whats so hard about the new biology discretes?

[getsome111]

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I've read quite a few posts lately by people who have done well on the aamc practice BS tests(~14) and then saw their score tank on the real thing. They usually attribute it to the unexpected difficulty of the discretes(non passage based questions). So.. whats so tough about them? Is it that they are incredibly time consuming? or do they just require an excessive level of in depth memorization?

 

[madmuttal]

It can be quite obscure and it's very tough to prepare for them...best you can do go over every single topic in aamc outline and everything (i mean everything, not just reading passively but to test yourself and actively read up online or text books on the topics you may be weak in)...I would spend days going over them.....

 

[Sean Lee]

On the March 22nd exam, there was a BS discrete question that hits so below the belt that I had to see my urologist afterwards.

That question required random recall of minute details that is absurd.

But having said that, the rest of the discrete questions were quite fair. The biology passages on March 22nd were very difficult.

If you go to the March 22nd thread, you'll see what I mean.

 

[mrh125]

^That. Discretes can be little cheap questions on material that you didn't think of covering, but still somehow manages to match the subject matter, super detailed info that is easy if you know it but absolutely hell on earth if you don't, and questions that are absolute hellish if you don't think about them the way the test writers want them. Expect the unexpected and prepare yourself accordingly.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Don't worry about it. While there may be some tiny kernel of truth to things like this, the reality is that the MCAT hasn't changed in years, and if you're taking it any time before Mar 2015, your MCAT on your Test Day will be the same as everyone else's for the past 8 years.

These sorts of rumors crop up in online forums all the time. Several years back, everyone was flipping out and absolutely insisting that verbal passages were like 50% longer than the AAMC practice tests:

People also constantly assert that the bio sci section has way more organic lately, or way less organic lately, etc:

So there were a few (and I mean literally one or two) really tricky bio discrete questions. Suddenly the rumor is "all bio discretes are impossible! you must know all minutia!"

Seriously, the online rumor mill will kill you if you take it seriously.

One of the reasons ExamKrackers books didn't change from 2007 to 2013 and yet were still some of the best, simplest, and most utilitarian books on the market was simply b/c the MCAT hasn't changed since it went computer. Other than ditching the stupid essay, an MCAT administered in 2009 is basically the same as one in 2014.

Good luck! 🙂