The Official June 2015 MCAT Thread

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Is anyone else losing their mind with the kaplan materials? I keep getting the same scores over and over. Can't break a 500 on the tests and can't break 123 in chem/phys. I score much better on the AAMC materials. I am starting to think I am wasting my time with kaplan.
 
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joshuak172 said:
Is anyone else losing their mind with the kaplan materials? I keep getting the same scores over and over. Can't break a 500 on the tests and can't break 123 in chem/phys. I score much better on the AAMC materials. I am starting to think I am wasting my time with kaplan.
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Yes, me too!! I also haven't broken 123 on chem/phys!! It's so frustrating. I haven't taken the official AAMC test yet so I'm not sure how to interpret my Kaplan scores.
 
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tvjclr said:
Yes, me too!! I also haven't broken 123 on chem/phys!! It's so frustrating. I haven't taken the official AAMC test yet so I'm not sure how to interpret my Kaplan scores.
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I've heard a lot about Kaplan's scores not being representative of people's actual MCAT score. Try not to let it discourage you. I think you should use Kaplan as a source to uncover your weaknesses!
 
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Where are you guys getting the practice tests / passages / questions from? The TPR, Kaplan, EK books? Or did you guys purchase one of those online class things for thousands of bucks. That's really my question, I need questions to practice from other than the end of chapter ones from books.
 
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Chubaka31 said:
Where are you guys getting the practice tests / passages / questions from? The TPR, Kaplan, EK books? Or did you guys purchase one of those online class things for thousands of bucks. That's really my question, I need questions to practice from other than the end of chapter ones from books.
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Haven't done practice tests yet, but I believe major prep companies offer one free practice tests if you go to their website. And then you can buy some more from them if you'd like. Don't quote me on that though
 
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tvjclr said:
Yes, me too!! I also haven't broken 123 on chem/phys!! It's so frustrating. I haven't taken the official AAMC test yet so I'm not sure how to interpret my Kaplan scores.
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Take the AAMC test. At a minimum take the 30 questions AAMC Chem/Phys section. I scored 20% better in all the AAMC materials than I ever did in Kaplan. Do it sooner than later so you can have more time to prepare for what's really on the exam other than what some Kaplan test writer did in their basement last minute just so they can say they have 11 practice tests.
 
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Chubaka31 said:
Where are you guys getting the practice tests / passages / questions from? The TPR, Kaplan, EK books? Or did you guys purchase one of those online class things for thousands of bucks. That's really my question, I need questions to practice from other than the end of chapter ones from books.
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Mine came with the Kaplan in-person course. Free PBQ's are on Khan academy which should be fairly representative.
 
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joshuak172 said:
Mine came with the Kaplan in-person course. Free PBQ's are on Khan academy which should be fairly representative.
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I have done the Khan Pysch/Soc and Bio/Biochem questions but have skipped Chem/Physics passages. Do you think those passages are worth doing?
 
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GCSDOC said:
I have done the Khan Pysch/Soc and Bio/Biochem questions but have skipped Chem/Physics passages. Do you think those passages are worth doing?
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I don't think it can hurt if you have the time. Some of the questions can be a bit obscure but in all they are certainly better written than Kaplan's and they are actually endorsed by AAMC.
 
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Holy frickin crap. I got a 501 on the TPR demo, but a 506 on TPR Test 1. Anyone else seeing a crazy discrepancy here?
 
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sandstorm223 said:
Holy frickin crap. I got a 501 on the TPR demo, but a 506 on TPR Test 1. Anyone else seeing a crazy discrepancy here?
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I took the TPR test 1 as my first test before studying so I can't help you here, but what I do remember is the Demo test way later on being a HUGE pain.
 
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How does everyone review their CARS section passages? I mark down the "type" of question I missed (inference, reference to the passage, etc.) and how many I miss per passage, and what the passage topics were. I try to see if there was any correlation between certain categories of passages (i.e do I almost miss a lot in art history passages?) and at what point of the test I miss the most (i.e. I definitely miss more at the beginning of CARS, I think I'm not "in the zone" yet)
 
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A researcher studying GALT deficiency finds that two predominant alleles are responsible. One allele (C) causes “classical” galactosemia, while another, the Duarte allele (D) will generate 25% GALT activity in a homozygous patient (D/D). Heterozygous individuals with one Duarte allele and one classical allele (D/C) will generate approximately 10% activity. When in combination with a normal allele (N), the Duarte heterozygote (D/N) generated 60% of normal GALT activity. Given that 50% of regular GALT activity is required to prevent galactosemia, what proportion of children from two Duarte heterozygous parents (D/C and D/N) will suffer from the disease?

A) 1/4
B) 1/2
C) 2/3
D) 1


This is from TPR FL#2. The answer says it is choice B, but according to my deduction, after drawing out the Punnet square as follows:
D C
D 25% 10%
N 60% 45%

I get 3/4. The reason i got 45% for the NC heterozygote was because when the C allele is present instead of the D allele in the DC heterozygote (top right), there is a 15% reduction in enzymatic activity. Likewise, when the normal allele (N) is combined with a C allele in the NC heterozygote (bottom right) instead of the ND heterozygote (ND), I expected the same reduction in enzymatic activity.

Can someone know where I am going wrong with this?!
 
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drrao88 said:
A researcher studying GALT deficiency finds that two predominant alleles are responsible. One allele (C) causes “classical” galactosemia, while another, the Duarte allele (D) will generate 25% GALT activity in a homozygous patient (D/D). Heterozygous individuals with one Duarte allele and one classical allele (D/C) will generate approximately 10% activity. When in combination with a normal allele (N), the Duarte heterozygote (D/N) generated 60% of normal GALT activity. Given that 50% of regular GALT activity is required to prevent galactosemia, what proportion of children from two Duarte heterozygous parents (D/C and D/N) will suffer from the disease?

A) 1/4
B) 1/2
C) 2/3
D) 1


This is from TPR FL#2. The answer says it is choice B, but according to my deduction, after drawing out the Punnet square as follows:
D C
D 25% 10%
N 60% 45%

I get 3/4. The reason i got 45% for the NC heterozygote was because when the C allele is present instead of the D allele in the DC heterozygote (top right), there is a 15% reduction in enzymatic activity. Likewise, when the normal allele (N) is combined with a C allele in the NC heterozygote (bottom right) instead of the ND heterozygote (ND), I expected the same reduction in enzymatic activity.

Can someone know where I am going wrong with this?!
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This would be a good place to ask! Plenty of smarties over there.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/mcat-study-question-q-a.134/
 
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drrao88 said:
A researcher studying GALT deficiency finds that two predominant alleles are responsible. One allele (C) causes “classical” galactosemia, while another, the Duarte allele (D) will generate 25% GALT activity in a homozygous patient (D/D). Heterozygous individuals with one Duarte allele and one classical allele (D/C) will generate approximately 10% activity. When in combination with a normal allele (N), the Duarte heterozygote (D/N) generated 60% of normal GALT activity. Given that 50% of regular GALT activity is required to prevent galactosemia, what proportion of children from two Duarte heterozygous parents (D/C and D/N) will suffer from the disease?

A) 1/4
B) 1/2
C) 2/3
D) 1


This is from TPR FL#2. The answer says it is choice B, but according to my deduction, after drawing out the Punnet square as follows:
D C
D 25% 10%
N 60% 45%

I get 3/4. The reason i got 45% for the NC heterozygote was because when the C allele is present instead of the D allele in the DC heterozygote (top right), there is a 15% reduction in enzymatic activity. Likewise, when the normal allele (N) is combined with a C allele in the NC heterozygote (bottom right) instead of the ND heterozygote (ND), I expected the same reduction in enzymatic activity.

Can someone know where I am going wrong with this?!
Click to expand...


You have to infer that the C allele causes 100% deficient activity in the amount of protein that is produced from it, which is 50% of the total protein amount, so a CC genotype would have 100% deficient activity. The D allele by it self causes 10% activity. The normal allele on the other hand allows for 100% activity in the total protein derived from its expressed. So DN - 60% and CN - 50%.

It's definitely a ****ty question stem, but its more reasonable to assume that two normal alleles have 100% activity and two completely deficient alleles result in 0% activity rather than your deduction.
 
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tvjclr said:
I've taken 4 Kaplan FL so far, but my score hasn't changed much. I haven't even broke 500 yet 🙁 with the test 3 weeks ago, I am concerned that I won't be ready. Any advice/suggestions?
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same here! just keep pushing! we can do it!!
 
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joshuak172 said:
You got that right.

My scores:

Kaplan #2 492 54% overall February 4th

Kaplan #3 498 62% overall April 7th

AAMC 2015 77% overall, CP 63%, CARS 92%, BB 68%, PS 86% April 15th (A 15% jump in overall questions correct, coincidence???)

Kaplan #4 497 60% overall April 21st

Kaplan # 5 496 57% overall April 28th

Kaplan #6 499 66% overall May 15th

AAMC official guide questions CP 76%, BB 82%, May 20th (Nope, not a coincidence)

Kaplan #1 499 63% overall May 17th

Kaplan # 7 499 65% overall May 30th

Overall I would say the Kaplan tests seem to be pretty poorly written. Repeated answer choices, grammatical errors, flat out wrong "correct" answers, etc. Although the AAMC questions are hard, at least the ambiguity isn't inherent in the question writing. This just seems to be the result of very well written materials (AAMC) vs. pretty poorly written materials (Kaplan). How else would my scores jump so much when taking the AAMC tests?

I have found the Kaplan books to be pretty well done. As far as the tests are concerned, they are only really good for testing your endurance and your patience. They can actually be pretty demoralizing and aggravating when you see their "logic" in answer choices. As far as the scores are concerned, your can pretty much disregard them as a sign for how you will perform on the AAMC materials.

I guess we will see how right we are in a few weeks!
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I understand your frustration about Kaplan's Practice Tests!! I have only taken 2 so far but after 1 month of studying, I only saw an improvement of a couple points. The PS section is especially frustrating considering the amount of math/calculations one has to do to solve certain problems. How did you do on the AAMC test compared to the Kaplan test if you don't mind me asking? Also, does the AAMC practice test have many calculations?
 
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loloschicken said:
I understand your frustration about Kaplan's Practice Tests!! I have only taken 2 so far but after 1 month of studying, I only saw an improvement of a couple points. The PS section is especially frustrating considering the amount of math/calculations one has to do to solve certain problems. How did you do on the AAMC test compared to the Kaplan test if you don't mind me asking? Also, does the AAMC practice test have many calculations?
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I think it's important to learn the concept behind the Kaplan PS questions, even if you don't take the time to do the whole calculation. Then when you review your test, work through the solution and make sure you understand how they got there. Once I started doing that, I improved my FL scores from 496 -> 502 -> 506
 
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loloschicken said:
I understand your frustration about Kaplan's Practice Tests!! I have only taken 2 so far but after 1 month of studying, I only saw an improvement of a couple points. The PS section is especially frustrating considering the amount of math/calculations one has to do to solve certain problems. How did you do on the AAMC test compared to the Kaplan test if you don't mind me asking? Also, does the AAMC practice test have many calculations?
Click to expand...
AAMC practice test has VERY few calculations. I haven't taken the real one yet but as you can see I scored on average 76% on the AAMC test as compared to around 60% on average for the kaplan tests.

We have a whole group of people using the kaplan tests and routinely find mistakes in their questions/answers. I mean, blatantly wrong information.

Pretty frustrating to shell out so much money and have such poorly written tests.
 
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Heisenberg 41 said:
I think it's important to learn the concept behind the Kaplan PS questions, even if you don't take the time to do the whole calculation. Then when you review your test, work through the solution and make sure you understand how they got there. Once I started doing that, I improved my FL scores from 496 -> 502 -> 506
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How have you scores varied in the PS section? How do they compare to your AAMC practice test score?
 
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hey guys and girls. quick question. I recently purchased the AAMC mcat 15 practice exam. But, I'm having trouble finding out where I go to actually take the test. I have the confirmation email that I indeed did purchase it, but where on the website is the actual exam? only a little over 2 weeks until I sit for the JUNE 19th test in Dallas texas. Anyone else taking it in Dallas???

I have the 3rd Exam Krackers Practice exam left too. hopefully Take the EK test, improve on my score, then about 6 days before the MCAT take the AAMC.... Hope everyone is feeling good! Thanks y'all!
 
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I too gave up on both Kaplan and Princeton. From now im just doing Khan passages and any AAMC material. Those tests have to be bonkers. I got ~80% on both AAMC test and question pac and has not ONCE scored over 500 on 3 kaplan and 3 Princeton tests... you know the ones you didn't have to pay for.
 
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Enik said:
I too gave up on both Kaplan and Princeton. From now im just doing Khan passages and any AAMC material. Those tests have to be bonkers. I got ~80% on both AAMC test and question pac and has not ONCE scored over 500 on 3 kaplan and 3 Princeton tests... you know the ones you didn't have to pay for.
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Are those the 3 Kaplan tests that come with the content books?
 
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Ahat
Enik said:
I too gave up on both Kaplan and Princeton. From now im just doing Khan passages and any AAMC material. Those tests have to be bonkers. I got ~80% on both AAMC test and question pac and has not ONCE scored over 500 on 3 kaplan and 3 Princeton tests... you know the ones you didn't have to pay for.
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what AAMC material are you using?
 
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I'm waiting until two weeks out to take the AAMC full length. Do you guys think that's a bad idea- and yes I have had my confidence destroyed by the Kaplan material.
 
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Venous Returnus said:
I'm waiting until two weeks out to take the AAMC full length. Do you guys think that's a bad idea- and yes I have had my confidence destroyed by the Kaplan material.
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Yup, I'm taking it two weeks out too. I know it'll feel more fresh for me when I take the real MCAT. I've been doing alright on the Kaplan FL's, around 500-504, hopefully there aren't any surprises to bite me in the butt when I take the official FL :xf:
 
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dickfacedan said:
Are those the 3 Kaplan tests that come with the content books?
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Yup, the key word was Organisms. But I think they cough on and changed it, by doing that you get access to their 3 exams.

Chubaka31 said:
Ahat

what AAMC material are you using?
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Just the sample pack questions really. I did the official guide questions and the official test. However, I hear the sample pack questions are too easy... from the previous takes at least. They also say we are all doomed and nothing could prepare anyone for the MCAT....
 
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Enik said:
Yup, the key word was Organisms. But I think they cough on and changed it, by doing that you get access to their 3 exams.



Just the sample pack questions really. I did the official guide questions and the official test. However, I hear the sample pack questions are too easy... from the previous takes at least. They also say we are all doomed and nothing could prepare anyone for the MCAT....
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Hahah I appreciate it but I took those as well. I'm just curious about if those 3 tests were scored the same as the 11 you get in the class, that's why I asked
 
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