AAMC materials: where to start?

[DameJulie]

After finishing a few 3rd party FLs, I would like to move on to practicing with AAMC materials.

I would like to know what orders I should complete them with. I plan to do them more than once.

Section Bank
Q-Bank
Official Guide questions
AAMC FLs (save them last and won't do more than once)

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[pms_testosterone]

sample test -> Official Guide and Qbanks -> section bank -> practice FLs

 

[SuaveCardigans]

sample test -> Official Guide and Qbanks -> section bank -> practice FLs

+1

 

[aldol16]

I would take the sample test to see where you're at and do the necessary review if you need to. I'd then do various Section Bank passages. You don't have to do them all at once. You can choose the option to reveal the answers at the end of each question and just review those answer explanations after you finish each passage. These passages are your best resource for getting a sense of the difficult passages on the MCAT. Then I'd move on to the FLs. Alternatively, you can do the Section Bank and FLs at the same time, since you don't have to finish the Section Bank all in one go. So you could take a FL, review your mistakes, take a break one day while doing a couple Section Bank passage, and then do another FL. I would use the QPacks last, as they are the least helpful materials. It's okay to skip them if you run out of time - you'd much rather skip these than anything else from the AAMC. The exception is the CARS QPacks, as these are part of the very few CARS materials the AAMC releases. I would do the CARS QPacks with the Section Banks because I don't think the Section Bank includes a CARS section.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

I would take the sample test to see where you're at and do the necessary review if you need to. I'd then do various Section Bank passages. You don't have to do them all at once. You can choose the option to reveal the answers at the end of each question and just review those answer explanations after you finish each passage. These passages are your best resource for getting a sense of the difficult passages on the MCAT. Then I'd move on to the FLs. Alternatively, you can do the Section Bank and FLs at the same time, since you don't have to finish the Section Bank all in one go. So you could take a FL, review your mistakes, take a break one day while doing a couple Section Bank passage, and then do another FL. I would use the QPacks last, as they are the least helpful materials. It's okay to skip them if you run out of time - you'd much rather skip these than anything else from the AAMC. The exception is the CARS QPacks, as these are part of the very few CARS materials the AAMC releases. I would do the CARS QPacks with the Section Banks because I don't think the Section Bank includes a CARS section.

To add an alternative recommendation, if you have plenty of time, do QPacks first as content practice. Section banks are much better for practicing the internal logic of passages, so I liked working on those leading right up into my exam.

 

[DameJulie]

To add an alternative recommendation, if you have plenty of time, do QPacks first as content practice. Section banks are much better for practicing the internal logic of passages, so I liked working on those leading right up into my exam.

Would you say 2 months is plenty of time?

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Excellent question. Let me answer it with a timeline.

The official guide to the MCAT, 4th edition, was released in anticipation for the brand new 2015 Exams. It represents the oldest preparation for the new exam. The questions on here are extremely easy compared to the current administrations of the new MCAT. This item is available through both the paperback book (linked above), or digitally.

The next item released, soon after the official guide to the MCAT, was the AAMC Sample Test, aka, the unscored FL. This exam was, I believe, released in November 2014, to help students get a firm grasp on the new, painfully long exam, that would premier in January 2015. This exam is also, quite easy compared to the current administrations of the MCAT.

Approximately 1 year later, the AAMC had gathered enough data and created a scaled score exam. This is known as AAMC FL 1. This exam isn't technically the first full length - that would be the sample test, however, this is the first scored full length. This exam is quite good and relatively representative of current MCAT exams.

Either before, after, or at the same time of AAMC FL 1, the Section Bank was released (not to be confused with the question packs). These are three 100 question units devoted to the three science sections. 100 phys/chem, 100 bio/biochem, 100 psy/soc. They are both passage based and discrete. These, in my opinion, are the absolute best preparation for the current and future MCATs. Many students (myself included), got obliterated when completing the section bank. You'll notice a completely different style compared to the official guide and sample test questions here. Everything is passage based and extremely difficult. The questions are not easy, and the passages look like a foreign language coupled with endless amounts of data from charts, tables, figures, and mechanisms presented.

Finally, the best absolute preparation for the MCAT is AAMC FL 2. This is the second FL released by the AAMC that will give you a score. It is based on the latest data by the AAMC and (supposedly) the best indicator of your MCAT test score. Take that with a grain of salt though.

tl;dr

AAMC FL 2 > Section Bank > AAMC FL 1 >>>>>>> Sample Test > Official Guide to the MCAT, 4th edition.

For content review, I suggest you use any MCAT book series to learn. I'm personally a big fan of the NextStep content books, but that's me. As far as 3rd party exams go, I strongly suggest altius. Altius FL exams are much higher in quality than Kaplan, NextStep, Princeton. I've done multiple MCAT exams from all of those companies. Altius goes out of their way to mirror AAMC style and uses purely journal-based passages and questions in the science sections, which is exactly how the AAMC does it now. Additionally, their questions are focused, difficult, and based on critical thinking. Lastly, perhaps the best part of Altius FL exams is the explanations. The explanations are indepth and really explain why one answer choice is correct and all of the other 3 are incorrect. Also, altius exams I believe are cheaper if not the same price as NextStep, and you have unlimited attempts on Altius!

 

[DameJulie]

As far as 3rd party exams go, I strongly suggest altius. Altius FL exams are much higher in quality than Kaplan, NextStep, Princeton. I've done multiple MCAT exams from all of those companies. Altius goes out of their way to mirror AAMC style and uses purely journal-based passages and questions in the science sections, which is exactly how the AAMC does it now. Additionally, their questions are focused, difficult, and based on critical thinking. Lastly, perhaps the best part of Altius FL exams is the explanations.

Could you elaborate on 3rd party FLs? Maybe their pros and cons? I have done 4 Kaplan FLs and plan to do some TPR FLs along the way as well (I have access to both company's FLs). I hope I haven't been wasting my time with Kaplan FLs. I understand they aren't regarded well here on SDN, but I want to hear more opinions on someone who has done multiple companies' FLs.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Could you elaborate on 3rd party FLs? Maybe their pros and cons? I have done 4 Kaplan FLs and plan to do some TPR FLs along the way as well (I have access to both company's FLs). I hope I haven't been wasting my time with Kaplan FLs. I understand they aren't regarded well here on SDN, but I want to hear more opinions on someone who has done multiple companies' FLs.

I'd be glad to.

First and foremost, I've done at least 3 to 4 exams per company to get a flavor of what they're like. Additionally, I researched (via SDN) which are the good and bad exams by a company. For example, NS FL 6 sucks. Don't bother with it lol.

Kaplan and Princeton
Pro:
-Lots of full lengths

Con:
-FL's suck.
-Far too difficult and not in the least bit accurate with respect to AAMC style
-Questions and passages aren't based on scientific journals (which AAMC passages are based on)
-Questions are impossible and the scores are super curved and not an accurate reflection of where you're really at

Examkrackers
Pro:
-Five FLs
-Style is okay

Cons:
-NO SCORE AVAILABLE AFTER TAKING AN EXAM: ONLY A PERCENTAGE OF WHAT YOU GOT CORRECT
-Still not representative of AAMC style to the fullest extent
-Passages and questions are way too indepth and not indepth enough in other areas
-While I respect the "diversity" within the exams, some random topics that are extremely low yield popped up - not quite necessarily a bad thing, but still much to frequent for my taste
-Difficult in the sense that you don't get an accurate representation of AAMC difficulty - yes the AAMC exams are hard (so is the MCAT...) but these are hard in the sense that the questions are detailed in obscure spots

NextStep
Pro:
-10 FL exams
-Style is pretty good
-Good quality questions

Cons:
-PRICE is huge
-Only 5 attempts per exam
-Despite 10 FLs, only 1 to 5 are worth doing - anything beyond is poor quality
-Explanations are kind of a bust and demoralizing (you'll be provided with a chart on how well students did and the difficulty of the problem; its heartbreaking seeing "the question rating is easy, 2% of testtakers got this question correct!"

Altius
-10 FL exams
-Style is perfect - on all 10 exams
-Amazing question style
-Entirely journal based: Passages are pulled from academic peer reviewed journals (just like AAMC)
-Question style is identical to AAMC
-Difficulty of questions and diversity of topics is on point with all the AAMC materials
-Unlimited attempts: This is a dealbreaker for me. If i'm paying a lot of money (100s of dollars) to be told I only have a few tries that's unacceptable. Additionally, you can customize the exam for whatever you're looking for, say untimed and only critical thinking physics/chemistry questions - this lets you hit your weakest topics without having to look through the entire exams for your specific needs

Cons:
-The verbal sections can be excessively brutal: getting 10 wrong and only scoring a 126 is garbage, not to mention the verbal passages and questions are way too hard - but hey, nobody's perfect
-Double edge sword here on diversity: Say a phys/chem section should include 25% physics, + or - 5%, you'll see that on various exams, some more physics, others less, but this is a pro because various testtakers report "omg the MCAT I took had like only gen chem and no physics on it wtf 🙁!!!!" so its pretty awesome

To learn more about why altius is better than other companies, see here.

Also, while exam costs vary, I should say I snagged all 10 altius exams for $150 on a special promo they had. Even at full price ($300 for all 10), with unlimited attempts and the customizable features paired up with the best AAMC non-AAMC prep available, its worth every penny.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

Would you say 2 months is plenty of time?

Yes. Its how long I speng on AAMC stuff and I was working full time.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

Could you elaborate on 3rd party FLs? Maybe their pros and cons? I have done 4 Kaplan FLs and plan to do some TPR FLs along the way as well (I have access to both company's FLs). I hope I haven't been wasting my time with Kaplan FLs. I understand they aren't regarded well here on SDN, but I want to hear more opinions on someone who has done multiple companies' FLs.

I would recommend doing all the AAMC material before doing more 3rd party FLs. The quality of prep, even for non-FL questions, is much greater

 

[Dr. Stalker]

After finishing a few 3rd party FLs, I would like to move on to practicing with AAMC materials.

I would like to know what orders I should complete them with. I plan to do them more than once.

Section Bank
Q-Bank
Official Guide questions
AAMC FLs (save them last and won't do more than once)

OP - when is your MCAT?

Stop doing Kaplan right now. Don't bother.

First and foremost, I disagree with:

I would recommend doing all the AAMC material before doing more 3rd party FLs. The quality of prep, even for non-FL questions, is much greater

The AAMC prep is the absolute best prep out their for the MCAT. I don't suggest you waste it early on in your studying. However, @SuaveCardigans brings up a good point: don't wait until the very end for AAMC Material.

I suggest (assuming you have time, OP), one, make sure you have all your content down. Remember those handful of topics you hate and therefore haven't studied in months/ever? Go learn those, like now.

Give Altius or NS a shot. This will help you familiarize yourself with passages. Pro with altius is that you can take a few passages per section to do whatever you feel like. I usually do 8 passages when I wake up and start studying: 2 from each section from an Altius FL. Then I spend about 1.5 hours reviewing them. After I hit up content notes to review my strengths and weaknesses.

As far as divying up the AAMC material, I like this strategy:
1. Do the AAMC Half test (official guide to the MCAT questions) they're so ridiculously easy compared to the **** the AAMC is testing now, its not a big deal.
2. Review your content, 3rd party FL stuff.
3. Do AAMC Sample Test: Much like the official guide questions, this test is a complete joke with respect to what the AAMC is currently doing.
4. Do step 2 again.
5. Take AAMC FL 1: This is a great test and gives you a score. Thoroughly review it and master it.
6. Do step 2 again.
7. Take AAMC FL 2: The BEST indicator of where you're at: According to SDN mythology, you're AAMC FL 2 score will be your REAL MCAT score, and if it isn't, its within + or - 2 points.