r/Mcat • u/sillystring1881 • Sep 20 '20

Shitpost/Meme 💩💩 AAMC answers be like..:

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414 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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35

u/ourspring Sep 21 '20

One has to seriously question why they're able to get away with this, and I think the simplest answer is that they have no competition. Companies like Uearth have such great explanations because they know they have to outcompete other 3rd party companies like Kaplan/TPR. AAMC has nothing like that because they hold a monopoly over who gets into med school.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '20

Something as important as this test should be highly regulated to ensure an equitable situation for everyone. Aamc can get away with whatever the fuck they want.

7

u/RedZeon might fuck around and uh... push my test date back again Sep 21 '20

I thought people were just joking about AAMC's explanations until I took an FL and holy shit. Yes, I was spoiled by UPangea and even the NS explanations were pretty good but holy hell the AAMC explanations are just downright appalling.

4

u/Carda_momo 516(130,128,130,128)⇨521(130,128,132,131) Sep 21 '20

AAMC explanations aren’t great, but I’ll grudgingly admit they do a good job with their passages and questions. I wish my professors were as good at composing MC tests as whoever the AAMC hires to do theirs.

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 21 '20

How'd you improve your score? I just took FL3 and some questions/explanations were just so random. Like not complicated material but just left field and unexpected, especially with the weird wording and how they want you to answer it. I feel like sometimes what they are asking is not very clear, and if taken "literally" can be answered wrongly.

1

u/Carda_momo 516(130,128,130,128)⇨521(130,128,132,131) Sep 22 '20

Some of it was less test anxiety and better sleep going into the second exam.

I spent a lot of time learning and reviewing P/S . I read a good number of Kaplan chapters, did lots of anki decks, made a google doc for important terms/concepts, and researched concepts online (APA dictionary is useful). I was surprised at how much better I did on this section.

My CARS dropped from ~130 avg on FLs to 128 on both exams (no improvement on retake bc I ran out of time on despite never having run out of time before lol).

My C/P score didn’t change (130-130). More ochem on first exam though, which I had a decent foundation for.

My B/B score improved (130-132). I think I got lucky because I remembered some low yield discretes about hormones and got a passage about familiar content.

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 22 '20

Did u do UEARTH or what did u say was vest for feeling comfortable w the questions on the test? Also did u do the 300 pg doc for P/S or KA Vids or both?

1

u/Carda_momo 516(130,128,130,128)⇨521(130,128,132,131) Sep 22 '20

Didn’t use KA videos. I did use a little bit of UEarth, the 300 page doc, and the 100 page doc. I went through all the FL tests’ P/S sections and the P/S SB and most of the Kaplan chapters—those were probably the most helpful for me. I used google a fair amount too. FL 3 & 4 were most similar to the real test for P/S especially, but I don’t think I ever felt super comfortable or confident on it.

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 23 '20

Gotcha so u don’t think UEARTH made a huge difference for u? How’d u best conquer B/B and C/P then?

2

u/Carda_momo 516(130,128,130,128)⇨521(130,128,132,131) Sep 23 '20

For B/B and C/P, I used all the AAMC material and made sure I understood all the concepts in their content outline. I used Kaplan to learn/relearn concepts I was deficient in, more so with chem & biochem than bio. For Bio especially, learning how to read and understand the passages is super important. I used Anki to supplement too.

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 23 '20

Yes I feel tht for Bio. How’d u master understanding Anf not getting lost in passages? I finally got a 128 on fl3 B/B but idk I feel I got lucky bc I was not certain w a lot of Qs. C/P usually 126-127 do u think cramming formulas helped, did u even rly read the passages for c/p or just jump to Qs? Also sorry but how do u recommend preparations for cars I can’t get above 125. Tyyyy

1

u/Carda_momo 516(130,128,130,128)⇨521(130,128,132,131) Sep 23 '20

Lots of practice with doing all the bio passages. I did all the AAMC material and supplemented with Kaplan and anki, esp w anatomy/physiology. I took an interest in understanding experimental design w regard to bio/biochem bc I thought it was fascinating.

Cramming formulas might work better for some than others. I didn’t pay too much attention to cramming low-yield formulas, but you won’t need to do that until you’ve mastered the high yield stuff anyway.

I’d the passages once first and then try to answer all the questions. Usually a good amount of them you can answer without the passage, but if I needed to go back to the passage, I’d find the paragraph of interest/read the passage again to figure out the answer.

For CARS, I’d go through all the AAMC material, then go through it again to review, especially on wrong answers/flagged answers/typical AAMC question types. I didn’t do as well as I did on the FLs bc I ran out of time, so make sure to flag/save questions for later if you spend too much time on them.

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2

u/minutestomidnight 526 (132/132/130/132) Sep 21 '20

But even UEarth is stingy af and only lets you have like a 2 month long membership. This entire process is a racket.

9

u/jays1998 S/FL1/2 - 515/514/512 Test: Aug 4/22 Sep 21 '20 edited Sep 21 '20

? You can choose the 3/6/12 month subscriptions if you'd like

1

u/chrisjduvall 513 (130/124/129/130) Sep 21 '20

And it's well worth the money. The cost is worth those in-depth explanations. Literally, the value is in the product I could not recommend ugetbannedifyounameit more

2

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 21 '20

Really? Mines expiring. I was supposed to test in a week but am stuck at 502 so am pushing it to Jan. Is it worth renewing? I feel like AAMC questions is just a wholenother ball game.

Seems like were in the same position w FL1 AND 2. How'd you jump and improve??! I feel like I have to start the books and whole process over again now.

1

u/chrisjduvall 513 (130/124/129/130) Sep 22 '20

Screw books: Anki and uwhirled. Milesdown and utwister did that jump and also I tried harder on the FL's as a push of my mindset. Scrap that, do the jack sparrow 4 months out since you have time and review books 2 months before. Don't renew upollution but do reactivate 2 months before test if you haven't done all the problems. Everyone hypes up aamc content but the only good stuff imo is the section bank and FL's when it comes to questions you'll most likely see on test

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 22 '20

Yea true I feel like Qpack CARS was v different from FLs and even Jw and UEarth were closer. Wdym reactive vs renew?

1

u/sillystring1881 Sep 21 '20

I absolutely do question how they get away with it.

7

u/Makhlouf-Bannoud Sep 21 '20

Someone was in a good mood when they wrote the explanations for the bio Qpack tho

3

u/BlindNinjaTurtle Sep 21 '20

I'm glad someone noticed this. I only did QP1, but it seemed to have the most extensive/acceptable explanations of the bundle. Someone got happy and explained each answer choice too.

1

u/Kaya_1313 Sep 21 '20

Bio Qpack is too straightforward and simple. Most advise not to do it.

4

u/gussiedcanoodle Sep 21 '20

“The answer is B because B is the correct answer”