The Official June 21, 2014 MCAT thread

Boost your MCAT score by 12 points or more.
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Wait so if we took this MCAT, we can only take it 2 more times before the new beast is implemented?
 
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Saxappeal1 said:
By section? BS will be curved nicely I think.
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I just don't know...PS i felt decent about..so maybe 9-10 there. verbal is always my stongest on practices (average 11), but this one seemed much harder to me..so maybe a 8-10???? Then of course BS...averaged about a 9.5 on AAMC's....but I wouldnt be surprised with a 7 here...ugh I just have no idea. I never did worse than a 27 on an AAMC, but I have a terrible feeling about this one..
 
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PS and VR were pretty normal, minus a passage on PS. BS was very difficult. So adjust your expectations for your BS score perhaps.
 
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Now that we're so close to the scores coming out, I kinda wish I had more time to prepare.

Also, what's everyone's limit for retaking?
 
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I think 27 is my floor honestly. I already took this test once and it was physically and mentally hard enough for me to study so hard for this second time around. I REALLY don't want to retake. I still feel pretty good though: 28-30 is what I'm expecting.
 
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Saxappeal1 said:
I think 27 is my floor honestly. I already took this test once and it was physically and mentally hard enough for me to study so hard for this second time around. I REALLY don't want to retake. I still feel pretty good though: 28-30 is what I'm expecting.
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How did u feel after your first test vs how did u do?

Better or worse this time around?
 
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LOL the first time I thought I got my average, but I deluded myself to believe that I was going to do well because of a "curve." My average was a 23 minus AAMC3 and AAMC 10, which I took 2 days before the test, and I got a 23.
This time, I don't have those horrible feelings, pits in my stomach, etc. I feel this time I did pretty well actually.
 
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Saxappeal1 said:
By section? BS will be curved nicely I think.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt that. The questions aren't exactly hard on the BS. The long reading might have thrown people off, but each individual question was clear and straight forward. AAMC are usually quite sturdy in keeping difficulty level of the exam, (something like 60% easy question, 25% medium and 15% hard ones, give or take). the curve won't be a factor that can make or break you.

Anyway, doesn't matter, bought wine.
 
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Friendly_female_house said:
I highly doubt that. The questions aren't exactly hard on the BS. The long reading might have thrown people off, but each individual question was clear and straight forward. AAMC are usually quite sturdy in keeping difficulty level of the exam, (something like 60% easy question, 25% medium and 15% hard ones, give or take). the curve won't be a factor that can make or break you.

Anyway, doesn't matter, bought wine.
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Don't they set the scale based on how everyone did on each section? So if the majority found the BS to be more difficult than usual, whether AAMC made it more difficult or not, then the scaling on it should be more lenient. But that also depends on every, not just the small sample of us SDN users. Also curving/scaling can help people some people since once you get up into the teens the range for some scores is one question compared to 4 or 5 questions around the 7-9 score.

But I do like the wine idea. Unfortunately I have test on Monday and Wednesday so I can't use that particular method to sooth the freakout.
 
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Don't they set the scale based on how everyone did on each section? So if the majority found the BS to be more difficult than usual, whether AAMC made it more difficult or not, then the scaling on it should be more lenient. But that also depends on every, not just the small sample of us SDN users. Also curving/scaling can help people some people since once you get up into the teens the range for some scores is one question compared to 4 or 5 questions around the 7-9 score.
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Nah, the scale is pre-set before the exam. The general consensus is that the questions that appear on your MCAT were experimental questions on previous MCATs so they see how those people do on those experimental questions and then create the scale. So the scale is already set before you sit down for the exam. They don't curve it afterwards based on how people did because if you think about it, a large group of people take each test so the % answering each question right/wrong should mostly be same.

Someone please correctly me if I'm way off base, but I'm almost certain the sections of each MCAT are scaled beforehand based on how previous test takers did on those questions when they were experimentals.

EDIT: If you didn't mean to say that the MCAT is curved afterward, then disregard my post lol. That's the notion I was responding to.
 
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sharkbyte said:
Nah, the scale is pre-set before the exam. The general consensus is that the questions that appear on your MCAT were experimental questions on previous MCATs so they see how those people do on those experimental questions and then create the scale. So the scale is already set before you sit down for the exam. They don't curve it afterwards based on how people did because if you think about it, a large group of people take each test so the % answering each question right/wrong should mostly be same.

Someone please correctly me if I'm way off base, but I'm almost certain the sections of each MCAT are scaled beforehand based on how previous test takers did on those questions when they were experimentals.

EDIT: If you didn't mean to say that the MCAT is curved afterward, then disregard my post lol. That's the notion I was responding to.
Click to expand...

Yes this is correct.
 
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sharkbyte said:
Nah, the scale is pre-set before the exam. The general consensus is that the questions that appear on your MCAT were experimental questions on previous MCATs so they see how those people do on those experimental questions and then create the scale. So the scale is already set before you sit down for the exam. They don't curve it afterwards based on how people did because if you think about it, a large group of people take each test so the % answering each question right/wrong should mostly be same.

Someone please correctly me if I'm way off base, but I'm almost certain the sections of each MCAT are scaled beforehand based on how previous test takers did on those questions when they were experimentals.

EDIT: If you didn't mean to say that the MCAT is curved afterward, then disregard my post lol. That's the notion I was responding to.
Click to expand...


I didn't mean to sound like it was curved in a test but just that they set the scaling of each MCAT according to how everyone who took that particular test did? I could be completely wrong though, that was just how I understood the scaling. If it was preset scales then couldn't they inform you of your score immediately after taking the test.
 
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RC813 said:
I didn't mean to sound like it was curved in a test but just that they set the scaling of each MCAT according to how everyone who took that particular test did? I could be completely wrong though, that was just how I understood the scaling. If it was preset scales then couldn't they inform you of your score immediately after taking the test.
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So that people who feel uncomfortable about how they performed on the exam, sign up for a new date, and if they actually did well, they will cancel, and AAMC gets to keep at least half of the money.
 
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^^ Actually, the BS from this test was much less straightforward than the AAMC practice exams in my opinion. Yes, the questions (passage-based) may have seemed "easy", but there were a handful that were pretty ambiguous and did not have an obvious answer.
 
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So that people who feel uncomfortable about how they performed on the exam, sign up for a new date, and if they actually did well, they will cancel, and AAMC gets to keep at least half of the money.
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Yep. Isn't it the other extreme with some exams that you get your score right away? I'm not sure how I'd feel about that lol
 
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But to address the above point, I agree that the curve will not make or break your score. It will probably be similar to the more lenient AAMC scales though.
 
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I wish they released the score immediately. Even LSAT scores get released in a shorter time than MCAT scores.
 
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Friendly_female_house said:
I highly doubt that. The questions aren't exactly hard on the BS. The long reading might have thrown people off, but each individual question was clear and straight forward. AAMC are usually quite sturdy in keeping difficulty level of the exam, (something like 60% easy question, 25% medium and 15% hard ones, give or take). the curve won't be a factor that can make or break you.

Anyway, doesn't matter, bought wine.
Click to expand...

Is the wine for before or after results?
 
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Or maybe it only seemed unreasonable to me, idk. But, I feel like people on here know what I'm talking about. And, even the other passages were harder to read, in my opinion, than previous tests.
 
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Friendly_female_house said:
I highly doubt that. The questions aren't exactly hard on the BS. The long reading might have thrown people off, but each individual question was clear and straight forward. AAMC are usually quite sturdy in keeping difficulty level of the exam, (something like 60% easy question, 25% medium and 15% hard ones, give or take). the curve won't be a factor that can make or break you.

Anyway, doesn't matter, bought wine.
Click to expand...
I disagree I thought this BS was a lot more difficult, so I think the curve might be closer to or more lenient than AAMC 11
 
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Saxappeal1 said:
^^ Agree Neuroglia. How are you holding up bud?
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Ok I guess, just have to remind ourselves what's done is done, no point in stressing out...easier said than done though. I'll actually be at a concert Tuesday so either way Tues. night will be good! My avg was a ~31 so I'm trying to be positive my score will +/- 2 of that. It looks from other threads most did within this range from their AAMC avg. How about you?
 
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I never can really drink when I'm sad honestly.. I only feel like drinking when I'm feeling happy and festive.

Let's hope I'll be happily drinking quite soon! In fact, I hope everyone is happily drinking soon! Cheers in advance. FYI cucumber saison is awesome...just saying
 
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coolcucumber91 said:
I never can really drink when I'm sad honestly.. I only feel like drinking when I'm feeling happy and festive.

Let's hope I'll be happily drinking quite soon! In fact, I hope everyone is happily drinking soon! Cheers in advance. FYI cucumber saison is awesome...just saying
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haha does your keen interest in cucumbers extend to pickles as well?
 
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No the scale isn't "pre-set" per say.
The AAMC is chosen to make the MCAT because of their consistent predictability.
They set all scores so that they follow the EXACT same bell curve with the EXACT same tails and mean each and every single time.
The curve will be done by a computer so that if the data is skewed one direction or another, it will be corrected to match the pre-determined bell curve.
AKA they aim to make everything approximately normally distributed. Now for who decides what data set the bell curve is chosen from? That is up for debate.
 
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Neuroglia said:
Ok I guess, just have to remind ourselves what's done is done, no point in stressing out...easier said than done though. I'll actually be at a concert Tuesday so either way Tues. night will be good! My avg was a ~31 so I'm trying to be positive my score will +/- 2 of that. It looks from other threads most did within this range from their AAMC avg. How about you?
Click to expand...
Also going to a concert Tuesday night, is yours On the Run Tour by any chance?? Hoping my scores don't ruin the magic of Beyonce and Jay-Z
 
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I wish that I had some kind of plans for Tuesday night. Unfortunately, having only moved to this city two months ago, I don't have any friends outside of work, and I'm in the middle of nowhere Midwest.

I guess if I get a good score I'll celebrate on my own, and if I do badly, I'll just go on a really hard run.
 
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