AAMC old practice materials

[Fish419]

I purchased all of the old MCAT practice materials in 2014 on AAMC. However, there are some unexpected things happened after I purchased them and I did not have time using any of them for two years. Now I finally have time to prepare for MCAT, but I found all of the materials disappeared... I called AAMC and they refused to do anything because I signed the terms which states that those materials will expire, which I did not even notice at the time I bought them.

I spent more than 300 dollars on them and now I cannot get any of them. I feel it is so unfair. Does anyone know if there is a way to get them back? Thanks a lot!

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[NextStepTutor_3]

That's too bad - I'm sorry to hear it! Unfortunately, the AAMC likely isn't even able to give you materials from the old MCAT, as they've been restructured into recent (and currently-available) resources. Even if they could, it appears that they don't want to, so it's not possible. There's also the fact that, though it's easy to overlook when life gets busy, the AAMC does make it clear that all of their purchased resources expire, both at the time of purchase and immediately before the expiration date. (I bought the sample test several months ago and logged into my account yesterday to find a giant notice stating something like "This exam will expire tomorrow, 4/11.")

But this isn't all bad! The $300 is a bit of a bummer, but you can purchase the current Qpacks for $15 each, and they contain a large number of passages from both the old AAMC practice exams and the self-assessments. It's not a bad deal. Additionally, the new MCAT is different enough (in terms of content coverage, timing, length, etc.) from the old test that you'd be better off practicing mainly with "new" resources. That means that, at the very least, you'd need to buy the current AAMC Sample Test and AAMC Scored test anyway.

Hope everything works out for you - good luck!!

 

[Fish419]

That's too bad - I'm sorry to hear it! Unfortunately, the AAMC likely isn't even able to give you materials from the old MCAT, as they've been restructured into recent (and currently-available) resources. Even if they could, it appears that they don't want to, so it's not possible. There's also the fact that, though it's easy to overlook when life gets busy, the AAMC does make it clear that all of their purchased resources expire, both at the time of purchase and immediately before the expiration date. (I bought the sample test several months ago and logged into my account yesterday to find a giant notice stating something like "This exam will expire tomorrow, 4/11.")

But this isn't all bad! The $300 is a bit of a bummer, but you can purchase the current Qpacks for $15 each, and they contain a large number of passages from both the old AAMC practice exams and the self-assessments. It's not a bad deal. Additionally, the new MCAT is different enough (in terms of content coverage, timing, length, etc.) from the old test that you'd be better off practicing mainly with "new" resources. That means that, at the very least, you'd need to buy the current AAMC Sample Test and AAMC Scored test anyway.

Hope everything works out for you - good luck!!

Thank you for your reply!

I just think this term is quite unfair, and I actually did not get any notice before it expire because I did not have the chance logging on to AAMC website for a year.

But there seems to be nothing I can do now other than buying the new ones.

 

[Bleu]

TBR tells students "you're golden" if you have the old material. Ask around all my material that was handed down is pre computer hard copies. The questions are the same. Seriously how many ways can you ask the same ?s!

 

[Fish419]

Anyone know if I go to a PR class, will they have all the material(the old and new tests and preparation materials) published by AAMC?

 

[narvik2016]

TBR tells students "you're golden" if you have the old material. Ask around all my material that was handed down is pre computer hard copies. The questions are the same. Seriously how many ways can you ask the same ?s!

I actually disagree with this. I received some advice from a source that I thought was good... which was to use old practice material and take the old practice tests as extra resources to get used to testing and MCAT style questions. This is the worst MCAT advice I received and it ultimately caused me to push my test date back 3 months. The new material is so different from the old exams that using those practice questions really, really hurt me because I was not prepared to work with the more difficult passage-based, experimental questions that are on the current MCAT. I studied for several months and made no progress... once I switched over to using test prep materials designed for the new MCAT, I saw great progress and was very prepared to sit for my test date.

Sorry this happened to you, OP, but I would take it as a sign to find some new materials.

 

[Bleu]

I actually disagree with this. I received some advice from a source that I thought was good... which was to use old practice material and take the old practice tests as extra resources to get used to testing and MCAT style questions. This is the worst MCAT advice I received and it ultimately caused me to push my test date back 3 months. The new material is so different from the old exams that using those practice questions really, really hurt me because I was not prepared to work with the more difficult passage-based, experimental questions that are on the current MCAT. I studied for several months and made no progress... once I switched over to using test prep materials designed for the new MCAT, I saw great progress and was very prepared to sit for my test date.

Sorry this happened to you, OP, but I would take it as a sign to find some new materials.

Of course you need new study material and new test prep books. That doesn't mean old tests are useless. Do a search and refer to TBR posts. Sorry it delayed you 3 months but with only 1-2 AAMC tests out and $50 for each EK I'm going to use them as prep.