Please do not post any information regarding test questions on this board. Any information that you post here, including test question content that is specific in wording, verbatim, answer choices, etc are a violation of copywrite laws as these are the property of the AAMC.
In addition, since questions can and have been reused, you are giving other students an unfair advantage. While you can talk about subjects, for example :“there was a question about SN2 reactions that was tough for me”. Since it is known that these organic chemistry subjects can be found, you are not in violation. However, if you say something like
“The one question I had that asked about the SN2 reaction involving Bromine and Acetaldehyde was tough. but when the answer choices included propane, methane, acetone, propanol, and 2,2 dihydroxy-acetaldehyde, I knew which was the correct answer”.
This is in violation.
Please be as vague as possible when talking about MCAT questions.
Thank you.
Does this count for posting solutions too? If so, please free to delete my thread with a link to MCAT solutions.
- gabelerman Said:
In addition, since questions can and have been reused, you are giving other students an unfair advantage. While you can talk about subjects, for example :"there was a question about SN2 reactions that was tough for me". Since it is known that these organic chemistry subjects can be found, you are not in violation. However, if you say something like
"The one question I had that asked about the SN2 reaction involving Bromine and Acetaldehyde was tough. but when the answer choices included propane, methane, acetone, propanol, and 2,2 dihydroxy-acetaldehyde, I knew which was the correct answer".
This is in violation.
Please be as vague as possible when talking about MCAT questions.
Thank you.
I must say that I am in a quandary with this issue. As the publisher of this website, violation of copyright laws is a serious problem and opens OldPreMeds to legal action. It is simply against that law. OldPreMeds will not tolerate or become party to violations of copyright law or any other forms of intellectual property rights.
As the representative and advisor for nontraditional students, who depends in a large part on the legitimacy and integrity of the OldPreMeds name to find support from premedical advisors, medical school admissions officers and the associate staff from these institutions, anything seen as a promotion of an unethical behavior such as passing on questions and answers from proprietary exams would destroy my effectiveness in gaining support for older students.
Yet, there are perhaps millennia of legitimate historical and cultural precedents for the simple act that we all have done countless times. That is, asking our classmate "hey, how did you do on #23? you know the one about..." With college texts coming prepackaged with PowerPoint slides for classroom use (no more teacher writing on the board or students taking notes), exams created from proprietary questions from publisher's test banks, and items such MCAT, SHELF, STEP, and the materials to prepare for these required exams are privately held, jealously guarded, and vigorously defended, how can students discuss, debate, and learn from each other without fear of prosecution (or perhaps even persecution).
Suppose two students walk out of an MCAT exam.
If they discuss what questions they had as they walk to their cars, would that be a violation?
If one called their friend in another state that had taken the exam as well and discussed in detail, would that be a violation?
If he or she sent an email to the same person in another state, would that be a violation? What about an email 2 or 3 friends, all of who prepared together and took the exam the same day?
What if you were to instead of sending an email but post it on OldPreMeds, Facebook, Twitter, or any other forum or social media, would that be a violation?
As a sociologist, I cannot discern any difference in the social interaction of the above events. The media of each is different but the intent, the interaction, and the social structure all remain the same.
Yet the law is clear: all these interactions violate copyright and intellectual property protection. Law is supposed to be the codification of cultural norms and values. Yet the law has not caught up to the realities of social interactions in a highly interconnected world.
I do not have any answers other than to follow the law. I am sure that this question is being discussed and debated on many websites, forums, and social media and will be discussed here as well.
- pathdr2b Said:
Your posting links to a website which in turn is a upload an of copyrighted material. Fortunately, courts generally agree that linking to another website does not infringe the copyrights of that site, nor does it give rise to a likelihood of confusion necessary for a federal trademark infringement claim. Additionally, I have in the past been directed to that site to get copyrighted material that has been posted by the legal owner and/or representative. Therefore it can remain.
I guess I find the whole issue a bit absurd. I find it very hard to believe that an MCAT question I discuss with someone will actually appear on their exam on whatever date they take it. In the vast sea of questions the test uses, does anyone really think that someone will remember the question, let alone the answer, to one particular question mentioned by a friend who took the exam? If I read a post where people were discussing a question on the MCAT they just took, I would certainly not remember anything about their discussion come test day - especially given the stress and excitement of the day. I can only conclude that there is some reason, other than legalities, that they impose such ridiculous rules. Barred from posting detailed info on a website? OK, I can get on board with that to a degree. Barred from discussing orally amongst friends? Preposterous.
The issue would be nothing but absurd if it didnt have the power to put OPM out of business. I find the issue absurd as well as I can’t see the social difference in discussing this hallway after an exam or discussing it on a forum after an exam. They are in fact equivalent and technically both are a violation. Seems the rights of the copyright holders overshadow of the rights of the students to hold free academic discourse in the face of a world of wired education and social media.
But the legalities are clear in the copious verbiage that appears on the MCAT exam which includes verbatim
I agree that I will not discuss or disclose MCAT exam content orally, in writing, on the Internet or through any other medium. I agree that I will not copy, reproduce, adapt, disclose or transmit exams or exam questions, in whole or in part, or assist anyone else in doing the same. I further agree that I will not reconstruct exam content from memory, by dictation or by any other means, for the purpose of sharing that information with any other individual or entity.
Examples of prohibited acts include, but are not limited to: describing questions, passages or graphics from the exam; discussing exam questions on web “chat†rooms or through other means; identifying terms or concepts contained in exam questions; sharing answers to questions; referring others to information you saw on the exam; or reconstructing a list of topics tested.
So I suppose that if you took an MCAT and mention in passing that the question on SN1 vs SN2 reactions was hard, you’d be in violation of the law. Absurd yet legal.
I think the whole test secrecy mystique is used to add a whole new level of intimidation to the test. Kinda of like you would be warry of even a secretary who works at the CIA.
OHNOES I mentions them in a post I hears the black helicopters…
- BaileyPup Said:
OHNOES I mentions them in a post I hears the black helicopters.....
Back in the day when I was a computer tech and trainer, I taught classes for those who had security clearance and on more than one occasion taught PC support to CIA and NSA Helpdesk staff. I always wonder if this phone conversation ever happened.
Hello, CIA Helpdesk
yeah I an have a problem with my system.
Oksy, I'll try to help, whom I am speaking to?
Sorry I can't tell you that.
Well, where are you located?
Sorry I cant tell you that either
What kind of problem are you having?
My login ID is locked out.
and what is the ID?
Sorry I cant tell you.....
- gonnif Said:
yeah I an have a problem with my system.
Oksy, I'll try to help, whom I am speaking to?
Sorry I can't tell you that.
Well, where are you located?
Sorry I cant tell you that either
What kind of problem are you having?
My login ID is locked out.
and what is the ID?
Sorry I cant tell you.....
helpdesk...."have you tried turning it off and on again? "
Kate
- gonnif Said:
Well, they probably could tell you, but then they'd have to kill you.
- Kate429 Said:
- gonnif Said:
yeah I an have a problem with my system.
Oksy, I'll try to help, whom I am speaking to?
Sorry I can't tell you that.
Well, where are you located?
Sorry I cant tell you that either
What kind of problem are you having?
My login ID is locked out.
and what is the ID?
Sorry I cant tell you.....
helpdesk...."have you tried turning it off and on again? "
Kate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2FB1P_Mn8
Richard -
Exactly what I was referencing!!!
Loved the first episode when the new “supervisor” who knows nothing about IT comes down to the department, and by the end is saying it with the best of them 
I actually had a call with HP’s tech support re my printer which neurotically kept wanting me to print allingment pages after I’d already printed them, and refused to scan the one I’d printed (a problem that’s become increasingly bad for months). He thought it was related to a corrupted printer driver and talked me thru installing a new one (which did indeed fix the problem), but first to rule out a hardware problem with the printer said. “Power it off. Now turn it back on. Now go thru the print and scan of the alignment page using the printer controls.” Worked perfectly, and I was kicking myself for not “turning it off and on again”…
Kate
I have spent over 25 years in PC and network support, working on a help desks and phone lines. The stories I could tell you about dumb users…
Lets just say the difference between genius and stupidity is genius has limits
I’ve narrowed it down…the problem seems to be between the chair and the monitor…
snicker…
“Take your computer, put it in the box, and bring it back to the store where you purchased it.”
“Is the problem that serious???”
“Yes, the problem is - you are too stupid to own a computer”.
- Kate429 Said:
"Take your computer, put it in the box, and bring it back to the store where you purchased it."
"Is the problem that serious???"
"Yes, the problem is - you are too stupid to own a computer".
Like in medicine, tech support for a software company requires that you keep a record of the incident so you have a log book for the client, including the root cause of the issue. One of my favorite acronyms is
PEBKAC error: problem exists between keyboard and chair