The test wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting. To me the most challenging section was the Biological Sciences. Toward the end of the section there was a significant amount of Organic rearing it’s head.
The Verbal Reasoning and the Physical Sciences were pretty straightforward. I felt that the EK practice tests were more difficult.
Hope this helps.
I agree, although obviously I dont know how I did, I was expecting much more of an ass kicking 
PS was not bad, nor verbal, but BS, yikes! Lots of genetics, I wasnt ready for that much of that. But its over and with any luck, its really over (meaning I wont be taking it again in August)
Hope everyone else felt OK too, now,
we wait…
Part of it, of course, is that by the time you get to the BIO section, you are T.I.R.E.D. In practice exams, you generally don’t sit around scratching yourself while theyy count all the answer sheets and booklets twice, so you’re at the end of a rather longer day than you’ve practiced for, plus it’s the REAL THING.
TIRED.
When I got to the end of the bio section and went back to review answers I was not sure of, I was suddenly seized of the conviction that I had erased way too many answers, probably changing right ones to wrong ones, and my life sucked and the only good thing about the whole thing was that at least I would never see the right answers and know how badly I had just screwed myself with my mighty eraser.
A moment later, calm prevailed, and I told myself that I had changed at most 4 answers, some of which probably needed to be changed, and that the thing to do now was to put the pencil down and wait for the nice lady to call time.
And my bio score went up a full point over my best practice test. Maybe two points.
You probably did great! Congratulations. Go hoist yourself a cold one!
I posted in the pre-med discussion my MCAT experience…you can check it here http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?post//
-since OldManDave started this thread before anyone posted something on the MCAT forum…
Former Artist - my BS had hardly any genetics in it and hardly any Orgo - only two Orgo passages…but lots of cell biology and recombination…
I’d love not to have to take it again…but we’ll see…I have a feeling that my verbal really wasn’t all that good.
I thought that the PS and the VR was also straight forward but I got the wind knocked out of me in the BS with that hard orgo. However after the brain cloud lifted, I thought that the biology part of it was alright.
Quote:
I posted in the pre-med discussion my MCAT experience…you can check it here <a href="http://www.oldpremeds.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/38819/page/0/view/
collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1" class=“bbcode_url”>http://www.oldpremeds.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/38819/page/0/
view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1
-since OldManDave started this thread before anyone posted something on the MCAT forum…
Former Artist - my BS had hardly any genetics in it and hardly any Orgo - only two Orgo passages…but lots of cell biology and recombination…
I’d love not to have to take it again…but we’ll see…I have a feeling that my verbal really wasn’t all that good.
My form had a lot of fairly tricky orgo and a lot of genetics. Physical sciences was OK, but had too many electrolytic cell questions, which I intensely dislike. On the other hand, I felt like I did OK because I had identified that topic early on as a weak spot.
Verbal started out easy and got progressively trickier.
For me it’s like performing on stage versus rehearsing in one’s living room; the performance is never as easy as the rehearsal. But anyway, it’s over, over, over!
One thing that surprised me–they wouldn’t let us set our timepieces on the desks. I had bought this huge, heavy analog watch from CVS for $5.99 (yes that’s six whole bucks!) just for the occasion, and I hate wearing watches, but had to strap the thing on my wrist so I felt a bit like I was weightlifting all day.
the numbness has finally worn off a little bit. i am not sure how i did on the test either. i think just the fact that i was taking the test kind of shocked me. and i didn’t realize how long the actual test conditions would be. muuuuch different from at home. all the checking after each section was just horrible.
well i’m glad its over. hopefully i dont have to take that beast again either. all i remember is i had some hard passages in the bs. anyways. congrats everybody!
The more I think about the whole thing, the less sure/ secure I feel. On Saturday I was dissatisfied with verbal only, but now I started having doubts about BS and PS too.
I searched the forum, and saw that last year they posted the scores on June 16th. It’s awfully long!!!
I started thinking last night at what point I’ll decide that my score is too low and I’ll have to retake it. And will I have enouhg time to study for August, after I find out my scores mid-June? (with taking full time classes over the summer?).
A question to those of you who already took MCAT and got their scores? How did you feel afterwards? Did you feel you didn’t do all that good and got nicely surprised? or maybe the other way around?
I think I got my butt kicked, at least on the PS. I was so freaked out at the beginning that I could read the passages - I could barely remember my own name. I’ve never freaked out at an exam like that. So, I ended up not having enough to finish PS. BS and Verbal weren’t too bad, and I made it through passage 6 (a personal record) without the words blurring into a giant mass.
I never bothered to practice the writing, and actually enjoyed it as a pleasant break. I just wasn’t worried about my score and it was a nice change from the rest of the exam.
I have a feeling I bombed PS so badly that I may have to retake the exam in August though.
Another problem was that I bailed on studying biology towards the end - and focused primarily on chemistry and physics, because my score wasn’t changing on the BS section. I think this turned out to be a mistake, and will adversely affect my biological sciences score. I thought there were questions that should have been really easy, but just weren’t.
Oh well.
madkasia, don’t torture yourself; you really can’t tell how well you did based on how you feel in many cases because of the scaling they do. It’s normal to feel unsure and insecure about how you performed. I’ve never heard of anyone coming out of the MCAT feeling anything other than what I describe as “like they just got hit by a Mack truck.” That includes me. I felt like I had done as well as I could, but I was particularly worried about VR, because the scaling is so hard on that section. When scores finally came out, well, all I can say is that it was a good thing I was sitting down before I saw mine… 
If you finished less than you usually do, your score may be lower than you think, but I suspect a lot of people panic on the first section, so that ought to affect the curve just a little bit.
Post-MCAT panic is just another lovely part of the experience. It’ll be okay. Celebrate that you’re done and find something nice to do with those evening hours in which you would ordinarily be studying for the MCAT. Something fun.
It’ll be okay!