessarily difficult.
 
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Can somebody explain what this "the weird stuff was probably experimental questions/passages" deal is? does that mean not all 52 questions in a section may count?

There were 4-5 PS questions that involved calculations that tripped me up. Unit conversions tripped me up on one question, sadly. I thought PS was pretty different from what I have seen on all the AAMC tests.

The 2nd BS passage was even harder than the Ebola passage, imo. And a discrete involving the letters A & B... what in the world?
 
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sorry I haven't posted sooner.... I don't think I got my goal score and agreeing with mostly what everyone else had said it was because of that Bio section! Half of the passages were very easy, but all of the organic was crazy hard....

PS: was surprisingly easier than i thought i only wound up using a handful of formulas i wrote in the tutorial

VS: very interesting passages... odd

WS: does this even count?

BS: F*********** YOU ORGO
 
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