***Official AAMC Practice Exams Discussion Thread***

[Fp02c]

I took the free practice test and I had a few questions. How does it compare to the other tests available? I didnt think it was too bad particularly with verbal and p.s. I ended up with a 10 on verbal and 11 on p.s. Most of my verbal mistakes were downright stupid and I took the p.s without any studying really just to get a feel for it. Somebody told me though that this was the easiest test and I should have gotten at the very least above a 12 on both of those sections to even consider getting above a 10 on the real thing. I am taking the actual mcat may 27th. I changed it from mid april so that I can study more. My biggest strength is P.S. I just finished engineering so im very confortable with those types of questions. My biggest weakness is the biological sciences. I have only taken biology 1 and 2 and by the time the mcat rolls around I would have finished o chem 1 and barely started o chem 2. My strategy for the biology is mainly to use EK with some other sources on any subjects that give me a harder time. Is this a wise idea? I took the biology courses AGES ago and to be honest I dont remember any of the stuff with respect to physiology and body parts. What do you guys recommend with respect to how I should approach studying for this test.

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[iA-MD2013]

 

[ChubbyChaser]

haha, Doh! We all make stupid mistakes so I will forgive you.

 

[jdla]

I have the paper AAMC from 3-8? Should I take 8-10 on CBt form? Would three be good enough prep for CBT.

 

[mterp45]

just took AAMC 8 and my score was PS 14, VR 11, and what the f..... was up with that BS? I averaged 14 and 13s on AAMC 10, 9, 7, 6. I thought I was invincible, but I got a freaking 11 on this one. I havent gotten an 11 on a practice BS since my third month of studying. This BS section was definetly the most difficult for me, a lot of my answers left me with an uneasy feeling. AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

 

[mterp45]

I thought AAMC 8 was really, really hard...

Anyone else feel that way?

for sure the hardest BS I have taken in my SIX MONTHS of studying, and I have taken around 22 full lentghs.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

for some reason i thought the BS on AAMC 9 was tough, mostly because of the first passage though, I missed 4 of my 6 on that one passage alone, lol.

 

[bozz]

for what it's worth... I found aamc 8s BS to be hard as well .. I got +3 on the real deal's BS. Except the real MCAT's BS to be 10x harder than AAMC 8 though (serious)

but then again, the first time I took it ... I got the same score (10).. and the same score on the real deal as well (10)

 

[mterp45]

for what it's worth... I found aamc 8s BS to be hard as well .. I got +3 on the real deal's BS. Except the real MCAT's BS to be 10x harder than AAMC 8 though (serious)

but then again, the first time I took it ... I got the same score (10).. and the same score on the real deal as well (10)

wait what did you say? you think the real MCAT is 10 times harder than AAMC 8??? is that really what you are saying?? or am I simply misinterpreting what you wrote? are you pulling my leg or what?

 

[Vihsadas]

wait what did you say? you think the real MCAT is 10 times harder than AAMC 8??? is that really what you are saying?? or am I simply misinterpreting what you wrote? are you pulling my leg or what?

It depends on which test you get on your real exam, but sometimes its true and sometimes its not. My BS section was definitely harder than the practice exams, my PS was comparable and the VR was ri-frickin-donculously harder. However, because the MCAT is curved it all evened out in the end, and my real MCAT composite correlates well with my practices (although the breakdown of my practices was different). So don't let it get to you. If you really prepared well for the MCAT and really put in the effort and time then you'll be fine. If you find the BS section on the real deal to be difficult you can be sure that everyone else did too, and the test will be curved accordingly.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

for what it's worth... I found aamc 8s BS to be hard as well .. I got +3 on the real deal's BS. Except the real MCAT's BS to be 10x harder than AAMC 8 though (serious)

but then again, the first time I took it ... I got the same score (10).. and the same score on the real deal as well (10)

It was mostly that one dang passage. Am I the only one that found that passage ridculous?

 

[mterp45]

It depends on which test you get on your real exam, but sometimes its true and sometimes its not. My BS section was definitely harder than the practice exams, my PS was comparable and the VR was ri-frickin-donculously harder. However, because the MCAT is curved it all evened out in the end, and my real MCAT composite correlates well with my practices (although the breakdown of my practices was different). So don't let it get to you. If you really prepared well for the MCAT and really put in the effort and time then you'll be fine. If you find the BS section on the real deal to be difficult you can be sure that everyone else did too, and the test will be curved accordingly.

Hey thanks I appreciate comforting words after the "10x harder" revelation, but wow that verbal must have been quite difficult for it to merit it's own descriptive word "ri-frickin-donculously harder" lol.

Hey am sure some of you guys have similar test taking experiences. I have always been a great test taker somehow. I always find myself performing at an extremely elevated level when I am under pressure or under real test taking conditions. I scored 200 points higher on the real SAT compared to the PSAT I took, when I took the DAT I scored 4 points higher on the real one compared to the practice, and may I add that a four point increase is a lot for the DAT. The same goes for my finals, I ususally do just enough to keep a B and then simply blow the final exams out of water to get As. I am almost a different person when am taking actual tests. I usually don't even remember anything about the tests after they are over, it's as if I go into some type a trance. I often end up surprising myself with some of the answers I come up with. I really feel like the MCAT test on april 19th is going to propel me into a different hemisphere mentally. Did any of you guys--who have taken the test--have such an experience?

 

[mterp45]

It was mostly that one dang passage. Am I the only one that found that passage ridculous?

Hey I just checked the passage, I got a couple wrong on that one so no biggy.

 

[kronickm]

Hey I just checked the passage, I got a couple wrong on that one so no biggy.

I just took 8 and didn't find the BS that bad. What passage are you referring to?

 

[mterp45]

I just took 8 and didn't find the BS that bad. What passage are you referring to?

It's ok. My attempts to get a concensus about the "difficulty level" of BS 8, was simply to comfort myself with a false sense of security. However, from the searches I have made on AAMC 8, an 11 on that BS section is not so bad.

 

[jdla]

Title: Paper MCAT vs. CBt MCAT

I have the paper AAMC from 3-8? Should I take 8-10 on CBt form? Would three be good enough prep for CBT.

Can someone please give me some feedback?

 

[bozz]

wait what did you say? you think the real MCAT is 10 times harder than AAMC 8??? is that really what you are saying?? or am I simply misinterpreting what you wrote? are you pulling my leg or what?

yeah my BS was way harder than 8 (and I thought 8 was the hardest)... but my BS and PS scores were dead on with 9 and 10.

My verbal was insanely easy though.. I thought I aced it
But you've gotta remember that the whole thing is curved.. so things work out in the end
Also I missed 4 questions on PS and only got a point off on PS... so relax.. as long as you're consistent with the AAMCs, expect good things.

 

[mterp45]

Title: Paper MCAT vs. CBt MCAT

I have the paper AAMC from 3-8? Should I take 8-10 on CBt form? Would three be good enough prep for CBT.

Can someone please give me some feedback?

well, considering you will be aking the test in the CBT format, it might be wise to familiarize yourself with it.

 

[mterp45]

yeah my BS was way harder than 8 (and I thought 8 was the hardest)... but my BS and PS scores were dead on with 9 and 10.

My verbal was insanely easy though.. I thought I aced it
But you've gotta remember that the whole thing is curved.. so things work out in the end
Also I missed 4 questions on PS and only got a point off on PS... so relax.. as long as you're consistent with the AAMCs, expect good things.

yeah thanks, but I just thought I would mention for future references that after doing some research about AAMC 8, a lot of people thought the MCAT they took was a lot easier than AAMC 8.

 

[jdla]

Any more opinions? I will taking four Cbt? Will that be fine because I have the paper format.

Title: Paper MCAT vs. CBt MCAT

I have the paper AAMC from 3-8? Should I take 8-10 on CBt form? Would three be good enough prep for CBT.

Can someone please give me some feedback?

 

[Vihsadas]

Any more opinions? I will taking four Cbt? Will that be fine because I have the paper format.

That's exactly what I did. I did the first 4-7 paper exams in the old-style timing. I think it really helped accustom me to long testing situations and increased my stamina. Then the very last 4 practice exams I did as CBTs and completed them at regular intervals directly before my real MCAT such that my real exam landed on the last interval. I took those last four exams at the exact time that I would be taking my real exam. Essentially I got into a rhythm synched with my actual exam time/date.
I also did the 'extra' passages from the paper format from 7-9 on the same day. Oh...and I also did 3CBT as my diagnostic. I think they way you have it set up will be fine.

 

[premd]

For some reason, I am not able to highlight the passages on the online AAMC MCATs. Does anyone have this problem or advice on how to fix it? Thanks!

 

[Vihsadas]

For some reason, I am not able to highlight the passages on the online AAMC MCATs. Does anyone have this problem or advice on how to fix it? Thanks!

Are you using firefox? If memory serves me, last year some of the CBT functions did not work properly in firefox.

 

[Karen12345]

Highlighting / inserting notes does not work with Safari, either.

 

[smeagol]

I did a brief search and nothing appeared immediately relevant.

Anyways, when doing the biological portion of CBT6, I was given a fairly dense passage on clotting that took me quite a while to read. Turns out there was only 1 question on this passage. I thought maybe I had to click next to receive the next questions, but nope; that was just it.

Can this possibly be intentional? Anyone else experience something similar? There were a total of 7 passages, but one passage had only 1 question associated with it.

 

[tncekm]

How many questions did it add up to? If it was 52, i guess its intentional?????

 

[Rofeh20]

I did a brief search and nothing appeared immediately relevant.

Anyways, when doing the biological portion of CBT6, I was given a fairly dense passage on clotting that took me quite a while to read. Turns out there was only 1 question on this passage. I thought maybe I had to click next to receive the next questions, but nope; that was just it.

Can this possibly be intentional? Anyone else experience something similar? There were a total of 7 passages, but one passage had only 1 question associated with it.

Hey there, that's not a glitch. AAMC 6, like all the other AAMC exams except for AAMC 10, were shrunk down to their current size. For some odd reason, the AAMC chose to delete all other questions from this passage so that only one was left. I've always wanted to ask someone at the AAMC what they were thinking about when they did that.

Did someone just screw up? Were they rushing to meet a deadline? Or did they simply want to mess with students' heads?

Everywhere else they followed the "rules" of ensuring that each passage had at least four questions, but in this one instance they didn't. Perhaps they just couldn't get the numbers to work out.

Well, my musings aside, the bottom line is that there's no glitch here.

 

[tncekm]

Just finished my diagnostic AAMC 3 CBT after 1.5 months of studying. PS: 12, VR: 9, BS: 10, one point from 11! Composite: 31.

I'm happy with its since its my first test, and the score would have been good enough to get me into medical school--that's all I want, no desire for bragging rights.

Anyway, everyone says AAMC 3 is much easier--how much? I mean, would a 31 AAMC 3 be equivalent to a 25, 28, etc.?

I found the test to be very strange--like, the last 1.5 months of prep didn't help that much because the questions were mostly not knowledge based.

And, I personally found the AAMC 3 CBT verbal to be HARD! I was surprised I ended up with a 9 (65% correct, 26/40). This is definitely my weak area.

 

[tncekm]

Highlighting / inserting notes does not work with Safari, either.

Still doesn't work with Firefox or Safari. I had to login under Windows and use IE7.

 

[mterp45]

Just finished my diagnostic AAMC 3 CBT after 1.5 months of studying. PS: 12, VR: 9, BS: 10, one point from 11! Composite: 31.

I'm happy with its since its my first test, and the score would have been good enough to get me into medical school--that's all I want, no desire for bragging rights.

Anyway, everyone says AAMC 3 is much easier--how much? I mean, would a 31 AAMC 3 be equivalent to a 25, 28, etc.?

I found the test to be very strange--like, the last 1.5 months of prep didn't help that much because the questions were mostly not knowledge based.

And, I personally found the AAMC 3 CBT verbal to be HARD! I was surprised I ended up with a 9 (65% correct, 26/40). This is definitely my weak area.

Take it and run with it, AAMC 3 isn't a 31 easy, anything above 30 on any aamc is great.

 

[tncekm]

Take it and run with it, AAMC 3 isn't a 31 easy, anything above 30 on any aamc is great.

Thanks, those are words I was looking to hear I'd really like to get a 35+ by May 27th so I can stay in-state. With some luck and some practice I'll get it.

Now I just have to figure out which practice materials I need to use. I have access to 29, total, practice tests: AAMC 3-10, TPR 1-9, GS: 1-10, and 2 Kaplan Premiere CBTs.

 

[smeagol]

Just finished my diagnostic AAMC 3 CBT after 1.5 months of studying. PS: 12, VR: 9, BS: 10, one point from 11! Composite: 31.

I'm happy with its since its my first test, and the score would have been good enough to get me into medical school--that's all I want, no desire for bragging rights.

Anyway, everyone says AAMC 3 is much easier--how much? I mean, would a 31 AAMC 3 be equivalent to a 25, 28, etc.?

I found the test to be very strange--like, the last 1.5 months of prep didn't help that much because the questions were mostly not knowledge based.

And, I personally found the AAMC 3 CBT verbal to be HARD! I was surprised I ended up with a 9 (65% correct, 26/40). This is definitely my weak area.

I have only taken AAMC 3 and 6 so far and as far as I can tell, the difficulty difference is not that big at all. I would argue that AAMC6 verbal was actually easier.

So that 31 is probably a respectable indicator of your current progress.

 

[tncekm]

I have only taken AAMC 3 and 6 so far and as far as I can tell, the difficulty difference is not that big at all. I would argue that AAMC6 verbal was actually easier.

So that 31 is probably a respectable indicator of your current progress.

Thanks for the input!

AAMC 3 verbal was really tough for me! The first passage I felt good on, but after that it was just down hill. I really had a hard time keeping focused and got pretty exhausted. (I'm hoping that's because I haven't done ANY verbal for over two weeks. Hopefully my scores will improve.)

 

[Rofeh20]

Just finished my diagnostic AAMC 3 CBT after 1.5 months of studying. PS: 12, VR: 9, BS: 10, one point from 11! Composite: 31.

I'm happy with its since its my first test, and the score would have been good enough to get me into medical school--that's all I want, no desire for bragging rights.

Anyway, everyone says AAMC 3 is much easier--how much? I mean, would a 31 AAMC 3 be equivalent to a 25, 28, etc.?

I found the test to be very strange--like, the last 1.5 months of prep didn't help that much because the questions were mostly not knowledge based.

And, I personally found the AAMC 3 CBT verbal to be HARD! I was surprised I ended up with a 9 (65% correct, 26/40). This is definitely my weak area.

Congratulations on a solid performance! I see that you've picked up on the fact the AAMC isn't testing your memorization skills. Still, the 10 in BS indicates that there's still room for growth in your understanding of the material. Place emphasis on eliminating careless mistakes to raise it up to the level of a 12.

The other good step is that your weak point isn't that weak. Verbal requires a lot of hard work, but increasing a couple of points in a month isn't uncommon. Don't be shy about repeating VR passages you've already done -- what you want to focus on is increasing your reading comprehension ability, and re-reading a passage can help improve those skills.

As to which exams to work with -- nothing compares to the AAMC practice exams. After all, they're the real deal! I am unfamiliar with the exams from other test prep companies, but if you would like to work on some Kaplan FLs, the first three are ok. IMO, there are some scaling issues with the Kaplan FLs, so I prefer to not use them as diagnostic tools; however, they tend to be more challenging than the AAMC exams so practicing with them could prepare you for an MCAT form that is very difficult.

Good Luck!

 

[tncekm]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

I'm definitely not going to slack off--I'm not the type of person who will ever be either comfortable or content with my performance, so rest assured I'll work my arse off to make sure I perform as well as I'm capable of.

 

[Chemist0157]

Did anyone else feel like AAMC 5 VR was especially hard? The grading reflects that opinion anyways. I missed 9 questions and still got a 10. When I took AAMC 4, I think I only missed 6 and got an 11.

Is this some kind of fluke, or are there curves built into these tests already?

 

[addy100]

hey everyone,
I just started studying, maybe about one quarter way. I took AAMC 3R and scored 23. Does anyone think this is good or bad, or am I doing something wrong.
Thanks a lot

 

[tncekm]

I think you're doing pretty well getting a 23 to start off, especially w/ only covering 1/4 of the material. I talked to a guy today who started w/ a 14 and ended w/ a 30, so I'm sure you're in a fine position.

 

[olygt]

I think you're doing pretty well getting a 23 to start off, especially w/ only covering 1/4 of the material. I talked to a guy today who started w/ a 14 and ended w/ a 30, so I'm sure you're in a fine position.

tncekm, what did the guy you you talked to do to improve his score? I'm was getting 15 on mine to begin with. It gives me some hope that I can improve my score.

 

[Vihsadas]

hey everyone,
I just started studying, maybe about one quarter way. I took AAMC 3R and scored 23. Does anyone think this is good or bad, or am I doing something wrong.
Thanks a lot

tncekm, what did the guy you you talked to do to improve his score? I'm was getting 15 on mine to begin with. It gives me some hope that I can improve my score.

You guys CAN improve your scores! Your diagnostic is not correlated to your real score at all. It's just that: a diagnostic. It's not indicative of how well you will do on the real thing. It's just indicative of how hard you'll have to work. Just really focus on your studying and do not get freaked out by your practice test scores. Keep on plugging away as many hours a day as your can using the tactics and tricks that are mentioned by those of us in the forums and stay the course. Stay determined stay hardworking and you'll get there.

 

[tncekm]

tncekm, what did the guy you you talked to do to improve his score? I'm was getting 15 on mine to begin with. It gives me some hope that I can improve my score.

The first thing he had working for him is that his verbal was pretty good to start with. Then, he just studies his hardest and took tons of practice tests. He said it was the strategy he gained from attackign the test itself that allowed him to go from a 14-> 30, not so much the knowledge from the studying. I think that portion is what makes the difference between a 30 and a 36 or so, if you know what I mean. Most of the information in the MCAT is given in the passages.

I have another friend whose diagnostic was 18 and he ended up with a 38--he did study for over a year though

 

[addy100]

thnx so much 4 ur advice. I was beginning to freak out. I just went over the test corrections again, and found that i could have done much better if I had read the questions and being more intuitive...i found dt d answers r usually in d passages. thnx a lot guys 4 ur help. u gimme so much hope

 

[bozz]

thnx so much 4 ur advice. I was beginning to freak out. I just went over the test corrections again, and found that i could have done much better if I had read the questions and being more intuitive...i found dt d answers r usually in d passages. thnx a lot guys 4 ur help. u gimme so much hope

u can def improve a lot

 

[Blablazo]

I have one of the old print practice MCAT's from AAMC, and the page that tells you how to convert your raw score into a scaled score is torn out and I'm wondering if any of you happen to have it. I'm taking practice test #1, and rather than have someone post the whole table from the book, I'm posting my raw scores in the hopes that someone can convert them for me

Physical - Raw 69/77
Verbal - 60/65
Bio - 66/77

Thanks in advance!

 

[smeagol]

If you register for an account at e-mcat.com (free), they provide you with conversion tables for all of their practice MCAT tests.

http://www.e-mcat.com/

Click on "How is the MCAT scored?"

 

[Blablazo]

Thanks for the reply, but they only have tests 3 and up... I have test #1 so I'm not sure how to score it. Thanks.

 

[smeagol]

Whoops sorry about that.

 

[tncekm]

Thanks for the reply, but they only have tests 3 and up... I have test #1 so I'm not sure how to score it. Thanks.

3 and up are offered because 1 and 2 aren't supposed to be representative of the real MCAT of today--the AAMC doesn't even offer them. You may just want to take the AAMC 3 CBT that is offered for free.

 

[marvolush]

i have this old chart someone gave me that says "MCAT Practice Test 9", which i assume will be the same for all. anyway, based on this table this is your score:

Physical - Raw 69/77 ---> 13
Verbal - 60/65 ---> 15 (based on 60 questions...)
Bio - 66/77 ---> 12

for some reason it shows the Verbal section as only having 60 questions, not 65. if you meant 55/60 it would be a 12 (still awesome)

Good job =)

Hope this helps

 

[Blablazo]

Wow thanks for the help. I thought I did well but not that well! I'm taking practice test #3 now so I'll let you know how that goes. Take care.

 

[Vihsadas]

Hey guys, remember that it's against the forum's policies to post content from AAMC tests. Recall the non-disclosure agreement that you entered when you started the exam.

Thanks.