Thoughts on sept 7th exam.

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PS-Very similar to AAMC with more chem.
BS-study organic, period. However, the first couple passages were very basic organic.
VR-no different than AAMC practice.
WS-SO HARD! Study your ass off for this. 🙂
 
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I'm big on the fishing, so "that passage" in PS really turned me on! anyone else??
alaska-fishing.jpg


Damn! whats the angle of his rod??!!!!😆😆

why not a lil' mcat humor? huh? these sdn threads can be so darn depressing some times! C'mon guys we'll all be great docs someday, this "stuff" is just part of the process!:luck:
 
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shemarty, be careful on these forums. I know that youre no allowed to post specific Q's and A's. Im just trying to be real generic.
 
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I'm REALLY REALLY tired. I went to campus after my test and hung out with friends till 3 am, then woke up at 6:50 to leave at 7:10 to volunteer at the free clinic. I'm exhausted right now. I just want to veg and watch an entire season of something. Any suggestions anyone?
 
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Hey guys, I took the Sept. 7th afternoon one too. I agree with the others about some questions on BS coming out of left field...some of the terms that the questions tested on weren't in either my TPR books OR the lectures that the instructors give. I guess AAMC just needs a way to set the top of the curve somehow.

I feel really unsure about both VR and BS. I had practice scores ranging in the 34-35 range for awhile, but now the amount of guessing that I had to do on the real one is really threatening that. I'll be happy with anything above a 30.

PS was crazy, but I put a lot of effort into studying it because physics is my weakest subject, so I think all that paid off. Remember guys, if it's coming down to the wire and you don't have a lot of time to study, the most bang for your buck WILL come out of studying (and memorizing) PS formulas!!!!!! Surest way to rack up easy points!!!!!!

Oh, and I definitely got lucky on the WS prompts. I didn't have to use a single political example...not that I had any anyway.
 
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Did anyone have the same passages? In PS I had
waterfall fluid motor
CaCO3 -> Ca + CO2
Titrations and indicators
photons - wave/particle duality experiments
Ra halflife
Ba+, OH-, and sulfate solubilities
acetone (D) fusion to alpha particle
VR:
North Korean Nuclear bomb testing
volcano/solar heating/warming
water control modes
huckleberry finn/sentimentalism
Iliad/ Greek heros
education/canons
Deserts/CIA
BS:
Grinard Reagent/Elimination
compd1 + compd2 (acetic acetate)
genetically engineered plants
space station body study
pmi450 mRNA
pO2 oxyhemoglobin
Cystic Fibrosis

those were the general topics of my Sept. 7th MCAT, but I wonder if they repeat any of these topics in other administrations.
 
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are you actually allowed to post stuff like that?

My exam was pretty similar to yours.
 
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waterbuffalo said:
Did anyone have the same passages? In PS I had
waterfall fluid motor
CaCO3 -> Ca + CO2
Titrations and indicators
photons - wave/particle duality experiments
Ra halflife
Ba+, OH-, and sulfate solubilities
acetone (D) fusion to alpha particle
VR:
North Korean Nuclear bomb testing
volcano/solar heating/warming
water control modes
huckleberry finn/sentimentalism
Iliad/ Greek heros
education/canons
Deserts/CIA
BS:
Grinard Reagent/Elimination
compd1 + compd2 (acetic acetate)
genetically engineered plants
space station body study
pmi450 mRNA
pO2 oxyhemoglobin
Cystic Fibrosis

those were the general topics of my Sept. 7th MCAT, but I wonder if they repeat any of these topics in other administrations.
Click to expand...

I had most of this stuff.
 
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My last VR was some annoying essay on american culture. It was not that hard, but i had like 6 minutes to do it. that sucked.
 
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I actually had less than 5 minutes to finish my last verbal passage!! It was tough, but I flew through the passage and tried my best with the questions. How had you been doing on the practice tests? I felt like the verbal was much like the other AAMC practice tests, I don't know why I was slow during the real thing..
 
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waterbuffalo said:
I actually had less than 5 minutes to finish my last verbal passage!! It was tough, but I flew through the passage and tried my best with the questions. How had you been doing on the practice tests? I felt like the verbal was much like the other AAMC practice tests, I don't know why I was slow during the real thing..
Click to expand...


I had the EXACT same exam as you!

RB
 
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waterbuffalo said:
I actually had less than 5 minutes to finish my last verbal passage!! It was tough, but I flew through the passage and tried my best with the questions. How had you been doing on the practice tests? I felt like the verbal was much like the other AAMC practice tests, I don't know why I was slow during the real thing..
Click to expand...

Last time I had 10 minutes to spare, this time I was literally trying to beat the clock in VR.

I hope that's a better sign.
 
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Hey guys, that's kind of a good sign (or bad sign😛), but I had the same problem too. Normally I would not have any problems finishing my VR, but on the real test I found myself having to rush a bit. I hope I did not make too many mistakes :S

Nice to know some others had the same problem as me!
 
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I finished VR with about half a minute left. Didn't like the 2nd last passage too much though...it took quite a bit of my time...
 
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I think I got killed on VR. Practically guessed an entire passage and was unsure for many of the questions from passages I did read. Hoping for a 7. Grrr.
 
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I guess you took a different version, because i don't remember any passages with the opera stuff..
 
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I had the opera passage. Part of what made it such a time sink was that the author was extremely ambivalent towards the singer; he disliked her for a lot of reasons, but then at the end, he came around and said "but she is still a great opera singer." Guy couldn't make up his mind, apparently. For that reasons, the questions were tricky as well.
 
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I'm going to go ahead and make my predictions right now:

MY PREDICTION:
PS: 10 - 11
VR: 8 - 9
BS: 10 - 11
TOTAL: 28 -31P - R

This was much like the practice test, and i had been scoring like this recently. Therefore, I predict that I will get somewhere within this range (I hope above 28 b/c that is what I got last time).
 
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Re. the sea circulation question, I think in the passage it said that you can treat the pond and the pipe etc. as a closed system. So I used that to answer one of the questions, but honestly I'm not positive if that was the right way to answer it.
 
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I don't recall such a passage in BS. I kind of remember a similar passage is PS.
 
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I still thought the Orgo passage with the paragraph of useless (mostly) spectral data and weird questions was the hardest bio one for me.
and OCHEM is my strong point.
 
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I agree, that spectral passage was the 'killer' passage. It sucks, my TPR course/books didn't talk about a lot of the stuff (like rings) at all. I was definitely caught off guard by that one...
 
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any thoughts on the scale? People have said it was a little more representative of the aamc exams than other administrations. do you think the scale will be comparable to that of the practice tests or perhaps more forgiving? I am hoping more forgiving, b/c I don't think any section was easier than any of those of the AAMC exams. It was true that some passages (maybe 2 in the PS) seemed really easy but they were also countered by more difficult passages (like the rest). I am asking especially about the PS and BS sections.

BTW, I am assuming the scale is predetermined, which is what someone else had said and also is in agreement with the past MCAT data showing fluctuations in the percent of takers achieving certain raw scores and hence showing that the percent of takers getting scores is not fixed and that perhaps the scale is predetermined.
 
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You should read the "MCAT essentials" PDF on the AAMC website (page 15). I am not sure where you are getting your information, but the curve is independent of the AAMC practice exams. I have not spoken with a single person who found the September 7 MCAT to be comparable to any of the CBT AAMC exams. The 9/7 exam was much harder. VR passages were longer, BS was very challenging, PS was slightly more difficult (but reasonable). Essentially, there was more exam on 9/7, meaning that, on average, there was more information to peruse to answer each question.

Not everyone received the same test, so it is implied in the MCAT essentials that if two people get the same raw score, one person might have a higher scaled score because one person might have had a tougher exam (i.e. 3 organic passages v. 2 organic passages tends to be more difficult). Hope that helps.
 
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Ummm, i think everyone would like to attend a top tier school. But i think the curve will be bell shaped.
 
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every person i've talked to said the test was easy / eactly the same difficulty as regular AAMCs.... WTF
 
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i wouldn't say it was easier than the AAMC's. True, some PS passages definately were but not the exam as a whole. At best, it was comparable in difficulty, if not then slightly harder (some PS passages were and definately some of the bio, as you really needed to understand the passages to answer the questions and follow their reasoning, which wasn't reallly addressed in the practice exams as much (some passages were like that but they were spread over the 8 exams). If you had previous exposure to the topics or knew enough background knowledge to follow the passages, then i guess it might have been easy...
 
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Difficulty is measured differently by people across the board. I wanted to get a 45 on the test. Stupid logic, right? I do not think so. I legitimately wanted to get a perfect raw score on each science section. The hardest questions on 9/7 were much, much harder than the other AAMC tests. One question I had would have surely stumped many organic chem profs.

What AAMC CBT tests did you previous two commenters take? I took every test 3 - 10. All of the AAMC practice exams were cake compared to the real thing that I had on 9/7. It is still possible that I got a perfect score on BS, but it squeezed out every ounce of my brain power that day. I usually finished with 20-30 minutes to spare scoring between 11 & on my final AAMC practice a 14. I had 3 minutes to spare for BS on 9/7. Advanced coursework was necessary for my BS (i.e. biochem). The power surge in the middle of BS did not help either, that is for sure. Also, not all of the exams on the same day are of the same difficulty. The test I took had more organic passages and questions than any practice I had seen. The ratio was not 3:1 as I expected, closer to 3:2 (bio to organic). The orgo questions were not easy either. If your target score was a 30 and verbal was your strong point, then yes, a 30 would have been cake, but if you needed at least a 35 then I would imagine most of those test takers are sweating bullets, including myself...sigh.
 
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awnodirp said:
If your target score was a 30 and verbal was your strong point, then yes, a 30 would have been cake, but if you needed at least a 35 then I would imagine most of those test takers are sweating bullets, including myself...sigh.
Click to expand...

i'm sweating bullets about the test.. Not because I want a 35, but because I agree with you. This test was harder. I have advanced organic classes under my belt, and I was stumped on one or two of the ochem questions.

overall, all I can do is just sit and wait I suppose. I have to admit though, after almost 3 weeks, it is getting hard! 😛
 
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I agree that the test was harder, but by how much I don't know. There were some parts that were comparable to the practice CBT's.

Knowing full well I can't discuss specific questions I just thought I would say that I am taking biochemistry this semester and in reading my biochem book I found an answer to one of the bio questions. However, I know AAMC didn't choose the one I selected as correct. I think I know the answer to this but is there a way to contest a question?
 
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You can contest questions, but I do believe there is a time by which they will accept a contest to a question. You will have to check the site.
 
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i actually commented on a question after the exam and it might be the one neulite was referring to but did not state outright i was contesting it. i hope they considered it as a contest.
 
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I thought that the SAeptember 7th mcat was very difficult. I did 8 practice tests and I did fine. Anyone who took the September mcat did you think it was harder. I talked to some admissions officers and they said that they heard it was very difficult.😡
 
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I found it to be harder than my practice exams. Not horribly so, but it certainly ramped up the difficulty a notch.

wrong forum btw...😳
 
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