{OFFICIAL} August 9th MCAT Thoughts?

[jzeidenb]

good luck to the rest of you guys. I played a poker tournament this morning, am watching bad news bears right now, going out to hibatchi for dinner and watching the Yankees kick ass before bed.

I wish I had more time to practice verbal but I'm gonna go in there tomorrow and give it my effin best because that's all I can do.

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[THX]

My version was more of a reasoning test than anything. But I would have spent slightly more time on PS, as I was a bit shaky on some of the principles that came up.

 

[J ROD]

Ok, I will do the obligatory question.

Did the MCAT today reflect any of the practice tests out there (kaplan, AAMC) or did it just feel different?

Thank you, now continue with your regularly scheduled MCAT thoughts!

 

[TRuSchool]

that BS section was 80% reasoning 20% outside knowledge of content..you had to fully understand those passages to answer those questions.

 

[BitingPlates]

Talk about walking out of the test center feeling like crap, I will pray that some of the guesses were good ones.

 

[Enginerds]

I'm with everyone on the calculations on the PS section. Very time consuming, about half way through I decided to go straight to the questions rather than reading the passages and breezed through the 2nd half of the PS. I actually got to use the right hand rule! haha

The verbal seemed ok, nothing too crazy. As everyone said, the one passage about oral history had some pretty confusing questions.

BS actually seemed pretty good to me. Very little O-chem. The hardest passage was the cell cycle one, and that didn't seem to bad except for 1 of the questions. I'm sure I made some bone head mistakes somewhere but we will see when it comes back.

This was a retake for me. Took it May 31, and this seemed much less difficult than that one. Took the May 31st one in San Diego and took this one in Gardena, CA. The Gardena test center sucked. Ancient computer monitors, really rude old lady who administered test. She was a Nazi about the break, as if the test was going to start if I wasn't in my seat by the end of the 10 minute break.

 

[jzeidenb]

Buju we had the same exam. My ps section had hardly any calculations, I used barely an of the scrap paper the whole test

 

[sistahnik]

Helllllloooo everyone!! OMG!!
That P.S. was no joke to me at all. I can't believe those darn calculations?!?! I feel that the verbal was very humanities heavy so that was cool. I won't even think about those scores b/c I have no idea how I did and I even tried guessing on how I think I did. No can do! I'm just glad that it's over and I can just concentrate on my classes now. Relax guys and enjoy the semi-freedom.

 

[PreMD86]

I took the July 24th exam as well as today's exam, and here is my take: Today's exam was 1000x easier than July 24th. I left feeling like it was extremely fair- no curveballs, and pretty balanced in terms of topics

PS- Bucminster (C60), d-orbital transition, heart diffibrilator, box sliding down ramp, capacitors connected by wire with external magnetic field. Really no curve balls- left feeling extremely confident. Very little knowledge of outside info needed, and much more about being able to interpret the passage.

VR- def harder and longer than AAMC practice. I took the July 24th on no sleep, and still felt like the verbal was easier on the 24th.
Passages were about pesticide toxicity, comparing the resource and environmental impact of europeans vs. indians, conservative vs liberal attitudes towards socials change.

BS- MUCH, MUCH easier than 24th. Really a breath of fresh air- everything was straight forward and really no odd Q's.
I had 3 orgo passages- esterification, something about mono-acid vs. di-acid, and one about saponification. all really easy.
Bio- synapsin and how it works to inhibit acth release, immune system and how it operates, molecular genetics- something about labeling a protein to and seeing where it is in the cell.

Honestly, one of the fairest exams I could've ever expected AAMC to come up with. Good luck to everyone!

 

[buju]

Buju we had the same exam. My ps section had hardly any calculations, I used barely an of the scrap paper the whole test

So how did you find this PS section, I thought it was much harder than any practice test. Hardly had any time to finish. Rushed with the last discrete about electric potentials and knew i got it wrong later.

 

[stardoodler]

So I was thinking... It seems that there are many retakers on this test date (evidenced by these boards and general logic). Do you think that hurts the curve in the end? One would assume most retakers are probably better prepared and are going to do better in general this time around. Do you think this inflates the mean overall? fyi, this was my first mcat.

 

[PreMD86]

If there are indeed many retakers, then yes, I would say first time takers would get the raw end of the deal.
I studied for this test to get it done in one try. In hindsight, I should've shelled the $210 and taken a real MCAT for practice. No AAMC practice tests will ever prepare you for the real thing- not in terms of content and def. not in terms of the stress and feel of the exam.

 

[jzeidenb]

So how did you find this PS section, I thought it was much harder than any practice test. Hardly had any time to finish. Rushed with the last discrete about electric potentials and knew i got it wrong later.

I thought the ps was fair. I remebr thelast batch of discretes were tough, but I don't remeber struggling on any one passage

 

[olemissbabydoc]

wow.. sounds like the afternoon one was harder than morning. good luck ecveryone!!

 

[Traign]

to answer the question did today's test feel like the practices, I would say definitely. Except maybe with calculations in PS. CBT 8 was probably the best example of today's test. However, I never encountered so many calculations on any of the practices like maybe 5 max in the entire PS section but with today's PS i encountered 4 or 5 within the first three passages. Could I have studied the concepts more, no way. I knew that stuff cold. Could I have practiced heavy calculations more to be quicker then definitely yes. The amount of calculations was really unexpected and left me panicked having to go through the second half just reading the questions and not looking at the passages.

 

[J ROD]

If there are indeed many retakers, then yes, I would say first time takers would get the raw end of the deal.
I studied for this test to get it done in one try. In hindsight, I should've shelled the $210 and taken a real MCAT for practice. No AAMC practice tests will ever prepare you for the real thing- not in terms of content and def. not in terms of the stress and feel of the exam.

Exactly, why I am taking it now so that next year if I need it I will have seen the real deal and know what to expect. I always do much better the second time around.

 

[umean2tellme]

I finished my exam in about 4 hours, but I think I left with an aneurysm.

PS: My weakest subject but I feel like this was the easiest section on the test. It was pretty light and I felt pretty good starting off the test on a good note.

VR: Where it all started to go bad was here. Other than like 1 passage they were all extremely difficult to get through and still retain any idea of what the author said. And for that section i only had like 4 min after going through everything, with a couple to go back and answer, so I was pretty pressed for time on this section. I'm a first timer and never got higher than 8 on a vr section in practice so that section is definitely no good for me.

The writing wasn't too bad. The topics were ok. One I knocked out 5 paragraphs with like 10 min to spare and the other took a little longer but I think i answered the prompt fairly well.

BS: Usually my best subject (bio minor) but the biology part of it was hard. I had so many questions about immunology. I actually failed orgo 2 and barely passed orgo 1 and it seems that the organic chem parts were a lot easier to understand. I wish they would let you pick what order you do the test in, so I could've done BS first and had the energy to tackle my best subject.

 

[ag0205]

Well here are my thoughts. Please keep in mind this was my first MCAT, but here it goes

PS: Caught me off guard a little, a lil more application than I expected. Finished in time though. Heavy general chem, which bothered me a lil since I studied physics heavily, with it being my weakest subject.

VR: Pretty good, except for one which I just guessed mostly.

BS: A lot tougher than any other subject, a lot of application, but not too bad with organic, thank god.

Writing: Not a problem.

So for the first go around, not too bad. Wish I would have spent a little less time with discreet and thought a little more about application, but overall a good experience. Most likely will take again, but we'll see. Good luck to the rest of you guys taking in late august/early sept.

 

[qtpai]

Screw the VR section. Screw it. I don't know if I've ever done that bad in VR.

 

[sistahnik]

PreMD86, it sounds like we were at the same place! Those were some of the things I remember also. Also I didn't think we had to have 5 paragraphs for the essays!! oops

 

[ag0205]

Did everyone take the same test today? Im getting a little nervous everyone is talking about all these calculations I dont think i even used half a sheet of scratch paper. Was there an afternoon exam? If so are they different?

 

[EmiliaC]

I took the test in the morning. This was a retake for me (previously took it June 15).

PS - everything was vaguely familiar. quite chemistry-intensive, which was OK. I wish I had had like 5 more minutes.

VR - easy!

Writing - what inane prompts!

BS - not bad. Orgo was a piece of cake. Like others have said, I also thought the discretes were harder than the passages. All of the passages were pretty no-brainerish except for the last few ?s on the one passage taken from Science, where they showed figures but failed to explain them....arg!

 

[Aurah]

My thoughts on Aug 9. For me, this was a retake. My first test was June 15.

PS: Maybe it was the two month gap of not really reviewing any science, but this PS section seemed trickier than I was used to. I felt it was about 50:50 gen chem to physics. The gen chem was straightforward but a couple of the physics passages gave me a run for my money. In particular: the one about the oscillating string. Predicted score range: 10-11; June 15 score: 12; Practice test average: 12-13

VR: This was so much better than my June 15 experience. Probably largely due to the fact that I was more prepared for the long passages and I managed my time much better. A couple passages were strange but nothing stood out as killer to me. Hopefully the curve won't be too steep. Predicted score range: 9-11; June 15 score: 8; Practice test average: 10-11

WS: One of the prompts really pissed me off. But I don't care about writing. Predicted score range: O-R; June 15 score: S; Practice test average: P-R

BS: Pretty--actually very--tricky, but nothing deviating from the norm when considering AAMC practice tests and my June 15 experience. Like many of you I found the organic extremely straightforward. There were several discretes that tripped me up, as well as a couple of passages. In particular: the one about the immune system responses. Confusing as balls. Predicted score range: 10-11; June 15 score: 11; Practice test average: 11

Aug 9 Overall prediction: PS(10-11) VR(9-11) WS(O-R) BS(10-11) = 29O - 33R
June 15 scores: 12PS 08VR (S)WS 11BS = 31S

 

[PreMD86]

PreMD86, it sounds like we were at the same place! Those were some of the things I remember also. Also I didn't think we had to have 5 paragraphs for the essays!! oops

Huh? I highly doubt that versions are distinct for each center. Either way, I took mine in Boston, if that helps.
Also, the essay most def. does not have to have 5 paragraphs. 3 is more than enough.

 

[PreMD86]

My thoughts on Aug 9. For me, this was a retake. My first test was June 15.

PS: Maybe it was the two month gap of not really reviewing any science, but this PS section seemed trickier than I was used to. I felt it was about 50:50 gen chem to physics. The gen chem was straightforward but a couple of the physics passages gave me a run for my money. In particular: the one about the oscillating string. Predicted score range: 10-11; June 15 score: 12; Practice test average: 12-13

VR: This was so much better than my June 15 experience. Probably largely due to the fact that I was more prepared for the long passages and I managed my time much better. A couple passages were strange but nothing stood out as killer to me. Hopefully the curve won't be too steep. Predicted score range: 9-11; June 15 score: 8; Practice test average: 10-11

WS: One of the prompts really pissed me off. But I don't care about writing. Predicted score range: O-R; June 15 score: S; Practice test average: P-R

BS: Pretty--actually very--tricky, but nothing deviating from the norm when considering AAMC practice tests and my June 15 experience. Like many of you I found the organic extremely straightforward. There were several discretes that tripped me up, as well as a couple of passages. In particular: the one about the immune system responses. Confusing as balls. Predicted score range: 10-11; June 15 score: 11; Practice test average: 11

Aug 9 Overall prediction: PS(10-11) VR(9-11) WS(O-R) BS(10-11) = 29O - 33R
June 15 scores: 12PS 08VR (S)WS 11BS = 31S

Why on earth did you retake?? You scored a 31, which would have guaranteed you interviews and a few acceptances. Your practice scores were 31-35, so you most likely will end up with the same score.
Best of luck to you anyway...

 

[Rock Solid]

I will try this question again...does anyone know whether the curves are based off of the individual and different tests that were administered today or are they based off of the comprehensive scores of all of the different exams administered today.

 

[olemissbabydoc]

I will try this question again...does anyone know whether the curves are based off of the individual and different tests that were administered today or are they based off of the comprehensive scores of all of the different exams administered today.

fairly positive each form has it's own curve.

 

[ocwaveoc]

OK, my thoughts.....
PS
Very comparable to AAMC CBTs if not easier. For comparison sake, I've been scoring 9-13 on AAMC CBT's, mostly in 10-11. Not too heavy on calculations and more concept driven. No wtf passages. I was pleasantly surprised.
VR
My weak link. I thought that there was no super confusing passages as there always were in CBTs. About 2-3 passages were longer than CBTs passages.
WS
I like to write about politics and moral issues. I didn't get either one of them. Hence, I thought it was hard. I'll be lucky if I score an 'O'.
BS
I had 6 minutes to do the last passage after doing the last discretes which never has happened to me before. Ochem passages I thought were reasonable in difficulty. However there was one Ochempassage which had a table of 15 rows and about 7 columns requiring you to scroll left and right to view all the content if you didn't want to slide the middle divider btwn the passage and Q's. PLUS, one of the question needed to be scrolled left to right in order to view all the choices! I've never seen that before......this question had its own horizontal scroll bar!

OK, my guess of my score...hahaha....this will be fun, is
PS 12
VR 7
WS N
BS 11
30N!

GOOD JOB EVERYONE!!!!
It's finally over!!!!!

 

[Aurah]

Why on earth did you retake?? You scored a 31, which would have guaranteed you interviews and a few acceptances. Your practice scores were 31-35, so you most likely will end up with the same score.
Best of luck to you anyway...

Hey PreMD86,
I definitely see where you're coming from. It was a tough call for me, but my final decision was motivated largely by the 08VR. Also, I knew that I could have scored better on verbal based on my practice test scores. You never know if you don't try.

 

[QofQuimica]

just curious, i posted two questions in this topic about the cyclin passages and somehow they both got deleted, is it bcs the questions were tooo specific??? anyway i thought the test was hard now all we can do is wait for a month. take care all.

You got it, dude(tte). No specific questions and answers can be posted on SDN. Please don't do it again, or I'm going to have to post hold your account for a week. The AAMC takes violations of this policy very seriously.

 

[QofQuimica]

Since there appears to be three threads out there, I figure I would try to start this one so that everyone could combine their thoughts into a cohesive effort.

Hopefully, this will work since many have not gotten back yet.

Yeah, I'm going to merge them all into one.

 

[JediZero]

Hm... well, that was an interesting experience.

Good to see that thoughts are pretty similar to mine on the afternoon exam.

PS was actually pretty easy. Normally I hate the electricity/magnetism questions, but the one with the nanowire was actually pretty cool. Nothing too brutal, should pull a 12-13, no sweat.

VR was about the same as usual. I've been stuck at a 12 on practice tests for a while, so I doubt that will change.

The writing samples kind of got to me. I write well, but normally I can at least convince myself that the verbal diarrhea I'm pouring onto the screen makes sense. Hopefully it works well enough. The prompts I thought were a little wierd, but we'll see what happens.

BS went all right (had one question that was straight off of my Exercise Physiology final last year, I need to send my prof a thank-you), but I ran out of time. I was guessing wildly on the last passage- not that I think it would have made a difference. What the heck was it about? Luciferase? I don't have a chance against Satan's questions!

So, I don't know exactly how well I'm going to do, but probably in the 33-35 range. I don't have a clue about the writing sample, as I've never had one scored.

 

[Pausey]

I took it in the afternoon.

PS: I thought this was pretty good until the very end. I didn't have much time for the last passage and I freaked out a bit. Physics is usually my worst subject anyway, so I wasn't too thrilled.

VR: A few of the passages were way too long. I spent too much time on the first couple and rushed at the end. But overall it seemed reasonable.

WS: I cut it close on the first essay and finished the second one five minutes early. Lame.

BS: I thought this was pretty easy, except a couple discrete questions that I was unsure about.

I felt pretty good when I got out, but I think that was more due to being so incredibly happy that it was finally over!!!

 

[olemissbabydoc]

hope everyone sleeps wonderfully tonight!

 

[PreMD86]

"Luciferase is a generic name for enzymes commonly used in nature for bioluminescence. The name itself is derived from Lucifer, which means light-bearer"
-Wikipedia

 

[PreMD86]

Mods, do not suspend me for the above post please. There was no question asking for the definition of luciferase, I swear!

 

[QofQuimica]

Mods, do not suspend me for the above post please. There was no question asking for the definition of luciferase, I swear!

Wikipedia is *not* an acceptable source for MCAT answers.

 

[AMmd]

Ok, I will do the obligatory question.

Did the MCAT today reflect any of the practice tests out there (kaplan, AAMC) or did it just feel different?

Thank you, now continue with your regularly scheduled MCAT thoughts!

well VR was nothing like I have read before... it sounded more like EK verbal (which I hate btw) and the passages were so long!!

The other complain I have is that stupid o-chem passages where you had to scroll up and down, left and right... It took me forever to realize that there was more info on the right lol (yeah not very smart lol)

but overall, I think it was worse than any of my practive tests...

 

[ORBeaver]

I've been anticipating taking the MCAT since about April, so I figure
I should post even though it's mostly a repeat of what's been said.

I arrived at the testing center at 12:30 and was the first person to be checked in. I'm glad I read this tip on SDN because they were about 20 Beavers waiting to take the MCAT today.

PS. There was a 50/50 split between gen chem and physics. There were a handful of calculations for physics, but nothing harder than Ohm's Law and Newtonian mechanics. Overall it seemed on par with the AAMC practice tests.
The passage on the Nanowire was probably the toughtest one in this section.

VR. This section seems like a blur to me now. I know that I pressed real hard to limit my time to 9 minutes per passage. I don't recall any passage being overly obtuse or anything. Roughly half were from the natural sciences.

BS. I've only taken a year of Organic Chem and Principles of Biology. I thought this section was very tough. The passage on neurotransmitters seemed like material I was familiar with, but the information in the passage was very difficult. I was a bit irked by the Organic chem passage that had too many columns of data, and required scrolling.

 

[santoukie]

I dont post often, but i'll give my two cents.
I did decent on practice verbals 10-11, but I felt the verbal was definately longer, or I was nervous and therefore slow the first 3-4 passages, then rushed the last ones.
Do not feel good about the verbal at all....

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

I think I got destroyed by the verbal. I was scoring around 11 on practice tests but I'm predicting a 7 or 8 today. So so long, I retained almost nothing, questions were all over my head. Too much stuff about law. Arg I'm pissed!

 

[qtpai]

I think I got destroyed by the verbal. I was scoring around 11 on practice tests but I'm predicting a 7 or 8 today. So so long, I retained almost nothing, questions were all over my head. Too much stuff about law. Arg I'm pissed!

Yeah, goddamn verbal. That section will ruin my score.

 

[seaboi79]

I took the mcat for the first time this morning. I was not expecting to have the timing issues that I did. I always finished every section on the practice tests and I barely finished ps and bs today. I was doing well on verbal until about passage 5 when I realized that I was going too slow. Basically I had to rush through passage 6 and I had about 3 minutes for the last passage. I am worried about how this will affect my score

 

[gymgirl]

I figured, I had the same form as PreMD86. Although I did not feel the same way about the test today. I guess I am screwed, curve wise and reading how people felt that the test was really easy.
Firstly, it was very distracting that the proctor kept walking up and down , and so silly of me to notice that she did that only in our lane for some wierd reason.
Anyhow, I went in thinking that I will not be reading the passages. I did, however, some of them with not full concentration. really stupid thing to do- not read the passage! Anyhow, I dont know if it was the stress level or what, but I did not finish a passage in each section (I know I am soooooooooooooooo screwed.) I am still trying to figure out the reasons for this. Some of them being, anxiety leading me to read the question over and over again, trying to confirm whether or not I am reading it right (OCD). But, never ever am I mistaking not reading a passage again, wow, I should have listened to the people that told me to do so. I tried to do a passage without reading first and it totally threw me off on timing, and I felt discouraged and the need to go back and read it, but I d already wasted time trying to figure out questions. They had ear muffs, which I finally decided to use in the Bio Section. I got a huge headache out of them. Thankfully I did not use them for the first two sections or bio would have been worse. The reading for Verbal reasoning wasnt unintelligible, but whether I got the questions right or not, is another story. I am already ready to start studying for another retake, this just sucks so bad. I looked at the clock after every passage and tried to check in the multiples of 8 whether I was on target. Bad Idea. Overall I feel the test was a combination of knowledge and reasoning. Can't do one without the other, else we could call it anything but MCAT. I will start studying again, for another retake, not until Jan ofcourse.
This test is literally taking too much "life" out of my life, and its just ridiculous.

PS: And, did I mention? READ THE PASSAGES in both PS and BS, very stupid not to do so, because it only wastes your time, going back and forth from questions to passage to find the word and adds to the anxiety!! ha I can repeat this several times and carve it into my brain as well, because even though I planned on doing it, I did not stick to it,except for VR. how stupid!!

 

[Aurah]

I see why she dumped you.

As do I ... lol

 

[Aurah]

i do have to say, i was somewhat surprised at the lack of hormones/endocrine stuff on the afternoon exam.

 

[TRuSchool]

there was one passage relating to diabetes and the hormones regulating it.

 

[thedude007007]

i took the 8am exam.

P: kind of a blur....i thought the discretes were a bit tough, i guess on 2 because i ran out of time. lots of calculations, so that was a plus for me.

V: there was that one oral history passage that was just killer. i wish i had triaged that passage to the end, but oh well. overall i give this section a medium.

B: i didn't think it was too bad. not much orgo, which im really bad at. and bio did not have any genetics, which im terrible at.

 

[jzeidenb]

the best peice of advice i can give to people who havent taken the mcat yet is:


be warned that clicking on the words of the answer choices with the left mouse button crosses the choice out rather than selects it for you, twice i almost went to the next passage tinking i had marked an answer choice when all i did was cross it out (because on the cbts u just have to click the words)

 

[ocwaveoc]

Ok, I will do the obligatory question.

Did the MCAT today reflect any of the practice tests out there (kaplan, AAMC) or did it just feel different?

Thank you, now continue with your regularly scheduled MCAT thoughts!

PS was definitely like the AAMC CBTs in difficulty. Not bad at all. I had the version with diamond and nanotechnology. I came out of the section thinking, "Are you kidding me? That was so easy." Definitely not even close to the difficulty of Kaplan's FLs.

VR-I'm not a good person to get opinions about VR from. I suck at VR.

BS - Definitely as difficult as Kaplan's FLs. OChem passages weren't bad. Bio passages were very challenging.

I have a comment to make about the exam in general.
In my opinion, the MCAT is about 1/4 like an IQ test in that it doesn't really test any science knowledge. It tests whether you are clever enough to notice subtle differences in answer choices etc...
Then, 1/2 reading comprehension...purely reading comprehension.
The remainder 1/4 is science knowledge. I think someone who's a humanities major with recent courses in bio/phy/chem/ochem will do the better than any science majors. Just my opinion.

 

[ocwaveoc]

-edit-

Bro, you are not supposed to ask or answer specific stuff like that.