AAMC Self Assessment

[Yoyyy]

So I got the AAMC Self Assessments, I understand that it is untimed but I believe it's still better to keep pace on questions (since I think most of us would do very well on the test if we could take 10 minutes on 1 question). Basically, I am just asking since the passages tend to be shorter than FL's, how long should I spend per passage on the PS and BS Self Assessments?

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[ReadyToRumble]

It depends what you're using the assessment for. If you're trying to see your weak areas then timing won't really help, you'll rush through things that you possibly do know just to make your time goal and then the analysis will show that you don't really know X topic when your actual issue isn't content but timing. Also, because the point of it is finding weaknesses in content there are a lot of questions that given 10 minutes or 3 hours you'll have the same results--you either remember or don't remember the answer (e.g. chitin is present in fungi). There are definitely data analysis type questions but they're not the bulk of the assessment. Generally it's just hard to pin how long you should take to simulate a real passage because it's not at all like a real passage. You read a passage for fewer questions than usual and the questions they select are more content-based.

 

[JLeBling]

It depends what you're using the assessment for. If you're trying to see your weak areas then timing won't really help, you'll rush through things that you possibly do know just to make your time goal and then the analysis will show that you don't really know X topic when your actual issue isn't content but timing. Also, because the point of it is finding weaknesses in content there are a lot of questions that given 10 minutes or 3 hours you'll have the same results--you either remember or don't remember the answer (e.g. chitin is present in fungi). There are definitely data analysis type questions but they're not the bulk of the assessment. Generally it's just hard to pin how long you should take to simulate a real passage because it's not at all like a real passage. You read a passage for fewer questions than usual and the questions they select are more content-based.

This is all wrong.

If you don't know the answer under timed conditions than for all practical purposes you don't know the answer at all. If you want a realistic idea of where you would stand during the real test, set the timer to recreate the real test (i.e. 1.33 min/question). MCAT questions are designed to be solved very quickly. If you spend more than 3 minutes on a question than you're pretty much ****ed. Mark, guess and move on. You'll be surprised at how obvious the answer can be on your second pass! The most important thing is to keep moving. The MCAT requires dynamic multi-angled thinking. Honestly, it reminds me of snowmobile watercrossing. Keep the throttle open otherwise you sink!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuMdHJN0XQo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=FrxDWcqIH4o


But if you want to feel good about yourself and shield yourself from reality, than by all means take all the time in the world. Drop trou and jerk off between questions while you're at it! Why the hell not? Yeeeehaww!!!

Just remember that on test day there are no excuses. So I surmise that the best way to study is without any excuses.

 

[dudewheresmymd]

This is all wrong.

If you don't know the answer under timed conditions than for all practical purposes you don't know the answer at all. If you want a realistic idea of where you would stand during the real test, set the timer to recreate the real test (i.e. 1.33 min/question). MCAT questions are designed to be solved very quickly. If you spend more than 3 minutes on a question than you're pretty much ****ed. Mark, guess and move on. You'll be surprised at how obvious the answer can be on your second pass! The most important thing is to keep moving. The MCAT requires dynamic multi-angled thinking. Honestly, it reminds me of snowmobile watercrossing. Keep the throttle open otherwise you sink!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuMdHJN0XQo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=FrxDWcqIH4o


But if you want to feel good about yourself and shield yourself from reality, than by all means take all the time in the world. Drop trou and jerk off between questions while you're at it! Why the hell not? Yeeeehaww!!!

Just remember that on test day there are no excuses. So I surmise that the best way to study is without any excuses.

People use the self assessment in different ways. Hell, there wasn't even a self assessment 2 years ago. I personally wouldn't use it as timed practice since that defeats the purpose of it being a self assessment...if you want timed practice focus on AAMCs 3-11. If you do want timed practice, then do 1.33 min/question, but at the end of the day, remember that it's not a full length, and it's just questions compiled from different retired sources meant to gauge where your current level of preparation stands.

 

[ReadyToRumble]

No, it's not all wrong. By dividing 70 by 52 you're getting the average time per question on the MCAT, sure, but you're comparing apples and oranges. The Bio SAP, for example, has 32 discrete questions. The actual BS section on the MCAT has 13 discretes, so by that metric the Bio SAP is 2.46 MCAT exams. By the same logic, because the MCAT BS section has 7 passages then the Bio SAP should have ~17 passages. But it doesn't. Instead it has 22 passages. So what favor are you doing yourself by using a time metric that has no relevance? Don't forget that sections also consist of two subjects, if you're great at bio but terrible at orgo finishing the bio quickly won't indicate much about your possible BS section success. Lastly, I gave an example for the type of question that will take you two seconds to get if you know it (which is what a lot of the questions in the SAP are like) but if you decide to waste hours on it won't get you anywhere. Again, I see it as an assessment of content knowledge tool because it is not a proxy of a full length. Get through it without dill dallying and then review the answers to learn from it.

 

[djkim]

Why people are so obsessed with timing i will never understand. Timing is something that naturally improves as one becomes more familiar with the content and the format of the exam. If it takes 10 min to solve something, then doing it in 8 min really isn't that hard. But if you don't know if you can even solve the problems, what's the point of rushing it in 6-7 min?

 

[dudewheresmymd]

Why people are so obsessed with timing i will never understand. Timing is something that naturally improves as one becomes more familiar with the content and the format of the exam. If it takes 10 min to solve something, then doing it in 8 min really isn't that hard. But if you don't know if you can even solve the problems, what's the point of rushing it in 6-7 min?

 

[pinkcountry]

Do you think the self-assessment is most useful to do before any FL? It seems like that's what they are made for so you can work on weak content before doing a FL and thus a FL mainly reflects testing issues not content knowledge (or lack there of)?

 

[MedOldAge]

Do you think the self-assessment is most useful to do before any FL? It seems like that's what they are made for so you can work on weak content before doing a FL and thus a FL mainly reflects testing issues not content knowledge (or lack there of)?

To my understanding, content of individual self-assessment package was collectively pull and reorganized from FL1-R, FL2-R, & FL6-R. They are actual AAMC practice passages/discrete questions testing your "know how" and not intent to be "content review".

I suspect "when" you use it will depend on your own strategy.
1. Use it to find out where you are at before jumping into FLs and not wasting them?
2. Split the assessment package into 2 to 3 individual mini-package and use them along the 3 months period after some FLs testing/content review?

Just my 2 cents.

EDIT:
I just got on AAMC and it looks like they recommend:
1. Do FL3 first
2. Do Assessment Package
3. Then continue with FL4.....whatever

 

[MedGrl@2022]

So I got the AAMC Self Assessments, I understand that it is untimed but I believe it's still better to keep pace on questions (since I think most of us would do very well on the test if we could take 10 minutes on 1 question). Basically, I am just asking since the passages tend to be shorter than FL's, how long should I spend per passage on the PS and BS Self Assessments?

I generally timed myself 7 minutes per passage. Sometimes it was WAY more than I needed other timed it was cutting it close. For the chemistry one I did not time myself because I felt that I was pacing myself well enough plus I took the whole thing at one time (not really taking breaks) so by the end I was slowing down because I was tired.

How do people think the AAMC self assessments are compared to the real exam? I felt overall I did pretty well on the self-assessments. Do you think that they are representative of my scores on the real exam? I felt the the questions were pretty easy for the most part.

 

[adrakdavra]

I just finished my aamc self assessment physics and I got 80%, and they said that the average is 54%. What does 80% means in term of real MCAT score? and How do you study after this.
I was really hoping for a better score then 80% so I am not sure If I can improve my Exam is in 20 days .....

I am happy with my 93 % G chem, but I think the Chem was easy because the average was 66% which is higher than Physics.

 

[dudewheresmymd]

Where do you see the overall percentage? It just tells me how many % points above avg i scored for bio?

Also, is there any way to see the raw score?

 

[adrakdavra]

Click on the upper left hand side and it should break it down for you.

By the way, that drosophila passage sucks, do you know what book or website I can study to improve for that specific type of passages.

 

[JShen]

Disregarding the timing issue, how useful have people found the self-assessment to be?

 

[LaughingMan]

Disregarding the timing issue, how useful have people found the self-assessment to be?

Very useful---they are questions from the R versions of the AAMCs and AAMC 6R.

I enjoyed them.

 

[MedGrl@2022]

Disregarding the timing issue, how useful have people found the self-assessment to be?

I honestly found them to be easier... especially the Organic Chemistry self assessment than the real MCAT and AAMC... I thought the Organic Chemistry self assessment answered itself... I haven;t gotten back my real MCAT scores so I cannot say for sure... but all in all I think Self Assessments were easier than real MCATs

 

[orangetea]

Hi,

I am considering buying this package.. even though it seems like ANOTHER WAY for aamc to make money off of us.. anyways. For those of you that practiced using this and now a year later have taken your MCAT ( I am assuming) did you think it was helpful? also what I really want to know is how similar in terms of difficulty were the questions to your real test.. I know that one is a bit hard to answer since MCAT differs test date to test date.


Thanks!

 

[tcon91]

Hi,

I am considering buying this package.. even though it seems like ANOTHER WAY for aamc to make money off of us.. anyways. For those of you that practiced using this and now a year later have taken your MCAT ( I am assuming) did you think it was helpful? also what I really want to know is how similar in terms of difficulty were the questions to your real test.. I know that one is a bit hard to answer since MCAT differs test date to test date.


Thanks!

Hey orange did you end up getting the package? I'm thinking about getting it and would like some feedback as to whether or not it was helpful.

Oh and I finished OITB and started watching Weeds lol. These are great shows!

 

[orangetea]

Hey orange did you end up getting the package? I'm thinking about getting it and would like some feedback as to whether or not it was helpful.

Oh and I finished OITB and started watching Weeds lol. These are great shows!

Hey!

They actually ended up free with my Kaplan online class so yes I do have them.
Chem/physics are right on par with the AAMC practice tests, with chem a bit easier.
Verbal is GOLDEN because I needed more AAMC like passages and questions which it provides!
Bio is not really dense/experimental heavy but it is still good practice!

I also like them because you can go through them but then you forget some passages/questions and you can go through the assessment again and do them just to have extra problems.

I feel like they are worth the investment

 

[tcon91]

Aright looks like I'll be making another mcat purchase tonight lol. Thank you!!