The Official June 2015 MCAT Thread

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I have no motivation to study whatsoever. On that note... does anyone have a good list of formulas I can steal? I've made my own but I'm afraid I may be missing some.
 
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From what I've gathered, I think it's done by section. So if we get a really "hard" PS section, we would need less correct answers to get the same score as another exam with an "easier" PS section. So for instance instead of needing 55/59 correct for a 129 on an easier exam, we might only need 53 or 54 correct.
 
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Yea and I think we're the last batch that is considered to be the firsts for the new MCAT, meaning our scores are determined solely on our performance on THIS exam and not a consensus average %correct per section from prior exams.

This means july onwards will likely be equalized according to data on average %correct per section from april/may/june, but we wont. I think this might be a huge advantage.
 
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drrao88 said:
Yea and I think we're the last batch that is considered to be the firsts for the new MCAT, meaning our scores are determined solely on our performance on THIS exam and not a consensus average %correct per section from prior exams.

This means july onwards will likely be equalized according to data on average %correct per section from april/may/june, but we wont. I think this might be a huge advantage.
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I actually read somewhere on the AAMC website that scores from earlier exams will be higher than scores from later exams. Do you think June counts as an earlier exam?
 
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dickfacedan said:
What do you by "for July"? Am I missing something major here.....
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Im saying we will get our percentiles back in time to make a decision if we want to take July test. which is better than waiting until the end of July to see scores and then have to enroll in august and not be scored until september.... its a huge advantage of the early test
 
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stressingout said:
I actually read somewhere on the AAMC website that scores from earlier exams will be higher than scores from later exams. Do you think June counts as an earlier exam?
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I read that as well, and yes June counts. I am assuming this because we are the last testing date to have prelim percentiles sent out.

After us they wont do that because i am guessing they will have to equalize data from multiple exams vs. just one.
 
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OwlPower92 said:
Im saying we will get our percentiles back in time to make a decision if we want to take July test. which is better than waiting until the end of July to see scores and then have to enroll in august and not be scored until september.... its a huge advantage of the early test
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Gotcha. I thought you meant for some application deadline or something that I was totally unaware of. Had a mini heart attack
 
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mikil100 said:
Yeah. This.

Does anyone know how our scores are calculated? I know April set the bench mark, but does it go question by question?

Like, if we have a really hard PS section and we all score poorly on it (raw score), then are we disadvantaged compared to those who had an easier PS section? Or is each individual question weighted in its own way?
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AvrgPreMedKid said:
Ditto.
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I made one I can scan in, but it may be hard to follow as I didn't really label any of it. Still interested?

Also, does the motion of an electron in an electric field between electrodes differ from the action between two plates of a capacitor? AAMC practice pack has a question that says the electron will accelerate towards the anode in the electrode, but another question will accelerate towards the positive end of the parallel plate capacitor.
 
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How are you guys using your last few days of studying? After taking the AAMC practice and getting 64% on bio I reviewed it all and got 82% on the bio pack and 80% on a Kaplan section test. My worst is the physical sciences section and I reviewed all the equations for physics and took the physics pack and got 80%. Should I be feeling okay? Aiming for at least a 508 (and obviously hoping for a 528)
 
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This may be a silly question but I just want to make sure i'm interpreting the score charts correctly. When it says a score of 500 is equal to the 51 percentile and then 501 is 58 (hypothetical, I can't remember exactly what they correspond to) does this mean that you have a score of 500 from the 51-57 percentile? Or does it mean that from 51-58 you have a score of 501?

Thank you in advance 🙂
 
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Okazaki Frag Grenade said:
I made one I can scan in, but it may be hard to follow as I didn't really label any of it. Still interested?

Also, does the motion of an electron in an electric field between electrodes differ from the action between two plates of a capacitor? AAMC practice pack has a question that says the electron will accelerate towards the anode in the electrode, but another question will accelerate towards the positive end of the parallel plate capacitor.
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I believe it is the same because they are both positively charged. The electron will accelerate in the positive charge's direction
 
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volleyball34 said:
This may be a silly question but I just want to make sure i'm interpreting the score charts correctly. When it says a score of 500 is equal to the 51 percentile and then 501 is 58 (hypothetical, I can't remember exactly what they correspond to) does this mean that you have a score of 500 from the 51-57 percentile? Or does it mean that from 51-58 you have a score of 501?

Thank you in advance 🙂
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Figured it out!
 
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volleyball34 said:
This may be a silly question but I just want to make sure i'm interpreting the score charts correctly. When it says a score of 500 is equal to the 51 percentile and then 501 is 58 (hypothetical, I can't remember exactly what they correspond to) does this mean that you have a score of 500 from the 51-57 percentile? Or does it mean that from 51-58 you have a score of 501?

Thank you in advance 🙂
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51-57=500 58-61= 501
 
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This has been my studying for the past few days lol

Do timed CARS passages
Go to Khan academy, see if I can answer 10/10 multiple choice questions on subtopics correctly.
If I get <9/10 correct, watch some videos on 2x speed. rinse and repeat.

Not bad for cramming!
 
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Okazaki Frag Grenade said:
I made one I can scan in, but it may be hard to follow as I didn't really label any of it. Still interested?

Also, does the motion of an electron in an electric field between electrodes differ from the action between two plates of a capacitor? AAMC practice pack has a question that says the electron will accelerate towards the anode in the electrode, but another question will accelerate towards the positive end of the parallel plate capacitor.
Click to expand...

I'd like to check it out. Also, that does sound confusing about the electron direction. Can you give the full question that says electrons travel to the anode?
 
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volleyball34 said:
I'm sorry but your saying its the minimum percentile you need? Most people are saying its the maximum. Sorry i'm just hearing more than one thing.....
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look at the scale like a distribution. 500. Is 50th percentile. 50 will be above and 50 will be below. It represents the minimum required to obtain that score.
 
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AvrgPreMedKid said:
I'd like to check it out. Also, that does sound confusing about the electron direction. Can you give the full question that says electrons travel to the anode?
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PDF's of the equation sheet ... picture of problem coming next
 

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It mentions a vacuum photodiode, so maybe that's why?
 

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drrao88 said:
I know the exam Friday/Saturday is gonna be different. I'm just hoping neither group has to deal w a brutal PS section, since the consensus for May was that theirs was not difficult.
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Reality was on the old MCAT, every test had one "tough" section. Not sure if it will be the same for the new MCAT at least for us guinea pigs this year.

Also on the side note. Stay confident guys. Everyone walks out of the MCAT usually feeling worried/disappointed. Those initial feelings can be tricky. I know a current med student who when he took the MCAT, he didn't take any breaks and walked out and started breaking sticks off trees out of frustration. He ended up doing way better than expected and matriculated into a MD school that same cycle lol.
 
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Are you guys putting a ton of emphasis on PPP, glycogenolysis, glycogenesis, fructose/galactose/FA metabolism? I know the big picture idea but I didn't go into super details about every enzymes and what not.
 
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Based on the problems that i've seen from kaplan and AAMC, i don't think we'll need to know any specifics about those processes. Knowing overall picture and overall products and reactants will be enough i think. For instance what would happen to gluconeogenesis if a big meal was just eaten. When does beta oxidation occur? Those sorts of things. That's what i'm prepping for, at least.
 
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Okazaki Frag Grenade said:
It mentions a vacuum photodiode, so maybe that's why?
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This is a very common scientific process. A lot of instruments use photosensitive cathodes to emit an electron. A photon strikes the cathode with enough force emit an electron. This electron is accelerated with high speed to the positively charged anode, where it can be collected. Google "photomultiplier tube" if you want to learn more. Basically what they're saying is that an electron accelerates in an electric field towards the positively charged object.
PhotoMultiplierTubeAndScintillator.jpg
 
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It only accelerates if the circuit is complete, right? Otherwise there's no force? There was one question where it asked about the speed of an electron that received just enough energy to overcome it's work function. So it has very little kinetic energy to start with. Then the question asked about the speed by the time it reached the anode. The correct answer was the speed would be close to zero. Not sure in what instances the electron accelerates versus when it just maintains it's velocity.

EDIT: according to this link the electron should accelerate as long as there is an electric potential difference between the two plates. http://www.colorado.edu/physics/Edu...ture_Notes/CSMSP11_Lecture09_PE1(asgiven).pdf
 
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Oh ok that makes sense. And now I'm noticing that the anode on the diagram given in the question is in the circuit connected to the positive end of the battery. That would be why it accelerates towards the anode like you said. Thanks!
 
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timsk said:
Based on the problems that i've seen from kaplan and AAMC, i don't think we'll need to know any specifics about those processes. Knowing overall picture and overall products and reactants will be enough i think. For instance what would happen to gluconeogenesis if a big meal was just eaten. When does beta oxidation occur? Those sorts of things. That's what i'm prepping for, at least.
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cool thanks! And I think it only accelerates while being in the presence of some force? I'm not sure about maintaining velocity.
 
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Despite what others have said I also agree with timsk that knowing when and where the processes occur, and the major feedback loops each has is enough.
Also, my understanding (for what its worth) of the photodiode question is this: the battery's anode it connected to the cathode, thus the electrons are flowing to the cathode - making the anode relatively (+) charged. As caffein said, the photo ejects the electron which accelerates towards the anode because of its opposite charge
 
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To a certain extent it feels like it comes down to the luck of the draw. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, topics we know thoroughly and the ones we have forgotten in the process of learning new concepts. I just hope even if you do run into sections that you're not strong in, over the entire test, it balances out with sections you completely understand.
 
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I retook the AAMC FL today and most my scores increased (as expected since it is a retake), but my CARS score actually went down...that's not good considering it was a retake!! So ready for this to be over!
 
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stressingout said:
I feel like part of the reason that section sucks so bad is because it's at the end when we are all worn out!
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Absolutely. I'm hoping I have the strength to push through and go through it slowly/review it, rather than rushing and finishing 45 minutes early, but not thinking things through properly.
 
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stressingout said:
I feel like part of the reason that section sucks so bad is because it's at the end when we are all worn out!
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I dont mind the psych! It can get a little tricky though with some of the extremely similar terms!

And I retook the AAMC FL today too. Only missed 1 in each section...Definitely remembered some answers, but its definitely good and it felt awesome to go through it again. I'm realizing how simple all of the questions are...it just comes down to if you can apply the basic knowledge we all know.
 
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^^ I felt the same way!! It's a good thing to get some confidence before the big day. Also I felt that when I took it the first time I was making such silly mistakes..hope those don't come up on the real thing
 
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Caffein3 said:
I dont mind the psych! It can get a little tricky though with some of the extremely similar terms!

And I retook the AAMC FL today too. Only missed 1 in each section...Definitely remembered some answers, but its definitely good and it felt awesome to go through it again. I'm realizing how simple all of the questions are...it just comes down to if you can apply the basic knowledge we all know.
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That's an awesome score even if it is a retake! It felt good except for CARS for me. At this point, I'd be happy with a 125 in that section!
 
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