The Official May 17, 2014 MCAT Thread

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oobie

oobie

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Hello there. I thought I'd kick things off for this test date. I was previously planning to take the MCAT in January, but I was doing horribly on the practice tests and did not prepare correctly, so I had to reschedule. Good luck and hello!
 
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I gotta say PS was harder than normal for me. It was unlike all the AAMC practice tests I did and I averaged a 10-11 on the practices. I ran out of time.

VR was surprisingly easier than I expected. Like others, the passages were actually pretty interesting and simple to read.

BS is an eh. Orgo is a stronger point of mine so I wanted more. But the bio questions weren't surprising except for one passage that had me lost.

Overall, I thought it was fair. No glaring cruelties from any section. But I can definitely say that it can go either way.
 
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Man, I hope I'm not the only person who found the PS section to be pretty difficult. I ran out time and had to guess a bunch. But PS has historically been my weakest section. VR seemed a little easier than normal to me, but is my strongest section. Maybe a few tougher questions but decently interesting passages and straightforward questions for the most part. BS seemed ok. I didn't feel like there were too many "out of nowhere" questions and there wasn't a lot of crazy o-chem.
But yeah, PS has me worried. Did not seem easy to me at all!
 
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I would have to say that PS was pretty straightforward and I felt good after the section. Verbal was weird, the passages were sort of boring and bland but it could have been worse. BUT I still felt a little worried after. I expected Biol to be crazy hard but it was okay.

In the end I hope we all get 45's.
 
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Calvinball_Expert said:
Man, I hope I'm not the only person who found the PS section to be pretty difficult. I ran out time and had to guess a bunch. But PS has historically been my weakest section. VR seemed a little easier than normal to me, but is my strongest section. Maybe a few tougher questions but decently interesting passages and straightforward questions for the most part. BS seemed ok. I didn't feel like there were too many "out of nowhere" questions and there wasn't a lot of crazy o-chem.
But yeah, PS has me worried. Did not seem easy to me at all!
Click to expand...
Dude...me too. On PS I was like..."um...question mark?"
 
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PS was definitely the most difficult section for me. I agree with others, there were a few questions I had no clue. I've been good with timing but for PS I had 5 mins left before I knew it. So I made some quick guesses in the end ugh

VR was...kind. I def agree that some of the passages were so interesting to read. One of them did throw me off. I thought they were pretty similar difficulty wise to AAMC and loads easier than TPRH. I'm hoping positive results.

BS is a toss up for me. It wasn't terrible but I don't feel overly confident either. Feel better than PS for sure though. Difficulty of it was similar to aamc cbt's so really can't complain. One passage did throw me off but oh well.

And now we wait...
 
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Well, idk what to expect.

PS was challenging and calc heavy, but manageable.

VR is always a wild card for me. I didn't sleep last night, so hopefully my interpretations weren't off.

BS was strange. Oscillating difficulty.
 
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I think the worst part was that I felt nothing as I took the test. Usually I get a feeling like oh man that was a bad test or that was good, I feel good but during the test I felt nothing.

And then I got home and was like omg what if I did horrible!? Like it was so deceivingly hard that I couldn't even tell??

Now I feel like I should have voided it something bc what if I end with like a 20 or something??
 
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I honestly felt the test was on par of the practice tests I did. I think it will have a high curve though. So each mistake will cost more. That's my thought haha.

I honestly thought ps was fine, definitely still got questions wrong due to content weaknesses, but I would be surprised if it is much lower than my range (9-11).

VR was normal, nothing seemed too bad

Bio was similar to 10/11 For the most part. I missed some of the harder questions, got confused on concepts.

I'm confused though, did people have different exams? When I finished and left I saw a guys screen that had a different bio passage diagram that I didn't have. Won't say what, but it was a whole different passage.

I thought there was only 1 version of the test?
 
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I've heard there are up to 10 with overlap.

The verbal I just had no idea what was going on. I was catching some of the traps but then I was like what if that was the right answer??

Biol I was like what are these passages?? These are so random. I was like did you guys pick these from a random passage generator app?
 
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Sammy1024 said:
I've heard there are up to 10 with overlap.

The verbal I just had no idea what was going on. I was catching some of the traps but then I was like what if that was the right answer??

Biol I was like what are these passages?? These are so random. I was like did you guys pick these from a random passage generator app?
Click to expand...

That is weird, I thought it was the same. So I guess our opinions on the exam will all vary then if we got so,e different passages
 
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My biology seemed pretty easy, maybe because they were pretty much all the passages I wanted...or I just really like biology.

Physics just sucks and it seemed like mine was more than 50% physics...
 
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Do the practice exams and know your fundamentals. Any advice I give is generic, because your test will be very different. We all have diff weaknesses etc.

My aamc avg was 29, so I'm also in a different range. I also didn't study nearly as much as most people, I did some content review and then spent 2 weeks doing exams. My pre reqs for PS was fresh, I was lucky to be naturally good at verbal on my practice and bs seems to be like verbal these days. I always lost the majority of my bs points on content weaknesses, I was always scoring near perfect or above average on experiment based passages where you get info from the passage etc.

Then again I could just as easily score low 20s. So no idea.
 
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Did you guys have a lot of recall based questions on bio? Like those wtf type discrete questions that are based on very small details? The reason I ask is because I was thinking of reviewing content fully 3days leading up to the exam and I wanna see how much you guys think content review helped.
 
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I think everyone should tweet aamc, and ask them why it takes 1 month to get scores back 😛 if premeds put pressure on them maybe they would work to be more efficient haha
 
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I think my exam (if different from everyone else's) was more-so content heavy. It's like if you knew underlying concepts you didn't necessarily have to read the entire passage for the BS section. PS was calculation heavy. Luckily i wrote out every equation I could think of during the tutorial time lol
 
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My discretes were very content based. My passages a little, but you could always refer back...

Did anyone else think that PS was much more physics than Gen Chem or is that just me? Lol...

I really don't want to take this again ughhh
 
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Sammy1024 said:
I think the worst part was that I felt nothing as I took the test. Usually I get a feeling like oh man that was a bad test or that was good, I feel good but during the test I felt nothing.

And then I got home and was like omg what if I did horrible!? Like it was so deceivingly hard that I couldn't even tell??

Now I feel like I should have voided it something bc what if I end with like a 20 or something??
Click to expand...

Yes, "felt nothing," that's exactly it. During and after the test I felt like it was too easy--MCAT hard but easy--I was waiting for the big monkey wrench but it never really came. I'm just hoping it's not like those college finals that you leave feeling like it was a breeze and assured to have passed only to get back a failing score. Yikes! Now the only thing I feel is that it was only deceptively easy.
 
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As I was going through I would pick an answer, but to make sure refer back to the passage and there would be something that would make it wrong so i feel like that was the "trick"
 
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secondroundpremed said:
Yes, "felt nothing," that's exactly it. During and after the test I felt like it was too easy--MCAT hard but easy--I was waiting for the big monkey wrench but it never really came. I'm just hoping it's not like those college finals that you leave feeling like it was a breeze and assured to have passed only to get back a failing score. Yikes! Now the only thing I feel is that it was only deceptively easy.
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This. Nothing was too out there, I feel like the curve will be super strict.
 
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Yes what elitemd said. Has anyone taken it before and thought the raw/scale conversion was going to be harsh but wasn't?
 
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I wrote out what type each passage was and mine was more chem than physics.

I heard AAMC makes you wait 1 month because they're worried about people who are more mentally fragile and want them to be completely calm before seeing their score.

I don't think I got the types of passages I wanted but some were really interesting. But I felt like there was random fact questions. Like some stuff I was like you talk nowhere about this so now I have to try and dig in my information pile to try and find something to answer this.

I also wrote down all the equations that I was worried about forgetting during the tutorial.
 
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EMTRNtoDR said:
Yes what elitemd said. Has anyone taken it before and thought the raw/scale conversion was going to be harsh but wasn't?
Click to expand...

A friend of mine took it last year, said the PS was just toooooooo easy, alll basic stuff, he said he couldnt believe that the PS was just muchh easier than all of the practice tests, his PS avg was 12, he ended up with a 14..
 
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TheAnonymous said:
A friend of mine took it last year, said the PS was just toooooooo easy, alll basic stuff, he said he couldnt believe that the PS was just muchh easier than all of the practice tests, his PS avg was 12, he ended up with a 14..
Click to expand...

True, and if you think about it not everyone goes into the exam like us having prepared for months. I know plenty of people from college who barely studied. Also, it's May and I bet a ton of people are just finishing finals and squeezing in the MCAT to get their application in on time this year thinking they won't need to study. I talked to someone yesterday and they were like "wow I can't believe you started studying two weeks early!! I would probably just study the night before". Not everyone is neurotic like the people on SDN hahaha. May the curve be ever in your favor!!!
 
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Yeah, I've been studying since January and still felt like I didn't know everything. And I just got finished with finals 10 days ago...so it's been a rough month. Oh did I mention I was taking Ochem 2 and Physics 2 at the same time!
 
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TheAnonymous said:
A friend of mine took it last year, said the PS was just toooooooo easy, alll basic stuff, he said he couldnt believe that the PS was just muchh easier than all of the practice tests, his PS avg was 12, he ended up with a 14..
Click to expand...

I felt that way today and have the same average, does this mean I get a 14?! 🙄
 
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I was under the impression that each person on the same day has a slightly different version of the exam. Not sure where I read this...trying to find it on AAMC site but can't right now 🙁

Edit: maybe I misread. Found "They ask whether they have a better chance of earning a higher score in April or in August, for example. The question is based on an assumption that the exam is scored on a curve, and that a final score is dependent on how an individual performed in comparison to other examinees from the same test day or same time of year." but I guess I just assumed it meant our exams were different. @WesternRedCedar you might have seen the trial section on someone's screen since we all got different questions.

PS: felt way too easy conceptually, lots of math (I always miss problems because of math 😡).
VR: really interesting passages?? finished with 20 minutes to spare and thought I'd skipped sections by accident--I hadn't. Some weird analogy/application things that ended up sort of making sense...I guess I'll find out if AAMC agrees.
BS: seemed about average with the practice exams. only 1 or 2 really obscure questions, but there always are.


Also, the trial section was bloody ridiculous. I had all psych and if that stuff is on the 2015 exam, I'm feeling sorry for anyone who has to take it...
 
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TheAnonymous said:
Did you guys have a lot of recall based questions on bio? Like those wtf type discrete questions that are based on very small details? The reason I ask is because I was thinking of reviewing content fully 3days leading up to the exam and I wanna see how much you guys think content review helped.
Click to expand...

My exam today was the same as the AAMC FLs in that there were probably 2-3 who in the effing world would know this content problems and everything else is definitely covered within the scope of normal preparatory materials. Last night I looked over all the things I didn't know going into SAs and FLs and reviewed physics/chem equations, but I don't think I used them that much today--just made me feel better knowing I'd done everything I could.
 
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turayza said:
My exam today was the same as the AAMC FLs in that there were probably 2-3 who in the effing world would know this content problems and everything else is definitely covered within the scope of normal preparatory materials. Last night I looked over all the things I didn't know going into SAs and FLs and reviewed physics/chem equations, but I don't think I used them that much today--just made me feel better knowing I'd done everything I could.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot man
 
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I NEVER post on SDN, but I wanted to chime in. I thought the PS section was definitely harder than normal for me, and it is usually my strong suit. There was alot of computation and rearranging of equations imo. VR was alright, the readings weren't too bad with the exception of one really stupid passage, but I also had to guess on the last passage since I ran out of time. The BS section for me felt very easy. If it wasn't for the BS, I think I would have voided my score. But after spending a few hours, I'm starting to feel like keeping the score was a mistake because of the PS and the fact that I didn't finish VR. So....to everyone else who may be freaking out like I am, take comfort in knowing that there is at least someone else out there who is having a major anxiety attack about this. I truly wish you all the best since I know how incredibly stressful it is.
 
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jhc036 said:
I NEVER post on SDN, but I wanted to chime in. I thought the PS section was definitely harder than normal for me, and it is usually my strong suit. There was alot of computation and rearranging of equations imo. VR was alright, the readings weren't too bad with the exception of one really stupid passage, but I also had to guess on the last passage since I ran out of time. The BS section for me felt very easy. If it wasn't for the BS, I think I would have voided my score. But after spending a few hours, I'm starting to feel like keeping the score was a mistake because of the PS and the fact that I didn't finish VR. So....to everyone else who may be freaking out like I am, take comfort in knowing that there is at least someone else out there who is having a major anxiety attack about this. I truly wish you all the best since I know how incredibly stressful it is.
Click to expand...

Fingers crossed! Hope you did better than you're feeling 🙂
 
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Damn I am really happy I chose dental instead of medical so I don't have to endure the wickedness of the MCAT. Some of these posts sound horrible! lol
 
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you guys. i'm glad some people are agreeing about the killer PS! that is usually a strong section for me and I had to take an educated guess on sooo many. no bueno.

all I know is, whereas this past month FLEW by, these next thirty days are gonna take forever.
 
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TheAnonymous said:
Did you guys have a lot of recall based questions on bio? Like those wtf type discrete questions that are based on very small details? The reason I ask is because I was thinking of reviewing content fully 3days leading up to the exam and I wanna see how much you guys think content review helped.
Click to expand...

What the other guy responding to you said. I took the 4/11 exam and there were at least 2-3 questions that were just way out there as far as trivial knowledge that was not covered in any MCAT content review. Who knows if these questions were experimental or not. Either way, more content review would not have helped for these questions. For the rest, content review was sufficient or the info could be deduced from the passage.
 
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PS - Really not bad. I know already two questions I missed though because I seem to be ******ed...I agree that it felt more physics-ish.
VR - I really have to wonder if I had a different test from y'all. Those VR were the worst and most boring I've ever read.
BS - Not sure...really enjoyed it. I feel those BS passages always make me more interested in medicine (at least the medici e ones).
 
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Wait, what do you guys mean about "experimental" questions or "uncounted" questions, as I have read on here a couple times? Are some of the questions not counted in our overall scores?
 
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For those that finished early on verbal...do you guys skim passages or just spend a good 3 min reading and do the questions without referring back?
 
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