The Official 01/31/09 MCAT Club

[BloodySurgeon]

Since January is nearby, I decided to refine the January MCAT club to it's two dates. For those of you who are taking it on Saturday, January 31th, here is the place where you can vent, discuss, and support each other for this upcoming test. Best of luck guys!

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[akademix]

i rarely post anywhere about my emotional state or frame of mind but over the last few days ive got an overwhelming feeling of depression about the mcats...i signed up for the april 4th date just in case and havent brought myself to study for it yet (i thought id be able to study during the month while waiting for scores)....in the case i have to take it again, which is my intuitive feeling and why im feeling upset, ive got only a month and i dont know how to improve my test taking strategy...whatever i do, i think i gotta change up what ive been doing, and i dunno if one month will be sufficient to accommodate the revamp of my study techniques etc...i feel like i got content down but i somehow always mess things up--i dunno. anyways i just felt like id emo this thread up a little lol...

heres how i feel:

its kinda like being nominated for a best supporting actor at the oscars...you know heath ledger is gonna win it but youre hoping for some outside chance and miracle from God hahaha...

 

[Phlame217]

haha you have to realize many people feel that way, because the grading structure is essentially a pyramid and it wouldn't make sense to have it upside down.

As to improving your techniques, what do you need to improve? Test anxiety? Timing issues?

 

[akademix]

yeah i mean i dont have test anxiety or really many timing issues...i dont know how to explain it, but i make mistakes usually because of how i comprehend a question in a passage...its not stupid number errors or anything because im usually pretty good at limiting those--but i tend to overthink questions and it gets me...anyways im just hoping i can somehow pull out a miracle because i think im doomed for the april date.

 

[ORELL]

U know what i too have the same test problem, its like i cannot explain. iknow my content very well, no errors in calculations. but for some reason i always make a wrong choice when it comes down to 2 choices.
i am also waiting for a miracle.

 

[ablondechic]

So this really cute boy asked me out to a dinner date at this resturant I've been dying to go to....


..at 5:00 on Tuesday.




Needless to say, I turned him down. (not even like it was a choice!)


Thought you all might appreciate that. =D

 

[ksmi117]

So this really cute boy asked me out to a dinner date at this resturant I've been dying to go to....


..at 5:00 on Tuesday.




Needless to say, I turned him down. (not even like it was a choice!)


Thought you all might appreciate that. =D

Why in the world would you do that?!?!? MCAT scores don't necessarily come out at exactly 5 pm. And they can wait!!

 

[Revilla]

yeah i mean i dont have test anxiety or really many timing issues...i dont know how to explain it, but i make mistakes usually because of how i comprehend a question in a passage...its not stupid number errors or anything because im usually pretty good at limiting those--but i tend to overthink questions and it gets me...anyways im just hoping i can somehow pull out a miracle because i think im doomed for the april date.

I'm the same way. I feel confident on content, like I really know my stuff, but then during the practice tests, I tended to overthink everything. I see "trick questions" where there aren't any. The funny thing is, this never happened in my science classes in school, just on the MCAT.

 

[Phlame217]

In the cases where you overanalyze you have two things that you need to do:
Read the question slowly and always go with your first instinct & follow the KISS method, keep it simple, stupid!

Those two things seem to have helped my overanalyzation issue.

 

[Revilla]

In the cases where you overanalyze you have two things that you need to do:
Read the question slowly and always go with your first instinct & follow the KISS method, keep it simple, stupid!

Those two things seem to have helped my overanalyzation issue.

Thanks! If I have to retake, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[FuSoYa]

I had the same issue with overanalyzing problems and picking the wrong answer. The one thing I kept telling myself was, "the MCAT is not there to trick you, the answer is in plain sight."

 

[ORELL]

Everyone seems to be scared about this MCAT results, vow what a nightmare. But it will be fine i guess. Now we are all very hopeful that its going to be ok, but on tuesday when results are out its the real thing and we have to live with whatever we score. well good luck to all.

 

[osumc2014]

4 days! do scores ever come out early?

 

[ORELL]

According to my experience the scores do not come early. but always on the most part the day they said they would be out.

 

[WeedKiller87]

They should be up around 3 PM EST on Tuesday, give or take an hour.

 

[flip26]

For the January tests last year, they came 2 days early.

 

[ORELL]

U know they could come on monday, a possibility since this jan we had only 2 test days, unlike the actual MCAT season like the fall quater. so lets see. last august though for some they came a week later.

 

[Phlame217]

Ill be happy with them on time or early, but illbe pissed if theyre late!

 

[ORELL]

Phlame looks like you are over confident on ur results that u want them asap.

 

[Phlame217]

Im not overconfident, I am just inpatient. I have so much going on right now any stress off my back would be greatly appriciated, and this is one of the monkeys I can rid of the fastest.

 

[creativekat]

I dislike how it takes a whole month...the whole thing is computerized and multiple choice and curved beforehand...why the month...arghhhh. Who cares about writing, right?

Thanks to you guys, I'll be checking Thx every 2 hours tomorrow. Or refreshing this page to see when they're up.

 

[Revilla]

I dislike how it takes a whole month...the whole thing is computerized and multiple choice and curved beforehand...why the month...arghhhh. Who cares about writing, right?

Thanks to you guys, I'll be checking Thx every 2 hours tomorrow. Or refreshing this page to see when they're up.

The jury's still out on whether it's curved beforehand or after we take it.

 

[HawkeyePostOp]

The jury's still out on whether it's curved beforehand or after we take it.

I hope it's curved after, not before we take it. If it's the before then this whole month-long wait is a really sick mind trick.

 

[flip26]

I hope it's curved after, not before we take it. If it's the before then this whole month-long wait is a really sick mind trick.

It is definitely curved "after" and not before...read it somewhere.

I imagine that 3.8 of the 4 weeks is caused by the grading of the writing samples...seems like they could issue your score in 2 stages, the section scores afer a few days, followed by the writing score in a month.

 

[KunalOak]

It is definitely curved "after" and not before...read it somewhere.

I imagine that 3.8 of the 4 weeks is caused by the grading of the writing samples...seems like they could issue your score in 2 stages, the section scores afer a few days, followed by the writing score in a month.

how about something a little more concrete/reliable than "read it somewhere"?

 

[weiden]

I dislike how it takes a whole month...the whole thing is computerized and multiple choice and curved beforehand...why the month...arghhhh. Who cares about writing, right?

Thanks to you guys, I'll be checking Thx every 2 hours tomorrow. Or refreshing this page to see when they're up.

Most of us (including myself) don't care too much about writing, but some adcoms do. A surgeon that I work with was a former adcom board member and he said that they weigh the writing sample a lot more than you'd think. I guess there's a direct correlation between your writing sample and patient care. That's the only reason they haven't done away with the writing sample all together. He also told me that a sky high VR (13+) is also some sort of indicator and will exponentially increase your chances of getting into med school (even if you got 8/9 PS and 8/9 BS).

I trust this guy's judgement and he really has no reason to tell BS, so I completely believe him.

 

[junkct]

Hey if you're aiming for a top 10 med school and you were avging 37ish on your MCAT practices, would you retake a 34/35 (assuming you have the grades and ECs and all else)?

^^NOT that I'm in this boat at all, but I'm asking for a rather paranoid friend who's afraid of posting on the internet...^^


By the way, I've heard some people saying that they felt the VR was the easiest s**t ever and that they completely dominated that.. I'm just aiming for a 10-11 (about my practice avg), but I didn't feel amazingly confident (nor did I ever feel amazingly confident on practices) about the VR section. I felt it was easy, but as always there were very few questions wehre I was 100% sure. I'm thinking "domination" is very subjective, like those people who feell like they "dominated" probably feel like they hit their goal of 8 or something.. idk. Thoughts?

 

[ksmi117]

Hey if you're aiming for a top 10 med school and you were avging 37ish on your MCAT practices, would you retake a 34/35 (assuming you have the grades and ECs and all else)?

^^NOT that I'm in this boat at all, but I'm asking for a rather paranoid friend who's afraid of posting on the internet...^^

No, I would not retake. A 34/35 is far from a bad score. Maybe if my GPA was low, but the MCAT is not the only thing that matters. Also, if I was scoring 40's on the practice tests, I may consider it. But there's only two points different from the 35 and the practice tests. There's no point in risking getting the same or a lower score. Say you retake and get a 36. I doubt any medical school will be impressed with a 1 point increase especially from a 35 to a 36. A retake in this case is just foolish to me.

 

[ORELL]

i have a feeling that the scores will be released tomorrow. Since its a monday and sometimes they do come a bit early. i dont know about u guys but verbal i felt the passages were easy to read but for some reason i was not 100% sure about the answers. verbal has always been my lowest and last time i scored a 7, thats is scaring me to death.

 

[ORELL]

Hey if you're aiming for a top 10 med school and you were avging 37ish on your MCAT practices, would you retake a 34/35 (assuming you have the grades and ECs and all else)?

^^NOT that I'm in this boat at all, but I'm asking for a rather paranoid friend who's afraid of posting on the internet...^^


By the way, I've heard some people saying that they felt the VR was the easiest s**t ever and that they completely dominated that.. I'm just aiming for a 10-11 (about my practice avg), but I didn't feel amazingly confident (nor did I ever feel amazingly confident on practices) about the VR section. I felt it was easy, but as always there were very few questions wehre I was 100% sure. I'm thinking "domination" is very subjective, like those people who feell like they "dominated" probably feel like they hit their goal of 8 or something.. idk. Thoughts?

I agree with u. i felt the same with the verbal. a few ques that i was 100 %sure

 

[student1799]

Most of us (including myself) don't care too much about writing, but some adcoms do. A surgeon that I work with was a former adcom board member and he said that they weigh the writing sample a lot more than you'd think.

I'm sure what you're saying is true for that particular school, but they sound like an exception. I've gotten the impression that most schools in the US care very little about the writing score. (In Canada, on the other hand, they care quite a lot.) I got an S on that section twice, and it was never mentioned at any of my interviews; I also recall a hilarious story from the Most Bizarre Interview Moments thread where a guy who scored O in writing was asked by his interviewer why he got a "zero" for that section.

He also told me that a sky high VR (13+) is also some sort of indicator and will exponentially increase your chances of getting into med school (even if you got 8/9 PS and 8/9 BS).

I trust this guy's judgement and he really has no reason to tell BS, so I completely believe him.

Whoa, careful there. I have heard that same idea repeated pretty frequently, and based on my own experience, I'd say it's wildly exaggerated. I'd state it more as follows: If all the other sections of your MCAT are at least good, a very high verbal score could get you extra brownie points. If, on the other hand, one or more of them is low, verbal isn't going to save you.

I was one of those outliers who got a really unbalanced MCAT score: verbal was very high (13), bio good (11), but PS was terrible (7), because I was really nervous and blew my time management, causing me to leave questions blank when time expired. By this surgeon's thinking, a 31S with a 13 in verbal, along with good grades from a well-known postbacc, should have given me a shot at a lot of places. I did get an acceptance to med school recently, but only because I applied super-broadly (27 schools) and was relentless with LOIs and update letters to all of them.

Meanwhile, I've been waitlisted at the other 3 schools where I've had decisions (2 more are pending), and I think the PS score may have played a role. (That's why I took the test for the third time on 1/31.) Most sobering of all, I've been rejected without interviews, placed on hold or ignored at 10 of the 12 schools in my native state, NY; the only NY schools that have invited me are the 2 upstate SUNYs, Upstate and Buffalo, even though I live in NYC. Some of the very schools which have publicly stated that they "love" high verbal scores have tossed my app in the trash without a second thought. And these were not all elite schools, either: if SUNY Downstate rejected me after 2 weeks with a 13 VR, I can't say that it's worth much.

The way adcoms seem to think, I'd say you're only as good as your WEAKEST section on the MCAT. Sounds harsh, but it's pretty true.

 

[cablen64k]

Just wanted to say good luck to everyone when scores come out. I discovered SDN in December while I was knee deep studying for the beast and I can't believe how much useful info is within these boards. You all have been an amazing help, so thank you. Let's hope we all can post in the 30+ thread Tuesday night.

 

[weiden]

I'm sure what you're saying is true for that particular school, but they sound like an exception. I've gotten the impression that most schools in the US care very little about the writing score. (In Canada, on the other hand, they care quite a lot.) I got an S on that section twice, and it was never mentioned at any of my interviews; I also recall a hilarious story from the Most Bizarre Interview Moments thread where a guy who scored O in writing was asked by his interviewer why he got a "zero" for that section.

Whoa, careful there. I have heard that same idea repeated pretty frequently, and based on my own experience, I'd say it's wildly exaggerated. I'd state it more as follows: If all the other sections of your MCAT are at least good, a very high verbal score could get you extra brownie points. If, on the other hand, one or more of them is low, verbal isn't going to save you.

I was one of those outliers who got a really unbalanced MCAT score: verbal was very high (13), bio good (11), but PS was terrible (7), because I was really nervous and blew my time management, causing me to leave questions blank when time expired. By this surgeon's thinking, a 31S with a 13 in verbal, along with good grades from a well-known postbacc, should have given me a shot at a lot of places. I did get an acceptance to med school recently, but only because I applied super-broadly (27 schools) and was relentless with LOIs and update letters to all of them.

Meanwhile, I've been waitlisted at the other 3 schools where I've had decisions (2 more are pending), and I think the PS score may have played a role. (That's why I took the test for the third time on 1/31.) Most sobering of all, I've been rejected without interviews, placed on hold or ignored at 10 of the 12 schools in my native state, NY; the only NY schools that have invited me are the 2 upstate SUNYs, Upstate and Buffalo, even though I live in NYC. Some of the very schools which have publicly stated that they "love" high verbal scores have tossed my app in the trash without a second thought. And these were not all elite schools, either: if SUNY Downstate rejected me after 2 weeks with a 13 VR, I can't say that it's worth much.

The way adcoms seem to think, I'd say you're only as good as your WEAKEST section on the MCAT. Sounds harsh, but it's pretty true.

You could be right, but I've heard that 8 is the "magic" cutoff score for any one section at many places - so that might be what's keeping you out. I'm sure that you did better than a 7 PS this time and I'm sure that you'll get into a lot more schools if you applied for 2014. But hey, you're in somewhere so I'm sure that kick butt 13 VR helped you out. At the end of the day you'll still be a doctor so the path you took to get there is pretty irrelevant. Good job and good luck in med school!

 

[student1799]

You could be right, but I've heard that 8 is the "magic" cutoff score for any one section at many places - so that might be what's keeping you out.

Completely agree--in fact, that was my whole point. If you're seen as weak in one section (which I'm sure I was, given the 7), then doing extremely well on another section doesn't seem to outweigh that, at least for the vast majority of med schools. Therefore, I don't think your surgeon friend was really right when he said a sky-high VR score did wonders for an applicant's chances.

I just thought I should tell my story so that other applicants would have a realistic idea of how the process works. Yes, it's obviously not impossible to get in somewhere despite a big handicap like a 7, but you really have to scratch and claw. On the other hand, a really good score on a given section, even verbal. is not going to do much for your application if other aspects are weak.

 

[flip26]

how about something a little more concrete/reliable than "read it somewhere"?

You got 4 posts? Go ask your mommy, or better yet, google it yourself.

I have been around here a couple of years and I have forgotten more than you will ever know about this process.

 

[Phlame217]

haha, in my opinion it only makes since to curve afterward. I know alot of the questions may have been modified pre-used questions, but still in order to be accurate, it only makes sense to curve afterward.

 

[ORELL]

haha, in my opinion it only makes since to curve afterward. I know alot of the questions may have been modified pre-used questions, but still in order to be accurate, it only makes sense to curve afterward.

Phlame u are so relaxed, i envy you, i feel like i am gonna vomit anytime

 

[WeedKiller87]

Here is a sample of how your scores will appear on the AAMC THx...

 

[ORELL]

ok ok dont stress us out even more

 

[ksmi117]

Here is a sample of how your scores will appear on the AAMC THx...

Thanks!! I knew that they'd just be there, but I didn't know what exactly it would look like.

Here's to no retakes!!! Good luck everyone!

 

[mr4997]

ok ok dont stress us out even more

haha, i know right?!?!?

 

[Phlame217]

It takes a mastery of skills to appear relaxed, when in reality you're stressing.

I work in pharmacy where we're never caught up and customers think we never work fast enough. I get belittled on a daily basis. The positive side is I can now act like the annoying optimist who always smiles no matter what insult is hurled at me and pull it off.

Im glad i saw that example, I had no idea what to look for...

 

[VornVolken]

Man I was trying not to think about it, then I just hadddd to check these forums again.

Ok, bedtime.

 

[junkct]

wth? VR is shown before PS?

shouldn't it go PS, VR, WS, BS?

 

[Revilla]

Happy Score Release Day Eve, guys. One more day to go (that is, if they're not released early -- eek!).

 

[osumc2014]

I don't think I'm going to check even if it does come out today lol

 

[Odd Man Out]

Two friends took it on the same day I did. I've been ribbing one of them a bit for being so compulsively worried about their score.

That sickening emptiness/uncontrolled eagerness combo just hit me.

Best of luck to everyone else who took it.

 

[Phlame217]

just thought i'd dsay that I just checked for my score.... \


and....


they're not posted! BOO

 

[FuSoYa]

LOL thanks Phlame. that was actually kinda suspenseful.

 

[jdmd1student]

I'm so scare... I just hope that everyone in this forum (including myself.. duuh) score above 30 with a minimum of 8 in one of the parts. I'll look at the aamc score page at 3:00 a clock...... cuz' I'm hoping to receive the results today

 

[tito8512]

how do the scores come out on thx if u have taken the mcat twice??? do both scores appear on the same page?????