Bogus Hype or Legit Concern

[FutureDoc2010]

Hey all,

I've been hearing a lot of chatter out there about the April 2005 exam from people I know personally and on other discussion boards. A lot of people seem to believe that this last exam was considerably more difficult than previous administrations. I've been told that the April 2005 verbal was unruly difficult and that the physical sciences wasn't much better. Additionally, a lot of test takers on an AAMC discussion board seem to think that the AAMC practice exams were much easier and were a poor representation of the real thing. However, I have not picked up on this sentiment amongst SDNers. What did you guys think? How did the real thing compare to the 3R - 8 AAMC exams? I just finished the AAMC 5R exam and scored 12 9 12, should I be concerned my real score may not correlate with these exams? Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

a fellow paranoid Pre-med

P.S. if there are other threads on this topic, my apologies. feel free to throw in a link.

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[MollyMalone]

Hey all,

I've been hearing a lot of chatter out there about the April 2005 exam from people I know personally and on other discussion boards. A lot of people seem to believe that this last exam was considerably more difficult than previous administrations. I've been told that the April 2005 verbal was unruly difficult and that the physical sciences wasn't much better. Additionally, a lot of test takers on an AAMC discussion board seem to think that the AAMC practice exams were much easier and were a poor representation of the real thing. However, I have not picked up on this sentiment amongst SDNers. What did you guys think? How did the real thing compare to the 3R - 8 AAMC exams? I just finished the AAMC 5R exam and scored 12 9 12, should I be concerned my real score may not correlate with these exams? Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

a fellow paranoid Pre-med

P.S. if there are other threads on this topic, my apologies. feel free to throw in a link.

For what it's worth:

I can only speak to AAMC 7 & 8 since they are the only AAMC exams I took. AAMC 7 did the best job of any practice test I took (AAMC or Kaplan) at predicting my score. (AAMC 7: PS 11 VR 13 BS 11, actual MCAT: PS 12 VR 13 BS 12) It was, however, also the last practice test I took, which may have had more to do with its predictive value than any inherent feature of the test. AAMC 8 underestimated my PS score by a whopping 4 points. Kaplan tended to be right on for my BS but overestimated my verbal (I was routinely doing 14s and 15s) and underestimated my PS (I never cracked a 10). AAMC never overestimated me in any section.

Hope that was helpful. Good luck!

 

[lpru]

I took the april 05, physics was really hard compared to aamc practive tests. I got a 31 though which is fine by me. Verbal was no surprise relative to aamc practices.

 

[Raven Feather]

I took the april 05, physics was really hard compared to aamc practive tests. I got a 31 though which is fine by me. Verbal was no surprise relative to aamc practices.

I agree, the PS section was WAAAY harder than the AAMC tests. The chemistry questions were okay, but it was mainly the physics that was difficult.

 

[RayhanS1282]

April 2005 PS was much difficult than any of the AAMC practice exams. The VR however was equivalent to AAMC 8.

 

[_ian]

It's a standardized test. If it's harder or easier, then everyone's results will reflect it. It really doesn't matter.

 

[USArmyDoc]

Physical Science: Along the lines of Kaplan aka a FREAKING BIATCH
Verbal Reasoning: Eh Verbal was Verbal
Biology Science: SO SO....I did not prepare right for the exam


I have only taken the MCAT once so I cannot comment on whether this was harder than previous administrations. However, I can tell you that the AAMC tests that I took were a JOKE (Physical Science really) compared to the real MCAT. Good Luck guys

 

[gluon999]

It's a standardized test. If it's harder or easier, then everyone's results will reflect it. It really doesn't matter.

Agreed. I thought the PS was very difficult but I still managed to score 85th percentile on it.

The 'curve' neutralizes the level of difficulty.

 

[Turkeyman]

It's a standardized test. If it's harder or easier, then everyone's results will reflect it. It really doesn't matter.

Exactly