The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

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I haven't taken a Biochem class yet, which kind of worries me before doing the actual MCAT. I've been studying for more than two months.

So far, I've done OG (71%), EK 3 (63% overall; 80% B/B), NS 5 (502 with new scale), Qpacks (Chem 88%, Physics 77%, Bio I 71%, CARS I first-half 68%), as well as TPR (494 and 496) and TBR (503?).

With those scores, do you guys think my B/B is okay even though I haven't taken the class yet? I only need about 506-508 (other parts of my application are great).
 
I haven't taken a Biochem class yet, which kind of worries me before doing the actual MCAT. I've been studying for more than two months.

So far, I've done OG (71%), EK 3 (63% overall; 80% B/B), NS 5 (502 with new scale), Qpacks (Chem 88%, Physics 77%, Bio I 71%, CARS I first-half 68%), as well as TPR (494 and 496) and TBR (503?).

With those scores, do you guys think my B/B is okay even though I haven't taken the class yet? I only need about 506-508 (other parts of my application are great).

You are probably on the border of being alright. Those percents are a bit low for biology, but most of the people on SDN who really killed it got like >80% so you seem ok. I'm guessing you're a September test taker?

Also be sure to focus on your amino acids and energy pathways. People seem to encounter those categories pretty frequently
 
You are probably on the border of being alright. Those percents are a bit low for biology, but most of the people on SDN who really killed it got like >80% so you seem ok. I'm guessing you're a September test taker?

Also be sure to focus on your amino acids and energy pathways. People seem to encounter those categories pretty frequently

Hey there, what do you mean by energy pathways? Also i have the properties of the 20 amino acids memorized, do you think i should memorize the structure?
 
Hey there, what do you mean by energy pathways? Also i have the properties of the 20 amino acids memorized, do you think i should memorize the structure?
I think if you know the basic properties of amino acids along with the functional groups on the side chains, you shuld be good.
 
Hey there, what do you mean by energy pathways? Also i have the properties of the 20 amino acids memorized, do you think i should memorize the structure?

Yeah energy pathways are things like glycolysis, Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, etc. Basically how the body takes in and processes glucose, fatty acids. What Timmy said is good for AA structure. And then I've heard different opinions on structures of other molecules, but I would say have a very general idea of the makeup of the common pieces of DNA, mono/disaccharides, etc.
 
Took the Official Guide yesterday.

Chem - 25/30 - 83%
CARS - 24/30 - 80%
Bio - 23/30 - 76%
Psych 26/30 - 86%

A little worried about my Bio score. Some passages were pretty difficult and some questions I couldn't figure out how what exactly they were asking. Test is Aug. 22nd. How am I doing?

Definitely going to focus on Khan Bio the next few weeks. Going to review OG first and see where I went wrong.
 
Took the Official Guide yesterday.

Chem - 25/30 - 83%
CARS - 24/30 - 80%
Bio - 23/30 - 76%
Psych 26/30 - 86%

A little worried about my Bio score. Some passages were pretty difficult and some questions I couldn't figure out how what exactly they were asking. Test is Aug. 22nd. How am I doing?

Definitely going to focus on Khan Bio the next few weeks. Going to review OG first and see where I went wrong.

Your scores look good. Just definitely focus on bio and maybe CARS. The real CARS will probably be longer passages, so work on timing too. My percents were lower than yours on all sections, except CARS, two weeks from my test, and I ended up with 515. So you are definitely in striking distance for sure. PM me if you want help with those confusing ones ... I'm bored at work 🙂
 
6) come back here when done with that and I'll give you another list 🙂

Okay, what do you recommend next? 😀
(I've taken biochem but it was 4 years ago, so I'm concerned about how in depth I need to know some of the biochem topics. The AAMC outline is just... woefully vague.)
 
I haven't taken a Biochem class yet, which kind of worries me before doing the actual MCAT. I've been studying for more than two months.

So far, I've done OG (71%), EK 3 (63% overall; 80% B/B), NS 5 (502 with new scale), Qpacks (Chem 88%, Physics 77%, Bio I 71%, CARS I first-half 68%), as well as TPR (494 and 496) and TBR (503?).

With those scores, do you guys think my B/B is okay even though I haven't taken the class yet? I only need about 506-508 (other parts of my application are great).

You are probably on the border of being alright. Those percents are a bit low for biology, but most of the people on SDN who really killed it got like >80% so you seem ok. I'm guessing you're a September test taker?

Also be sure to focus on your amino acids and energy pathways. People seem to encounter those categories pretty frequently

August 21st test. I think I'm more worried about CARS and P/S. Hopefully the C/P and B/B will be straightforward. I'll definitely brush up on pathways and AAs. I'm going to finish the QPacks this week and review contents, before doing EK 4 and NS 4. I'll do AAMC FL a week before my test. Khan's P/S have been helpful to me, while Khan's C/P B/B seems harder than QPacks or OG. Are Khan's B/B, C/P, and CARS about the same as the actual MCAT?
 
August 21st test. I think I'm more worried about CARS and P/S. Hopefully the C/P and B/B will be straightforward. I'll definitely brush up on pathways and AAs. I'm going to finish the QPacks this week and review contents, before doing EK 4 and NS 4. I'll do AAMC FL a week before my test. Khan's P/S have been helpful to me, while Khan's C/P B/B seems harder than QPacks or OG. Are Khan's B/B, C/P, and CARS about the same as the actual MCAT?

Yeah Khan can be hit or miss on the science sections. Sometimes they were helpful but some were either way too easy or too nitpicky. It can be helpful for content review so it's still worthwhile in my opinion. CARS is good practice if nothing else. I used them mostly for timing purposes. AAMC CARS is most indicative though.
 
Okay, what do you recommend next? 😀
(I've taken biochem but it was 4 years ago, so I'm concerned about how in depth I need to know some of the biochem topics. The AAMC outline is just... woefully vague.)

Did you do what I suggested? 🙂

1) go to my blog: http://adoc2be.blogspot.com - and click on the link for the AA's and their components. DRAW this. MANY times.
2) use the Kaplan book for the MM and LB graphs. Understand them. If I change a concentration of this or that, how will the graph change? Now put that into vectors and other pressures
3) make sure you can DRAW the entire TCA cycle with all the substrates, enzymes, and by-products
4) make sure you can DRAW the gluconeogenesis and all the others without stopping
5) make sure you can identify the AA's and what conformational changes will happen on the outside and inside of the plasma membrane
6) come back here when done with that and I'll give you another list 🙂

Okay, next:

7) Name all the enzymes involved in the central dogma 🙂
8) tell me about the mutations: think about what would happen if a valine was substituted with a glycine or a proline (God forbid) or a histidine replaced with a proline or a phenyalanine replaced with a tyrosine
9) explain all the steps in the central dogma - by substrate, enzyme, and product
10) what is the pathway for replication, translation and transcription: is it 5' ---> 3' ??? how do you read that when converting back?
11) what molecules are involved in lipid synthesis?
12) draw the mechanism for glucagon and insulin... (hint: if you did that above, you've already done it 😉 )
13) what is the difference between purines and pyrimidines?

When you're done with that come back, and I'll give you some more...

Oh, ask yourself these questions:

1) why can a croc stay under water for so long?
2) why does a hiker get high altitude sickness when climbing to Base Camp 1 @ Everest?
3) what happens when you drink a ton of alcohol and then take 3 tylenol before going to sleep trying to stave off a hangover headache?
4) why does a snake bite kill a person?
 
This is overkill imo
It might be but I was asked how to study for biochem and given what I have seen on FL practice tests, if I can do what I've posted, I will do very, very well on ALL sections of the exam.

Over-prepared >>>>>>> than under 😉

and not only that, every item I posted is an integrated question. The hiker, snake bite, croc all have to do with the biochem reactions/mechanism, hormone releasing, muscle contracting/relaxing, circulatory, pulmonary, neural ... and some physics and gen chem.
 
It might be but I was asked how to study for biochem and given what I have seen on FL practice tests, if I can do what I've posted, I will do very, very well on ALL sections of the exam.

Over-prepared >>>>>>> than under 😉

and not only that, every item I posted is an integrated question. The hiker, snake bite, croc all have to do with the biochem reactions/mechanism, hormone releasing, muscle contracting/relaxing, circulatory, pulmonary, neural ... and some physics and gen chem.
Can you post the answers? 🙂
 
Found this little trick to be immensely helpful for some Biochem calculations on FLs: 1 Acetyl CoA=about 12 ATP from TCA. 1 round of B ox=5 ATP (keep in mind this is not accounting for the Acetyl CoA produced). So, an 8 C chain would have 7 rounds of B ox=35 ATP+ 8 Acetyl CoA (12 ATP)= 131ATPs total!

this formula already accounts for the 2 ATP required for the initial Fatty Acid activation. Hope this helps.
 
Found this little trick to be immensely helpful for some Biochem calculations on FLs: 1 Acetyl CoA=about 12 ATP from TCA. 1 round of B ox=5 ATP (keep in mind this is not accounting for the Acetyl CoA produced). So, an 8 C chain would have 7 rounds of B ox=35 ATP+ 8 Acetyl CoA (12 ATP)= 131ATPs total!

this formula already accounts for the 2 ATP required for the initial Fatty Acid activation. Hope this helps.
1 Acetyl CoA produces 10 ATP from TCA
 
Took the Official Guide yesterday.

Chem - 25/30 - 83%
CARS - 24/30 - 80%
Bio - 23/30 - 76%
Psych 26/30 - 86%

A little worried about my Bio score. Some passages were pretty difficult and some questions I couldn't figure out how what exactly they were asking. Test is Aug. 22nd. How am I doing?

Definitely going to focus on Khan Bio the next few weeks. Going to review OG first and see where I went wrong.

I got very similar scores +/- 1 in each section to you except for Psych (21/30 - improved alot since). Do the AAMC Q packs for Bio if you haven't. They cover most of the topics (except for Biochem focus). I did 15ish Kahn passages and they're good practice but didn't feel realistic to me.
 
Did you do what I suggested? 🙂

1) go to my blog: http://adoc2be.blogspot.com - and click on the link for the AA's and their components. DRAW this. MANY times.
2) use the Kaplan book for the MM and LB graphs. Understand them. If I change a concentration of this or that, how will the graph change? Now put that into vectors and other pressures
3) make sure you can DRAW the entire TCA cycle with all the substrates, enzymes, and by-products
4) make sure you can DRAW the gluconeogenesis and all the others without stopping
5) make sure you can identify the AA's and what conformational changes will happen on the outside and inside of the plasma membrane
6) come back here when done with that and I'll give you another list 🙂

Okay, next:

7) Name all the enzymes involved in the central dogma 🙂
8) tell me about the mutations: think about what would happen if a valine was substituted with a glycine or a proline (God forbid) or a histidine replaced with a proline or a phenyalanine replaced with a tyrosine
9) explain all the steps in the central dogma - by substrate, enzyme, and product
10) what is the pathway for replication, translation and transcription: is it 5' ---> 3' ??? how do you read that when converting back?
11) what molecules are involved in lipid synthesis?
12) draw the mechanism for glucagon and insulin... (hint: if you did that above, you've already done it 😉 )
13) what is the difference between purines and pyrimidines?

When you're done with that come back, and I'll give you some more...

Oh, ask yourself these questions:

1) why can a croc stay under water for so long?
2) why does a hiker get high altitude sickness when climbing to Base Camp 1 @ Everest?
3) what happens when you drink a ton of alcohol and then take 3 tylenol before going to sleep trying to stave off a hangover headache?
4) why does a snake bite kill a person?

Lol are you playing a trick on this poor kid?? Many of these questions are way overkill (3,4,12)!
 
It might be but I was asked how to study for biochem and given what I have seen on FL practice tests, if I can do what I've posted, I will do very, very well on ALL sections of the exam.

Over-prepared >>>>>>> than under 😉

and not only that, every item I posted is an integrated question. The hiker, snake bite, croc all have to do with the biochem reactions/mechanism, hormone releasing, muscle contracting/relaxing, circulatory, pulmonary, neural ... and some physics and gen chem.

I haven't really seen much about the specifics of pathways on exams, so I agree with @james11. I would say it would probably be enough to just know what goes in and what comes out of each pathway (with maybe a few most important steps in the pathway.) I feel as if memorizing the entire pathways would just take up valuable space in your brain.
 
Lol are you playing a trick on this poor kid?? Many of these questions are way overkill (3,4,12)!

I had to do this for my undergraduate biochem class (3xxx level) and it seems really easy if you just draw the things. Plus, when I took the FL exams, being able to do this, answered many of the questions quite quickly for me.

Not trying to trick anyone - ever. Trying to help prepare 🙂

Speaking of which... there is an old saying, "Take what you like and leave the rest"
 
Yeah I mean to each his own. I've taken 7 FLs and I've been able to tackle any biochem questions with my forest-not-trees understanding of these pathways. But I also took biochem last semester so maybe that is why? Idk. If yall want to memorize every step of metabolism I'm not gonna stop you.
 
What does everyone else think of EK FL C/P? Guessed on half the questions on FL 1 and more than half on FL 2 and scored 53% and 51% respectively. Had no idea what I was doing and still got half of them right, and I feel my content review isn't up to speed. Anyone else feel that their C/P passages are very difficult and demoralizing? For those who thought they weren't too bad, what helps you while reading the passage when the information just doesn't get through? I can't expect to guess and get the same amount right on the actual exam.
 
Question, can we eat on our 10 minute breaks? I'd love to chug a juice box or eat some chocolate before every section 😀
 
I had to do this for my undergraduate biochem class (3xxx level) and it seems really easy if you just draw the things. Plus, when I took the FL exams, being able to do this, answered many of the questions quite quickly for me.

Not trying to trick anyone - ever. Trying to help prepare 🙂

Speaking of which... there is an old saying, "Take what you like and leave the rest"

This is the MCAT, not your 3xxx level class. Knowing those minute details are unnecessary. Having a general understanding and knowing the most important steps (rate-limiting etc) will get you much farther than spending copious amount of precious studying time remember every little detail. You are giving him/her poor advice. He/She stated they have not taken biochemistry so their knowledge is zilch, they need to learn more general stuff not crack open a book and go straight to drawing metabolic pathways!!
 
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What does everyone else think of EK FL C/P? Guessed on half the questions on FL 1 and more than half on FL 2 and scored 53% and 51% respectively. Had no idea what I was doing and still got half of them right, and I feel my content review isn't up to speed. Anyone else feel that their C/P passages are very difficult and demoralizing? For those who thought they weren't too bad, what helps you while reading the passage when the information just doesn't get through? I can't expect to guess and get the same amount right on the actual exam.
I felt that way about the bio section. Some of the questions were just absurdly detailed, especially considering how bare bones their books were.
I also thought some of them weren't totally fair, like there was a question about how would you detect cell death (apoptosis) in the media. The answers were 'presence of cytoplasmic enzymes in the media' or presents of cytoplasmic contents in the media'. Like c'mon that's just needlessly specific and hard to choose from.
Anyway, don't feel too bad about it. Take the AAMC fl and OG to really get where you are
 
I felt that way about the bio section. Some of the questions were just absurdly detailed, especially considering how bare bones their books were.
I also thought some of them weren't totally fair, like there was a question about how would you detect cell death (apoptosis) in the media. The answers were 'presence of cytoplasmic enzymes in the media' or presents of cytoplasmic contents in the media'. Like c'mon that's just needlessly specific and hard to choose from.
Anyway, don't feel too bad about it. Take the AAMC fl and OG to really get where you are

Took the official guide questions about 2-3 weeks ago after content review (I forget basically everything I studied for so content review over 9 weeks was a waste). Scored 63% C/P, 73% Cars, 53% Bio, 63% Psych. Will take AAMC FL this weekend, exam on August 21st. 507 would make me very happy, but 504-506 is what I'm at least hoping for.
 
What does everyone else think of EK FL C/P? Guessed on half the questions on FL 1 and more than half on FL 2 and scored 53% and 51% respectively. Had no idea what I was doing and still got half of them right, and I feel my content review isn't up to speed. Anyone else feel that their C/P passages are very difficult and demoralizing? For those who thought they weren't too bad, what helps you while reading the passage when the information just doesn't get through? I can't expect to guess and get the same amount right on the actual exam.
Better than my 47.5% on EK 3 C/P. I got 60% on CARS, 80% on B/B, 64% on P/S. Will take EK 4 next week.
 
Better than my 47.5% on EK 3 C/P. I got 60% on CARS, 80% on B/B, 64% on P/S. Will take EK 4 next week.

How were your overall for the other two? On FL 1 I scored 70% CARS , 51% B/B, and 76% P/S. Finishing the rest of EK FL 2 today.

Also, from what I've seen, EK FL 3 C/P is even more difficult than 1 and 2.
 
Question, can we eat on our 10 minute breaks? I'd love to chug a juice box or eat some chocolate before every section 😀
Yeah, you can get into your locker for something to eat or go to the bathroom. Though depending on the test center it can take a LONG time to get checked out and back in to the testing room. Budget at least 90 seconds on each end of your break. Mine was horrible last time - only one person working, trying to get way too many students scanned both in and out...
 
What does everyone else think of EK FL C/P? Guessed on half the questions on FL 1 and more than half on FL 2 and scored 53% and 51% respectively. Had no idea what I was doing and still got half of them right, and I feel my content review isn't up to speed. Anyone else feel that their C/P passages are very difficult and demoralizing? For those who thought they weren't too bad, what helps you while reading the passage when the information just doesn't get through? I can't expect to guess and get the same amount right on the actual exam.

I feel the same way. The C/P has constantly been my worst section on EK exams. I think they are just overthetop hard. I wouldn't look too much into those low percentages because it seems like a majority of people (including me) haven't had high percentags on C/P.
 
Yeah I mean to each his own. I've taken 7 FLs and I've been able to tackle any biochem questions with my forest-not-trees understanding of these pathways. But I also took biochem last semester so maybe that is why? Idk. If yall want to memorize every step of metabolism I'm not gonna stop you.

Completely agree with you. I think you should know the net energy/energy carriers gain and overall product/reactants (what goes in/comes out) as well as the major and rate-limitting enzymes. Also, know what conditions inhibit/promote the cycle (ATP Concentration, NADH Conentration, Hormones). Knowing all the intermediates can't hurt, but might not be the most efficient use of your time weeks/days from the test.
 
Yeah, you can get into your locker for something to eat or go to the bathroom. Though depending on the test center it can take a LONG time to get checked out and back in to the testing room. Budget at least 90 seconds on each end of your break. Mine was horrible last time - only one person working, trying to get way too many students scanned both in and out...
What happens if you don't get back in time?
 
I feel the same way. The C/P has constantly been my worst section on EK exams. I think they are just overthetop hard. I wouldn't look too much into those low percentages because it seems like a majority of people (including me) haven't had high percentags on C/P.

Yeah I try not to get too overwhelmed by it but I get concerned thinking about how my guessing abilities on that section would correlate to the AAMC material. Thanks for your response!
 
Just finished the exam. Very, very manageable. If you haven't done an EK exam yet, please do so as soon as you can. Some of the bio/biochem passages seemed like they could come straight out of EK's FL's. Chem/Phys was slightly easier than the official FL. CARS was definitely harder than the official FL, but wasn't terrible. Psych was a little more challenging than EK's and the AAMC's, but certainly easier than Kaplan's.

I don't know what my scores are, but this exam is 100% tamable. Put in the hours taking FL's and reviewing, and you'll be fine 🙂
 
Just got back from that... brain is pretty scrambled but here are my brief thoughts on what I just took

C/P: On par with TPR, not nearly as much biochem as I thought there would be... Decently heavy on orgo and regular gen chem
CARS: On par with AAMC Sample and AAMC q packs, pretty easy overall... unless I overlooked stuff which I was pretty keen on reading everything closely
B/B: Again a little harder than TPR and not as Biochem heavy as I expected, decent amount of genetics, mol bio, and physio
P/S: On a whole different level from TPR and AAMC Sample, lots of abstract thinking compared to what is on the practice exams and required a lot of critical thinking.

Overall felt a lot more like a TPR exam than the AAMC sample, however I warn future writers to take this largely with a grain of salt since everyone receives a different form and others will probably disagree or agree with my opinion.

I agree with Federer that the exam is very manageable time-wise, just gotta practice a lot. I finished every section with about 10 minutes left and finished psych like 20 minutes early. Some of the content caught me off guard which is to be expected on a test that has multiple forms and tests so broadly.

Good luck to everyone, I'm gonna take a break from here for a couple of weeks lol, see y'all in September!
 
Just got back from that... brain is pretty scrambled but here are my brief thoughts on what I just took
C/P: On par with TPR, not nearly as much biochem as I thought there would be... Decently heavy on orgo and regular gen chem
CARS: On par with AAMC Sample and AAMC q packs, pretty easy overall... unless I overlooked stuff which I was pretty keen on reading everything closely
B/B: Again a little harder than TPR and not as Biochem heavy as I expected, decent amount of genetics, mol bio, and physio
P/S: On a whole different level from TPR and AAMC Sample, lots of abstract thinking compared to what is on the practice exams and required a lot of critical thinking.

Overall felt a lot more like a TPR exam than the AAMC sample, however I warn future writers to take this largely with a grain of salt since everyone receives a different form and others will probably disagree or agree with my opinion.

I agree with Federer that the exam is very manageable time-wise, just gotta practice a lot. I finished every section with about 10 minutes left and finished psych like 20 minutes early. Some of the content caught me off guard which is to be expected on a test that has multiple forms and tests so broadly.

Good luck to everyone, I'm gonna take a break from here for a couple of weeks lol, see y'all in September!
Glad you're done!
Ugh, TPR was damn hard, I haven't seen anyone get above a 508-510
 
Just got back from that... brain is pretty scrambled but here are my brief thoughts on what I just took

C/P: On par with TPR, not nearly as much biochem as I thought there would be... Decently heavy on orgo and regular gen chem
CARS: On par with AAMC Sample and AAMC q packs, pretty easy overall... unless I overlooked stuff which I was pretty keen on reading everything closely
B/B: Again a little harder than TPR and not as Biochem heavy as I expected, decent amount of genetics, mol bio, and physio
P/S: On a whole different level from TPR and AAMC Sample, lots of abstract thinking compared to what is on the practice exams and required a lot of critical thinking.

Overall felt a lot more like a TPR exam than the AAMC sample, however I warn future writers to take this largely with a grain of salt since everyone receives a different form and others will probably disagree or agree with my opinion.

I agree with Federer that the exam is very manageable time-wise, just gotta practice a lot. I finished every section with about 10 minutes left and finished psych like 20 minutes early. Some of the content caught me off guard which is to be expected on a test that has multiple forms and tests so broadly.

Good luck to everyone, I'm gonna take a break from here for a couple of weeks lol, see y'all in September!
Agree completely with your whole breakdown!
 
since I'm paranoid, can someone confirm that "score exam" was the top option on the page? mildly panicking
 
I just got back and had a little snack after taking it today. It was a retake for me (I sat in June but was not happy with my C/P score). I thought today went much more smoothly and the test seemed easier to read and more manageable.

C/P: More biochem than anything. Only a couple of straight organic questions (thankfully!) One diagram that I felt was a bit ambiguous and hard to understand. Much happier with my section this time around.
CARS: It really did seem like the passages were so damn long! I remember on my June test having a passage that was like 3 short paragraphs. These were 8-9 and wordy. I got a really interesting passage I loved and also that damn Frankenstein passage. Now I know what all the fuss was about! Plus my tummy was grumbling. Neutral on this section.
B/B: This felt like a cool breeze. For the most part this came easily, I have a pretty good background in human physiology and neurobiology that definitely helped me land a few points. Very happy with this section.
Psych/Socio: This was section was the polar opposite of my section for my June test. There weren't nearly as many ambiguous/similar terms to choose from (as answer choices) and it was just much more straightforward to work through. I am pretty confident I improved my score just from how much better this section went. Not as many direct "who is so-and-so" as I thought, more experimental based questions.

Soooooooo happy it is over with! That is the last time I ever have to worry about this damn test and it feels so good. I was not sure how I did after my first one, but this one leaves me feeling all warm on the inside. I hope my scores reflect my good feelings!
 
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