The Official August 16, 2013 MCAT Thread

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gettheleadout

gettheleadout

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Welcome everyone! For those following the SN2ed or a similar 3-month study schedule, prep should begin in the next few weeks.

Hope to see some ambitious and optimistic people here with me, and shout out to the 3/23'ers from before I bailed on that test date.

Let's go!
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ericd8 said:
Your jimmies are rather rustled.. and your prescription of my post misconstrued. lol.
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Too many pronouns being thrown around, bro. Mah b

But yes, Mr. Wayne over here is quite a character...and not the one we like seeing in Hollywood.
 
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Platonic said:
I know what you mean. I almost decided not to take the actual MCAT, out of fear of bringing down my AAMC average. have an AAMC average of 44.7( with a strong upward trend toward the last few tests). I actually got a couple acceptances into top 2 schools based on my AAMC average alone. Decided to take the actual test just to guarantee a full scolarship/groveling letter from the dean begging me to go .
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I officially nominate Platonic for one of the two coolest people on this thread.
 
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Okay so I have been avoiding MCAT discussion for awhile after that test. I really believe that I failed it. My average AAMC test scores were 7PS 11VR 9BS. I am applying to DO schools. I didn't major in biology so honestly the MCAT was an uphill battle for me. I felt pretty prepared going in. In my opinion, the actual test was nothing like the AAMC tests. When I finished the AAMC tests I usually felt pretty confident. I felt like I knew a lot of the answers while I was taking the test. The actual MCAT was a different story. I was blindsided. I knew nothing. Sure... I know I did fine on the VR.Unfortunately I spent most of my time studying general chem and the test was mostly physics. The BS section felt much harder. The organic questions were on another level from the AAMC organic questions. Yes I realize my practice test scores were not up to the level that some here get but I was making the scores I needed. It also didn't help that I didn't sleep at all the night before the test. I was stressed and I have a bit of an insomnia problem. Honestly I am not sure what to do once I get my scores back. :(
 
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PsychStudent87 said:
Okay so I have been avoiding MCAT discussion for awhile after that test. I really believe that I failed it. My average AAMC test scores were 7PS 11VR 9BS. I am applying to DO schools. I didn't major in biology so honestly the MCAT was an uphill battle for me. I felt pretty prepared going in. In my opinion, the actual test was nothing like the AAMC tests. When I finished the AAMC tests I usually felt pretty confident. I felt like I knew a lot of the answers while I was taking the test. The actual MCAT was a different story. I was blindsided. I knew nothing. Sure... I know I did fine on the VR.Unfortunately I spent most of my time studying general chem and the test was mostly physics. The BS section felt much harder. The organic questions were on another level from the AAMC organic questions. Yes I realize my practice test scores were not up to the level that some here get but I was making the scores I needed. It also didn't help that I didn't sleep at all the night before the test. I was stressed and I have a bit of an insomnia problem. Honestly I am not sure what to do once I get my scores back. :(
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YOUR VERBAL SCORE IS AMAZING. Take the test again, it's no biggie. Here's the secret no one tells you: go to the AAMC website, learn everything on the outline. Test prep. companies useful for 2 things: AAMC practice tests+extra practice tests. If you take a prep. class do it online. THEY will not go over everything you need. Chances are the professors in your classes might have skipped over a few things you need to know. If you got C's in any of your pre-req. classes, I suggest going back to your textbook and really teaching yourself. Plus use this forum for help. Some people on here are really kind and will help get you to where you need to be. Reality: I brought my score up 10 points. I'm sure everybody has got a fair shot if they work hard. Did I mention your verbal score was amazing? :wow:
*Find useful textbooks btw. Sometimes the textbooks professors pick out are beyond the scope of what you need for this test. I recommend : A&P by Tortora. Wiley Solomon's Organic Chemistry. Introduction to Chemistry Cracolice, Cutnell and Johnson Physics. A subscription to Chegg's "solutions" a nice tool also.
One more thing, when you are doing problems out of a physics book, do the problems that are practical. They aren't going to ask you some super complex question that involves messy substitution. Understand the concepts, and be able to do the very basic problems for that specific topic. If it's a problem that takes 10 minutes to figure out, they probably aren't going to test you on that. Also, you can't underestimate the value of background knowledge. If you didn't learn something in your class, just going out of a review book won't cut it. (e.g.) I had to read every chapter in Tortora related to the system they wanted me to know about, only skipping over the dense anatomy (you still need to know the basic anatomy though). Think of it this way, where is bile produced? Crap! I forgot. Damn, okay hepatocytes make it...what, hepato- liver, hepato means liver...Liver! It helps to know what the pancreas is before trying to memorize what it makes. A good textbook will always save your butt.
 
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I retook the exam because of a verbal score. I was solid in my other sections. The 16th is my third time. Thankfully my state school doesn't care about anything but how I did on my last score, according to the chief of admissions anyway. I had an interview last time but verbal kept me out.

Uh...I mean I hacked into the grading machines and got my scores early, no, not really. Come on people.
 
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Had a dream (nightmare?) where I was taking the exact same PS section as on our exam. Need this to be over.
 
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Oddly enough, I'm starting to feel like time is passing by too fast. As an applicant for this cycle, at least without an official MCAT score I do not feel as bad about procrastinating on secondaries. However, once scores come out, the stress will kick in. Even though I'm beginning my 3rd week of classes I am still trying to develop an efficient routine with classes, research, studying, volunteering, working, dance practice, and ECs. Let's just say I still have quite a bit of work to do. :eek:

Note to future applicants: If you cannot fit in taking the MCAT and completing medical school applications during or prior to the summer before your senior year, take a gap year, or two. I was stubborn and am totally paying for it now. Sigh.
 
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So I've been good at keeping the test completely off my mind since August 16th...

But now there's only 1 week left and I officially started dreaming about getting my scores last night. Ugh
 
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Anyone have any guess as to around what time they would post the scores? I think I saw something about possibly 7 PM on another thread that had an afternoon test date.
 
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sakabato93 said:
Anyone have any guess as to around what time they would post the scores? I think I saw something about possibly 7 PM on another thread that had an afternoon test date.
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It's usually around 12-1pm PST I believe... Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
 
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Anybody else starting to doubt their performance more and more every day? I don't even really remember much about my performance (only that I initially felt confident about it compared to the AAMC's), so doubt is starting to creep into my mind.
 
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Platonic said:
Anybody else starting to doubt their performance more and more every day? I don't even really remember much about my performance (only that I initially felt confident about it compared to the AAMC's), so doubt is starting to creep into my mind.
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I took 9/7's and I am freaking out over everything already...
 
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ericd8 said:
Yeah I keep getting a feeling like I did abnormally bad and scored <30, although my average indicated otherwise
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This is normal. As time goes on, you remember less and less about the actual questions and what you put as the answer. Anyway, there are only 6 days left until we know our true fate.
 
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Hey everyone!

I am one of the ten thousand or so observers of SDN who reads many threads but never joins or contributes; at least until now.
I am 47 years old and took the August 16th MCAT with the rest of you. I too am excited to find our scores out next Tuesday evening.
Not that anyone cares, but I decided to go back to school after a 15 break, and paid my own way through a second undergrad degree which I am still working on. I did my genetic research at the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2009 and met some of the most fantastic people I have ever encountered in my life. Not only did I get good letter of recommendation, but got awesome lab experience, and ran my first triathlon.
Anyway, I started a physics degree this semester as the official "Plan B", because I am not going to go through this entire 9 month process only to be turned down or accepted to some place my wife and I cannot simply justify moving toward. Of course my heart is counting on medicine, but I am ready to study the quantum if that is the only way forward after next week.
Best of luck to all.
oldman66
 
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I got my amazon gift card this morning for the trial section.

EDIT: Scored horribly on the trial section haha
 
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Yup I took the psychology section and did horribly but I'm not beating myself up over it because I was wiped and I'd never taken psychology before lol...
 
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It kinda feels like the 2 trials sections are polar opposites in terms of difficulty. Most of those with biochem say its crazy difficult and they are so glad they aren't writing in 2015, and a lot of people with the psych/soc say its fairly straightforward and easy. My score doesn't reflect this (42% on psych/soc) because I straight up guessed on nearly every single question, but the passage/questions that I did read seemed very easy compared to the real MCAT I had just sat through. Does anyone else feel like this?
 
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erure said:
Yup I took the psychology section and did horribly but I'm not beating myself up over it because I was wiped and I'd never taken psychology before lol...
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Wait, so how did you get the psych questions? I thought the trial section was based off of classes you'd already taken.

Also got the gift card! Except did horribly on the biochem trial section. You know it was hard when a 63% puts you in the top quartile.. Like I said before, I don't envy those 2015ers.
 
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aesculapian said:
Wait, so how did you get the psych questions? I thought the trial section was based off of classes you'd already taken.

Also got the gift card! Except did horribly on the biochem trial section. You know it was hard when a 63% puts you in the top quartile.. Like I said before, I don't envy those 2015ers.
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The trial sections are randomly assigned.
 
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gettheleadout said:
The trial sections are randomly assigned.
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Except: "You do not need to prepare for the Trial Section. You will get questions based on the answers that you provided during MCAT registration about the courses that you’ve taken. Whenever possible, the AAMC will assign questions from courses you’ve already completed." (from the AAMC website)

I thought it was weird that they gave erure questions about psychology when she said she'd never taken psych. But maybe it wasn't possible or she also hadn't taken biochem or something? I dunno.
 
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aesculapian said:
Except: "You do not need to prepare for the Trial Section. You will get questions based on the answers that you provided during MCAT registration about the courses that you’ve taken. Whenever possible, the AAMC will assign questions from courses you’ve already completed." (from the AAMC website)

I thought it was weird that they gave erure questions about psychology when she said she'd never taken psych. But maybe it wasn't possible or she also hadn't taken biochem or something? I dunno.
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I thought I remembered seeing that somewhere, but inycepoo called and they said it was random. Clearly there is some apparent discrepancy but I don't see this as something to be concerned about.
 
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O Grady said:
It kinda feels like the 2 trials sections are polar opposites in terms of difficulty. Most of those with biochem say its crazy difficult and they are so glad they aren't writing in 2015, and a lot of people with the psych/soc say its fairly straightforward and easy. My score doesn't reflect this (42% on psych/soc) because I straight up guessed on nearly every single question, but the passage/questions that I did read seemed very easy compared to the real MCAT I had just sat through. Does anyone else feel like this?
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Same, skimmed passages and they were almost relaxing to read after finishing with bio. Didn't know vocab from the different answers though so I was still essentially guessing everything.
 
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I majored psyc in undergrad and I got the psyc trial section. I thought the section covered a wide range of topics...there were many theories/topics I wasn't familiar with. It'll be really difficult to study for the MCAT in the future given how students have to memorize tons of stuff from both psyc and biochem.

Anyway, I did the section in a little over 20 minutes and got the gift card. I'm pretty happy that I decided to do it :D
 
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whyeh said:
I majored psyc in undergrad and I got the psyc trial section. I thought the section covered a wide range of topics...there were many theories/topics I wasn't familiar with. It'll be really difficult to study for the MCAT in the future given how students have to memorize tons of stuff from both psyc and biochem.

Anyway, I did the section in a little over 20 minutes and got the gift card. I'm pretty happy that I decided to do it :D
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I'm a psych major and I disagree. I found most problems oriented toward critical thinking, and I don't think 2015+ test takers should be worried. There were definitely things I didn't know, but I haven't taken any sociology, nor did we have a topic outline (as we didn't prep).
 
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gettheleadout said:
I'm a psych major and I disagree. I found most problems oriented toward critical thinking, and I don't think 2015+ test takers should be worried. There were definitely things I didn't know, but I haven't taken any sociology, nor did we have a topic outline (as we didn't prep).
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Then I guess I didn't bother reading the passages carefully...I skimmed through them and used my background knowledge/gut feeling to answer those questions

my bad for giving the wrong info!

How does the AAMC decide who gave enough effort to deserve a gift card anyway??
 
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gettheleadout said:
I thought I remembered seeing that somewhere, but inycepoo called and they said it was random. Clearly there is some apparent discrepancy but I don't see this as something to be concerned about.
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There's a discrepancy all right. The AAMC person wouldn't explain why that was but simply said, "Oh, I'll make a note of that." I doubt he did, and I doubt they care what we think. But both my emails and calls told me it's indeed assigned randomly. I got psych and I haven't taken psych. (More importantly, I did not check off psych on that survey when registering for the MCAT.)
 
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whyeh said:
Then I guess I didn't bother reading the passages carefully...I skimmed through them and used my background knowledge/gut feeling to answer those questions

my bad for giving the wrong info!

How does the AAMC decide who gave enough effort to deserve a gift card anyway??
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Oh no, I wasn't saying that you said anything incorrect, I just have a different impression of what it was like. For all I know we could have had different trial passages. I was just giving my opposing experience.
 
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I haven't taken any psych or socio (basically the only social science subjects I haven't taken as a social science major lol), didn't really try, and got a 56%.

2015ers have nothing to worry about with a topic outline, review books, and Wikipedia. Oh, and reading skills, of course.
 
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59% on psych/sociology trial section, top half, got the gift card.

I'm dying waiting on the real scores, considering putting myself under until Tuesday so I can stop stressing about it. Wasn't able to snap in on VR like I did on the practice tests, and the BS material did not cater to my strengths.
 
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How did everyone see their scores for the trial section??? I don't see mine anywhere and I didn't get any emails.
 
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aesculapian said:
Wait, so how did you get the psych questions? I thought the trial section was based off of classes you'd already taken.

Also got the gift card! Except did horribly on the biochem trial section. You know it was hard when a 63% puts you in the top quartile.. Like I said before, I don't envy those 2015ers.
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I think it's because I've taken sociology before so maybe they were like "Well she hasn't taken psychology but she's taken sociology so let's give her that"? Or it's random? Anyway I did pretty horrible -- 50%.
 
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erure said:
I think it's because I've taken sociology before so maybe they were like "Well she hasn't taken psychology but she's taken sociology so let's give her that"? Or it's random? Anyway I did pretty horrible -- 50%.
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I had psych/soc even though I've never taken either of those courses.
 
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I did the Biochem section and got 81%. Funny thing is that the passages were long so I didn't really read them and finished with 20 mins to spare haha.

I am a Biochem major though
 
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I have to admit, I'm rather happy that I am still working on secondaries. Pretty sure I would be going absolutely crazy right now in anticipation of my scores (which really could go either way at this point), but instead am only going slightly crazy. Now I'm just focusing all that crazy energy into essays, which actually provides some stress relief :).
 
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