hello! I'm actually not a new member, but I haven't been on in a while and forgot my username/password/email that I used haha

Anyway, I'm taking the Kaplan course right now for the MCAT... I'm about 3 weeks into it (halfway through unit 2) and there are a few things I'm worried about, so please bear with me while I vomit them out for you:

1) Diagnostic: Holy crap this thing was crazy! I ended up with a 25, which obviously didn't please me, but when we were told that the avg is usually 15, I got confused. If I remember correctly, Kaplan usually gets their students to average 30+ on the real MCAT, so do they make the diagnostic abnormally hard? Or do they really expect us to improve 10-12 points? Is this solely for their Higher Score Guarantee? Or are Kaplan students just not that smart to begin with? An average of 15 on the MCAT seemed a little outlandish to me

2) Topical Tests (I think that's what they're called): Yeah, these are the MCAT style online hw questions labeled "Strongly Recommended" (does that they're required for the HSG?). Anyway, I've found these to be difficult actually; I'm getting like 80% ish on them, but many times I get even lower...are these meant to be tougher than the real MCAT? or at least tougher than kaplan's FLs? I figured they might be since they are meant to be done right after you review the material for them...

3) Full-Lengths: How do they compare to the real test? I guess I'm mainly looking at score comparisons.. are Kaplan's tests harder than the real one? Can you expect similar scores on Kaplan's and the real one? I've heard that Kaplan's tests are harder than the real one, but the curve on Kaplan kinda makes up for it.... so if you're getting like 75% on Kaplan's tests, then you shouldn't stress out too much. Just wanna know if this is true.

4) VR: Okay, I've accepted that I'm not all that great at verbal, but just wanted to know if Kaplan's VR is representative of the real test (passage length/difficulty, question difficulty, etc.). I find the Kaplan passages AND questions really hard. I haven't practiced too much, but I'm planning to... the few tests I've taken have all gotten around the same score. I don't really know what I'm doing wrong; honestly, when I look back at my wrong answers/explanations, I still wouldn't have answered the question any differently. Anyone else have this problem? And does it get better over time and with more practice? Sometimes I feel like Kaplan's answers/explanations come out of left field, and it takes me a little while to justify them to myself, but I don't think that's how verbal is supposed to be. I'm just hoping it'll clear up with more--lots more--practice! Also, can anyone suggest more representative VR practice tests?

Anyway, I think that's it for now. If you were able to manage reading this far, then props to you. Also, if anyone is willing to share their Kaplan scores in comparison to their real scores, that would be awesome! Thanks a lot!

Hi. Stayingsteady,

Here are my 3 cents as a person who also took the Kaplan course and did/ and still does an extreme research on MCAT in general.

Generally, people take the diagnostic test unprepared, therefore, lower scores are kind of self explanatory. Also, I have heard numerous claims that the diagnostic tests both for Kaplan and TPR are purposefully harder than other tests (some claim it is to say their :beat: and I must agree)

80% on Topicals are actually pretty good. Not to mention that 25 on the diagnostic is not bad at all.:nod: They are there to train you in an over-achieving way, as all other Kaplan materials.

I have heard their FL 1-5 is fairly good and quite representative. As numbers go higher, they tend to get difficult. Then, I have heard people train on FL 10 and 11 as the real MCAT seems to get harder. I suggest doing them all, you have paid for them and you can't really hurt much by practicing. However, the most representative FL would be the AAMC's.

VR.. Kaplan VR.. It seems quite hard to find people who are pleased with Kaplan VR as they tend to be more focused on detailed questions. You may want to consider EK 101 as they are possibly the closest to the real MCAT.

Hope this helped. And I don't know when you are taking the MCAT, but you seem to be in pretty good shape. :woot:

Hey, thanks a lot for the response marspotter!
My aim is a 36 (aim high so you'll be satisfied with a little lower, eh?). None of my individual scores were embarassingly low (8/8/9), and I took the diag cold turkey, so hopefully bringing those scores to 12ish should be possible!
But I have a lot of time to study, since I've decided to push my testing date back till jan.

I was really worried about how many ?'s I was missing on the hw/practice material from Kaplan, but after reading through this forum a bit, the consensus seems to be that kaplan's stuff may be a little harder since they're aimed at drilling you in specific topics.

Yes, I think the topical tests are definitely a little harder. They drill on specific topics so you can review them and allow for more point increases by covering the more difficult topics/nuances of the particular subject.

And I have not taken the MCAT yet but I have heard people improve massively from their diagnostic. You can see many posts about this on SDN and people have had great improvements, so don't be too worried about the diag score! Good luck.

Oh ok, this might be a stupid question... but the 8 AAMC tests that Kaplan gives you access to... are those the same tests that you would otherwise pay $35/test for if you were not in the kaplan course (i.e. the ones from the AAMC website)? And also, the AAMC tests start at AAMC #3. What happened to #1 and #2??? (yeah, like I said, prob no-brainers)

As far as I am very aware of, yes, they are the exactly same exams.

AAMC tests start from 3 now, as they officially got rid of 1 and 2 for the CBT format.
:hello: