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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A little word of advice for everyone taking the MCAT, please do yourself a solid and buy practice materials. I took the mcat once and didnt practice enough and it cost me dearly. If you are doing a course, they give you some practice but if you are trying to self-study, dont think that the Kaplan or TPR books alone are enough. Practice will be the difference between starting mes school in 2016 or having to retake and wait.
The BR books have really good practice (too heavy on physics) but if you use them combined with the 1001 EKs, then you should be fine
Just sharing what i've learned from messing up. Good luck to us all 🙂
 
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How's the studying going guys? Im really liking the psych stuff, though I am bias being the psych major. Im hating physics, everything else seems fair
 
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runanteldat said:
What kind of schedule are you doing?
Click to expand...

I'm focusing on reviewing content for each section week by week and then mix up practice passages within the weeks as well. I'm almost done with EK CARS book so now I've started physics but I'm also doing three passages of CARS for today in addition to the physics. And when I'm done with physics, I'll focus on the Biology and do physics and CARS passages in addition to reviewing content. I plan on finishing content review by the beginning of April and then just do practice passages until the exam date.

What materials are you using to prepare? And would you recommend I purchase the ExamKrackers 101 books for CARS practice and physics?
 
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Anyone taken the AAMC official guide to the MCAT questions yet? Just did them today and scores were as follows

BBFLS - 20/30
CPFLS-16/30
PSBFB- 19/30
CARS- 25/30

Haven't gotten into much content review for physics or psych/soc yet so those scores should improve. Hoping to gain a little perspective based on anyone else's experience with the test so far. Let me know!
 
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ofcourse1 said:
I'm focusing on reviewing content for each section week by week and then mix up practice passages within the weeks as well. I'm almost done with EK CARS book so now I've started physics but I'm also doing three passages of CARS for today in addition to the physics. And when I'm done with physics, I'll focus on the Biology and do physics and CARS passages in addition to reviewing content. I plan on finishing content review by the beginning of April and then just do practice passages until the exam date.

What materials are you using to prepare? And would you recommend I purchase the ExamKrackers 101 books for CARS practice and physics?
Click to expand...

How many passages does the new EK CARS have? Not sure if I should buy it or stick the the EK 101+TPR hyperlearning verbal which already has tons of passages.
 
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runanteldat said:
How's the studying going guys? Im really liking the psych stuff, though I am bias being the psych major. Im hating physics, everything else seems fair
Click to expand...

Psych is interesting but reading takes me a long time. Physics

I also took a practice MCAT about a week ago. Physical science section totally tore me apart. It didn't help that the exam wasn't proctored strictly and so I ended up finishing the section reaaaaaally late. (It was a paper test and I should have been smarter and brought a watch...GAAAH!) So I know that biochem, chem, and physics will be what I really need to go over in terms of passages and practice.

(For future MCAT takers, there will be a clock/timer on the computer.)

Also, I realized that my stamina needs work. I thought I was going to do great on the verbal section but I ended up blanking out halfway through (probably because I spent way too much time on the last section). Is anyone doing any endurance prep? It's weird because I know I can sit through things for a long period of time but I'm not sure the best way to do that for the MCAT. Maybe I might just sit in blocks a month before exam after school's over?
 
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Just finished a Kaplan Practice MCAT
Score: 497. Ps=124, CARS=127, BS=124, Psych=122.
I took this exam today as a reality check. As of right now ive only done physics and biochem content review (havent touched the rest).
Biggest worry: Stamina. The psych section felt like Chinese by the time it rolled around.
I felt i had enough time for everything but the exam will beat you down mentally because of its length.
strategy: finish the rest of the material as soon as yesterday and practice until the end of time.
Please pardon any grammar mistakes, my brain is fried afteer those 7 hours
 
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Hey everyone!! I'll be sitting in for this exam date as well... I took the MCAT last January and got a horrible score (25). I started lightly reviewing again using the new EK set. I took the free Kaplan mini test and got a 43% overall score.... 🙁 The psych was literally a foreign language to me. I really can't imagine doing a 7hr practice test!! fml
 
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goriku671 said:
Hey everyone!! I'll be sitting in for this exam date as well... I took the MCAT last January and got a horrible score (25). I started lightly reviewing again using the new EK set. I took the free Kaplan mini test and got a 43% overall score.... 🙁 The psych was literally a foreign language to me. I really can't imagine doing a 7hr practice test!! fml
Click to expand...
what are you doing differently this time? I also took the January MCAT but decided to void since my practice scores were stuck in the low 20s.
 
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Just wondering, on average, how long does it take everyone here to finish a chapter in lets say EK book? It takes me around 6-7 hours to do a chapter of EK (with doing & analyzing the 30 min exam and practice questions) I just feel like that is waaaay to much time.
 
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GCSDOC said:
what are you doing differently this time? I also took the January MCAT but decided to void since my practice scores were stuck in the low 20s.
Click to expand...

Well given that I've only started last week, I havent been doing much haha. I do plan on hitting the practice exams early on and not spend too much time on content review.
 
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I'm really skeptical of the accuracy of diagnostic exams at this point, but it certainly will help you prepare for the endurance required

I'm doing some Khan Academy practice questions (I actually enjoy these), this format is reflective of the actual exam, correct? Apart from knowing if your answer is correct or not immediately, I mean.
 
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Ulgarmoose said:
I'm really skeptical of the accuracy of diagnostic exams at this point, but it certainly will help you prepare for the endurance required

I'm doing some Khan Academy practice questions (I actually enjoy these), this format is reflective of the actual exam, correct? Apart from knowing if your answer is correct or not immediately, I mean.
Click to expand...
what you mean you don't know if your answer is correct immediately or not?
 
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I have been dividing the sections up (alternating between the two sciences) for studying.

About to take the official *full length* AAMC this Friday... I've never dreaded a Friday so much in my life.:arghh: The length is just absolutely KILLER. My plan to keep the energy and complete the exam: 1) work out in the morning before, 2) Have a good protein filled breakfast, 3) Make sure coffee is at hand, and 4) prepare snacks for in between.

I'm happy I'm not the only one feeling completely worn out by the length of the exam. Solidarity, people.
 
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TexanProud said:
I have been dividing the sections up (alternating between the two sciences) for studying.

About to take the official *full length* AAMC this Friday... I've never dreaded a Friday so much in my life.:arghh: The length is just absolutely KILLER. My plan to keep the energy and complete the exam: 1) work out in the morning before, 2) Have a good protein filled breakfast, 3) Make sure coffee is at hand, and 4) prepare snacks for in between.

I'm happy I'm not the only one feeling completely worn out by the length of the exam. Solidarity, people.
Click to expand...
Will this be the first FL you have taken?

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drkobebryant said:
Will this be the first FL you have taken?

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Click to expand...
I've taken a half length diagnostic and a few TPR divided into sections. So in one sitting a whole exam, yes this will be the first. I'm actually taking the exam April 17 but am interested in others' thoughts
 
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TexanProud said:
I've taken a half length diagnostic and a few TPR divided into sections. So in one sitting a whole exam, yes this will be the first. I'm actually taking the exam April 17 but am interested in others' thoughts
Click to expand...
Oh I was just concerned because with respect to the may exam, I thought that would be early and I started to get worried. Especially, since we know that AAMCs are so sparce I was going to advise you to wait for some tbr full lengths first.

However, yep. I would be kinda worries too but you should go in positive like you're gonna kill that thing, embrace the post - phrasing and hone your weaknesses. Try to develop that optimism and that ever so sought after endurance. At this point, content knowledge isn't the main point of concern but test taking skills which you have more than enough time to do.

My $.02.

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drkobebryant said:
Oh I was just concerned because with respect to the may exam, I thought that would be early and I started to get worried. Especially, since we know that AAMCs are so sparce I was going to advise you to wait for some tbr full lengths first.

However, yep. I would be kinda worries too but you should go in positive like you're gonna kill that thing, embrace the post - phrasing and hone your weaknesses. Try to develop that optimism and that ever so sought after endurance. At this point, content knowledge isn't the main point of concern but test taking skills which you have more than enough time to do.

My $.02.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank you for the input.

But, yes exactly what I've been doing. I'll do a practice section then get my 2-3 weaknesses and work passages on passages on those topics. 2 days later, another practice section and repeat. Raised my Phys/Chem section (my weakest) 2 points already within a week. I know it's not indicative of how I will preform, but nice to see an upward trend. Also, just more comfortable with the content.
 
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Started studying February 1st. After this week I'd say I'll be 2/3 done with pure content review (doing practice questions throughout). I've seen some schedules that have full-length exams throughout the studying and I'm not sure I understand the purpose of taking full-length exams when you're unfamiliar or out of practice with numerous topics.

Would this type of schedule be better for traditional students? Last time I had general chemistry was...7 years ago? It's not difficult, but my memory just isn't that powerful.

I'm thinking I'll start taking practice exams after the first week of April, leaving 6 weeks primarily for exams/polishing weak areas.
 
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Ulgarmoose said:
Started studying February 1st. After this week I'd say I'll be 2/3 done with pure content review (doing practice questions throughout). I've seen some schedules that have full-length exams throughout the studying and I'm not sure I understand the purpose of taking full-length exams when you're unfamiliar or out of practice with numerous topics.

Would this type of schedule be better for traditional students? Last time I had general chemistry was...7 years ago? It's not difficult, but my memory just isn't that powerful.

I'm thinking I'll start taking practice exams after the first week of April, leaving 6 weeks primarily for exams/polishing weak areas.
Click to expand...

SN2ed schedule does exactly that: content review with practice passages followed by timed FLs after.

Btw, you might want to move back to the states, to be a resident of some state 😛
 
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allantois said:
SN2ed schedule does exactly that: content review with practice passages followed by timed FLs after.

Btw, you might want to move back to the states, to be a resident of some state 😛
Click to expand...
Right, that's what I based my schedule and materials off of. Shame about not getting to use these old materials for the old exam though (FULL). Just curious to hear from anyone taking full lengths throughout.

Yeah yeah, I'll be back in Michigan in 5 weeks. I can study regardless of continent, so I figured I might as well spend these months studying where I want.
 
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I started studying since January and come this Monday I'll have gone through the entire Kaplan book set. Overall the questions were kind of terrible, but the content review was pretty good. I'm studying with a group of five others that also had the Kaplan set and we read about 7-8 chapters per week and then on Monday nights we would spenda couple of hours reviewing any questions we had and then we'd practice going through a few passages from Khan academy.

Now that I'll have gone through all the content I'll have two months to mostly just go over and do passages and thousands of questions. I have the Princeton Review set and I've only done one of the gen chem passages (it was awful), but I'll look through that a little more. I wish I had known that they had just mostly taken what they had put in their previous sets for the old exam, otherwise I would have purchased EK or NS. But I'm glad that I got a few practice tests out of them, along with a few from Kaplan and then I have all the question packs and resources from the aamc. Those I'll probably do closer to around mid-April or so.

I definitely want to try and take a FL within the next couple of weeks and then try to do one once a week to just build up my stamina for this exam....that's honestly one of the things I'm most worried about! I'm afraid my eyeballs are just gonna want to fall out of my head from staring at a screen for so long. As for the content, I feel pretty strong about everything except gen chem and physics, but mostly physics....there are just so many freaking equations to memorize and it's so difficult for me to grasp! I know that's what I'm gonna struggle with the most.
 
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If you're worried about the endurance, I'd take an exam sooner. Kaplan, PR, NS, whatever. We don't have tons of practice full lengths, but enough that you should be able to take one now and still have more to "fine tune" your test strategy later.

I took one early (early in my content review) and am glad I did to help set a stage for my studying. And it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting endurance wise. If you'll have trouble there, that's not something you build in a week... You'll need some time.
 
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should I push the MCAT to June? I'm enrolled in university right now and I'm aiming for A's in three of the four courses I'm taking. I've put in about two weeks so far to study for the MCAT but I feel like I can't balance it out. I have six papers due in the next three weeks and if i don't focus on those i might be losing out on the As I'm hoping for in my courses.
 
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I'm thinking about changing my strategy.

I am expecting April to be by far my busiest month, so at that point I really don't expect to do anything but mostly pure practice questions. In terms of content review I have Biochem, Biology, and Behavioral Sciences to review. If I hurried I could finish all of it within a month (EDIT: end of March; I don't have that many chapters per subject left except maybe Bio/Biochem) but I would rather get more passages in now than later. I've also gotten an EK book to supplement: are the questions generally pretty solid or should I rely on another practice book? It'll likely be biochem and physical sciences that I expect to be working on the most.

So what I'm currently thinking is just dive into as many practice questions as I can now while completing the rest of my content review. I think it's mostly understanding the language of the test that I need to understand--the format of the test I think I'll be comfortable with, but it takes me a while to read over things.

What I have, then, is to go with both; then as soon as I'm done with content review then it'll be just as many questions as possible. Does this sound like a solid plan for the next two months or should I just continue content review (considering biochem content review's something of a beast...)?
 
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Hello everyone,
I have a quick question.

So, I am almost done with content review but want to do some practice passages for a few weeks before I start doing the full length exams from Kaplan.
Does anyone know a source of practice passages, preferably online? Like is there a reliable company where I can pay a fee and get access to a bank of good/solid practice passages?
The reason is because I've done very few psychology practice passages and want to get a good grip on some practice passages before I sit through a full length.
Thanks everyone.
~ 2 months left! We can do it!!
 
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Khan Academy

In partnership with AAMC and free


Drilling hormones. The anterior pituitary and its encyclopedia of effects is no match.
 
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How in depth are you all going into with Glycolysis? AAMC guide isnt helpful of course and Khan vid is really basic
 
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runanteldat said:
How in depth are you all going into with Glycolysis? AAMC guide isnt helpful of course and Khan vid is really basic
Click to expand...
I imagine a good understanding would include knowing:

Overall reactants and products
"Committed step"
Types of reactions occurring (understanding oxidation and reduction if asked about a step)
Some enyzmes involved (PFK and pyruvate kinase seem notable)
and as toffee said, the regulation of it involving glucagon (downregulation of PFK, pyruvate kinase, and less glycolysis (yes?)) and insulin

I think it's frivolous to spend too much time on each individual step



To anyone that has NS Cars, how is it? I have an old TPRH verbal and old EK 101 verbal. Debating just using Khan/Question pack to supplement or buying it (or another if anyone has suggestions)

I have too many books...
 
Last edited:
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AAMC Practice Questions: Does anyone think they are easier than Kaplan and PR Review questions? I am concerned that I am doing better on these than the practice tests.
 
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The MCAT has proven to be the perfect emotional rollercoaster. One second you feel good and the bam! All in all i fe like im running out of time 🙁
 
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Got my diagnostic results back. Weirdly enough did best on Psyc/Soc section, which I probably rushed through the most. Worst was Bio, but only one point under my Physical section.

Don't really know how to feel about the results but at least I know I'm not totally out of it...I'm more worried about not having enough time in April to study because of everything else going on. Anyone in the same boat?
 
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Dandine said:
Got my diagnostic results back. Weirdly enough did best on Psyc/Soc section, which I probably rushed through the most. Worst was Bio, but only one point under my Physical section.

Don't really know how to feel about the results but at least I know I'm not totally out of it...I'm more worried about not having enough time in April to study because of everything else going on. Anyone in the same boat?
Click to expand...
You have enough time to study. Just put the hours in.

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