The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

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vsantav

vsantav

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Registration opens up sometime today so I thought I'd go ahead and make this thread. Anyone else taking it in August?
 
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@itsallgood92 These are different than the complete tests, right? There are complete tests which you can buy, review tests, and course tests. I got mauled by TPR Course Test 1 CARS, with a 124. I always seem to get 4 wrong in 2 - 3 passages on the TPR tests because they are just ridiculous. All my other ones are 1 or 2 wrong but a few TPR CARS passages are just in a different language.
 
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@itsallgood92 you were talking about this a couple pages back, and I don't know what the consensus was. Is mcatjelly's scoring scale of giving 129-130 to 80+% c more trustworthy than some of the other score scales where the same percentage is a 128?
 
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Dobechance said:
@itsallgood92 These are different than the complete tests, right? There are complete tests which you can buy, review tests, and course tests. I got mauled by TPR Course Test 1 CARS, with a 124. I always seem to get 4 wrong in 2 - 3 passages on the TPR tests because they are just ridiculous. All my other ones are 1 or 2 wrong but a few TPR CARS passages are just in a different language.
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Yep they are different. Pretty sure you need an account that has access to the actual TPR course to do them though. And yeah don't worry...that's why I recommend taking course tests 4 and 5 because I noticed the TPR exams got easier as you went along.
 
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@itsallgood92 Thanks. I'll go in with intention to try my best and not think about it till after P/S.


Also, can someone explain the answer for P/S #54 in AAMC FL? Even though you’re taking out 567 people from 5880, you still have 5000+ left, which is still a pretty large sample size. Also, I don’t see a significant possibility of bias as the reason for eliminating those were practical rather than medical/demographic. Why is eliminating 10% so bad? I didn’t really like B, but thought it was slightly better.


Also, can someone explain why #57 is not regression? Regression is returning to an infantile or childlike state to cope with stress; so the person giving anthropomorphic qualities to his computer should fall under that, no?
 

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Pusheen said:
@itsallgood92 you were talking about this a couple pages back, and I don't know what the consensus was. Is mcatjelly's scoring scale of giving 129-130 to 80+% c more trustworthy than some of the other score scales where the same percentage is a 128?
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't think there really is any consensus, but I was just basing this off what I saw on the Xenith/Mcatjelly compilation and from what a couple of my friends have scored in real life. When I compared people's AAMC FL total scores to their real scores on that sheet, their total scores were almost exactly on point using mcatjelly's scale with like a +/-2 dev with some fluctuations between sections (i.e. CARS might go down but C/P would go up). I think you should still take the scoring scales with a grain of salt since no one knows what these actual scales are, but I still think it gives you a good idea/range of where you might possibly end up.
 
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itsallgood92 said:
Honestly I don't think there really is any consensus, but I was just basing this off what I saw on the Xenith/Mcatjelly compilation and from what a couple of my friends have scored in real life. When I compared people's AAMC FL total scores to their real scores on that sheet, their total scores were almost exactly on point using mcatjelly's scale with like a +/-2 dev with some fluctuations between sections (i.e. CARS might go down but C/P would go up). I think you should still take the scoring scales with a grain of salt since no one knows what these actual scales are, but I still think it gives you a good idea/range of where you might possibly end up.
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thanks! Considering the bell curve and all, it would make sense that scores would increase at a faster rate as the % correct got higher and higher than the mean.
Sigh, I'll be glad when I finally have my actual score and all this ambiguity is over...
 
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basophilic said:
@itsallgood92 Thanks. I'll go in with intention to try my best and not think about it till after P/S.


Also, can someone explain the answer for P/S #54 in AAMC FL? Even though you’re taking out 567 people from 5880, you still have 5000+ left, which is still a pretty large sample size. Also, I don’t see a significant possibility of bias as the reason for eliminating those were practical rather than medical/demographic. Why is eliminating 10% so bad? I didn’t really like B, but thought it was slightly better.


Also, can someone explain why #57 is not regression? Regression is returning to an infantile or childlike state to cope with stress; so the person giving anthropomorphic qualities to his computer should fall under that, no?
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He's projecting his anger onto the computer. Anger isn't necessarily childlike
 
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Anyone memorize Fisher --> Hawthorn carbohydrate cyclization conversions? Like knowing where all the atoms go post-cyclization? Worth it or no?
 
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Ok, I think I'm going crazy here. I've been nailing down inhibitors for the past few weeks and I still somehow got this wrong. How is the Vmax unchanged in this graph? It looks lower to me. I knew A wasn't right either. Grrr
 

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Pusheen said:
Ok, I think I'm going crazy here. I've been nailing down inhibitors for the past few weeks and I still somehow got this wrong. How is the Vmax unchanged in this graph? It looks lower to me. I knew A wasn't right either. Grrr
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You can see that the Vmax for inhibition is approaching Vmax (since its technically going on for an infinite amount). The graphs showing a decrease in Vmax is a lot more obvious (just compare to a different type of inhibition). Also the increasing Km should indicate competitive inhibition
 
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Pusheen said:
Ok, I think I'm going crazy here. I've been nailing down inhibitors for the past few weeks and I still somehow got this wrong. How is the Vmax unchanged in this graph? It looks lower to me. I knew A wasn't right either. Grrr
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Hmz117 said:
the increasing Km should indicate competitive inhibition
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That's the giveaway - NOT that the graph is supposedly going toward the same vmax (honestly doesn't look like it is at all). Very nice little trap though. You focus on only one part of the problem, and you're sunk. Focus on the whole picture and you've got it.
 
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Hmz117 said:
You can see that the Vmax for inhibition is approaching Vmax (since its technically going on for an infinite amount). The graphs showing a decrease in Vmax is a lot more obvious (just compare to a different type of inhibition). Also the increasing Km should indicate competitive inhibition
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It's sort of approaching..t I would say that it looks like it's approaching its own, lower Vmax. But ya, I guess I should just stick to what the graph is trying to highlight.
Bleh
 
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StudyLater said:
That's the giveaway - NOT that the graph is supposedly going toward the same vmax (honestly doesn't look like it is at all). Very nice little trap though. You focus on only one part of the problem, and you're sunk. Focus on the whole picture and you've got it.
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I mean I personally think it's kind of a badly put together question. I think it's pretty clear geometrically that Vmax is lower, but since they don't highlight it on the graph, you're supposed to disregard it.
Oh well, at least it's just practice.
 
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Coulda been worse, though! If mixed (ES preference) and/or uncompetitive competition were possible answers.....mannnnnn. My head would've exploded. 😕

Either that or I'd sue AAMC for loss of potential earnings over one question. Yep. That'd be the obvious solution. 😀
 
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In other interesting news, the supposedly hydrophobic portion of phospholipids contains an ester portion which is actually hydrophilic. What's up with that? 😱
 
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Pusheen said:
It's sort of approaching..t I would say that it looks like it's approaching its own, lower Vmax. But ya, I guess I should just stick to what the graph is trying to highlight.
Bleh
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When in doubt just stick to what you know about each inhibition (Km trend and Vmax). Plus, I'm sure if you see a similar graph like this on the MCAT you'll nail it now :highfive:
 
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StudyLater said:
In other interesting news, the supposedly hydrophobic portion of phospholipids contains an ester portion which is actually hydrophilic. What's up with that? 😱
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Yeah they're less polar than alcohols but more polar than ethers…small things lol
 
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StudyLater said:
Anyone memorize Fisher --> Hawthorn carbohydrate cyclization conversions? Like knowing where all the atoms go post-cyclization? Worth it or no?
Click to expand...
Not sure if its important to know, but there's an easy trick for all those OH/Hs. LURD - Left Up, Right Down. So if you're looking at a fischer diagram the H/OHs on the left side will be pointing up in the cyclic drawing, and the ones on the right will be pointing down. If you're looking at a haworth, same concept, OH/Hs pointing up will be written on the left side for a fischer, the ones pointing down will be written on the right side. Hope that makes sense!
 
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Tiffafi said:
Not sure if its important to know, but there's an easy trick for all those OH/Hs. LURD - Left Up, Right Down. So if you're looking at a fischer diagram the H/OHs on the left side will be pointing up in the cyclic drawing, and the ones on the right will be pointing down. If you're looking at a haworth, same concept, OH/Hs pointing up will be written on the left side for a fischer, the ones pointing down will be written on the right side. Hope that makes sense!
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I'm aware of LURD. It's mainly that top and bottom one that can be confusing.

Ramen + egg.

Or a protein shake complete with cottage cheese + steel cut oats + PB + heavy whipping cream + olive oil + steak + full pig + 100kg creatine, if you're trying to get f***ing jacked.
 
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For #21 from Bio AAMC FL, why is choice D wrong?
 

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Would love to answer this but I haven't taken it yet so I have barred my eyes from looking at the content of that post....
 
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Dobechance said:
Anyone know if TPR Review tests or TPR course tests are better?
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Took all the course tests. Course Test 4/5 were pretty representative. Course Test 3 was the hardest by far out of those 5 for me though. I did all 5 Course test FLs and just one complete test FL no review FLs though.
 
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Pusheen said:
Just picked up a giant Costco pizza for the rest of the week. Ain't nobody got time to cook when the MCAT is coming 🙄
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I have done this enough times during midterms and finals that my friend coined a term for it--"struggle pizza". And it got accepted on Urban Dictionary.
 
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Anyone want to recommend me a good EK test? Aka, most representative, most similar to AAMC test?
Thanks!

EDIT: lol @ "recommend me". I've clearly been doing too much passage analysis today...
 
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basophilic said:
For #21 from Bio AAMC FL, why is choice D wrong?
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Choice C is the most supported answer. If you look at figure 3 you can see that there is low C-peptide content (the step that takes you from proinsulin to insulin the the removal of C-peptide) so you can guess that the mice that are deficient for the enzyme are limited in the amount of insulin formed. Figure 4 shows that proinsulin is still being synthesized to a slightly lesser degree (eliminate B). The question is asking what is increasing in mouse B cells…choice D doesn't make sense because all of their proinsulin is the "variable" type. Eliminate that answer. The passage hints at "misreading of this codon…", and with the fact that there is less C-peptide found you can conclude that there is something wrong the the proinsulin present so C would be better than A…at least that was my thought process when I took it hope it helps!
 
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EEtoPre-Med said:
I'm mainly planning this boss playlist for my 45 minute drive. Research proves people are like 80% more confident after listening to a song that has deep bass. The song tested was "In da club" by 50 cent. Not a bad song either, it's going on the playlist.
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^ this and picking what to wear are already taking up way too much time
 
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lmladdno84 said:
They're only asking about the mouse lacking CDKAL. The wild-type mouse has nothing to do with what's going on in the other mouse's pancreas.
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@StudyLater you may want to look away from this post as well!



@lmladdno84
Ohh...makes sense. So even though choice D is true based on the figure, it fails to answer the question. The question is exclusively from the perspective of the mutant, so the answer should also be exclusively from that perspective. Damn, that's the second time a misinterpreted a question on this exam.
How do you guys avoid misinterpreting questions? I guesss what I should have done when I boiled it down to C and D is carefully reread the Q stem.
 
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Ok, does anybody know how to use skype? And how you can share screens, information etc???? We could review practice test material..... Just pm me if interested

Really? Nobody??? I mean share info as in share notes, etc. not personal info.....
 
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MarsDominus said:
Just took EK Exam 1 and got 58%, 68%, 61%, and 71% (Total: 65%). I'm really disappointed. Exam is in 3 days.:scared:
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Don't look into the percentages of the EK exams. They are good practice and most representative of the style of the exam but harder than the actual thing. From what past exam takers have been doing, 65% on an EK exam is not terrible

Pusheen said:
Anyone want to recommend me a good EK test? Aka, most representative, most similar to AAMC test?
Thanks!

EDIT: lol @ "recommend me". I've clearly been doing too much passage analysis today...
Click to expand...

EK 4 apparently has been the most representative. I'm planning for that one to be one of my last exams before the real thing.
 
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So I have never taken ochem or biochem. I have roughly 2.5 weeks before test time. What is your best advice for improving my score -- especially my C/P score?

Additionally, can any test retakers give me a rough outline of your practice test scores in comparison to your actual test scores? I don't that it doesn't really matter since each test is different, but I'm curious to know! Thanks!
 
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pre.med2016 said:
So I have never taken ochem or biochem. I have roughly 2.5 weeks before test time. What is your best advice for improving my score -- especially my C/P score?

Additionally, can any test retakers give me a rough outline of your practice test scores in comparison to your actual test scores? I don't that it doesn't really matter since each test is different, but I'm curious to know! Thanks!
Click to expand...

U can prolly get away with not knowing Orgo fully, but biochem is gonna be rough for you

Memorize all the Amino Acids and thier tenancies
 
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