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As you may have read in my other posts, I think diagnostic tests are completely worthless. Since I've seen numerous threads pop up on the subject (ex. My diagnostic is horrible, can I do well on the real thing?), I thought I'd give my reasons as to why I feel this way. To start, I will define what I consider a diagnostic test. When I talk about diagnostic tests, I am referring to a test that is taken prior to any major studying. Now that the term is out of the way, time to go into the reasons.
For the purpose of this analysis I will not mention any specific companies. However, I will say that people should not put much credence into them. These tests are typically designed for the taker to score low so the company can accomplish two things. First, an abnormally hard diagnostic helps a company fulfill their point guarantee. I know that even after I finished studying, I would still not score well if I took the diagnostic. Secondly, it demeans a student into believing they must take this course and/or study hard. While its true that the scare factor can help motivate people to study, I dont think its necessary. If your drive to become a doctor isnt enough to get you to buckle down, theres a problem. Worse still, the diagnostic given may be in a completely different format from the actual MCAT.
Even if the diagnostic is an actual AAMC full length, it does not give the taker an accurate assessment of their weaknesses. This statement sounds surprising because this is supposed to be the goal of a diagnostic, but bear with me on this point. To describe my reason for this I'll give an example. Let's say you're really good at physics, but you haven't taken a course in awhile. At the same time you're bad at biology, but you just finished a course. On the practice test your biology score would probably be higher because it's fresh in your mind. That said, once you start studying, your physics skills will have the rust taken off of them and you'll start seeing huge gains. Unfortunately, since your practice test said your physics was weak, you've been focusing on that instead of biology, your real weakness. Thus, rather than detailing a students weaknesses, a diagnostic tells you what courses youve just taken.
Now you may say, I know my weaknesses already. That example wont happen to me because I would already know physics is my strength and biology my weakness If this is truly the case, why take the diagnostic?
All that a diagnostic tells you is that you are not ready to take the test. Well, is that honestly a surprise? It's not like you have been studying for months before you took this test. The diagnostic tells you what you already know, you have to actually study for the MCAT. Take a practice test after you've gotten through at least half of the content, then you'll be able to gain a better understanding of your weaknesses. In the meantime, pound away at those TIMED practice problems and use them to help gauge your strengths and weakness. Just stay away from most of your full lengths until you've finished your content review.
For the purpose of this analysis I will not mention any specific companies. However, I will say that people should not put much credence into them. These tests are typically designed for the taker to score low so the company can accomplish two things. First, an abnormally hard diagnostic helps a company fulfill their point guarantee. I know that even after I finished studying, I would still not score well if I took the diagnostic. Secondly, it demeans a student into believing they must take this course and/or study hard. While its true that the scare factor can help motivate people to study, I dont think its necessary. If your drive to become a doctor isnt enough to get you to buckle down, theres a problem. Worse still, the diagnostic given may be in a completely different format from the actual MCAT.
Even if the diagnostic is an actual AAMC full length, it does not give the taker an accurate assessment of their weaknesses. This statement sounds surprising because this is supposed to be the goal of a diagnostic, but bear with me on this point. To describe my reason for this I'll give an example. Let's say you're really good at physics, but you haven't taken a course in awhile. At the same time you're bad at biology, but you just finished a course. On the practice test your biology score would probably be higher because it's fresh in your mind. That said, once you start studying, your physics skills will have the rust taken off of them and you'll start seeing huge gains. Unfortunately, since your practice test said your physics was weak, you've been focusing on that instead of biology, your real weakness. Thus, rather than detailing a students weaknesses, a diagnostic tells you what courses youve just taken.
Now you may say, I know my weaknesses already. That example wont happen to me because I would already know physics is my strength and biology my weakness If this is truly the case, why take the diagnostic?
All that a diagnostic tells you is that you are not ready to take the test. Well, is that honestly a surprise? It's not like you have been studying for months before you took this test. The diagnostic tells you what you already know, you have to actually study for the MCAT. Take a practice test after you've gotten through at least half of the content, then you'll be able to gain a better understanding of your weaknesses. In the meantime, pound away at those TIMED practice problems and use them to help gauge your strengths and weakness. Just stay away from most of your full lengths until you've finished your content review.
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