Best advice I can give as a 1/23 taker:
Honestly, anyone who is about to take the MCAT,
STOP READING/checking THIS SITE. Use an app to help you block SDN until after your test dude. I made the mistake of being curious and checking this forum right before my 1/23 date and read some really anxiety-inducing posts the night before (e.g., "I got a 523 on the scored FL and the real one was like it was written in a different language!!"). Trust me, it does NOT help.
Buuuuuuuut I know you're going to keep reading anyway, so here's my two cents, etc.
Background: I took all 11 Kaplan full lengths, AAMC Official Guide, and both AAMC full lengths. I did a lot of the Kaplan PBQs, some (maybe three) Q-bank quizzes, and some of the Khan Academy ones. I glanced through, but did not answer, the Behavioral Sciences Question Pack released by AAMC because I wanted just to see if Kaplan's questions were similar or not. I found that there is a high degree of similarity between AAMC and Kaplan psych/sociology.
Relative difficulty of Kaplan vs. AAMC FLs vs. real thing:
- AAMC sample FL and the scored FL are the easiest out of all the FLs I’ve taken by far (including the actual test). I took them last, the unscored FL on Tuesday, the scored FL on Thursday, and my test was on Saturday.
- Kaplan tests are very convoluted (way more so than AAMC tests in my opinion), but they train your mind to be able to do all those logical somersaults (which of these is LEAST likely to NOT support the CRITICS of the author's main argument AGAINST xyz...) etc. so that the AAMC ones seem like a breeze.
General advice:
- the MCAT is a critical thinking test! It tests
your stamina, your ability to
prioritize (aka skip what you don't know), your ability to
reason, to
distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information,
your ability to be PRECISE and not make careless mistakes (I increased my scores by 10% once I started recognizing common pitfalls and types of questions that I most often make careless mistakes on), and FINALLY, after all that, it tests your content knowledge. Seriously. Of course everything on the official released outline is fair game, but being an excellent critical thinker, training physically for the length of and cognitive acuity needed for the test, and maintaining emotional balance throughout the whole ordeal will carry you very far.
- BE AWARE I’ve heard of premed gunners purposefully saying scary things about the MCAT in order to psych out other takers in hopes of bringing up their own score. Not saying anyone on this site is doing so, but like we learned in the group psychology blah blah, stop feeding on each other’s negativity! It doesn’t do anyone any good.
- Finally, my general impression of the test was that it was
very fair. No huge surprises considering the AAMC has already told you what topics are going to be on there. And yes, it’s difficult! In my opinion, the level of critical thinking necessary for the actual test = what I encountered in Kaplan tests, with more fairly and clearly stated question stems (e.g., if you had to take 4 logical steps to deduce a Kaplan answer, usually AAMC tests only require 1 or 2). That being said, this isn’t the SAT for high-schoolers! Of course this test will be extremely challenging. This is the ONE test that med schools rely on to be able to help them decide a bottom cut-off and I think the questions I saw served their purpose well. (I think of it like a marathon--is it hard? YES. Can most people run 26 miles in under 6 hours, or even at all? NO. But is it this alien impossible hurdle that no one can accomplish? Absolutely not! If you trained right, and if you trained smart, you WILL get the results you wanted--with VERY few exceptions.)
- How I stayed calm throughout the whole testing ordeal:
1) Prepared everything the night before in advance. My lunch, my water, my clothes, checked to make sure I had gas, etc. I even visited the site the day before to make sure I knew how to get there. NOTE: This is unusual for me. I'm the person who barely makes it through the gate at the airport before the plane takes off, but this is something I did, not out of nerves, but because I know this is something I care about.
2) Slept a full 8 hours. I am a crazy night owl. The week preceding my exam I followed a sleep regimen religiously, never took naps during the day, and woke up at 6 AM.
3) TURNED OFF SOCIAL MEDIA. My phone was on airplane mode for pretty much 90% of the two weeks leading up to my exam. I uninstalled all social media apps from my phone and I used "StayFocused" for "Chrome to block Facebook, etc. on my laptop.
4) Breathing techniques I learned in yoga
I actively exhale and passively inhale (opposite of negative pressure breathing) to help me focus.
5) STAYED AWAY FROM ALL THE OTHER PREMEDS at the testing center. People were complaining, freaking out, etc. etc. etc. while we were waiting outside the test center (which was late in opening its doors) and I stayed the eff away from all that ish. If talking to others helps you calm down, go for it--but honestly it seems more likely that you'll encounter negativity rather than any constructive conversation.
I know I'll get questions on this so here's
my stats:
Kaplan Diagnostic: 508 (127 all)
Kaplan FL scores: 509, 509, 514, 511, 517, 515, 517, 514, 516, 515, 515 (average percentages: 78% / 87% / 87% /78%)
AAMC FL unscored: 93% 94% 98% 85%
AAMC FL scored: 524 (131/131/132/130)
In case you were wondering, I graduated biology/neuroscience in 2013, did something completely unrelated to science for the past two years, and now work in research. I have not taken physics/math since 2012 and I have never taken any psych/sociology courses. I "started studying" for the MCAT in October but I work ~60-80 hours a week and only had time to study in earnest for the two weeks leading up to my exam.
Best of luck to all future MCAT takers and please be good to yourself and devote your time to doing something other than freaking out! <3
