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The Official August 21, 2014 MCAT Thread
Started by LLawliet
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I found the PS pretty easy. My best raw (43/52) and scaled (11) score so far.
Congrats! You've set my goal to beat when I take it Tuesday haha
Thanks! A lot of my friends have said that the bio on the real deal is much more similar to AAMC 10 and 11 than AAMC 3,5, and 7.
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Do people drink after MCAT? Don't think I've touched anything that alters mood in at least like three years.
All those poor neurons and hepatocytes...
Haha, I've actually worked with a neuroscientist at Duke who studies the effects of drugs and alcohol on the developing brain, and it's definitely made me realize how damaging my binge drinking days during freshman and sophomore years were. However, drinking in social situations helps me to be more outgoing and make more friends because I suffer from social anxiety, and research overwhelmingly shows that having an active social life and keeping stress levels low bears numerous psychiatric, neurological, and overall health benefits. So I've weighed the pros and cons and still get moderately drunk occasionally, but not to the point of blacking out anymore. (It's the overcompensation of neurons in the hippocampus as they recover from being shut down during a blackout that causes neuronal death.)
Just as a point of interest, the damaging effects of drugs and alcohol are most substantial when the brain is still developing. Once you're into your late 20s, marijuana and alcohol have much less noticeable (although still existent) effects on cognition. Unfortunately, most people's binge drinking days are during the times their brains are developing. Youth really is wasted on the young.
First off, uber jealous. Duke is high on my dream list and the study of abusive drugs is one of the fields i find most interesting. Pharmacology at its finest.
Second; good point. I'm certainly a proponent of considering the possibility of previously illegal compounds as therapeutic agents for certain ailments/patients. But that's a discussion for a different day and a different thread. And if you could point me in the direction of any references that explain that hippocampus model of neuronal death, I'd be very appreciative!
Hey guys been lurking this thread for a while thought I'd chime in as Im writing on the same test day. just did AAMC 9 today scored a 32, 13/8/11. Anyone else feel the verbal was quite difficult, I had a real tough time comprehending the passages and felt like i had to go back to the passages quite a bit. Went from a 12 on aamc 8 (2 days ago) to a 8 today (1 away from a 7). Usually average 9-10 on verbal.
Might of been a lack of focus as I felt I was spacing out during some of the verbal.
Also to those above congrats on the high scores! My target score is a 32, I'm from canada and luckily for me the school I'm hoping to get into the MCAT isn't weighed too much into admissions but would still love to get 32+
Might of been a lack of focus as I felt I was spacing out during some of the verbal.
Also to those above congrats on the high scores! My target score is a 32, I'm from canada and luckily for me the school I'm hoping to get into the MCAT isn't weighed too much into admissions but would still love to get 32+
I'm taking AAMC 9 tomorrow so I'll report back after I'm done! I also got 12 on AAMC 8 verbal.
The best thing I realized for verbal is that my score is directly correlated with focus level, and my focus level is dependent upon my technique. For me, it turned out that the best strategy is to highlight what I think is important while I read the passage and to spend a significant amount of time reading the passage.
When I tried to just read the passage quickly and then answer the questions, I always ran out of time. When I switched to reading thoroughly the first time + highlighting, I rarely run out of time, and if I do, it's only on the last 1-2 questions.
Keep in mind that the highlighting only serves as a method of maintaining focus.
My dream school is Cornell! Spent over 400 hours volunteering in the NYP/Weill Cornell ED. Cheers to anyone else who has done extensive ED volunteering. It definitely changed my life and perspective and eventually led to an awesome clinical research leadership role (but outside of the NYP hospital system). I highly recommend any form of ED work or shadowing as a fun learning experience.
Though I do admit, I probably won't ever get into Weill-Cornell just based on probability. I'll be happy going anywhere and may even consider out-of-state options for a warmer climate. NYC winters destroy nice leather shoes.
Though I do admit, I probably won't ever get into Weill-Cornell just based on probability. I'll be happy going anywhere and may even consider out-of-state options for a warmer climate. NYC winters destroy nice leather shoes.
I did my best on AAMC8 (got a 13) while my average hovers in the 11-12 range (11 on AAMC9). Toward the end i did struggle to get through the last passage of 9; pretty much skimmed the topic sentences and went straight to answering. Ironically, didn't get any of the questions wrong on that passage.
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If you think NYC winters are bad, try out upstate for a while haha. And don't lose hope; I'll be applying there myself, as well as a couple other NYC schools.
When are you applying?
For 2016 matriculation, so not until next cycle.
Same. If the AAMC test average is actually a valid indicator, you, me and several others on this thread can definitely have a shot at most schools, assuming good GPA and all the other stuff.
AAMC 9 verbal was rough. I had a big drop in my scores as well
I don't have time to fish through Google right now (MCAT lol), but I found this Q&A where he touches on it: http://live.washingtonpost.com/the-effects-of-binge-drinking-on-your-brain-.html
But Dr. Swartzwelder's book discusses it. You can purchase it here: http://www.amazon.com/Buzzed-Straig...9852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291654310&sr=8-1
It's extremely interesting.
Thanks for the info and best of luck!
2016 for me as well!
Just did AAMC 8... huge drop. 35: 12/11/12. Not sure what to think, but disappointed.
Was it a focus issue?
I felt a bit rushed because I had to finish a bit earlier than usual but that was just minor. I did find the test overall to be harder though, so it might just be some knowledge gaps. Ugh. ):
Just finished 7, with 13/11/13 = 37
(WARNING: I discuss some AAMC 7 content here...nothing very specific, but if you haven't taken it yet you may not want to read on)
BS was a breeze until that last passage. I'd gotten to the last passage with 26 minutes to spare, and when I only had 4 minutes left, I had to just guess on two of them and move on to the last few discretes. After finishing those in under 2 minutes, I went back to the passage to continue dissecting it. So I spent ~24 minutes on that single passage. I feel like that figure for gut differentiation was poorly drawn, and didn't really make much sense. (Or it could have been related to the fact that by this point I was about to piss my pants because I'd been holding my bladder for 4 hours, which was making it difficult for me to focus...lol)
Verbal wasn't bad. None of the passages were particularly convoluted. My verbal scores for 3, 4, 5, and 7 are 10, 13, 8, and 11, respectively, putting me at a comfy 10.5 average, which ain't bad considering I've not studied for it. Discounting the 8 in AAMC 5--which was the result of a moderate anxiety attack during verbal--my average is just above 11. Just as a random (and slightly political) side-note, I really enjoyed the passage about legislating morality. It brought up some points I'd not considered.
I have to confess my PS score is a bit inflated... it should probably be a 12. When I got to the last five discretes, I only had two minutes left, and so I paused the test to finish them, which took about 5 minutes. So I went about 3 minutes beyond the limit. So my PS weakness is clearly not an issue of conceptual gaps, but an issue of time management when it comes to calculations... I really need to get my hands on those GS tests to work on speeding up my calculations. Or maybe I'll just work through all of the TPRH SW calculation discretes. Or both.
All in all, I'm content with the score.
(WARNING: I discuss some AAMC 7 content here...nothing very specific, but if you haven't taken it yet you may not want to read on)
BS was a breeze until that last passage. I'd gotten to the last passage with 26 minutes to spare, and when I only had 4 minutes left, I had to just guess on two of them and move on to the last few discretes. After finishing those in under 2 minutes, I went back to the passage to continue dissecting it. So I spent ~24 minutes on that single passage. I feel like that figure for gut differentiation was poorly drawn, and didn't really make much sense. (Or it could have been related to the fact that by this point I was about to piss my pants because I'd been holding my bladder for 4 hours, which was making it difficult for me to focus...lol)
Verbal wasn't bad. None of the passages were particularly convoluted. My verbal scores for 3, 4, 5, and 7 are 10, 13, 8, and 11, respectively, putting me at a comfy 10.5 average, which ain't bad considering I've not studied for it. Discounting the 8 in AAMC 5--which was the result of a moderate anxiety attack during verbal--my average is just above 11. Just as a random (and slightly political) side-note, I really enjoyed the passage about legislating morality. It brought up some points I'd not considered.
I have to confess my PS score is a bit inflated... it should probably be a 12. When I got to the last five discretes, I only had two minutes left, and so I paused the test to finish them, which took about 5 minutes. So I went about 3 minutes beyond the limit. So my PS weakness is clearly not an issue of conceptual gaps, but an issue of time management when it comes to calculations... I really need to get my hands on those GS tests to work on speeding up my calculations. Or maybe I'll just work through all of the TPRH SW calculation discretes. Or both.
All in all, I'm content with the score.
I completely agree with you on that last passage. I only missed 3 questions on that section and 2 were from that passage. I just had a difficult time understanding it, but I'm going to redo the section soon and hopefully i get it the second time around.
39 on AAMC 9 (14/13/12).
I thought that the PS was probably the easiest of the AAMCs so far. I got 2 wrong and one of them was an incredibly stupid mistake because I got cocky and felt like I knew an answer without needing to consult the periodic table. I would have gotten a 15 if I took those extra 5 seconds. I deserve that lol. At least it's better to have that happen in practice and not the real thing.
I didn't think the verbal so bad, it's actually my highest score of any AAMC that I've gotten so far.
The BS was definitely more difficult. The passage topics were okay but the questions were harder. I felt like on BS it was very easy to get questions wrong if you went too quickly - especially for Ochem.
I thought that the PS was probably the easiest of the AAMCs so far. I got 2 wrong and one of them was an incredibly stupid mistake because I got cocky and felt like I knew an answer without needing to consult the periodic table. I would have gotten a 15 if I took those extra 5 seconds. I deserve that lol. At least it's better to have that happen in practice and not the real thing.
I didn't think the verbal so bad, it's actually my highest score of any AAMC that I've gotten so far.
The BS was definitely more difficult. The passage topics were okay but the questions were harder. I felt like on BS it was very easy to get questions wrong if you went too quickly - especially for Ochem.
Also agree that the figure on the gut question was poorly drawn. I had to read the answers multiple times to understand what it meant... if you have any questions I can try to answer them.
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I only got the TBR gen chem and physics books after hearing that the bio was way too detailed. I must admit, the chem and physics books are pretty amazing.
I did all the gen chem and physics discretes in the TPR SW, and it was SO helpful. I've been trying to go through all the passages, but at this point, I think doing so would actually hurt my score from massive burnout and overkill.
AAMC10 is on deck for me tomorrow. Hoping for the best!
I thought PS on 10 was a step up in difficult from 9, but I scored higher on 10 (14--only got one wrong). I thought two of the PS passages on 10 were weird. I definitely noticed that the PS on 10 required more critical thinking and less actual knowledge than any of the other PS sections so far.
I thought the verbal on 10 was easier than 9, but I ran out of time on the last two questions. My focus was on point for 10s verbal. I think 8's verbal was by far the hardest.
I thought the Bio on 10 was MUCH easier than 9. However, I think it is because I'm now used to AAMC bio style and know that if I see a graph or table, I better really look closely and on discretes, always read every single answer choice. I finished 10s bio with 25 minutes left and got a 14, but on 9, I finished bio with 5 minutes left and got a 13.
All in all, I hope luck of the draw gives me a test more similar to 10 than, say, 9, which I hated. All my friends have said that 10 and 11 are more similar to the actual MCAT, and that the real MCAT may or may not seem harder, and if it seems harder, the raw score will be curved in such a way as to pull the scaled score within a 1-3 points of the AAMC average.
I think you'll like 10. It definitely forced me to think, but in a good way--excepting one bio discrete that I just don't agree with at all.
Just recently heard about this site--it would've been a great resource these past few months but I suppose I can still make good use of it in our week and a half remaining. Good luck to everyone else preparing these last few days!
Im using the ones at the beginning of TBR for physics. For chemistry, just a few from my notes although there are not that much in chemistry to memorize.
Just took AAMC 10 -- 14/10/11 (35).
Oddly enough i felt that the PS was easier compared to all the other AAMC's but maybe the new style suits my strengths.
Now for verbal im not too sure what happened, i didnt think the passages were any more difficult than the rest of the AAMCs and I usually average around an 11-12 so maybe just an off day.
Bio was definitely more experimental based as Styrene said and more similar to 9's Bio than any of the other AAMCs. I definitely thought that the discretes were a little more difficult than previous AAMCs but nothing out of the blue. I'm really starting to see that reading graphs and experimental steps in passages are the keys to success in these new bio sections.
Good luck y'all, only a few more days till were done with this beast.
14-11-12-37 on AAMC10 today. A bit disappointed in the BS but i guess if i'm frustrated with a 37 im in a good place at the moment. Definitely agree with what's been said on here that BS is very different than previous exams. Actually struggled moreso with unclear discrete questions than anything.
The more i do these tests the more i realize that the PS score is much more feasible to improve upon than anything else, at least in my eyes.
The more i do these tests the more i realize that the PS score is much more feasible to improve upon than anything else, at least in my eyes.
Thanks for sharing thoughts on AAMC 10. I think I'm going to take 10, 11, and 9 in that order. (Just so the last FL I take isn't the oh-so discouraging AAMC 11.)
Haha if you want a confidence booster redo AAMC3. I did because the first time I took it was prior to any content review, and it certainly was a nice number to look at if nothing else
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Haha, good idea. Unfortunately I did AAMC 3 after content review.
Apparently so.
I guess we'll all find out soon enough
Just finished GChem self assessment and got a 97%. And I got 100% of the hard questions right, and only 94% of the moderate questions right haha. I'm wary to let this boost my confidence though because it was untimed, and also because everyone says the real MCAT is so much harder than any of the study material the AAMC releases...
Ugh, now I have to do a post-game (in my opinion, the most tedious part of MCAT prep)...
Ugh, now I have to do a post-game (in my opinion, the most tedious part of MCAT prep)...
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Interestingly, my friend who scored a 38 in June was apparently not in the SDN AAMC vs. MCAT theorizing loop, and he did the AAMCs in random order and didn't notice much variance, though he did remember the earthquake passage from (I think) 7 as being particularly difficult.
He said what makes the real MCAT harder is that since it's a high-pressure situation and everything actually "counts," one feels less sure about their answers. He said he marked 16 PS questions, whereas on AAMC, he would mark 1-3. I will definitely keep his advice in mind, since the MCAT is the type of test that already has most people second-guessing like 25%+ of the answers. General idea: don't get psyched out by the situation!
