TPR May MCAT Review

[The Law]

May MCAT Report (TPR email)

 

 

 

Overall, the May 2007 exams were comparable in difficulty to AAMC’s MCAT Practice Tests 8, 9, and 10; but, as usual, different versions are reported as having varying difficulty levels for the subtests. Our course materials contained passages and questions that helped to provide valuable practice for, and confidence with, those that appeared on the actual MCAT.

 

 

 

Physical Sciences:

 

The Physical Sciences section was reported to be a 50-50 split between General Chemistry and Physics. There were 7 passages with a range of 5-7 questions each, and 13 freestanding questions found in 3 groups, after Passage III, Passage IV, and Passage VII. Calculations were required on only a few of the questions; most questions were concept-based. G-Chem topics included solubility of salts, empirical formulas, electrolytes, properties of elements, bonding, electrochemistry, periodic trends, oxidation/reduction reactions, atomic structure, while Physics topics included optics, reflection and refraction, simple harmonic motion, sound, lasers, specific gravity, magnetism, fluid mechanics, viscosity, thermal expansion, angular momentum, and Coulomb’s equation.

 

 

 

Verbal Reasoning:

 

There were seven passages in the Verbal Reasoning section, with an average of five questions per passage. The number of questions ranged from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 7. Most test takers reported there were three NOW, three LATER, and one KILLER passage. A majority of the passages compared and contrasted different views, often discussing how views had changed over time. Many authors expressed a clear critical tone about certain views described in the passage. Therefore, identifying transitions between different time periods, different views, and different categories of things being compared and contrasted with each other was crucial, as was clearly identifying the author’s point of view on both a specific and a general level.

 

 

 

The most common question types in the Verbal Reasoning Section were Inference, New Information, and Weaken (often in combination with new information). There were several analogy-style questions in which the answer choices had little to do with the actual content of the passage, and several questions that required evaluating the strength of the author’s argument, sometimes in connection with new information in the question stem.

 

 

 

There were no “generic” inference questions (e.g., “With which of the following statements would the author be most likely to agree?”) and no pure attitude questions, although knowing the author’s tone was often crucial. There were no questions that asked “Which of the following is/is not supported by an example?”, and no questions that involved math in any way.

 

 

 

Understanding the Main Point of the passage (or paragraph) was extremely useful and/or necessary for many of the specific questions. There were a few questions that required just a paraphrase of passage information. As expected, there were no line numbers or line references, and about four of the questions referenced specific paragraphs within the passage.

 

 

 

Verbal topics included: psychology, sociology, history, mythology, literature, postmodernism, technology, economics, and science.

 

 

 

Writing Sample:

 

This section was laid out as expected, with the prompt and instructions at the top of the screen, and buttons for editing above a box in which to type the essay. Prompt topics in this section included sharing scientific advances, and art as entertainment. No keyboard commands were available except for moving the cursor up and down. Drag and drop editing was possible so the buttons did not have to be used. No spell check was available. Most test takers described typing the essays as being vastly superior to handwriting them.

 

 

 

Biological Sciences:

 

There were seven passages in the Biological Sciences section, with an average of five questions each. The 13 freestanding questions were laid out as they were in the Physical Sciences section. The section was heavily weighted toward Biology, with approximately 80% of the section on Biology topics and 20% on O-Chem topics. Biology topics included microbiology (protists, bacteria), respiratory system, antibiotic resistance, role of thymus in immunology, anemia, hemoglobin, DNA transcription, hormones, muscle physiology, cell biology, cardiovascular physiology, transmembrane transport, movement of substances and fluid in and out of blood vessels, hormonal regulation of blood glucose, skeletal system, bone cell types, experiment analysis, genetics, classical dominance, evolution, natural selection, cancer, and hypothalamic control of pituitary. O-Chem topics included oxidation and reduction, ketones, aldehydes, alkanes, biological molecules (amino acids and peptides), laboratory techniques, and identification of unknown compounds.

 

 

 

Overall Test Experience:

 

Most people found the MCAT CBT to be a smooth experience and superior to the paper-and-pencil versions of the exam. More streamlined check-in, better-controlled testing environments, and a shorter test day contributed to this.

[The Law]

Another important thread to check out:

http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/differences.htm

[AMmd]

Solutions: Not available

Damn! .....

[Jochi1543]

 

Most test takers reported there were three NOW, three LATER, and one KILLER passage.

 

Jesus, these guys are intense about this. WTF is "NOW" and "LATER"? Some sort of weird difficulty-related terminology?

[The Law]

Jesus, these guys are intense about this. WTF is "NOW" and "LATER"? Some sort of weird difficulty-related terminology?

 

Lol, it's tpr lingo hahaha