Why can I not get my AAMC FL score up?

[BobaBoba]

I have been studying for the past couple months. Started off using the SN2ed plan but it was a bit too complex for me. I have really been studying hard this past 1.5 months using different materials (mainly TPR, TPRHyperlearning workbooks, and Chad's video's for one final content review). I have been doing pretty decent on the hyper learning workbooks (scoring average ≈ 75-85%), but seem to make a ton of dumb mistakes on the AAMC FL's. I usually doing fine on PS and VR, just lots of mistakes in BS. Any good advice to stop making these dumb mistakes in a stressful environment during the tests? Thanks!

PS: I have only taken AAMC #3 & 4 so far.

MCAT is set for January 10th and I do not want to have to take the new MCAT.

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[TexasSurgeon]

What exactly are you scoring? It's not really helpful to have a thread like this and not post your score...

 

[BobaBoba]

What exactly are you scoring? It's not really helpful to have a thread like this and not post your score...

AAMC #3 - 8/7/7 - 22
AAMC #4 - 9/10/6 - 25

Shooting for a 27+

 

[somedudehere]

I took my first AAMC FL (#3) on November 16 and scored a 24 then 2 days laters #4 and scored a 22 =0. Taking the mcat on Dec. 6. What kinds of questions are you getting wrong? I noticed I kept doing little calculation errors (for example 1000/10 = 10 instead of 100) but most of my errors were not based on lack of content knowledge. Other things like misreading the passage and forming incorrect relationships from given passage information, for instance if A goes up B goes up/down would also hurt my score. I found my score to be pretty easy to raise after fixing those errors. On the other hand if you just don't know or understand the topic (lack of background content knowledge) this would be harder to fix and you'd essentially have to keep doing content review until you mastered the concepts. Hope that helps. Just took AAMC 10 and scored a 30. 8 point increase in 2 weeks by fixing simple mistakes.

 

[BobaBoba]

I took my first AAMC FL (#3) on November 16 and scored a 24 then 2 days laters #4 and scored a 22 =0. Taking the mcat on Dec. 6. What kinds of questions are you getting wrong? I noticed I kept doing little calculation errors (for example 1000/10 = 10 instead of 100) but most of my errors were not based on lack of content knowledge. Other things like misreading the passage and forming incorrect relationships from given passage information, for instance if A goes up B goes up/down would also hurt my score. I found my score to be pretty easy to raise after fixing those errors. On the other hand if you just don't know or understand the topic (lack of background content knowledge) this would be harder to fix and you'd essentially have to keep doing content review until you mastered the concepts. Hope that helps. Just took AAMC 10 and scored a 30. 8 point increase in 2 weeks by fixing simple mistakes.

Definitely misreading is killing me on a couple questions which really adds up at the end. I seem to forget about the word EXCEPT in the questions. End up putting the exact opposite answer to the correct one if that makes sense.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I don't know what you're talking about man, you've improved 3 points so far. It seems like you have a content issue more and that you're lacking content in certain areas. So I would focus on those areas after you go through your general content review.

 

[BobaBoba]

I don't know what you're talking about man, you've improved 3 points so far. It seems like you have a content issue more and that you're lacking content in certain areas. So I would focus on those areas after you go through your general content review.

I agree that the BS portion is definitely due to lack of content knowledge. That is why I am shooting for a mid-20's score.

 

[somedudehere]

I agree that the BS portion is definitely due to lack of content knowledge. That is why I am shooting for a mid-20's score.

No. You are shooting for 35+. If you set the bar so low you have nowhere to go from there. Keep your head up.

 

[BobaBoba]

No. You are shooting for 35+. If you set the bar so low you have nowhere to go from there. Keep your head up.

45 it is.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I agree that the BS portion is definitely due to lack of content knowledge. That is why I am shooting for a mid-20's score.

Yeah just keep working at it. You've only taken 2 tests man so it's hard for anyone to gauge anything

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

I tend to agree - your progress is great. Most people start off slow with the earlier tests because you have to get use to AAMC's style and the whole 5-hour test taking experience. If you've been studying hard, scoring those percentages in the TPR SW, and keep critically reviewing your tests then you're definitely in the driver's seat to get that 27+.

 

[BobaBoba]

I took AAMC 5 today (10 PS, 10 VR, 6 BS). I am feeling really confident in PS and VR, but not in BS which really shows in my score. I got most of the organic questions correct but really struggled on the biology portion. I have heard that the BS portion on the real MCAT is more experimental rather than strictly knowing the content. That is why people say AAMC 10 & 11 is more indicative of the real thing. Is this really true? Will doing better on VR help me with BS on the real thing? 22 days till MCAT and counting.

 

[Doug Underhill]

It is experimental, but there's still a ton of memorization. 10 and 11 are like the real thing.

 

[BobaBoba]

Thanks for the reply. I know the basics for Biology. I just hope I'll know enough to make it through the MCAT with a decent score.

 

[SN2ed]

Any good advice to stop making these dumb mistakes in a stressful environment during the tests?

The first step is realizing that they aren't just "dumb mistakes." You're getting these questions wrong for a reason. The hard part naturally is figuring out why you're getting these questions wrong. Regardless, keep up the hard work!


1. Why did you get the question wrong? Why did you get the question right?
2. What question and passage types get you?
3. How is your mindset when facing a particular passage?
4. Are you stressed for time?
5. Where are your mistakes happening the most? Are they front loaded? Are they at the end? All over?
6. What was your thought process for both the questions you got right and the ones you got wrong?
7. For verbal, what was the author's mindset and main idea?
8. Did you eliminate all of the answer choices you could from first glance?
ex. You know an answer should be a positive number so you cross out all of the negative number answer choices.
9. What content areas are you weak in?
10. Why are the wrong answers wrong and the right answer right?
11. How can you improve to avoid the wrong answer?

 

[BobaBoba]

Just took Gold Standard CBT #1 for extra practice. I am trying to use around 5 of the GS FL's and ALL of the AAMC's. I just took it and got 9/10/9. I was so surprised with my BS score. The whole test seemed way easier than AAMC 3-5. I think I was more relaxed because it was free and I didn't have anything to lose. Some people on here say that the GS FL's are tougher than the AAMC's but I just wanted to see what anybody had to say that has taken GS tests before. It really was a boost to my confidence! I hope its not too short lived. I was even surprised by my PS score since I was expecting it to be much harder.

PS: I would be siked for 9's across the board on the real thing.

 

[House D.O.]

I just took GS 1 and got 10/7/11 I thought the PS to be a bit more..knit picky questions but I thought it but kinda easier concepts wise (aamc avg 9) Verbal I thought I did horrendous on, like I didn't get 5 of the passages main idea but ended up with a 7. (Average of my aamcs verbal) bio I thought was toughhh especially If your not strong at the few topics they tested ended up doing good on it tho (aamv avg 9)

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I just took GS 1 and got 10/7/11 I thought the PS to be a bit more..knit picky questions but I thought it but kinda easier concepts wise (aamc avg 9) Verbal I thought I did horrendous on, like I didn't get 5 of the passages main idea but ended up with a 7. (Average of my aamcs verbal) bio I thought was toughhh especially If your not strong at the few topics they tested ended up doing good on it tho (aamv avg 9)

Don't rely on GS verbal. If you're taking the old mcat, you have about a month or less. Focus on AAMC

Keep drilling yourself, WHAT IS THE AUTHOR SAYING? WHATS THE MAIN POINT HERE? WHY IS HE SAYING THAT?

 

[House D.O.]

Don't rely on GS verbal. If you're taking the old mcat, you have about a month or less. Focus on AAMC

Keep drilling yourself, WHAT IS THE AUTHOR SAYING? WHATS THE MAIN POINT HERE? WHY IS HE SAYING THAT?

Yeah I heard they can be unrepresentative, I only have 3 aamcs left so I'm saving those for the end. Do u know if TPR fl's are good for verbal practice?

 

[BobaBoba]

Yeah I am doing GS for PS/BS only. I still have AAMC 7-11 left to use in the next few weeks.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Yeah I heard they can be unrepresentative, I only have 3 aamcs left so I'm saving those for the end. Do u know if TPR fl's are good for verbal practice?

Honestly, I would just take the AAMC exams as early as possible if you're done with content. No point in waiting till the end. Just keep reviewing. If you take your last AAMC and get like a 30, you can only go up by test day (tell yourself that)

Is your AAMC average within your target range?

Tpr fl's are just hard and the verbal is no different. I only took one so far and no it wasn't representative imo

 

[House D.O.]

Honestly, I would just take the AAMC exams as early as possible if you're done with content. No point in waiting till the end. Just keep reviewing. If you take your last AAMC and get like a 30, you can only go up by test day (tell yourself that)

Is your AAMC average within your target range?

Tpr fl's are just hard and the verbal is no different. I only took one so far and no it wasn't representative imo

Nah, im about 1 point in each section away to achieve my goal. (maybe 2 for verbal) and I still have a solid month left so Im going to squeeze in 1 or 2 more fl on top of 3 aamc i have left.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Nah, im about 1 point in each section away to achieve my goal. (maybe 2 for verbal) and I still have a solid month left so Im going to squeeze in 1 or 2 more fl on top of 3 aamc i have left.

Just do em all, you wanna get used to the AAMC style.

I have a friend who took the all the AAMCs two times to get familiar with MCAT

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Nah, im about 1 point in each section away to achieve my goal. (maybe 2 for verbal) and I still have a solid month left so Im going to squeeze in 1 or 2 more fl on top of 3 aamc i have left.

That friend got a 38 lol

 

[GCSDOC]

Just do em all, you wanna get used to the AAMC style.

I have a friend who took the all the AAMCs two times to get familiar with MCAT

I have been doing this! Basically I take a FL, let it sit for a while without reviewing, then retake the FL as mini section tests and then postgame every question of the first attempt and postgame every wrong question of the mini section tests.