2009 mcat real deal vs. Aamc practice

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Omni

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2009 MCAT TEST TAKERS

Since this thread contains data that's a year old, I'd like to see how things correlate b/w recent MCAT and the practice. This should help people taking the MCAT in 2010 or late in 2009.

Please vote if you've taken the practice AAMC exams AND the real MCAT in any 2009 test date.

(I feel like we should collect data of test takers who took the exams over 2-3 months to better represent the data/trends. For example, have one poll for 2009 Janruary- March, Apr-June, Aug-Sept. But I guess this is a good start)

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Other announcements/information goes here.

(Thanks to LastPolarBear for point it out)
Towards the end of November, I will have this thread closed and I will create graphs and what not w/ this info.

08/12/2009

We're nearing 100 votes on the poll, and I'd like to thank everyone who has voted. Your vote helps a lot.
For those of you who are scoring below where you want to be scoring, here's my quick talk if you are looking at this data and getting discouraged.
Please keep in mind that just because the practice AAMCs were an accurate indicator for 35% of this population, it by no means is a predictor of you. Please remember that there was no way to screen those who were completely done with content review vs. those who were doing content review along with taking the exam. Thus, those who were completely done with content review would expect their scores to have little differences from one exam to the next. As for those who were still doing content review should expect to see fluctuations of their scores, sometimes going up and sometimes going down. If you're part of the latter, then don't feel disappointed just because your first 3-5 exams were bad.
for example, people can have the following trend:
1-29
2-24
3-26
4-28
5-29
6-32
7-33
8-32

Average: 29, however, fromt he looks of it, the person reach an upward trend towards the end. This person could have gotten anywhere between a 30-36



Keep your head up and just continue practicing. Don't give the MCAT more credit than it deserves in hurting you.

Also, regardless of how these statistics turn out, remember that you are representative of yourself, not how and what others have done on their MCAT. Look at it like this: if a surgeon has a track record of 9/10 successful surgeries, it just means that he's successful most of the time. Now look at the statistics of each individual. 9 people were happy, but what about the 10th? The 10th person didn't represent a 9/10 survivability, he was just dead. Statistics don't represent how you will do individually. If you're average is a 27 on the AAMC exams, who knows? You might pull a 30+. It all depends on you. Just look at these statistics as a level of accuracy on how the AAMC is, but take them with a grain of salt. From waht I see, it's not that great of a predictor, since only 35% scored near their average.


 
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i think the idea of MCAT average is too murky . . . my real score was much higher than my 'average' but that's because i was doing content review the entire time i was doing practices, so my score improved over time. my real score was the same as the score I got on the last practice exam I took . . . so although it was higher than my average, it was exactly in line with my most recent practice exam.
 
find a way to announce this in pre-allo.. no one checks here unless they recently took the mcat and they are waiting for their scores or they are prepping (or planning/thinking about it). you'd be missing most of the '09 mcat takers otherwise.
 
i think the idea of MCAT average is too murky . . . my real score was much higher than my 'average' but that's because i was doing content review the entire time i was doing practices, so my score improved over time. my real score was the same as the score I got on the last practice exam I took . . . so although it was higher than my average, it was exactly in line with my most recent practice exam.
I did realize this when I made this thread. When I publish my results and analysis, I will mention this. That this was not isolated by just people who were only doing practice review and no content review during the practice test taking. Naturally, people would be going back and reviewing what they missed so along the process, scores should be gradually rising. This is what I assume 95%+ people are doing who are scoring above their average.


find a way to announce this in pre-allo.. no one checks here unless they recently took the mcat and they are waiting for their scores or they are prepping (or planning/thinking about it). you'd be missing most of the '09 mcat takers otherwise.

Yeah I know. That's why I put this on my sig. I try to post at least once a day or so in the pre-allo thread.
 
And for some reason, the sig didn't come up in the last post. I do have that "display sig" option enabled.
 
AAMC average through 5 FL exams was a 34 and I got a 35R on the 7/2 MCAT. however, after the test, I was absolutely positive I would need to retake because I felt like I didn't break 30. When I got my score back and it was above my AAMC average I was absolutely floored.
 
Other announcements/information goes here.

Towards the end of Sept., I will have this thread closed and I will create graphs and what not w/ this info.

You should close it around october so that september takers will have a chance to get scores back and vote.
 
AAMC average through 5 FL exams was a 34 and I got a 35R on the 7/2 MCAT. however, after the test, I was absolutely positive I would need to retake because I felt like I didn't break 30. When I got my score back and it was above my AAMC average I was absolutely floored.
lol. I need to have a story like that. Hopefull I will for 09/4

You should close it around october so that september takers will have a chance to get scores back and vote.
Thanks. I noted it.
 
AAMC average through 5 FL exams was a 34 and I got a 35R on the 7/2 MCAT. however, after the test, I was absolutely positive I would need to retake because I felt like I didn't break 30. When I got my score back and it was above my AAMC average I was absolutely floored.


I pray to God this is what is going to happen to my score, but I doubt it. I'm thinking it's going to much much lower than my average. I'll know by next Tuesday though...
 
My AAMC average was 31 (5 tests) and I got a 33 on the real deal. I thought I did horribly after my test and thought I would have to retake too. All I have to say is THANK GOD I am done with that horrid test. Good luck to all!
 
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I jsut took my first AAMC practice exam and scored a 29. I hope that I can increase my score by Sept. 4th.
 
AAMC average ~28. got a 33 on may 22nd. I thought it was easier probably due to the increased focus on the real thing.
 
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Nice, that is exactly how I feel right now! I missed like 2 questions for sure, and am convinced those two questions are gonna make me get below my threshold! Good to know...

Hey do you remember if you knew like I do, that I missed one or two problems and maybe that caused the anxiety? Or was it just the overall gut feeling that the test was hard and you guessed on a few questions? Because, I totally went online and verified that I missed a problem or two, and now am totally stressing... as usual! Haha!

:)
Rockytop00- I'm TOTALLY with you on this! There are one or two I know I missed and they have made me stress like crazy. I was doing SO well on my practice tests (avg. 37, with a 40 on the last one), but I'm telling you, coming out of the exam I felt like I was probably nowhere near this. My PS, which is usually my best (avg. 13-14), felt like I would be lucky to get a 10 or 11. I hope it is me being ridiculous and everything turns out OK.

Damn these AAMC people and their month of waiting for scores!
 
regardless of it being 2 points lower, it's still a beautiful number.
 
AAMC min- 28
AAMC max- 33
AAMC Avg- 30.5
Real Deal- 26

Feelings... I got a 12 on the PS portion on AAMC test 10 which is said to be the most representative. (AVG PS was about an 11). I couldn't believe how much harder the actual PS questions were. I knew the material, I just didn't under stand the relations to the passages. Got an 8 on the real deal.

Verbal... Didn't feel horrible but didn't feel great. Got an 8... AVG VR was about a 9.

BS was absolutely dreadful but did about what I expected. I killed a few physiology passages but was stuck on 2 micro bio/laboratory questions involving complex viruses and stuff.

All n all the examkracker system was the best study material for me.. Did kaplan the year before and never scored higher than a 28 on a practice test.
Felt like the test short changed me so I am retaking it with about 1.5 months of studying.

Doing the examkracker review again, bought the 1001 passages and like them so far (tons of material), and downloaded audio osmosis (examkracker 12 cds) from some website. It's not very complex and not funny but it does explain many hard to understand qualitative things.

Taking it sept 12th so if anybody reads this, wish me luck
 
AAMC min- 28
AAMC max- 33
AAMC Avg- 30.5
Real Deal- 26

Feelings... I got a 12 on the PS portion on AAMC test 10 which is said to be the most representative. (AVG PS was about an 11). I couldn't believe how much harder the actual PS questions were. I knew the material, I just didn't under stand the relations to the passages. Got an 8 on the real deal.

Verbal... Didn't feel horrible but didn't feel great. Got an 8... AVG VR was about a 9.

BS was absolutely dreadful but did about what I expected. I killed a few physiology passages but was stuck on 2 micro bio/laboratory questions involving complex viruses and stuff.

All n all the examkracker system was the best study material for me.. Did kaplan the year before and never scored higher than a 28 on a practice test.
Felt like the test short changed me so I am retaking it with about 1.5 months of studying.

Doing the examkracker review again, bought the 1001 passages and like them so far (tons of material), and downloaded audio osmosis (examkracker 12 cds) from some website. It's not very complex and not funny but it does explain many hard to understand qualitative things.

Taking it sept 12th so if anybody reads this, wish me luck
Good Luck!!!
 
Scores:

AAMC 3 13 9 13 35
AAMC 4 13 11 13 37
AAMC 5 13 10 12 35
AAMC 6 15 12 13 40
AAMC 7 13 10 12 35
AAMC 8 13 10 13 36
AAMC 9 15 9 13 37
AAMC 10 14 11 11 36

Min: 35
Max: 40
Mean: 36
Median: 36
Mode: 35

Real Deal 13 10 13 36

June 18th, 2 PM


Feelings: Hoping to do better on Physical Science, but glad I didn't get a 9 on Verbal
 
just wanted to bump this up a bit so the people who got their scores today can post them up! i still have another few weeks of waiting, so it helps me to see how other people did versus their AAMC practice tests ;)
 
First time posting on this forum - I found this site quite useful while studying for the MCAT so I thought I would start sharing my experience.

I took the MCAT for the first time on 7/17. I scored four points higher than my mean of 33. Not sure how to explain this. Perhaps, it was due to the curve?

I took 7 out of the 8 available AAMC exams (all except for Test 6).

AAMC Verbal (9-11)
AAMC Physical Sciences (9-14)
AAMC Biological Sciences (10-13)

I did not take the tests in order. My last exam was EXAM 5 and scored on the lower end of each category -- (three days before the exam). My score fluctuated with a mean of 33. I had already finished most of the content review by my first exam, so the tests should have reflected my general knowledge.

On my 7/17 Exam, I scored:
Verbal 10
PS 14
BS 13
Writing S

Considering that I did not really sleep the night before the exam due to anxiety, I am quite surprised by my score. During the exam, I had about 15-20 minutes in PS and BS to look over answers -- that helped a lot. However, I definitely fell unsure of my performance after the test -- and thought I may not have passed 30.

I agree with previous members: -- DO ALL OF THE PRACTICE EXAMS. and DON'T FREAK OUT AFTER YOUR EXAM, because your SCORE MAY SHOCK YOU (very pleasantly!) Expect a score around your AAMC average.
 
Just out of curiosity, out of all the AAMCs to skip, why'd you skip 6?
 
No particular reason! I took the latter exams first to find out my weaknesses. I just happened to not do 6. That is all :)
 
this poll shows the "normal distribution curve" aka "BELL CURVE."

This is pretty cool, considering I studied how these sort of curves are established in a general population. And what do you know? The general population really DOES follow the bell curve distribution!!

Statistics did teach me something worth knowing after all...
 
Hello All, i am writing the MCAT on Sept 3rd (i know really late), but i had alot of family and financial issues (but thats beyond the point). The question that I have is, if i retake the AAMC Practice test would they be a good indicator, i took the practice test ~1.5months ago. I also have about 2 more Kaplan practice test that i can take, but i want to save those for the weekend. Any advice would be great.
 
Hello All, i am writing the MCAT on Sept 3rd (i know really late), but i had alot of family and financial issues (but thats beyond the point). The question that I have is, if i retake the AAMC Practice test would they be a good indicator, i took the practice test ~1.5months ago. I also have about 2 more Kaplan practice test that i can take, but i want to save those for the weekend. Any advice would be great.



probably not. i tended to recall/be familiar with passages that i took over a year ago.
 
Okay folks,

Just wondering if anyone else had weird experience with this. I took AAMC 10 two days ago and got a 34 (~90%) and took AAMC 6 today and got a 39 (~91%). Basically, I answered two (yes, just TWO!) more questions right, and my score increased by five points. How is this possible?! Did anyone else think that 10 was especially strigent on the test score and that 6 was a little too lenient?

Just wondering! :) Thx.
 
Okay folks,

Just wondering if anyone else had weird experience with this. I took AAMC 10 two days ago and got a 34 (~90%) and took AAMC 6 today and got a 39 (~91%). Basically, I answered two (yes, just TWO!) more questions right, and my score increased by five points. How is this possible?! Did anyone else think that 10 was especially strigent on the test score and that 6 was a little too lenient?

Just wondering! :) Thx.

first of all, congrats on that fantastic aamc 6 score. second, yeah aamc 10 did seem to have a harsh scale. I wouldn't worry too much about it, it looks like you're in good shape. when's your exam?
 
AAMC average ~28. got a 33 on may 22nd. I thought it was easier probably due to the increased focus on the real thing.
I think our good ole friend Tiger Woods would agree with you.... I dunno some people, like yourself, have the ability to leverage the pressure to their advantage and achieve peak performance thus "seeing" everything much more clearly...I'm praying i can also do what you seemed to do!! Congrats!!:thumbup:
 

This is incredibly mean to the 7/30 (like me) and the 7/31 people. We're all on edge constantly refreshing hoping for scores, and then we get to see this thread and wonder even more what our scores are going to be (better/same/worse than expected). Ugh...
 
first of all, congrats on that fantastic aamc 6 score. second, yeah aamc 10 did seem to have a harsh scale. I wouldn't worry too much about it, it looks like you're in good shape. when's your exam?

This Friday!!!! I am definitely beat from taking AAMC practice tests every other day this past week and half...last stretch!!!!
 
This is incredibly mean to the 7/30 (like me) and the 7/31 people. We're all on edge constantly refreshing hoping for scores, and then we get to see this thread and wonder even more what our scores are going to be (better/same/worse than expected). Ugh...
Get lost from here!! Enjoy the time between MCAT and scores! Whats done is done and wondering isn't going to do anything.
Just hope for the best :) now. That's all you can do. Hopefully you and everyone else who worked for it did well!
 
Are the practice test curves the same for the real MCAT? Or are they more generous in reality? I heard many people guess a lot and still do pretty well.
 
Are the practice test curves the same for the real MCAT? Or are they more generous in reality? I heard many people guess a lot and still do pretty well.

Thats a great question----I did guess alot on the real MCAT because the passages were more difficult to follow versus the AAMC practice tests. I hope the curve is generous. From what I have read everyone thinks they got a smack in the face from our september MCAT.....
 
well, i never ever in my wildest dreams imagined that i would be on the worst possible part of the bell curve, but there you have it.

AAMC average: 37 (range 35-40 on AAMC 3-10)
PS: 13 VR: 12 BS: 12

Actual MCAT: 32 (WTF?)
PS: 12 VR: 9 BS: 11

I want to shoot myself in the face. I was planning on applying to MD/PhD, but now that dream is over, my advisor suggests I "re-evaluate" my objectives.

Not sure what happened- I felt extremely prepared going into the exam. I felt horrible about the PS after the exam, but fairly confident that I did well on VR and BS. What a joke. FML.
 
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