The Official April 24, 2014 MCAT Thread

[HopelessDreamer]

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Anyone else on here taking it on the 24th? I'm going to start studying later this week. What is everyone else's study plan?

 

[Dr.Keem]

Oh, wait, after reading that question again, I see where it can be confusing. You answered your own question right, but the poorly worded question threw you off. Where did you get that question anyway?

Lol,glad someone else thought the wording was poor. It came from Mcatquestionoftheday.com http://mcatquestionaday.com/findquestion.php?arg1=1449 . 1st time encountering a question worded such as that one, but besides that I like the website. I wonder how their questions compare to the real thing?(easier/harder?)

 

[CapCrunch]

Well, that question would be an easy discrete. I've done a few of their questions, and they seem like moderate discretes. A few easy ones, and a few moderate ones.

 

[Xtract]

I understand the trend/concept, I guess its just the wording of the question. I thought it was asking "what is the electron affinity of np1 compared to np2?"(lower: decrease) , not " in going from np1 to np2, how will the electron affinity change" (increase). Guess I need to pay more attention to wording.

Yeah, this is a very poorly worded question stem along w/ answer choices. Is this from that free MCAT question a day thing?

 

[Osteoth]

Woo, just found this thread!

I did AAMC 7 yesterday, and got a 29 (10/9/10). This is the first AAMC I scored below an 11 in verbal, and I did not do any verbal practice yet because of this, so I'm hopeful for a couple point increase going forward.

Why is everyone doing Kaplan and TBR FL instead of all the AAMC ones? How do you guys feel about those?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Woo, just found this thread!

I did AAMC 7 yesterday, and got a 29 (10/9/10). This is the first AAMC I scored below an 11 in verbal, and I did not do any verbal practice yet because of this, so I'm hopeful for a couple point increase going forward.

Why is everyone doing Kaplan and TBR FL instead of all the AAMC ones? How do you guys feel about those?

We are doing Kaplan and BR in addition to the AAMC

 

[ConsultantMD]

Woo, just found this thread!

I did AAMC 7 yesterday, and got a 29 (10/9/10). This is the first AAMC I scored below an 11 in verbal, and I did not do any verbal practice yet because of this, so I'm hopeful for a couple point increase going forward.

Why is everyone doing Kaplan and TBR FL instead of all the AAMC ones? How do you guys feel about those?

I do not have TBR. So that's why 🙂.

 

[606577]

Just made an account for this thread. Good luck to you all. Any advice on how to improve aamc practice scores? I do one every week but I can not increase at all...

#3 10/10/10
#4 10/10/10
#5 10/10/10
#7 10/10/10
#8 10/10/10

 

[SOOyC52H1Sof]

Just made an account for this thread. Good luck to you all. Any advice on how to improve aamc practice scores? I do one every week but I can not increase at all...

#3 10/10/10
#4 10/10/10
#5 10/10/10
#7 10/10/10
#8 10/10/10

well, at least your a well rounded person 🙂
Seems like you have hit a sweet spot there.

(both of these comments seem to suggest corpulence, which I am not trying to imply. lol)

 

[606577]

Yeah I cant say I am angry at my scores but it makes me nervous that the best I can do is essentially the minimum acceptable score. What makes me angry is I miss some questions that I have no business getting wrong. Some answers are even right in the passage.

I will try reviewing my mistakes more it seems like I lose focus during the exam. Maybe re-taking exams will help get my accuracy up and train me not to make dumb mistakes.

 

[AKMCAT]

Anyone do TPR Full Length 4: I have a question on the PS section. # 30 and # 31, please message me if you have. I would really appreciate it.

 

[Dr.Keem]

Yeah, this is a very poorly worded question stem along w/ answer choices. Is this from that free MCAT question a day thing?

sorry for the late reply but yea, its from the Mcat question of the day website. Besides this poorly worded question, I like the website.

 

[smoothbunzz]

Hey guys, pushed my MCAT to April 24th due to logistics.

Scores so far.. (anyone else similar to me ??)

Verbal Physical Biological Composite
8 13 11 32 Kaplan FL 1
10 13 12 35 Kaplan FL 2
12 13 12 37 Kaplan FL 3
12 13 11 36 AAMC FL 3
9 11 13 33 Kaplan FL 4
9 12 12 33 Kaplan FL 5
10 10 14 34 Kaplan FL 6
11 13 14 38 Kaplan FL 7
10 13 13 36 AAMC FL 4
8 10 10 28 Kaplan FL 8
12 11 14 37 Kaplan FL 9
11 13 13 37 Kaplan FL 10
5 11 10 26 Kaplan FL 11
10 12 12 34 AAMC FL 5
8 12 11 31 Gold Standard FL 1 (Free Diag)



Basically, these are all the tests I have taken until date. Kaplan FL 8 and 11 were not very pretty. Got a 5 on the Kaplan FL 11 verbal...

I only have AAMC 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 left. What do you guys think about mixing in some GS tests until the 24th???

 

[ConsultantMD]

Hey guys, pushed my MCAT to April 24th due to logistics.

Scores so far.. (anyone else similar to me ??)

Verbal Physical Biological Composite
8 13 11 32 Kaplan FL 1
10 13 12 35 Kaplan FL 2
12 13 12 37 Kaplan FL 3
12 13 11 36 AAMC FL 3
9 11 13 33 Kaplan FL 4
9 12 12 33 Kaplan FL 5
10 10 14 34 Kaplan FL 6
11 13 14 38 Kaplan FL 7
10 13 13 36 AAMC FL 4
8 10 10 28 Kaplan FL 8
12 11 14 37 Kaplan FL 9
11 13 13 37 Kaplan FL 10
5 11 10 26 Kaplan FL 11
10 12 12 34 AAMC FL 5
8 12 11 31 Gold Standard FL 1 (Free Diag)



Basically, these are all the tests I have taken until date. Kaplan FL 8 and 11 were not very pretty. Got a 5 on the Kaplan FL 11 verbal...

I only have AAMC 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 left. What do you guys think about mixing in some GS tests until the 24th???

Seriously, doesn't that bug you that you had those two drops in score but they're outliers for sure. I'm planning on doing every Kaplan/AAMC test out there and also an EK and TPR test. I think varying the test types is a smart idea just for variety.

My scores are slightly below yours (31-37 if you take out a random 27), I'm still making a bunch of careless errors that are preventing me from getting 12-13's consistently. I think it's also content, so I just got ahold of TBR and will go through that content as well.

 

[TurkTurkleton92]

Took AAMC 3 last night and scored a 26. :/ I was pretty nervous when I took it and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it. Gonna review it today and get ready for AAMC 4 on Wednesday.

 

[ConsultantMD]

Took AAMC 3 last night and scored a 26. :/ I was pretty nervous when I took it and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it. Gonna review it today and get ready for AAMC 4 on Wednesday.

Have you been scoring higher on other tests? Honestly the AAMC practice tests to me seem easier content-wise and have a steeper curve, so even though you might do better as a raw score, it's just a harder curve to beat. I'd say focus on why you got answers wrong and it will improve from there. Chin up!

 

[smoothbunzz]

Seriously, doesn't that bug you that you had those two drops in score but they're outliers for sure. I'm planning on doing every Kaplan/AAMC test out there and also an EK and TPR test. I think varying the test types is a smart idea just for variety.

My scores are slightly below yours (31-37 if you take out a random 27), I'm still making a bunch of careless errors that are preventing me from getting 12-13's consistently. I think it's also content, so I just got ahold of TBR and will go through that content as well.

It is very frustrating and a confidence destroyer. I have heard that Kaplan Fl 8-11 are pretty tough; however, I do not want to become complacent with that. I also want to experience tests that crush me so at least I have that experience underneath my belt. Furthermore, I feel that if I can take tests from different companies so that I can expect the weirdness of the real MCAT. Kind of just want to get this thing over with, I feel like I can always find flaws or weaknesses (do you guys feel the same way?).

 

[smoothbunzz]

ConsultantMD

I also am doing the exact same thing with TBR! Going over all my weakness by doing TBR MC questions on non-test days. Hopefully, it does us good 😀

 

[forfun135]

.

 

[Xtract]

Hey guys, pushed my MCAT to April 24th due to logistics.

Scores so far.. (anyone else similar to me ??)

Verbal Physical Biological Composite
8 13 11 32 Kaplan FL 1
10 13 12 35 Kaplan FL 2
12 13 12 37 Kaplan FL 3
12 13 11 36 AAMC FL 3
9 11 13 33 Kaplan FL 4
9 12 12 33 Kaplan FL 5
10 10 14 34 Kaplan FL 6
11 13 14 38 Kaplan FL 7
10 13 13 36 AAMC FL 4
8 10 10 28 Kaplan FL 8
12 11 14 37 Kaplan FL 9
11 13 13 37 Kaplan FL 10
5 11 10 26 Kaplan FL 11
10 12 12 34 AAMC FL 5
8 12 11 31 Gold Standard FL 1 (Free Diag)



Basically, these are all the tests I have taken until date. Kaplan FL 8 and 11 were not very pretty. Got a 5 on the Kaplan FL 11 verbal...

I only have AAMC 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 left. What do you guys think about mixing in some GS tests until the 24th???

For you to get that high on Kaplan FL 11 means that youre a beast. That test was atrocious. It is not indicative whatsoever (score-wise) of your real MCAT score.

I took that test before I was halfway done with content. Lets just say my highest section was Verbal.. and that was a 7.

 

[606577]

Where can i buy kaplan FL tests? Are they only if you take a class?

 

[Osteoth]

Where can i buy kaplan FL tests? Are they only if you take a class?

+1!

I took AAMC 8 today and got an 8/12/11. My PS dropped two points from my last test, but overall I am satisfied with the score (31)

 

[Lamel]

#3 9/12/9
#4 9/12/9
#5 9/12/9

No kidding.

This is pretty incredible.

I haven't even started full lengths yet, will start in 2 days hopefully. That'll give me 3 weeks to do the last 1/3 and AAMC tests. Do you guys think that will be enough? I sure hope so.

I just finished content review and have been 80%+ on BR passages for Chem/Physics/Orgo, and 70%+ for BR bio. Hopefully these are good signs.

 

[606577]

]I just finished content review and have been 80%+ on BR passages for Chem/Physics/Orgo, and 70%+ for BR bio. Hopefully these are good signs.

That was what I got and I am getting 30s on aamc FLs

 

[Karasu]

Anyone else in here doing TBR CBTs? I took the first one today and wanted to see what others thought.

 

[drrao88]

22 on diagnostic (7 8 8)
27 on FL 1 (11 8 8)

Target: 35

Decision: Move test back to May.

 

[ManOfDiligence]

AAMC3 29- 10/9/10. Highest composite score thus far.

I'll be taking the AAMC Self Assessments here in the next couple of weeks.
First up, Ochem SA- my weakest subject. I'll be doing these tomorrow.

Question: Ochem is my weakest section. Do you think it is worth it to devote alot more time to this section? Or should I choose by battles wisely and devote this time on the other sciences since Ochem is generally minimal on the test? Feedback would be appreciated.

Few more weeks!

 

[ConsultantMD]

AAMC3 29- 10/9/10. Highest composite score thus far.

I'll be taking the AAMC Self Assessments here in the next couple of weeks.
First up, Ochem SA- my weakest subject. I'll be doing these tomorrow.

Question: Ochem is my weakest section. Do you think it is worth it to devote alot more time to this section? Or should I choose by battles wisely and devote this time on the other sciences since Ochem is generally minimal on the test? Feedback would be appreciated.

Few more weeks!

I'd say no on the orgo. There aren't that many questions and they are pretty broad. So if anything go over the broad principles and patterns not the nitty gritty. I'm bad at orgo too because I haven't taken it in 8 years but I think I've just honed in on the big picture stuff and that has helped.

 

[ManOfDiligence]

I'd say no on the orgo. There aren't that many questions and they are pretty broad. So if anything go over the broad principles and patterns not the nitty gritty. I'm bad at orgo too because I haven't taken it in 8 years but I think I've just honed in on the big picture stuff and that has helped.

I was thinking along those lines as well, thanks for the input.
Keep up the good work ConsultantMD, I see you have been making improvements in your scores! Still yet to be part of the 30 club in a Practice test.

 

[ConsultantMD]

I was thinking along those lines as well, thanks for the input.
Keep up the good work ConsultantMD, I see you have been making improvements in your scores! Still yet to be part of the 30 club in a Practice test.

Gracias, yes I think I'm in the 33-34 range right now, but it'd be awesome to have another boost upward. The silly mistakes are very costly indeed.

I also plan on reviewing all my wrong answers ever, I feel like that would be helpful and would take up an entire day or so.

Anyone else do this? even after already doing detailed review?

 

[Xtract]

AAMC3 29- 10/9/10. Highest composite score thus far.

I'll be taking the AAMC Self Assessments here in the next couple of weeks.
First up, Ochem SA- my weakest subject. I'll be doing these tomorrow.

Question: Ochem is my weakest section. Do you think it is worth it to devote alot more time to this section? Or should I choose by battles wisely and devote this time on the other sciences since Ochem is generally minimal on the test? Feedback would be appreciated.

Few more weeks!

I think you should take the OChem SA, like you said. Mark EVERY question you are remotely unsure of, and after you're done with the SA, review the 'marked unsure' questions (even if you got them correct) and the ones you got incorrect. I think this whole process should take you a week max. After that, I'd start focusing on more important things. Thats my 2 cents though. 🙂

 

[Osteoth]

AAMC3 29- 10/9/10. Highest composite score thus far.

I'll be taking the AAMC Self Assessments here in the next couple of weeks.
First up, Ochem SA- my weakest subject. I'll be doing these tomorrow.

Question: Ochem is my weakest section. Do you think it is worth it to devote alot more time to this section? Or should I choose by battles wisely and devote this time on the other sciences since Ochem is generally minimal on the test? Feedback would be appreciated.

Few more weeks!

Not sure if you've taken Ochem Lab yet or not, but a couple high yield topics I've found on AAMC 3-8 is that there are generally 1-2 questions each test on separation/purification techniques, the bread and butter of lab, and another 1-2 questions on IR/H spectra (specifically carbonyl/alcohol stretches for IR). So in terms of Ochem I didn't do any studying of it, but just have been taking the practice tests and I've found most of the stuff I need to know was either very rudimentary or was covered in lab, which I just completed.

Good luck!

 

[Lamel]

Took my first AAMC today (#3) and got 12 PS/12 VR/11 BS - 35.

I am surprised at my performance in VR, but disappointed at my performance in Biology. Aiming for 37 so hopefully it improves.

 

[SOOyC52H1Sof]

Took 6R today and got a 28, 2 questions away from a 30. I guess I'm happy with it.

i changed the way I do verbal. I learned the princeton review method, and while its a great method, I realized that I just need to be quicker. Havent really practiced all that much using the method, so am far from having mastered it. I did pretty well, except the one passage i rushed myself in, which ended up with me getting most of that passages questions wrong.

 

[Karasu]

Finished all my science Self-Assessments. I'm interested in seeing how well these percentages correlate to my actual score on the 24th.

I've decided to just split the verbal up over the next few days, and take 3 or so a day.

Physics: 60%
Chemistry: 69%
Orgo: 84%
Biology: 86%

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

My plan from here till test day:

Complete 25 passages per day in BR and TPR SW and then take my 7 practice exams BR 1-5 and AAMC 10 and 11.

Sound good?

 

[ConsultantMD]

Took my first AAMC today (#3) and got 12 PS/12 VR/11 BS - 35.

I am surprised at my performance in VR, but disappointed at my performance in Biology. Aiming for 37 so hopefully it improves.

Nice score. If you look at the raw score conversions, you're probably off by a couple questions. I reviewed my AAMC 3 and saw that only a couple more questions would get me to a 38, it's frustrating!

I wish someone would confirm if the scale was more like this or if it is more lax... it's hard to tell.

 

[Karasu]

My plan from here till test day:

Complete 25 passages per day in BR and TPR SW and then take my 7 practice exams BR 1-5 and AAMC 10 and 11.

Sound good?

That's comparable to what I am doing. I'm finishing up the last 1/3 of TBR and doing Bio passages from TPR SW on top of it all because I like the TPR Bio passages more.

Once you take TBR CBT 1 let me know what you think of it. I am taking # 2 on Friday.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

That's comparable to what I am doing. I'm finishing up the last 1/3 of TBR and doing Bio passages from TPR SW on top of it all because I like the TPR Bio passages more.

Once you take TBR CBT 1 let me know what you think of it. I am taking # 2 on Friday.

How many practice passages are you doing per day? It takes my a while to get through 25

 

[Karasu]

It comes out to like 17 just from the last 1/3 of TBR and the TPR varies.

I have the course outline that comes with the TPR books and I generally try and do two topics a night (topics sometimes covers multiple chapters). Which can range anywhere from 5-8 passages total.

Since starting FLs it has been too much work for one day. So, I put TPR on the back burner. I did the 1st 1/3 for chapters 1-7 in 3-4 days. My focus this week is to work on my weak topics in Chemistry and Physics.

 

[PreSomething124]

How representative are Kaplan FLs to the real MCAT? My opinion is that they're really good for learning PS (harder than AAMC in terms of difficulty- but it's good training), not sure about verbal (heard a few bad things actually), and average for BS. Took AAMC 8 this morning- started to lose focus during Bio even though it's my undergrad major. My friend recently took the march MCAT and he said the PS was starting to lean towards Kaplan difficulty.

Here are my scores so far:

Kaplan Diagnostic: 7/7/7 -21 lol...
AAMC 5 : 7/10/11 - 28
Kaplan FL 1: 11/7/10 -28
Kaplan Fl 2: 10/9/12 - 31
AAMC 8: 11/8/9 - 28
Target Score: 33+

Plan: Thinking about hitting just Kaplan PS sections for learning and AAMC FLs for full length practice.

Thoughts?

 

[Lamel]

Nice score. If you look at the raw score conversions, you're probably off by a couple questions. I reviewed my AAMC 3 and saw that only a couple more questions would get me to a 38, it's frustrating!

I wish someone would confirm if the scale was more like this or if it is more lax... it's hard to tell.

Yeah, it seems at that stage the scores can be erratic. I changed one of my choices in bio from the correct answer because it was worded really weird. So annoying lol.

I'm still most surprised by Verbal, I stopped verbal practice like 1 month into studying. I guess that section really does depend on your reading ability honestly, and a lot of "gut" feelings.

I'm gonna take AAMC 4 tomorrow; do you recommend I do the self assessments before I take any more AAMCs or is it okay? I did realize I had forgotten some of the concepts I had studied earlier in the season.

 

[ManOfDiligence]

Officially done with Ochem Content. Going over all notes today then taking the Ochem Self Assessment in the AM.

...oops, will be doing the SA for OChem tomorrow morning.

 

[premed199088]

Help!
I'm scheduled to take the MCAT in 3 weeks and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...
My diagnostic was 22. Full length 1 went down to a 21. Just finished full length 2 and got a 23.

Does anyone have any advice? I know I'm weak in physics, but bio isn't improving either....
What to do.. what to do....

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Is it just my computer or is everyone "I" being turned into "me"?

 

[Xtract]

Me think this has something to do with April Fools..

 

[Xtract]

with todays date* they censored out the real name of this holiday lol

 

[forfun135]

.

 

[forfun135]

.

 

[Xtract]

My scores:
#3 9/12/9
#4 9/12/9
#5 9/12/9
#6 13/11/9

BS is really difficult. Any advice? I only need a 10 for BS.

If you're doing that well in VR, I think your problem is content for BS. Half of BS (imo) is verbal reasoning. Your problem may be insufficient content knowledge or maybe orgo. You've got solid scores, you shouldn't let BS bring it down! What did you do to jump from 9's to a 13 for PS?

 

[premed199088]

How much time did you spend to study and practice MCAT?

Thanks for your reply!
I had been doing content review since January. I wasn't finished with content review before full length 1, but had it completed before full length 2. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have a 3.95 GPA, and this is the score I'm getting. Do I just need to keep doing practice or is there something else going on here?