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- Sep 12, 2015
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I haven't seen a thread for August yet so I thought I'd start one!
How is everyone's study schedule looking?
How is everyone's study schedule looking?
You're somewhat correct in your thinking in that nonpolar amino acids will tend to interact with other nonpolar amino acids, polar will interact with polar, and charged will interact with charged - but you're not going to find a biological system or physical system where a positive charge will choose to interact with another positive charge instead of a negative charge. Like charges always repel, opposite charges always attract.Hey guys!! I have a quick question about this and would really appreciate if someone can help me.
1) Which amino acid is LEAST likely to associate with lysine in the active site of an enzyme?
A) D
B) E
C) S
D) R
Answer: D
"Both Aspartic acid (D) and glutamic acid (E) are negatively charged at physiological pH, so they would be very likely to associate with a positively charged lysine residue. Because the question asks for the amino acid LEAST likely to associate with lysine, A and B must be eliminated. Serine (S) is a polar amino acid, so it too is likely to associate with a positively charged lysine, eliminating Answer C. Finally, arginine (R) is positively charged at physiological pH. Therefore it would be repelled by the positively charged lysine, making Answer D the correct choice."
2) The amino acids Asp6, Asn9, Thr10, His11, and Arg27 are found near the ADP binding site of PanK3. Which two amino acids contribute to the stabilization of ADP binding described in the passage?
1) Asn9 and Thr10
2) His11 and Arg27
3) Asp6 and Arg27
4) Asp6 and His11
Answer: B
"The answer is B because both His and Arg side chains can carry a positive charge. They would have favorable ionic interactions with the negatively charged phosphates of ADP.
So I always thought that amino acids are likely to interact with SIMILAR amino acids (acidic with acidic, basic with basic, etc.) I thought this was a general rule of thumb until I got both of these questions wrong.
2) The amino acids Asp6, Asn9, Thr10, His11, and Arg27 are found near the ADP binding site of PanK3. Which two amino acids contribute to the stabilization of ADP binding described in the passage?
1) Asn9 and Thr10
2) His11 and Arg27
3) Asp6 and Arg27
4) Asp6 and His11
Answer: B
"The answer is B because both His and Arg side chains can carry a positive charge. They would have favorable ionic interactions with the negatively charged phosphates of ADP.
OMG I thought it was just me! It was AWFUL! I thought CARS wasn't too bad, but I also got a passage about a certain skill that I actually have...so I breezed through those particular questions.And now we wait...
I can only hope the C/P section I took has a very generous curve. It was brutal!
I actually felt pretty good about all the sections except for C/P - it probably doesn't help that 1. it's the first section of the day, 2. it's always my worst section, and 3. I'm painfully slow at math. I still felt like there were a few really weird off-the-wall questions, plus a couple that were essentially just unit conversions, but were nightmare-length.OMG I thought it was just me! It was AWFUL! I thought CARS wasn't too bad, but I also got a passage about a certain skill that I actually have...so I breezed through those particular questions.
Yea I tested today and felt that too. Psych was harder than usual as well...hopefully the curve for CARS is still good!Anybody else take the test today? Felt like I had 8 section bank type passages for B/B section. Cars is my weakest section but felt it was easier than usual
I felt like the Psych you could narrow it down to 2 answers but both would make sense. At that point, it was picking the least wrong one. But I'm worried about B/B. Did you have trouble with it also ??Yea I tested today and felt that too. Psych was harder than usual as well...hopefully the curve for CARS is still good!
Anybody else take the test today? Felt like I had 8 section bank type passages for B/B section. Cars is my weakest section but felt it was easier than usual
Similar experience here, especially with CP. I guess there is so much they they can test on in all sections that it is virtually impossible to be fully prepared. Hard to think on the fly as well under exam pressure.I tested today. It was an interesting exam. The first half of CP felt kinda easy. Second half was more challenging and there was one passage that got real nasty. Was surprised at how many giveaway discretes there were.
CARS was not great. Just didn't like it much. Bio was tough but hit my content strengths. Felt really good about it until the end after hitting some pathway passages that were not a good time. PS I just don't know. Recognized all the terminology but the familiar stuff was presented in very weird ways. Heavy exp/study analysis. Wasn't easy.
Overall, it could've been worse andnit could've been better.
Just want to point out; the last few posters were hoping for a generous curve on specific sections of the test. The AAMC doesn't curve the MCAT grade. See the official website. Just saying.
Having said that, I also felt C/P was way harder than practice AAMC tests, as seems to be a consensus here.
Hopefully we did ok enough to be accepted to school. After that, chances are that no one will ever ask you for your MCAT score again, so it won't matter!
Yup, true! But that is all based on the past two years data, until May of this year. So it's not as sharp a "curve" as would be if all test takers this week or month would be taken into account as one group. I think we are agreeing in essence....The AAMC normalizes the scores (hence our receiving scaled scores as opposed to raw percentages) based on the performance of everyone who took a particular exam. AAMC's website refers to this as "equating."
Just want to point out; the last few posters were hoping for a generous curve on specific sections of the test. The AAMC doesn't curve the MCAT grade. See the official website. Just saying.
Having said that, I also felt C/P was way harder than practice AAMC tests, as seems to be a consensus here.
Hopefully we did ok enough to be accepted to school. After that, chances are that no one will ever ask you for your MCAT score again, so it won't matter!
They do not "curve" after test day, but they "scale and equate".
Actually, what that post is saying is that they do make adjustments to scores for people who sat for a particular test before their score is released. Their scaling does affect people who just took the test.I see your point. . I guess "scaling and equating" against a yearly cohort is almost the same as "curving" within each test batch.
But, it is almost the same perhaps, not exactly. Firstly, since the number of students in the "scaling and equating" cohort is 150,893 as per AMCAS, chances are there were quite a few students who got some more tricky C/P questions right, and the "curve" may turn out to be much less steep than it would have been considering only the cohort writing this week or month. That may be only a very minor difference though. Second, there is no correction for hard questions given this year until after next May, since all those questions deemed to be in the same categories as last two years will still be scored the same, until proven by us to be more difficult, so next years students will get the curve on those questions, not us.
They are saying that they adjust the weight of the questions so that everyone in a particular year will end up with an equally meaningful score, based on the data from before last May. While it is true that if you had an especially difficult test with many hard questions, those questions will weigh less, that is still not a "curve". First, it is not likely that your test was way harder than it currently was for everyone else, rather it is more likely that there small fluctuations in difficulty. Also, if more people tend to find a certain type of question harder this time around, they will only consider this data in the scoring for next year. They do adjust it before it is released, based on people who sat for it before last May. It is not very likely that more than a couple questions on C/P will weigh less because of scaling and equating. So if there was a lot of difficult encountered on C/P for example, I wouldn't bet on scaling and equating to save the day.Actually, what that post is saying is that they do make adjustments to scores for people who sat for a particular test before their score is released. Their scaling does affect people who just took the test.
Actually they never specify if they're only comparing the data to administrations prior to the beginning of the "new testing year". Additionally, if people find a particular type of question difficult, that question type might not be accounted for directly, but the corresponding drop in total scores across the board will be accounted for, which has the same end effect for testers. Finally, let's not nitpick about what the technical definition of a curve is, I think it's pretty clear what everyone means when they call it a curve - it's easier than typing out "scaling and equating" every time.They are saying that they adjust the weight of the questions so that everyone in a particular year will end up with an equally meaningful score, based on the data from before last May. While it is true that if you had an especially difficult test with many hard questions, those questions will weigh less, that is still not a "curve". First, it is not likely that your test was way harder than it currently was for everyone else, rather it is more likely that there small fluctuations in difficulty. Also, if more people tend to find a certain type of question harder this time around, they will only consider this data in the scoring for next year. They do adjust it before it is released, based on people who sat for it before last May. It is not very likely that more than a couple questions on C/P will weigh less because of scaling and equating. So if there was a lot of difficult encountered on C/P for example, I wouldn't bet on scaling and equating to save the day.
The AAMC normalizes the scores (hence our receiving scaled scores as opposed to raw percentages) based on the performance of everyone who took a particular exam. AAMC's website refers to this as "equating."
Similar experience here, especially with CP. I guess there is so much they they can test on in all sections that it is virtually impossible to be fully prepared. Hard to think on the fly as well under exam pressure.
Good luck all!
How was it? My B/B was tough - hope i make 125Will start preparing after my finals on May 3rd. I'm taking August 19. Good luck, y'all
I do not like this waiting game.
I'm embarressed to admit how many times I've mentally calculated my score and Or changed my mind about how I did.
Only the 5th? I'm stuck until the 19th. But best of luck to you and everyone here! May the scale be ever in your favor.Waiting for Sept 5th and bugging out lol
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More like, "Tomorrow you find out if doomsday happened four weeks ago"!Tomorrow is doomsday!
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I'm in the same boat. The days are slowly inching away towards the 19th and I don't know whether to feel excited or anxious...Only the 5th? I'm stuck until the 19th. But best of luck to you and everyone here! May the scale be ever in your favor.
Well, I just finished writing mine today, glad to have gotten that over with!
Based on how I felt and did on practice exams, I came out feeling like I scored 516 or so. I felt that phys/org was harder than on practice, and the rest was similar difficulty to AAMC practice exams.
Just for comparison, in case it might be helpful for anyone of you, my stats for practice are:
AAMC sample test (percentage score) July 6:
63%|87%|86%|81%
AAMC practice exam 1 (ranked score) July 19:
127|129|132|127 = 515
TPR demo test (free) (~ranked score~) July 27:
124|127|126|129 = 506
AAMC practice exam 2 (ranked score) August 9:
129|130|131|129 = 519
And now the real thing...... if it's 515 or above I'll be happy.
Good luck to all of us!
congrats!!!Update:
And now for my real scores. Just got them in right now.
August 11, 2017
130|129|132|130 = 521, 99th percentile
I am surprised, happy, and floored! Now the nervous wait for invitations.....
Good luck to you all!! I mean it!
Thank you, and wishing you the best for the 19th!congrats!!!