*Official June 2017 MCAT Thread*

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ICUBlue

ICUBlue

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I haven't seen a thread for this month so let's get this one going! Share study plans, questions, and motivation.

My test is June 17th and I started using TBR over winter break and doing ~15 hours each week during the semester leading up to full time studying starting in May.

What's everyone else's plans? Good luck!


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Testing June 16th and getting nervous as the day gets closer and closer! Here are my practice scores for the last month.. (I've taken eleven FLs total and 3 diagnostics, I didn't include my earlier ones on here)
Kaplan FL6 125 123 124 129 501 April 28th
AAMC FL1 126 126 125 126 503 May 1st
Kaplan FL8 124 126 125 126 501 May 6th
NS FL2 126 126 125 128 505 May 10th
Kaplan FL10 126 127 126 127 506 May 15th 16th
Do you guys think its doable to score at least 508 on test day?? My biggest struggle is physics, typical lol. I have 10+ hours a day to study until June 16. Whatcha think?
 
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You can definitely raise that PS score by going through 300 pages of KA. Have you been reviewing your practice exams- going through question by question and identifying why you got it wrong or right? That should help you identify mistakes that you normally make so you can keep an eye on them the next time you test. Also, for every practice test, look and see which contents you're still weak at and tackle on those (do as much questions/passages as you can on those areas and make sure you master them). Your Kaplan scores look good, especially the improvement. I think you might be able to break a 508 on the AAMC FL2. Work on any areas that you are still weak at, identify the problems you still have, fix them so that you won't make too many of them in the future, then take AAMC FL2. I would leave FL2 until at least 1 week before your MCAT date and just focus on doing all of the rest of the AAMC mcaterials (Qbanks, SB, sample test, study guide questions) for now.
 
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Just finished NS1-506. Hoping for 510+ on test day! Has anyone taken the Atlius half length? I took it yesterday and I'm wondering how close it is to the real thing.
 
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joe_1395 said:
Apparently, the sample test is the easiest, especially in CARS
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Upon reviewing the NS3 FL that raped me in CARS Friday I realize that outside of a horrid passage in which I was rushed, had no inkling of the main idea, and got 0/5 on and the final passage which I just had to fill in without having time to read, I didn't do that terrible. My problem was a timing one. The first passage took me wayyy to long. I couldn't zero in at the beginning of the section and it cost me points at the end. Makes me feel better to know the issue so that I can correct it. Last two FL I got a 127 in CARS, this was 124. Any tips for focusing in the first 5-10 min of a section?


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Pushed my test from 6/17 to 6/30 today. I think the extra time will benefit me as I'm finding some glaring content holes and I'd like to continue hitting passages and full lengths hard. I'm actually more comfortable with the location too bc it's practically at the hospital I work at. Here's to prewriting hella secondaries during July


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ICUBlue said:
Upon reviewing the NS3 FL that raped me in CARS Friday I realize that outside of a horrid passage in which I was rushed, had no inkling of the main idea, and got 0/5 on and the final passage which I just had to fill in without having time to read, I didn't do that terrible. My problem was a timing one. The first passage took me wayyy to long. I couldn't zero in at the beginning of the section and it cost me points at the end. Makes me feel better to know the issue so that I can correct it. Last two FL I got a 127 in CARS, this was 124. Any tips for focusing in the first 5-10 min of a section?


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I'm no CARs god, but something I'll do when I get to a passage that is overwhelming/really hard to understand is I'll just skip it all together and come back to it at the very end. This prevents you from sacrificing time of other passages/questions but if you time the rest correctly you should have ~10 mins for it.
 
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chiderachin said:
Hey! I'm taking the exam June 16, 2017. I have a quick question. Does anyone have access to the Online Official Guide with AAMC? I do, and I'm struggling with the second passage over transmission of genetic information from gene to protein. Not really my strong suit. Anyone care to help me out? Thanks.
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Hey guys, joining in on the convo late (June 1st), I was wondering how you decide whether to push back your exam or not? I got a 512 on the AAMCI and 515 on the AAMC sample, but my chem/phys is so weak right now.
Regarding the transmission of genetic information from gene to protein, I can help you out! PM me :) Genetics is my strong suit.
 
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Hey guys, quick question. I'm testing on June 30th now, and my latest FL did not go that well (EK1, C/P 33%, CARS 64%, B/B 58%, P/S 82%). I've already got strategies to bring CARS and B/B up, but C/P is kicking my ass so much despite the amount of time I seem to be spending on it. It just /doesn't click/ no matter how hard I try. My next FL was scheduled for tomorrow (EK2), but I really don't wanna take if it means another dismal C/P score.

I have all the AAMC Prep Bundle and I'm wondering if I should focus on the C/P question packs before taking the next practice test. How have you guys utilized the questions packs (do you do them all at once or do sections and then score the whole thing?). I'm honestly freaking out with only 37 days to go :/
 
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@ReeReem with the Question Packs, you can do each one individually and get your score right away. They are not representative of the style of questions on the real MCAT, so you can't use them to predict your MCAT score - but they will help you assess your content knowledge. If you get a low percentage (say under 80%) on a particular question pack, it suggests you need to spend more time on content review in that subject.

(The Section Bank is more representative of the style of questions on the real MCAT.)
 
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The MCAT will be the death of me, and it almost was just 30 minutes ago lol. I got up to use the bathroom, walked over to where the bathrooms are next to some computers, looked to see if anyone would steal my stuff, and then some guy that was on the computers (mentally unstable) looked at me, got up real fast, was about to punch me, said "F you IDGAF" then sat down.. So I went inside the bathroom and he followed me.. I was on the urinal and as he was walking up to me pretty fast, he yelled "IDGAF!" With my hands up I was like "hey man I don't mean any harm, just calm down" (no I wasn't peeing b/c I had a feeling he would follow me). He ran out of the library, staff talked to me about it, and now I can't concentrate on the freakin section bank questions... so yah I can't wait till this mcat is over lol
 
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@pms_testosterone Oh! Then it seems I bought not the question pack, but the section banks instead, since it has passages rather than stand-alone questions. I'm working on Khan Academy questions and reinforcing with videos even though it's taking longer, so hopefully that will help.

Thank you for replying!
 
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Any June 1st fellow test takers? How many FLs have you done so far? Still trying to gauge whether to give myself another month of not :(
 
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ReeReem said:
@pms_testosterone Oh! Then it seems I bought not the question pack, but the section banks instead, since it has passages rather than stand-alone questions. I'm working on Khan Academy questions and reinforcing with videos even though it's taking longer, so hopefully that will help.

Thank you for replying!
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I had my biggest improvement in C/P when I wrote down all the equations and went through to verbalize each relationship of the variables with examples. A hard one for me was the buoyancy equations, so I would draw out each scenario of floating, submerged, and sunk with a bowl with weights (what happens to each variable as you increase mass inside bowl?) and how the ratios of the variables also change compared to the liquid. I also learned which variables don't matter in the particular situation/equation, which made answering the trick questions in the passages faster.
 
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ariri said:
Any June 1st fellow test takers? How many FLs have you done so far? Still trying to gauge whether to give myself another month of not :(
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I'm taking it on June 1st...I wish I had another month to practice too, but at this point, there's nothing that can be done :/ just got to go for it!
 
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ICUBlue said:
NS 4 today, here we go!


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Also took NS 4 today. My best FL thus far.

ariri said:
Any June 1st fellow test takers? How many FLs have you done so far? Still trying to gauge whether to give myself another month of not :(
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Same, it feels like there is not enough time. I have taken 5 FLs.
 
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HelpAddictedtoGreys said:
Hi all! Long time lurker but first time posting, taking the exam June 16th. Have taken 3 practice exams so far (TPR, NS1, and the AAMC sample), and scores improving from 502, 508, to 515 (based on the % conversion on reddit, although I am not sure how inflated/deflated this is...)

Nice to see other people who are going through the struggle and to read up on study techniques!
Click to expand...

Welcome!

How did you feel NS1 compared to the AAMC sample? Obviously you did better on AAMC but passage/question wise?


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HelpAddictedtoGreys said:
Hi all! Long time lurker but first time posting, taking the exam June 16th. Have taken 3 practice exams so far (TPR, NS1, and the AAMC sample), and scores improving from 502, 508, to 515 (based on the % conversion on reddit, although I am not sure how inflated/deflated this is...)

Nice to see other people who are going through the struggle and to read up on study techniques!
Click to expand...
Just wondering, what were your percentages on the AAMC sample? I'm getting ready to take it and my other scores (TPR and NS1) are about 2 points behind yours so I'm just trying to see what I should be aiming for
 
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I JUST WANT TO TEST ALREDY. SERIOUSLY. Trying to raise my psych score. Hauling ass making flashcards for this section
 
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upload_2017-5-27_22-14-39.png

I don't understand the reasoning behind this question. Background info from the passage is that NPY alone doesn't increase LH, but NPY in addition to GnRH will increase serum LH levels. Answers C and D are obviously wrong, but I don't agree that the GnRH receptor deficient person would benefit more from the LH receptor deficient person. If there are less receptors of LH, wouldn't you want to flood the system with more LH? Isn't this analogous to how we treat Parkinson's Disease? We assume that there is a reduction in dopamine receptors, so we flood the system with more dopamine (pre-cursor to be excact)?
 
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How did you guys study for the exam? If you used Kaplan, how did you study with Kaplan material? Do you recommend using multiple sources like Kaplan, TPR, Turkey, and EK to study?
 
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PassionateMed said:
How did you guys study for the exam? If you used Kaplan, how did you study with Kaplan material? Do you recommend using multiple sources like Kaplan, TPR, Turkey, and EK to study?
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Kaplan for content; AAMC and NS for practice questions; berkeley review, EK, and AAMC for FL tests is how I did it.
I think only using one company can get you stuck in a certain pattern of logic that's not helpful for the real one, since the MCAT is all about the flexible application of your basic sciences.
 
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I find that taking notes from Kaplan takes up majority of my time and leaves me with no time to practice questions. Should I just read these books and do a lot of practice?
 
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Thank you for your responses
ariri said:
Kaplan for content; AAMC and NS for practice questions; berkeley review, EK, and AAMC for FL tests is how I did it.
I think only using one company can get you stuck in a certain pattern of logic that's not helpful for the real one, since the MCAT is all about the flexible application of your basic sciences.
Click to expand...

BurntFlower said:
I read all the Kaplan and EK books at least twice.
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PassionateMed said:
I find that taking notes from Kaplan takes up majority of my time and leaves me with no time to practice questions. Should I just read these books and do a lot of practice?
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Take less notes and do more practice. Then log your errors to notice trends. Only review what you don't understand after doing the practice problems.
 
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I have the MCAT Jitters... Mines June 16th. I've been studying using Varsity tutors to make sure I understand content. I have TPR 2015 and I've been using those MCAT pratice tests and I'm using Khan academy to learn but I am so scared....
 
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PassionateMed said:
I find that taking notes from Kaplan takes up majority of my time and leaves me with no time to practice questions. Should I just read these books and do a lot of practice?
Click to expand...

Yup, as long as you understand the basics, notes won't be as helpful as much as doing practice problems. My goal was to do at least all the questions available through the AAMC website and 8FL practice tests. I almost forgot, the Khan academy questions are also very high quality.
 
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LizzyBeth2282 said:
I have the MCAT Jitters... Mines June 16th. I've been studying using Varsity tutors to make sure I understand content. I have TPR 2015 and I've been using those MCAT pratice tests and I'm using Khan academy to learn but I am so scared....
Click to expand...

Have you taking the AAMC I and II FL tests? According to data, it looks like they're plus or minus 2 points from how you'll do on the actual one. It might be worth figuring out where you stand right now. Mine's on June 1st and I'm already having nightmares about test day :barf:
 
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ariri said:
Have you taking the AAMC I and II FL tests? According to data, it looks like they're plus or minus 2 points from how you'll do on the actual one. It might be worth figuring out where you stand right now. Mine's on June 1st and I'm already having nightmares about test day :barf:
Click to expand...
I bought both of them. I'm taking the 1st one tomorrow and then I'm taking the 2nd one a week before my exam.... Good luck! I really wish the the best!
 
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