**The Official July 2016 MCAT Thread**

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Created.

July 8 exam = August 9 release date

 

[southernpremed2]

Has anyone used Gold Standard material/practice tests ?

 

[MekM]

Anyone else start to get antsy halfway through P/S? Like oh **** this test is almost over. I do that every practice test...

Lol me yesterday.. By the time I got to P/S I got so irritated I just started answering questions without even thinking

 

[Hospitalized]

60% on CARS qpack 1, all timed as 10min per passage, up to as many as 7 passages at one time. I got absolutely murdered by the first half, but apparently these are the hardest AAMC CARS questions in existence. Second half I did much better, about 70% compared to the lowly 1st half 50%. Definitely started to get the hang of it the more I did it though. I really want a 126 on CARS on the real deal, a 127 would make me squeal!

But WTF at trying to review this. It doesn't even let you jump passage to passage. Damn annoying AAMC, fix your ****.

 

[redj]

60% on CARS qpack 1, all timed as 10min per passage, up to as many as 7 passages at one time. I got absolutely murdered by the first half, but apparently these are the hardest AAMC CARS questions in existence. Second half I did much better, about 70% compared to the lowly 1st half 50%. Definitely started to get the hang of it the more I did it though. I really want a 126 on CARS on the real deal, a 127 would make me squeal!

But WTF at trying to review this. It doesn't even let you jump passage to passage. Damn annoying AAMC, fix your ****.

Those passages were killing me and i don't even hate cars. I either got all the questions right for each passage or bombed it.

 

[Dr. McPanda]

What does 501 equate to on the old test?

502 equates to a 26 i believe.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

Hey guys,

I'm primarily studying from TPR, but use EK for questions. I was wondering how much of the details for organ systems do we really need to know.

I feel like TPR goes into a lot of detail, and they bold a lot of terms that I'm not sure I really need to know.
Ex. They bold the name for every skin type, like sebaceous and sudoriferous. Can I just know oil and sweat gland?

What have you guys done? What do you filter?


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[countryapplepie]

Yo,

So I just took the NS Free FL and I scored 8 points higher than I have on my TPR FLs.....how realistic is this score?! lol (I know AAMC is most representative of the real thing but I'm saving those for last)

 

[WhittyPsyche]

Yo,

So I just took the NS Free FL and I scored 8 points higher than I have on my TPR FLs.....how realistic is this score?! lol (I know AAMC is most representative of the real thing but I'm saving those for last)

How many FLs have you taken? Just those two?

I have my 3 TPR still, have only done the NS diagnostic and will do the FL next week. I'll definitely let you know how it goes for me.


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[southernpremed2]

edited

 

[sleepyhead22]

It's good for practice tests, but for the real thing I feel like I'm going to be like "****... I have to wait a whole month to know how I just did on this..."

I just took my test in June so don't know how I did yet, but it was actually kind of nice that that stress wasn't there (although I'd obviously rather see my score immediately haha). I got soo worked up when I was taking the P/S section on the scored FL, and on the real thing I just reviewed my marked questions, took the survey afterwards, cleaned out my locker, and cried in my car. 🤔 It was a different feeling, for sure, but you probably won't feel that panic feeling quite yet...

 

[Hospitalized]

Hey guys,

I'm primarily studying from TPR, but use EK for questions. I was wondering how much of the details for organ systems do we really need to know.

I feel like TPR goes into a lot of detail, and they bold a lot of terms that I'm not sure I really need to know.
Ex. They bold the name for every skin type, like sebaceous and sudoriferous. Can I just know oil and sweat gland?

What have you guys done? What do you filter?


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I just go through that kind of stuff once, write it in my notebook, and move on. The chances of something like that coming up on a test are very low, and the way it will come up you will probably get it right if you have just heard the word "sudoriferous" before and have a general context.

 

[countryapplepie]

How many FLs have you taken? Just those two?

I have my 3 TPR still, have only done the NS diagnostic and will do the FL next week. I'll definitely let you know how it goes for me.


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Okay great thanks. I'm taking one of the AAMC tests later this week. I've taken all 5 of the TPR Course Tests and never broke over 494; yet somehow on this NS test I got a 502 lol.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

I just go through that kind of stuff once, write it in my notebook, and move on. The chances of something like that coming up on a test are very low, and the way it will come up you will probably get it right if you have just heard the word "sudoriferous" before and have a general context.

That's what I was assuming. Wanted to be sure I'm not hurting myself by focusing a lot more on big picture when it comes to systems.


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[WhittyPsyche]

Okay great thanks. I'm taking one of the AAMC tests later this week. I've taken all 5 of the TPR Course Tests and never broke over 494; yet somehow on this NS test I got a 502 lol.

The NS diagnostic I got a 505, then on a GS FL I got a 505, which were like a week apart so I thought that was prob representative. From the spreadsheets it looks like TPR and NS are deflating, from my recollection I think TPR more so than NS. So it maybe be more accurate. Obviously the AAMC will clear that up for you soon.

Did you take the questions from the official guide? I'm going to do those as a half length sometime during the week.


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[countryapplepie]

The NS diagnostic I got a 505, then on a GS FL I got a 505, which were like a week apart so I thought that was prob representative. From the spreadsheets it looks like TPR and NS are deflating, from my recollection I think TPR more so than NS. So it maybe be more accurate. Obviously the AAMC will clear that up for you soon.

Did you take the questions from the official guide? I'm going to do those as a half length sometime during the week.


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No I haven't. It's horrible, but I'm still doing content review as well. I know I can't know everything, but I still wanna understand a lot of the concepts. Also, since money/time is tight, I've been debating between just doing all the free material, or sucking it up and buying the Section banks and an EK exam. [that's what credit cards are for right?? lol] I plan on taking 2-3 more exams before July 9, with 4-5 days of content review/questions.

 

[medbunny56]

55% on C/P section bank 🙁((

 

[Hospitalized]

55% on C/P section bank 🙁((

Did you do it all without reviewing anything along the way and under timed conditions? I reviewed each passage after I did it and did it untimed which may have artificially inflated my score (67%).

 

[southernpremed2]

edited

 

[medbunny56]

508 on NS 5 break down was 127/126/127/128, hoping this is a good sign lol

When r u testing? I took NS 5 last week and got a 507 (126/126/128/127) which has been my highest practice test score so far, I'm taking NS 6 tomorrow to see if I can bump a few more points

 

[southernpremed2]

July 8th! I'd be really happy with a 508 lol

 

[southernpremed2]

Let me know how NS 6 goes! I have that one too. I'm thinking I might take that after the Scored.

 

[Zaba]

Has anyone used Gold Standard material/practice tests ? I bought their 5 CARS practice tests and I've scored 127-128...I'd like to think I could score that high, but CARS is historically my most difficult section so I'm not sure how accurate this is. It seems sorta similar to NS CARS.

I signed up for the month to month service- you get the 5 Cars exam as well as a few full lengths.
I found the Cars to be a bit of a challenge. The passages are long (which I like- because reading all the previous threads people have said the actual MCAT cars passages felt longer) which is good for pacing but the questions, I didn't feel were very AAMC like. I did 3 just for practice and stamina to get through 9 without fading. It helped!

The GS psych/Soc section in FL 1 was ridiculous. I've read the TBR psych book cover to cover; Kaplan Psych and EK psych- and yet almost 50% of the exam content was like ??? Also the question and answer choices are soooo long it's ridiculous at times. But again, I did learn a lot of new things I hadn't even heard of before.

The questions for the C/P BIO and even PSy/Soc are fine for material but the answer explainations are not very good- which doesn't help.

NS cars passages are also quite long at times and their questions are more like AAMC at times but other times very detail oriented. Again the length and depth of of the passages could only help on test day. Fingers crossed!

 

[Zaba]

I'm taking the exam on July 8th-

Just need some advice:

I'm know my content but I'm a little shaky on quick recall (which is what you need on these timed tests!) Especially when it comes to Orgo/physics and Chem- I still have 4 fl to go (AAMC scored, NS 4 and EK 3 and 4- I may not purchase 3 if I don't have time)--- should I be reviewing content more the next few days or completing the rest of my tests?
I don't know what to emphasize?
I need a few more days!! Lol.

Any suggestions would be helpful!
Thanks🙂

 

[medbunny56]

I'm taking the exam on July 8th-

Just need some advice:

I'm know my content but I'm a little shaky on quick recall (which is what you need on these timed tests!) Especially when it comes to Orgo/physics and Chem- I still have 4 fl to go (AAMC scored, NS 4 and EK 3 and 4- I may not purchase 3 if I don't have time)--- should I be reviewing content more the next few days or completing the rest of my tests?
I don't know what to emphasize?
I need a few more days!! Lol.

Any suggestions would be helpful!
Thanks🙂

my plan personally is that I'm taking NS 6 tomorrow, AAMC scored on thursday and possibly either EK 3 or 4 next week. In the meantime I'll be doing cars passages and working on weak areas.

 

[medprospect22]

friendly recommendation, the moment the MCAT is over work on applications/prewriting secondaries (especially if you are a slow writer like me). Trying to balance secondaries and restudy for the MCAT next week is destroying me

 

[TraumaBlonde]

friendly recommendation, the moment the MCAT is over work on applications/prewriting secondaries (especially if you are a slow writer like me). Trying to balance secondaries and restudy for the MCAT next week is destroying me

If you want some help conquering the MCAT or drafting your secondaries feel free to message me

 

[medprospect22]

If you want some help conquering the MCAT or drafting your secondaries feel free to message me

That is REALLY nice of you to offer that. I think I will be okay though. I'm happy with my practice scores/secondaries, it is just study from 8-4 then immediately work on secondaries until bed that is getting a little hectic with minimal breaks. But again, offering to aid me is an extremely nice sentiment TraumaBlonde. MCAT is in less than 2 weeks so just need to power through since I can finally see the finish line.

 

[TraumaBlonde]

That is REALLY nice of you to offer that. I think I will be okay though. I'm happy with my practice scores/secondaries, it is just study from 8-4 then immediately work on secondaries until bed that is getting a little hectic with minimal breaks. But again, offering to aid me is an extremely nice sentiment TraumaBlonde. MCAT is in less than 2 weeks so just need to power through since I can finally see the finish line.

Exactly! Keep on keepin' on!

 

[Nucleophile1]

This is from AAMC Unscored FL, so don't look if you haven't taken it! Could someone explain to me why the answer is B and not A? Their explanation isn't very thorough.


Edit: The third picture corresponds to another question on the AAMC Unscored FL. Based on the answer, they say W = Pt, and P is 30 and t is 3. Wouldn't that be 90? I don't understand where they got 5400 from.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

I recently took a test that had a question where I had to differentiate between these terms below:
Gender schema
Gender identity
Gender role
Gender conditioning

Can anyone offer some help on how to better distinguish these terms? I always get confused with these.

So far I've tried defining them as:
gender schema- learning what male/female means from your culture
gender identity- your own subjective experience of your gender
gender role- society's expectations of how each gender should behave
gender conditioning- not quite sure how this is different from gender schema?

Thanks!

gender schema- this isn't active learning. A schema is an already held belief based on experiences, attitudes, influences. This is like your internal definition of what a gender is and the roles associated with it.

gender identity- subjective yes. How do you identify yourself, doesn't have to match your sex or cultural norms. It's your perspective.

gender role- correct. society's expectations of how each gender should behave. Result of social learning.

gender conditioning- this is the act of teaching gender roles. The same gender roles that society holds as a "fact", has to be conditioned in children, aka learning by modeling, association. Think of traditional behavior conditioning, this follows the same logic. So if a child isn't conditioned by family/friends/society, they would not do the things we consider "typical" of each gender.


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[Nucleophile1]

Power is expressed in J/s not J/min!

Ohhhh I completely glossed over that aspect of the equation haha. I now understand why 90 is wrong. Thanks!

At first I thought it was A as well. I think the reason it's B is that the binding affinity constants Ka and Ko have inverse units displayed. Aren't they usually expressed in M instead of M-1 ? If this logic follows, then having a small Ka/Ko fraction <1 would mean that the binding constants actually increased from Ko to Ka, which means that there's decreased affinity for the BSA-CPFX complex. Does this sound right because I'm entirely unsure if that reasoning would be valid. D: Let me know what you think!

Ka is the equilibrium association constant and it does have units of M^-1.
I've tried to look the question up, but I have only found people asking about question 32, not question 30.

 

[Hospitalized]

Just finished C/P on EK. Damn my college library is loud...

 

[medprospect22]

Just finished C/P on EK. Damn my college library is loud...

Ear plugs dude. I started using them for CARS and I felt my concentration doubled. Being able to block out noise is an amazing thing

 

[Nucleophile1]

Ear plugs dude. I started using them for CARS and I felt my concentration doubled. Being able to block out noise is an amazing thing

I'm bringing earplugs to test day!

 

[Hospitalized]

Ear plugs dude. I started using them for CARS and I felt my concentration doubled. Being able to block out noise is an amazing thing

Amazingly, I'm using noise-cancelling headphones WITH a built-in noise-cancelling feature, yet I can still hear these two old ladies blabbing. They left about halfway through my CARS, but seriously was distracting. Oh well, good practice for anything that might be possible on actual test day.

I'm bringing earplugs to test day!

Apparently my Prometric test center has really nice ear muffs as told to me by someone who took it there. I would call wherever you are taking it and find out!

 

[Dolly96]

Just finished C/P on EK. Damn my college library is loud...

I can't tell you how many times I've asked people to stop talking in the LIBRARY while I study. Just give them the evil look and if that fails... head on over to ask them to quiet down.

 

[Haiba]

I was looking at khan Academy videos about ADH and aldosterone:
They have this note:

• Aldosterone Increases osmolarity and also increases volume.
Because they both increase proportionally, we don’t think of osmolarity really being affect.

•ADH: Increases volume, but not osmols, so overall osmolarity (fraction of osmole / vol.) decreases.

Then they say:
• increase volume but maintain osmolarity: increase ADH
But why not increase aldosetrone? Doesn't ADH decrease osmolarity and aldosterone increases it?
I'm not clear on the difference between the "osmols" and "overall osmolarity)

 

[jahcat]

I have this suspicion as well. They can only build the scale off of people who take them, and the 5-6 are not taken by many from what I've seen on this site. I do feel that I've improved a lot at my test-taking skills, I will say NS boosts your ability in that regard. I would say 75-80% of the time I'm able to get an answer down to 2 choices. I guess I'm just very optimisitic about everything also -- I've put in a lot of time for this test and feel that my scores are where they should be based on my preparation and ability. I've never been a great standardized test taking, and I'm not someone who's looking for a crazy MCAT score to make up for anything. My application is otherwise solid and I just need to complete this piece of the puzzle.

I will say that I have a lot of confidence and I think that is helpful. Another thing I started doing this most recent test is making a conscious effort to always keep my feet apart and flat on the floor, my back off of the chair, and quick 5-10 second breaks between passages (eyes closed, deep breath, reset, go). I know it sounds stupid and minute, but this helps keeps me focused and refreshed throughout the sections. I learned this from the EK CARS book which I neglected to read until now, but I think it's actually an awesome book because it tells you some very subtle things that are really important in being successful in a situation like the MCAT. I know I was always slouched over, crossing my feet, and wandering off during CARS because I was subconsciously bored out of my mind. While I continue to be bored out of my mine, maintaining good posture at least tricks my mind into focusing. And taking a break between each passage is good -- I can't even count the number of times I've had to go back and read a paragraph in CARS because I didn't know wtf was going on. Well, taking a small break helped me a lot this past test. I definitely decreased the amount of re-reading. Going to keep practicing this tactic up until my test.

We got this July test takers! **** this beast!

seriously I switched by strategies to EK strategies and I swear by this!!! CARS went up from 125 to 128, went from getting entire passages wrong sometimes to max 1 wrong per passage!

 

[WhittyPsyche]

Thanks so much! This helped a lot.

Might you have any insight on the difference between self-concept and self-schema as well? Lol

For general public this can be nuanced, so if you see one or the other, assume a more "umbrella" of a definition. If both options are there, you need to distinguish by very specific details.

In psychology, generally, you would say your self concept is the overarching view of yourself. It would encompass your thoughts and beliefs about yourself, your role in society, your identity, etc., and it is influenced by everything that involves thought essentially, so your self esteem, society, experiences, relationships.

Self identity then would be what it sounds like: how you identify yourself: woman/man, brother/sister, parent/child, engineer/teacher, democrat/republican. It's the complex combination of all of your labels that makes you the person you are within society.

To be broad you could divide the two into "Who am I?"- Self concept and "Where do I fit in?"- self identity

For an example: you may have a self concept however mature or immature when you're a child, then you develop your self identity during adolescence when you figure out your place/purpose in the world.

I will echo again, if the question isn't nuanced, it's likely they are looking at an umbrella definition where identity is part of concept.


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[PhD_Doc]

seriously I switched by strategies to EK strategies and I swear by this!!! CARS went up from 125 to 128, went from getting entire passages wrong sometimes to max 1 wrong per passage!

How long did it take you to boost your score from a 125 to a 128. Need to boost my score and I'm wondering if its possible to achieve by July 22nd.

 

[medbunny56]

Just finished NS 6, the worst/hardest exam I've taken: 502 (126/126/124/126)
I felt terrible during the bio section because the passages were so convoluted but I'm freaking out about this score since I scored a 507 (126/126/128/127) on NS 5 last week

Should I delay my test? Or just go ahead and take AAMC scored then decide?

 

[southernpremed2]

I wouldn't worry too much about the biology if you've been averaging well on Bio on other exams.

 

[jahcat]

How long did it take you to boost your score from a 125 to a 128. Need to boost my score and I'm wondering if its possible to achieve by July 22nd.

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!!

 

[southernpremed2]

Did anyone do the EK Physics or Chemistry 30 minute exams? I'm looking for more practice. I already did all of the Khan Academy passages and Qpacks...

 

[Hospitalized]

Just finished NS 6, the worst/hardest exam I've taken: 502 (126/126/124/126)
I felt terrible during the bio section because the passages were so convoluted but I'm freaking out about this score since I scored a 507 (126/126/128/127) on NS 5 last week

Should I delay my test? Or just go ahead and take AAMC scored then decide?

I wouldn't worry about it. I had the same feeling after I took my NS6. The bio section especially was ridiculous. I don't know what your overall trend is, but my NSFL3 was a fluke as well (501 after getting 507 on NSFL2). It happens. That's why they are practice tests!

 

[Hospitalized]

Another day, another roughly 503-504 (63% on EK)... Definitely felt easier than NS exams, yet I did about the same. I finished B/B with 25 minutes left, CARS with 2 minutes left, C/P with 15 minutes left, and P/S with 20 minutes left. I'm always pressured for time on NS, so I'm not sure what this means. Without further ado, my trend:

[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
C/P SB: 67%
P/S SB: 67% (only halfway done so far)
[6/24] NS6: 504 (125/125/126/128); 60% correct
CARS QPack 1: 60% (50% 1st half, 70% 2nd half)
[6/28] EK1: 63% (61%/62%/58%/73%)

 

[Hospitalized]

Man if I could get my 50/50's all correct on my CARS, I would be golden! Such a struggle.

 

[betterfuture]

Is EK really that tough? I am getting scared now

 

[Hospitalized]

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.

 

[betterfuture]

I went in the first passage of CARS 1 thinking I got this and came out totally demoralized. 1/7