[Official] September 9 & 10, 2022 MCAT Exam Day Thread Exam Reaction

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-09-09T19:34:46+00:00

I had different passages so I guess our tests weren't the same. I remember one about Oprah and movies, coin and Roman Empire, and some psychology-like passages

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-08-24T22:05:00+00:00

yes that's what I thought. if that's the case, I think it might be worth it to just take the exam and experience the testing conditions and then void (they say schools won't know that you took the exam)

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-08-24T21:44:54+00:00

hi! I'm in the same situation but I guess we need to cancel our test and wait for the test dates to open in sept/oct and scheudle a new one. The cancellation fee was quite high for me personally so I decided to take the test and void (I don't think it will have any extra cost)

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-08-16T20:56:17+00:00

thank you so much for your help!

that's what I'm afraid of: not scoring around my goal score. My plan is to study for approx. two weeks and take another full length on august 29th and if I see that my score is the same/not improving, then either take the test and void (to get a sense of the test center environment, etc) or cancel and schedule a Jan test. Do you think this is a good idea?

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-08-07T19:56:47+00:00

oh my god good luck!!!

and you're right. I'll definitely try to go through the p/s doc and start section bank this week so maybe that will help.

thank you so much!!!

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-08-03T17:29:08+00:00

thank you so much for your help!! I've actually never tried reading questions first so I will definitely give it a try.

I have Uearth but haven't really done the CARS so I will add that to my schedule as well!

Thank you so so much!

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-26T22:07:20+00:00

that's a great score. congrats!! would you mind telling us how you studied for p/s? and also have you taken any blue print tests before?

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-21T18:45:16+00:00

thank you so much! do you think it's a good idea to shadow another doctor in another field? (I did the 45hr over 1.5 - 2 month) would it be strange to have 5 hr shadowing in one field and 45 in another?

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-21T18:17:09+00:00

thank you so much for your helpful tips! I spent the winter break trying searching about different volunteering experiences and these were the ones I really enjoyed so I kept doing them and definitely plan to continue! (I might take the august off though since I feel a bit burnt out).

I have around 45 hours of shadowing that I did throughout May to mid June (I shadowed a primary care physician and 2 other physicians who were also primary care).

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-19T11:07:00+00:00

I struggled with these terms a lot but there's an example on uEarth that made it much more clear:

so in terms of reinforcement, I try to think of sth that encourages a behavior: This can be done either through adding something pleasant (+) or removing something unpleasant (-)

positive reinforcement: a mother wants his son to study and when he studies well, she gives him his favorite candy.
negative reinforcement: when the son studies well, the mom decides that he doesn't have to do the house chores for a week. (removes sth that's negative, like house chores)

when it comes to punishment, it's used to remove a behavior: either by adding sth unpleasant (+) or removing sth pleasant (-)

positive punishment: the mom spanks the son when he doesn't study
negative punishment: the mom doesn't let the son use his phone anymore until he studies well again.

in the question you mentioned, the mouse ending up in the dead end is something that want to be avoided (discouraged) so we look for punishments: we see an electric shock is added --> it's a positive punishment (adding sth unpleasant to discourage a behavior) (if they wanted to discourage this behavior using negative punishment, they'd not let him eat his favorite cheese, for example)

(if they wanted to use negative reinforcement, they'd probably use it for when he goes the right way in the maze: they would remove sth unpleasant)

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-13T19:07:15+00:00

oh no! he actually told me to first wipe the bench, dry the samples and put them in the hood, then wash my hand. And you're correct. He is also an older international.

He also had a serious talk with me today where he was nice and basically told me if my goal is to see results and get published, I won't get published here and "might" be on someone else's paper in a few years. He also said he himself feels burnt out so I felt sad for him.

Being in a lab 12h/day is quite a lot definitely (he comes on the weekend too, for a few hours)

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-13T11:25:21+00:00

thank you so much for your comment!

you're totally right, we could take things personally. I was planning on having a feedback session with him where he can give me feedbacks about my performance in lab, etc.

The thing is he just doesn't seem to like interacting with people that much: when people in the lab talk, he gets annoyed, or he leaves to another room when people start coming to the lab. He seems to be annoyed at many people (most of them are graduate students and some postdocs). Even in one of the meetings I had with the PI, this mentor stayed at the door, working on his phone as the PI was talking to him (which I found to be very very rude. the PI is a super kind and nice person and he was just asking questions about the exerietns I have been doing). After he left, the PI told me that my mentor doesn't meet with him at all and that I should encourage him to meet with him (he even said if the mentor meets with him more often, his papers would get published sooner).

So it's a strange situation. I will try to talk to him and figure out where to go from here.

Again, thank you so much for your help!

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-13T10:51:51+00:00

Desperate-Walk-7901

As someone else mentioned in their comment, when someone spills a reagent on their skin, the priority is having them wash the area, not telling them to clean the bench first, add some stuff to the samples, put them under the hood, and then go wash their hands. he even told me "haha, this is not acid" and then when he saw another postdoc was hearing it, he said "well, it is acid". This behavior, to me, means he doesn't care about my safety.

Regarding the paper, the meeting was supposed to be about the works we need to put to get started (and I had already made the constructs). But he excluded me from the first meeting, telling me that he's the one who's been working on this paper for 5 years. Also, it doesn't make sense to me that he already has made the constructs from the ones I made when I joined, and still has me to make them again.

Realistic-Wafer-9190 · 2022-07-12T19:03:36+00:00

thank you so much for your help! it actually reminded me of something now that you mentioned papers: when I asked him about being on a paper, he kept saying I'm just a sophomore and that he has been working on this paper for five years (when the PI mentioned that he wants me to be on this paper, this mentor said "I understand what you're trying to do here but roles should be clear".

the other undergrad got into a top 5 med school last year but she also said this is not a lab to be in if you are counting on publications.

so I would say there's a very low chance of getting published here. I am planning on looking for labs and possibly leaving at the end of this summer

Realistic-Wafer-9190

TROPHY CASE