Hello All,
August 15th Retaker here.
Background Info - My AAMC Practice Average ~ (12.5/10.5/12.5) with AAMC 9-11 being 36-38
August 15th Score (PS/VR/BS) - (12/09/11)
How I felt on August 15th coming out - PS - BOMBED, felt I got an 8 - got a 12. Verbal - felt I got an 11 or at least a 10 - got a 9. BS - felt I must've gotten 13 because I felt it was really easy - got an 11.
How I felt today (Mind you I hadn't studied for this for like a month except PS assuming I had bombed PS, I did some quick review before this test).
PS = Easier (definitely easier) but not by a whole lot. Even break between Chem and Physics, although due to some lack in review I don't feel I performed well, and because it was an easier exam - the curve will be harsher (expecting 10-11)
VR = Harder than August 15th - At least that's how I felt, not much harder, but I felt really unfocused for some reason and I honestly doubt I can get the 10 I need to apply this cycle - expecting (9-10 ideally, miracle = 11, bad luck = 8 = can't apply this year)
BS = Harder than August 15th, First passage as others have said was very ??? and as glad as I was that there was only 1 real Orgo passage I wonder if I approached it correctly - and some of the discrete where hard, but at the same time I know If i had studied more I would've gotten them - (post-test feeling = 10-11)
Overall, to people who say this test was easy, I cannot completely disagree. Had you prepared thoroughly, you would have found PS and BS alright (when I say thoroughly, I mean THOROUGHLY). Verbal always seems like a shot in the dark to me but again the recurrent theme seems to be that you need to be able to read quickly enough to comprehend and synthesize numerous things to be able to answer the questions effectively.
Depending on the test I may re-take January for the next cycle I suppose. Good luck everyone.
My advice to re-writers --> Test's will vary and you can't always hope for the curve. What you should remember is that the MCAT tests multifactorial concepts - particularly in Physics sections - and to know how each of them apply to one another. Passages will look hard sometimes, but break it down to fundamentals because that's what is expected of you - you aren't nuclear physicist - you are a premed with the skills and potential to break down problems and approach them head on. As for Verbal, I'll get back to you if I can even manage >10, the sad truth I feel is that you must have great focus, above average reading speed, but most importantly, be able to read quickly for overall content and comprehension of what the author is thinking about and also quick comphrension of why anything is being mentioned (is it being mentioned to support something in the passage? Is it a new thought process to add on the argument? Is it an expansion of the previous point or contradicting something the author said) <-- Once you have this down, AND can read critically, you will start getting pretty decent scores.
Biological Sciences - With everything becoming so much more experimental, especially the trial sections (I've gotten biochemistry TWICE in trial now and everything is HEAVILY HEAVILY experimental), the best preparation honestly is through your courses. Courses that focus on teaching you how to critically analyse the hypothesis, methods, and conclusion will be what you want. How to best prepare? Hard to say. But remember, for all the "knowledge" in your MCAT prep books, there were experiments done to support those conclusions, and these papers are a good place to start so you don't get overwhelmed. Some of the best studies to look at are those that look at Cell survival after treatment with compound X or Y. looking at Toxicology studies can also really help you grasp experimental schemes and patterns.
Anyways hope that helps some people.
@breezy16 @Distraught , good luck if you plan to rewrite.
? I just started Sn2ed's 4 month schedule (customized with some extra Kaplan material).
, the rest I were fine with.
