*The Official MCAT January 2018 Thread*

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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mariposas905

mariposas905

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Hey guys! Now that the new test dates are out, I figured I'd start a thread for all the January 2018 test-takers prepping for (and most definitely, slaying) this beast! ;) This is a retake for me, but I'm aiming high! Who else is taking it in January?

I'm sure that sharing insights and support on SDN will make this journey all the more worth it. I have a feeling 2018 is off to a great start! Good luck everyone and may the odds be ever in our favor.
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smileyfacegirl27 said:
Agreed ^^ Even though Chem/Phys was like, a new kind of foreign language I had never seen before, its usually my worst section and I felt like the rest of the test could have gone alright, so just waiting. But I'm over here rationalizing below what score I will convince myself to retake it.. and that score keeps getting lower lol
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I know right! I truly don’t understand why they made C/P so ridiculously difficult compared to the practice tests. It was like night and day difference. I’m just praying for a 126. If I can get that I’ll be happy with how hard that section was haha.
 
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This may have been answered already, but I searched and couldn't find it definitively.

Rules state no jewelry - what was your actual experience?
No Jewelry at all? So, say a wedding ring should be off during the exam?
 
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So we can all agree for the 1/19 and 1/20 test takers:

C/P - Pretty difficult
&
P/S - HARD. I already know I got 3 questions wrong. Was 50/50 on so many questions. Seriously, it felt like 2 answer choices could have been the correct answer on so many of the questions
 
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Pavlov'sDawg said:
So we can all agree for the 1/19 and 1/20 test takers:

C/P - Pretty difficult
&
P/S - HARD. I already know I got 3 questions wrong. Was 50/50 on so many questions. Seriously, it felt like 2 answer choices could have been the correct answer on so many of the questions
Click to expand...

I liked my C/P, CARS was difficult IMO
 
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Campana said:
This may have been answered already, but I searched and couldn't find it definitively.

Rules state no jewelry - what was your actual experience?
No Jewelry at all? So, say a wedding ring should be off during the exam?
Click to expand...

At my testing center, they let people keep wedding ring on but take off medium sized earrings and other rings. Necklace was fine if it was just a chain. No bracelets if i remember correctly
 
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Just a casual reminder that in the January 2017 MCAT thread, most people thought they bombed their exam but actually ended up with very decent scores. Furthermore, there are several people in that thread who are currently holding MD acceptances. Now isn't the time for y'all to lose all hope!
 
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Well since 1/19 and 1/20 were pretty tough exams, maybe that means 1/25 will be super easy... you know to balance it out....
 
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CAFFEINE! said:
Just a casual reminder that in the January 2017 MCAT thread, most people thought they bombed their exam but actually ended up with very decent scores. Furthermore, there are several people in that thread who are currently holding MD acceptances. Now isn't the time for y'all to lose all hope!
Click to expand...

i just feel like I should have had a decent feeling of assurance, but like literally I feel like I missed at least half of CARS and P/S....
 
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But super easy exams won't necessarily give you a better score and super hard exams won't necessarily give you a bad score. I am an applied psychometrician, and I know all the tricks people use in professional education testing (mostly Item Response Theory & scaling). Each item will have their own "difficulty" parameters. We use the information from all the items to estimate test-takers' underlying traits in relation to the population norm. So, relax. Don't get too upset too soon. If you are not doing well, it is very likely that all the people will not do well on those super tough items. Then if you happen to get a few items right more than other people, then you will get a very good score. =)

ps: I am also a MCAT taker on 1/25. How I wish that my knowledge in psychometrics can help me out on the exam. But, unfortunately, no, it doesn't help at all. LOL
 
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Campana said:
This may have been answered already, but I searched and couldn't find it definitively.

Rules state no jewelry - what was your actual experience?
No Jewelry at all? So, say a wedding ring should be off during the exam?
Click to expand...

At my testing center, you weren't allowed to wear any jewelry at all, no earrings, no rings, no necklaces, no ponytails on the wrist and they checked your glasses to make sure they didn't have anything on them. We couldn't have any jackets or coats either, if it zipped up/wasn't a pull over sweater, you couldn't wear it. I think it'll probably depend on what testing center you go to as to if they allow it or not.
 
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Testing 1/25. I think I am going to lightly review today and tomorrow and then I'm gonna full send on Thursday. I want to thank everyone on this thread - it has helped me get through this grueling process. Best of luck to everyone
 
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Hi guys! Been a long time lurker here on SDN! I'm a January 25th test taker as well! How's everyone feeling now that we're less than three days away from taking this test? After reading the comments of those who took their test on the 19th and the 20th, I've been incredibly nervous and I don't know what to expect! My goal score is 508, and I was able to achieve that score on FL 3, but I really don't know what to expect. How's everyone else hanging in there?
 
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DOhopeful93 said:
Hi guys! Been a long time lurker here on SDN! I'm a January 25th test taker as well! How's everyone feeling now that we're less than three days away from taking this test? After reading the comments of those who took their test on the 19th and the 20th, I've been incredibly nervous and I don't know what to expect! My goal score is 508, and I was able to achieve that score on FL 3, but I really don't know what to expect. How's everyone else hanging in there?
Click to expand...

I'm excited to take the exam to be honest. SO READY for this to be over and to be a real person again. I was able to get my score up from 507 ---> 513 from FL1 to FL2, so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm going over my weaknesses and hoping for the best.
 
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teenyfish said:
I'm excited to take the exam to be honest. SO READY for this to be over and to be a real person again. I was able to get my score up from 507 ---> 513 from FL1 to FL2, so I'm pretty happy about that. I'm going over my weaknesses and hoping for the best.
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I'm so ready to get it over with as well! I'm just very nervous about the comments coming from those who took the exam on the 19th and the 20th. My FL scores ranged from 504-508 with FL3 being the highest. So at this point, I'm hoping for 508!
 
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I might be in the minority, but I will be voiding on Thursday 01/25 just for practice.
 
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toedrag said:
I might be in the minority, but I will be voiding on Thursday 01/25 just for practice.
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I wouldn't go in with the intention to void (it's expensive). However, if you work through the passages and found it really hard, then void.
 
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anyone else not feelin the whole school thing after taking the mcat? motivation at an all time low rn
 
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Master Thinker said:
I wouldn't go in with the intention to void (it's expensive). However, if you work through the passages and found it really hard, then void.
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I understand that it's an expensive exam but I'm not at my target score yet. My highest AAMC was a 503 on AAMC II (130-122-125-126). CARS has been holding be back and I really want that to be at 124/125 before scoring it. My long term goal is to apply to DO and low tier MD. I'm hoping with 2-3 more months of practice I can raise those sciences by a couple points and hone in on CARS. I wanted to commit to voiding/ not voiding before sitting for the exam just so that I'm not ambivalent once I finish.
 
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LebronManning said:
Yeah muchhhhh less recall/knowledge. But the reasoning is like on steroids. One redditor described it as "if you throw a kitten against the wall, what's the specific gravity of mars?" I agree with him.
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That’s pretty much how I felt. It reminded me of how Chem one feels. “Your starting materials are motor oil, ethanol, fruit loops, and a dodge caravan. What reagents and in what order do you add them to make a Pizza Hut?
 
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SiakTiDoc said:
How did you guys spend your last day before the exam?

I have to fly out to take my MCAT and I'm contemplating if its worth bringing subject notes.
Other than an I.D. (oh also lunch and confidence) I don't need to bring anything else for exam day correct?
Click to expand...

I flew from Vegas to Salt Lake City to take mine. I reviewed some equations and explored the town. No heavy lifting.
 
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I took the January 20th exam. I’m somewhat encouraged that I wasn’t the only one that thought C/P was extremely difficult. The other sections were in line or easier than the FL from both Kaplan and AAMC so I’m hoping the other three wash out C/P destruction.
 
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Maestro1974 said:
I took the January 20th exam. I’m somewhat encouraged that I wasn’t the only one that thought C/P was extremely difficult. The other sections were in line or easier than the FL from both Kaplan and AAMC so I’m hoping the other three wash out C/P destruction.
Click to expand...
What was it about C/P that made it so difficult?
 
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MoDiddy said:
Testing 1/25. I think I am going to lightly review today and tomorrow and then I'm gonna full send on Thursday. I want to thank everyone on this thread - it has helped me get through this grueling process. Best of luck to everyone
Click to expand...

Me too. I will do my last FL (FL3) tomorrow, and then take another break day on Wednesday. I have been consistently around low 510s, but in fact my FL2 was a few points lower than 510. During my post practice review, I realized that I missed a lot of stupid points - missing items (!), mis-read the questions, and miss-calculations! (they summed up more than 8 items) I attributed my worse score to my burnout and exhaustion. I didn't eat lunch that day when practicing. I still remember that I was totally out when I was at the second part of B/B, and can't concentrate at all on P/S. So, I think the next few days we should have better self-care. I think the most important thing during the real exam is to handle our emotions and anxiety. Don't forget that the overwhelming anxiety will decrease our performance. After witnessing what happened in 1/20, I now need to keep telling myself that, it is very likely that the very first passage will be ridiculous - and if in that case, I will just smile, make educated guess, flag them, and go to the next as if nothing happen.

Also, a lesson learn: I will bring some food to eat during the 30 mins break. It isn't something fun to feel exhausted on the 2nd half of the exam......
 
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georgia_boy1 said:
The fact that even the SB didn’t resemble most of the C/P section. Looked nothing like the FL tests. And that’s coming from someone who was scoring consistently 129 on all 3 FLs.
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wait the c/p was harder than the SB?....
 
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georgia_boy1 said:
The fact that even the SB didn’t resemble most of the C/P section. Looked nothing like the FL tests. And that’s coming from someone who was scoring consistently 129 on all 3 FLs.
Click to expand...
****! Do you think you could've done anything differently to prepare for that section?
 
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Just finished up taking FL3 and thought it was super easy... even though I got a great score I am still super nervous for 1/25 based on what everyone is saying about this past weekend.
 
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DOhopeful93 said:
****! Do you think you could've done anything differently to prepare for that section?
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I felt like it was harder but that could easily be due to the fact that it was the real thing and nerves are through the roof. Also the fact that I have no idea how I did makes it feel like I completely failed it. I would say really try to make sure you can reason through the complicated fluff that comes on the SB.
 
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LebronManning said:
Bro the section banks have nothing on the 2018 MCAT as a whole
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I agree. Which makes me think that our scores will not be as bad as we think. At the end of the day I don’t believe the AAMC is looking to really crush students. Certainly weed people out but not make it impossible to do well. There was a fairly significant diff between practice material and the actual test according to a majority of people who have taken it so far.
 
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Brycer3B said:
Just finished up taking FL3 and thought it was super easy... even though I got a great score I am still super nervous for 1/25 based on what everyone is saying about this past weekend.
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Don't be nervous, just go in confident! I tested on 1/20 and it was tough, but not unfair. I knew where I was weak. There was a lot of reasoning, which is just mental endurance work. Just go in rested and ready to crush it!
 
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georgia_boy1 said:
I agree. Which makes me think that our scores will not be as bad as we think. At the end of the day I don’t believe the AAMC is looking to really crush students. Certainly weed people out but not make it impossible to do well. There was a fairly significant diff between practice material and the actual test according to a majority of people who have taken it so far.
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Exactly. I think its clear these rounds of tests have been more difficult than in the past. It should all be taken care of in the curve. Let's see my friend.
 
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LebronManning said:
Exactly. I think its clear these rounds of tests have been more difficult than in the past. It should all be taken care of in the curve. Let's see my friend.
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Man, I really hope so! I told my girlfriend today "It's 1/22, I'm two days closer to getting my score!" I just need to see that number. Hopefully starting with a 5, and very hopefully starting with at least a 51_.
 
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DeadlyWarbler said:
Man, I really hope so! I told my girlfriend today "It's 1/22, I'm two days closer to getting my score!" I just need to see that number. Hopefully starting with a 5, and very hopefully starting with at least a 51_.
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When I was taking practice FLs I did this weird thing where I would cover the score screen and start with the top. Like find out my section scores sequentially because its too scary to just look at composite lol. I plan on doing the same for the actual results.
 
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LebronManning said:
When I was taking practice FLs I did this weird thing where I would cover the score screen and start with the top. Like find out my section scores sequentially because its too scary to just look at composite lol. I plan on doing the same for the actual results.
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Well the C/P is the first you will see lol. Maybe just see the composite before individual because of this fact.
 
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LebronManning said:
When I was taking practice FLs I did this weird thing where I would cover the score screen and start with the top. Like find out my section scores sequentially because its too scary to just look at composite lol. I plan on doing the same for the actual results.
Click to expand...

Haha! Yeah! I actually peered through my fingers at my last FL. At least it was encouraging, but I must have looked ridiculous. I'll probably stand in another room and make someone read me the score on the 23rd.
 
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Master Thinker said:
Well the C/P is the first you will see lol. Maybe just see the composite before individual because of this fact.
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Lol thats a good point. I really think we're all overblowing C/P though. I mean there's not a single person that didn't think it was the hardest C/P God has ever allowed to be administered in our otherwise beautiful world. Hence, a curve should take care of us.
 
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So what does it mean that the AAMC says the test is "scaled" but not "curved"? Like that's just their way of saying it's curved right?
 
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LebronManning said:
Lol thats a good point. I really think we're all overblowing C/P though. I mean there's not a single person that didn't think it was the hardest C/P God has ever allowed to be administered in our otherwise beautiful world. Hence, a curve should take care of us.
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Comments like this are the reason why I feel like I'll be facing my execution in two days lol. Was it really much harder than the section bank?
 
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