daftypatty Posted April 18, 2015 Report Share Posted April 18, 2015 How did everyone find it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lithos_ Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hi daftypatty, I think that you may not be getting any answers right now because the folks who took it in April signed a non-disclosure agreement (and/or not that many ppl wrote it in April and/or they don't frequent this forum). Good luck on your MCAT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMislove Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 I think trusting the AAMCs content would be the best bet, most notably, their sample FL test. They are the ones who do make the test after all. Just from what I have read, interested to see how it'll look like when I write in August. Also good luck Lithos, hope you get that acceptance email . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lithos_ Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 Thanks IMislove. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck on your MCAT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lithos_ Posted April 19, 2015 Report Share Posted April 19, 2015 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oshaku Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 I never took the old MCAT and can't give a comparison, nor do I really know how to critique the MCAT. So I'll just comment on the most salient points: 1. Stamina was really an issue, so make sure to take all your breaks. My brain was burnt out by the end of the second session and taking the full half hour for lunch really helped me perk back up. 2. The science sections were a lot easier than I expected and the psych/soc was a lot harder than I expected. Granted, I've spent 7 years studying/working in sciences and took 0 courses in psych/soc, so it could just be where my strengths are and aren't. Overall, it wasn't as scary as most people make it seem. Then again, I don't know what I got, so I might be singing a different tune when I get my scores. Of you have any specific questions, I'll be more than happy to answer (within the limits of the NDA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 Oshaku, thank you for your response. What prep books did you use and how useful did you find them? I have purchased the EK and Kaplan books. Not sure how much of each one I should study. I heard that the new MCAT has a bigger focus on biochem so I'm thinking of using both EK and Kaplan BC books, but not sure about the other books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oshaku Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 I used the entire set of EK's 2015 books and a set of books for the old MCAT (brain fart right now regarding whether it was kaplan or princeton review, but I think it's princeton review). I relied on EK exclusively for psych/soc which I'm not sure was the best idea... I did fine on practice test for psych/soc, but the real thing felt so much harder... or I was really tired...EK is a review book. Take the meaning of review seriously because they don't go enough in to the nitty gritty details when the subject was completely new to me. EK focuses on the overall idea, which is actually a pretty good strategy because it's pretty much impossible to keep that much information in your head going in to the test. (There are something you definitely need to memorize though) The Princeton Review books were for the old MCAT, so the focus is obviously different. However, each section (bio, chem, physics, org, verbal) were still highly relavent. I have difficulty with org chem and physics and I perferred EK's overview approach to org chem, but the detailed explanations in princeton review's physics really helped me relearn stuff I haven't touched in 8 years. The bio books for both were excellent. I'd say there really is quite a big focus on biochem, which I don't think was adequately covered in EK (and most definitely wasn't in the PR) with regard to the details, but wikipedia filled in the holes Biochem questions can appear in either the chem/physics section or the bio section. If you've got both books, study with both. The more you know, the better. Practice tests are also really important. If you see a topic coming up in multiple practice tests (especially official AAMC ones), it's a pretty good bet you'll see it on the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 Thank you so much! Your answer put at least a scarce amount of certainty into all of this ambiguity surrounding the new MCAT. I have one final question, and it's whether you think a prep course would be useful. Of course people have different views but I'm so conflicted on whether I should go with a prep course or not. My background in biochem and physics is very shallow - I feel like these prep courses are mostly made as a review for people who already have a well established background in the sciences. So I don't know if it would be useful for me. I should also mention that the cost is not an important factor for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oshaku Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 O.O I'm not sure if I can help with that. I've never taken a prep course... A friend (who took premed courses but was ultimately a math major) did after not doing so well on the first try with self study, and she said it definitely helped her get the score she needed. I feel the most important thing a prep course can do is help with strategies in answering the questions. Maybe prep courses would've helped me for the psych/soc section, but the discrepancy between the practice problems and the real thing makes me seriously wonder how good the prep courses would be since there is so little information about skills and strategies that work for that section. I feel the best way to utilize and decide on prep courses is to start off with self study of the material at the review level. If the material in your books is completely new to you and you have difficulty grasping the concept, prep course may be the way to go. In general it helps to study the MCAT from as many resources as you can because every prep book and course will cover the same material in different ways. Combining it all helps build a fuller picture and a deeper understanding. So that even if the MCAT throws you a curve ball (which of course it will), you can reason it out based on a wealth of background info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 I think that at the very least, the prep course won't do any harm and at this stage I'd rather take all the resources I can get. Thank you once again for your responses. I wish you the best when MCAT result come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLily Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 @oshaku thanks for sharing your experience. The psych/soc section is sounding a bit ominous… so your take-aways from all this are to not underestimate that section, and also to have our endurance up. When I took the old mcat I did self study and it worked for me, and it sounds like you were able prep well with self study for this new version, which is really good to hear. With NDA in mind, anything else you wish you'd known/done? thanks and here's hoping you get some really good news when your results come in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varsity Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 O.O I'm not sure if I can help with that. I've never taken a prep course... A friend (who took premed courses but was ultimately a math major) did after not doing so well on the first try with self study, and she said it definitely helped her get the score she needed. I feel the most important thing a prep course can do is help with strategies in answering the questions. Maybe prep courses would've helped me for the psych/soc section, but the discrepancy between the practice problems and the real thing makes me seriously wonder how good the prep courses would be since there is so little information about skills and strategies that work for that section. I feel the best way to utilize and decide on prep courses is to start off with self study of the material at the review level. If the material in your books is completely new to you and you have difficulty grasping the concept, prep course may be the way to go. In general it helps to study the MCAT from as many resources as you can because every prep book and course will cover the same material in different ways. Combining it all helps build a fuller picture and a deeper understanding. So that even if the MCAT throws you a curve ball (which of course it will), you can reason it out based on a wealth of background info. Out of curiosity...was the 2015 MCAT tougher than the trial section offered in the old MCAT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oshaku Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 errrm.. I guess I wish I'd studied more? I'm pretty new to this MCAT thing actually and totally underestimated the amount of time required to study this stuff. It's been 7-8 years since I took the basic science courses and it was hard picking up all of that material again. I'd say I had about 7 weeks to study, but with school, lab, and other commitments, half the time I wouldn't be able to do any studying on weekdays. I do wish I'd done the practice test a bit earlier. I noticed there were some topic that come up over and over again. I told myself to look them up later but then forgot. Lo and behold, they were on the MCAT. So take home point: practice tests are good. AAMC practice test is GOD. I did not do the old MCAT and really can't say how they compare I heard somewhere that the trial sections performance set the baseline for how they'll score the new test, so I can't imagine them to be too different. Considering there were only two people at my testing center on test day, I have no idea if there's enough people taking the new MCAT to have a large enough sample size to normalize the scores just from the two April test days. I feel April testers will be normalized with the may testers since official scores won't come out till mid June (and it really doesn't take that long to score a multiple choice exam). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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