**The Official July 2016 MCAT Thread**

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Ended up taking the aamc scored FL today after endless delays. I did much better than I thought I did or expected: 511 (127,128,128,128). I think I'd be happy with just a 508 on the real thing, just so this can be past me. I took the old MCAT before when I wasn't ready, literally on the last day of its administration.

Also, there's an excel sheet that I found on reddit where you can input your aamc sample test score to get a predicted mcat score and it did a very good prediction of my scored FL results.

Other FL scores -

AAMC scored: 511 (127,128,128,128); 80% correct
AAMC unscored: (73%, 85%, 76%, 86%); 80% correct
Kap FL 2: 508 (127, 127, 127, 127)
Kap FL 3: 504 (125, 127, 127, 125)
TPR FL C1: 508 (125, 127, 127, 129)
 
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Lol. I was going through some discretes on an old AAMC test C/P. Then I decided to do some of my flashcards. One of the questions was the exact same out of a sample size of 5. Either that's an extreme coincidence or (the more likely idea is) most of these questions aren't even new besides the psychology and sociology stuff, maybe some biochemistry. Still worth it though for only $10.
 
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medbunny56 said:
is anyone familiar with UV-vis spectroscopy and conjugation and can explain it in a few sentences?

Also I wanted to double check if this sentence is accurate: "conjugation results in absorbance at higher wavelengths"
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From my EK notes, I have it as the longer the conjugated system, UV absorption will be at higher wavelength. That's just a rule of thumb. I don't know too much about it and have not seen it being tested a lot. If anyone else could chime in on this, that would be helpful.
 
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Taking the Unscored aamc exam tomorrow morning and then taking scored exam on wednesday before my July 9 exam. I am scared as F*#$%. I scored 509 on my NS1 last wed but i know this is inflated as hell becuase i scored 501 on my Kaplan2 the Sunday before that(3 days before).
 
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DocPanda said:
From my EK notes, I have it as the longer the conjugated system, UV absorption will be at higher wavelength. That's just a rule of thumb. I don't know too much about it and have not seen it being tested a lot. If anyone else could chime in on this, that would be helpful.
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A more conjugated pi system can absorb photons at a higher wavelength (sometimes referred to as lambda-max). I actually don't know too much behind why... it's just a random o-chem/mcat thing to remember at this point. @medbunny56 Your sentence is accurate 🙂
 
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whitesox137 said:
Taking the Unscored aamc exam tomorrow morning and then taking scored exam on wednesday before my July 9 exam. I am scared as F*#$%. I scored 509 on my NS1 last wed but i know this is inflated as hell becuase i scored 501 on my Kaplan2 the Sunday before that(3 days before).
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Kaplan scores are very deflated. I scored close to my NS tests on the aamc scored (NS was actually a bit deflated as well). You're probably closer to the NS score.
 
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Has anyone taken the scored practice test yet? Just curious to hear how your scores compare to NS/EK (took scored 3 months back so have no idea where I am at for next week)
 
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For anyone taking the July 8th/9th date...what are you doing to study/prepare in your last week?
 
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BB_USF said:
For anyone taking the July 8th/9th date...what are you doing to study/prepare in your last week?
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I have made Word documents of things that I missed for all of the practice questions I have ever taken. I have gone through most of it, but I have a couple of topics left to go over. I am also going to plan out what I am going to write on my scratch paper during the tutorial time (assuming my testing center allows me to do that). Additionally, I am also going to do the B/B and C/P section banks (probably tomorrow) and then do the last half of the Physics Q-Pack.

What are you going to do?
 
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Taking the Scored on Monday. ^ I scored higher on the AAMC unscored sample vs a few of my NS exams, but some pretty were pretty close in score. I'm just redoing section banks, reviewing some practice tests, reviewing notes, and I might work back through the CARS Question packs. Trying to take it easy.
 
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whitesox137 said:
Taking the Unscored aamc exam tomorrow morning and then taking scored exam on wednesday before my July 9 exam. I am scared as F*#$%. I scored 509 on my NS1 last wed but i know this is inflated as hell becuase i scored 501 on my Kaplan2 the Sunday before that(3 days before).
Click to expand...
I just finished the unscored and plan to take the scored Monday/Tuesday. The Biology section KILLED me.
 
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Could someone please post the link that'll lead me to where I can calculate my aamc unscored exam? I saw it the other day and neglected to bookmark the page smh
 
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AAMC scored complete. Somewhat devastated. 502: 126/122/127/127.

Everything is CARS and wtf is this scale. Compared to NS, this scale is ridiculous. I got my highest scores in everything: 41/59 on C/P, my highest score ever, yet this hits right in the middle of what NS was putting me at (got 127 with 40 correct); 45/59 in B/B which is 7 higher than anything else but only 1 point better; 48/59 on P/S which is highest ever compared to 45 that was a 128. Also my 29/53 on CARS was slightly less than where I normally perform (32-35) but ended up being 3 points lower: I have gotten 29/53 on a NS exam and scored 125 on it.

Lots of CARS practice is in order over the next few days, I suppose. Otherwise I feel pretty reassured because most people's scores go up on the real thing and I felt very solid about my sciences.

I feel like I can hit 506+ on the real thing still. I can't really figure out CARS but if I can just get a 125 on the real thing and let my sciences carry I don't mind at all.

[5/21] NS1: 503 (126/124/125/128); 60% correct
[5/27] NS2: 507 (127/128/126/126); 66% correct
[6/1] AAMC unscored: 506-7 (estimated 126/126-7/126/128); 70% correct (64%/73%/63%/81%)
[6/8] NS3: 501 (wtf CARS?) (125/123/126/127); 55% correct
[6/14] NS4: 505 (127/125/125/128); 61% correct
[6/17] NS5: 504 (126/125/126/127); 63% correct
[6/19] C/P SB: 67%
[6/24] NS6: 504 (125/125/126/128); 60% correct
[6/25] P/S SB: 70%
[6/25] CARS QPack 1: 60% (50% 1st half, 70% 2nd half)
[6/28] EK1: 63% (61%/62%/58%/73%)
[6/30] EK2: 61% (57%/51%/57%/78%)
[7/1] B/B SB: 61%
[7/2] AAMC Scored: 502 (126/122/127/127); 71% correct
 
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@Hospitalized I feel you on CARS. I suck at CARS too but I said instead of getting frustrated and thinking there's nothing I can do, I started approaching the CARS differently. I even started reading 5 articles a day and wrote a passage summary and forced myself to get something out of the passages. Have you tried this already? I know my approach to hard passages is different now, and can get some understanding of the passage and the main ideas.
 
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betterfuture said:
@Hospitalized I feel you on CARS. I suck at CARS too but I said instead of getting frustrated and thinking there's nothing I can do, I started approaching the CARS differently. I even started reading 5 articles a day and wrote a passage summary and forced myself to get something out of the passages. Have you tried this already? I know my approach to hard passages is different now, and can get some understanding of the passage and the main ideas.
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Nope but I know what I'm doing over the next week. 😛 Seriously my score is so dependent on my 50/50 picks. I usually am confident in about 25 answers, no ****ing clue on 10 answers, and 50/50 on the rest. My score varies on those 50/50s pretty consistently.
 
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Hospitalized said:
AAMC scored complete. Somewhat devastated. 502: 126/122/127/127.

Everything is CARS and wtf is this scale. Compared to NS, this scale is ridiculous. I got my highest scores in everything: 41/59 on C/P, my highest score ever, yet this hits right in the middle of what NS was putting me at (got 127 with 40 correct); 45/59 in B/B which is 7 higher than anything else but only 1 point better; 48/59 on P/S which is highest ever compared to 45 that was a 128. Also my 29/53 on CARS was slightly less than where I normally perform (32-35) but ended up being 3 points lower: I have gotten 29/53 on a NS exam and scored 125 on it.

Lots of CARS practice is in order over the next few days, I suppose. Otherwise I feel pretty reassured because most people's scores go up on the real thing and I felt very solid about my sciences.

I feel like I can hit 506+ on the real thing still. I can't really figure out CARS but if I can just get a 125 on the real thing and let my sciences carry I don't mind at all.

[5/21] NS1: 503 (126/124/125/128); 60% correct
[5/27] NS2: 507 (127/128/126/126); 66% correct
[6/1] AAMC unscored: 506-7 (estimated 126/126-7/126/128); 70% correct (64%/73%/63%/81%)
[6/8] NS3: 501 (wtf CARS?) (125/123/126/127); 55% correct
[6/14] NS4: 505 (127/125/125/128); 61% correct
[6/17] NS5: 504 (126/125/126/127); 63% correct
[6/19] C/P SB: 67%
[6/24] NS6: 504 (125/125/126/128); 60% correct
[6/25] P/S SB: 70%
[6/25] CARS QPack 1: 60% (50% 1st half, 70% 2nd half)
[6/28] EK1: 63% (61%/62%/58%/73%)
[6/30] EK2: 61% (57%/51%/57%/78%)
[7/1] B/B SB: 61%
[7/2] AAMC Scored: 502 (126/122/127/127)
Click to expand...

That CARS section did feel very hard. You did well on the unscored version though. I'm not sure why your scores varied so much. Anything different this time around or just difficulty?
 
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SwordOfTheMorning said:
That CARS section did feel very hard. You did well on the unscored version though. I'm not sure why your scores varied so much. Anything different this time around or just difficulty?
Click to expand...

I always feel about the same after CARS. This section didn't feel more difficult at all, I felt fine after it... assumed somewhere 124-126. I wasn't pressured for time or anything. What seems to be the pattern is I can always get about 25 right no matter what, about 10-15 are 50/50, the remaining questions I have no idea wtf is happening. I can't even really account for any variation because some passages I'm super interested in and score bad, but others I didn't like reading yet get everything.
 
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Hospitalized said:
AAMC scored complete. Somewhat devastated. 502: 126/122/127/127.

Everything is CARS and wtf is this scale. Compared to NS, this scale is ridiculous. I got my highest scores in everything: 41/59 on C/P, my highest score ever, yet this hits right in the middle of what NS was putting me at (got 127 with 40 correct); 45/59 in B/B which is 7 higher than anything else but only 1 point better; 48/59 on P/S which is highest ever compared to 45 that was a 128. Also my 29/53 on CARS was slightly less than where I normally perform (32-35) but ended up being 3 points lower: I have gotten 29/53 on a NS exam and scored 125 on it.

Lots of CARS practice is in order over the next few days, I suppose. Otherwise I feel pretty reassured because most people's scores go up on the real thing and I felt very solid about my sciences.

I feel like I can hit 506+ on the real thing still. I can't really figure out CARS but if I can just get a 125 on the real thing and let my sciences carry I don't mind at all.

[5/21] NS1: 503 (126/124/125/128); 60% correct
[5/27] NS2: 507 (127/128/126/126); 66% correct
[6/1] AAMC unscored: 506-7 (estimated 126/126-7/126/128); 70% correct (64%/73%/63%/81%)
[6/8] NS3: 501 (wtf CARS?) (125/123/126/127); 55% correct
[6/14] NS4: 505 (127/125/125/128); 61% correct
[6/17] NS5: 504 (126/125/126/127); 63% correct
[6/19] C/P SB: 67%
[6/24] NS6: 504 (125/125/126/128); 60% correct
[6/25] P/S SB: 70%
[6/25] CARS QPack 1: 60% (50% 1st half, 70% 2nd half)
[6/28] EK1: 63% (61%/62%/58%/73%)
[6/30] EK2: 61% (57%/51%/57%/78%)
[7/1] B/B SB: 61%
[7/2] AAMC Scored: 502 (126/122/127/127)
Click to expand...

I think you can hit 506+ on the real thing too. I've heard the unscored is more accurate and it might be worth it to buy the second cars Q pack!
 
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Just took scored and quite disappointed with my score. Got a 501 (125/125/127/124). Was the scale much harsher? I consistently hit 127 on P/S and 126-127 on P/C. Can't say much for CARS, only scored 60% on CARS Pack 1. At this point, is even 505+ doable or should I just void? 😕
 
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kcpf said:
Just finished taking the scored test with a 510: 130/124/127/129

I'm starting to get really worried about the CARS. Anyone who tends to score well on this section have any suggestions on how they attack the CARS section/how to prep myself for this last week leading up to the real test?

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

How'd you feel about the CARS section? I'm in a similar position to you. Just took AAMC scored today and got 122 despite never scoring below 124 before.
 
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DocPanda said:
Just took scored and quite disappointed with my score. Got a 501 (125/125/127/124). Was the scale much harsher? I consistently hit 127 on P/S and 126-127 on P/C. Can't say much for CARS, only scored 60% on CARS Pack 1. At this point, is even 505+ doable or should I just void? 😕
Click to expand...

I definitely think it's doable... Something tells me this scale is a little ****ed. The P/S scale is absolutely deflated on that exam, nearly everyone improves on the real deal.
 
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Hospitalized said:
I definitely think it's doable... Something tells me this scale is a little ****ed. The P/S scale is absolutely deflated on that exam, nearly everyone improves on the real deal.
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I'll be happy with a 4 point improvement on the real thing after this crappy score. My P/S has always been my highest and somehow I got 124. B/B felt easier than section bank. P/C was a mix bag..I screwed up though because I wasted too much time for the first two passages and had to rush towards the end.
 
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I found that when I went back and reviewed my CARS sections some of the questions I missed had answers that seemed so obvious I couldn't believe I missed them. I was missing mainly author's opinion questions, and after I noticed that I almost always made sure that I knew their opinion towards x or tone. It helped me a lot.
 
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From the AAMC Scored FL Chem/Phys Question 23. Their explanation is not very clear.
 

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kcpf said:
Just finished taking the scored test with a 510: 130/124/127/129

I'm starting to get really worried about the CARS. Anyone who tends to score well on this section have any suggestions on how they attack the CARS section/how to prep myself for this last week leading up to the real test?

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

I tend to do well on CARS. I got 131/132 on the Unscored FL and 128 on the Scored FL. My strategy is pretty straight forward. I read the passage word for word before attempting to answer any of the questions. Then, when I am answering questions that require knowledge from the passage, I highlight the portion of the passage that contains the answer. I use POE to figure out the ones where you have to make Inferences or when it says "Based on X, Y, and Z, what do you think?" If I come across a super difficult question, I will mark it and return to it when I have gone through all of the questions. You don't want to spend too much time on a really difficult question. It's better to make sure that you get the majority of the questions correct rather than spending 5-10 minutes getting one correct.

To prep for this section, each day of studying, I would do 3 EK 101 CARS passages. They are more difficult than the AAMC passages (especially towards the end of the book).
 
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^ I've also been doing EK 101 passages. I'm glad you found them to get harder towards the end of the book. I was worried I was getting worse at CARS lol.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
From the AAMC Scored FL Chem/Phys Question 23. Their explanation is not very clear.
Click to expand...

kcpf said:
In the third paragraph is lists out the five regions of compound one and each other their properties:
1. hydrophobic reside- shown at the beginning of the compound in the diagram
2. residues that can be cross linked- this will be the cysteine part of the molecule because cysteine forms disulfide bonds --> eliminate B and C
3. spacer residues- these are possibly glycine amino acids are shown in the middle of the molecule and "separates" the left and right side --> eliminate A
4. phosphorylated for future attachment- serine can be phosphorylated, the phosphorous group is shown towards the right half of compound 1
5. residues with affinity for cells

This leaves choice D. This was a slightly round about way to get to this answer, but this was my thought process because I didn't see anything else in the passage related to affinity besides in the third paragraph. I hope this explanation helped!
Click to expand...

Piggy backing off what he said -- Glycine is also there but isn't a charged amino acid so I eliminated answers with it, as it's likely not to convey any sort of affinity with it's relatively nonreactive structure.
 
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kcpf said:
Just finished taking the scored test with a 510: 130/124/127/129

I'm starting to get really worried about the CARS. Anyone who tends to score well on this section have any suggestions on how they attack the CARS section/how to prep myself for this last week leading up to the real test?

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...
I think the Q banks are really helpful. I would practice 3/4 passages a day until test day, don't try to speed read because then you'll miss out on main idea and take more time on the questions
 
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kcpf said:
In the third paragraph is lists out the five regions of compound one and each other their properties:
1. hydrophobic reside- shown at the beginning of the compound in the diagram
2. residues that can be cross linked- this will be the cysteine part of the molecule because cysteine forms disulfide bonds --> eliminate B and C
3. spacer residues- these are possibly glycine amino acids are shown in the middle of the molecule and "separates" the left and right side --> eliminate A
4. phosphorylated for future attachment- serine can be phosphorylated, the phosphorous group is shown towards the right half of compound 1
5. residues with affinity for cells

This leaves choice D. This was a slightly round about way to get to this answer, but this was my thought process because I didn't see anything else in the passage related to affinity besides in the third paragraph. I hope this explanation helped!
Click to expand...

Hospitalized said:
Piggy backing off what he said -- Glycine is also there but isn't a charged amino acid so I eliminated answers with it, as it's likely not to convey any sort of affinity with it's relatively nonreactive structure.
Click to expand...

It makes so much sense now. Thanks y'all! Sometimes POE is the trick to answering the question.

southernpremed2 said:
^ I've also been doing EK 101 passages. I'm glad you found them to get harder towards the end of the book. I was worried I was getting worse at CARS lol.
Click to expand...

Haha yeah I have a color coded spreadsheet where I kept track of my EK 101 CARS scores and when I got to the end section, I started seeing a lot more red!

kcpf said:
Thanks for the input!
How much time do you usually spend referring back to the passage to look for the answer before you realize it's too difficult and need to move on? I never have time left over at the end of this section. It might be because I spend too much time looking for the answer and start getting discouraged when I can't piece it together.
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You're welcome! If I am struggling to eliminate any of the answers to the question, I will mark it. For example, I found Question 1 on the AAMC scored to be really difficult. Initially, I couldn't justify eliminating any of the answers to that question. So once I was done with the rest of the questions, I went back and spent a couple of minutes on that question before I figured out the correct answer.
 
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Has anyone gone through the nextstep 2000 question science book? I take the test the 22nd and am considering it for a little content review when I am not taking practice tests.
 
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bluepeach9 said:
My AAMC practice scores are actually not that bad. I got 510-513 on them. However, I know I haven't hit my plateau. I took those tests without reviewing any organic or metabolism and without doing any C/P or Bio. practice questions 🙁 Tbh I've only done P/S practice passages diligently. I also only took two practice tests (both AAMC ones). I took the question packs and scored 86% GChem, 88% Physics, ~83% for both Bio., and around a 76-80% for CARS. I only finished the P/S Section bank so far and scored ~80%...I'm halfway through the B/C one.

Technically, I could take the test next week based on the above scores. But I know I'll walk in feeling underprepared and the actual test is much harder than the practice ones (I voided my June 18 because of this...so thrown off by the unexpected level of difficulty!), so I want to at least go in knowing my full content and practicing as much as possible.

I know I screwed up big time taking the MCAT this late. But at the same time, I don't think I can forgive myself if I take the July 9 unprepared, score lower, and not be able to apply at all this cycle :shrug: so yes, it's a very hard decision.
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I actually ended up not registering for the 9th because all of a sudden there were no more seats at my location :/ A lot of people must have decided to sign up mid-day on Friday. I guess that was my sign haha. Anyway, now that I'm taking it on the 22nd I hope to see a little score increase.
 
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This is from the AAMC Scored FL. Question 54, Chem/Phys. I pretty much guessed on this one and AAMC's explanation is not very thorough. Any thoughts?
 

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Nucleophile1 said:
This is from the AAMC Scored FL. Question 54, Chem/Phys. I pretty much guessed on this one and AAMC's explanation is not very thorough. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

The question stated that X= Al and Y= Cu. The passage shows that X is at the anode and Y is at the cathode. So the correct answer would show Al being oxidized and Cu2+ being reduced, so C or D. Then you have to select the one that has balanced charges, eliminating D, and making C correct.
 
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WhittyPsyche said:
Hey Guys,

Going to get 2 out of the 4 EK tests, which two should I get?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Most people here seem to suggest EK 3/4. Although I did see a thread before that mentioned some errors in EK4.

I bought EK3 a few weeks ago but stopped before the P/S section, because I got tired and was too annoyed from their difficult cars section. I plan on finishing it today or tomorrow just so I don't feel bad about spending $50, though.
 
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So do people generally like the ones they did better on? Lol

I will get 3, since it sounds hard and haven't found many complaints beyond that. Will decide between 2 and 4 later in case more people chime in.



Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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Just did half of the B/B Section Bank! Definitely more difficult than the Q-Packs. I divided it in half and timed myself 1.5 hours for 50 questions. I was able to go through it twice before my time was up and I definitely understood the passages more the second time around.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
Just did half of the B/B Section Bank! Definitely more difficult than the Q-Packs. I divided it in half and timed myself 1.5 hours for 50 questions. I was able to go through it twice before my time was up and I definitely understood the passages more the second time around.
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Yup I agree, I just finished it last night and got 64% correct. B/B is usually one of my better sections so hopefully brushing up on the metabolism questions I got wrong will help me on the real deal.
 
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Man I'm so shook from my CARS score on the scored. I can't focus on anything now... I feel pretty dissatisfied with NS: why would I be hitting 125 consistently and then all the sudden drop to 122? Just tells me that it's not very representative or the scale is wrong... Here I am hoping for 125 on the real deal when I thought their tests were supposed to underestimate your score.
 
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