The Official July 13, 2013 MCAT Thread

[EphemeralRose3]

Hey everyone. I was originally registered or 5/23, but due to a serious lack of discipline and a busy work schedule, I had to reschedule my test date for 7/13.

What are your study plans? And, do you think that this July test date would put you at a significant disadvantage in this upcoming app cycle?

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[alpharez]

Anyone's else not have discretes until AFTER passage 5 of BS? I was like wtf

 

[Oddish]

Finished an hour ago, I thought PS was the hardest by far, the science passages near the end for verbal were also brutal.

 

[Dallasmavs]

It was in South Texas (McAllen). Crazy that it happened to both of us! But I agree man. Horrible situation. Good luck! Hopefully it didn't mess us up.

I was so hit adjusting during ps. And due to the noise from the fans I had to wear the headphones and those made my head soooooo hot. Threw me off during ps and beginning of verbal but I think I finished second half of VR and BS strong

 

[Dipraman]

Anyone's else not have discretes until AFTER passage 5 of BS? I was like wtf

YESSS

I got tired of doing the passages so I skipped ahead to do some discreted haha

 

[RDS1090]

Sucks waiting a whole month for scores.

 

[Kravitz]

I agree with you guys; PS and BS were fair game but VR was like Uranium. I guessed entirely on one of the passages. Had to hit C's as the clock ran down. After I finished BS I had 6 minutes remaining. I clicked on review and took care of the marked questions than started reviewing from the top. I was surprised that I had totally missed two stand-alone questions. What was awkward is that they did not show as incomplete when I clicked on review. Oh well, that kind of freaked me out! But not as much as verbal. That section to me was a b!tch!!!

Now, I shall drink wine and get spanked.

 

[Dallasmavs]

Did y'all have a couple of discretes on BS and PS that were kinda super random facts that you wouldn't have expected at all

 

[MrsHopeful]

Yes I felt some where very easy one like 2 where kind of weird discrete

 

[amichel]

Did y'all have a couple of discretes on BS and PS that were kinda super random facts that you wouldn't have expected at all

Yes!!

Overall, I thought that was fine! After reading some of the recent threads, I was expecting the apocalypse.

PS was pretty easy I thought, except for a few fact based questions I just plain didn't study.

Verbal felt fine to me, definitely Easier than AAMC 8.

Biology.... I thought the passages were easy and the discretes were stupidly hard and specific, but oh well.

Predicting (hoping for?) an 11+ in each section.

 

[aspiring20]

my impressions overall:

PS: a few passages were laughably easy, and the section as a whole is definitely on the easy side of things.

VR: not too bad at all. there really wasn't any passage that is super hard to understand.

BS: fairly standard/expected. the passages aren't as difficult/obscure as i expected.

overall, the exam was easier than expected, but harder than hoped.

score prediction:

12 PS
13 VR
11 BS

 

[Heplayer92]

I dunno, overall I thought it was harder than AAMCs.

For some reason, verbal passages seemed perhaps longer?
PS was straight forward to start out with, but definitely had some several curveballs thrown in it.
Verbal was meheheh, could honestly go either way.
Bio was relatively straight forward besides some really random discretes lol. Even if I had a few more weeks of studying, I don't think I would have ever looked over them.

Anyways, I can't seem to gauge my performance. Hoping for the best, and hoping the best for all of you guys as well! Hopefully you SDNers don't represent the majority that take the test and there will be a somewhat generous curve =)

Off to enjoy my summer. See ya guys in a few weeks as the august approaches =)

 

[Marnoona]

I just wrote the exam and i so hope for a generous curve, specifically for the PS section. It was brutal, especially the last 3 passages. I couldn't even finish nor even select randomly the one i couldn't finish! . Also, the discrete questions in the BS were odd! And no comments about the VR as that section has been my worst during daily practice.
Oh well, I'll be praying for the best , and best of luck to everyone .

 

[Saharon]

Ummm.. I almost voided because of PS alone.. I thought VR and BS were not bad.. Now you all are talking about how PS wasn't bad?!

I felt the same way. I feel like I should have voided; I think I only didn't because I was expecting to see my results at the other side of the page..
I was surprised that verbal actually wasn't too bad, but my BS and PS were killer.

 

[MTHFR]

I'm a re-taker from the March 23rd group. This test, speaking in terms of the PS and BS sections, was a breeze in comparison to that one. I finished the BS with 22 minutes to spare and the PS with 14! That was the fastest I had ever finished BS and the 2nd fastest PS... literally was so pumped, especially since I was expecting another catastrophic PS section. There were two discretes in PS I wasn't sure about, and one in BS. I Google'd them, but can't find any information on one of them. I want to ask someone so badly! I got the other two correct (thank you, Jesus!).

I'm not so sure about the VR section. That, to me, was quite dense. Anyways, I hope you all the best. I hadn't posted yet here, and I know it's not really that feasible with a bell curve, but I hope you're all happy with your scores. Enjoy the rest of your summers! Cheers!

Oh, and to the babe at my testing center: hey.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Nothing could have prepared me for that VR.

I used TPRH, EK and Kaplan for prep and did pretty well in those.

I always finished VR with 5-8 mins to spare. On this test I actually had to guess completely on one of the sections to finish on time.

 

[Addallat]

.

 

[Addallat]

nvm.

 

[Kravitz]

That VR section almost made me void.

 

[Dipraman]

Oh, and to the babe at my testing center: hey.

I like your style, my friend.

 

[Member5072]

I agree with you guys; PS and BS were fair game but VR was like Uranium. I guessed entirely on one of the passages. Had to hit C's as the clock ran down. After I finished BS I had 6 minutes remaining. I clicked on review and took care of the marked questions than started reviewing from the top. I was surprised that I had totally missed two stand-alone questions. What was awkward is that they did not show as incomplete when I clicked on review. Oh well, that kind of freaked me out! But not as much as verbal. That section to me was a b!tch!!!

Now, I shall drink wine and get spanked.

really? they didn't show up as incomplete? oh no, hope i didn't accidentally miss questions because of that!

 

[OrthoRehab33]

That VR section almost made me void.

Me too verbal wrecked house on me. Although its always been my weakest but I've never felt that bad after a verbal section...soo hoping for a nice curve. I honestly thought PS was the easiest, bio was meh I was hoping for more physio as that's my strong suit surprised to see there was hardly any

 

[Member5072]

Me too verbal wrecked house on me. Although its always been my weakest but I've never felt that bad after a verbal section...soo hoping for a nice curve. I honestly thought PS was the easiest, bio was meh I was hoping for more physio as that's my strong suit surprised to see there was hardly any

ahh my sentiments exactly!

 

[scarlett14]

I also took June 20, 2pm. Did you retake without seeing your score? I wanted to do that haha

i did indeed. ps on june 20th was a catastrophe for me...didnt finish and had ot blindly guess on 8 but i decided not to void cause i thought perhaps i didnt do too terribly. but i knew that i was gunna take it again cause it couldve went a lot better and i didnt wanna wait until i got the score at the end of july cause then itd be pretty late for this cycle!

 

[Spitphire]

I'm a re-taker from the March 23rd group. This test, speaking in terms of the PS and BS sections, was a breeze in comparison to that one. I finished the BS with 22 minutes to spare and the PS with 14! That was the fastest I had ever finished BS and the 2nd fastest PS... literally was so pumped, especially since I was expecting another catastrophic PS section. There were two discretes in PS I wasn't sure about, and one in BS. I Google'd them, but can't find any information on one of them. I want to ask someone so badly! I got the other two correct (thank you, Jesus!).

I'm not so sure about the VR section. That, to me, was quite dense. Anyways, I hope you all the best. I hadn't posted yet here, and I know it's not really that feasible with a bell curve, but I hope you're all happy with your scores. Enjoy the rest of your summers! Cheers!

Oh, and to the babe at my testing center: hey.

Can you do that?

 

[gumdrops]

Can you do that?

If your memory is good enough, sure.

Haha, took the exam today. I'd taken it in 2010 and made a 30 (10/10/10) but I feel the exam style has changed significantly.

PS: What has not changed is my suckitude at the PS section. I felt better about it than I did the first time I took it (I left feeling as if I had been dunked in a tank) but still, I'd averaged 12's in PS on my last three AAMC exams and the sudden leap in difficulty after the first set of discretes threw me off.

VR: I averaged a 12 after Kaplan 1-6 and AAMC 4-10. Meh, we'll see. It wasn't so much that the passages were difficult as they were lengthy. I hope to just stay at my average.

BS: This felt like my swan song/"suck it, MCAT" section. Incredibly reasonable aside from a few funky discretes.

 

[fizzlin]

I love VR, but really--today's VR exam definitely took me in for a wringer. Those last two passages were not my kind of passages, and I could not properly POE to the right answer. I felt as if I was guessing everything! I was so tempted to void because of how terribly I think I did on the VR.......


Bleh.

Also, I'm glad I'm not taking that 2015 exam. Already plenty to study for. Poor future pre-meds.

 

[alpharez]

Verbal almost made me void too. That science passage was nuts.

BS: thought it was easy except for a few discretes. I loved the basic research passages. They were like freebie points for me.

PS: I scored a 12 on my first test. I'll be lucky if I get a 9 on this one. >_<

 

[gumdrops]

I love VR, but really--today's VR exam definitely took me in for a wringer. Those last two passages were not my kind of passages, and I could not properly POE to the right answer. I felt as if I was guessing everything! I was so tempted to void because of how terribly I think I did on the VR.......


Bleh.

Also, I'm glad I'm not taking that 2015 exam. Already plenty to study for. Poor future pre-meds.

More to study for and no Amazon gift cards promised for finishing the section either. I hear ya on the verbal.

 

[amichel]

My trial section was all on subjects I told AAMC I've never taken. And it couldn't be inferred from the passage either. They're going to think I didn't make a good fair effort and not give me my gift card.

 

[Medicalhopeful]

verbal was insane. Glad to know I wasn't the only one having a hard time. Tried my best to understand the main idea but I found myself mostly going back to the passage and re-reading to answer some questions. That last science passage was insane.

did anyone have a very hard time understanding some of the passages? I tried my best but this was a very hard verbal test.

physical science was not bad, started pretty straightforward but the last passage was pretty tough. I felt I hit my average on here tho.

bio was pretty similar to aamc 11 a good mixture of conventional passages and experimental which were not bad. probably hit my average on here too.

we shall see!

 

[sk92]

I screwed up majorly in verbal..mismanaged time and had to pretty much guess the last 2 passages. It didn't really help that those passages happened to be more difficult than the previous ones. Same with physics - why do they place the hard passages at the very end?! I'll probably be re-writing in a month

 

[kja4kc]

I took my test yesterday in Iowa. All I have to say is this test was completely different from the Aamc 3-11 practice exams. I usually scored 13-14's on PS and BS and finished with them with 15min to spare. Unfortunately, this exam caused me to run out of time on the BS sections. Quite disappointed considering BS was one of my strengths.

 

[Kravitz]

I just can't stop thinking about that VR section. I got so drunk last night but yet here I am on SDN early in the morning. lol

I better get over 30! I made a weird bet with my bf and his frat boys.

 

[neep23]

VR was really long! I remember starting the section and seeing huge, solid blocks of text and thinking WTH. The passages were almost twice as long as practice tests. I thought the questions were pretty straightforward, though--more so than some of the practice tests. I did a good job with maintaining my focus, so I think it went okay. I did five passages pretty thoroughly, and the last two a little more quickly, but there wasn't one that I completely guessed on.

PS was okay. It was a little trickier than expected, but still okay. There were some laughably easy questions, and laughably difficult questions... but the bulk of it was straightforward.

BS was fine, for me, at least. I thought that the passages were much, much easier than the discretes--not usually the case, in my experience. They are really turning this section into another verbal reasoning--read the passages and answer questions based on them. O-chem was really basic--so glad I didn't study it!

This was my first time taking a real test. I think they try to scare you! Huge blocks of text, freaky-looking figures, strange terms! I think taking a deep breath and relaxing--keeping your cool--is half the battle. I think I managed a 30, but you never know, I guess...

 

[Zoalerix]

Hey fellow mcatees,
Generally, PS is my strongest section, followed BS and then taking 3rd place is the notorious biggie (Verbal). On this test, I felt the bio passages were pretty easy for the most part; midway through taking these passages, I forgot that I was taking the mcat . The PS was also straightforward with the exception of few standalone questions. On the contrary, verbal left me bedridden with a migraine.

PS. English is my second language, I started speaking this bad boy around 5 years ago. Hopefully I did not completely bomb the verbal section.

My prediction:-
PS: 11-13 ( hopefully more if I am lucky)
VS: 8-11
BS: 12-14

 

[gumdrops]

Hey fellow mcatees,
Generally, PS is my strongest section, followed BS and then taking 3rd place is the notorious biggie (Verbal). On this test, I felt the bio passages were pretty easy for the most part; midway through taking these passages, I forgot that I was taking the mcat . The PS was also straightforward with the exception of few standalone questions. On the contrary, verbal left me bedridden with a migraine.

PS. English is my second language, I started speaking this bad boy around 5 years ago. Hopefully I did not completely bomb the verbal section.

My prediction:-
PS: 11-13 ( hopefully more if I am lucky)
VS: 8-11
BS: 12-14

I found this test hard enough being a native English speaker. I'm so impressed with the non-native English speakers who take this exam-and then proceed to do better than me, lol. It's over. Hopefully I won't be looking at my posts from last night in a month and wondering how I could be so delusional.

 

[deleted123544]

Hey guys, Im from Miami and I took the 1pm sitting. In my Opinion:

PS: I def thought it was easier than the previous one I took on April 27. There were a lot of calculations and you def needed to know your formulas but luckily I spent all of Friday and some of Saturday morning memorizing and reviewing formulas for Physics and Gchem and it paid off. Hoping to get better than an 8 which was what I got on my last one where I wanted to cry.

VR: Man thus verbal suck, specially when English is my second language. The passages were not really hard to understand but there were probably 2 that threw me off. What sucks is that the questions were lengthy as well as the answer choices. I left one of the passages and just guessed on it, it was the one about Frankenstein or something like that. In general this has been my weak area, I did all of the TPR exams and scored avg of 7. On the AAMC exams I scored 9-11 and on AAMC 11, I thought it was hard yet to my surprised I got a 10. I def feel bad about this section but from my prior experience, with verbal you never know.

BS: Bio was tricky. Def nothing like the TPR or AAMC exams except maybe for AAMC 11. The passages where def long and you did had to read them in order to answer the questions. Nevertheless, it was def doable. The funky part was having the discrete questions after like passage 5 and then having some crazy random questions hahaha. My avg has been 10-11 so Im hoping I can stay in this range.

Overall, I feel good except for verbal, Being a non-traditional and minority hopeful applicant, I just hope I can be in the 26-30 range. It has been overwhelming and a nightmare. Wish all you guys the very best!

 

[NavyDoc23]

I thought the PS was a little tougher compared to AAMCs 9-11 mainly due to a few questions that I really had no clue. I thought VR, which is usually my worst section, was easier than the practice exams. BS was about the same compared to the practice tests, maybe a little harder. Overall, I think I hit my average, but we'll see.

 

[gumdrops]

My trial section was all on subjects I told AAMC I've never taken. And it couldn't be inferred from the passage either. They're going to think I didn't make a good fair effort and not give me my gift card.

Hold on just a second. Are they awarding gift cards based on effort? LAME! I lucked out because I was a neuroscience major so I had to take quite a few psych courses.

 

[Heplayer92]

Wait when did we tell AAMC what subject we'd taken? lol

 

[amichel]

^ when you registered. Or at least I did.

 

[Heplayer92]

Oh must've forgotten about it hahaha. I got a biochem one, and even though I took an intro to biochem class, it was pretty hard =D

 

[infinitidoug]

i did indeed. ps on june 20th was a catastrophe for me...didnt finish and had ot blindly guess on 8 but i decided not to void cause i thought perhaps i didnt do too terribly. but i knew that i was gunna take it again cause it couldve went a lot better and i didnt wanna wait until i got the score at the end of july cause then itd be pretty late for this cycle!

Fellow 6/20 taker here. How was the ps compared to the one on 6/20? Am I allowed to ask u whether or not it was gchem heavy or if there were a bunch of calculations? Hope u did better this time

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Lol, I had ear plugs in during the test. When I finished the trial section I looked around and no one else was there. Just me and 14-16 other cubicles.

Either I was the only one doing the trial section or everyone else spent less than 15 mins and just left.

I better get the gift card!

 

[Arthritic]

hey all
i took the mcat in april, 2011 and got a 31 but after a year of grad school with a 4.0 i thought i should retake it........ but i ended up voiding this test because of verbal
here are my thoughts from the exam...

PS: a couple of strange questions on 1 or 2 passages & discretes but i thought it was about as hard as AAMC 11. if not slightly harder. i thought i got about a 12.

VR: ... wanted to punch the computer screen halfway through but decided not to. that was definitely harder than all of the AAMCs, not so much because of the passages but because of the questions i thought. i also don't know if anyone noticed, but the font size on the actual mcat is HUGE so it takes up so much space on the screen and makes everything look so much longer than they really are. that was really annoying. by the end of this section i gave up and decided to void but still went on to take BS since i already made up my mind to retake next month

BS: i thought the passages were pretty easy. the discretes on the other hand were much trickier than any of the AAMC practice tests. i thought i would've gotten at least a 13.

on my practice tests i was averaging (13,9,13.3) so i was hoping verbal would be somewhat manageable... oh well gotta practice verbal till next month
good luck to all of you waiting for your scores

 

[fizzlin]

Lol, I had ear plugs in during the test. When I finished the trial section I looked around and no one else was there. Just me and 14-16 other cubicles.

Either I was the only one doing the trial section or everyone else spent less than 15 mins and just left.

I better get the gift card!

The same thing also happened to me! Hahahahahaha. I was lazily reading and clicking, and wondering how I could've tackled Verbal a bit differently while answering those Trial Section questions. I think a lot of people just didn't even take the trial section.



This month long wait is going to be a killer Finding out whether my MCAT score will make or break my application cycle.

 

[fizzlin]

verbal was insane. Glad to know I wasn't the only one having a hard time. Tried my best to understand the main idea but I found myself mostly going back to the passage and re-reading to answer some questions. That last science passage was insane.

did anyone have a very hard time understanding some of the passages? I tried my best but this was a very hard verbal test.

Since a bunch of us seem to be feeling the same way about Verbal--it means you aren't the only one! The test overall wasn't the hardest but it wasn't the easiest test either.

Verbal almost made me void too. That science passage was nuts.

BS: thought it was easy except for a few discretes. I loved the basic research passages. They were like freebie points for me.

PS: I scored a 12 on my first test. I'll be lucky if I get a 9 on this one. >_<

Yeah, I think AAMC11 really was helpful in terms of feeling confident for the BS portion of our exam. Pretty representative, but that being said, I'm not sure how well I did despite it not being too out of the left-field.

My trial section was all on subjects I told AAMC I've never taken. And it couldn't be inferred from the passage either. They're going to think I didn't make a good fair effort and not give me my gift card.

Do they send us an e-mail? Anyone know how that works?!

 

[MTHFR]

Do they send us an e-mail? Anyone know how that works?!

Yeah, you'll get an email that gives you instructions on how to redeem it (assuming they thought you gave an honest effort), but from what I remember, that's not until almost the day we get our actual scores.

 

[Heplayer92]

Yeah I think they send you your trial scores about a week before your actual scores come out.

 

[muibee22]

So scores will be released on August 13th? This wait is going to be worse than taking the test itself.