May 2014 MCATers United

[TheAnonymous]

All 2014 MCATers, please unite!

Regardless of when in May you are planning to take the MCAT, let's all join this thread to keep each other informed about our progress, motivate each other, share FL scores, and to answer each other's questions.

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[Uniqueusername814]

Goin into battle tomorrow!!!

I know this is May MCATers but y'all are my homies lol

Good luck!!

 

[dutchie000]

Can we just get our scores back now...?

 

[Glycereine]

I decided not to... Not worth spending all the money if the score is terrible. I think submitting it in early July would still be considered early if the score is good

Unless you aren't going to retake the MCAT this year and still apply, I'd recommend submitting now to 1 school so that you get verified. Later in the cycle it can take almost a month to get transcripts verified.

Up to you though and some schools look at it differently.

 

[TheAnonymous]

I have found at least 6 incorrect questions up to this point but due to a very low expected verbal score I am not thinking about the score and I'm not stressing out or looking forward to it... I know I have to retake for sure and don't care about this score AT ALL ... I'm busy with full-time work and other stuff... I have to start studying soon

 

[dutchie000]

Unless you aren't going to retake the MCAT this year and still apply, I'd recommend submitting now to 1 school so that you get verified. Later in the cycle it can take almost a month to get transcripts verified.

Up to you though and some schools look at it differently.

Hmmm... I only want to retake if it's terrible. I'm applying to DO schools only. Do you think it would really be that bad to send it in beginning of July? I'm just scared I'll get a 19 or something and be rejected right off the bat

 

[sps27]

Goin into battle tomorrow!!! I know this is May MCATers but y'all are my homies lol

Good luck bro! I have a feeling you will get a pretty normal test. It seems to come and go in cycles, a hard one, followed by 2 easy ones, then a hard one......hormonal imbalance of AAMC.....u know.. And I agree with you. I kind of don't want to leave this group even though I am taking in July..........the usernames are so familiar by now......I also think most of you will be splendidly surprised come result day, although it doesn't appear that way right now to most...... U just never know.......

 

[TheAnonymous]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

 

[23premes]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

I stopped. I'm just gonna wait until June 10th lol

 

[TheAnonymous]

I stopped. I'm just gonna wait until June 10th lol

man lucky you I have to retake and I better start studying..

decided to start tomorrow with at least 3 VR passages a day

 

[Dreams01]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

Im having a hard time deciding how to do VR for the next 2.5 months man which is making it harder to start!
It seems like the section that wont improve even with tons of practice. Are you going to start including external reading in there etc. or just iron out more passages? :S

 

[23premes]

man lucky you I have to retake and I better start studying..

decided to start tomorrow with at least 3 VR passages a day

I may or May not have to retake but I've decided to postpone my application so I'm not too worried. If rather have everything ready 100 percent

 

[TheAnonymous]

Hey guys What do you guys predict is your lowest possible score and highest possible score after taking the May 31st MCAT? I think it will be cool to see what we predicted and what we actually got.

Predicted lowest : 9/9/12

Predicted highest: 11/11/14

It's really hard to estimate due to my verbal score being all over the place but if I were to estimate I would probably say

(11/6/12) +/- 2

 

[Glycereine]

Hmmm... I only want to retake if it's terrible. I'm applying to DO schools only. Do you think it would really be that bad to send it in beginning of July? I'm just scared I'll get a 19 or something and be rejected right off the bat

I'm not the best to answer this but I can answer the timeline question in that last years July and August submitters are the ones that took nearly a month to verify.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dutchie000]

I'm not the best to answer this but I can answer the timeline question in that last years July and August submitters are the ones that took nearly a month to verify.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I'll submit as soon as possible. I may not even be able to submit until july because I need to get my study abroad transcripts verified and then sent to AACOMAS (im only applying DO)

 

[JazD]

My feelings about Verbal just keeps getting worse and worse..I feel like I did the worst on Verbal..and I was scoring 9's and 10's on practices and the highest I ever got was an 11. I just hope I was able to make atleast an 8.

 

[Glycereine]

Yeah I'll submit as soon as possible. I may not even be able to submit until july because I need to get my study abroad transcripts verified and then sent to AACOMAS (im only applying DO)

Man you just sent that twice and it still didn't dawn in me. I was talking AMCAS times. Will see if I can find AACOMAS but my guess is they might be a little better.


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[singads]

I decided not to... Not worth spending all the money if the score is terrible. I think submitting it in early July would still be considered early if the score is good

Ya but you can submit your app with just one school to get it into verification process and then add other schools later. I think that is what I am going to do.

 

[nystin]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

Its always hard. When is sitting around for hours all day...while everyone is at the pools enjoying the weather.... ... I have been grinding it out, plus taking the Kaplan course...the future looks bleek. Sigh.

 

[The quiet one.]

It's really hard to estimate due to my verbal score being all over the place but if I were to estimate I would probably say

(11/6/12) +/- 2

I think you're setting yourself up to be pleasantly surprised. Got my fingers crossed for you to have a better verbal score than you think.

 

[Uniqueusername814]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

I think I'm going to start next week. I still feel really stressed out... so I figure 1 week of detox and then a day to reorganize and then back to it... even though I don't know when I'm taking it.

 

[Glycereine]

Yeah I'll submit as soon as possible. I may not even be able to submit until july because I need to get my study abroad transcripts verified and then sent to AACOMAS (im only applying DO)

Man you just sent that twice and it still didn't dawn in me. I was talking AMCAS times. Will see if I can find AACOMAS but my guess is they might be a little better.

Looking at AACOMAS threads and website, their verification times are actually potentially longer with a peak in July and August of near 6 weeks. So I wouldn't delay too much. I know you said you're going to when you can, just didn't want to follow up since I said I would try to check into it.

best of luck!

 

[winterwind_23]

For the 5/31 MCATers:

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but I keep thinking back to the first passage in verbal. I don't think the passage itself was too difficult to understand, but the questions had really ambiguous and/or arguable answers choices...Anyone else agree with me? I think that passage was definitely the hardest in the verbal section and threw off the whole section for me, especially since I came back late from my break and rushed to start it as soon as I sat down.

 

[dutchie000]

Looking at AACOMAS threads and website, their verification times are actually potentially longer with a peak in July and August of near 6 weeks. So I wouldn't delay too much. I know you said you're going to when you can, just didn't want to follow up since I said I would try to check into it.

best of luck!

Thanks!! Lol I'm not even sure if I'll be able to submit by the end of the month thanks to trying to get my transcripts from Ecuador. If ANY of you need to get study abroad transcripts sent in I recommend looking into it now. I have to get them sent to a place to get them evaluated, then they send them to AACOMAS and of course I messed up yesterday and ordered 2 copies sent to myself rather than one to AACOMAS and one to myself. A $255 mistake grrrr.

 

[desdes]

For the 5/31 MCATers:

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but I keep thinking back to the first passage in verbal. I don't think the passage itself was too difficult to understand, but the questions had really ambiguous and/or arguable answers choices...Anyone else agree with me? I think that passage was definitely the hardest in the verbal section and threw off the whole section for me, especially since I came back late from my break and rushed to start it as soon as I sat down.

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

I am taking a week break but already signed to retake in case

 

[starlite911]

anyone else having hard time deciding to start studying again?? It seems like all I'm doing is wasting precious time

I took May 22 and have started back up with 2 verbal passages a day. I'm probably going to start back up with some science passages starting this weekend. Are you doing anything differently this time around?

 

[singads]

For the 5/31 MCATers:

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but I keep thinking back to the first passage in verbal. I don't think the passage itself was too difficult to understand, but the questions had really ambiguous and/or arguable answers choices...Anyone else agree with me? I think that passage was definitely the hardest in the verbal section and threw off the whole section for me, especially since I came back late from my break and rushed to start it as soon as I sat down.

Agreed, the first passage was definitely the toughest one. I took about 10 minutes to get through the whole passage and answering questions. That threw off my timing completely.

 

[TheHikingLife]

Anyone else think that the post-MCAT angst of wondering how poorly we did and if it is going to stop us from getting into medical school is worse than the pre-test jitters?

 

[nystin]

Anyone else think that the post-MCAT angst of wondering how poorly we did and if it is going to stop us from getting into medical school is worse than the pre-test jitters?

Feeling the angst right now.. I got up to study more and While I am reading my blood is boiling..and I just wanna throw everything out the window. Super frustrated.

 

[Dreams01]

Agreed, the first passage was definitely the toughest one. I took about 10 minutes to get through the whole passage and answering questions. That threw off my timing completely.

Wow I am so happy I was not the only one who thought so :O !
I took exactly 10 mins on this too, and everything went down hill afterwards. The passages were all such easy reads! I was so happy there weren't passages around philosophy or classic English...but my plan of reading slow and answering fast BACKFIRED hard on this because I was torn picking an answer at every question I remember thinking you don't get this lucky of having all interesting, understandable, readable passages and then I blew it.
Now I'm aimless at how to practice VR now for my retake.

 

[sps27]

Thanks!! Lol I'm not even sure if I'll be able to submit by the end of the month thanks to trying to get my transcripts from Ecuador. If ANY of you need to get study abroad transcripts sent in I recommend looking into it now. I have to get them sent to a place to get them evaluated, then they send them to AACOMAS and of course I messed up yesterday and ordered 2 copies sent to myself rather than one to AACOMAS and one to myself. A $255 mistake grrrr.

I have a Bachelors in engg from another country. I am pretty sure I read in the application manual that AMCAS does not honor transcripts verified by third parties like WES etc. So even though my application mentions bachelors from another country, the AMCAS person I spoke to on the phone told me to select 'no transcripts' option for that entry. I talked to my advisor (in the med school where I work) on this subject and he advised me to have the transcripts verified by WES or other body regardless of what AMCAS says. He told me that some colleges may ask for it as supplemental / supporting materials to the original application. Anyways, just wanted to let u know. I did all of this mumbo jumbo last year. I did my PS, other experiences write up etc., and also got my transcripts (from US schools) verified by AMCAS last year but never applied as I was horribly under prepared to tackle this exam.

 

[winterwind_23]

Wow I am so happy I was not the only one who thought so :O !
I took exactly 10 mins on this too, and everything went down hill afterwards. The passages were all such easy reads! I was so happy there weren't passages around philosophy or classic English...but my plan of reading slow and answering fast BACKFIRED hard on this because I was torn picking an answer at every question I remember thinking you don't get this lucky of having all interesting, understandable, readable passages and then I blew it.
Now I'm aimless at how to practice VR now for my retake.

I read the first passage once, answered maybe half of the questions, and had to re-read the passage even more carefully the second time. It definitely ate up a lot of my time.

What was your average VR score on the AAMC practice tests?

 

[JazD]

I read the first passage once, answered maybe half of the questions, and had to re-read the passage even more carefully the second time. It definitely ate up a lot of my time.

What was your average VR score on the AAMC practice tests?

I just remember having to reread atleast 3 passages! I didn't run out of time because I made sure to answer each question but it never took me so long to read a verbal passage and answer questions. I feel like the writers amped up the difficulty on this verbal. Without a doubt. I'm nervous about each section for different reasons but verbal has me at my witts end right about now.

 

[winterwind_23]

I just remember having to reread atleast 3 passages! I didn't run out of time because I made sure to answer each question but it never took me so long to read a verbal passage and answer questions. I feel like the writers amped up the difficulty on this verbal. Without a doubt. I'm nervous about each section for different reasons but verbal has me at my witts end right about now.

I guess we're in the same boat. I just remember having the most trouble with the first passage. I think the other passages were on par with other AAMC practice tests though. Oh well, I guess there's not much we can do at this point!

 

[dutchie000]

I have a Bachelors in engg from another country. I am pretty sure I read in the application manual that AMCAS does not honor transcripts verified by third parties like WES etc. So even though my application mentions bachelors from another country, the AMCAS person I spoke to on the phone told me to select 'no transcripts' option for that entry. I talked to my advisor (in the med school where I work) on this subject and he advised me to have the transcripts verified by WES or other body regardless of what AMCAS says. He told me that some colleges may ask for it as supplemental / supporting materials to the original application. Anyways, just wanted to let u know. I did all of this mumbo jumbo last year. I did my PS, other experiences write up etc., and also got my transcripts (from US schools) verified by AMCAS last year but never applied as I was horribly under prepared to tackle this exam.

Yeah I'm using WES because AACOMAS requires us to. I wish I could just have it sent straight from the school to AACOMAS instead of blowing $300 more on this. Applications are expensive as it is. Good thing I'm working like a crazy woman this week and next week. Such a huge waste of time too and I'm thinking about just paying another $30 to have the copy sent to AACOMAS since I messed it up. Got all my other transcripts sent now to just fine tune my PS and write explanations of my ECs.

As far as the dang MCAT gonna start studying again next week. This time taking more "me" time, focusing more on practice with discretes to tackle my weaknesses in PS and gen chem, and do passages from TBR/TPRH to prepare for ridiculousness, and using the GS exams.

Did anyone do sn2ed for the May 31st exam? Did you feel prepared?

 

[sps27]

......................Did anyone do sn2ed for the May 31st exam? Did you feel prepared?

No, I did not do SN2ed. Its just not possible with a full time job.....

 

[TheAnonymous]

I took May 22 and have started back up with 2 verbal passages a day. I'm probably going to start back up with some science passages starting this weekend. Are you doing anything differently this time around?

Just doing more verbal passages and hopefully finish TBR for PS and TPR for BS

 

[TheAnonymous]

I think you're setting yourself up to be pleasantly surprised. Got my fingers crossed for you to have a better verbal score than you think.

Thanks man, many thanks

 

[Uniqueusername814]

Goin into battle tomorrow!!!

I know this is May MCATers but y'all are my homies lol

GOOD LUCK!! LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES I'm sure you did well

 

[singads]

Wow I am so happy I was not the only one who thought so :O !
I took exactly 10 mins on this too, and everything went down hill afterwards. The passages were all such easy reads! I was so happy there weren't passages around philosophy or classic English...but my plan of reading slow and answering fast BACKFIRED hard on this because I was torn picking an answer at every question I remember thinking you don't get this lucky of having all interesting, understandable, readable passages and then I blew it.
Now I'm aimless at how to practice VR now for my retake.

Ya the other passages werent hard read but the questions were tricky. For sure messed on those. The last two passages were interesting and rather easy. Hopefully I got those right.

 

[dutchie000]

No, I did not do SN2ed. Its just not possible with a full time job.....

I feel ya, I tried to with my full time job and it was extremely difficult

 

[TheHikingLife]

I just remember having to reread atleast 3 passages! I didn't run out of time because I made sure to answer each question but it never took me so long to read a verbal passage and answer questions. I feel like the writers amped up the difficulty on this verbal. Without a doubt. I'm nervous about each section for different reasons but verbal has me at my witts end right about now.

I feel like the section that you go in feeling the most unsure about is the one that haunts you the most afterwards. I am sure I made tons of stupid mistakes in the other two sections, but I can't stop thinking about all the easy questions I missed in BS because that was always the section I felt most unsure about.

 

[sps27]

In your 5/31 exam for Verbal, did you get an even spread of questions (5 to 6) on passages OR did you get more questions (8 etc.,) on some passages and few on others? Did you guys scan for that sort of thing? EK 101 verbal sometimes has 4 questions on a passage and the very last one sometimes has 8 questions.....that's why i am asking....

 

[gonnamakeit13]

How's everyone doing? Has any of the May 31st examinees decided to retake the exam?

 

[TheAnonymous]

How's everyone doing? Has any of the May 31st examinees decided to retake the exam?

Yeah but no spots available..

I hate to say it but as time passes by im.forgetting the ****ty feeling and all the mistakes i made and starting to feel like it might have not been THAT bad... But then i remember all the guesses and etc....

Fml

 

[gonnamakeit13]

Yeah but no spots available..

I hate to say it but as time passes by im.forgetting the ****** feeling and all the mistakes i made and starting to feel like it might have not been THAT bad... But then i remember all the guesses and etc....

Fml

Initially I was pretty confident about the exam and felt I actually did well. However,as days are passing I also started having the same thoughts as u.I do recall that I guessed in more than one passage in physics,biology I have mixed feeling,and verbal was never my forte.Overall the exam went down hill for me. My practice test scores weren't as great as most of u guys so I can't even confidently say that I will do great even with a hard test.Unless there is an extremely lenient curve,I don't see myself scoring a 30 and w/o a 30 I can pretty much kiss goodbye to any hopes of getting in to a MD school.

When do plan on retaking,if spots open up?

 

[TheAnonymous]

Initially I was pretty confident about the exam and felt I actually did well. However,as days are passing I also started having the same thoughts as u.I do recall that I guessed in more than one passage in physics,biology I have mixed feeling,and verbal was never my forte.Overall the exam went down hill for me. My practice test scores weren't as great as most of u guys so I can't even confidently say that I will do great even with a hard test.Unless there is an extremely lenient curve,I don't see myself scoring a 30 and w/o a 30 I can pretty much kiss goodbye to any hopes of getting in to a MD school.

When do plan on retaking,if spots open up?

Even if I end up with a 30 there is noooooo ****ing way I get an 8 or higher on VR so pretty much its kiss goodbye for me already !

August i think... Im working full time cant even studyy (

 

[gonnamakeit13]

Even if I end up with a 30 there is noooooo ******* way I get an 8 or higher on VR so pretty much its kiss goodbye for me already !

August i think... Im working full time cant even studyy (

Are u applying to high tier schools only? I am not sure but as far as I have heard a 30/30+ is good enough for a MD school unless they have special requirements like u mentioned an 8 or above on VR.

I am shooting for mid-to-late august :/

Last time I was lucky enough to solely focus on studying for the mcat,but if I retake it I won't have that opportunity again.I have started working full-time and it is extremely tiringggg. So,I totally understand how u feel.

 

[TheAnonymous]

Are u applying to high tier schools only? I am not sure but as far as I have heard a 30/30+ is good enough for a MD school unless they have special requirements like u mentioned an 8 or above on VR.

I am shooting for mid-to-late august :/

Last time I was lucky enough to solely focus on studying for the mcat,but if I retake it I won't have that opportunity again.I have started working full-time and it is extremely tiringggg. So,I totally understand how u feel.

So we are on the same boat ! 9-5 job + working on the personal satement (it's still blank as of now) + contacting referees ... and finding time to study

I totally agree, last time was so good, I had no other major obligations at least the last month - but hey we can't do anything

I'm not a US resident so the cut off for us is waaaay higher .... and we only apply to a number of schools

 

[gonnamakeit13]

So we are on the same boat ! 9-5 job + working on the personal satement (it's still blank as of now) + contacting referees ... and finding time to study

I totally agree, last time was so good, I had no other major obligations at least the last month - but hey we can't do anything

I'm not a US resident so the cut off for us is waaaay higher .... and we only apply to a number of schools

Gotcha!Hopefully come July 2nd we all get decent score and won't have to repeat.On the flip side,repeating won't be the end of the world if we don't get the scores we desire. Maybe 2nd time is the charm,haha!

 

[JazD]

Gotcha!Hopefully come July 2nd we all get decent score and won't have to repeat.On the flip side,repeating won't be the end of the world if we don't get the scores we desire. Maybe 2nd time is the charm,haha!

I feel like you. I was remembering specific questions I had to guess on and it just made everything worse. I didn't even bother checking the answers to them either because that would be more torture lol. This was my 2nd time taking the mcat. Completely blew the first one I took in 2012, didn't really know what kind of monster I was dealing with and didn't study the right way. Had bought some kaplan flash cards and borrowed a prep book (showed u how to think your way through answers) and thought that was efficient. Well I ended up getting a 14. To make matters worse, my undergrad was very inadequate when it came to pre med students so it was like the blind leading the blind when it came to anything pre med. After graduating and finding real resources and mentors, I was able to find my way here and to a plethora of study plans and tips with books and all. So this time around I came as prepared as I could get. Studied for about 4 months total, and hopefully I'll see it pay off come July 1st.