The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

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Took the AAMC fl today and my scores are

P/c - 64%
Cars - 75%
Bio - 71%
Psych - 90%

Any advice to raise my first three percentages (obviously especially physics and chem) in the next two weeks? Hit the books? Khan?
 
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FauxBlue said:
I don't really like it either...the questions/answers are very vague... did you feel that way too?
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I just wasn't really on board with how they explained solutions for the things I got wrong, particularly in bio and CARS. They would have this really roundabout way of getting to what they marked as the right answer. I would just read it and be like "How the heck am I supposed to know to make these assumptions completely out of nowhere?" Like the example I gave with a question about movement during REM sleep a while back. They said that moving during REM sleep causes lack of concentration...because if you are moving during REM sleep, you are probably waking up at night (?). If you are waking up at night then you are probably not getting enough sleep. If you are not getting enough sleep. then you probably have decreased mental function, and thus a lack of concentration.
I guess that sort of makes sense, but I feel like there's a ton of assumptions being made there that aren't really logical or obvious.
And that happened a lot, throughout the whole thing. The I Love Lucy passage was super annoying.

I don't want to be one of those people that blames all their mistakes on something else, but I feel like this particular test was just really meh.
 
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frenchbulldog said:
can't break 125 on kaplan psych to save my life. is this representative of the real mcat at all?
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I never broke 125 on Kapalan and just received a 90% on the AAMC Fl today so yes they are far from representative. I studied using Khan passages for the psych and those seem more in line with AAMC than Kaplan.
 
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Is anyone using Khan passages for C/P or biochem? Keep seeing mixed reviews....Personally feel they are more experimental than TPR but awkward layout
 
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spotsandddots said:
Is anyone using Khan passages for C/P or biochem? Keep seeing mixed reviews....Personally feel they are more experimental than TPR but awkward layout
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Eh, I tried a few. They're really hit and miss, some are just really odd and abstract, others are ok.
 
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Am I the only one who struggles to get through the Q packs? I already have a short attention span, and doing 120 questions all in one subject is sooo hard, even if I take frequent breaks :thinking:
 
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LakridsA said:
The thing that I've struggled with the most besides physics is staying focused lol
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trust me don't worry...you will be focused on the real thing. I slept maybe 2 hours the night before due to the anxiety and I thought I was screwed and had to void...but when I got to the test center the adrenaline rush was unreal and powered me through the entire thing.
 
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itsallgood92 said:
trust me don't worry...you will be focused on the real thing. I slept maybe 2 hours the night before due to the anxiety and I thought I was screwed and had to void...but when I got to the test center the adrenaline rush was unreal and powered me through the entire thing.
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This. We got a lunch break - I ate all of 5 bites of my sandwich and was full and generally was very awake during the whole thing. With that said I did start to feel off near the middle of the Psych section but i'm not sure if that's because of it was a harder section or just was tired.
 
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thanks @zzzetrigan and @itsallgood92 , I hope I have a similar experience.
I'm mostly terrified of waking up the morning of and feeling super nauseous and sick to my stomach. I've been waking up that way a lot for the past couple days. I think I'm just chronically tense and stressed at this point :arghh:
 
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Pusheen said:
thanks @zzzetrigan and @itsallgood92 , I hope I have a similar experience.
I'm mostly terrified of waking up the morning of and feeling super nauseous and sick to my stomach. I've been waking up that way a lot for the past couple days. I think I'm just chronically tense and stressed at this point :arghh:
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I had this weird neuroticism the other day. I thought I'd get pink eye before the exam such that I would have to look at the questions with one eye. Like seriously wtf I've never even gotten pink eye in my whole life.

This is what the MCAT does to us.
 
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StudyLater said:
I had this weird neuroticism the other day. I thought I'd get pink eye before the exam such that I would have to look at the questions with one eye. Like seriously wtf I've never even gotten pink eye in my whole life.
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😱 that would suck
What if I break my glasses on the way to the exam? What if I have indigestion? The possibilities are endless:scared:
 
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Pusheen said:
thanks @zzzetrigan and @itsallgood92 , I hope I have a similar experience.
I'm mostly terrified of waking up the morning of and feeling super nauseous and sick to my stomach. I've been waking up that way a lot for the past couple days. I think I'm just chronically tense and stressed at this point :arghh:
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trust me, I know exactly what you're going through... The stress and anxiety leading up to the exam was absolutely crushing at times, but you will get through it! Just try and stay calm, and if you find yourself starting to panic just take a few deep breaths and make sure you use that 10min tutorial to get yourself in the zone! My heart was pounding before I started the c/p section, but what really helped was just using my scratch paper and flooding the paper with random equations, and information to get my mind primed for the real thing.
 
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Spoiler for TPR demo....

Question 44 of Bio asked to rank the oxidation potentials of Ca, Fe, Sr, and Cs. The answer ranked oxidation potential as Cs > Sr > Ca > Fe. Can somebody please explain to me why Fe is ranked as having a lower oxidation potential than Ca and Sr? The explanation says it's because transition metals are less reaction. But Fe has 6 VEs. If it loses 1 electron, it would have a stable d shell with 5 electrons vs. Ca and Sr already have a full S-shell. So wouldn't Ca and Sr want to keep their full S-shell more and Fe gain a 5 e- d-shell? (Am I overlooking something extremely obvious here? o.o)
 
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lostnconfused said:
Spoiler for TPR demo....

Question 44 of Bio asked to rank the oxidation potentials of Ca, Fe, Sr, and Cs. The answer ranked oxidation potential as Cs > Sr > Ca > Fe. Can somebody please explain to me why Fe is ranked as having a lower oxidation potential than Ca and Sr? The explanation says it's because transition metals are less reaction. But Fe has 6 VEs. If it loses 1 electron, it would have a stable d shell with 5 electrons vs. Ca and Sr already have a full S-shell. So wouldn't Ca and Sr want to keep their full S-shell more and Fe gain a 5 e- d-shell? (Am I overlooking something extremely obvious here? o.o)
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Here's my answer: **** that question.

Alternatively, you could look at it based on size. Ya know, larger....gives up electron easier because it can more easily stabilize the resulting positive charge. It's the same reason I- is a better leaving group than Cl-.

To be fair, I didn't know what the hell an oxidation potential was until I googled it just now. Apparently they literally just meant potential to be oxidized. It sounded like reduction potentials for batteries or something.
 
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itsallgood92 said:
trust me, I know exactly what you're going through... The stress and anxiety leading up to the exam was absolutely crushing at times, but you will get through it! Just try and stay calm, and if you find yourself starting to panic just take a few deep breaths and make sure you use that 10min tutorial to get yourself in the zone! My heart was pounding before I started the c/p section, but what really helped was just using my scratch paper and flooding the paper with random equations, and information to get my mind primed for the real thing.
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Social facilitation. Don't give in to peer pressure @Pusheen! Just quit!

Oh wait, that sort of goes both ways, doesn't it...

Pusheen what are your practice scores so far?
 
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StudyLater said:
Social facilitation. Don't give in to peer pressure @Pusheen! Just quit!

Oh wait, that sort of goes both ways, doesn't it...

Pusheen what are your practice scores so far?
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I got a 506 on my last princeton test (508 by mcatjelly scale) and 70% on EK 4. 80s in Qpacks. Going to take AAMC FL tomorrow
about 509-510 equivalent on OG several weeks ago (70-80% on everything but c/p)
 
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Pusheen said:
I got a 506 on my last princeton test (508 by mcatjelly scale) and 70% on EK 4. 80s in Qpacks. Going to take AAMC FL tomorrow
about 509-510 equivalent on OG several weeks ago (70-80% on everything but c/p)
Click to expand...

Have fun being an MD 🙂
 
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Pusheen said:
I just wasn't really on board with how they explained solutions for the things I got wrong, particularly in bio and CARS. They would have this really roundabout way of getting to what they marked as the right answer. I would just read it and be like "How the heck am I supposed to know to make these assumptions completely out of nowhere?" Like the example I gave with a question about movement during REM sleep a while back. They said that moving during REM sleep causes lack of concentration...because if you are moving during REM sleep, you are probably waking up at night (?). If you are waking up at night then you are probably not getting enough sleep. If you are not getting enough sleep. then you probably have decreased mental function, and thus a lack of concentration.
I guess that sort of makes sense, but I feel like there's a ton of assumptions being made there that aren't really logical or obvious.
And that happened a lot, throughout the whole thing. The I Love Lucy passage was super annoying.

I don't want to be one of those people that blames all their mistakes on something else, but I feel like this particular test was just really meh.
Click to expand...

CARS!! It was much more difficult than the other FLs I've taken so far 🙁
 
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EK/TPR remain good practice for CARS. It can be frustrating (been there) when the questions assume things which lead to an answer that makes you pretty angry...how would a person reach that answer?? Fact of the matter is that the MCAT has lots of these questions and while their answers may be deduced more logically...it still takes a leap of faith sometimes and broad thinking to get to where the test-takers want you to be. In that regard, they try to teach you skills that can only be learnt with practice. That said - yea, they don't perfectly emulate the MCAT. Just remember the goal isn't to do well on an EK or TPR exam so you can feel re-assured about your scores (and thus correlate them to the real deal) - the goal is to learn your test taking pattern, your weaknesses through passages, and get an idea of the frame of thought required for the actual exam.
 
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zzzetrigan said:
EK/TPR remain good practice for CARS. It can be frustrating (been there) when the questions assume things which lead to an answer that makes you pretty angry...how would a person reach that answer?? Fact of the matter is that the MCAT has lots of these questions and while their answers may be deduced more logically...it still takes a lead of faith sometimes and broad thinking to get to where the test-takers want you to be. In that regard, they try to teach you skills that can only be learnt with practice. That said - yea, they don't perfectly emulate the MCAT. Just remember the goal isn't to do well on an EK or TPR exam so you can feel re-assured about your scores (and thus correlate them to the real deal) - the goal is to learn your test taking pattern, your weaknesses through passages, and get an idea of the frame of through required for the actual exam.
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Leap of faith. Unless you're trying to shock yourself and hoping it won't kill you. Cuz you know...leads....wires. I guess that would apply to a code, no?

Pusheen said:
aww thanks I'm glad you think so..I don't think it's all that great, but hopefully I'll hit 515 or so on the real thing
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I will make it my business to try to get within five points of your score. I will probably fail, but nevertheless...I've got nothing better to do.
 
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StudyLater said:
Leap of faith. Unless you're trying to shock yourself and hoping it won't kill you. Cuz you know...leads....wires. I guess that would apply to a code, no?



I will make it my business to try to get within five points of your score. I will probably fail, but nevertheless...I've got nothing better to do.
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Yea I re-read it and was like...spelling...:bang:
 
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Pusheen said:
I ranted about it a couple pages back on this thread. I personally didn't like, but then what do I know
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Do you recommend taking it.. like was it beneficial at all? If you had to choose an EK, which one would you recommend as close to AAMC one?
 
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Can't wait until September 8th so I can delete my MCAT apps (if I did well enough) and I am even tempted to burn my prep books, (not worth much since they are marked in) but I will probably just pass those on. Still that will be tight.
 
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sandboxplaya said:
Do you recommend taking it.. like was it beneficial at all? If you had to choose an EK, which one would you recommend as close to AAMC one?
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I only took 4 and probably won't have time to take any more...If I did take another I would probably take 3 since it was released later.
I'm sure it was somewhat beneficial, I just personally felt that it was more arbitrary than the other FL's I've been taking. Maybe the others (1-3) are less so.
 
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Pusheen said:
I just personally felt that it was more arbitrary than the other FL's I've been taking.
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MCAT questions aren't arbitrary?

I mean, as long as it didn't end up bumping you down like 10% or something. You got a 70, which correlates with doing pretty well.

@piii got a 70 - 91st percentile on the real thing. @KPtoDPT got around 70s, one at 67 - 98th percentile on the exam. @ProtuberantUmbilicus got a 71 average on EKs - 91st on the real thing. @mikil100 ~71, got 96th on the real thing. @drrao88 low 70s...87th on the real thing.

An interesting exception is @mcatjelly hovering around low 70s and getting 77th.

The outlook is good for anyone scoring like you do.
 
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StudyLater said:
MCAT questions aren't arbitrary?

I mean, as long as it didn't end up bumping you down like 10% or something. You got a 70, which correlates with doing pretty well.

@piii got a 70 - 91st percentile on the real thing. @KPtoDPT got around 70s, one at 67 - 98th percentile on the exam. @ProtuberantUmbilicus got a 71 average on EKs - 91st on the real thing. @mikil100 ~71, got 96th on the real thing. @drrao88 low 70s...87th on the real thing.

An interesting exception is @mcatjelly hovering around low 70s and getting 77th.

The outlook is good for anyone scoring like you do.
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I wasn't really upset with my total score, I was more annoyed at getting a 54% in bio and 66% in CARS.
Those were the particular sections I thought were arbitrary, but again, that's just my personal opinion as someone who hasn't taken the AAMC test yet. Maybe I was just dense, lol.
You also got a 70, so good for you too:clap: hope we both get in the 90s
 
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Pusheen said:
I wasn't really upset with my total score, I was more annoyed at getting a 54% in bio and 66% in CARS.
Those were the particular sections I thought were arbitrary, but again, that's just my personal opinion as someone who hasn't taken the AAMC test yet. Maybe I was just dense, lol.
You also got a 70, so good for you too:clap: hope we both get in the 90s
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I'll celebrate when I actually finish this damn thing. And at that I'm just happy if I get >60.
 
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StudyLater said:
You trend-breaker...:nono:

In all seriousness, I'd be surprised if you didn't get in this cycle - MD I mean. That is, unless you're not applying?
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Oh, I am so applying! I just haven't been very active on SDN. I always chuckle when I get an alert saying I've been tagged in a post; 9 times out of 10, it's by you. 🙂

Thank you for that remark, by the way.
 
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After writing my MCAT on Thursday, I ended up stumbling around town for the past four days; of course, as soon as I got home I had to check SDN 🙄. Definitely feels great to be done, but after coming down from my post MCAT high, reality's started to set in and I've started contemplating studying for a rewrite. The more I think about it, the less certain I am that I did well, and I'm putting serious thought into scheduling another MCAT date on Sept 12. Of course this means I'll have to spend another month studying and agonizing over a test I may or may not take while I wait for my scores to be released. I didn't do many practice tests, but got a 509 and a 511 on kaplan FL 1 & 2 and scored 88%/92%/88%/92% on the AAMC full length, and I'm hoping that translates to roughly 515 or above. Would it be realistic to rewrite if I get anything under a 515?
 
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Not sure if anyone else does this, but every night when I'm done reviewing Psych terms and planning to go to sleep, I think about all the things I am going to do once this is over though I very well know most of my time will be spent sleeping or watching TV.
 
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Pusheen said:
mcatjelly should get at least an extra EC for all the charts and stats (she?) has compiled. Or bonus MCAT points.
Your charts have allowed me to keep my sanity throughout this whole process by giving me an idea of how I'm doing 😍
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Hahaha, I would be lying if I said I never considered adding my SDN/reddit presence as an EC. But it's enough to know that they've been helpful. 🙂
 
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blahblahpremeds said:
Not sure if anyone else does this, but every night when I'm done reviewing Psych terms and planning to go to sleep, I think about all the things I am going to do once this is over though I very well know most of my time will be spent sleeping or watching TV.
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I do this. I mostly think about how I'll be able to take a lot more naps srs
 
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mcatjelly said:
Hahaha, I would be lying if I said I never considered adding my SDN/reddit presence as an EC. But it's enough to know that they've been helpful. 🙂
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It's unfortunate that most people older than us don't put any value on internet activities. Like sure, it's not the end-all of hobbies, but I wish it wasn't taboo to talk about.
Best of luck to you this cycle!
 
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levelsands said:
After writing my MCAT on Thursday, I ended up stumbling around town for the past four days; of course, as soon as I got home I had to check SDN 🙄. Definitely feels great to be done, but after coming down from my post MCAT high, reality's started to set in and I've started contemplating studying for a rewrite. The more I think about it, the less certain I am that I did well, and I'm putting serious thought into scheduling another MCAT date on Sept 12. Of course this means I'll have to spend another month studying and agonizing over a test I may or may not take while I wait for my scores to be released. I didn't do many practice tests, but got a 509 and a 511 on kaplan FL 1 & 2 and scored 88%/92%/88%/92% on the AAMC full length, and I'm hoping that translates to roughly 515 or above. Would it be realistic to rewrite if I get anything under a 515?
Click to expand...

Dont worry about retake contingencies till you get a score. Have a beer and relax. I'd kill to be in your shoes.
 
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levelsands said:
After writing my MCAT on Thursday, I ended up stumbling around town for the past four days; of course, as soon as I got home I had to check SDN 🙄. Definitely feels great to be done, but after coming down from my post MCAT high, reality's started to set in and I've started contemplating studying for a rewrite. The more I think about it, the less certain I am that I did well, and I'm putting serious thought into scheduling another MCAT date on Sept 12. Of course this means I'll have to spend another month studying and agonizing over a test I may or may not take while I wait for my scores to be released. I didn't do many practice tests, but got a 509 and a 511 on kaplan FL 1 & 2 and scored 88%/92%/88%/92% on the AAMC full length, and I'm hoping that translates to roughly 515 or above. Would it be realistic to rewrite if I get anything under a 515?
Click to expand...
I'm a high score gunner too, so I get it, but I don't think you should do anything til you get your score back. You sound like you're in good shape. Just wait it out.
 
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