Thoughts on May 31st MCAT

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yeah, that was kinda rough. It seemed like the first few passages of each section were relatively easy, and then it just got worse and worse.
 
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Give me vicodin said:
everyone's thoughts on the test today, i thought it was pretty damm hard!!
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Agreed! I thought it was horrible, especially the PS - all the stuff I'm worst at! Even the verbal was harder the the practice exams, I thought. I'm unsure about bio but organic seemed straightforward.
 
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did you guys have an option to save your essays after time ran out? I ran out of time while writing them and hopefully they were submitted as is when time ended.


Also, when you guys finished, the the program just exit out and then go to the prometric desktop? I'm so paranoid about these thigns hah
 
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AppleseedCast said:
did you guys have an option to save your essays after time ran out? I ran out of time while writing them and hopefully they were submitted as is when time ended.


Also, when you guys finished, the the program just exit out and then go to the prometric desktop? I'm so paranoid about these thigns hah
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Yes, the same thing happened to me on both counts. My essay time ran out too (before the timer was actually up), so I'm hoping it submitted! When mine ended it did just go out to the desktop and when I exited the room, the proctor gave me a form so apparently it went through.
 
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Did anyone feel like the passages had little to do with the questions in PS?? Like the energy question for the powerplant...I couldn't seem to deduct any info. from the passages to use in the questions...like the drum passage..i mean...geez

The only part I liked were the first 2 verbal passages..THATS IT!
 
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PS- I thought it was OK....the first passage, i swear I've seen the same exact passage somewhere else in some other test...i'm gonna look for old practice tests....does anyone else know what i'm talking about?

VR- crazy hard after the first 3 passages....the last passage was almost incomprehensible..and pretty long

WS- OK...To above posters: I asked the proctors there and they said that the essays are saved even if u run out of time

BS - bio stuff a little harder than the AAMC practice exam, orgo was OK...i was soo happy that there was very little orgo until like the 4th passage...then 2 straight passages of orgo


Overall Impressions: The good thing is that it was my first MCAT so now I know how it feels (eventhough i pray never to take it again)

Suggestions to Others:
Please increase ur stamina for these exams...take the writing sections,many ppl just ignore the WS on the practice tests, but an extra hour really takes a lot out of u

Also...eventhough time for break is 10 minutes, even if ur late, the next section doesn't start until u hit next...so take ur time and relax on the break instead of worrying about time to go back!

Hopefully the curves are gonna be good....i'll need them
 
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shaqkillz451 said:
PS- I thought it was OK....the first passage, i swear I've seen the same exact passage somewhere else in some other test...i'm gonna look for old practice tests....does anyone else know what i'm talking about?

VR- crazy hard after the first 3 passages....the last passage was almost incomprehensible..and pretty long

WS- OK...To above posters: I asked the proctors there and they said that the essays are saved even if u run out of time

BS - bio stuff a little harder than the AAMC practice exam, orgo was OK...i was soo happy that there was very little orgo until like the 4th passage...then 2 straight passages of orgo


Overall Impressions: The good thing is that it was my first MCAT so now I know how it feels (eventhough i pray never to take it again)

Suggestions to Others:
Please increase ur stamina for these exams...take the writing sections,many ppl just ignore the WS on the practice tests, but an extra hour really takes a lot out of u

Also...eventhough time for break is 10 minutes, even if ur late, the next section doesn't start until u hit next...so take ur time and relax on the break instead of worrying about time to go back!

Hopefully the curves are gonna be good....i'll need them
Click to expand...

Haha, amen to that!
 
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My thoughts:

I felt PS went really well for me. There were only a couple questions where I was like, "huh?"... the powerplant one (HristosKaran, we must've had the same test) for example, but otherwise not bad at all.

I think I bombed the heck out of VR, which was upsetting since it was my most consistent (albeit lowest) practice test score. I was consistently getting 10-11 everytime, but I doubt I did that well today. The first passage was fine, but after that either my brain stopped functioning or the passages got wicked hard.

Writing... whatever, don't really care.

Bio should have been my meat and potatoes, but my brain decided to go on vacation for the first half of the time. I remember a couple people talking about burnout brain... feeling like everything's in slo-mo and nothing making sense... that happed during BS. I came around with about 15 minutes left and was able to go back and check my answers to make sure I didn't do anything majorly stupid during the zone-out.

I don't ever want to have to do that again, but if I did as badly on VR as I expect, looks like another go-'round for me 🙁
 
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I thought PS was pretty easy, though who knows. I had enough time to double-check many questions and found 2 mistakes.

VR was terrible. I _thought_ I understood the passages but the questions broadsided me.

BS wasn't great.

Just glad to have this thing over with.

When do we get our scores back?
 
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Haha, glad to see I'm not the only one that was lost on this test..My friend voided his score (says he wasn't feeling well and don't blame him), and he was wondering if he can reregister for the June 15th exam, anyone know?
 
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HristosKaran said:
Haha, glad to see I'm not the only one that was lost on this test..My friend voided his score (says he wasn't feeling well and don't blame him), and he was wondering if he can reregister for the June 15th exam, anyone know?
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Yes, he can register for the 15th
 
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oh man, I thought ps was hard as balls...the first passage was almost copied from kaplan. I didnt know a lot of answers to the physics questions even though I knew the physics cold. Gen. Chem was fine.

Verbal---ok you guys are freaking me out. I am a bad verbal test taker and I thought todays was actually not as bad as Im used to taking. Maybe I missed the point of them completely, who knows. =(

Bio---harder htan the one I took before. I got a 12 on the last time I took the mcat, this time I dont know if i got a 10.

Overall score guess: 28, 10,8,10
 
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Thoughts:

Definitely the hardest exam that I've taken, including all my practice ones (AAMC 3-10).

PS: Different. Nothing like any of the practice exams I've taken....maybe more like AAMC 8, but not really sure. The wording in the questions was very different than what I'm used to with practice passages. My practice scores for this section were showing an upward trend, eventually peaking at 13 for AAMC 10. However, on the actual test they asked some stuff that I never even thought of studying...kinda hard to explain. To make matters worse, I changed one answer with like 10 seconds remaining, only to realize my first choice was correct during the 10 minute allotted "break" after the section.....

VR: Decent. I thought to myself right after passage 6, "this feels like an 11".... BUT, I was premature cuz the last passage was insanely difficult...couldn't even get the main idea really....had to educated guess my way through it. Overall though, this section was average.

WS: Pretty easy.

BS: Comparable in difficulty to the PS. Orgo was easy, but the rest of the questions were again weirdly worded and I found myself wavering between answer choices more often than usual. I just don't have that confident feeling after finishing....


Overall, I'm really scared about my score. I REALLY don't want to have to retake it...it would throw my application timeline out of whack....GLuck to the rest of y'all.
 
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I was pretty lost on that question too... I was pretty lost on a LOT of questions...

PS - I actually wasted time reading the passages (even though I practiced without reading the passages at all)... Oh yeah... does anyone know if Cr or Mn has higher 1st ionization energy? I know Cr has the whole half-filled d-orbital thing going so it doesn't want to lose e-... How does Mn compare?

OH MY LORD... VR pretty much left me dead in the water... My eyes totally glazed over by like the fourth passage & my mind took a long LONG vacation; when I came to, I realized I was redoing a PS problem from my scratch paper over... I had like 4min left over for like the last passage. Expectations aren't exactly high for this, people 🙁

Writing - the one section that I think might've gone ok...

BS - I was ok with most of the passages I think. The question about the frog replication with the graph - I had ABSOLUTELY no clue about... I think I got confused about notochords & ectoderms also...

The thing is: I was fairly confident on all the material. The hard part was keeping the focus together during the exam... VR was the worst of it but seriously, during the entire test, I was like "Lord, WHY WILL THIS NOT JUST END?!?!?!?"

Hello all the June 15th folks out there! Ready for two weeks oh hell?
 
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ps-it wasn't too bad, but i felt it was harder than some of the later aamcs

vr-i also thought it was pretty easy until i did the water table passage...i had to go back and re-read about the stupid rocks since i didn't click w/ it the first time! that last art passage was a little difficult to understand

ws-not bad at all...being a sociology major definitely helped w/ the prompts

bs-okay, i don't know what happened! a couple of those passages were so obscure to me...ochem was easy

oh well, it's over! my 21st bday was a few days ago, and i finally get to celebrate now! here's to a nice curve and hopefully not having to take it again! *cheers*
 
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I'm going to pretty much agree with everyone else. I think we all had the same test!

PS: Yup, definitely Physics heavy. Not many calculations and very concept-oriented. I'd venture to say 80-20 physics vs. chem - it just seemed like a LOT of physics.

I finished this section w/ 10 minutes to spare, but that doesn't mean much since it's my weakest section.

VR: Actually, I thought this was not too bad. I excepted it to give me a headache like the practice CBTs, but I found most of the passages somewhat interesting. The hardest passage to relate to was the cave one, and the most boring was the second one about art. I finished with 10 mins to spare in this, too.

WS: Pretty standard. I never really practiced, but I think keeping a blog over the last few years really helped. It was good practice to take a topic and organize thoughts, although it's really a general way to practice. My topics were related to education and corporate execs vs. employees. I'm not really sure how long my essays were but I felt I made my point in each and finished with 5 mins to proofread each.

BS: Much easier than PS, but very concentrated on genetics (Mendelian, Hardy-Weinberg, and one mRNA passage), renal, and blood/muscle. I can't believe there were absolutely NO hormone questions! I actually finished this section with 26 minutes left.

I'm not sure how I tend to finish so fast, except that I'm a fast reader. I hope it's not a bad sign - it wasn't for my practice tests, anyway.

I can't even begin to predict what my score will be, but I think 27 is going to be my cutoff for not retaking. The test itself wasn't too bad, but the monitors gave me such a headache with the flickering. I seriously don't want to sit through all that again if I don't have to.

On another note, I got a free show at the test center I was at. Some Asian dude was taking the TOEFL (he was checked in before me and it was written on the sign-in) and took a break just before I did. I wandered back to the bathroom and there he was, taking a pee with the door wide open! :laugh:

I feel so relieved now that it's over, despite the outcome to be!
 
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megboo said:
On another note, I got a free show at the test center I was at. Some Asian dude was taking the TOEFL (he was checked in before me and it was written on the sign-in) and took a break just before I did. I wandered back to the bathroom and there he was, taking a pee with the door wide open! :laugh:
Click to expand...

LOL!! :laugh: That's crazy!
 
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I feel like I just got raped and mugged by a gang of doctors and science professors.
I had the one with the corporate executives.
One thing:The room was f'ing COLD. I was shivering at the end of the test.

PS: Not too bad. Finished with barely enough time.
VR: Same as above. The one about the caverns...wtf? I didn't understand half of what the questions were asking
BS: Beat the crap out of me. By this point the cold had gotten to me and I had to guess on the last 5 questions regarding the blood/muscle.

I was also not given the option to void my score. The thing just exited to the desktop...
Definetly harder than anything I've had, namely on the BS, which is my stronger points. The genetics wtfowned me.
Gah.🙁
 
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WOOOOOO!!

Had to get that out of my system. Not sure what to say. Seems like Megboo and I took the same exam. Overall I felt it was too easy. VR is usually my worst section but today it was very manageable (except for that one passage that almost required you to be a cave explorer). Test turned out way more concept-oriented than I expected. Except for a few badly worded questions, I feel pretty confident. But we'll see...
 
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AppleseedCast said:
did you guys have an option to save your essays after time ran out? I ran out of time while writing them and hopefully they were submitted as is when time ended.


Also, when you guys finished, the the program just exit out and then go to the prometric desktop? I'm so paranoid about these thigns hah
Click to expand...

I had a few seconds to spare as the timer on the WS section was winding down. I asked the attendant if the program automatically saves everything once the timer runs out and she said that it should be alright. I intend on calling prometric tomorrow to check.

Overall the test was pretty hard and I don't know how I feel about it at all. I even stared at the void option for a couple of minutes to contemplate voiding but chickened out. What will be - will be, I think. If I didn't do as well as I had hoped, I hope to take it again soon enough to be able to still submit for this application cycle. Good luck to everyone who took it!
 
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Physics:
Don't really know about this one. By the end of the test, I didn't really remember anything. Seemed alright I guess.
Verbal:
That last passage was incomprehensible and the other one on water wasn't any better. I had no idea what the hell was going on. There was one straight-forward passage, everything else was a struggle.
Bio:
I got a lot of the discretes in orgo/bio wrong. I keep kicking myself for missing the easy ones. There were 2 passages that I totally did not get. I went from getting it in the beginning to burn out by the end. Rough going here.
 
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So does anyone have any idea what kind of curve could be expected from the muscle/blood ; cave/water ; corporate exec abomination we just took?
 
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PS- I hated it....stupid drums
VR- I thought it was alright except for the last passage which, as everyone seems to think, was totally incomprehensible
BS- Not as bad as PS but still a pain

Overall I thought it was pretty tough. Not at all like the practice exams...
 
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Barfalamule said:
Physics:
Don't really know about this one. By the end of the test, I didn't really remember anything. Seemed alright I guess.
Verbal:
That last passage was incomprehensible and the other one on water wasn't any better. I had no idea what the hell was going on. There was one straight-forward passage, everything else was a struggle.
Bio:
I got a lot of the discretes in orgo/bio wrong. I keep kicking myself for missing the easy ones. There were 2 passages that I totally did not get. I went from getting it in the beginning to burn out by the end. Rough going here.
Click to expand...

i felt the same way as mot ppl here.
PS: when i started reading I was like WTF??? overall it seemed to be really hard. Almost no calculations but stll pretty physics heavy and looooong passages and I am not a very fast reader so I was pretty upset with it.

VR: I have no clue, this was my worst section and that passage about caves just killed me

BS: orgo was easy but all that genetics stuff...I hated that passage about mice and circulatory system. I had trouble understanding it

Overall i think this test was muuuuuuch harder then anything i have seen on AAMC exams. CBT-10 was walk in a park comparing to this. I felt like i was guessing on nearly every other question. I just wasnt sure of anything...it almost felt like my very first practice exam...when i thought i score in a low teens...i didn't so let's hope it will be the same this time LOL

I am just hoping that it IS over and that I will never have to take this stupid thing again...I feel so drained🙁
 
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That was the biggest kick in the cash and prizes that I've ever experienced, but boy am I glad to be done.

Did anyone have the answer to the essay deal about not saving before time ran out?!?!? I'm assuming they submit what is ever on your screen.
 
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Hmm, starting to see a trend perhaps?

I took the 5/25 test and ours too was heavily physics oriented with a lot of "out there" conceptual questions. Also, the BS section had very little orgo and a LOT of genetics.

Sounds like you guys had a geology passage in VR. So, so, sorry.

Waiting for the scores is going to seem like the longest month ever.
 
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this test was hard. harder than the practice tests. orgo pretty straightforward, bio was hard, physics hard, verbal last passage was literally incomprehensible. for all you people that still have to take this beast...dont think the real deal is the same level of difficulty as the practice tests...b/c it is not and i feel most people from may 31 would agree.
 
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was that a joke??? we can't all do terribly, so they have to give a crazy curve right? also... what do you guys think about the WS? i totally bombed the first essay, had a panic attack and just didn't complete it... is that a big deal? tell me its not!!
 
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oh my goodness, that was ridiculous

i was averaging 14 on physical sciences aamc 8-10, 13 on bio 8-10

the physics was unbelievably hard, that is my easiest section, i was sweating and freaking out, it was a rude awakening, the aamc tests passages were short and comprehensible, drums and sand, what the heck, the fluids i understood, but those questions i could not figure out

those were the hardest physics and bio sections ive done, and ive done a lot

bio passages were long and hard to understand, BBMC or something with kidneys was so hard

the verbal i thought i may have done well on, but the caves passage was hardest i thought, and the last passage was about 2x the length of every other passage and killed me on time

i was so close to cancelling the test i went from averaging 14,9,13 to probably 9,9,9
 
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i am predicting there will be a huge curve on this thing...
at least lets all hope so...it would really suck if i blew this cause everything so far was comming together so nicely. Well I am applying on monday when DO apps open so no matter what I get it is happening. I will not back off no matter what. I just told myself that the worst i could have done is in the lower 20's like my lowest practice.
I think that although this was so much harder then any practice exams the curve should even it out. It has been pretty consistant for ppl to score on the real deal within their practice range so i am hoping for it😀
 
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HOLLLLLLLY WOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!
that test was FUN, wasn't it?

Ya it was really hard, and I'm pretty sure we all got the exact same test so I'm not gonna break it down for the 100th time on this thread.

I don't think I did so hot on this one, but I am just so glad its over.
Gosh... what a hard test!

I knew it was gonna be a crappy day from the very first PS passage about the drums.... I got a fever. And the only prescription is more TUM-TUM!
 
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tigercu said:
oh my goodness, that was ridiculous

i was averaging 14 on physical sciences aamc 8-10, 13 on bio 8-10

the physics was unbelievably hard, that is my easiest section, i was sweating and freaking out, it was a rude awakening, the aamc tests passages were short and comprehensible, drums and sand, what the heck, the fluids i understood, but those questions i could not figure out

those were the hardest physics and bio sections ive done, and ive done a lot

bio passages were long and hard to understand, BBMC or something with kidneys was so hard

the verbal i thought i may have done well on, but the caves passage was hardest i thought, and the last passage was about 2x the length of every other passage and killed me on time

i was so close to cancelling the test i went from averaging 14,9,13 to probably 9,9,9
Click to expand...

man don't worry...we all apperntly feel really bad about this test so there WILL be a curve. You will be fine. You won't go down 9 points on your real deal...come on. I just talked to a good friend of mine and it is totally normal to feel how we feel. He also felt like crap but ended up with a good score.
Besides some of these questions are not even going to be scored. I assume they would be the ones we most had trouble with.
Freaking out now is not going to change anything. Just relax and enjoy the fact that it's over😀
i am finally going to the gym for the full 2 hrs with no AO on my ipod:laugh:
 
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dr.kicia said:
i am predicting there will be a huge curve on this thing...
at least lets all hope so...it would really suck if i blew this cause everything so far was comming together so nicely. Well I am applying on monday when DO apps open so no matter what I get it is happening. I will not back off no matter what. I just told myself that the worst i could have done is in the lower 20's like my lowest practice.
I think that although this was so much harder then any practice exams the curve should even it out. It has been pretty consistant for ppl to score on the real deal within their practice range so i am hoping for it😀
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of expanding my DO radius of application after this test! I was originally limiting it to 5 hours from Chi-town, but now I may need to add more 🙁

I sure hope there's a curve!
 
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Overall I felt better about today's test than the April 7th one. Breaking it down:

PS - about on par with the aamc tests, though some questions were slightly obscure, I think I was mulling over a couple of the ones on the satellite passage. Can't remember what this powerplant passage was that you guys are talking about though... was it gen chem?

VR - i think 4 or 5 of the passages were okay, but then the limestone one and the last one seriously fried my brain. I couldn't for the life of me concentrate on anything in the limestone passage, it was just so convoluted. And the last passage I remember spending a heck of a lot of time on b/c the questions were really tough, yet I honestly don't remember what it was about anymore...

Writing - First topic was fine, second topic I was really reaching because I haven't really heard that specific prompt before. You know how usually you've heard more or less the debate involving the prompt, this one was just like huh? (yeah corporate execs)

BS - The first 5 passages were pretty easy, mostly genetics, mol gen, and physio. I started to get more stumped towards the end from some of the really random discreets and one or two of the orgo questions where I think I was starting to get tired, though I thought the orgo was pretty easy overall. As far as I can remember, they didn't ask a single question about reactions or mechanisms in the passage questions. Just one orgo reaction in the discreets and it wasn't a tough one.

I think a lot of the questions had really poor choices or wording, I was pretty frustrated sitting there trying to eliminate choices and being stuck with two that are seemingly the same. I remember for one question, I came down to two choices being: 1) it disproves the hypothesis, or 2) it suggests that mr. blah was mistaken in his hypothesis. Give me a break!!! Ugh.

Oh for all of you that are unsure about the whole business with saving the essay, part of the tutorial about the essay says explicitly that when the section ends it automatically saves whatever is on the screen. No need to worry about the save button. That's probably just in case the computer crashes or something silly like that.

Wow I'm so glad I'm done (again), just another 33 day wait! Good luck everyone!!!
 
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What does the mark and marked mean on the test? To answer the questions, I just clicked on the circle next to the answer. I didn't do anything else. Sorry if this is stupid question. I am just being really paranoid after that test.
 
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Hope48 said:
What does the mark and marked mean on the test? To answer the questions, I just clicked on the circle next to the answer. I didn't do anything else. Sorry if this is stupid question. I am just being really paranoid after that test.
Click to expand...

The mark function was there in case you weren't sure about an answer and wanted to mark it to come back to it later. Once you finished there was a button for reviewing your marked answers (if you used the option).

Doesn't affect your answers, as long as you actually answered them! 🙂
 
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Anyone else look at the diagram for the BBMC(renal passage) and go: "Where the f*** did they get these hieroglyphs at? " By this time I was so cold and freaked out and mentally fatigued that it just looked alien to me.
I mean, the thing was so jumbled that it was incomprehensible.
 
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