The Official June 2015 MCAT Thread

[Abraxas305]

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So we can talk about all things MCAT 2015.
Just registered too!

 

[libertyyne]

anyone else slack on actually signing up for the mcat and thus have to drive to some random-as-hell location for their testing site? I have to drive 3 hours...going down the night before to spend the night in a hotel. Just booked a hotel room for $55. I'm sorta scared to see what it's like

I did sign up at another site initially but then I constantly kept checking until a seat near me opened up and I paid the 70 dollars to transfer. Better to sleep in my own bed

 

[timsk]

are you guys memorizing the ketoses?

yeah. I think in my kaplan review book they said the only ones we need to know are glucose, fructose, galactose, and mannose. For the disaccharides we need to know maltose, lactose, and sucrose. I'm not 100% sure those are the only ones we need to know, but pretty confident that is the case.

 

[jd989898]

yeah. I think in my kaplan review book they said the only ones we need to know are glucose, fructose, galactose, and mannose. For the disaccharides we need to know maltose, lactose, and sucrose. I'm not 100% sure those are the only ones we need to know, but pretty confident that is the case.

Yeah I'll for sure know fructose, but I was talking about other ketoses like erythulose, ribulose, xylulose, etc.

 

[timsk]

oh, sorry, you did say ketoses specifically. I've seen nothing that indicates we will need to know those.

 

[Lavos]

So I've got 4 days left and so little time... Should I do the AAMC Question pack (720 Q's) or Khan Academy's passages for physics/chem/bio/biochem (I'm gonna do their psych/socio regardless because I heard its really good practice). I could also fit an EK FL somewhere in there...

Any thoughts?

 

[alexisfrozen]

Yeah I'll for sure know fructose, but I was talking about other ketoses like erythulose, ribulose, xylulose, etc.

Its very unlikely you will need to know those beyond the fact that they may be a ketose, or at least being able to recognize it is a ketose vs aldose. The monosaccharides I would say should be fair game are glc, frc, gal, mannose, and ribose. Along with the main disacch's.

 

[Lavos]

I wouldn't memorize metabolic processes. I have yet to see a question that asks about any specific step in the process. When there are questions about it, it seems to be general, more logic based questions (e.g., buildup of X will inhibit process Y. What is X?). Making sure you have your AA and sugars down, however, would probably be smart.

gonna have to agree here. I went through the trouble of learning every single enzyme/detail/whatever about the metabolic processes and have yet to see a detailed question about that stuff.

When people say to know biochem, they're pretty much talking about the big picture for metabolic processes and the details of enzymes, enzyme kinetics and amino acid stuff

 

[mikil100]

So I've got 4 days left and so little time... Should I do the AAMC Question pack (720 Q's) or Khan Academy's passages for physics/chem/bio/biochem (I'm gonna do their psych/socio regardless because I heard its really good practice). I could also fit an EK FL somewhere in there...

Any thoughts?

I would do the 720 q's. Especially CARS (you can essentially take 4 CARS tests with the two packs) and really get your timing down.

Its very unlikely you will need to know those beyond the fact that they may be a ketose, or at least being able to recognize it is a ketose vs aldose. The monosaccharides I would say should be fair game are glc, frc, gal, mannose, and ribose. Along with the main disacch's.

This. Studying specific structures, especially all of the molecules, is quite low yield.. it is much more important to understand Beta/Alpha linkages, aldehyde/ketone, etc. This doesn't apply to aa's as we all have seen haha

 

[Lavos]

I would do the 720 q's. Especially CARS (you can essentially take 4 CARS tests with the two packs) and really get your timing down.

Thanks for your response! The bio Q's I've done so far felt pretty similar to the exam itself for the questions that require content knowledge. Not as many reading comprehension questions for the science passages as the AAMC 2015 FL if that makes sense.

 

[Mikewise]

I had somewhat of a similar experience. I had been exclusively using TPRH verbal workbook and EK 101 for verbal for the past couple of months, showing good improvement (from ~7 to ~10). But I started the first CARS question pack on friday and did awful (60%) on the first 60 questions. It was after a long and very stressful day in the lab and had a hard time focusing. I just finished the 2nd half of the first pack this morning and I did much better (76%) and I got an 85% on the CARS section of the AAMC practice test yesterday I figure that there is also an adjustment period for verbal; the first half was basically the first time I had practice AAMC verbal and feel like it requires somewhat of a different approach than test prep companies. I feel like each company has their own question style which may seem obvious but I feel like I know TPRH/EK answer choices when I see them. Like TPRH I feel like mimics the passages and questions better but EK is pretty close in terms of ambiguity of answer choices, while many argue that AAMC is much more consistent in their reasonings, I hope I discover the same.

I plan on doing the 2nd pack later this week and hopefully I'll be used to AAMC stuff by my test date lol

Whew- yeah I had the same experience. I found the 2nd half of CARS q.pack 1 to be a LOT easier. The first few passages were just doozies. I think they're good practice--it's the one part of the 2015 MCAT where old passages and questions won't be that different from the new ones.

 

[oryoloblast]

Took a Kaplan full length.....why did I do that to myself

 

[alexisfrozen]

gonna have to agree here. I went through the trouble of learning every single enzyme/detail/whatever about the metabolic processes and have yet to see a detailed question about that stuff.

When people say to know biochem, they're pretty much talking about the big picture for metabolic processes and the details of enzymes, enzyme kinetics and amino acid stuff

Yep. BCH specifics are gonna be low yield. Being able to understand the general overview and relate processes to learned BCH topics is gonna be important.

Ex: they could give us a molecule with unknown properties, but we know it interacts through a secondary messenger and does not enter the cell. To me, this immediately makes me think of a G-Protein Coupled Receptor. With more information, we can likely predict it's behavior without even looking at any of the intermediate steps.

Another way to look at it is Insulin vs Epinephrine/Glucagon. MCAT will likely not expect us to know the exact configuration of glycogen phosphorylase that these induce, or most of the secondary messenger cascade intermediates. But it will expect you to know that downstream the overall response is _____ for epi or insulin.

 

[libertyyne]

anyone else running through score predictions based on practice tests in your head?

 

[Xenith]

anyone else running through score predictions based on practice tests in your head?

I would recommend that you stop doing anything like that so close to your exam. It is one of those neurotic things we do, but it is mostly counterproductive. Relax this week, do minor brush up, and look over the AAMC questions/exam. If you start predicting your scores, either you will be demoralized (if you used Kaplan or TPR) or overconfident (based on AAMC FL which is easier than the actual.)

 

[timsk]

I learned, according to my kaplan full length yesterday, that the g-protein couple receptors are also called 7 transmembrane receptors. Who woulda known! But i agree with everything you said alexis

 

[Xenith]

I learned, according to my kaplan full length yesterday, that the g-protein couple receptors are also called 7 transmembrane receptors. Who woulda known! But i agree with everything you said alexis

Khan academy videos go over all of that! Might be an easy review to watch a few in the next few days.

 

[timsk]

Ooh, don't say it will be harder than the AAMC FL. I really liked their FL! Ignorance is bliss, didn't you read that somewhere in your psych review?! 🙂

 

[alexisfrozen]

I learned, according to my kaplan full length yesterday, that the g-protein couple receptors are also called 7 transmembrane receptors. Who woulda known! But i agree with everything you said alexis

Yes 7TM is a GPCR and the primary messenger could be important to understand in it as well. Understanding that interaction with 7TM induces a conformational change (you can typically assume whenever X interacts with Y-protein, there is usually some sort of conformation change in Y) to cause the primary messenger is important. The secondary messenger cascade details, not so much (it's a series of multiple steps with multiple regulators. Can get pretty complicated, fast.) Just know the fact that it exists and that this amplified messenger is the one that directly facilitates the sought out response.

 

[Caffein3]

I hate the menstrual cycle. I also got every single biochem question wrong so I have that going for me .

How about I answer your biochem questions and you answer all the physics for me? Fair trade? World's first collaborative MCAT?

 

[libertyyne]

How about I answer your biochem questions and you answer all the physics for me? Fair trade? World's first collaborative MCAT?

I would take you up on that offer.

 

[newbeginnings]

looks like I'm going to void this one (I would not show up, but I still paid $$ so might as well experience it). I started FL's super late, and even tho I'm improving, unfortunately, i don't wan't to end up retaking in august which will make my app late for sure.

 

[piii]

yeah. I think in my kaplan review book they said the only ones we need to know are glucose, fructose, galactose, and mannose. For the disaccharides we need to know maltose, lactose, and sucrose. I'm not 100% sure those are the only ones we need to know, but pretty confident that is the case.

We need to know the structure?

 

[Caffein3]

We need to know the structure?

This is news to me also...luckily the structures are buried deep in my long term memory (somewhere around the mutorotation mechanism). More notecards I guess, right??

 

[alexisfrozen]

looks like I'm going to void this one (I would not show up, but I still paid $$ so might as well experience it). I started FL's super late, and even tho I'm improving, unfortunately, i don't wan't to end up retaking in august which will make my app late for sure.

Whats your AAMC?
Dont base it off TPR, Kap, EK.

This is news to me also...luckily the structures are buried deep in my long term memory (somewhere around the mutorotation mechanism). More notecards I guess, right??

I was under the impression that the commonly known ones structures were fair game. However, I already knew them from previous classes.

 

[Caffein3]

Whats your AAMC?
Dont base it off TPR, Kap, EK.


I was under the impression that the commonly known ones structures were fair game. However, I already knew them from previous classes.

Oh I can definitely see how they're fair game. They are important I guess 😛

 

[newbeginnings]

Whats your AAMC?
Dont base it off TPR, Kap, EK.


I was under the impression that the commonly known ones structures were fair game. However, I already knew them from previous classes.

60% range. I just know I can do better and I'm definitely seeing it up to higher #'s with each FL I take. I regret not practice and focusing on content to much. I just would rather take this as getting a feel of the test, then giving it my all 3 weeks later. I will pre-write secondaries then (submitting app by end of june).. we'll see i guess!

 

[timsk]

Hard to say. I feel like i had a kaplan question ask me to identify a disaccharide, but maybe not. If anything, we just need to be able to recognize the structures. Which is, as i'm sure you two realize having taken Biochem classes before, waaay different than having to draw each and every structure of just about everything in the cell 🙂

 

[exodian1]

Am I screwed for this test? I feel like these scores are kinda low 🙁

AAMC Scores
Phys/Chem 61%
CARS 80%
Bio 70%
Psych 81%

 

[Lavos]

Am I screwed for this test? I feel like these scores are kinda low 🙁

AAMC Scores
Phys/Chem 61%
CARS 80%
Bio 70%
Psych 81%

You are me right now except our bio and psych scores are flipped around. The way I see it, our scores are still decent but it just sucks seeing how everyone is killed their AAMC scores while we're kinda lagging behind those individuals getting 85%'s across the board 🙁

 

[Pittfall3]

I am pretty sure this was mentioned earlier, but how did y'all feel about the difficulty of the AAMC official guide questions? I am feeling pretty worried now lol.

 

[piii]

Oh I can definitely see how they're fair game. They are important I guess 😛

Yeah I memorized the glucose ring structure and nomenclature/stereochem but guess I'll add a few more lol

 

[timsk]

I thought the AAMC guide questions were a bit harder than the AAMC FL. But then i realized i was only giving myself 75% of the time i should have been giving myself, so i think some of that increased difficulty was an artifact of lack of time.

 

[Caffein3]

You are me right now except our bio and psych scores are flipped around. The way I see it, our scores are still decent but it just sucks seeing how everyone is killed their AAMC scores while we're kinda lagging behind those individuals getting 85%'s across the board 🙁

I know it's hard not to, but try not to compare yourself to people on SDN. SDN typically collects students at the top of the top of their game (hence why you see so many amazing scores on this website). If it makes you feel better, the highest I've had one of my friends score in real life at my university is 63% overall. Regardless, don't compare yourself, just kick a** and tell yourself you're awesome and you can do it!

 

[mikil100]

Am I screwed for this test? I feel like these scores are kinda low 🙁

AAMC Scores
Phys/Chem 61%
CARS 80%
Bio 70%
Psych 81%

No you aren't screwed!
There are people who scored worse in sections and ended up in the 85-100% percentile. Everyone is different

 

[NonTrad16]

Am I screwed for this test? I feel like these scores are kinda low 🙁

AAMC Scores
Phys/Chem 61%
CARS 80%
Bio 70%
Psych 81%

No you aren't screwed!
There are people who scored worse in sections and ended up in the 85-100% percentile. Everyone is different

But... don't allow yourself to slack now! Haha, I received very similar scores, and as a non-trad I very much feel I have 'something to prove'. TPR full lengths and the AAMC did not do much to boost my confidence, but really... comparing yourself to some of the outspoken (or quiet but nonchalant) ace's on here is a recipe for ego-obliteration. Not to mention, there's so much uncertainty about what the raw % could mean, so much uncertainty about interpretations of the ranges, etc. We can't let ourselves get bogged down in what we can't control.

Keep your head up, and just do what you can! Only a few days left, but that can help a lot. I'm finally looking at gluconeogenesis. Confidence: boosted. 😉

(I honestly don't know why I skipped it on my pass through the material... not like those amino acid names/structures/etc... I know why I skipped those...)

 

[Caffein3]

I definitely skipped spermatogenesis and oogenesis and it keeps bitting me in the butt in passages 😳

 

[newbeginnings]

I definitely skipped spermatogenesis and oogenesis and it keeps bitting me in the butt in passages 😳

fair enough, i feel like everyone puts reproduction as a low priority for some reason.. but it ends up always sneaks itself in for 1-2 questions lol.

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

Looking at this question here, I can see now why D is a good choice for the answer, as both codons are stop-codons. But why does a point mutation in an intron cause problems? Wouldn't that region just be excised out? Or does the sequence of the intron matter for reading to determine if it can be cut out?

 

[alexisfrozen]

Looking at this question here, I can see now why D is a good choice for the answer, as both codons are stop-codons. But why does a point mutation in an intron cause problems? Wouldn't that region just be excised out? Or does the sequence of the intron matter for reading to determine if it can be cut out?

Stop codon becoming another stop codon is no risk. A point mutation in an intron, depending on where it happens, can have some implications. Though, it is generally very low risk. Unfortunately, the better answer is D.

 

[stressingout]

Generally speaking, introns are spliced out, but there has been research that shows that introns DO have some purpose, even though that purpose isn't clear yet. What would happen if there is a point mutation in an intron is unclear, while for choice D, it is very clear that the protein would remain functional and nothing would happen. So, D is the "best" answer, even though I could argue both A and D are somewhat correct. I hate when they throw in questions like that one!

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

Thank you both. I think I'm swearing off TPR in these last few days. It doesn't boost the confidence!

 

[timsk]

Kaplan did that a lot as well. If they have the word LIKELY in the question stem, it is likely that two choices could be considered correct, but one of those two is more correct. I don't think i saw this type of question when going through AAMC questions

 

[alexisfrozen]

Thank you both. I think I'm swearing off TPR in these last few days. It doesn't boost the confidence!

Yea, I don't think any of us are fans of the "technically two are correct" answers.

 

[timsk]

Looking at this question here, I can see now why D is a good choice for the answer, as both codons are stop-codons. But why does a point mutation in an intron cause problems? Wouldn't that region just be excised out? Or does the sequence of the intron matter for reading to determine if it can be cut out?

Thanks for posting this question. It made me realize that i had exon and intro mixed up in my head. Exons are expressed and exit the nucleus, introns do not exit the mrna!

EDIT- apparently i still have it mixed up as i've had to correct that sentence twice to make it correct. Ha

 

[DrEm91]

anyone else slack on actually signing up for the mcat and thus have to drive to some random-as-hell location for their testing site? I have to drive 3 hours...going down the night before to spend the night in a hotel. Just booked a hotel room for $55. I'm sorta scared to see what it's like

Same here man.. and its about to flood in houston. May the odds be ever in my favor

 

[Shadowade]

78% on AAMC FL over a month ago...68% on EK FL I just took including 59% on PS...wtf? Been a while since I took a FL so kind of rusty but still a confidence shaker...wish I had taken in May if it wasn't for the servers acting up

Think I'll just review the FL next 3 days and do what I can. Best of luck to you guys

 

[libertyyne]

78% on AAMC FL over a month ago...68% on EK FL I just took including 59% on PS...wtf? Been a while since I took an FL so kind of rusty but still a confidence shaker...wish I had taken in May if it wasn't for the servers acting up

Think I'll just review the FL next 3 days and hope for the best

Those are good scores keep at it.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

78% on AAMC FL over a month ago...68% on EK FL I just took including 59% on PS...wtf? Been a while since I took an FL so kind of rusty but still a confidence shaker...wish I had taken in May if it wasn't for the servers acting up

Think I'll just review the FL next 3 days and hope for the best

EK is stupid hard. They are even more experimental than the AAMC and they don't give any freebies. I scored in the 80's on all sections of the sample test but I just took the Bio section of EK FL 1 and got a 68%. I averaged ~90% on bio in the question packs and in the low 80's on TBR bio passages.

But I think it is great practice, its very experiment heavy, which is one of the challenges of this new test.

 

[yesfoodisgood]

i don't know why i took an EK exam just a few days before my exam... that was a real downer. ):
i felt like none of the passages i was reading made sense.. hopefully the actual exam makes a bit more sense?

 

[Alkaidius]

i don't know why i took an EK exam just a few days before my exam... that was a real downer. ):
i felt like none of the passages i was reading made sense.. hopefully the actual exam makes a bit more sense?

You really shouldn't worry. I have no solid data on this, but loitering around on these forums showed people have been consistently doing ~5-10% worse (~70% overall) on the EK FLs when compared to the AAMC FL (~80% overall)which is....exactly what happened to you lol. These same people are also those scumbag 90-100%ers.