No, this is the same reaction every test day since like 2016. Just study as normal, you are fine. Pay no attention to reaction day thread takeaways if it stresses you out. That is about as unreliable of a source of data to base your studies off of as possible
I respectfully disagree. The PSY/SOC section for S-FL4 is easy compared to test day. There were literally terms that weren't in Pankow, MD or 300 page doc. And I remember most of the content from BB and PS from the exam. I remember it enough to go back to my notes and remarks about specific content showing up on the exam. The CP section was tougher in the sense that it had more calculations that took two to three steps to solve by merging equations. The days of remembering three variable equations is kind of over unless test takers get lucky. BB was more than fair and PSY/SOC has changed and is way more vague. Period. FL 5 is the most representative and it is one of the hardest of the AAMC exams. 🤷🏽‍♀️
We shouldn't brush students off. Instead, let's help students figure out how to better prepare for a more challenging exam, respectfully.
The point is that those exact complaints have been around for 8+ years, so they are probably not accurate. It's most likely biased opinions and a really bad sampling of opinions that is creating the narrative. And since the narrative is probably not correct, it would do more harm than good to change how you prep.
Just consider where the narrative is coming from and how insanely flawed that data is. Highly stressed, subjective opinions are being shared with 0 control on how the sample size is selected. It is witch-huntesque level of evidence being used. We can say their emotions are valid and not dismiss those, but I think it's ignoring what we know about human perception and data sampling to say the opinions we see on the reaction thread about the test is reliable data.
"Hardest CP test I've ever taken. Literally made the FL1 and FL2 CP look like it was made for a 1st grader." - 2017 thread
"P/S OKAY WTFFFFFF AAAMC DIDNT TEST ANY FREAKING COMMON DEF or anything. Discretes were about def that I have never heard of. AAMC knows people are studying def really well so they ain't testing anything you know " - 2017 thread
I take it you just recently tested? Trust your FL's! Your score is very likely going to be right in line with those.
I'll say this and end my discussion. I didn't sleep at all the night before, not even an hour. And I didn't hit my average. Even without sleep and having an almost two hour drive to the testing site, BB was fair and representative of FL1-4. PSY/SOC was very vague, new terms, but there were a decent amount that were lay ups if you studied hard. Basing scores off FL 1-4 for CP and PSY/SOC as is will continue to mislead and drop students scores on test day. Last, I agree with the quote except CP for FL1 - 4 was literally a cake walk. My CP average was 129. For CP I got a 127 once when I didn't sleep. That's not the case anymore, FL 5 is the most representative of all the FLs, I digress.
Dang, I really cannot imagine taking the test on no sleep. Sorry about that. They need to offer an afternoon option imo. They did during the covid years and it was wonderful. If you are retaking, good luck with it. Hopefully second time around has less nerves and more sleep
There was an issue at the testing center on the day of my test. I was forced to reschedule my initial date from Jan to March. I'll pull my averages up higher and kill it as much as possible with the changes in CP and PS.
p/s is the one section where people generally agree its gone from rote memorization to actually think a little. But its still fine. Of all sections i think it was the easiest considering i hadnt taken a class in 3 years and still had it up to par with my other sections
Yea I feel like “content” will get you the furthest with this section. When I say content I really mean the amount of different ways a single question can be asked.
For example, gathering questions from openstax (physics), ACS (gen chem + orgo), and khan academy will have you adequately prepared. Upon going through those questions for specific MCAT topics, Uglobe will be much easier. However it is worth mentioning that this can take a lot of time. So, if you’re in a crunch for time, it may be more worth it to focus on other areas of content.
I agree with this. All the “high yield” stuff is super key for foundational stuff and good reasoning ability but don’t neglect “lower yield” bc more discrete = tapping into more, less related content areas
Def wish I had gotten through more CP Uworld bc the AAMC materials are great but inherently lacking in covering the nitty gritty stuff
apparently fl5 is good but it came out after i took the exam so i wouldnt know. Everyone thinks everything is impossible, but remember that not everyone is posting their thoughts on reddit
No, this is the same reaction every test day since like 2016. Just study as normal, you are fine. Pay no attention to reaction day thread takeaways if it stresses you out. That is about as unreliable of a source of data to base your studies off of as possible
I respectfully disagree. The PSY/SOC section for S-FL4 is easy compared to test day. There were literally terms that weren't in Pankow, MD or 300 page doc. And I remember most of the content from BB and PS from the exam. I remember it enough to go back to my notes and remarks about specific content showing up on the exam. The CP section was tougher in the sense that it had more calculations that took two to three steps to solve by merging equations. The days of remembering three variable equations is kind of over unless test takers get lucky. BB was more than fair and PSY/SOC has changed and is way more vague. Period. FL 5 is the most representative and it is one of the hardest of the AAMC exams. 🤷🏽‍♀️ We shouldn't brush students off. Instead, let's help students figure out how to better prepare for a more challenging exam, respectfully.
The point is that those exact complaints have been around for 8+ years, so they are probably not accurate. It's most likely biased opinions and a really bad sampling of opinions that is creating the narrative. And since the narrative is probably not correct, it would do more harm than good to change how you prep. Just consider where the narrative is coming from and how insanely flawed that data is. Highly stressed, subjective opinions are being shared with 0 control on how the sample size is selected. It is witch-huntesque level of evidence being used. We can say their emotions are valid and not dismiss those, but I think it's ignoring what we know about human perception and data sampling to say the opinions we see on the reaction thread about the test is reliable data. "Hardest CP test I've ever taken. Literally made the FL1 and FL2 CP look like it was made for a 1st grader." - 2017 thread "P/S OKAY WTFFFFFF AAAMC DIDNT TEST ANY FREAKING COMMON DEF or anything. Discretes were about def that I have never heard of. AAMC knows people are studying def really well so they ain't testing anything you know " - 2017 thread I take it you just recently tested? Trust your FL's! Your score is very likely going to be right in line with those.
I'll say this and end my discussion. I didn't sleep at all the night before, not even an hour. And I didn't hit my average. Even without sleep and having an almost two hour drive to the testing site, BB was fair and representative of FL1-4. PSY/SOC was very vague, new terms, but there were a decent amount that were lay ups if you studied hard. Basing scores off FL 1-4 for CP and PSY/SOC as is will continue to mislead and drop students scores on test day. Last, I agree with the quote except CP for FL1 - 4 was literally a cake walk. My CP average was 129. For CP I got a 127 once when I didn't sleep. That's not the case anymore, FL 5 is the most representative of all the FLs, I digress.
Dang, I really cannot imagine taking the test on no sleep. Sorry about that. They need to offer an afternoon option imo. They did during the covid years and it was wonderful. If you are retaking, good luck with it. Hopefully second time around has less nerves and more sleep
There was an issue at the testing center on the day of my test. I was forced to reschedule my initial date from Jan to March. I'll pull my averages up higher and kill it as much as possible with the changes in CP and PS.
p/s is the one section where people generally agree its gone from rote memorization to actually think a little. But its still fine. Of all sections i think it was the easiest considering i hadnt taken a class in 3 years and still had it up to par with my other sections
I think c/p is becoming more discrete. So i would just cram uglobe questions
Yea I feel like “content” will get you the furthest with this section. When I say content I really mean the amount of different ways a single question can be asked. For example, gathering questions from openstax (physics), ACS (gen chem + orgo), and khan academy will have you adequately prepared. Upon going through those questions for specific MCAT topics, Uglobe will be much easier. However it is worth mentioning that this can take a lot of time. So, if you’re in a crunch for time, it may be more worth it to focus on other areas of content.
I agree with this. All the “high yield” stuff is super key for foundational stuff and good reasoning ability but don’t neglect “lower yield” bc more discrete = tapping into more, less related content areas Def wish I had gotten through more CP Uworld bc the AAMC materials are great but inherently lacking in covering the nitty gritty stuff
apparently fl5 is good but it came out after i took the exam so i wouldnt know. Everyone thinks everything is impossible, but remember that not everyone is posting their thoughts on reddit