Water Bottle in Testing Room? Toms River, NJ

[napoleon56765]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick question. Do the MCAT testing centers allow you to bring a bottle of water into the testing room? I ask because I just took the GMAT this morning (yes, I am planning to do an M.D./M.B.A. dual degree) and I was shocked that I was not allowed a bottle of water in the room.

Specifically, does anyone here have any experience taking the MCAT at the Toms River, New Jersey testing site, or have heard anything about that testing site?

Thanks!

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[bruination]

Why were you shocked?

No you cannot bring anything with you into the testing room except for the key to your locker that is provided and your ID card (you must empty everything else in your pockets into a provided locker and store anything you bring like food and water in the locker)

 

[sv3]

i just hope you enjoyed the experience cause the MCAT is another animal........I did the GMAT a while back and about to do the MCAT..........i hate it!

 

[IAmMyOwnTwin]

I do not have any specific knowledge of your testing center but the above poster is correct. You can't bring anything, no matter how harmless it seems, into the exam room unless you have an accommodation. I was very unhappy to learn that I would not be able to bring water or tissues into the test as I am always thirsty and my nose always runs.

But it ended up being OK. I took my last few practice tests without water and used an over the counter nasal spray the morning of the test. My testing center allowed us to drink water during breaks by the lockers although we were told to go outside if we wanted to eat or drink anything else.

 

[215353]

i took my exam at the Toms River, NJ location and, as stated above, you are not allowed to bring anything in with you except your ID and key to your locker. They make you empty out your pockets before you even go in.

I thought the testing center was pretty satisfactory...the great thing about this one testing center you can get their extremely early (as early as an hour before your scheduled test time) and go right in and start your exam. So get there really early so you don't have to deal with anyone else typing on their keyboard while you are doing the verbal section

 

[MossPoh]

You have breaks between every section. You can handle the hour of feeling parched.

The only outside things I've seen allowed were earplugs and I had to squish them down and show there was nothing in them. I supposedly should not have had them but they let it slide.

 

[napoleon56765]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

For those who took it at the Toms River site, how was the noise level?

In response to the question about why I was shocked: I was rather shocked because I had not anticipated not being allowed a bottle of water in the exam room before (a.k.a. I thought that ripping off the label would be enough). Also, I had been taking the practice exams with a lot of water (I'm a runner, so I'm used to drinking at least 20 glasses of water a day, no joke). So it was kind of a rude awakening at the GMAT testing center, but I am very glad that I found out beforehand, so now I will take AAMC #10 with no water lol.

I actually decided to take the GMAT on a whim because I felt that I was never going to be at such an optimum critical reading level as now. I got my GMAT prep book in the mail this past Thursday, took their diagnostic exam, got above the magic level on this exam, signed up for today's GMAT that evening, and two days later, I scraped by the magic level by the skin of my teeth; so it was kind of a gift to me I guess. I'm thinking about burning those GMAT books in the fireplace.

 

[Segovia]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

For those who took it at the Toms River site, how was the noise level?

In response to the question about why I was shocked: I was rather shocked because I had not anticipated not being allowed a bottle of water in the exam room before (a.k.a. I thought that ripping off the label would be enough). Also, I had been taking the practice exams with a lot of water (I'm a runner, so I'm used to drinking at least 20 glasses of water a day, no joke). So it was kind of a rude awakening at the GMAT testing center, but I am very glad that I found out beforehand, so now I will take AAMC #10 with no water lol.

I actually decided to take the GMAT on a whim because I felt that I was never going to be at such an optimum critical reading level as now. I got my GMAT prep book in the mail this past Thursday, took their diagnostic exam, got above the magic level on this exam, signed up for today's GMAT that evening, and two days later, I scraped by the magic level by the skin of my teeth; so it was kind of a gift to me I guess. I'm thinking about burning those GMAT books in the fireplace.

Good idea. I almost took the PCAT after taking the MCAT just in case I lost my mojo and I wanted to hit both if I wasn't going MD. I got the score I wanted on the MCAT though, so I just said screw it. How is the transition from GMAT >>> MCAT? I imagine that is much more difficult than going MCAT >>> PCAT.

 

[napoleon56765]

Well I have been studying for the MCAT since middle of June (I am scheduled to take the real thing on 8/14 in Toms River), so I had built up my verbal passage skills to as high as they are going to get. This correlates well to 2 of the 3 parts of the Verbal section on the GMAT (notably, the reading comprehension, which are just passages and questions like the MCAT verbal; and critical reasoning, which asks you to find assumptions and strengthen and weaken arguments; the 3rd part of the verbal section on the GMAT is sentence corrections, which I was naturally good at, being an immigrant and all and thus learning English the "proper" way lol no offense to anyone).

There was not a lot of correlation between the GMAT and the MCAT math section, but the speed that I have developed working with scientific notations definitely did not hurt. Also, I think that it was more that I was just in the test taking mode. I knew that after the MCAT, any motivation to study for more standardized exams would be drowned in a big pint of Sam Adams.

 

[napoleon56765]

By the way, are PCAT scores required for entrance into pharmacy schools now? I know that I did not take them when I entered pharmacy school four years ago. Is it just for some pharmacy schools?

 

[Segovia]

By the way, are PCAT scores required for entrance into pharmacy schools now? I know that I did not take them when I entered pharmacy school four years ago. Is it just for some pharmacy schools?

Some require PCAT, but some don't. In Cali for instance, most do not require the PCAT, but like 98% of the people that get accepted in Cali have Bachelor's degrees or higher. It's definitely not as universal as the MCAT requirement for medical school.

I think there is an increasing movement towards schools requiring a Bachelor's for entrance into PharmD, but you could probably answer that better. I guess it's just so competitive because of all the $bank$ you guys make👍 I think the median gross for a PharmD in CA is something like 115K😎

You're right about the scientific notation; I had to use that on about 4 different questions on the PS for my recent MCAT. I ended up finishing that section about 20 minutes early, and math speed was the reason. Good Luck on your test

 

[mike911]

Hey i took my test in toms river, NJ. No you cannot bring anything in the room with you but they do give you lockers. The guys working there are pretty cool. The noise level was fine but the building was pretty crappy... SUCKED trying to find it! Good luck.

 

[0Member0]

Does anyone know if the computer monitors are flat screens or the big-fat old ones at the Toms River site? Flat screens are so much better.

 

[napoleon56765]

I believe that they were the fat old ones. But I couldn't complain about the screen at all; no blinking or anything like that, though it was set really close to your face, which took a little getting used to.

I would heavily advise that you try to take the exam elsewhere if you can though, because the chairs were so squeaky and people were running around upstairs. Can you imagine taking the exam with the chair of the person next to you and behind you continously squeaking? It almost drove me crazy lol.

 

[mike911]

Toms river SUCKED! First off, it was a hassle just to find the damn place considering the changed the name on the billboard. The computers are AWFUL and are so old. The mouse sucked as well. Don't take here if you can help it.