Kaplan later full lengths as indicators

[RedSox143]

Been taking the later full lengths and I've been doing pretty good but I'm weary of it because of the scale. Idk If I should be proud or not or what to think?

Fl5: 27 999
Fl6: 32 10 10 12
Fl7: 33 11 11 11 (got 20 wrong on PS still got 11...)
Fl8: 24 9 6 9

Where am I?!

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[Sammy1024]

I don't like Kaplan tests because they're so skewed. It's like one day i'd get a 29 and the next day a 23. Their verbal is heavy on finding details whereas the aamc is more focused on the overall picture. Their PS is very math heavy and the real mcat isn't that math heavy even though there are a fair share of math problems. Their BS tends to be better.

If you haven't done so already, take an aamc practice test (all of them come free with your kaplan subscription) and see where you stand.

 

[Wumbology101]

I was wary of Kaplan FLs but after reading around on SDN, the consensus seemed to be that the average of all your Kaplan scores (however skewed) would be indicative of your real score. Definitely take the individual section scores/scaling with a grain of salt though. My composite scores ranged from 29-36, my average was a 30.8 and I got a 31 (which I just found out today).

 

[texan2414]

I was wary of Kaplan FLs but after reading around on SDN, the consensus seemed to be that the average of all your Kaplan scores (however skewed) would be indicative of your real score. Definitely take the individual section scores/scaling with a grain of salt though. My composite scores ranged from 29-36, my average was a 30.8 and I got a 31 (which I just found out today).

Why take the Kaplan FLs average with a grain of salt though? They accurately predicted your real MCAT score.
I think far too many people disregard Kaplan because 1) their skewed scale system 2) VR section; but in all appropriateness, I felt that it is adequately preparing me for the most stringent of all tests. If you look at Oct 21 posts today, there are a lot of people who are disappointed because they got a harder than usual PS section. Kaplan FLs definitely prepare you for situations like these by giving you a hard PS section. I feel none of the AAMCs have an "easy" PS section.

Other than that, Kaplan FLs are really good at passage deduction and inference questions, especially for the PS and BS sections. There are many times where the AAMC is actually asking your understanding not directly of the concepts, but rather HOW concepts are presented in a particular phenomenon in the passage. These are your "verbal"-like questions in science sections and I feel Kaplan can give you a good perspective on that.

A lot of people decry Kaplan VR as well and while I do concede that it is somewhat biased towards detail oriented questions, I think you should still use advantage of inference and deduction questions. Also the subject matter of VR exams I felt is balanced - there are some entertaining passages and equally there are boring/dry passages, similar to what you will find on the AAMC exams. One thing they could possibly improve upon are the "Incorporation of Information" questions. There seem to be very little of these types of questions in Kaplan tests.

 

[RedSox143]

Yeah I had never hit 30+ before so I was all excited then I realized I got 20 wrong on PS and I became instantly skeptical but yeah it's a retake for me and my last PS section held me back the most so I'm hoping to get 32-34 I guess I need to check in with aamcs did anyone here take the later kaplan full lengths is say my avg was 27 before those tests

 

[texan2414]

From what I've heard, the latter exams are for building endurance and should only be done if you have extra time. FLs 1-6 are your best friends.