8+ hours a day/minimal gains. Postpone MCAT?

[LuminousTruth]

My original test date was August 17 but I may consider postponing to January to apply next cycle. I have taken the Princeton Review MCAT class.

AAMC 3: 23 (9PS 6VR 8BS), after content review. I have scored 25 (8PS 7 VR 10BS) on TPR 5. I went from 13 to 25 from my 5 TPR exams (improving every single time) so the 23 was a shock.

MCAT Assessment
Biology: 74%
Organic Chemistry: 74%
Chemistry: 78%
Physics: 68%

I have been studying 5.5 hours + 2.5 hours (class) = 8 hours a day since May 15. It's frustrating since I thought if I go all out these 3 months I could get it over with by the end of summer but I feel like my summer has been wasted from the minimal gains despite all the effort I put in.

1) How should I consider these percentages? I heard that 75%+ means ~10 but that was with other practice material.
2) I have stopped taking the AAMCs. I still have AAMC 4-11. Should I take AAMC 4 to see whether or not I should still take Aug 17?
3) Should I try the MCAT verbal assessment passages now or save until Jan?
4) If I postpone, how should I tailor my studying this semester? Should I start from scratch and go through SN2ed's 4 month schedule?

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[LuminousTruth]

By the way, if anyone has taken the TPR course and went for the guarantee (retaking the course and sit in on specific lectures), could you comment here?

They want the students to take AAMC 10 and 11 as part of the required exams for the course but I don't want to waste that if I am planning on retaking. Has anyone retaking the course without taking the exams or pay the $200 fees?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I dont have advice on which way you should go but if you decide to wait until jan, you can use the TBR exams too. Good luck.

 

[nabilesmail]

If your scoring 30ish on other aam'c take 10 and 11, do not save them.

 

[PanRoasted]

I don't understand what you mean by "minimal gains," when clearly a 13-25 improvement is not that minimal (and you seem to indicate that you are happy with the progress as well...).

At this point, you need self-evaluate what your strengths and weaknesses are as far as content goes, and then do the same for your test-taking strategy. SN2ed's plan, while good, assumes that you remember close to nothing and drills a lot of content for no valid reason if you've already reviewed. If you have not done the MCAT diagnostic self-assessment, I'd suggest doing it and planning your study around the results you get from that, for starters.

The percentages accurately portray what your actual score on an official MCAT would be (...the results are from AAMC after all...)

Also if you are thinking of applying this cycle with an August 17 MCAT date, you may have bigger problems than getting a 23~ (which is no small problem in itself). I would postpone to January anyway, if I were you.

 

[LuminousTruth]

I dont have advice on which way you should go but if you decide to wait until jan, you can use the TBR exams too. Good luck.

I am considering using TBR exams as well.

If your scoring 30ish on other aam'c take 10 and 11, do not save them.

The only AAMC I have taken was #3. I did not take anymore since my assessment scores were not as high as I had hoped. I was asking whether or not I should still go ahead and take another AAMC despite my poorer assessment scores to see if I improve or just abandon that thought and save it all for Jan.

I don't understand what you mean by "minimal gains," when clearly a 13-25 improvement is not that minimal (and you seem to indicate that you are happy with the progress as well...).

At this point, you need self-evaluate what your strengths and weaknesses are as far as content goes, and then do the same for your test-taking strategy. SN2ed's plan, while good, assumes that you remember close to nothing and drills a lot of content for no valid reason if you've already reviewed. If you have not done the MCAT diagnostic self-assessment, I'd suggest doing it and planning your study around the results you get from that, for starters.

The percentages accurately portray what your actual score on an official MCAT would be (...the results are from AAMC after all...)

Also if you are thinking of applying this cycle with an August 17 MCAT date, you may have bigger problems than getting a 23~ (which is no small problem in itself). I would postpone to January anyway, if I were you.

By minimal gains, I meant after 3 months of straight studying, 8 hours a day, I am still no where near my target goal of a 34 this coming August. I am happy with my gradual improvement in the TPRs but I thought the hard TPR exams would transfer favorably to a higher AAMC score, since the TPRs were a lot harder than the AAMCs. Yet I scored lower on AAMC 3 than TPR exam 5.

I have done the MCAT diagnostic self assessment which I have posted my % in my first post. By percentages, I meant what would be a satisfactory % to "go ahead" and take it this August. Like, <50% would probably mean to postpone to later while a >90% would mean you are probably okay to take the August exam. I'm not applying until next cycle.