**The Official July 2016 MCAT Thread**

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040111333 said:
Are you confident that we can still get MD this cycle with such a late MCAT? I'm only applying MD and I'm worried being complete late August is not worth an application cycle. I need some reassurance!
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Well unless we are very alike, I'm not sure it will be of much assurance. I'm URM, bilingual, 4-5 years of research, pubs, and an extremely circumstantial life. From the advice I sought, specifically for myself, I won't have an issue being complete in August. I'm already verified, my committee letter will be sent next week, and I will pre-write secondaries through the month of August.

Lizzy M addressed it a bit in another thread last night. And other adcoms said before Labor Day is usually okay, but you would be hoping you get the secondary before Labor Day. If it would cause no undue stress, it would be more advantageous to apply next year early to increase your chances everywhere. I'm in a bit of a complicated situation and applying this year is best for my family, and with the low risk for an applicant like myself in August, it was a good decision I believe.


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WhittyPsyche said:
Well unless we are very alike, I'm not sure it will be of much assurance. I'm URM, bilingual, 4-5 years of research, pubs, and an extremely circumstantial life. From the advice I sought, specifically for myself, I won't have an issue being complete in August. I'm already verified, my committee letter will be sent next week, and I will pre-write secondaries through the month of August.

Lizzy M addressed it a bit in another thread last night. And other adcoms said before Labor Day is usually okay, but you would be hoping you get the secondary before Labor Day. If it would cause no undue stress, it would be more advantageous to apply next year early to increase your chances everywhere. I'm in a bit of a complicated situation and applying this year is best for my family, and with the low risk for an applicant like myself in August, it was a good decision I believe.


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Yup, unfortunately, that does not make me feel any better 🙁 I'm ORM with average-great EC's, and I still have to submit my primary which I was planning to do mid-July so that it is complete by August. Anyone else in my situation??

Also, if AMCAS with scores is verified August 23, would we not receive the secondary by labor day?
 
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040111333 said:
Yup, unfortunately, that does not make me feel any better 🙁 I'm ORM with average-great EC's, and I still have to submit my primary which I was planning to do mid-July so that it is complete by August. Anyone else in my situation??

Also, if AMCAS with scores is verified August 23, would we not receive the secondary by labor day?
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Sorry I don't even know when Labor Day is lol had to google. I think most of them you will, because a lot of them are automatic. I'm just telling you what I saw in that thread. The ones that review first may or may not send you secondaries in two weeks.

Honestly I think you're fine. But there were varying degrees of super conservative and more relaxed responses in other threads. Being complete in August has always been "On Time". If you would rather be "Early" and not have to wonder the ifs and maybes, wait for next cycle.


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Spoilers!
Hey guys sorry, I tried to hide the picture but couldn't figure out how to do it and now it wont delete. I just wanted help with SB C/P #29 . I cant figure out why one is more conjugated than the other. Any help drawing would be appreciated
 

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jahcat said:
I did 3-5 timed cars passages everyday at the beginning of my studying everyday, then reviewed them, for the past 2.5 weeks. You can do it!!
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Thanks! So happy that you've managed to crack it. EK strategy for CARS is much better than Kaplan's. I've been spending time relearning how to attack passages using the EK strategy, and it's been slowing me down. But with enough practice, and understanding the main idea of each passage, I think I can boost my score.
 
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Chelsea FC said:
Spoilers!
Hey guys sorry, I tried to hide the picture but couldn't figure out how to do it and now it wont delete. I just wanted help with SB C/P #29 . I cant figure out why one is more conjugated than the other. Any help drawing would be appreciated
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2b has a one bond between each double bond. And also consider the quinone ring -- similar conjugated system as benzene. For 2a, if you look at the central carbon, it has no double bond on either side of it. This upsets the conjugation.
 
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I never got bast 67% on the EK exams lol, even after I did more content review. I think they're pretty difficult, but I really liked that they emphasized graph and data interpretation.
 
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Hospitalized said:
2b has a one bond between each double bond. And also consider the quinone ring -- similar conjugated system as benzene. For 2a, if you look at the central carbon, it has no double bond on either side of it. This upsets the conjugation.
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awww I see ... Do conjugations that happen in clusters (eg one side is filled with but one ring my be lacking) the same as when it is equally distributed throughout the structure so all the double bond is separated by single bonds ?
 
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My exam's next week! I should be more freaked out, but I'm not, surprisingly, for some reason. I'm taking the AAMC scored FL tomorrow. Maybe that'll do the trick. Did anyone submit their AMCAS yet, or are you waiting until after the MCAT?
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
Just finished the P/S section bank. My goodness, that was difficult! I did better than I thought I would do, but worse than I usually do on practice tests. Hopefully the Section Bank is harder than the real thing.
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I got screwed in the psych SB too. I think I got a 68% on it, although I timed myself for the first half of the passages. I got an 86% on the aamc sample psych section. I'm hoping the real thing isn't as difficult as the SB either.
 
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SwordOfTheMorning said:
My exam's next week! I should be more freaked out, but I'm not, surprisingly, for some reason. I'm taking the AAMC scored FL tomorrow. Maybe that'll do the trick. Did anyone submit their AMCAS yet, or are you waiting until after the MCAT?
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Submitted to one school to be verified on the first day


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What do you guys think of Kaplan FL tests? Has anyone done them? I prepped through Kaplan and have been using their resources. Finished with Kaplan, and now I'm practicing with EK. Are NS and EK exams more representative of the real thing? I just don't want to be missing out on any good resources before the MCAT.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
Just finished the P/S section bank. My goodness, that was difficult! I did better than I thought I would do, but worse than I usually do on practice tests. Hopefully the Section Bank is harder than the real thing.
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Usually the hardest passages on test day are about what the SB is like. So you might see 1-2 that are SB level -- at least according to most reaction threads.
 
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Do you guys think it's worth fitting in an EK exam next week?

Here are my scores so far on NS

NS diagnostic: 505 (125/127/125/128)
NS 1: 501 (125/123/126/127)
NS 2: 503 (126/126/126/125)
NS 3: 502 (126/123/125/128)
NS 4: 503 (125/126/125/127)-taken 6/16
NS 5: 507 (126/126/128/127)-taken 6/22
NS 6: 502 (126/126/124/126)-taken 6/28--had the hardest bio section I've taken so far 🙁

Section banks (taken early May)-will retake these
C/P: 55%, B/B: 51%, P/S: 72%

AAMC scored 501 (126/123/127/125)-taken on 5/17, planning on retaking this tomorrow (not sure how much i remember the answers or how much my score will be inflated due to retake)
AAMC unscored C/P: 63%, CARS: 57%, B/B: 66%, P/S: 80%-taken on 4/20 (planning on retaking the cars portion)

Aiming for a 507-508 for MD programs on 7/8 next week
 
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Chelsea FC said:
awww I see ... Do conjugations that happen in clusters (eg one side is filled with but one ring my be lacking) the same as when it is equally distributed throughout the structure so all the double bond is separated by single bonds ?
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I'm not sure what you're asking. Conjugation doesn't happen in "clusters" -- it either happens or it doesn't: it's alternating single and double bonds. Maybe you're referring to the quinone structure, in which case it's still alternating, just presented in a different way (try deprotonating and drawing out a quinone and moving the double bonds [including the double bonded oxygen] around to get a feel for it -- it's similar to phenol/phenoxide).
 
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medbunny56 said:
Do you guys think it's worth fitting in an EK exam next week?

Here are my scores so far on NS

NS diagnostic: 505 (125/127/125/128)
NS 1: 501 (125/123/126/127)
NS 2: 503 (126/126/126/125)
NS 3: 502 (126/123/125/128)
NS 4: 503 (125/126/125/127)-taken 6/16
NS 5: 507 (126/126/128/127)-taken 6/22
NS 6: 502 (126/126/124/126)-taken 6/28--had the hardest bio section I've taken so far 🙁

Section banks (taken early May)-will retake these
C/P: 55%, B/B: 51%, P/S: 72%

AAMC scored 501 (126/123/127/125)-taken on 5/17, planning on retaking this tomorrow (not sure how much i remember the answers or how much my score will be inflated due to retake)
AAMC unscored C/P: 63%, CARS: 57%, B/B: 66%, P/S: 80%-taken on 4/20 (planning on retaking the cars portion)

Aiming for a 507-508 for MD programs on 7/8 next week
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Definitely take an EK exam. IMO, they are much more representative of the AAMC. If you score >60%, you are probably ready to take. I would definitely do some CARS practice too, maybe qpack 2.
 
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Just finished EK4. Holy **** that bio section was hard. Quite easily the hardest section I have seen on any FL. 74%: 83/70/66/78.
 
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How much time have y'all spent on Physics for this exam? I haven't seen a whole lot of Physics in my practice tests, but I know that on the real thing, the amount of Physics content varies.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
How much time have y'all spent on Physics for this exam? I haven't seen a whole lot of Physics in my practice tests, but I know that on the real thing, the amount of Physics content varies.
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I would just focus on knowing the main equations and be really good at converting units for calculations. That's honestly the most high yield based on my reading -- I doubt you'll ever see >10 questions of physics on a single exam.
 
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I had what felt like a ton of physics on my exam June 18. :/ but a lot of stuff was dimensional analysis that you should be able to get to if you pay attention to units, and the equations being tested were pretty high yield stuff. There were some low yield concepts for random questions and one whole passage, but that's just luck of the draw.
 
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Hospitalized said:
Usually the hardest passages on test day are about what the SB is like. So you might see 1-2 that are SB level -- at least according to most reaction threads.
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Good to hear! I think I will go through the rest of the section bank before the exam then, just to be extra prepared.

Chelsea FC said:
I would know Light/lens they seem to love that physics topic
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Any recommendation for a video that teaches that topic? My Physics 2 class did not cover Light/lens
 
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WhittyPsyche said:
Submitted to one school to be verified on the first day


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AMCAS is currently verifying applications submitted on June 10, which is 19 days ago. The line seems huge already. I have my PS done already but I didn't want to waste time writing mini essays for my work/activities section -which is the only thing left I need, since my exam's on 7/8. But I think I'll just find some time to cram them in over the next day or two.
 
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Hospitalized said:
Definitely take an EK exam. IMO, they are much more representative of the AAMC. If you score >60%, you are probably ready to take. I would definitely do some CARS practice too, maybe qpack 2.
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So do you think it's better if I take the EK tomorrow (before AAMC scored) and use that to make my decision if I'm ready/if I need to cancel?

My plan is to take the aamc scored tomorrow and base my decision off that score but I'm not sure how reliable that is for me since I've taken it already :/
 
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Hospitalized said:
EK is very good practice with the more I'm reviewing. It really is quite a bit more like AAMC than NS, in my opinion.

I was looking on the reddit spreadsheet and it appears that people who score >60% regularly on EK usually end up with scores competitive for MD. 70%+ is MCAT god-zone, 512+ usually.
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Competitive scores as in 508-512?
 
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PhD_Doc said:
Thanks! So happy that you've managed to crack it. EK strategy for CARS is much better than Kaplan's. I've been spending time relearning how to attack passages using the EK strategy, and it's been slowing me down. But with enough practice, and understanding the main idea of each passage, I think I can boost my score.
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Definitely. Make sure you're understanding the passage while asking yourself how things contribute to the main idea, focusing on the authors word choice to determine their position, when the author uses examples, if he or she presents a counter...big focus on the author and main idea will make the questions easier. I can tell you I don't write down the main idea in 2 sentences at the end like EK recommends but I def keep it in mind and remember it while answering questions.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
Good to hear! I think I will go through the rest of the section bank before the exam then, just to be extra prepared.



Any recommendation for a video that teaches that topic? My Physics 2 class did not cover Light/lens
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Think u can get your hands on a friend's TBR physics 2 book? ?? No better way to get use to a topic than doing 100 passage based questions for it. .. if not watch AK lectures this guy is like khan academy but better. Use him for any bio topic you are rough on as well he has a talent to make the hardest questions seem so simple
 
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SwordOfTheMorning said:
My exam's next week! I should be more freaked out, but I'm not, surprisingly, for some reason. I'm taking the AAMC scored FL tomorrow. Maybe that'll do the trick. Did anyone submit their AMCAS yet, or are you waiting until after the MCAT?
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Let us know how it goes! I heard the scored is supposed to be harder than the real thing.
 
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Is the section bank making the C/P portion more orgo than there normally is. I was surprised with the amount of orgo not alot but enough to bite you in the fleshy butt
 
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For those who have done the P/S SB, why is the answer C and not B?
 

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I've been on a roll a coaster ride with taking this exam. I was so scared of it and kept on pushing it back now I'm actually angry at it for making it doubt my self worth and can't wait to get this chapter of my life behind me. Even if I don't do as amazing as I hopped getting it out of the way even just for a month will be a success for me. Sorry for the rant today is really the first time I allowed myself to talk about the MCAT
 
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Chelsea FC said:
Is the section bank making the C/P portion more orgo than there normally is. I was surprised with the amount of orgo not alot but enough to bite you in the fleshy butt
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Section bank was representative of my CP section on the real thing. Def spend a couple days brushing up on orgo if you're weak. I was also shocked when I took the section bank and spend a few days watching Kahn Academy videos which was extremely helpful.
 
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Nucleophile1 said:
For those who have done the P/S SB, why is the answer C and not B?
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I believe it's because there is no correlation coefficient (r) or graph to base your answer off of. Instead we are presented with x group responded in y way -- therefore we conclude it is "evidence of" causation? I really don't like this one because I never assume causation and usually cross those answers out.
 
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Hospitalized said:
I believe it's because there is no correlation coefficient (r) or graph to base your answer off of. Instead we are presented with x group responded in y way -- therefore we conclude it is "evidence of" causation? I really don't like this one because I never assume causation and usually cross those answers out.
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Yeah I crossed out A and C out for those reasons. I did not feel like there was good evidence of causation based on the passage so I played it safe and picked correlation.

I will say, that most of the time when correlation is the correct answer, the passage does directly discuss correlation, so you may have a point there. With that being said, I am not satisfied with AAMC's explanation. I wish they had gone into more detail about WHY causation is correct over correlation.
 
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SwordOfTheMorning said:
AMCAS is currently verifying applications submitted on June 10, which is 19 days ago. The line seems huge already. I have my PS done already but I didn't want to waste time writing mini essays for my work/activities section -which is the only thing left I need, since my exam's on 7/8. But I think I'll just find some time to cram them in over the next day or two.
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Yeah seems ridiculously long. I started my PS and activities during the semester, plus had to write an essay and activities section for committee which was due the 1st week of May. So had a lot of time to polish and submit on the first day. Obviously with no score until Aug, I wouldn't have been worst off in waiting, but I'm glad that I've been able to put full focus on the MCAT in the summer.
 
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That awkward moment when you ace two B/B passages and then get 1/6 on the next one. AAMC can be convoluted as **** at times.
 
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I wonder if it is even worth trying to read the convoluted explanation to the convoluted question of the convoluted passage Lmao. I think I might just guess on these questions on the real mcat. Reeferring to the question bank
 
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