The Official November 7, 2014 MCAT Thread

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M.D.orbust

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Hey all! I am signed up for this date. 8:00 a.m. Yikes!!! I am aiming hard to make 40+ my reality so hence me making this thread so early. A former lab- mate and current medical student had a ton of MCAT prep stuff she gave to me. So I have the Examcrackers set, Hyperlearning set, regular Princeton Review, audio osmosis, and practice MCAT tests from a variety of sources I also do the MCAT questions a day through email and on my phone (to help with super quick recall). I am officially studying legitimately now. Currently starting with Examcrackers. I'd love to hear from you all doing the same. Let's do this!!!
 
I had my first dream about the MCAT last night. I dreamed I got 1.5, but the scale was different. I don't remember what the scale was, but I remember that a 1.5 was bad enough that I had to retake the test. It was so deflating. When I woke up and realized I haven't gotten my scores yet, it was pretty relieving. But now I'm dreading the test results more than ever! Please, God, let me get a good score!
 
the anxiety of waiting for scores is even higher than the anxiety of actually taking this monster of a test! These last 7 days are going to brutal for me mentally 🙁
 
I have a final on Tuesday in the evening until late. I somehow have to push through and NOT check my score until after my final...


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my heart is going to stop when i get the email

anybody know if the scores are actually available before the email?
 
Just made an SDN account since I've been looking through this thread ever since I took the test Nov. 7th. Here are my thoughts (from what I can remember).

PS: Definitely more challenging than what I saw in all of the AAMC practice tests as well as most of the Kaplan practice tests. Several passages were very difficult towards the start which made it hard to move on and focus on the easier passages/discrete problems. Expecting 10-12.

VR: Pretty much on par, if not easier than most AAMC practice test VRs. Managed to get myself to enjoy most of the passages, and even managed to stay somewhat interested during the humanities passages (which has always been a problem for me). Expecting 10-11.

BS: Although its been a while, I think this section was pretty straightforward with 2 passages that were much harder and more time consuming than the rest. In addition, the discrete questions were distracting in that I found myself getting hung up on several of them, causing me to lose some valuable time that should have been reserved for the difficult passages. Expecting 11-13.

In summary, the test threw me off from the beginning. The difficult PS section at the beginning of the exam made it difficult to get back focus going into the VR section. I think I managed to reset during the break enough to get most of my focus back in time. I'm hoping for something in the range of a 33-36, but with this exam I think I could be anywhere from a 31-36 so my fingers are crossed. I'd love to hear more people's take on the exam and good luck to everyone else in their final week of anticipation! :clap:
 
pinstriped 1992, your post pretty much described how I felt about each section. I got hung up early on in PS and thought it was tougher than any practice test, and I was scoring anywhere between 10-14 on PS. I decided to buckle down and do my best on the rest of the exam despite that. I felt really good about verbal and only marked a few of them (I normally mark 10 questions and get an 11 or 12). BS was tougher on two of the passages but I normally end up with lots of time left on BS so I just went back and read over them multiple times. Overall I felt BS was fair, so I'm hoping I hit a 12 or 13 like the practice exams. My range on the AAMCs was anywhere between 33 - 40 with an average of 36; I made 40, 36, and 37 on AAMC 9, 10, and 11 respectively, so I am really hoping I managed to hit my average overall... the wait is torture.
 
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Just made an SDN account since I've been looking through this thread ever since I took the test Nov. 7th. Here are my thoughts (from what I can remember).

PS: Definitely more challenging than what I saw in all of the AAMC practice tests as well as most of the Kaplan practice tests. Several passages were very difficult towards the start which made it hard to move on and focus on the easier passages/discrete problems. Expecting 10-12.

VR: Pretty much on par, if not easier than most AAMC practice test VRs. Managed to get myself to enjoy most of the passages, and even managed to stay somewhat interested during the humanities passages (which has always been a problem for me). Expecting 10-11.

BS: Although its been a while, I think this section was pretty straightforward with 2 passages that were much harder and more time consuming than the rest. In addition, the discrete questions were distracting in that I found myself getting hung up on several of them, causing me to lose some valuable time that should have been reserved for the difficult passages. Expecting 11-13.

In summary, the test threw me off from the beginning. The difficult PS section at the beginning of the exam made it difficult to get back focus going into the VR section. I think I managed to reset during the break enough to get most of my focus back in time. I'm hoping for something in the range of a 33-36, but with this exam I think I could be anywhere from a 31-36 so my fingers are crossed. I'd love to hear more people's take on the exam and good luck to everyone else in their final week of anticipation! :clap:

For BS, I feel exactly like you although I would say the passages were manageable, and I got hung up on 4-6 discretes. This has been the cause of my anxiety and nightmares.

VR was interesting. This is the reason I retook the MCAT.

All I can say about PS is that I am not as concerned as with BS. Last time I took the MCAT I was not able to attempt the last passage and had to randomly guess. I consoled myself by saying that at least I did 40-44 questions with confidence. That gave me a 10 on PS which I was content with. This time I was able to go through the last passage with a measure of confidence unlike last time, and hope that makes the difference, but who knows.
 
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BS discretes felt very vague and ugh. I really think VR is going to be what kills me in the end
Another person that feels like me. I was confused why no one else spoke about BS discretes. I guess they give slightly different versions of exams on the same day
 
Scores were posted exactly at 3:15pm EST as everyone had mentioned last time I took it. Just a guess for the same this time.

I am in the same boat, though. I have finals next week but am going to have to check anyways!
 
For us the date is Dec. 9th. I had heard that 3:15p EST was the time they post scores and it was posted almost exactly that time the first time I took the test/checked my score. Not a guarantee of course
 
For us the date is Dec. 9th. I had heard that 3:15p EST was the time they post scores and it was posted almost exactly that time the first time I took the test/checked my score. Not a guarantee of course
That Sucks I be At work at that time and It will take a lot of willpower to wait until I get home to Check the scores 🙁 🙁
 
my heart is going to stop when i get the email

anybody know if the scores are actually available before the email?

I don't believe there's an email sent out! At least, when I took the September exam, they didn't email us with the scores being up. I just kept checking all day. :shrug:
 
For those who took AAMC 11 or any of the self-assessments, how would you guys compare your test with either? Harder/easier/same as AAMC 11? Harder/easier/same as self-assessments?
 
For those who took AAMC 11 or any of the self-assessments, how would you guys compare your test with either? Harder/easier/same as AAMC 11? Harder/easier/same as self-assessments?
I think it depends on what test you get. The first MCAT i took, the verbal was way harder than this one. Bio I was more unsure of this time around, however. So it's really hard to compare difficulty. In some ways the difficulty was about the same overall but the section difficulties change.
 
Is there anyone on here who scheduled a test in January? I am from NYC and I still need to take an MCAT if anyone gets their score and and wants to drop their seat-let me know 🙂

hashtag it gets better
 
If I get anything below a 37 I will literally cry

Dude why? haha. I feel like beyond 33-35 it becomes *almost* irrelevant. I know you said your GPA isn't as stellar as your MCAT, but I think you would end up somewhere fantastic regardless.

I think we are really hard on ourselves, which has a bad element to it, but I was talking to another applicant friend of mine in real life and we came to the conclusion that it is the drive to succeed and excel and be experts that has driven us towards medicine to begin with. plus it just means that our goal of medicine truly is THAT important to us.

qutie honestly, i'm accepted to a school, so improving my score in hopes that I would get accepted to my in state MD is just a plus at this point. i don't even really NEED a better score, it just would be better to have it obviously lol.

I know I'm in a different situation than a lot of you who aren't applying right now or haven't gotten an acceptance yet this cycle, but just trust that it will all be okay in the end even if you have to retake the 2015 version. i know it means enough for all of you to go through the trouble of studying again and waiting more, but it is so worth it in the end and it will mean even more to you then. keep your chins up guys and gals.
 
Dude why? haha. I feel like beyond 33-35 it becomes *almost* irrelevant. I know you said your GPA isn't as stellar as your MCAT, but I think you would end up somewhere fantastic regardless.

I think we are really hard on ourselves, which has a bad element to it, but I was talking to another applicant friend of mine in real life and we came to the conclusion that it is the drive to succeed and excel and be experts that has driven us towards medicine to begin with. plus it just means that our goal of medicine truly is THAT important to us.

qutie honestly, i'm accepted to a school, so improving my score in hopes that I would get accepted to my in state MD is just a plus at this point. i don't even really NEED a better score, it just would be better to have it obviously lol.

I know I'm in a different situation than a lot of you who aren't applying right now or haven't gotten an acceptance yet this cycle, but just trust that it will all be okay in the end even if you have to retake the 2015 version. i know it means enough for all of you to go through the trouble of studying again and waiting more, but it is so worth it in the end and it will mean even more to you then. keep your chins up guys and gals.

Bless this post.

Wise words from around here that have stuck with me. Are you taking the MCAT to prove your intelligence or get into medical school? Because if it's the latter, you don't need a 37 for that.
 
Bless this post.

Wise words from around here that have stuck with me. Are you taking the MCAT to prove your intelligence or get into medical school? Because if it's the latter, you don't need a 37 for that.

It's kind of both actually, I worked really hard for those 40s on the aamcs and if my real score is not even close to that then it means something went wrong. And I'm shooting for the top schools, yes I know an MD is an MD but nothing wrong with setting high standards for yourself ~ so a score in the 38-43 range will increase my chances at a top 20 school.
 
It's kind of both actually, I worked really hard for those 40s on the aamcs and if my real score is not even close to that then it means something went wrong. And I'm shooting for the top schools, yes I know an MD is an MD but nothing wrong with setting high standards for yourself ~ so a score in the 38-43 range will increase my chances at a top 20 school.

i feel you.
 
Does our score come out on exactly Dec. 7th? Can't wait! I've dealt with the anxiety by telling myself I'll take the MCAT for the rest of my life until they let me in.
 
I am beginning to accept the fact that I'm going to be forced to take the MCAT 2015 exam for two reasons.

1) I probably won't find a seat because I don't have access to a computer 24 hrs a day
2) WHICH sane person would drop a seat!? They will definitely take the test and if they feel very uneasy about the outcome they will void it but they wont drop it

I don't think the odds are in my favor guys... MCAT 2015 here I come

P.S. I had to read the hunger games for a class and finshed it yesterday...my oh my that was a good read! I think I might be in love with Peeta and I don't like Katniss very much lol!
 
Dude why? haha. I feel like beyond 33-35 it becomes *almost* irrelevant. I know you said your GPA isn't as stellar as your MCAT, but I think you would end up somewhere fantastic regardless.

I think we are really hard on ourselves, which has a bad element to it, but I was talking to another applicant friend of mine in real life and we came to the conclusion that it is the drive to succeed and excel and be experts that has driven us towards medicine to begin with. plus it just means that our goal of medicine truly is THAT important to us.

qutie honestly, i'm accepted to a school, so improving my score in hopes that I would get accepted to my in state MD is just a plus at this point. i don't even really NEED a better score, it just would be better to have it obviously lol.

I know I'm in a different situation than a lot of you who aren't applying right now or haven't gotten an acceptance yet this cycle, but just trust that it will all be okay in the end even if you have to retake the 2015 version. i know it means enough for all of you to go through the trouble of studying again and waiting more, but it is so worth it in the end and it will mean even more to you then. keep your chins up guys and gals.

You are completely right! Everything above a 35 is luck and therefore, not really a true indicator of your intellignece and everybody knows that, even the guys who interview you. I know everybody has different standards and I understand and respect that but for myself, I don't care about proving myself to anybody... I just want to be a doctor and that just needs a 30. Although, being in an Ivy Legue like lazyindy here will be would be gold lol!
 
A friend of mine is dropping her seat (in Montreal) for December 6th. Short notice, I know. She lost her wallet - and cannot get a replacement photo ID in time.
 
Unfortunately you can't register for the Dec 6th dates anymore...

Wow... I feel so bad for her, wish her luck. I would cry so much if that happened to me 🙁
 
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