to people who have recently taken the mcat

[echoyjeff222]

How similar are the real passages (in difficulty) in comparison to TBR passages, AAMC practice passages, and Kaplan sectional/topical tests?

Thanks!

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[DocKingh]

TBR passages = much harder than most MCAT passages, but Physics/Chem/Ochem are good practice (Bio is ridiculously hard!)
AAMC passages = mostly equal in difficulty
Kaplan passages = good for practice, but not very comparable to the real thing..... just use them for practice and save AAMCs for last

Basically, the closest thing you are going to get to the real thing are the AAMC tests. Some say that 9, 10, 11 are more like the current test than any of the others, but I think they were all pretty similar in difficulty.

Also, use TPRH SW for Biology passages and TPRH VW for Verbal passages. Good Luck!

 

[mehc012]

In my opinion:
TBR - harder than MCAT, great practice, I wholeheartedly advocate all 4 sciences.
TPRH - not really harder or easier, but just...different.
AAMC - the same. Exactly the same.

I would add, nothing is remotely close to MCAT verbal except AAMC FLs and SA. Use the SA for practice prior to beginning your FLs. You can do the other materials if you'd like, but imo they were mostly irrelevant.

 

[echoyjeff222]

TBR passages = much harder than most MCAT passages, but Physics/Chem/Ochem are good practice (Bio is ridiculously hard!)
AAMC passages = mostly equal in difficulty
Kaplan passages = good for practice, but not very comparable to the real thing..... just use them for practice and save AAMCs for last

Basically, the closest thing you are going to get to the real thing are the AAMC tests. Some say that 9, 10, 11 are more like the current test than any of the others, but I think they were all pretty similar in difficulty.

Also, use TPRH SW for Biology passages and TPRH VW for Verbal passages. Good Luck!

Re the kaplan -- why are they not comparable? Are they harder than the real thing?

 

[DocKingh]

Re the kaplan -- why are they not comparable? Are they harder than the real thing?

The sectional/topical tests were good for practicing content. They were usually harder than the real thing. They are meant to reinforce concepts, not give you a feel of how the real test will be (only AAMC comes close to that). The Kaplan FLs are pretty good, but the scales are inflated a lot.