The Official August 9, 2013 MCAT Thread

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Paul Darlington said:
👍 Happy for you, May God continue to see you through. I believe miracles do happen, except for the pagans. I believe in what God can do!
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Disclaimers:
  • Raised Baptist Christian, but was never entirely devout. Still a believer; yeah, I'm a walking contradiction.
  • Dislike talking about religion, because it's subjective and no one really knows what is and is not. My opinion is not superior, nor is yours.
  • I'm only bringing up a concern; not interested in a debate; will not comment further.
  • It's off topic for these boards anyway.

However, I've always found rather troubling the notion that God and Jesus will "smite" and do other types of punishing things to those who don't believe. Those who believe promote Him as a forgiver, one who understands, and blah blah blah. But concurrently, we got all this stuff about a zero tolerance policy for those who don't worship him and pay enough attention to him that nothing good will ever happen to them. So...how's this make God/Jesus any more superior than us humans who are guilty of similar sins? How can it be that such a kind forgiver who will not turn against his believers be so potentially intolerant and violent towards non-believers? I'm no Bible expert, but I know there are parts in there that speak of striking with lightning those heretics and so on... 😱😱😱 Honestly, that doesn't sound like any God I'd be proud to believe in if that were really his attitude in dealing with things.

Now, I get that I am looking at this from a modern perspective where our society takes pride in having different viewpoints on subjects and have adopted a much more liberal understanding of religion, so maybe it was only in the ancient times when the Bible was written that such preconceptions were kept in God and Jesus' minds. Have they changed with the times as well, or...? Also, I understand that the point of religion is to create incentives for people to follow the tradition, and threatening to kill off those who don't buy in is a great strategy, but that doesn't make it right if the point is to promote your Savior as a self sacrificing philanthropist. :shrug:

Sounds to me like someone's got a jealousy problem...
 
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inycepoo said:
Disclaimers:
  • Raised Baptist Christian, but was never entirely devout. Still a believer; yeah, I'm a walking contradiction.
  • Dislike talking about religion, because it's subjective and no one really knows what is and is not. My opinion is not superior, nor is yours.
  • I'm only bringing up a concern; not interested in a debate; will not comment further.
  • It's off topic for these boards anyway.

However, I've always found rather troubling the notion that God and Jesus will "smite" and do other types of punishing things to those who don't believe. Those who believe promote Him as a forgiver, one who understands, and blah blah blah. But concurrently, we got all this stuff about a zero tolerance policy for those who don't worship him and pay enough attention to him that nothing good will ever happen to them. So...how's this make God/Jesus any more superior than us humans who are guilty of similar sins? How can it be that such a kind forgiver who will not turn against his believers be so potentially intolerant and violent towards non-believers? I'm no Bible expert, but I know there are parts in there that speak of striking with lightning those heretics and so on... 😱😱😱 Honestly, that doesn't sound like any God I'd be proud to believe in if that were really his attitude in dealing with things.

Now, I get that I am looking at this from a modern perspective where our society takes pride in having different viewpoints on subjects and have adopted a much more liberal understanding of religion, so maybe it was only in the ancient times when the Bible was written that such preconceptions were kept in God and Jesus' minds. Have they changed with the times as well, or...? Also, I understand that the point of religion is to create incentives for people to follow the tradition, and threatening to kill off those who don't buy in is a great strategy, but that doesn't make it right if the point is to promote your Savior as a self sacrificing philanthropist. :shrug:

Sounds to me like someone's got a jealousy problem...
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+1
Agreed 100%.

But dude, those pagans and their heretical gods threaten the church. Excuse my mis-quote of the soup nazi but "NO MIRACLE FOR YOU".
 
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ComplexNapoleon said:
+1
Agreed 100%.

But dude, those pagans and their heretical gods threaten the church. Excuse my mis-quote of the soup nazi but "NO MIRACLE FOR YOU".
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Well that's an entirely different story that came up in Europe many centuries afterwards. I'm talking about from the very beginning, at least as far as we can tell from the Bible.
 
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Paul Darlington said:
👍 Happy for you, May God continue to see you through. I believe miracles do happen, except for the pagans. I believe in what God can do!
Click to expand...

Everyone has a right to his/her own beliefs; I won't sit here and tell you on what levels that was inappropriate. However, as a future physician, you should think more carefully about how you deal with these kinds of things in respect to patients. Will you have more faith in your medicine for patients that share you beliefs? Will you treat those patients better? I would be extremely uncomfortable having you as my doctor or even as my classmate in medical school. I shall pray to God that good things are in store for you future.
 
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Heday said:
Everyone has a right to his/her own beliefs; I won't sit here and tell you on what levels that was inappropriate. However, as a future physician, you should think more carefully about how you deal with these kinds of things in respect to patients. Will you have more faith in your medicine for patients that share you beliefs? Will you treat those patients better? I would be extremely uncomfortable having you as my doctor or even as my classmate in medical school. I shall pray to God that good things are in store for you future.
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^^this

I have no problem with any religion, or non-religon for that matter. But anyone who condemns another group based on their religious views is (by definition) nothing more than a bigot.
 
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Getting back on topic...

Took AAMC 10 today. 14/11/12 = 37. Not happy about that BS. GRR WHY CAN'T I BREAK 12?!?!?!?!?! 🙁 :cry:
 
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inycepoo said:
Getting back on topic...

Took AAMC 10 today. 14/11/12 = 37. Not happy about that BS. GRR WHY CAN'T I BREAK 12?!?!?!?!?! 🙁 :cry:
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I was 12/11/13 on this one. I know what you mean though... can't seem to break 11 on verbal. Are the questions you miss for verbal equally distributed among the passages? I miss a few here and there, but most of my missed questions are typically from one passage.
 
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inycepoo said:
Sorry, man. Didn't mean it like that. Just frustrated with myself. SDN isn't the best place to voice my own internal musings, I guess.

*salutes apologetically* :hello:
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Lol no, because I'm quite sure that type of post bothers a lot of people.

How was the PS? I take 10 tomorrow and I'm curious how it is relative to 9, which I actually found the easiest so far.
 
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Heday said:
Everyone has a right to his/her own beliefs; I won't sit here and tell you on what levels that was inappropriate. However, as a future physician, you should think more carefully about how you deal with these kinds of things in respect to patients. Will you have more faith in your medicine for patients that share you beliefs? Will you treat those patients better? I would be extremely uncomfortable having you as my doctor or even as my classmate in medical school. I shall pray to God that good things are in store for you future.
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I guess used a wrong choice of word, what I actually meant was that I believe God can work miracles in my life but I dont know about pagans. Seriously though, back to mcat stuff.👍
 
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Synapsis said:
Lol no, because I'm quite sure that type of post bothers a lot of people.

How was the PS? I take 10 tomorrow and I'm curious how it is relative to 9, which I actually found the easiest so far.
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Pretty straightforward and easy. Didn't find it that different from 9, which was also easy, as you said. 👍
 
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I take 10 tomorrow as well; 9 was easy? Yes but not the verbal 🙁
Looks like we all got the same aamc schedule
 
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I took five aamc exams so far and got a 31 on all of them. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I am happy with a 31.
 
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Wrote AAMC 9 this morning and managed to pull off 15/11/13 - haven't scored this high since AAMC 3! I was feeling ridiculously anxious the other day but that definitely got my mood up. I have AAMC 11 left, not too sure when to write it. Thinking about setting aside tomorrow for content review and then writing AAMC 11 on the 6th, giving me two days to chill a bit before d-day. Thoughts?

hawkeye3211 said:
I took five aamc exams so far and got a 31 on all of them. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I am happy with a 31.
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That's great if it's your goal, consistency is always a good thing and I think you'd be likely to pull that off on the real deal.
 
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I take 11 tomorrow. So far have been scoring 35 - 37 on the others except 10.. I got a 33 on 10 for some reason..
 
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Have had a severe rash in my hands and feet to the point where I cannot sleep let alone review for the test. A great way to approach this **** 👍
 
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oxelhs said:
Have had a severe rash in my hands and feet to the point where I cannot sleep let alone review for the test. A great way to approach this **** 👍
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Wow that is such a bummer! I feel super bad for you bro. Here is to hoping that you come back stronger than ever on test day
 
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Synapsis said:
Lol no, because I'm quite sure that type of post bothers a lot of people.

How was the PS? I take 10 tomorrow and I'm curious how it is relative to 9, which I actually found the easiest so far.
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How did 10 go for you today? Finally break 40!?

I took it this morning: 38 12/13/13

realized I accidentally selected a wrong answer on accident... whoops

Lets hope I dont do that on friday 😱
 
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bwest406 said:
Wow that is such a bummer! I feel super bad for you bro. Here is to hoping that you come back stronger than ever on test day
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Thanks man! I'm on a whole slew of antihistamines so hopefully it gets better. Maybe this is my bodys way of saying i had enough MCAT this summer lol

Hope everyone is doing well!
 
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bwest406 said:
How did 10 go for you today? Finally break 40!?

I took it this morning: 38 12/13/13

realized I accidentally selected a wrong answer on accident... whoops

Lets hope I dont do that on friday 😱
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No...

38 - 13/10/15

I think for the next few days I'm going to REALLY eat at my verbal strategy. I need to find out what the heck isn't working because this is really bothering me. I really could've gotten it today. I also could've gotten a 15 in PS which bothers me still more. Not to complain - it's a great score, and my first time getting a 15 on an AAMC BS section. Pretty exciting! I still got one wrong though.
 
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AAMC 11 tomorrow!!!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this is like one of many scenes in which the hero goes out to his penultimate battle in the movie.

In other news, finished all of Kaplan's PS and BS Section Tests. Averaged high 70s in PS, low 70s in BS. Not bad, I'll take it. Some of them were tough **** whew
 
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inycepoo said:
AAMC 11 tomorrow!!!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this is like one of many scenes in which the hero goes out to his penultimate battle in the movie.

In other news, finished all of Kaplan's PS and BS Section Tests. Averaged high 70s in PS, low 70s in BS. Not bad, I'll take it. Some of them were tough **** whew
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What did you think of 10's BS? I know you were frustrated - were they mostly baby mistakes? I'm curious because I did better on it than earlier AAMCs and it's supposedly more similar to what we might expect on real deal, along with 11? I still felt like you had to know a decent amount of bio.

I dunno, scoring high in BS tends to get me to think like, "I know I did well on this one, but what if I get a super difficult one on test day".
 
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Synapsis said:
What did you think of 10's BS? I know you were frustrated - were they mostly baby mistakes? I'm curious because I did better on it than earlier AAMCs and it's supposedly more similar to what we might expect on real deal, along with 11? I still felt like you had to know a decent amount of bio.

I dunno, scoring high in BS tends to get me to think like, "I know I did well on this one, but what if I get a super difficult one on test day".
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I got 46/52 for a 12. I changed two at the last minute, so I'll count those as "true" mistakes. One was "err bro I'm not sure" (the causation one, #125), and the other three were baby. So a 14 wasn't out of the question.

I thought BS was fair. Good amount of background knowledge and passage-based question distribution. The real deal won't have the discretes as gimmes, and I'm expecting more complicated experiments like in Kaplan's BS Section Tests. But sure, if that's similar I'll take it.

Your thought on BS is my thought on PS every single time. These are just way too easy to really be representative, imo. Either that or I'm used to Kaplan trying to trick you every third question with an exception to the rule.
 
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inycepoo said:
I got 46/52 for a 12. I changed two at the last minute, so I'll count those as "true" mistakes. One was "err bro I'm not sure" (the causation one, #125), and the other three were baby. So a 14 wasn't out of the question.

I thought BS was fair. Good amount of background knowledge and passage-based question distribution. The real deal won't have the discretes as gimmes, and I'm expecting more complicated experiments like in Kaplan's BS Section Tests. But sure, if that's similar I'll take it.

Your thought on BS is my thought on PS every single time. These are just way too easy to really be representative, imo. Either that or I'm used to Kaplan trying to trick you every third question with an exception to the rule.
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Okay so I'm not the only one then? I know the test prep companies are harder, but some of the things you get on the AAMC exams are really basic. Not to discount the difficulty of the exam, because the exam altogether is still tough, but the amount of one-step potshot questions on these exams in both PS and BS makes me nervous that it'll be worse on the actual.
 
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Any suggestions for what to do the next two days? I've had to take 3 days off thanks to this virus.

Haven't dont final 1/3 TBR for the last chapter or so of each section. Thinking of skipping this and doing Kaplan section tests?
 
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oxelhs said:
Any suggestions for what to do the next two days? I've had to take 3 days off thanks to this virus.

Haven't dont final 1/3 TBR for the last chapter or so of each section. Thinking of skipping this and doing Kaplan section tests?
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It's too late in the game for TBR. Good luck getting used to the section tests if you haven't done any of them yet. If you're easily scared and confidence easily hurt, don't bother starting them. They're tough ****s.
 
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Does anyone really find that practicing passage problems helps? It used to do good for me back when I was new to MCAT stuff but at this stage I don't get much out of it. Finished all the AAMC SA's a while ago and I've been doing random passages out of the TPRH and ICC just to keep myself sharp but is it work sitting down and spending lots of time reviewing them? I'm mostly going through my past tests and hitting up my books to make sure I have all the content down for test day.
 
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ar00n said:
Does anyone really find that practicing passage problems helps? It used to do good for me back when I was new to MCAT stuff but at this stage I don't get much out of it. Finished all the AAMC SA's a while ago and I've been doing random passages out of the TPRH and ICC just to keep myself sharp but is it work sitting down and spending lots of time reviewing them? I'm mostly going through my past tests and hitting up my books to make sure I have all the content down for test day.
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I think it's worth it. We're never perfect really, and no matter how well we do on practice exams, I don't think it's possible to expect a 15 in any section really. It's the goal, and it's very possible, but no one knows what's gonna be on that test and how we have to reason through to find a certain answer. And we don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves.

You should try doing 60 discretes in order from TPRH in 45 minutes. I've been doing that (especially for BS) to make sure I have all the content down.
 
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Are TPRH SW discretes just all rote content regurg or with some reasoning/analytical thinking mixed in? Maybe I'll do a couple of them, like every 3rd question, tomorrow or Wednesday or something. Hm.
 
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inycepoo said:
Are TPRH SW discretes just all rote content regurg or with some reasoning/analytical thinking mixed in? Maybe I'll do a couple of them, like every 3rd question, tomorrow or Wednesday or something. Hm.
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Some, not all. There's a good mix.
 
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Synapsis said:
No...

38 - 13/10/15

I think for the next few days I'm going to REALLY eat at my verbal strategy. I need to find out what the heck isn't working because this is really bothering me. I really could've gotten it today. I also could've gotten a 15 in PS which bothers me still more. Not to complain - it's a great score, and my first time getting a 15 on an AAMC BS section. Pretty exciting! I still got one wrong though.
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Wow great job on that 15! I wish I could give you advice on verbal but I don't even know what to say. For some reason VR on both 9 and 10 seemed super straightforward to me and I was able to capitalize (only missed 5 between both tests). I'm afraid that those are just anomalies though and that the actual test will be much more challenging.
If nothing else though you have definitely mastered the sciences which are the areas that you realistically have the most control over. It is a testament to your work ethic dropping 14/15s.
 
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bwest406 said:
Wow great job on that 15! I wish I could give you advice on verbal but I don't even know what to say. For some reason VR on both 9 and 10 seemed super straightforward to me and I was able to capitalize (only missed 5 between both tests). I'm afraid that those are just anomalies though and that the actual test will be much more challenging.
If nothing else though you have definitely mastered the sciences which are the areas that you realistically have the most control over. It is a testament to your work ethic dropping 14/15s.
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Thanks, that was really exciting to see! And it's fine, I'll fix it if it kills me. :l
 
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Change of plans. Slept too late last night and decided to sleep in today, so will do AAMC 11 with the rest of you guys tomorrow.
 
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inycepoo said:
Change of plans. Slept too late last night and decided to sleep in today, so will do AAMC 11 with the rest of you guys tomorrow.
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Best of luck!

I'm excited about my chance to attack this famed BS section that so many people talk about on AAMC 11. I've been nervous about my ability to handle the more data oriented BS sections but my AAMC 9 and 10 scores seem to say I'll be fine. I guess we'll see. ._.
 
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Synapsis said:
Best of luck!

I'm excited about my chance to attack this famed BS section that so many people talk about on AAMC 11. I've been nervous about my ability to handle the more data oriented BS sections but my AAMC 9 and 10 scores seem to say I'll be fine. I guess we'll see. ._.
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Same here, except not much nervousness, just excitement. Really interested in seeing if all this talk about Kaplan BS being the best has any merit or not. Also, I want something to show for the ass whipping I've been getting from it lol
 
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Got 36 (13/9/14) on AAMC 11.. PS Could have easily been a 15 if it weren't for some sketchy questions.. I won't say anymore since some of you have yet to take it.
 
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I dont know how smart this is, but I am spending today going through the outlines on MCATreview.org for each subject. I think it is a really good confidence boost going back and looking at all the content one more time.

Plus Im sick of doing passages. Hopefully this will pay off on AAMC 11 tomorrow.

Hang in there everyone!
 
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MangoPlant said:
Got 36 (13/9/14) on AAMC 11.. PS Could have easily been a 15 if it weren't for some sketchy questions.. I won't say anymore since some of you have yet to take it.
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Awesome job on BS! I'm taking 11 later today...I've found my BS to be all over the place, did some intense revision and been practicing passages D:

In chronological order, starting from AAMC 3 and ignoring AAMC 10 since I wrote that one in May: 14 14 11 12 12 13. Hoping to hit at least 13 on 11!
 
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ar00n said:
Awesome job on BS! I'm taking 11 later today...I've found my BS to be all over the place, did some intense revision and been practicing passages D:

In chronological order, starting from AAMC 3 and ignoring AAMC 10 since I wrote that one in May: 14 14 11 12 12 13. Hoping to hit at least 13 on 11!
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Good luck! Your average is still solid. My BS has been constantly increasing from 11 on my first practice test to 14 on my last. Hopefully I can land a 15 on the real deal 😀.

Honestly though, on PS I feel like most of the questions I'm missing are because of misinterpreting the question.. either AAMC tries to ask potentially misleading questions or I need some better verbal reasoning skills 😳. Probably the latter 🙁.
 
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