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MCAT - Early 2010 writers unite!


The Law

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I'm writing it on Jan. 30. I'm finishing up a Ph.D. in astronomy, and it's been a while since I took any biology or chemistry, so I'm writing early in case I need to write it again. I've been studying since March. I took a practice test and got 33 (9 BS, 11 PS, 10 VR).[/quote

 

Best of luck (I love astronomy!) Not a bad balanced score - maybe my math is off but the numbers you gave add up to 30?

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if anyone feels like forming some kind of study group at least for PS and BS, let me know, as I will be starting to study in downtown toronto in the next few weeks.

 

That might be useful, but what kind of study format will it be? I just started studying yesterday, almost done chapter one of orgo in EK! woot woot.

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i gotto figure out how to study for VR better. I studied for 2.5 months on VR and never got consistent. I post gamed and all that, but still was streaky as hell (AAMC range 8-12, no 9s or 10s). Obviously I'm doing something wrong but i just feel like i gotto write this sonofagun alot and just get lucky. The sciences don't worry me anymore.....of course they will in January when I forget everything......again.

 

i hate this thread. what a sucky future

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well, for the sciences, I think that at this stage we need to drill down the details of the basic, fundamental stuff. I realize that its not a good tactic for killing the MCAT, but it is definitely needed, at least for confidence. Once we finish that, we can start doing passages and comparing passages and the questions we got right or wrong...the more practice we do, the better we'll become at writing this damn test.

 

Verbal? I don't really know how to study for it..i just sort of do it and get decent marks (10+). I'm sure that there is a technique, but I'm not one to teach mine (I don't have a technique).

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Sweet. I'm going to get it sent to mine too! I'm just about 50% through orgo now. Not a bad week I'd say! :)

And this includes the fact I went camping this weekend, so didn't do much studying over the past couple days!

 

It's pretty good. They aren't all as difficult as many of the MCAT questions, but they are definitely useful.

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I plan on writing it early next year... but I'm not looking forward to it... to be honest I just hope that I get some kind of early whiff of an interview from uOttawa... I was in Africa doing charity work this summer, and as a result decided not to write it (I wouldn't have time to study)... so I am pretty much just applying to Ottawa this year (I'm only a third year anyway, so my chances are low, WGPA 3.87 and such)...

 

I guess I will just have to bite the bullet, but I want to (if possible) put it off until after interview cycle, and maybe even after my finals... because the thing is, if I need my MCAT, it will be for my 4th year application, and with my 4th year, I'm afraid that my brutal 3rd year (currently 6 courses a semester) might kill my average if I try to throw MCAT prep in the mix... *sigh* chem eng sucks for workload!

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I plan on writing it early next year... but I'm not looking forward to it... to be honest I just hope that I get some kind of early whiff of an interview from uOttawa... I was in Africa doing charity work this summer, and as a result decided not to write it (I wouldn't have time to study)... so I am pretty much just applying to Ottawa this year (I'm only a third year anyway, so my chances are low, WGPA 3.87 and such)...

 

I guess I will just have to bite the bullet, but I want to (if possible) put it off until after interview cycle, and maybe even after my finals... because the thing is, if I need my MCAT, it will be for my 4th year application, and with my 4th year, I'm afraid that my brutal 3rd year (currently 6 courses a semester) might kill my average if I try to throw MCAT prep in the mix... *sigh* chem eng sucks for workload!

 

The benefit of getting it done early is that you can rewrite if you have to. I definitely understand though if you think the workload would be too much. One thing you can do is aim to write in June and if that doesn't work, try a rewrite in July/August or even September.

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Yah, that is the general idea... write it right out of finals, when some (possibly) relevant knowledge is still fresh, then immediately assume I bombed it, and study my ass off for another writing... UNLESS I decide to continue working with my charity, in which case I may be in Africa in July and August... and I'll be planning the logistics for it April and June...

 

I hate being forced to decide between studies, volunteer work and the MCAT (I realize this can be considered studies too)

 

>__<

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Stupid EK end of lecture orgo exams are demoralizing! I did one yesterday for chapter one, ended up with an 8. I just finished lecture two's and got a 9. I guess I know they're not indicative of the real thing, but still... not good for confidence.

 

:cool: Whatever. I'm still going to kill it.

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sigh, i think i might have to join this club. im in my 4th year and submitted OMSAS last week but i have a bad feeling about things sooooooo i think i will attempt the MCAT again.

third times the charm right? (sigh, though I got WORST on my verbal my 2nd trial so I don't know how to improve...did the EK, got 10s all summer...yet, my writing has been S both times)

 

with regards to writing in Jan, any chance that the curve will be higher bc people writing it will be re-writers? how long should one prepare for this the 3rd time around (when sciences weren't a problem before, ONLY verbal :()

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sigh, i think i might have to join this club. im in my 4th year and submitted OMSAS last week but i have a bad feeling about things sooooooo i think i will attempt the MCAT again.

third times the charm right? (sigh, though I got WORST on my verbal my 2nd trial so I don't know how to improve...did the EK, got 10s all summer...yet, my writing has been S both times)

 

with regards to writing in Jan, any chance that the curve will be higher bc people writing it will be re-writers? how long should one prepare for this the 3rd time around (when sciences weren't a problem before, ONLY verbal :()

 

There's no real way to know about January - whether it will be easier or harder. Try not to worry about it until you have to though. It's already stressful enough waiting for your score. You never know what might happen on test day and you might be in for a pleasant surprise. Like my dad says to me, "don't get wet before the rain."

 

 

Woot. I just did chapter three's test and got a 13! :D So clearly, I suck at chapters one and two, and rock the chapter full of reactions.

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I'm writing as well. I wish they had a testing day in Feb.

I think I'm writing sometime between March and May.

 

We register in November, right?

 

Ahhh, I am gonna start studying at Robarts after work everyday now\

 

Any tips on verbal?

On practice tests, I usually hit 9 or 10, but on the real deal didn't break 8

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Verbal, just practice and practice and practice!!

 

I really wish they had a Feb test day too, Jan 30th - March 30th, what a big leap. I just did my first full length verbal test, TPR verbal practice test 1 from the workbook... scored a 30/40 (using EK's scale, that's supposedly a 10). I'm dissapointed to be honest. I thought I did better than this, I finished the test with 5 minutes remaining and reviewed some answers... but didn't really change anything. The first passage I thought was a piece of cake, but I only got 2/4 on it. What a let down. Oh well... chin up and I gotta keep chugging.

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Verbal, just practice and practice and practice!!

....

The first passage I thought was a piece of cake, but I only got 2/4 on it. What a let down. Oh well... chin up and I gotta keep chugging.

 

I know that feeling! That happens to me all the time. The easy passages tend to have harder questions IMO!

 

Sigh, just practice sounds so easy...I did that all summer and it didn't work :( its a real let down!

I think I'm going to write in March. Don't really feel like prepping during Christmas break!

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It's really tough to improve. I mean, besides the last rewrite (where I luckily scored a 5 on verbal from my previous 10), I have never scored less than a 9 and always fall between 9-11 on ~90% of my tests. It seems like no matter what I do, I'm going to be in this range. I'm going to do verbal every other day from now and on and just really examine my thinking patterns and work hard to keep energy up during the full hour of the test. Hopefully this increases my chances of scoring in the upper range.

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It's really tough to improve. I mean, besides the last rewrite (where I luckily scored a 5 on verbal from my previous 10), I have never scored less than a 9 and always fall between 9-11 on ~90% of my tests. It seems like no matter what I do, I'm going to be in this range. I'm going to do verbal every other day from now and on and just really examine my thinking patterns and work hard to keep energy up during the full hour of the test. Hopefully this increases my chances of scoring in the upper range.

 

Man, when I got my score back for this rewrite, my heart sank when I saw that I did worst on verbal than before. (8 the first trial and 7 the next) I was so tempted to do the rescore service but decided to spend the $55 on some beverages to make myself feel better :P

 

You're prepping really early for your Jan mcat! I'm doing my thesis right now so I figure I will be really busy before March...but I really don't want to do it during the summer again. No more wasted summers!

 

Are you doing just the EK books for sciences or are you using something else along with it?

 

I am wondering if I should do the EK verbal again...I did them last summer so I dont know if I should get another and just try it again?

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Man, when I got my score back for this rewrite, my heart sank when I saw that I did worst on verbal than before. (8 the first trial and 7 the next) I was so tempted to do the rescore service but decided to spend the $55 on some beverages to make myself feel better :P

 

You're prepping really early for your Jan mcat! I'm doing my thesis right now so I figure I will be really busy before March...but I really don't want to do it during the summer again. No more wasted summers!

 

Are you doing just the EK books for sciences or are you using something else along with it?

 

I am wondering if I should do the EK verbal again...I did them last summer so I dont know if I should get another and just try it again?

 

I'm using a combination. EK for everything (except bio) and Kaplan for bio... supplement all courses with TPR. I especially think TPR verbal workbook is a great resource. And yup, I'm starting early because I'm really really busy with my Masters stuff right now... so I want to make sure I have time to study. I am super busy from the moment I wake up... till the end of my day. :P I knew what I was getting myself into, so no complaints on my part.

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