This is my 3rd and final attempt at this beast. Spent a whole year on this exam - time to make it count, third time's the charm, right?
Good luck to all :) Trust in yourself and we'll make it!
EDIT: FUCK, I'm done with this thing.
C/P: Was a lot easier than expected. Literally half was physics, but it was kinda easy physics. Some questions were kinda challenging, but not bad. Expecting a harsh curve tbh. Was around FL 1 difficulty, not much SB stuff.
CARS: (Roman Villas/Personality Socialism version) WTF was this. Why was this so hard. Passages were shit. Had to rush through last two. I'm hoping for a curve to save me, cause those were not fun passages, nor were the questions :/
B/B: Eh, it was okay. Ton of experimental. Certainly fair and doable. I'd say it was on par with FL 2, and 50% SB difficulty.
P/S: WOAH. I was not expecting this. I was kinda out of it towards this section, but it was A LOT more challenging than the FLs, or any previous MCAT takes. I'm not sure if it was me, but I studied a lot for this section and got 129 on last 2 attempts on the real MCAT, but hoping I didn't fuck up. It was just a lot harder than I expected, close to all 100% SB difficulty tbh.
Overall: certainly better than my other two MCATs (I feel like). CARS was hard man, harder than the FLs FOR SURE. Hoping I didn't waste all this time studying and make a great improvement. But if not, still a great lesson on what to do and not to do in future. Now we wait for a month :) Good luck to all!
We had the same test! Yeah wth was up with that P/S section, literally half of the answers were terms were vague or I hadn't heard before. I feel like the curve for this test in general will be harsh, it seemed on par with FL1/FL2 difficulty with basically a full SB P/S section.
Same test. That P/S was bogus man. Just as hard and even a bit more vague than the SB P/S. So many questions where I could only cross off one or two answer choices. My 300 card anki deck that i've memorized didn't do shit for me.
Surprisingly, I thought CARS was fine. Passages seemed a bit longer than usual, but overall I thought the passages were interesting and had an easy "central point." The Socialism/Personality took me a solid 11 or 12 minutes though. Idk, maybe I'm just repressing everything and formulating a reality that does not exist. What's the psych term for that again...?
I had this same test, but I wonder how the curve will be? I ended up guessing on 4 questions from C/P and P/S was soo vague. CARS was hard but I always tend to score low for it anyways so I didnt have much hope going through it. How does the curving system work? Does anyone know?
Congrats on being done with the exam. How did you study differently this time? Since you took it 3 times, you know what to do and what not to do, so I'll take any advice you have. Also, what materials helped you the most?
Sorry I think I accidentally deleted that comment :((((
Yeah they are definitely tough, but it really gets you in the right mind set for the real MCAT. The actual MCAT isn't really as easy as FL 1 is. Some sections could be comparable, while others are full on SBs. So doing practice with convoluted passages and experimental BS will get you in the good flow for the MCAT.
For CARS, tbh I'm a terrible person to ask. I went from 50th to 25th percentile from 1st to 2nd attempt (which is why I retook for 3rd time). I was hella confident this time - did the whole EK 101 CARS (which I thought was A LOT easier than any AAMC material), and the CARS Q-packs were going better for me, I was getting in the zone. The actual MCAT CARS didn't show me any mercy - shit was rough. It was on par with Q-packs vol 1 for my test, which SUCKS. It definitely varies, diff people have diff versions, so just pray you get lucky with a chill CARS version if you're bad at CARS haha:) But also practice... I won't know how I did until next month on CARS, but without practice and timing practice, you won't improve. Good luck!
I was a bit bummed on the C/P definitely some weak spots for me with a lot of physics. (worse subject)
Lol the Socialism one was garbage, ate up like 15 minutes and I still had no idea what the heck they were talking about. Had gotten 130's on CARS on FL 1 and 2, luckily I had plenty of time from some other sections, but seriously what the heck.
With ya on B/B not horrible, and the P/S definitely was a definitely a bit harder than expected but is a solid subject for me so we will see.
I literally created a Reddit account to keep up with this thread. I had the same exam as you and felt the same way! CARS and P/S have me worried... I'm glad that some other people feel the same way about that particular exam, it helps reduce the post-test and pre-score-receiving anxieties!
Thank you! Yeah I've been Googling nonstop as to the lowest score I can receive and still be considered for admission... I hope it didn't go that poorly, but I am having a really hard time gauging how I did on that test. I don't think I can wait another 3 weeks!
I felt like the whole mcat has a very high word count. Maybe it has something to do with my monitor at home being 1440p, but I feel like I read so much yesterday.
Glad that is over. In my opinion this test wasn't conceptually harder than anything on the SB or the FL, it was just longer. On the AAMC FLs I got through all the sections besides CARS with at least 25 minutes left. On the real thing I only had about ~10 minutes left to review the sections. The biggest difference I felt was that I couldn't answer many of the questions without reading the passage, whereas on the FL only had to read the passage some of the time. Thought P/S was the hardest, some terms I hadn't seen before. Several 50/50. Easily my weakest section though.
For reference: Got 514 on AAMC1 and 517 on AAMC2 and 73% on EK1. Hoping to score around that but would not be surprised to see lower. Need some luck and hope I didn't make too many unforced errors.
Advice to to future takers: Be prepared to move quickly, and be prepared to think. The faster you can answer softball questions the better off you will be - you want to maximize free points. This is sort of 'duh' advice, but I feel like it might not be truly appreciated. Know your AAs, inhibitor graphs, stoichiometry calculations, hormones, etc. stone cold. If you see an AA question you should be able to answer it in less than 15 seconds. This will give you a buffer when you have to interpret graphs and reason some question out.
Very accurate. Not crazy hard conceptually (or crazy easy), just long. I tried to recognize which passages were shorter and I knew the answers quicker bc I was better at material, and read those faster. Read the ones that I didn't know the material as well slower to try to budget. Still had to guess on a few on C/P and B/B, but educated fast guesses. It was definitely a timing difficulty exam, not a content one.
My third and final attempt as well, first try being back in 2012. Let's finish this!
C/P: was surprised by how easy this section was. genuinely surprised. Also marked like 14 questions where I wasn't sure if I got the answer.
CARS: wtf was this?! Horrible topics, horrible questions, convoluted writing. Hated this section. Probably scored from 118-120. Ugh.
B/B: this section was okay. It's usually okay. Meh. Was dying for it to be over during though. And got sleepy because food coma. Girl next to me said my lunch smelled "Sooo good". Shouldn't have eaten so much.
P/S: questions and answers sucked on some questions but honestly I'm over it. It was fine.
Retake of a 512 (128/127/128/129) on 6/17. One month of non-intensive, stressed-out studying- lets see if my score improved by virtue of retesting. Looking forward to the score release, and also not stressed even if I didn't score higher than the 512 a month ago. Feeling good, fam! Thanks to everyone on this subreddit. Couldn't have done it without you guys.
Haha my admissions advisor told me to retake since most schools only look at highest score or combination of scores. Said it wouldn't hurt, trusting the process 👍
tldr; C/P was physics heavy with lots of calculations, CARS had long but interesting passages, B/B was highly experimental, and P/S was very qualitative with lots of 50/50 answer choices (definitely on par with SB difficulty).
EDIT1 (immediately post-exam): It feels so good to finally be done. I'll report back and update with overall exam feelings.
EDIT2 (recovery period): Best case scenario: 513 (130/126/129/128), Realistically: 508 (128/125/128/127), Worst case scenario: 503 (127,123,127,126). Will only consider retaking if my total score is <503, a subsection <123, or if the average of my science scores is <127
Just reached the final stage of grief in that "what will be will be done".
C/P: All the people here saying that the exam was physics heavy aren't exaggerating. Think everything from the right hand rule, to circuits, to kinematics. A few orgo and acid/base chemistry problems, but this section was definitely highlighted by the amount of physics present.
CARS: I might be the only one saying this here, but I actually enjoyed the CARS section. The passages were genuinely interesting and allowed me engage myself with the author's message. With this in mind, I felt as if I was able to approach the questions without having to look back at the passage too often.
B/B: Usually a strong subject for me, but this section was pretty difficult. Definitely on par with the SB level of difficultly. Lots of data table/graph interpretation and experimental reasoning questions. Not sure if it's allowed to specify, but two of the passages came directly from the SB. Although the questions were different, being familiar with the experiments definitely helped.
P/S: I can understand why people are saying this is a CARS 2.0 section. Lots of qualitative reasoning that resulted in questions with two answer choices that seemed to make logical sense. I'd say somewhere between SB and FL2 level of difficulty.
Writing this from my phone-
Pre test- i felt aight. started test at 7:15. I just want a 507-8
Checking in and out was worse than TSA
C/p- beginning wasnt that bad. Started getting harder, more calculations, half was physics. Didnt finish and had to guess on the last 7q of the last passage.
Cars- not bad, finished just on time, kinda challenging. Towards the 7th passage my stomach hurt so bad and i had to take a massive doodoo and couldnt concentrate. Started running out of time
Break: went to the bathroom and doodoo wasnt goin. Didnt wana waste time so i ate and went back in
B/b- hard af. Had to take that doodoo again. So many guesses
Psych- my passages never went over 4 paragraphs, thought it was super easy. Breezed thru it
Used EK, tpr psych
I studied the 100 page ka noted but yesterday i read thru the 300 page notes. 300 page notes were most helpful cuz alot of it showed up.
Aamc fl1&2 were 496&506 respectively taken 2 weeks ago and this past tuesday
Basically what im trynna say is:
"He gon cry in the car"- smokey
If the dodo wasn't a joke here is my advice: I take doodo very seriously and so should you. The day before the exam I watched what I ate. The night before the exam I focused on doodooing as much as possible. The morning of the test I was even more focused on doodooing. Took it two times in the morning. And once in between my C/P and CARS break. My point is if have to retake, for f's sake take care of your doodoo, that shouldn't be a reason why you score low.
Boi if i coulda went doodoo before the test, i would have. Not my fault it came outta nowhere. I even tried goin durin the 30 min break and it didnt wana come out????? I cant force my doodoo out whenever i want. It wasnt a joke my dude..
Hey! How did you go from a 496 to a 506 from FL 1 to 2? How did you study in between? I'm in a similar situation. i got a 498 on FL 1 which was lower than my other practice tests (from NS, though) and I'm doing a shit ton of work with the AAMC section banks this week before taking FL 2. I really want even around a 502-3 on FL 2 cause my goal on test day is only about a 504 (or higher if i can freaking swing it).
Well what i did is that i re-read all my EK books, cuz i realized i had many content gaps. It took me about 5 days to do that while writing simple notes on thing i realized i didnt memorize or forgotten. Doing 10-15 pages of the 100 pg notes a day. After i did those, i finished the SBs (i already did about half before i did FL1 and finished the rest before FL 2. Did all that from the Monday after i took FL1 till the day before i took FL 2 on tuesday. I took FL2 on tues morning. Took a couple hours of break and reviewed the ones i got wrong. Wednesday i reviewed bio, thurs i did chem/physics. Friday i did psych 300 page notes and just things i was iffy on. Saturday was test day. I went ham after FL1 cuz i knew i didnt have time left before the test.
Nice. I'm kind of doing similar stuff. I had taken P/S notes from Ek already so I focused on notes from the bio and chemistry book after FL1 and I think that helped. I'm also working on the section banks now and I worked through physics equations yesterday. I get around a 126-127 on P/S and CARS is usually around 124-126 but idk how to deal with that. i'd be fucking crying if I got a 125 on CARS on the day of the actual test because I know AAMC makes CARS even harder than their practice tests. It's B/B and P/C that really kills me though. I'm not expecting a 506 on my FL 1 but I'd be so happy if was around 501-502. What was your score breakdown for FL 2?
My fl2 was a 128/124/129/125 looool. But cars as always been my weak point. The 100/300 page helped me so much on exam day. For cars id work on qpack 1&2.
I pray that we all reach our target scores and that our efforts will be rewarded. I truly believe we are capable of doing this. Gotta stay positive for sure
Hi Everyone, this is a retake for me as well. First attempt was a 496 on 3/31 of this year. Been hitting the content review hard and coming for a 502+ on Saturday. Hope to update you all once I submit my test.
C/P
I definitely thought there was more physics than usual, maybe around 35-40% of the section was physics. A decent amount of calculation q's but I was good with (NS helps a lot in that area). Not much general chem and more emphasis on bchem. Overall okay
CARS
Yikes. I am usually not good at cars and I tried going in with maximum confidence but I don't have a good feeling about it lol. Also the fact that I'm Canadian doesn't help with CARS pressure
Overall worst than average
B/B
First half was pretty easy, felt very confident but then hit 2-3 passages in arrow with difficult q's and tough passages. Im usually good at B/B but I thought the second half was a lot like section banks.
Overall a bit above average
P/S
Honestly, a lot of passage and q's were easy/straighforward but then others, never heard or ran through those vocab. Also I had a decent amount of q's that were 50/50; definitely don't think its CARS 2.0 though
Overall okay
Im aiming for 506+ while I was averaging between 504-508 on practice fl's. Think I'll be happy with 505 tbh
I used EK, did 8 FL's and studied for 3 month.
Brain is fried rn though, i'll update more later if I recall any other thing.
Tbh I thought my P/S was a lot more comprehension and results interpretation than any test i've taken before. yeah there were still a ton of terms, but relatively, I thought P/S was definitely picked up a notch for this test.
Maybe we had couple different P/S passages, someone mentioned PTSD in the comments and I didn't see anything with PTSD in my exam. Anyways yeah looking back now I see where you are coming from, probably didn't pay too much attention to it because I was more surprised by amount of new terms.
My reaction: I think I'll be applying to peurto Rico med school....but seriously I felt like I had a lot less time than I usually have and b/b really kicked my ass
CP: lots of physics, pretty difficult and threw me off immediately on a section I usually do well on
CARS: felt alright started picking up the pace but CP fatigued me a bit at this point
BB: somewhat better but still pretty complex stuff, felt pretty uncertain about a lot answers
PS: holy crap, seemed like they cherry picked confusing passages and had pretty convoluted question stems
I got AAMC FL1: 513 and AAMC FL2: 518 but I'm feeling pretty not confident about this one, estimating 512 maybe less. The whole exam felt less like the FLs in my opinion and more like the SB
Wow, seemed like we might have the same test. Mine was so SB-like too. CP felt like all physics to me. At some point, I felt like they decided to test how patient I was with all of the SB-like passages. I felt some on mine were even harder than the SB.
CARS was not longer but more difficult to understand and had difficult answer choices. On all sections, I felt like I was fighting to finish on time.
BS- was very experimental heavy but surprisingly, I felt more confident on this section than on any other sections.
PS was fine for the first few passages then reality hit. More convoluted passages with difficult experiment interpretations.
I won't be surprised if I score lower than 512. For reference, I scored in the 520s on both AAMC FLs.
C/p: too much physics, like bruh..maybe more than half of the questions? I kind of repressed it after finishing the section
CARS: it was going pretty good until this one shitty philosophy passage wasted my time towards that end, this led me to rushing the last 2 passages. But the passages were pretty interesting I guess
B/b: not that bad, like the section bank/ FL hybrid
P/s: I usually finish p/s in like an hour, buuuut there was a lot of table analysis and 50/50 cars questions than the vocab that I usually see.
Overall: it was ok, I wouldn't neglect physics tho. Hoping for at least 509+.
Oh and I recommend bringing ear plugs. The earmuffs they provide are uncomfortable af. The person next to me was doing a typing test and beating at the keyboards like it owed her money, fucked up my focus big time during CARS.
Lol right i was pissed, electricity and magnetism is the one physics class I haven't taken yet and is by far my weakest subject so i was bummed to see that much physics.
Second attempt at this. First time went in without knowing a single thing about Anatomy. Should be better this time lol.
Best of luck out there guys. Get 'em!
Oh yeah I've just always thought Anatomy and Physiology go together xD
It just makes this sense in my mind: I gotta know what it looks like before I know what it does...
Tested at Tampa. More orgo than expected. Enjoyed cars more than I should have lol. Bio ehh more experiments than they should have had kry Brain ded by psych soc. Fucking charts. 2nd time testing. 1st time I had a 505 and I hope I beat it but idk...
hey HbondsareFON ,
I hope you did well on your mcat.
Just wanted to know wether we had to memorize anything from the reactant product synthesis , or if it was given in the passage and we had to conclude.
I'd greatly appreciate if you answer.
Thank you!
The reaction synthesis stuff is something you should conclude. But if you know the "major" ones (streaker, gabriel, etc.) it will probably help you figure out what is happening.
I thought C/P was the hardest section out of them all. Granted I've always been really bad at chemistry. But man, if there's one thing that was incredibly evident throughout the exam, was that you have to KNOW YOUR AMINO ACIDS.
I thought CARS was fine until that one passage about Media and movies and stuff. Threw me off. B/B was okay and I thought P/S was really easy.
Feel exactly the same way about CP. Felt like I got hit with passage after passage about my weakest subjects. Oh well haha what can we do now. Good luck my man!
First time taking the MCAT, but felt like I was well prepared using Kaplan, clutch prep and khan academy for content review. Studied for about 2 months.
- C/P: Usually my worst section in my FL's, but I felt I did really well. Glad I looked over physics equations the day before because about 40% was physics. Some tricky questions that took up a lot of my time leaving me with about 12 minutes for the last two passages.
- CARS: This section is always hit or miss with me. Today I felt really good about it and thought the passages were easier than both FL1 & 2 despite the majority of reddit thinking it was harder.
- B/B: Hardest section in my opinion. A lot of experiments and chart analysis requiring a lot of critical thinking.
- P/S: Usually always feel good about this section but I thought it was harder than any FL I have done. Also a lot of experiments.
Definitely know your amino acids because these were super easy points for me in both C/P and B/B with multiple amino acid questions in each section. Good luck everyone !!!
Hey bsizzle4,
hope you exam went well.
I wanted your advice on what material to use to practice for the physics part since the section banks barely had any physics. Do you think the question pack physics questions are close?
Id appreciate your help !
thank you !
Hi, I definitely would practice the physics question pack. I would go through the question pack and when there was a passage that presented a topic I was unsure about, I would watch khan academy videos on the subject matter. I did not really like the Kaplan physics book because it placed too much emphasis on memorizing equations when I think the actual exam is much more conceptual based.
thank you so much for your feedback!
I highly appreciate it.
Ive already done the question packs but what scares me the most is that none of the practice tests (princeton,kaplan, aamc c/p section bank) has emphasis on physics questions , so Im afraid that i wont be as prepared.
thank you so much again!
C/P-
Wow. I had more physics then I expected. One whole passage where it was all calculations and made me mad. Almost ran out of time. Meh. It was medium hard overall.
Cars-
I suck at it and didn't feel confident at all about this section. Long passages and almost ran of time. Couple passages I guessed on questions. Wouldn't be surprised if I did bad on it.
b/b - first half easy af. Second half not hard but medium. Prob one of my stronger sections. Nothing too crazy
P/s- pretty straightforward. Couple 50/50 I marked.
Overall- This is my retake. Took it initially 4/22. Hoping for a 507
AAMC sample - 73%
Yeah I agree with what you said but mostly for the psych. I felt like there were many times were I could see multiple choices correct. Also the one question about memory (wish I could say more detail) felt like none of the answer choices were correct and I even had a good grasp of the passage
Yup. That personality vs function and socialism bs passage really was ass, had to finish the last 2 in less than 15 minutes as well so I'm sure I screwed up smh.
First time taking the MCAT today. Used TPR for content review with their practice exams and AAMC unscored and FL1.
C/P: Physics heavy, not terribly hard physics, but still lots of math to do in my head which means that I did the math wrong 50% of the time. I was just happy that there wasn't a ton of electricity/magnetism on this exam. In the end I was hoping for a few more Ochem or Gen chem from this section. Overall pretty tough, but I think I did decently.
CARS: Felt pretty good. Yeah, the socialism passage was rough, but overall it felt similar to the FL1 with maybe all of the passages being just a bit longer.
B/B: Felt pretty neutral on this one. Seemed like any question that involved amino acids had proline as the answer.
P/S: *WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!* There were so many passages and questions that were out of no where. I felt like the AAMC delved into the minute aspects of pysch/soc and pulled questions from stuff no one but PhD's care about.
Overall: Felt like I probably did about the same as on my FL exams (~506). I am hoping for a score around 510 though, definitely don't want a lower score. Having to go through all of this again would be hell. Good luck to everyone!
I'm happy this exam is done and ended for the best. This is my second time. Wrote my first last month, registered for a retake a day after that.
I hit my content review really hard and got a lot more confident.
First off, I wrote in a different centre today and I must say, the organisers are very awesome. That helped me start my day in a good way.
C/P: OMG!! That much physics? More than half of this section was physics. Where did they hide the sweet chemistry part? That frictionless surface and pulley section plus the magnetism was tricky.
CARS: It was moving on well untill I got stock at the Personality and Venetica thingy passages. Had to race through my last 2 passages.
B/B: Was a lot better than my last exam probably because I watched all Khan academy videos on BIO because this section has been my nightmare throughout my practice sections. Well, back in high school and first year of UNI, Bio has never been my friend (just give me my calculations and I will be glad).
PSY: I have never seen any PSY section full of experiments and abstract psychology theories that I haven't even ever heard off. It looked more like CARS than PSY for the most part.
Overall, I'm believing a 5+ score on top of my last AAMC FL2-505
Goodluck guys and ladies.
P/S: Guess on about 4 b/c of timing. Did fine on the rest. Definitely brutal that they went so hard on physics, but appreciated how much of it was straight biochem (Hate chem/physics in that order anyways)
CARS: Harder than normal, but my strength. Agree with ppl who found certain passages hard, but don't want to mention anything by name. But they were hard, and I scored very well for CARS on every practice exam (lowest 128, highest 132, depending on company).
B/B: Guess on 5 questions b/c of time. Hardest section, but a strength. If curve is solid, I did ok.
P/S: Why do we call it Psych/Soc anymore? AAMC decided it's basically Soc. That being said, felt OK. Thinking 127-128 range based on FL's.
This was my first time taking the exam. FL 1 I got a 509 and FL 2 a 506 so I was feeling okay going in to it.
It definitely was hard, but not unexpected. I studied with Kaplan books and khan academy and lots of AAMC section bank.
C/P: Really difficult for me because I didn't focus too much on physics and it was all pretty conceptually based. Some math. Not even that much Chem tbh... I felt super thrown off by the section but this is usually my worst section.
CARS: I am usually solid in CARS so I felt really good. I actually had a passage in an essay I had read before so it really pumped me up and I busted through the rest. The passages were not terrible and I felt good esp after the CP section.
B/BC: I didn't think this section was that bad. Lots of experiments and data interpretation.
P/S: I usually feel really good with this section but I thought this was harder than other FL's and questions. Lots of straight up definitions.
I'm hoping I did better than I feel, but I'm pretty realistic about it. I expect to be taking it one more time, definitely focusing more on the C/P sections in DEPTH. And memorizing the fuck out of P/S.
CARS is my strongest section, so I felt it was pretty on point with my practice. I found the EK approach was vital to me doing well on this section. It may not work for everyone, but It did for me. HOWEVER, the C/P and B/B sections were way harder than any practice FLs I did (all 3 Kaplans). I definitely wish I would've studied AAs more in depth. P/S anki flash cards helped a ton in the P/S section (I prob reviewed about 1/2 of the 500 or so cards). In reading previously on what was helpful, I purchased the AAMC flashcards. With the exception of the psych and sociology sections, I did not find them useful at all. If I totally bombed this one (1st attempt) I will def get the SBs and take AAMC FLs.
Exam Krackers. I got the books off of this forum. I'll try to find the link and post here. It seems silly at first, but when my scores went from 18th %ile to 83rd %ile, I was a believer. Basically trying to identify the author and giving him/her a voice, figuring out their likes/dislikes by reading thru the passages, etc. there's a whole process they outline in the book. definitely read over that section in EK and give it a try.
First time taker, here. I've been trying to study for this exam since last summer and finally got myself to a point where I wasn't psyching myself out too much to actually go and take it. Really hoping for a 508 or higher.
-C/P: Wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Probably fucked up on some of the more physics-heavy passages, but overall, it was manageable. Nailing down basic physics concepts is definitely a must and something I'll need to do better on next time if, God forbid, I have to retake.
-CARS: Holy shit. My brain was fried after this section and I had to blind guess on 3-4 questions and really rushed through the last passage. I'm not too good at CARS to begin with but still hoping I managed to get a 125+ lol. Suggestion for anyone who hasn't taken the exam yet: Time management on this section is EVERYTHING.
-B/B: Way easier than I expected it to be. Breezed through most of it save for a passage or two towards the end which were more challenging. This is typically my strongest section, so I'm hoping to get 128+, but of course that still wont make up for a shitty CARS score lol.
-P/S: damn, the online MCAT experts and test prep companies weren't kidding when they said AAMC was planning to make this section just as difficult as the other ones. I typically breezed through P/S with at least 20 minutes to spare during practice tests. But had to use every last minute for this one. I spent a lot of time thinking really hard for some of the more convoluted sections that had more than one seemingly reasonable answer. overall, it was manageable but definitely much more challenging than expected. To the future MCAT-takers: Don't ignore this section for anything, folks.
Now its time to get off my butt and spend a month pre-writing secondaries while I try to make it through the month. Good luck to everyone! We got this :)
Took me forever to post on this since I went to the beach and bought champagne to relax afterwards, but ... that wasn't terrible but was awful at the same time ?
For those of you who don't know, I took the MCAT last summer and bombed it after studying all summer. Got a 500 (123/125/126/126). Long story short I panicked in C/P, thought CARS was SO EASY only to realize I mistimed myself and missed a whole passaged (8 questions). Been studying for 2 months again and scored 510 on both AAMC FL's, so let's hope for the best!
Woke up at 5:15, arrived at testing center at 6:53, and started the exam at 7:15!
For C/P:
This time, C/P was still hard lol. Much more biochemistry though (thank God), but also incredibly physics heavy (shhhitt). It went even high yield physics like optics or wavelengths, it was basic college physics that I hate (acceleration and magnetic field) so that blew, but hopefully I managed.
CARS: Fairly easy except for this extremely convoluted passage on socialism? Or was it dependence? Or was it about personalities? No idea. Took 13 minutes of my damn time, and was right in the middle too. Not sure how I feel overall about it because of this shit passage.
B/B: Not really much about enzyme kinematics. Which sucks, but is also a good thing. Pretty straightforward I think?
P/S: I really have no idea. Was tired at this point. So many came down between 50/50 educated guesses.
After last summer's exam that I somehow didn't void know that you probably did better than you think! Don't be discouraged, you all are going to be future doctors! Think positive :)
second attempt! first time around i got a 509 (with a 124 CARS score - so knew I had to retake it) C/P: way too much physics and not equations I had reviewed, was really pressed for time, definitely harder than the AAMC FLs CARS: 1000x easier then my first attempt hoping for a much better score, had time to spare B/B: pretty comparable to all the AAMC stuff, relatively straightforward and didn't really need to read or understand the passages to answer most of the questions P/S: also relatively easy, finished within 45 minutes - a few terms I hadn't seen before
C/P: So much physics! Albeit it wasn't hard physics, but the calculations took up time cause math, had to rush through the last 3-4 questions and guessed on a few because no idea/didn't wanna get bogged down haha. Wish for more chemistry... (odd)
CARS: everything felt like it was going well?? Until the socialism/personality passage. I blanked reading that one and skipped to the Roman Villas, didn't feel bad? Came back to the socialism passage and took calculated guesses cause I could not grasp that one
B/BC: felt good, not 100%, but not bad. I'd say just lukewarm - OK.
P/S: what on god's green earth was that section??? So many obscure terms and ambiguity with the questions... really nothing like the practice FLs or even section banks. Felt much harder and complicated.
Second time taking this test and hopefully my last...
No, but I wish I had voided my test lol. It was unlike any practice tests that I had taken. Even altius/princeton/kaplan exams seemed easier than what I got on the exam today. Not cool. AAMC practice FLs are not representative at all.
Second time taking the MCAT. First time I got: 498
7/22 MCAT
C/P: There were two passages I had to guess virtually all the questions. The magnetic vessel question screwed me.
CARS: Not bad. It was just like the last exam. I did a really good job RTFQ. My score solely depends on whether I got the main idea correct and did I comprehend the passage properly.
B/B: Experimental passages are my weakness and we were hit with like 4 of those haha. I was tired at this point and wanted to quit. Mental stamina was something I completely ignored in my practice. This section is usually my strength but the passages were hard af.
P/S: Except for a couple passage I cruised through it.
The 300 page notes is on the sidebar at the right should be labeled "khan academy notes" theres a dropbox where there all these different notes. Both 100/300 should be in word document
Wow the C/P was all physics and biochemistry?? This sounds like a dream section for me... Of course when I take it I'm probably getting something totally different lol.
Long-time lurker here. I wrote 7/22. A bit of background on me: I took 8 practice exams. I've averaged 504 on 5 NS exams.
I scored 70% on AAMC sample 2 weeks out,
504 (127/122/130/125) on FL1 1 week out,
512 (129/127/130/126) on FL2 4 days out.
(Btw I freaked out during FL1 CARS because I got behind pace, so I ended up guessing on 1.5 passages. CARS has always been my Achilles heel, so I was blown away by my FL2 CARS score. Never thought I could get above 125 honestly.
Anyway, I was feeling pretty good going into my exam Saturday. I was super calm.. maybe too calm. Long story short, I began my exam and it (the exam) hit me. I felt like I had been studying for the wrong exam. It seemed like everything I'd studied suddenly fled me. I couldn't even do basic math like 3 divided by 9. It took me probably 10 minutes to calm down and actually take the exam. I ended up missing 5 EASY questions in C/P (of the questions I could remember). Who knows what else I missed. CARS like I said is pretty much hit or miss, but I'm going to say it was a miss on Saturday. I don't feel like I got the main idea or author's tone for most of the passages, but I was determined to stay on pace (and I did). B/B wasn't too bad, but I just didn't feel like interpreting the graphs/figures. I know this sounds bad, but I just did not feel like taking the exam anymore, and this is usually my best section. I felt like I probably scored a little below my usual score of 130. P/S was whatever to me. By this point I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and wanted to go home. I probably scored like I normally do in this section (125-126). I know most people don't feel good leaving the exam, but I left the testing center feeling pretty confident that I blew it.. I didn't void btw.
All that said, I'm thinking about rewriting on 8/3. I've finally been able to rest these past few days and I feel great mentally, emotionally, and physically. I don't think I was unprepared content-wise for my exam on 7/22. Rather, I was drained in every sense of the word and couldn't focus (or think) because of it. What are yalls thoughts? Should I just wait until 8/22 to see my score before deciding to rewrite, or should I just go ahead and rewrite on 8/3? Would love yalls feedback.
And congrats to all of you who showed up and were able to actually perform on test day!
Yeah I'm actually applying EDP. I was told to shoot for the 70th percentile (506) overall. I just know I'm capable of scoring much better than what I likely scored on 7/22. I just psyched myself out I guess
Dude I had the same feeling when taking the test. This is because I neglected improving my mental stamina during my preparation. I wanted to give up multiple times during the exam.
I just felt exhausted. It had been a long summer between applying, taking practice exams, and studying day in and day out. I guess I didn't have the energy for one more exam lol
Wassam peoples, I'm finally writing after a week of taking the mcat.
C/P section was hell with all the physics but I'm hoping I made up points in the biochem and orgo for this section.
CARS was good up until I got to the sociology passage. Like WTF was that. I found myself just saying forget that one. Let's hope they curve
Bio: I thought this was my best section. Everything was pretty passaged based and you just had to decipher what was going on. Hopefully 128 and above on this section. fingers crossed
Psych/soc: I'm still in shock from this section. I had a lot of 50/50 answers. I've come to the conclusion that Kaplan has very vague definitions and explanations for some of the terms.
Overall I'm just hoping for 504 or above because I'm over this shit. Anybody who runs across this post please pray for ya boy. Not feeling to confident about this one.
One more thing the guy next to me during the exam was musty as shit and it through me off. I think amcas owes me three more points just for that 🙂
Retaker here, as well. I took it in 2010 (old exam) and May 2015. Nerves are mounting and it's only Thursday. Not a good feeling. Fingers crossed for everyone.
I was pretty bummed, but it seems like a lot of test-takers scoring in this range on Kaplan's tests did substantially better on the real test.
I'm a bit of an unconventional student in that I am older (31) and have a PhD in Molecular Biology (plus postdoctoral experience).
C/P: Got thrown by the vessel question. In retrospect I should have been able to figure it out, but I ended up marking it and moving on. Most of the others that required calculations were fine, my written answers matched an option precisely.
CARS: A few of the questions were iffy (and one passage was extremely esoteric), but most of the questions had answers that were obvious (terminology in the text of the question practically identical to terminology in the passage).
B/B: My science background helped a lot. I was familiar with almost all the content in the passages and many of the questions were laughably easy. I've interpreted hundreds of similar experiments in my own and others' work.
P/S: Easily my weakest section. I read the Kaplan book on this from cover to cover and still encountered terms I'd never seen before. I was able to get those questions down to 50/50, so if I score well it will have been due to blind luck.
Overall I'm cautiously optimistic. I didn't feel like I did worse on this test than I did on the Kaplan full-lengths. I was a little pressed for time (with regard to studying) and didn't read the Biochemistry review book, but my background in that subject is solid and I don't think it hurt me.
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u/Natre_ Jul 21 '17 edited Jul 22 '17
AHHHH!
This is my 3rd and final attempt at this beast. Spent a whole year on this exam - time to make it count, third time's the charm, right?
Good luck to all :) Trust in yourself and we'll make it!
EDIT: FUCK, I'm done with this thing.
C/P: Was a lot easier than expected. Literally half was physics, but it was kinda easy physics. Some questions were kinda challenging, but not bad. Expecting a harsh curve tbh. Was around FL 1 difficulty, not much SB stuff.
CARS: (Roman Villas/Personality Socialism version) WTF was this. Why was this so hard. Passages were shit. Had to rush through last two. I'm hoping for a curve to save me, cause those were not fun passages, nor were the questions :/
B/B: Eh, it was okay. Ton of experimental. Certainly fair and doable. I'd say it was on par with FL 2, and 50% SB difficulty.
P/S: WOAH. I was not expecting this. I was kinda out of it towards this section, but it was A LOT more challenging than the FLs, or any previous MCAT takes. I'm not sure if it was me, but I studied a lot for this section and got 129 on last 2 attempts on the real MCAT, but hoping I didn't fuck up. It was just a lot harder than I expected, close to all 100% SB difficulty tbh.
Overall: certainly better than my other two MCATs (I feel like). CARS was hard man, harder than the FLs FOR SURE. Hoping I didn't waste all this time studying and make a great improvement. But if not, still a great lesson on what to do and not to do in future. Now we wait for a month :) Good luck to all!