The Official May 22, 2015 MCAT Thread

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fenderboi930

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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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Hey guys! Hoping you all can help me out a bit…I'm currently signed up for May, but don't feel very ready (scores are not where I want them to be, and I'm actually not even done with content review!) I want to push to June, but I'm worried that it will make me late in the cycle…is anyone in this position?

How big of a disadvantage would a June MCAT put me in?? Should I just take the May exam anyway (despite not feeling at my best)?
 
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GCSDOC said:
If I use my 20 times to view the questions, does it let me rebuy it for 20 more tries?
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You can take the test 20 times, you can view it after that as many times as you want.

Glazedonutlove said:
yup I definitely agree. How did you do?
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Got killed in chem/phys. I forgot A LOTTT of little details that I need to brush up on

60%/80%/75%/85% (psych major)
 
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So Next Step said they are revising their FLs May 1st. Does anyone know if this applies if you have bought tests, but havent taken them yet?
 
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XxThaDoggxX said:
Really can't get into specifics...Know your biochem cold (TBR is great for this), it shows up in some shape or form in nearly every passage...PS and bio sections are much more like you're reading clinical journals and extrapolating data and answers from that...Much less cold hard calculations and more interpreting and understanding. But there were a few questions I was absolutely shocked by how specific and nit-picky they were. Raw physics questions were few and far in-between

If you can get your hands on TBR sections for Bio I highllyyy suggest doing so, their practices problems are by far the best I have seen (with the exception of AAMC material)
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Do you think its worth memorizing the metabolic pathways?
 
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So I am taking it in May as well. My finals are done May 6 so I am hard core studying once finals are done (not that I am not now). What is everyone else doing? I so far have been working on subject books.
 
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XxThaDoggxX said:
Really can't get into specifics...Know your biochem cold (TBR is great for this), it shows up in some shape or form in nearly every passage...PS and bio sections are much more like you're reading clinical journals and extrapolating data and answers from that...Much less cold hard calculations and more interpreting and understanding. But there were a few questions I was absolutely shocked by how specific and nit-picky they were. Raw physics questions were few and far in-between

If you can get your hands on TBR sections for Bio I highllyyy suggest doing so, their practices problems are by far the best I have seen (with the exception of AAMC material)
Click to expand...

So would just have taken full year Biochem help?
 
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Replace "finals" with "bills" and we're on the same page.

I need to go over biochemistry, optics, and electricity/electrochemistry again

I'm not doing any more psych at all
 
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Started Feb 1st

Full length/review/break day/break day/Full length

Basically my plan until the 17th. Then from there a bit of review and relaxation until DDay

I'm burned out on reading and would like to just be free again
 
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I've only taken one so far, but I didn't review psych/soc at all

Spent 20 minutes on critical analysis

Spent 2 and a half hours on ps

Spent ~90 minutes on bio because I made way too many mistakes on 2 single topics
 
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mcatjelly said:
I was browsing the premed-related interwebz and just found this MCAT2015 Expanded Psych/Soc Outline.

They've taken AAMC's MCAT2015 outline and adapted it into a study guide with images and page references to where you can find that topic in any of the current practice materials. They only have Category 6A out right now, but it's a great start.

Just thought I'd share, especially in light of recent comments on how necessary it is to follow AAMC's outline. 🙂
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Thank you for sharing!! I just checked out webpage - it's a Med School Tutors blog - and it seems Category 6B went live too! Woot!
 
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Decided I'd join the thread as well. I'm still not sure whether or not I'll be ready by May 22nd, but only time will tell 🙂
 
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Edward Park said:
Anyone else starting to get burned out? I've been studying since January and I can only study for 2 hours bursts now before my mind completely shuts down.
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Keep f*ckin pushin!!!! You gotta know deep down you want it more than anyone else, personally for me only a small amount of burnout hit about a week before the test after I had been studying since October, but everyone gets varying degrees..Just know this is what you gotta do, and you will stop at no cost to get it done!! Fight fight fight!! 🙂

Louis Litt Approved.
 
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Just finished the Sample test -_-

73, 96, 85, 90

I'm still pretty nervous about this beast especially because Chem/Phys is my absolute weakest. PLUS! I took this bad boy around January and although I didn't recall any of the answers, some of the passages were familiar 🙁

Either way the fact that we're even attempting this test sets us apart from the rest!
 
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ivy_doc24 said:
Just finished the Sample test -_-

73, 96, 85, 90

I'm still pretty nervous about this beast especially because Chem/Phys is my absolute weakest. PLUS! I took this bad boy around January and although I didn't recall any of the answers, some of the passages were familiar 🙁

Either way the fact that we're even attempting this test sets us apart from the rest!
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Those are very good scores, let your confidence continue to rise!!! Though the April test was MUCH harder IMO, keep working and you should be fine
 
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does anyone now if next step books are good study material? right now I'm using kaplan and ek with khan but I'm worried it might not be enough! can anyone offer some advice on whether the study material I'm using now is sufficient or should I look into other books like next step and even TPR? also, I'm planning on taking the full length aamc practice test soon to see where I stand. does anyone have any input on whether the practice test is a good indicator of how people might perform on the real test cause I want to know where I really stand in terms of my score and how much I really need to improve!
 
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Can anyone explain this? How is Leucine (L) positively charged? Or do they mean Lysine (K)?
qQHG5Zf.png
 
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ruby93 said:
does anyone now if next step books are good study material? right now I'm using kaplan and ek with khan but I'm worried it might not be enough! can anyone offer some advice on whether the study material I'm using now is sufficient or should I look into other books like next step and even TPR?
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Commentary on MCAT 2015 Prep Materials

ruby93 said:
also, I'm planning on taking the full length aamc practice test soon to see where I stand. does anyone have any input on whether the practice test is a good indicator of how people might perform on the real test cause I want to know where I really stand in terms of my score and how much I really need to improve!
Click to expand...

No one's gotten their scores back yet, so there's no way any of us can know the answer to this.
 
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When it said the sites are lined with those amino acids I thought the enzyme itself was supposed to have those amino acids, not the substrate
 
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It is so critical you read questions like that carefully, feeling rushed on time you could easily see hydrophobic and start thinking hydrophilic...and of course there will be a beautiful looking answer (probably A) sitting right there for you to choose!
 
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Did the sample test today and got about 65-70% of the questions right. Not really worried though, solid practice over the next couple of weeks should be sufficient to constantly hit 85-90%.
 
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does anyone think its worth it to do the OLD AAMC tests? I did a few of them... but I feel like the physical sciences part is completely different... I mean it's a good review of the concepts but at this time... (so close to the test)... should I do the rest? I'm planning on taking the official AAMC FL on Wednesday... and review it and go over everything that way! but I don't have time for the OLD AAMC tests plus I work full time too so I don't know if I should slave over them...
 
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SweetSunshine2001 said:
does anyone think its worth it to do the OLD AAMC tests? I did a few of them... but I feel like the physical sciences part is completely different... I mean it's a good review of the concepts but at this time... (so close to the test)... should I do the rest? I'm planning on taking the official AAMC FL on Wednesday... and review it and go over everything that way! but I don't have time for the OLD AAMC tests plus I work full time too so I don't know if I should slave over them...
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I was wondering this as well. I did AAMC#3 before content review in January... After 3 months of minimal review I now have mostly taken prep FLs.

To answer your question, it seems as though people have reported that the AAMC question packs reuse old material, but are slightly more relevant. That said, I will probably take an R version one of these nights, just to get SOME idea of where I am at. The prep company FLs have me a little scared - I don't want some mediocre score! For YOU, I would suggest ending the old material asap. You even said you don't have time for them! Maybe a prep company FL would be good to see where you are lacking 2015 content-wise.

Hope this helps!
 
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Oh! I do have a question of my own: Does anyone go through the CARS section of prep companys' FLs during review? I usually do a bare minimum of what I may have missed and why - otherwise I hear reasoning and writing are too different from AAMC to be looked into closely during review.
 
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Hi everyone! First time posting on here. Do any of you guys have a general idea what percentage correct correlates to score wise? Just took the AAMC full length and got 83%/92%/95%/86%

Up until now I've been taking the Kaplan full lengths and haven't gotten above a 509. I'm not sure how excited I should be about my AAMC FL score because I know people on here have said it's a lot easier than the real thing. I guess pretty much what am I supposed to interpret from this?
 
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dreamer659 said:
Hi everyone! First time posting on here. Do any of you guys have a general idea what percentage correct correlates to score wise? Just took the AAMC full length and got 83%/92%/95%/86%

Up until now I've been taking the Kaplan full lengths and haven't gotten above a 509. I'm not sure how excited I should be about my AAMC FL score because I know people on here have said it's a lot easier than the real thing. I guess pretty much what am I supposed to interpret from this?
Click to expand...

That's a great score. 🙂
 
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Out of the scores I've seen posted on SDN (a small, biased sample, but the only one we have), your scores for both the Kaplan FL and AAMC are among the highest I've seen. Most people are struggling to break 500 on the Kaplan FLs. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.

dreamer659 said:
Hi everyone! First time posting on here. Do any of you guys have a general idea what percentage correct correlates to score wise? Just took the AAMC full length and got 83%/92%/95%/86%

Up until now I've been taking the Kaplan full lengths and haven't gotten above a 509. I'm not sure how excited I should be about my AAMC FL score because I know people on here have said it's a lot easier than the real thing. I guess pretty much what am I supposed to interpret from this?
Click to expand...
 
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dreamer659 said:
Hi everyone! First time posting on here. Do any of you guys have a general idea what percentage correct correlates to score wise? Just took the AAMC full length and got 83%/92%/95%/86%

Up until now I've been taking the Kaplan full lengths and haven't gotten above a 509. I'm not sure how excited I should be about my AAMC FL score because I know people on here have said it's a lot easier than the real thing. I guess pretty much what am I supposed to interpret from this?
Click to expand...
How are you able to retain all the information?
What resources are you using?
 
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Hupsty said:
Oh! I do have a question of my own: Does anyone go through the CARS section of prep companys' FLs during review? I usually do a bare minimum of what I may have missed and why - otherwise I hear reasoning and writing are too different from AAMC to be looked into closely during review.
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I think the general consensus for CARS is that the AAMC material isn't terribly close to any practice material. However, there's a few repeating question types you should be familiar with ( extracting from the passage, inferences based on the logic provided, positions that may strengthen/weaken the author's argument, and general tone or position from which the author speaks come to mind). Practice? I'm sure prep companies can help with that. I think where they falter is in overemphasizing certain techniques to approach passages.

Tonight: Reviewing electricity/electrochemistry

Tomorrow: FL #2 (yes I know I have been slacking a bit) :bag:

FL #3 will be Saturday at 10 AM. Have to work towards that 8 am hour of judgment
 
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If anyone would like pdfs of the R version of the old test just PM me and I'd be happy to send them. Only took one to test out my endurance but it couldn't hurt if you have the time!
 
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GEToutLADYits6AM said:
How are you able to retain all the information?
What resources are you using?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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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...

Which FL have you been using?
 
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Anyone using EK full length exams? How are they compared to AAMC and EK 30 minute exams?
 
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