The Official May 22, 2015 MCAT Thread

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I think many of you will agree that today is a great day to officially prepare for the May 22nd MCAT!!!

I was against the April 2015 MCAT because a typical 3 month schedule doesn't seem to work for
students and/or working test takers. With a little over 4 months of preparation we can go in with confidence!
It's all new and really scary--so let's kick MCAT butt together!!

I was also wondering, wouldn't many professional MCAT test takers and tutors want to take the MCAT 2015 as soon
as possible (April MCAT) so they can better they're material or teaching? Wouldn't that just destroy the curve?
 
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Sooo who else is starting to panic?

I haven't even looked at MCAT stuff in the last two weeks, I've been so busy with finals. I take my finals tomorrow, and then begins two weeks of full-time MCAT studying.

I'm really starting to freak out about biochem. I did okay on the AAMC practice exam (75% chem phys, 88% psych, 96% CARS) except for the bio section which I basically bombed (66%). My biochemistry class has been a total joke. We never even talked about metabolism, and I remember nothing about it from my intro bio class, so I basically need to teach it to myself at this point. Anyone have an opinion about what resources I should use for this? I've read the Kaplan books (minus the section on metabolism because I thought we were going to learn it in biochem but we never did) and I'm thinking of using the Khan Academy videos, will that be enough? Is there anything else I should focus on other than metabolism? I did well in intro bio courses, which at my school covered evolution, genes, ecology, cells, proteins, development and physiology, and I feel completely comfortable with all of that material.

I'm so pissed about my biochem class. All we learned about was enzymes. Not that that's not interesting but seriously, the pre-med advisor should not be telling people that this biochem course is suitable for the MCAT. :wtf:
 
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Lannister said:
Sooo who else is starting to panic?

I haven't even looked at MCAT stuff in the last two weeks, I've been so busy with finals. I take my finals tomorrow, and then begins two weeks of full-time MCAT studying.

I'm really starting to freak out about biochem. I did okay on the AAMC practice exam (75% chem phys, 88% psych, 96% CARS) except for the bio section which I basically bombed (66%). My biochemistry class has been a total joke. We never even talked about metabolism, and I remember nothing about it from my intro bio class, so I basically need to teach it to myself at this point. Anyone have an opinion about what resources I should use for this? I've read the Kaplan books (minus the section on metabolism because I thought we were going to learn it in biochem but we never did) and I'm thinking of using the Khan Academy videos, will that be enough? Is there anything else I should focus on other than metabolism? I did well in intro bio courses, which at my school covered evolution, genes, ecology, cells, proteins, development and physiology, and I feel completely comfortable with all of that material.

I'm so pissed about my biochem class. All we learned about was enzymes. Not that that's not interesting but seriously, the pre-med advisor should not be telling people that this biochem course is suitable for the MCAT. :wtf:
Click to expand...
Check out TBR Bio II and the Kaplan Biochem Book
 
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FWIW if you order TBR books now I don't even think they'd come in time for you to use them. You have to send in a written form and what not unless you can find a used one for sale on amazon or ebay.
 
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Just took the AAMC FL. 75/87/73/81. Still feel kind of weak on content to be honest being out of school for a couple years. Would I kill my app if I switched to June?
 
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Lannister said:
Sooo who else is starting to panic?

I haven't even looked at MCAT stuff in the last two weeks, I've been so busy with finals. I take my finals tomorrow, and then begins two weeks of full-time MCAT studying.

I'm really starting to freak out about biochem. I did okay on the AAMC practice exam (75% chem phys, 88% psych, 96% CARS) except for the bio section which I basically bombed (66%). My biochemistry class has been a total joke. We never even talked about metabolism, and I remember nothing about it from my intro bio class, so I basically need to teach it to myself at this point. Anyone have an opinion about what resources I should use for this? I've read the Kaplan books (minus the section on metabolism because I thought we were going to learn it in biochem but we never did) and I'm thinking of using the Khan Academy videos, will that be enough? Is there anything else I should focus on other than metabolism? I did well in intro bio courses, which at my school covered evolution, genes, ecology, cells, proteins, development and physiology, and I feel completely comfortable with all of that material.

I'm so pissed about my biochem class. All we learned about was enzymes. Not that that's not interesting but seriously, the pre-med advisor should not be telling people that this biochem course is suitable for the MCAT. :wtf:
Click to expand...

Those are decent percentages, don't panic too much and lose confidence. With those percentages you can definitely do well with a couple weeks of strong practice.
 
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Shadowade said:
Just took the AAMC FL. 75/87/73/81. Still feel kind of weak on content to be honest being out of school for a couple years. Would I kill my app if I switched to June?
Click to expand...
if you get your app verified and prewrite your secondaries as you wait for your score... it would not kill your app
 
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Just finished my 2nd FL, this was a Kaplan FL

505 total. 125/127/127/126

Not very happy with the psych/soc section, as several of the questions seemed poorly written and I got a 130 on the first FL I took. Conversely, the results on the biology section make me happy.

I finished bio 25 minutes early and psych 25 minutes early. Where do I find the energy/motivation to go back and review sections? I'm fried :dead:
 
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Lannister said:
Okay thank you, I will look into it!
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I got mine separate from a previous owner who never used it....also, Khan Bio is hard, but I am pushing through it b/c I feel they have some good content...its more about if you learn from doing them, not if you get them right or wrong.
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
Im having the hardest time finishing the CARS section... 🙁 i always have to end up guessing on a whole passage or even more!
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Do you have a technique for approaching CARS?

I've found that my time spent per passage has decreased a bit since I took on a specific method to approach each passage (I highlight things I find important while jotting down the author's stance/general argument - passage is done being read and analyzed in ~4-5 minutes, questions are answered in 2-3). Before I would just skip around between questions and reading in a disorganized manner.
 
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I just did testing solutions TS3 and and had no time for the last passage! I tend to read the paragraph and jot down a few words... Then go answer questions and never go back to the passage (which i think is hurting me but it takes way too long) im a fast reader but i think i spend a lot of time on questions... And i still feel rushed doing them!
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
I just did testing solutions TS3 and and had no time for the last passage! I tend to read the paragraph and jot down a few words... Then go answer questions and never go back to the passage (which i think is hurting me but it takes way too long) im a fast reader but i think i spend a lot of time on questions... And i still feel rushed doing them!
Click to expand...

CARS is not about how fast you read, but how well you can retain and analyze what you've read. It's clear that reading quickly isn't benefiting you at all, so SLOW DOWN. Practice taking no less than 5 minutes just to read and analyze what you've read. What was the overall theme? What was the author arguing for or against? Etc. THEN move on to the questions.
 
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I want to spend more time on the questions... Is that bad? Maybe im focusing on the wrong thing... Rather than spending 6 mins on questions i should spend more time on the passage? Most prep companies tell you to spend more time on the questions... I dont know clearly its not working for me!
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
I want to spend more time on the questions... Is that bad? Maybe im focusing on the wrong thing... Rather than spending 6 mins on questions i should spend more time on the passage? Most prep companies tell you to spend more time on the questions... I dont know clearly its not working for me!
Click to expand...

Prep companies are wrong. Where is the ONLY place you can get information from on how to answer CARS questions? The passage. So why would you not focus your time on understanding what the passage is trying to say? How else do you expect to be able to answer the questions? It's just so counterintuitive to me. D:

Context: CARS is usually my best section (worst 85%, best 97%). My only strategy is reading the passage thoroughly--and highlighting key phrases--and then tackling the questions. The highlights allow me to navigate through the paragraphs more quickly if I absolutely need to refer back. And I usually have a half hour left over.

So that's why I recommend focusing on the passage. You have nothing to lose. 🙂
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
I want to spend more time on the questions... Is that bad? Maybe im focusing on the wrong thing... Rather than spending 6 mins on questions i should spend more time on the passage? Most prep companies tell you to spend more time on the questions... I dont know clearly its not working for me!
Click to expand...
define "most."
 
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mcatjelly said:
Prep companies are wrong. Where is the ONLY place you can get information from on how to answer CARS questions? The passage. So why would you not focus your time on understanding what the passage is trying to say? How else do you expect to be able to answer the questions? It's just so counterintuitive to me. D:

Context: CARS is usually my best section (worst 85%, best 97%). My only strategy is reading the passage thoroughly--and highlighting key phrases--and then tackling the questions. The highlights allow me to navigate through the paragraphs more quickly if I absolutely need to refer back. And I usually have a half hour left over.

So that's why I recommend focusing on the passage. You have nothing to lose. 🙂
Click to expand...
sorry, how long do you spend reading a passage? and how frequently do you go back? I have problems with going back way too often
 
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Levrone said:
sorry, how long do you spend reading a passage? and how frequently do you go back? I have problems with going back way too often
Click to expand...

No need to say sorry!

I tend to spend about 3-5 minutes on each passage and then refer back 1-2 times--especially on those questions that refer back to the passage themselves, just so I can get a quick context refresher.

Gonna be Captain Obvious here and say that if you're going back often, you're not spending enough time reading the passage. If there are 9 passages with 5-6 questions each, you can easily spend 6 minutes just reading the passage, and then 4 minutes answering the questions. It SHOULDN'T take you more than a minute to answer a single question if you took your time with the passage.
 
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mcatjelly said:
Prep companies are wrong. Where is the ONLY place you can get information from on how to answer CARS questions? The passage. So why would you not focus your time on understanding what the passage is trying to say? How else do you expect to be able to answer the questions? It's just so counterintuitive to me. D:

Context: CARS is usually my best section (worst 85%, best 97%). My only strategy is reading the passage thoroughly--and highlighting key phrases--and then tackling the questions. The highlights allow me to navigate through the paragraphs more quickly if I absolutely need to refer back. And I usually have a half hour left over.

So that's why I recommend focusing on the passage. You have nothing to lose. 🙂
Click to expand...

mcatjelly has the right of it, again.

I use the same method and have increased my scores somewhat.. but I usually end up in the ~75% range. Highlight, read the passage as if you are reading your favorite novel, always have in the back of your head "what is the authors main idea?"

I also liked the EK method of picturing what the author was like.. what are his stances based on how he's writing?

The single most important concept is getting the main idea
 
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mcatjelly said:
No need to say sorry!

I tend to spend about 3-5 minutes on each passage and then refer back 1-2 times--especially on those questions that refer back to the passage themselves, just so I can get a quick context refresher.

Gonna be Captain Obvious here and say that if you're going back often, you're not spending enough time reading the passage. If there are 9 passages with 5-6 questions each, you can easily spend 6 minutes just reading the passage, and then 4 minutes answering the questions. It SHOULDN'T take you more than a minute to answer a single question if you took your time with the passage.
Click to expand...
I don't have much time until my exam but I will try that method today. Thanks. I typically try reading a passage quickly within ~3 minutes or less. So do you re-read sentences until you make sure you get it, or just real very slowly? or both lol?
 
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Levrone said:
I don't have much time until my exam but I will try that method today. Thanks. I typically try reading a passage quickly within ~3 minutes or less. So do you re-read sentences until you make sure you get it, or just real very slowly? or both lol?
Click to expand...
I read somewhat slowly, but I'm a fast reader anyways. Just make sure you understand the gist of a sentence before you move on, don't spend much time rereading the same sentence.
 
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Levrone said:
I don't have much time until my exam but I will try that method today. Thanks. I typically try reading a passage quickly within ~3 minutes or less. So do you re-read sentences until you make sure you get it, or just real very slowly? or both lol?
Click to expand...

Like @Premedofthesouth said: you don't need to reread, you just need to think while you read. It's not a matter of fast or slow, it's a matter of making sure you're constantly on the same page as the author. If you're ever reading and reach a point where you go, "wait... since when does the author think this?", you need to turn back around. And at the end of each paragraph you should be doing a quick (I'm talking 1-5 seconds) check-in with the main theme.
 
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I actually like EK 9th edition cars method. Pretty much increasing your reading speed will NOT help with timing if you are running out of time. People who have trouble with timing usually sprint through the passage, have no idea what they just read, read the questions, then have to keep going back to the passage over and over to find the answers. I suggest trying to read SLOWLY through the passage the first time and focus on the main idea/author's POV/what the author wants you to get from reading the passage and I assure you you won't run out of time.

Also...anyone else come across problems that make you ask yourself... what the **** have I been studying for 10 weeks?!?
 
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dreamer659 said:
I just finished taking a biochemistry class that had a cumulative final and an immunology class so both of those things really helped with the bio section. In addition, I do research in a lab so I'm pretty familiar with reading scientific articles.

However, especially for psyc soc and the physical sciences section my scores have gone up a lot with practice. This was the 5th FL I took. Instead of straight content review from my prep books I've just been learning the topics I'm getting wrong after each FL, that way after each test there's less and less material I'm not familiar/comfortable with. I mainly just google topics that I get wrong, like electrochemistry or the doppler equation when I need it and force myself to learn it. Which in hindsight is kind of a bummer because I have all the Kaplan prep books and TPR and barely use them haha.
Click to expand...
How detail do you believe we should know for the metabolic pathways? All the intermediates?
 
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somedudehere said:
Also...anyone else come across problems that make you ask yourself... what the **** have I been studying for 10 weeks?!?
Click to expand...
This is how I felt after doing Khan passages but as I go continuously go through questions, I also realize I have come a long way in terms of % of questions correct.
 
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GEToutLADYits6AM said:
How detail do you believe we should know for the metabolic pathways? All the intermediates?
Click to expand...
Seems like a lot. I would focus on the irreversible steps more than anything and have a general understanding of the rest... think about how much gain you get out of the time spent studying those.
 
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Do any of you guys have an opinion about which practice exams are better, Kaplan or NS? I plan to do three more practice tests before the exam, and I can't decide which ones to do. I took an NS practice test and found it kind of poorly written, like lots of typos and stuff. But I have heard that Kaplan is not representative of what the actual test will be like. Which is the least bad option? 😛
 
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I took 2 TPR tests... I heard they arent as bad as Kaplan! Now I also heard they are not representative of the real thing either! But they helped me figure out my weak areas! You can also get them for free if you use the ISBN number of the textbook on their website!
 
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Alright, after 3 weeks I have been able to collect my thoughts about this new test having taken the April exam and I believe this test is simply easier than the previous MCAT. You don’t have to come in knowing AS much. I will get into that later. I didn’t do so well on the old MCAT 2 years ago so I got a job in between. I only decided to take the MCAT this year and gave myself about 10 weeks to study. Coming into the test I was really scared like everyone else. I also contemplated rescheduling my exam until June, but I didn’t and I am glad for it. If you think you’re not ready a week before the test, don’t freak out and reschedule. BIG MISTAKE. You will regret it later and you are just delaying more agony. I am glad my friends who now are in med school told me to take the test. That’s probably the biggest advice I can give to everyone else besides what study materials to use since everyone has posted on it already.

I was an econ major, so science doesn’t come naturally to me. I restudied the material towards the new AAMC outline and dedicated about 4-6 hours a day of reading and passages from the official AAMC book and other test company books. For physics, bio, and psych, I read TPR did the AAMC power pack as well as some old AAMC exams. For biochem, I read TPR and Kaplan and I thought that was adequate. I took the TPR practice exams and got 490, 497, 503 and on the AAMC exam 1.5 weeks before I got a Chem/Physics: 70%, CARS: 85%, Bio: 75%, Psych: 58%. I was really concerned after this, so I read more TPR psych and it made me feel comfortable right before the test.

In terms of the real thing, I can’t give anything away as per the rules of the test. All I can say that it was very straightforward. Even if I was reading something new I hadn’t seen before I could usually figure it out. I will let you know how I did after the scores come out. I think the test was way easier than TPR and NS and about the same as the AAMC in difficulty.
 
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Going off Nazca, I just took the AAMC practice test and got 69%, 89%, 80%, and 83%. I'm really worried about that chemistry score, though at the same time it's usually one of my better areas. Biology was a relatively nice surprise. Should I reschedule to June? Or can I feasibly raise those chem/bio scores? Because that chemistry section is quite low.
 
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I'm really counting on med schools' lack of experience with interpreting test scores of this new beast
 
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So how are people doing on the Kaplan FL? Myself, along with a couple of friends of mine who are usually animals with anything test related, can't seem to score above low 500's, which is definitely not the type of scores I'm looking for. I feel I've seen other people posting the same sort of problem, but anyone else have input?
 
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I'm doing Khan Academy passages right now. Yesterday I spent 8 hours doing bio passages. Despite feeling like I understood the passages and the questions, I got an average of maybe 3/5 questions correct per passage. Now I'm doing chem/phys, have no idea what any of the passages are saying, hardly understand the questions, and am just using common sense and I'm getting 4/5 or 5/5 on most passages. What the heck.
 
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Lannister said:
I'm doing Khan Academy passages right now. Yesterday I spent 8 hours doing bio passages. Despite feeling like I understood the passages and the questions, I got an average of maybe 3/5 questions correct per passage. Now I'm doing chem/phys, have no idea what any of the passages are saying, hardly understand the questions, and am just using common sense and I'm getting 4/5 or 5/5 on most passages. What the heck.
Click to expand...

That always happened to me on the old mcat while doing the aamc exams. Except I thought I was acing chem/phys and got so many wrong. Yet on bio I had no idea what it was saying and always scored higher...
 
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Nazca said:
Alright, after 3 weeks I have been able to collect my thoughts about this new test having taken the April exam and I believe this test is simply easier than the previous MCAT. You don’t have to come in knowing AS much. I will get into that later. I didn’t do so well on the old MCAT 2 years ago so I got a job in between. I only decided to take the MCAT this year and gave myself about 10 weeks to study. Coming into the test I was really scared like everyone else. I also contemplated rescheduling my exam until June, but I didn’t and I am glad for it. If you think you’re not ready a week before the test, don’t freak out and reschedule. BIG MISTAKE. You will regret it later and you are just delaying more agony. I am glad my friends who now are in med school told me to take the test. That’s probably the biggest advice I can give to everyone else besides what study materials to use since everyone has posted on it already.

I was an econ major, so science doesn’t come naturally to me. I restudied the material towards the new AAMC outline and dedicated about 4-6 hours a day of reading and passages from the official AAMC book and other test company books. For physics, bio, and psych, I read TPR did the AAMC power pack as well as some old AAMC exams. For biochem, I read TPR and Kaplan and I thought that was adequate. I took the TPR practice exams and got 490, 497, 503 and on the AAMC exam 1.5 weeks before I got a Chem/Physics: 70%, CARS: 85%, Bio: 75%, Psych: 58%. I was really concerned after this, so I read more TPR psych and it made me feel comfortable right before the test.

In terms of the real thing, I can’t give anything away as per the rules of the test. All I can say that it was very straightforward. Even if I was reading something new I hadn’t seen before I could usually figure it out. I will let you know how I did after the scores come out. I think the test was way easier than TPR and NS and about the same as the AAMC in difficulty.
Click to expand...

What did your prelims come out to be?
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
So roughly about 2 weeks before the test... Whats everyone planning on doing? Im so burnt out! I cant get myself to do anything! :/
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I have finals right now 🙁 But after they're done I plan on alternating taking FLs and review days on any areas I feel I need work, or that the FLs are telling me a need work in.
 
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lukester43 said:
Unfortunately I have finals right now 🙁 But after they're done I plan on alternating taking FLs and review days on any areas I feel I need work, or that the FLs are telling me a need work in.
Click to expand...


I know the FLs are brutal! I only took 2! Im taking the AAMC FL tomorrow but I dont know if i should take another TPR FL im scared its going to bring mu confidence down! And at this time... Confidence is really crucial!
 
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How has everyone been doing on the AAMC big question packs? I did the first bio one the other day and got 80%. Bio is my weakest so I was wondering if 80 is about average with all you high achievers 😀
 
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Between now and test day I plan on completing all the question packs, doing some Khan passages, and a couple of Kaplan FLs. I hit about 65% on the sample test so I need a ton of practice. Trying to reach 80% at least.
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
I know the FLs are brutal! I only took 2! Im taking the AAMC FL tomorrow but I dont know if i should take another TPR FL im scared its going to bring mu confidence down! And at this time... Confidence is really crucial!
Click to expand...
I'm curious how TPR and Kaplan tests line up, because I have taken 4.5 Kaplan FLs thus far, and haven't been getting what I need to. But then again, none of my friends have been scoring well either. Also plan on taking the AAMC FL tomorrow morning so hopefully that turns out okay!
 
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lukester43 said:
I'm curious how TPR and Kaplan tests line up, because I have taken 4.5 Kaplan FLs thus far, and haven't been getting what I need to. But then again, none of my friends have been scoring well either. Also plan on taking the AAMC FL tomorrow morning so hopefully that turns out okay!
Click to expand...


Yeah! My TPR scores are 492 and 498 🙁 i dont know! But i tend to screw up CARS pretty much 99% of the time! :/ hopefully tomorrow goes well!
 
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