The Official September 18, 2014 MCAT Thread

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Jaco93riv02 said:
Okay... Am I the only broke college kid who took the experimental section? WHEN DO I GET MY $30 AMAZON GIFTCARD? Do you know how much ramen noodles that translates to?!?!
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I figured I bombed the optional section so badly that they concluded it wasn't an "honest effort." But then my gift card came in my mailbox weeks later (or so) anyway.

(I didn't take the 9/18 test.)
 
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justadream said:
If you can accomplish 1 goal, your score will probably improve (or at least not drop much below) from your AAMC average.

That is: Don't panic.

Of course, thinking about not panicking only makes me panic more (esp on Verbal) lol.
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Yep!

The words "don't panic" suggest that there is reason to panic. Wouldn't it be terrible if Prometric put "Don't Panic" posters up in their waiting area and on the all the bathroom doors?
 
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j306c954 said:
Does anyone else do the same thing as me and try to remember as many questions and the answers you put as you can and then try to check them? Haha...I get obsessive :\
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I tried this for the first hour or so. Then decided to play basketball lol. I remembered a few more questions. Could honestly only remember 5-6 questions overall.
 
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mkapp said:
Don't worry about it. If you got to the review screen and there wasn't a button for "Review incomplete," you should be good.
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Also it says that which questions were complete. I did this in the last 3 minutes of each section just to make sure I didn't forget anything. Although I do think I by accidentally left one of the BS questions blank.
 
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Art, traffic, Roosevelt, Mircoorganism, Noise,

What were the other 2? I feel like I skipped one w/o even realizing.
 
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I had those five plus a passage on the philosophy of suffering (last passage). I cannot for the life of me remember the seventh topic...

A literature one, perhaps? Comparing authors?
 
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Without detailing, what was the expertise one about? I don't recall that one at all. The noise one had a lot to do with airplanes... 65 dB...
 
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rmmercer said:
Art, traffic, Roosevelt, Mircoorganism, Noise,

What were the other 2? I feel like I skipped one w/o even realizing.
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MCATcanada2014 said:
I had those five plus a passage on the philosophy of suffering (last passage). I cannot for the life of me remember the seventh topic...

A literature one, perhaps? Comparing authors?
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Immigration?
 
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I did not have one on immigration...

Maybe they are building a curve for 1 or 2 passages, but using previous curves for the other five (that we all seemed to have).
 
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...Expertise in what? Any examples cited?

I had art, traffic, Roosevelt, deap sea micro-organisms, suffering... and 2 others. Definitely not immigration, maybe expertise.
 
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mkapp said:
I didn't void, but I'm one of those people who are paranoid they accidentally voided. Despite staring at the void screen for 60 seconds to confirm that I didn't void.
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omg im not alone i literally wondered afterwards seriously if i accidentally voided because i clicked next SO quick, I'm telling myself im paranoid. if i was able to do a trial afterward does that mean I didn't void?
 
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Verbal was pretty much the easiest I have seen on any of the exams.

That first BS passage, though. What... was... that...
 
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Tonkahat said:
omg im not alone i literally wondered afterwards seriously if i accidentally voided because i clicked next SO quick, I'm telling myself im paranoid. if i was able to do a trial afterward does that mean I didn't void?
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You didn't void. Are you a person that goes back to make sure they turned off the stove 3 times, or to check to see if they locked the door multiple times? I know I am. It is just your mind.
 
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Ugh. There is a question on BS that I am legitimately curious about and cannot find the answer to online :/
 
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I have been going over in my mind the BS section over and over again. I found the orgo a little disturbing.
I was just looking for an overall consensus on what people taught about the overall difficulty of this section, relative to later aamc's and whether it will be a lenient or harsh curve. thanks.
 
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Dr.Physician said:
I have been going over in my mind the BS section over and over again. I found the orgo a little disturbing.
I was just looking for an overall consensus on what people taught about the overall difficulty of this section, relative to later aamc's and whether it will be a lenient or harsh curve. thanks.
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This was a retake for me (I took the first one on August 1st). Personally, I felt BS was a hell of a lot easier than the first MCAT, but that may just be due to topic preference. I do think there were a couple questions that were completely random and threw me off though, stuff that I didn't even remember being part of content material..
 
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mr.karp said:
art,traffic, Roosevelt, deep sea micro-organisms, immigration, suffering, and ummm can't remember lol
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For verbal, I had all the above mentioned passages but did not have one on immigration or noise- my verbal was art, traffic, Roosevelt, micro-organisms, suffering, expertise, and one on a specific diet type.

I am going crazy trying to remember the PS passages. I know I did very poorly on this section mostly because of timing issues and had to guess on two complete passages. The passages I remember are sand dunes, circuit, toys, silver and gold. I really can't remember any other passages besides these four. I would really appreciate if someone can remind me, in the most discrete way, of the other PS passages. I am extremely worried on how I did on this section.

I was happy with the BS section because it was bio heavy. I hate o.chem.

Thanks and best wishes to all.
 
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Without giving too much info - what was the passage on expertise about?

I seriously can't remeber the 7th passage and I am getting paranoid that I might have accidently skipped one 🙁
 
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Already counted at least 8 questions I missed on PS. I'm only aiming to get above an 8 but still...
 
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The fact that AAMC tries out new material on the MCAT and doesn't score it is unreasonable. Imagine you take the verbal - total of 7 passages, you do extremely well on 5 passages but poorly on 2 passages. Turns out out of those 7 passages, the 2/5 you did well on don't count, and the 2 you did poorly on do. BAM - there goes your Verbal. How is this even fair? 40 questions, and what only like 30-33 really count? So the 7 I answered correctly mean nothing and the 7 I answered incorrectly all of a sudden mean everything? No wonder there is such a harsh curve, 33/40 = 82.5% but 26/33 = 78.7%. That's the difference between a 9 or 10 because AAMC decided not to score the experimental questions. Why not score ALL the questions, but adjust the curve afterwards for the difficulty of your experimental questions?

Its the same with Physics or Bio. No wonder post-test feelings aren't accurate - when it seems like 2 or more of your passages are experimental, you may do better on those than the intended and your score drops by +/-2 points. I went into August 15th and felt I got an 8 but got a 12 - maybe its because all the questions I got wrong were on the experimental, while some poor soul who got those questions right and got other wrongs ended up with the 8.

For an organization that prides itself on a testing method that is standardized, I beg to differ.
 
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zzzetrigan said:
The fact that AAMC tries out new material on the MCAT and doesn't score it is unreasonable. Imagine you take the verbal - total of 7 passages, you do extremely well on 5 passages but poorly on 2 passages. Turns out out of those 7 passages, the 2/5 you did well on don't count, and the 2 you did poorly on do. BAM - there goes your Verbal. How is this even fair? 40 questions, and what only like 30-33 really count? So the 7 I answered correctly mean nothing and the 7 I answered incorrectly all of a sudden mean everything? No wonder there is such a harsh curve, 33/40 = 82.5% but 26/33 = 78.7%. That's the difference between a 9 or 10 because AAMC decided not to score the experimental questions. Why not score ALL the questions, but adjust the curve afterwards for the difficulty of your experimental questions?

Its the same with Physics or Bio. No wonder post-test feelings aren't accurate - when it seems like 2 or more of your passages are experimental, you may do better on those than the intended and your score drops by +/-2 points. I went into August 15th and felt I got an 8 but got a 12 - maybe its because all the questions I got wrong were on the experimental, while some poor soul who got those questions right and got other wrongs ended up with the 8.

For an organization that prides itself on a testing method that is standardized, I beg to differ.
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I agree definitely. But some of them I missed I know weren't experimental, like they were stupid mistakes on easy "gimme" questions :/
 
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i know i missed a discrete on bio thats pissing me off cause i switched from right to wrong, it was some random memorization question about idontwanna say but you could probably eliminate 1 right away. so annoying i hate that my strongest section is gonna be so low first i thought i could atleast pull 10, now im thinking 9. signing up for january tmw when i can before seats fill up, gonna have to commute a few hours based on whats available in jan right now, this test was super convenient 20 min away from me.
 
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zzzetrigan said:
The fact that AAMC tries out new material on the MCAT and doesn't score it is unreasonable. Imagine you take the verbal - total of 7 passages, you do extremely well on 5 passages but poorly on 2 passages. Turns out out of those 7 passages, the 2/5 you did well on don't count, and the 2 you did poorly on do. BAM - there goes your Verbal. How is this even fair? 40 questions, and what only like 30-33 really count? So the 7 I answered correctly mean nothing and the 7 I answered incorrectly all of a sudden mean everything? No wonder there is such a harsh curve, 33/40 = 82.5% but 26/33 = 78.7%. That's the difference between a 9 or 10 because AAMC decided not to score the experimental questions. Why not score ALL the questions, but adjust the curve afterwards for the difficulty of your experimental questions?

Its the same with Physics or Bio. No wonder post-test feelings aren't accurate - when it seems like 2 or more of your passages are experimental, you may do better on those than the intended and your score drops by +/-2 points. I went into August 15th and felt I got an 8 but got a 12 - maybe its because all the questions I got wrong were on the experimental, while some poor soul who got those questions right and got other wrongs ended up with the 8.

For an organization that prides itself on a testing method that is standardized, I beg to differ.
Click to expand...


what! thats how they score verbal??? and bio?? omg i honestly hate this...i mean if thats the case for bio, one "fake" passage can mess up your flow for the rest of them.
 
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torontopharm said:
Hey guys..November MCAT taker here.
Anyone who used the TPRH science workbook found it useful for today's test? My plan is to finish the book a couple of times before the test.
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It's helpful, but to do it more than once is overkill. Between TPRH, EK 101, and AAMC FL's, you have more than enough verbal's.

I thought TPRH was better than EK 101. The TPRH practice passages are harder than the real thing, but the TPRH practice exams are right on the money.
 
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Okay so I am so excited to be done with this exam and I wanted to share my thoughts now that I have a clear mind about it. I have to say that I took 9/06 and it was completely different than what I had seen. It tested ALL my weak points, I was an emotional mess, and I just felt horrible afterwards. But I really do know myself so I knew that I DID NOT give 100% hence why I signed up for a different date BEFORE getting my score. Yes I know the risks involved, but I can't really have anyone tell me how to live my life.. it's been working out for the past 24 years 🙂

PS. I am not going to say it was easy because there is not easy or hard tests, the topics are what categorize them, since being familiar with these makes or breaks it for you. I was REALLY lucky to have been familiar with a lot of the topics tested. I mean I am not going to sit here and say answers were given to you or that I got 100% of them correct. However, with the basic knowledge I knew after 3+ monthes of studying, and careful test taking skills, it somehow came together. I am predicting a 10 for this because I felt exactly the way I did about several AAMCs which I got 10s..11s in.


V. The passages were REALLY easy and interesting. I always like to look at the sources and some included New Yorker, The Economist, NY times.. However, this section is always a toss up because I feel like I picked the best answers but who knows my reading comprehension could have been completely off. I can't really say much except for that the passages were VERY different than the AAMC exams but more manageable. I can't really predict my score but I would say lowest is an 8.

BS. This section was VERY experimental heavy but it was where I feel like I excelled because all the topics tested I had background knowledge on due to my post bacc classes. Here is the thing, this section CAN BE done with pre-reqs but honestly some biochemistry, genetics, endocronology UPPER DIVS will make life easier. I know not everyone is in a position to take those but if you want those double digits it is crucial to know for example SOME background knowledge on Gastrin.. if there was an experiment on it. (that is not a test topic so don't go googling 🙂 ). The random discretes are random but maybe 1 or 2 need specific knowledge, the rest are facts that you should pick up during studying. I am predicting at least a 10.


Overall: this exam was WAY more fair than the 9/06 exam. I feel so much better and I feel like I actually gave it my all. Whatever my score may be I won't regreat anything, and that is the best feeling to have after this exam. I am going to enjoy some of my life now and focus on preparing myself for next year's cycle. Good luck and remember that this exam is just ONE aspect of the process.
🙂
 
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Hey fellow MCAT-ers. It's now possible to register for new test dates. There were very few seats left in some parts of the country, so if you think you may want to retake before the 2015 changes go into effect, you should probably register soon.

Assuming you cancel the test early enough to get a partial refund, this should cost $140 -- which is a lot of money to potentially throw down the drain, but it does buy some peace of mind.
 
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Tonkahat said:
what! thats how they score verbal??? and bio?? omg i honestly hate this...i mean if thats the case for bio, one "fake" passage can mess up your flow for the rest of them.
Click to expand...

As per MCAT Essentials (AAMC Official) -

Note: Each of the three scored multiple-choice sections includes some experimental items. Experimental
items, as well as questions contained in the Trial Section, do not count toward your score.

This means that if you had a passage that someone else didn't, it very well may be experimental. If it is truly experimental - then no it does not count towards your score. Which means your sections aren't out of 40 or 52, they are out of less - which means getting a question wrong impacts your score a lot more on the real MCAT than it does on your practice AAMCs.
 
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For that first bio passage, how would we know the answer to the question about "numbers" or how much of something there is. There's specific wording for this, but can't say obviously. But there was a question asking which specific situations in the chart leads to a certain number of something. Yea probably makes no sense, but I hope someone gets the jist. I was never good in determining if something was so and so or so and so. Better than answering it since that may be too much, any material that explains this topic that you could point to. This is assuming anyone even understands what I'm saying :laugh:
 
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feel so crazy for doing this just registered for jan 15, i didn't want to but with EVERYONE rushing to take it before the new exam, and my area being popular could not be comfortable without a safety blanket. if the score in october isnt what I want I'll be retaking :/
 
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The common passages in VR seem to be: traffic, Roosevelt, art, deep sea micro-organism, and suffering. If those are the only ones scored, it would suck, because I felt very confident about the noise regulation passage.

*sigh*
Pretty sure I know 1 or 2 I got wrong in the traffic passage.
 
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Tonkahat said:
feel so crazy for doing this just registered for jan 15, i didn't want to but with EVERYONE rushing to take it before the new exam, and my area being popular could not be comfortable without a safety blanket. if the score in october isnt what I want I'll be retaking :/
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Was just thinking about doing the same to find that no locations are available in my state or any surrounding states for October, November, and January...
 
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organesha said:
Was just thinking about doing the same to find that no locations are available in my state or any surrounding states for October, November, and January...
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There were some seats in Guam for November :-/


Posted using SDN Mobile
 
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zzzetrigan said:
As per MCAT Essentials (AAMC Official) -

Note: Each of the three scored multiple-choice sections includes some experimental items. Experimental
items, as well as questions contained in the Trial Section, do not count toward your score.

This means that if you had a passage that someone else didn't, it very well may be experimental. If it is truly experimental - then no it does not count towards your score. Which means your sections aren't out of 40 or 52, they are out of less - which means getting a question wrong impacts your score a lot more on the real MCAT than it does on your practice AAMCs.
Click to expand...

AAMC = PhDs in trolling 😆
 
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I kind of wish they would at least give you your raw score for each section so you could at least have an idea the range your score might be in. I mean I know there is almost no knowing and there is a different scale for each version, but if you need at least an 8 and get like below a 35%, there's a good chance that won't happen...
 
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In vague terms, what was the passage on expertise about? I am freaking out because I can only remember 5 passages clearly and I think the 6th one was on suffering. I know for sure that I didn't get a passage on noise/airplanes. I was running out of time and didn't get a chance to click the review button to make sure that I answered everything. I hope I didn't skip a passage!
 
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pacer said:
In vague terms, what was the passage on expertise about? I am freaking out because I can only remember 5 passages clearly and I think the 6th one was on suffering. I know for sure that I didn't get a passage on noise/airplanes. I was running out of time and didn't get a chance to click the review button to make sure that I answered everything. I hope I didn't skip a passage!
Click to expand...

.
 
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pacer said:
In vague terms, what was the passage on expertise about? I am freaking out because I can only remember 5 passages clearly and I think the 6th one was on suffering. I know for sure that I didn't get a passage on noise/airplanes. I was running out of time and didn't get a chance to click the review button to make sure that I answered everything. I hope I didn't skip a passage!
Click to expand...

OMG same here man...I can only recall 5 out of 7... I really hope I didn't skip a passage. I would have been better off just doing Cs for the one that I missed. Which I don't think I did...🙁
 
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justadream said:
Guessed on 2 discretes (missed them both!) so meh.

PS: On par with practice tests. Maybe 1 hard passage. Finished with 15-20 minutes left (my typical time leftover). I know I already missed one question so probably 13 at best. 12 wouldn't surprise me either.
VR: Passages were easy to read but questions.....omg ran out of time. Literally GUESSED (25% level) on 3 questions. Worst performance of any VR of my life. Probably 9. If a miracle, 10.
BS: On par with practice tests. Even though they were "experimental", I'd say none of them were hard. All easier than Ebola passage. Missed at least one discrete so probably 13 at best. Finished with 22 minutes left and I wasn't even rushing. I usually finish with 15 mins.

Overall: The sciences were not harder than the practice exams. They were the same, maybe even easier. As such, expecting super harsh curves for both sciences. I failed verbal because I kind of panicked and ran out of time. Guessed on a ridiculous number on verbal. To future test-takers, make sure you can read and understand fast.
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When you say "guessed", how many did you exactly guess (including ones that weren't random guesses)? I was also suffering time troubles on this verbal, and straight up guessed 5-6 questions on the last 3 passages while spending a good amount of time on the first four passages. I wouldn't even be surprised if I got more wrong from the fact that I was speeding through the easy questions on those 3 passages. lol
 
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