The Official 7/06/2011 MCAT Club!

[ravupadh]

Hey guys,

I'm taking the exam this date because I am NOT a morning person lol.

How's everyone's practicing going? I'm using the SDNed schedule and I think it's getting the job done. I'm on the second set of chapters and I'm feeling confident.

Good luck everyone!

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[Genemo]

7/14/12=33Q

what should I do with my verbal...

 

[ravupadh]

7/14/12=33Q

what should I do with my verbal...

Same situation here bro. I had a 32R (8 VR, 10 PS, 14 BS).. I actually scored higher on verbal last year when I took the exam I got a 9 lol. So Idk what to do :/

 

[runalb12]

12PS 8VR 10BS --> 30N

average practice was usually around 26, 27

hopefully 8VR isn't too damaging... Should I withdraw my application this year and reapply next year?

You give me hope, because my practice scores were around 25-28 and I'm hoping for a 30+ when i get my scores next tuesday! Don't withdraw though, just apply broadly, and you'll never know what schools will take you.

 

[paul411]

First post too :3 12 VR / 14 PS / 12 BS / M WS 38M (I hated my prompts :/)

Beast!

7/14/12=33Q

what should I do with my verbal...

Excellent science scores. I say you do a ton of VR prep, re-review the sciences (you obviously have that down) and retake. If you fix up that VR, you're looking at high 30s.

 

[freddy59]

10/9/10 29 p

 

[Genemo]

Beast!




Excellent science scores. I say you do a ton of VR prep, re-review the sciences (you obviously have that down) and retake. If you fix up that VR, you're looking at high 30s.

well, I dont know if I could improve more
the only part I worked on was verbal...I spent like 6 hours on physics and less than 2 weeks on biology, but 2 months on verbal I ended with a 7...and Im ESL

 

[Genemo]

Same situation here bro. I had a 32R (8 VR, 10 PS, 14 BS).. I actually scored higher on verbal last year when I took the exam I got a 9 lol. So Idk what to do :/

shake hands
Im so lost now

 

[dnovikov]

26 M 7/10/9
Don't know what to really do now since I submitted my app...

 

[GooseWing]

Congrats on the bio scores people! Just goes to show they've really got the curve figured out for these tests. I remember a month ago everyone wanted to shoot themselves because of some of those bio passages.

 

[paul411]

well, I dont know if I could improve more
the only part I worked on was verbal...I spent like 6 hours on physics and less than 2 weeks on biology, but 2 months on verbal I ended with a 7...and Im ESL

Oh. How did you prep for VR? What were your practice scores like?

 

[Genemo]

Oh. How did you prep for VR? What were your practice scores like?

I finished all AAMC, EK101, and TPHR book. The only thing I have left is TBR but their verbal is not good. My practice scores were like 9-10 before the exam with casual 8 and 11.

 

[Hotshy]

Same situation here bro. I had a 32R (8 VR, 10 PS, 14 BS).. I actually scored higher on verbal last year when I took the exam I got a 9 lol. So Idk what to do :/

What were you AAMC averages like for verbal? How did you prepare?

I think with a good GPA and good EC's you have a chance at getting an acceptance, especially at your state medical school.

 

[teotuf]

i have only taken 3 full verbal passages my entire life: 5 (practice mcat 1 week before actual test), 8 (actual test), and 11 (retake 7/6).

i found 2 things to be extremely helpful: 1) exam cracker audio osmosis on verbal. make sure you fully understand what they are talking about, this is simply the best strategy i've came across. and 2) kaplan quiz bank questions.

using just those two things, and about a month of studying, i was able to bring my quiz average from about 50-60% to 85-90% (11-12 estimated score)

 

[patrickj]

patrickj, I got the exact same score, but I'm not stoked. I don't know how to feel about it...my GPA and EC's are all solid, and idk if I want to chance a retake. I feel like I might be able to get in at South Carolina schools....I just don't know what to do.

i would say to definitely apply to your state school(s). that is really what I'm banking on.. im a nebraska resident but went to school in hawaii and i know at both that they were accepting people with mid-high twenties mcat scores for this years class... i think with your solid ECs and GPA you will be competitive... its perfectly fine to not go to a top tier school...

 

[Genemo]

What were you AAMC averages like for verbal? How did you prepare?

I think with a good GPA and good EC's you have a chance at getting an acceptance, especially at your state medical school.

I got 9-10 with casual 7,8 and 11.
I'm in Canada so the verbal section may affect me more compare to people in the US.
My GPA and EC are just average or even a bit below.
Anyways, I'll apply with this MCAT for now and decide what to do next year.
Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[ravupadh]

I honestly don't know if I can even prepare for verbal anymore. I've used up all of the good practice materials. I did every single TPR and Examkrackers 101 passage and was getting a 10 or above on the practice AAMCs. And the actual verbal on this test seemed easy. There was only one passage that got to me so I was surprised when I saw the score. I really don't wanna take this exam again I've used up all the AAMC practice exams and really I'll go to any US med school that accepts me lol. The thing is my GPA is 3.48 but my science GPA is 3.21 which is a bummer. Ahh decisions decisions.

 

[paul411]

I finished all AAMC, EK101, and TPHR book. The only thing I have left is TBR but their verbal is not good. My practice scores were like 9-10 before the exam with casual 8 and 11.

If you plan on retaking to increase your VR, I recommend you prep for LSAT Reading Comprehension (Manhattan LSAT Reading Comprehension Strategy Guide + LSAT Reading Comprehension practice tests). The strategy guide should help you understand the VR from a test makers perspective which is what you need to do well, IMO. I went from an 8 to 13 on VR by really trying to figure out how the test makers were thinking when they made the questions (based on EK101 and AAMC materials). I, too, did EK101 and AAMCs the first time and I reused the materials the second time but the second time was mostly spent analyzing instead of simply completing tests.

 

[Hotshy]

I honestly don't know if I can even prepare for verbal anymore. I've used up all of the good practice materials. I did every single TPR and Examkrackers 101 passage and was getting a 10 or above on the practice AAMCs. And the actual verbal on this test seemed easy. There was only one passage that got to me so I was surprised when I saw the score. I really don't wanna take this exam again I've used up all the AAMC practice exams and really I'll go to any US med school that accepts me lol. The thing is my GPA is 3.48 but my science GPA is 3.21 which is a bummer. Ahh decisions decisions.

I would apply anyway it's worth a shot I think. You can always retake if the application cycle doesn't work out this year.

 

[Genemo]

If you plan on retaking to increase your VR, I recommend you prep for LSAT Reading Comprehension (Manhattan LSAT Reading Comprehension Strategy Guide + LSAT Reading Comprehension practice tests). The strategy guide should help you understand the VR from a test makers perspective which is what you need to do well, IMO. I went from an 8 to 13 on VR by really trying to figure out how the test makers were thinking when they made the questions (based on EK101 and AAMC materials). I, too, did EK101 and AAMCs the first time and I reused the materials the second time but the second time was mostly spent analyzing instead of simply completing tests.

This is very encouraging! Thank you very much.
I will see how it goes this year and decide if I will rewrite the MCAT or not. If I do, I'll definitely try your method.

 

[Wyvernrider]

I highly recommend the Examkrackers 1001 question books. I just used those and I increased my score from 27 to 33.

The best method is to find what works for you. I learn from making mistakes, so doing a lot of questions was obviously best for me.

 

[ravupadh]

Thanks for the advice guys! So should I just finish applying this year and see what happens and retake the exam next year if I don't get in? Or should I retake the exam this year and then apply? Cause if I take it again now I won't get my scores till September which is really late.

 

[prorider2themax]

11ps, 10 vr, 12 bs, Q, = 33Q

up from a 29N on my 2010 take. pretty stoked

never give up people. and for those who need to retake for verbal i would recommend buying a little jesus or budda figure and praying realllly hard.

 

[danmo]

9vr, 13ps, 11bs, Q

 

[Hotshy]

11ps, 10 vr, 12 bs, Q, = 33Q

up from a 29N on my 2010 take. pretty stoked

never give up people. and for those who need to retake for verbal i would recommend buying a little jesus or budda figure and praying realllly hard.

 

[macsta]

31. My averages were around a 31. I wish I did better, but given the test I am happy with my result. THE MCAT IS A STATICALLY RUBUST TEST!!!!

PS- I love the people who created an account today to show off their scores.

 

[Medgen]

12PS/10VS/12BS

I am actually happy with it. I was hoping for higher going into the actual exam because my practice exams were significantly higher. That being said a death in the family coupled with the fact that I had to fly a red eye to get to the exam site (but my exam was at 1 so I still had a good amount of time to rest) may have contributed to the feeling I felt after the exam, which was absolutely terrible. I felt that both the PS and VS were very challenging and that the BS was OK. I thought that I probably scored if I was lucky an 8. I guess this just goes to show that feelings dont necessarily correlate with how one actually does on this exam. I did not expect to do this well, and will definitely not be retaking.

Good luck to all those who are retaking- you can definitely do it! I used EK and when I needed more in-depth explanations Kaplan and SDN threads.

 

[paul411]

12PS/10VS/12BS

I am actually happy with it. I was hoping for higher going into the actual exam because my practice exams were significantly higher. That being said a death in the family coupled with the fact that I had to fly a red eye to get to the exam site (but my exam was at 1 so I still had a good amount of time to rest) may have contributed to the feeling I felt after the exam, which was absolutely terrible. I felt that both the PS and VS were very challenging and that the BS was OK. I thought that I probably scored if I was lucky an 8. I guess this just goes to show that feelings dont necessarily correlate with how one actually does on this exam. I did not expect to do this well, and will definitely not be retaking.

Good score nonetheless!

 

[mgmph20]

V:7 (up from 5 lol)
P:12 (up from 11)
B:11( down from 12)
WR:Q (same)

30Q
Would it be still OK with that verbal? (I'm an ESL student)

 

[IWillBe]

First time taker. Got 33R. 14PS/10VR/9BS I am really not sure if this is a good mark since I really don't know much about the MCAT..any input??

 

[asdrandomasd]

i love fb.

 

[exquisitemelody]

I kind of wish we could review our test and see what we got wrong. I'm curious as to what I got with one particular passage that shall remain nameless....

 

[ravupadh]

What were you AAMC averages like for verbal? How did you prepare?

I think with a good GPA and good EC's you have a chance at getting an acceptance, especially at your state medical school.

My AAMC average for verbal was 9.8. I was using Examkrackers 101 passages and TPR passages. I was surprised by the score cause I did all of the passages from both books. I tried to limit each passage to 7 min.

My cumulative GPA is okay (3.48) but my science GPA is not as good (3.21) so that's why I'm iffy. But I think I have good ECs. I volunteered at my local hospital for 6 months (about 108 hours in total). And then I shadowed a doctor for two months. I've also done research in a evolutionary mol bio lab for a year. I did a poster on my research and we're hoping for a paper to be accepted into The Journal of Phycology and I have first authorship. So my ECs aren't bad. The only thing that's holding me back is the science GPA and the verbal score. I honestly don't care what school I get into as long as it's in the US.

 

[LLB2MD]

31. My averages were around a 31. I wish I did better, but given the test I am happy with my result. THE MCAT IS A STATICALLY RUBUST TEST!!!!

PS- I love the people who created an account today to show off their scores.

Yaaaay Macsta!! Woohoo!

I am so drunk.

 

[Cardio_4_Life]

I want to jump off of a building.

PS- 7!!!! VR-10 BS- 9

I feel so disappointed/discouraged. My AAMC average from 7 tests was a 32.3. I DROPPED 6 POINTS. How does that happen? I feel sick to my stomach.

 

[lilslsailor]

.

 

[LLB2MD]

Okay, peeps are finally back from work ready to join my party. And I'm off...

To peeps who weren't as lucky with the guessing. My heart goes out to you. My friend is in the same boat. I cannot believe that I am not but I really think it is pure random luck. Keep the spirits up and the goal in sight. You can do it. Doesn't matter how many times you have to do this sucker, never lose faith in yourself. This test is not an indication of your intelligence or of your potential for being an amazing doctor. It is just a stupid hurdle you have to jump over. Keep on going. You will do it.

Now time to get blitzed...

 

[Axon hillock]

31. My averages were around a 31. I wish I did better, but given the test I am happy with my result. THE MCAT IS A STATICALLY RUBUST TEST!!!!

PS- I love the people who created an account today to show off their scores.

Got the same score. Wish it was a little higher as well but I'm pretty content.

 

[Axon hillock]

First time taker. Got 33R. 14PS/10VR/9BS I am really not sure if this is a good mark since I really don't know much about the MCAT..any input??

It's horrific. You should be so embarrassed, never show your face on SDN again.

 

[soccerbabe7582]

I want to jump off of a building.

PS- 7!!!! VR-10 BS- 9

I feel so disappointed/discouraged. My AAMC average from 7 tests was a 32.3. I DROPPED 6 POINTS. How does that happen? I feel sick to my stomach.

I am in the exact same boat as you. I got PS 9 VR 7 BS 10. My average was a 32 on the amcas and Kaplan test:/ Guess I'll be retaking in January. Though really now sure what to do different studying wise this time since my average was descent and I felt good on all the material ...

 

[paul411]

I am in the exact same boat as you. I got PS 9 VR 7 BS 10. My average was a 32 on the amcas and Kaplan test:/ Guess I'll be retaking in January. Though really now sure what to do different studying wise this time since my average was descent and I felt good on all the material ...

Did you take the practice tests under strict timed conditions and a simulated test environment (library, etc.)?

I didn't do that the first time I took the MCAT and my AAMC FL averages overestimated my actual MCAT performance. The second time, I took the FLs very seriously and they underestimated my real score.

 

[tellmemore2020]

I got a 30Q and I predicted my grade to be around 30 +/-2 . I was hoping against all hope for a 34-35, but my highest grade was a 32 (2x), with one 31 (AAMC11) and many, many mediocre grades. So I am not upset with the 30Q and it makes sense, but I am mad at myself for not being able to pull it up to a great score (even though 30 is certainly decent). Split was 9-9-12, and I am most upset about my verbal. Still applying this cycle.

 

[GyroGyro]

Pretty much have a miracle story. First time I took my MCATs got a 29. I took them again and dropped to a 28 last year...

For this one, I walked out of there thinking I did terrible in bio, semi okay in verbal, and owned physics (was expecting a 10 bio, 8 verb, 13-14 phys).

Ended up with a 15 bio, 14 phys, 10 verb. I have no clue how I got it. I am 100% sure that I semi-guessed on 12 questions on bio (as in I ruled it down to 2 and took what I believed was the best answer).

Did not expect this at all, but probably the happiest person ever! Now I just have to figure out how to explain the disparity of scores to the admissions committee... All I gotta say is I love you Berkeley Review and that when it comes to verbal, clear your mind and relax (#1 thing for me at least) during the test. Practice can only take you so far in that section.

Edit - and for what its worth, take test 11 very seriously. It was the only "new" test I took between my previous 28 and the now 39. When I did that one I did score around a 36. I found that the PS section type of questions matched up very closely. Something similar was seen with test 11 verbal (at least to me). Bio nowadays almost seems like a pseudo-verbal section - you have to pick up on the details of the passages and read VERY carefully. Test 11 does this somewhat, but not completely. There is one AMAZING passage there IIRC about some huge experiment that was difficult to understand involving vectors etc. That is the type of passage you have to become familiar with and be able to understand quickly to ace this section. Gone are the days where Bio was about knowing random facts. That's my advice for anyone still taking the test. Good luck!

 

[inquiry101]

Pretty much have a miracle story. First time I took my MCATs got a 29. I took them again and dropped to a 28 last year...

For this one, I walked out of there thinking I did terrible in bio, semi okay in verbal, and owned physics (was expecting a 10 bio, 8 verb, 13-14 phys).

Ended up with a 15 bio, 14 phys, 10 verb. I have no clue how I got it. I am 100% sure that I semi-guessed on 12 questions on bio (as in I ruled it down to 2 and took what I believed was the best answer).

Did not expect this at all, but probably the happiest person ever! Now I just have to figure out how to explain the disparity of scores to the admissions committee... All I gotta say is I love you Berkeley Review and that when it comes to verbal, clear your mind and relax (#1 thing for me at least) during the test. Practice can only take you so far in that section.

all i can say is WOW, congrats! That is amazing! How were your TBR scores?

 

[GyroGyro]

Hm, sorry I should have clarified. Were there specific TBR tests available? If so, i never took them (I did the home study thing as I live no where near where the courses are offered). Or do you mean the in general on the sets of 100 questions? Or the diagnostic passages? Sorry that I am confused, but I like through a lot of that out of mind as soon as I finished the test lol.

Edit - Trying not to go off-topic, but I guess I might as well be a bit more specific. Initially I took the examkrackers course when I took the MCAT the first time. As it turns out, I did worse on the real MCAT than the diagnostic test I took during the course (iirc that was like aamc 7?). TBH, I dont think this examkrackers course was worth it. They generalized topics TOO much. Like what I mean by this is that they sometimes stated certain things and kind of implied "This is all you need to know regarding this topic". It turned out for me at least that the large amount of generalization wasn't exactly that helpful. Actually understanding topics with the TBR books was very beneficial. One quick example that comes to mind was the discussion of Zeff. I can't even remember how Examkrackers explained it, but it didn't really make sense and to me they kind of just said "here's what you have to know. Memorize this. Don't worry about the rest of the detail". While it is true for the majority of the test, if you are seeking to score very high scores (i would say 35-36), you do need to know that one tiny detail and actually UNDERSTAND (not just memorize) concepts for those few questions that do appear. However, as I found out when I prepared for 7/6, the books were great as review tools after the TBR books. For my second MCAT, I also only used the examkrackers books (no course this time), and that didn't turn out well.

The thing is with the TBR books, they go quite in-depth for bio and PS. Though I do admit, I spent maybe 10 hrs / day (I didnt have time to do the 3 month plan so I kind of accelerated it by doing it in 45 days or so) going over and over the lessons and trying to learn everything there is to in each lesson, the best part was that because they went so in-depth, you were familiar with many more topics even if you didn't actually learn anything from that section. Still, the in-depth detail was pretty helpful for me on at least a few of the difficult questions.

 

[yangxx2]

I still can't believe my 33 score!

10/11/12 VR/PS/BS as a chem major. I still can't believe that score in BS with such hard passages and little background.

I am so pumped.

EVERYONE WITH LOW SCORES, don't give up! I went from a 27 to a 33! You can do it too!

Would you mind sharing what you did differently?
Congrats on a great score

 

[sirdude]

Got 31M!!
Got 31 on AAMC 11, and up from 29O on last years test. Excited but kinda wondering if some schools may look negatively on the WS?

 

[Whatyousay]

Got 31M!!
Got 31 on AAMC 11, and up from 29O on last years test. Excited but kinda wondering if some schools may look negatively on the WS?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

 

[osu2012]

First time MCAT-taker, 32Q. Ugh, completely on the fence as to whether I should I take it again....I am fully aware that a 32 is good, but its definitely not great...Thoughts? I mean, everyone seems to improve by at least 2-3 points the next time around.

 

[docmayer]

First time MCAT-taker, 32Q. Ugh, completely on the fence as to whether I should I take it again....I am fully aware that a 32 is good, but its definitely not great...Thoughts? I mean, everyone seems to improve by at least 2-3 points the next time around.

32Q is a great score.... you do not need any higher assuming the rest of your app is up to par with other applicants

 

[JoeDilly]

Definitely in the low end of my AAMC range, and if someone had told me this score right before I sat for the exam, I would have been disappointed. But considering how I felt walking out of it, I'll take it and run with it. Definitely no need to be greedy, I'm thankful that I came out with a score that gives me a fighting chance.

What a trek it has been, congrats on everyone for making it through! For those of you who will sit for it again, give the test a little eff you for the rest of us when you bump your score up and conquer it big time. Peace.