HUGE AAMC vs. Kaplan FL score difference... Help!

Hey everyone,

I have taken 5 AAMC exams and 4 Kaplan full lengths so far. My AAMC average is around a 32 (11/10/11) and my Kaplan average is around a 37 (12/11/14). I know that Kaplan's scaled scores are quite generous, but how much should I deflate them?

I've also heard that the actual AAMC curve is a bit more generous in comparison to their practice exams. I'm hoping for a 35 on the real deal... am I within that target range?

My Kaplan FL average was spot on for what I scored on the real thing. Good luck!

I make a lot more mistakes on my Kaplan fl than on aamc. If for example I make 10 mistakes on my aamc, than I'd be making 20 on Kaplan. I don't have Kaplan conversion, but I heard kaplan test have soft conversion because they be much harder.

Kaplan passages are way harder, and so you are scored more leniently. I think. I don't understand most of its PS section, but the biological part seems so short everytime? I have about 20 minutes left after BS consistently. I don't want to feel too smug going to the real thing and then get served with longer, more condensed passages.

But most people here agree that your average aamc will be better predictor.

In my experience, I agree with what others have said. The Kaplan exams are harder, but they are more lenient on the grading. For me, that worked out to be about the same score when compared to AAMC exams.

Look over your exams and see how many you get wrong. You might be the type who makes more careless mistakes rather than lack-of-knowledge mistakes. Meaning, you either screw up on a very simple task (ie. miscalculation), misread answer choices, etc. rather than not knowing how to solve these problem at hand. These are the questions that you kick yourself during the review because you KNEW the correct answer.

If this is true, and say you make 5 careless mistakes, then the exam type (AAMC or Kaplan) and its relative difficulty was not a factor in making those mistakes. BUT, since Kaplan questions are considered harder and graded on a more lenient curve, those 5 mistakes will hurt less on a Kaplan exam than on a AAMC exam.

Are you within the 35 target range? Not until you can hit 35 on an AAMC exam as well.

Originally Posted by ghostman

In my experience, I agree with what others have said. The Kaplan exams are harder, but they are more lenient on the grading. For me, that worked out to be about the same score when compared to AAMC exams.

Look over your exams and see how many you get wrong. You might be the type who makes more careless mistakes rather than lack-of-knowledge mistakes. Meaning, you either screw up on a very simple task (ie. miscalculation), misread answer choices, etc. rather than not knowing how to solve these problem at hand. These are the questions that you kick yourself during the review because you KNEW the correct answer.

If this is true, and say you make 5 careless mistakes, then the exam type (AAMC or Kaplan) and its relative difficulty was not a factor in making those mistakes. BUT, since Kaplan questions are considered harder and graded on a more lenient curve, those 5 mistakes will hurt less on a Kaplan exam than on a AAMC exam.

Are you within the 35 target range? Not until you can hit 35 on an AAMC exam as well.

This is a very good description of what was causing the actual discrepancy. During these earlier exams, I was making quite a few 'careless' mistakes which hurt me alot, especially on the AAMC exams. The majority of my mistakes occured in the 'easy' category questions which was extremely frustrating. Over time I was able to pinpoint these problems, and my AAMC average started to rise as well.

My final three AAMC exams averaged around a 35: 13/10/12.

Originally Posted by Sports Junky

This is a very good description of what was causing the actual discrepancy. During these earlier exams, I was making quite a few 'careless' mistakes which hurt me alot, especially on the AAMC exams. The majority of my mistakes occured in the 'easy' category questions which was extremely frustrating. Over time I was able to pinpoint these problems, and my AAMC average started to rise as well.

My final three AAMC exams averaged around a 35: 13/10/12.

Good to hear. If you've hit your target on both types of FL's, you're ready. That's especially true if you hit them more than once and can do it relatively consistently.