Best practice exam besides AAMC?

[hexane19]

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I'm a bit short on time - which practice exam would ya'll recommend me to take besides AAMC 1?

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

I've think ExamKrackers are pretty similar in terms of question style, logic, etc. Although alot of people (myself included) did worse on the EK exams compared to the AAMC FL, so be prepared for that

 

[hexane19]

Have you tried Kaplan's or PR's? Were either of those better than EK?

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

Yeah I've done some of those too. I would say they're both good for content review, but as far as question style not as good. They don't seem to emphasize the same things that the AAMC test does. But they can still be helpful for practice and pacing/timing, etc.

 

[hexane19]

Have you taken the MCAT yet? If so did you feel that your AAMC practice score correlated to your prelim score on the real deal?

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

I take it Saturday! So we'll see how well these scores are predictive. But from lots of browsing on here, many people who scored in the 90-100%ile range on the real deal were getting anywhere from 500 - 510 on TPR and Kaplan exams (most consistent seemed to be about 504 +/- a couple points, with Kaplan being lower) , and then probably around 75% - 90% overall on AAMC practice, with most hitting around 83 - 85% (percent correct).

 

[Avicenna]

EK, NextStep, TBR

 

[allantois]

EK, NextStep, TBR

Have you tried TBR?

 

[Avicenna]

Have you tried TBR?

I will this wednesday

 

[El-Rami]

I hear good things about Testing Solution's Practice CARS Exams. You can get them for free on Amazon if you download the Kindle app for PC/Mac and have a Prime account. Alternatively, you can get a one-month trial for Kindle Unlimited and still rent the exams for free, I believe.

Next Step's 108 CARS book has 12 sectional exams (non-CBT), which can be great practice as well. The book's cheap. I bought it, and the passages look a lot like something you could see on the MCAT. However, some reviewers say the passage questions are a bit harder than AAMC.

There's also the CBT Official Guide Questions for $10 (treat like a half-FL) as well as the question bundle (720 questions from old AAMC practice tests). Either of these will give you a feel for MCAT passages with AAMC questions.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I don't think there will be a solid answer to this for another year or so sadly. It seems like the trend is that those who take multiple Kaplan/TPR tests and score 498+ all do very well although this is a 24 or so on the old scale. I know someone who was averaging a 496.5 on Kaplan and got a score between 509-514

 

[mjbek03]

For FLs, EK is probably the most valuable overall. Good practice with data, graphs, etc. TBR's physical sciences and biological sciences sections on the FLs are good, even though they didn't seem to incorporate as much biochem into the PS sections as the AAMC practice FL. I didn't like TBR's VR and Psych/soc sections.

TPR tests were good for endurance/pacing, and their psych/soc sections were good.

For VR I think the AAMC question packs are the best resource.

In general I thought the best resources available, besides the AAMC FL, the official guide questions, and the AAMC question packs, were TBR passages from their books (except for VR) and EK 30 min exams. The TPR Verbal workbook is great, tons of verbal passages.

 

[CentennialYogi]

For FLs, EK is probably the most valuable overall. Good practice with data, graphs, etc. TBR's physical sciences and biological sciences sections on the FLs are good, even though they didn't seem to incorporate as much biochem into the PS sections as the AAMC practice FL. I didn't like TBR's VR and Psych/soc sections.

TPR tests were good for endurance/pacing, and their psych/soc sections were good.

For VR I think the AAMC question packs are the best resource.

In general I thought the best resources available, besides the AAMC FL, the official guide questions, and the AAMC question packs, were TBR passages from their books (except for VR) and EK 30 min exams. The TPR Verbal workbook is great, tons of verbal passages.

Thanks for the helpful review. I'm looking for as much verbal practice as possible - do you know how many passages or in PR's verbal workbook?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mjbek03]

Not sure exactly, 100 or 120 maybe.