The Official March 22, 2014 MCAT Thread...

[BeachBlondie]

I'm registered!

For those of you studying now, or in the future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-HYZv6HzAs

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[TheAnonymous]

BS Questions I have for today (get it). Please educate/correct me.

Fatty acids: In terms of oxidation, the oxidation of which gives more energy- saturated or unsaturated fatty acids?

Which lipoproteins are preferred (better for human health)?

B-pleated sheets: Which is more stable- parallel or antiparallel? Discuss the hydrogen bond aspect of it because so far I see they from the same number of intra hydrogen bonds.

Why does glucose favor the ring form over the chain form? Aside from the usual explanation of stability, what is the reason that the ring form is more stable?

I will be posting all my daily questions here, and hope you all benefit from them. Thanx

I haven't started studying yet but let me pick a guess lol

1. Saturated fatty acids
2. HDL
3. Anti-parallel
4. more stable in the ring since the steric hindrance is higher in chain form?


those were my guesses....

great post! thanks man

 

[gnarledout]

BS Questions I have for today (get it). Please educate/correct me.

Fatty acids: In terms of oxidation, the oxidation of which gives more energy- saturated or unsaturated fatty acids?

Which lipoproteins are preferred (better for human health)?

B-pleated sheets: Which is more stable- parallel or antiparallel? Discuss the hydrogen bond aspect of it because so far I see they from the same number of intra hydrogen bonds.

Why does glucose favor the ring form over the chain form? Aside from the usual explanation of stability, what is the reason that the ring form is more stable?

I will be posting all my daily questions here, and hope you all benefit from them. Thanx

I will try and answer these briefly.

Fatty acids: B-oxidation of fatty acids yield more ATP than our other macro-nutrients, simply because they contain significantly more carbons. B-oxidation of saturated fatty acids is preferred over unsaturated due to the expenditure of energy to break those double bonds in unsaturated hydrocarbons. Essentially, I believe they give the same gross amount of energy ie. if you have a 16 carbon chain of unsaturated and a 16 carbon chain of saturated they will yield the same gross ATP but maybe not net since energy will be required to break those cis and trans unsaturated fatty acids. This is all speculation though and I suggest you look this up for yourself

HDL is termed the "good cholesterol" as is has a higher density of proteins to fat and LDL is termed the "bad cholesterol" as it has a lower density of proteins to fat.

Anti-parallel B-pleated sheets are more stable because their inter-strand hydrogen bonds induce planarity to the B-pleated sheet while the parallel organization causes the hydrogen bonds to incorporate non-planar B-sheets.

Aside from stability reasons, ring form is more favored because it is more likely to form a ring. Looking at the chain form, the presence of a carbonyl (aldehyde) on one end of the chain and an alcohol on the other end of the chain promotes the formation of chair configuration. This is why we see more chair configuration of glucose than chain form.

These are all off the top of my head so I could be wrong in some parts. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Sean Lee]

I haven't started studying yet but let me pick a guess lol

1. Saturated fatty acids
2. HDL
3. Anti-parallel
4. more stable in the ring since the steric hindrance is higher in chain form?


those were my guesses....

great post! thanks man

You are taking the test on March 22nd, and you haven't started studying yet?

 

[TheAnonymous]

You are taking the test on March 22nd, and you haven't started studying yet?

lol no I'm taking it on May 8th and I haven't started studying yet (just read the first 3-4 chapters of Orgo I)

 

[Dudekmm]

you still did pretty well wow! I wish you luck on improving verbal. just wondering, what'd you do to get your sciences so high the first time? I'd love a couple 12's in the sciences haha

Hey, sorry it took me forever to reply. I used/am using SN2ed's study plan. The Berkeley review books are wonderful because of the amount of practice passages, that helps a ton! Plus practice MCATs from AAMC are also very helpful

 

[Idrinkwater]

I will try and answer these briefly.

Fatty acids: B-oxidation of fatty acids yield more ATP than our other macro-nutrients, simply because they contain significantly more carbons. B-oxidation of saturated fatty acids is preferred over unsaturated due to the expenditure of energy to break those double bonds in unsaturated hydrocarbons. Essentially, I believe they give the same gross amount of energy ie. if you have a 16 carbon chain of unsaturated and a 16 carbon chain of saturated they will yield the same gross ATP but maybe not net since energy will be required to break those cis and trans unsaturated fatty acids. This is all speculation though and I suggest you look this up for yourself

HDL is termed the "good cholesterol" as is has a higher density of proteins to fat and LDL is termed the "bad cholesterol" as it has a lower density of proteins to fat.

Anti-parallel B-pleated sheets are more stable because their inter-strand hydrogen bonds induce planarity to the B-pleated sheet while the parallel organization causes the hydrogen bonds to incorporate non-planar B-sheets.

Aside from stability reasons, ring form is more favored because it is more likely to form a ring. Looking at the chain form, the presence of a carbonyl (aldehyde) on one end of the chain and an alcohol on the other end of the chain promotes the formation of chair configuration. This is why we see more chair configuration of glucose than chain form.

These are all off the top of my head so I could be wrong in some parts. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Im good with most of your explanations, but could others people validate the part I bolded. Is there agreement that B-oxidation of saturated fatty acids (no carbon double bonds) yields more energy than that of unsaturated fatty acids (with carbon-carbon double bonds)?

 

[Idrinkwater]

Just to let you people know- for bio, I am using both EK and TPR. EK gives me everything I need to know, and TPR I use to further solidify concepts.

Saturation kinetics
1) How do Km/Vmax change when A) Enzyme concentration increases or decreases? B) Substrate concentration increases or decreases?
Please address the above questions for competitive inhibitors, non-competitive inhibitors, and irreversible inhibitors.

2)For glycolysis, why is NAD+ considered a coenzyme? Which enzyme is it a coenzyme of?

 

[TheAnonymous]

Im good with most of your explanations, but could others people validate the part I bolded. Is there agreement that B-oxidation of saturated fatty acids (no carbon double bonds) yields more energy than that of unsaturated fatty acids (with carbon-carbon double bonds)?

are you using TPR for the rest of the sciences too? Or just bio?

 

[Idrinkwater]

are you using TPR for the rest of the sciences too? Or just bio?

I have not completed this process yet." I am planning to take the test as soon as I get the score I want consistently. I need about 2 months of test taking (which I have not began yet)

I know this sounds extreme, but I am using ExamKrackers for my main BIO content review, and TPR for a further reading. I read the TPR chapters 2 times each.
I read each EK Bio chapter about 5 times each.(

For Orgo, I totally restrict myself to TPR since it teaches you far more than you need and it is concise.
I also read lecture slides from my past upper level bio classes (stuff about receptors, Knock out experiments).

 

[Iceman08]

Any of you taking Kaplan 1-4 FL? I'm thinking about additionally taking it to the AAMC FL's so I can used to different types of questions but don't know if it'd be THAT beneficial...

 

[missdoc91]

So i read the jan mcat threads and im so scared everybody complains! So scared of VB

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

So i read the jan mcat threads and im so scared everybody complains! So scared of VB

haha I try to stay away from past mcat threads to avoid paranoia. I'm actually not scared for verbal, only physical sciences. trying to figure out physics concepts and which equations are must knows is killing me already. I hate physics lol

 

[mrh125]

signed up for this one in hawaii in case my january one didn't go well. we'll see what happens, worst case scenario at least i get to take my mcat in hawaii

 

[missdoc91]

haha I try to stay away from past mcat threads to avoid paranoia. I'm actually not scared for verbal, only physical sciences. trying to figure out physics concepts and which equations are must knows is killing me already. I hate physics lol

PS is my strongest point but i ve heard there is a lot if calculations involved now so im not sure since i took 2012 n scored 12 ( decent and good,in my opinion though ) try to TBR
Verbal is gonna killllllllll me do you have any specific approach for verbal. I tried to look at questions first and then read the passage and i ended up w 3 lol pretty sad though (usually get 8, i know not good but better then 6 that i scored on my first mcat)

 

[missdoc91]

signed up for this one in hawaii in case my january one didn't go well. we'll see what happens, worst case scenario at least i get to take my mcat in hawaii

What did u think abt it! A LOT of ppl are complaining which sorta seems odd to me:/
Hawaii is awesome! My friend is taking it in vegas so she get to party after lol

 

[gkdubey]

Hey everybody, I just took the MCAT yesterday and after how badly that bio section did me over I am hitting the books again for the March test. One thing that REALLY helped me prepare for the test (btw I think PS and VR went very well, I hope), is I found a study partner here on SDN that used the same materials I did (TBR review books). We would decide what chapters to read and what passages to do out of the TBR books ahead of time, do them on our own, then get on Skype and go over all the passages. This helped me IMMENSELY. Lucky for my friend, it seems he did very well on the test yesterday and is all done with this nightmare. Me on the other hand, I gotta get ready for round 2. So if anyone here is using SN2ed or TBR review books and wants to SKype Study hit me up! It makes the whole process a LOT easier and its great to work through things with somebody else. Also, if we want to do a group thing if more than one person is doing SN2ed or using TBR we could try that so long as its productive. So either post on here or PM me. My skype name is G.K.Dubey. Good luck and happy studying everyone!

 

[Iceman08]

Hey everybody, I just took the MCAT yesterday and after how badly that bio section did me over I am hitting the books again for the March test. One thing that REALLY helped me prepare for the test (btw I think PS and VR went very well, I hope), is I found a study partner here on SDN that used the same materials I did (TBR review books). We would decide what chapters to read and what passages to do out of the TBR books ahead of time, do them on our own, then get on Skype and go over all the passages. This helped me IMMENSELY. Lucky for my friend, it seems he did very well on the test yesterday and is all done with this nightmare. Me on the other hand, I gotta get ready for round 2. So if anyone here is using SN2ed or TBR review books and wants to SKype Study hit me up! It makes the whole process a LOT easier and its great to work through things with somebody else. Also, if we want to do a group thing if more than one person is doing SN2ed or using TBR we could try that so long as its productive. So either post on here or PM me. My skype name is G.K.Dubey. Good luck and happy studying everyone!

I'm using TBR, I'm a traditional student so I'm not following SN2ed schedule, but I'd be more than willing to Skype and talk over passages and content!

 

[gkdubey]

I'm using TBR, I'm a traditional student so I'm not following SN2ed schedule, but I'd be more than willing to Skype and talk over passages and content!

Solid dude! What's your Skype ID? Mine is G.K.Dubey. Hit me up so we can get started ASAP!

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

PS is my strongest point but i ve heard there is a lot if calculations involved now so im not sure since i took 2012 n scored 12 ( decent and good,in my opinion though ) try to TBR
Verbal is gonna killllllllll me do you have any specific approach for verbal. I tried to look at questions first and then read the passage and i ended up w 3 lol pretty sad though (usually get 8, i know not good but better then 6 that i scored on my first mcat)

lol i think I'd kill for a 12 in PS. I literally am so worried about it haha.

i think it depends a lot on how good your reading comprehension and short term memory are. with a good short term memory, I know people who really read and understand the passage well for say 6 minutes, then just fly through the questions without looking back.

for myself, I seem to have the most success with reading the questions first (quickly, just so I know what to focus on remembering and where to highlight important ideas), then spending about 50% of the rest of my allotted time reading the passage carefully, then the other 50% answering the questions (while looking back if absolutely necessary for certain details, this is where the highlighting helps out).

I've been averaging 11-12 on EK 101 tests, and do even better with the TPRH verbal workbook (far less answer choices I flat out disagree with). hopefully I can stay about there or even better come AAMC full length time, but time will tell.

 

[TheAnonymous]

lol i think I'd kill for a 12 in PS. I literally am so worried about it haha.

i think it depends a lot on how good your reading comprehension and short term memory are. with a good short term memory, I know people who really read and understand the passage well for say 6 minutes, then just fly through the questions without looking back.

for myself, I seem to have the most success with reading the questions first (quickly, just so I know what to focus on remembering and where to highlight important ideas), then spending about 50% of the rest of my allotted time reading the passage carefully, then the other 50% answering the questions (while looking back if absolutely necessary for certain details, this is where the highlighting helps out).

I've been averaging 11-12 on EK 101 tests, and do even better with the TPRH verbal workbook (far less answer choices I flat out disagree with). hopefully I can stay about there or even better come AAMC full length time, but time will tell.

Thanks for sharing your verbal strategy. I never seen someone scoring 11-12 using that method. Maybe I should give it a try.

I'm in ESL student so part of the difficulty for me is to just understand the passage (and remember all points/arguments/claims)... so I'm not sure if that method can work out well for me.

How long does it take for you to read the questions? what about the passage?

 

[snllama]

Just to make myself feel better or possibly worse. How many days are you behind on your target schedule?
It looks like Im projected to finish my content review the week of the test, which is 3 weeks behind on my schedule.
I wish I had a whole month after content review to solidify my knowledge and take the practice tests. Work is killing me.
Im wondering if it makes sense to delay my test until april or suck it up. How are all of you doing?

 

[snllama]

I find reading the questions quickly makes me then not read thoroughly the passage. I get too excited when I see something related to the question and then make no actual correlation and have to re-read anyways.

I just read the passage thoroughly and then read the questions. Im pretty good about quickly scanning through the passage to confirm my answer or find the text that has the answer. I usually finish with a minute or less, but I've been getting more right using this method. I finished EK Verbal 101 today and averaged a 9. I've been reading people say to add 1-2 to your EK score for an estimate of how you will do on the real thing. A 10-11 is what Im shooting for, so if that is true Ill be so happy!

 

[TheAnonymous]

I find reading the questions quickly makes me then not read thoroughly the passage. I get too excited when I see something related to the question and then make no actual correlation and have to re-read anyways.

I just read the passage thoroughly and then read the questions. Im pretty good about quickly scanning through the passage to confirm my answer or find the text that has the answer. I usually finish with a minute or less, but I've been getting more right using this method. I finished EK Verbal 101 today and averaged a 9. I've been reading people say to add 1-2 to your EK score for an estimate of how you will do on the real thing. A 10-11 is what Im shooting for, so if that is true Ill be so happy!

Have you done verbal from any other source? Kaplan/Princeton/AAMC ?

 

[snllama]

Have you done verbal from any other source? Kaplan/Princeton/AAMC ?

I haven't. My plan was EK 101, TPR, then AAMC. So I start TPR verbal next week! And will start the AAMC tests at the end of Feb.
I also have started to do a full 7 passages/verbal test in 60 minutes once a week instead of 3 passages per day. I like that I now have an idea of timing for the entire test since some passages take longer or less time than the average. I feel better prepared and less worried about timing.

 

[gkdubey]

VR is my worst section. The only thing I found that helped me was to start mapping the passages. That is, read every paragraph and then write one or two words that sums it up/captures the main idea of that paragraph. By the end of the passage, I should have a solid foundation of what the Main Idea was and what the point of every paragraph was. So much so in fact, that I rarely have to go back to the passage again. This was the only thing that worked for me because when I tell you my verbal was low I mean REALLY LOW. Like I was scoring 6-8 range. It was awful and frustrating. I couldn't finish it in time and I always had trouble grasping the material. But since I started mapping I have been able to improve greatly and at least keep my score at or around a 10. I'm still trying to push it higher but I'm finding it pretty difficult.

 

[TheAnonymous]

VR is my worst section. The only thing I found that helped me was to start mapping the passages. That is, read every paragraph and then write one or two words that sums it up/captures the main idea of that paragraph. By the end of the passage, I should have a solid foundation of what the Main Idea was and what the point of every paragraph was. So much so in fact, that I rarely have to go back to the passage again. This was the only thing that worked for me because when I tell you my verbal was low I mean REALLY LOW. Like I was scoring 6-8 range. It was awful and frustrating. I couldn't finish it in time and I always had trouble grasping the material. But since I started mapping I have been able to improve greatly and at least keep my score at or around a 10. I'm still trying to push it higher but I'm finding it pretty difficult.

that's a big improvement man, well done. I'm still scoring in the 6-8 range. Mapping works for me too but it takes soo much time... can you finish everything on time?

 

[gkdubey]

that's a big improvement man, well done. I'm still scoring in the 6-8 range. Mapping works for me too but it takes soo much time... can you finish everything on time?

Sometimes, it really depends on the nature of the passages. On the MCAT I just took I got lucky there were no WTF passages luckily. Everything seemed to make sense. I still didn't finish on time, but only two questions short so no big deal. But other times I get passages where I have no clue what they're even saying. It's times like that where I am like an entire passage behind. And that really screws me still. I just try my best to look for key words that indicate the authors attitude and such and go from there. Humanities passages are the hardest IMO. Just keep practicing that's all I can tell you.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

Thanks for sharing your verbal strategy. I never seen someone scoring 11-12 using that method. Maybe I should give it a try.

I'm in ESL student so part of the difficulty for me is to just understand the passage (and remember all points/arguments/claims)... so I'm not sure if that method can work out well for me.

How long does it take for you to read the questions? what about the passage?

not a problem. I've been an avid reader for awhile and feel like verbal has come somewhat naturally to me, which is a tiny relief. hopefully I can continue to improve or at least stay about the same. I'd be more than happy with anything 10+

I've played with many methods and this one just seems to provide me with the best scores consistently. like I said, having an idea of where to focus and which facts directly from the passage are important is vital for me.

I quickly scan the questions first (maybe 30-40 seconds), read the passage somewhat carefully (~3.5 mins), then answer the questions as quickly and carefully as possible only looking back when necessary using my highlights as a guide (~3.5 mins). these times are averages and I'm still stuck around the 8 minutes per passage time, which I'm trying to get down as many have suggested I do. still working on it. hope that helps

 

[TheAnonymous]

not a problem. I've been an avid reader for awhile and feel like verbal has come somewhat naturally to me, which is a tiny relief. hopefully I can continue to improve or at least stay about the same. I'd be more than happy with anything 10+

I've played with many methods and this one just seems to provide me with the best scores consistently. like I said, having an idea of where to focus and which facts directly from the passage are important is vital for me.

I quickly scan the questions first (maybe 30-40 seconds), read the passage somewhat carefully (~3.5 mins), then answer the questions as quickly and carefully as possible only looking back when necessary using my highlights as a guide (~3.5 mins). these times are averages and I'm still stuck around the 8 minutes per passage time, which I'm trying to get down as many have suggested I do. still working on it. hope that helps

Thanks a lot ! I really appreciate it

 

[Iceman08]

Solid dude! What's your Skype ID? Mine is G.K.Dubey. Hit me up so we can get started ASAP!

check your PM!

 

[Wumbology101]

Solid dude! What's your Skype ID? Mine is G.K.Dubey. Hit me up so we can get started ASAP!

Ooh can I get in on this too? I'm using all the books recommended by SN2ed. My Skype ID is shmariposa. I just requested you (I think? I am a little skype challenged...)

 

[gkdubey]

Ooh can I get in on this too? I'm using all the books recommended by SN2ed. My Skype ID is shmariposa. I just requested you (I think? I am a little skype challenged...)

For sure the more the merrier

 

[gkdubey]

Alright I sent the three of you requests on Skype so add me when you can and lets get started on passages ASAP! In a few weeks I wanna get started on FL's too so we can go over those as well. I found that going over the FL's were the most beneficial for me. It really helps having someone else with you when going over tests to see how someone else worked through the problems and what their thought process was. So let me know when you guys get my friend request on skype and hit me up on there when you can!! Happy Studying.

 

[amor.fati]

I'm currently taking the TPR, and am finding the verbal strategy to be a waste of time. They encourage you to skip an entire passage, which seems odd to me... I might skip this portion of the class entirely. Do you think EK 101 and working the TPR passages will suffice? I too have to make significant improvements in verbal. Took AAMC 10 as my diagnostic two weeks ago and received a 7.

 

[Idrinkwater]

are there any hot chicks studying?

 

[aspiring20]

I'm currently taking the TPR, and am finding the verbal strategy to be a waste of time. They encourage you to skip an entire passage, which seems odd to me... I might skip this portion of the class entirely. Do you think EK 101 and working the TPR passages will suffice? I too have to make significant improvements in verbal. Took AAMC 10 as my diagnostic two weeks ago and received a 7.

here is the logic behind TPR's skip one passage verbal strategy.

if you do all 7 passages, then that means you only have a little over 8 minutes per passage. most people need more time in order to answer the questions with good accuracy, so TPR suggests that you completely ignore one passage (the hardest passage for you), and spend 10 minutes per passage on the remaining 6 passages. with 10 minutes to spend per passage, TPR assumes that you will be able to answer almost all the questions correct because of the added time. then at the end, you simply circle random answers on the passage you skipped while probably getting 1 or 2 points based on luck.

when it comes to scoring, if you do 6 passages and answer almost all questions correctly, you'll have a 30+/40, guaranteeing a 10 in VR. of course, you will probably miss a few questions, but you'll also most likely get a point or two on the passage you skipped and randomly answered.

in the end, doing all 7 passages with a little over 8 minutes each probably means a lot of mistakes because of the time crunch. on the other hand, doing 6 passages with 10 minutes each hopefully results in your getting all (or mostly all) the questions you do answer correctly, while also leaving the possibility of gaining an extra point or two with the randomly answered, skipped passage.

 

[madmuttal]

when are you all planing on starting AAMC FLs? currently doing Kaplan and TBR FLs

 

[mrh125]

What did u think abt it! A LOT of ppl are complaining which sorta seems odd to me:/
Hawaii is awesome! My friend is taking it in vegas so she get to party after lol

haha that's awesome about vegas. well, for my mcat (I took it jan 23rd) the phys sci was really hard. the questions were all over the place and it was overwhelming (I think i missed 10-12 questions) and some weird low yield stuff, the bio sci was easy with some whacky discretes, and verbal passages were a bit difficult (and pretty long), there were a few questions where you had to guess. I'm not sure how I did but the biosci section was surprisingly easy.

 

[mrh125]

Also, if anyone wants to chat about practice material, study together, or ask advice from someone who took the mcat for advice (i'm not revealing any confidential info), i'm happy to help out (i took mine on january 23rd and have signed up for a retake on march 22nd)

 

[scrub2scrubs]

Also, if anyone wants to chat about practice material, study together, or ask advice from someone who took the mcat for advice (i'm not revealing any confidential info), i'm happy to help out (i took mine on january 23rd and have signed up for a retake on march 22nd)

Hey mrh125, did you think the AAMC's represented the physical sciences section well on the real mcat?

 

[gkdubey]

I also took the January 25th MCAT so I am able to answer any non-specific, non-incriminating questions

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

I also took the January 25th MCAT so I am able to answer any non-specific, non-incriminating questions

what's the general procedure when you first arrive and get seated? is there time where you're allowed to say, jot down physics equations on scrap paper before the PS section begins?

 

[mrh125]

Hey mrh125, did you think the AAMC's represented the physical sciences section well on the real mcat?

If this is
Too much info. I would say that there a lot of different ways of asking about the material you know (and little details you would miss) that could give you a lot of trouble. Also there are a lot of calculations. If this is too much info please let me know so I can edit

 

[snllama]

I spent 12 hours with a general surgeon getting in some of my doctor shadowing hours and didnt study yesterday when I got home. Now I feel sick! I swear every hurdle wants to face me this week.

 

[gkdubey]

what's the general procedure when you first arrive and get seated? is there time where you're allowed to say, jot down physics equations on scrap paper before the PS section begins?

You wouldn't be able to take that piece of paper into the test with you obviously. But yeah they had us sitting in a room about a half hour before the test started and they slowly called people into get signed in and security checked before they individually seated them into their places. We all had ample time to meet each other and make small talk and **** before the test so it was kinda nice, I think it calmed peoples nerves a bit to talk with others before the test started. I am really social so naturally I broke the ice when we were all sitting in silence beforehand lol. But just make sure you get there thirty minutes early and double check what time your exam is. Our test was at 1:00pm and this poor kid showed up at 2:30 trying to take the test, claiming that he swore his email said the test was at 3:00pm. Too bad, they didn't let him take the test in the end. I felt pretty bad for him since he just lost all that money. Anyways, Verbal section is kicking my ass again. I thought I had my score up in the 10s with the first couple FL's I took before the January MCAT but now that I am going back to EK 101 passages I am doing horribly again. I just did two passages, did great on one got a 6/7 and then i got a 2/7 on the second one. I finished both on time though...but I think that's what screwed me on the second one was trying to finish in a hurry. I hate verbal. I just hope with enough practice I can get my score up there one day. Can anyone here tell me their story about Verbal where they were initially REALLY bad at it and then through hard work and tons of practice got much better? I need the inspiration. Thanks. Good luck studying everyone. I've been hard core slacking off. I'm trying to pick it back up!

 

[bltng]

what's the general procedure when you first arrive and get seated? is there time where you're allowed to say, jot down physics equations on scrap paper before the PS section begins?

You wouldn't be able to take that piece of paper into the test with you obviously.

I had previously read that you are allowed to fill in an equation sheet during the questionnaire section that began before the PS section begins. However, if you're not sure ~ you can also contact AMCAS directly.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

I had previously read that you are allowed to fill in an equation sheet during the questionnaire section that began before the PS section begins. However, if you're not sure ~ you can also contact AMCAS directly.

obviously can't bring any paper in lol, but someone who crushed the test on here wrote a post awhile back that he'd memorized 22 equations and would quickly jot them down during the "instructions" portion or something like that. I don't remember that's why I asked if it was possible. thank you guys though!

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

You wouldn't be able to take that piece of paper into the test with you obviously. But yeah they had us sitting in a room about a half hour before the test started and they slowly called people into get signed in and security checked before they individually seated them into their places. We all had ample time to meet each other and make small talk and **** before the test so it was kinda nice, I think it calmed peoples nerves a bit to talk with others before the test started. I am really social so naturally I broke the ice when we were all sitting in silence beforehand lol. But just make sure you get there thirty minutes early and double check what time your exam is. Our test was at 1:00pm and this poor kid showed up at 2:30 trying to take the test, claiming that he swore his email said the test was at 3:00pm. Too bad, they didn't let him take the test in the end. I felt pretty bad for him since he just lost all that money. Anyways, Verbal section is kicking my ass again. I thought I had my score up in the 10s with the first couple FL's I took before the January MCAT but now that I am going back to EK 101 passages I am doing horribly again. I just did two passages, did great on one got a 6/7 and then i got a 2/7 on the second one. I finished both on time though...but I think that's what screwed me on the second one was trying to finish in a hurry. I hate verbal. I just hope with enough practice I can get my score up there one day. Can anyone here tell me their story about Verbal where they were initially REALLY bad at it and then through hard work and tons of practice got much better? I need the inspiration. Thanks. Good luck studying everyone. I've been hard core slacking off. I'm trying to pick it back up!

thanks for that run down of the day!... and honestly I've heard people tell me you'll actually score higher than you score on EK bc it's more difficult with more questions that could go multiple ways as far as answers go. stay positive and keep working at it. the right technique for you will come and you'll get the hang of what things to focus on.

 

[snllama]

What testing center are you guys going to be at? Im at prometrics.

Im worried they are gonna tell me I cant bring in my ear plugs.

 

[TheAnonymous]

What testing center are you guys going to be at? Im at prometrics.

Im worried they are gonna tell me I cant bring in my ear plugs.

i hope its not awful to ask but is there a difference between a prometric site and a non-prometrics site?