A Hodgepodge of MCAT Questions

[chicagodavid]

Hi All!

I am a new MCAT prepper and have been having trouble finding the answer to a hodgepodge of questions I have. It seems the test has changed a lot fairly recently, so I'm looking for some clarity.

Below are my questions:

1. Are there any trends in questions for a given passage on any of the sections. For example: Do all passages have the same number of questions? Is the first question after a passage easier than the second question and so on with the hardest questions for a question being asked last? Are the 15 “discrete questions” in the science sections evenly dispersed through each of the 10 science passages (I.e., a minimum of one and a maximum of two discrete science questions per passage)? Do these discrete questions pertain at all to the passage they follow or are they truly random? Is the difficulty of discrete questions completely and utterly random or do discrete questions grow more difficult the further they are in number from a passage or the further they are in a section? Do discrete questions vary wildly in difficulty or are they all about the same (presupposing you know the subject matter pertaining to the question, of course)? Do passages get harder over the course of a section, are they all about the same difficulty, or is their difficulty random with respect to their position in a section?
2. I’ve heard some people search out discrete questions to do first. Do you use this strategy?
3. Are the MCAT answer choices for a given section random or pseudorandom (i.e., have you ever actually seen 3 or 4 ‘A’ answers in a row, which should statistically happen at least once per test)?

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[JimKimSlim]

Hi All!

I am a new MCAT prepper and have been having trouble finding the answer to a hodgepodge of questions I have. It seems the test has changed a lot fairly recently, so I'm looking for some clarity.

Below are my questions:

1. Are there any trends in questions for a given passage on any of the sections. For example: Do all passages have the same number of questions? Is the first question after a passage easier than the second question and so on with the hardest questions for a question being asked last? Are the 15 “discrete questions” in the science sections evenly dispersed through each of the 10 science passages (I.e., a minimum of one and a maximum of two discrete science questions per passage)? Do these discrete questions pertain at all to the passage they follow or are they truly random? Is the difficulty of discrete questions completely and utterly random or do discrete questions grow more difficult the further they are in number from a passage or the further they are in a section? Do discrete questions vary wildly in difficulty or are they all about the same (presupposing you know the subject matter pertaining to the question, of course)? Do passages get harder over the course of a section, are they all about the same difficulty, or is their difficulty random with respect to their position in a section?
2. I’ve heard some people search out discrete questions to do first. Do you use this strategy?
3. Are the MCAT answer choices for a given section random or pseudorandom (i.e., have you ever actually seen 3 or 4 ‘A’ answers in a row, which should statistically happen at least once per test)?

1. Are there any trends in questions for a given passage on any of the sections. For example: Do all passages have the same number of questions? No. Is the first question after a passage easier than the second question and so on with the hardest questions for a question being asked last? Usually, similar to how SAT is structured. Are the 15 “discrete questions” in the science sections evenly dispersed through each of the 10 science passages (I.e., a minimum of one and a maximum of two discrete science questions per passage)? I’d say 3 discrete questions after two or three passages. Do these discrete questions pertain at all to the passage they follow or are they truly random? No. Is the difficulty of discrete questions completely and utterly random or do discrete questions grow more difficult the further they are in number from a passage or the further they are in a section? They’re somewhat random but I noticed that the discrete problems do get harder later on. Do discrete questions vary wildly in difficulty or are they all about the same (presupposing you know the subject matter pertaining to the question, of course)? Some are easy, some are hard, so it’s random. Do passages get harder over the course of a section, are they all about the same difficulty, or is their difficulty random with respect to their position in a section? I thought the passages were about the same in terms of difficulty.
2. I’ve heard some people search out discrete questions to do first. Do you use this strategy? I’d say do sample tests first and then use discrete to patch up your content gap.
3. Are the MCAT answer choices for a given section random or pseudorandom (i.e., have you ever actually seen 3 or 4 ‘A’ answers in a row, which should statistically happen at least once per test)? I haven’t seen 4 straight A’s in a row before, so yes it’s likely random.

 

[chicagodavid]

Awesome, thanks!

In terms of my second question though, I'm a bit unclear. When you take the test, do you find most people jump to the discrete questions first, or do they go in the order of the test questions and handle the discrete ones as they come.

 

[JimKimSlim]

Awesome, thanks!

In terms of my second question though, I'm a bit unclear. When you take the test, do you find most people jump to the discrete questions first, or do they go in the order of the test questions and handle the discrete ones as they come.

they go in the order of the test questions and handle the discrete ones as they come