Difference between first ever MCAT PRACTICE test score and final MCAT score?

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Marjan Islam

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Hey guys, I'm in the Kaplan Program for the MCAT and just wanted to know how you guys fared with the studying (in general, just not people who are in the Kaplan course):

How big of a difference was your score from the FIRST practice test you ever took of the MCAT, and the final score you got on the actual MCAT (after all the studying, 20 or however many practice tests you took, etc.)?

I'm asking this because I got a 20 on my first practice diagnostic test, before I really studied or did any of the questions "mcat-style." I'm doing the course now, and am going to be taking the first FULL-LENGTH test (the diagnostic was half the length I believe) fairly soon and just wondering what the score jump trends are? And... should I be worried at all? =(

Thanks for all the input! 🙂
 
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My difference was a good 9 points, and I've heard others with much, much higher differences. You shouldn't be worried, just study all the stuff Kaplan gives you (I was Kaplan), and you'll do fine.
 
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The first test doesn't mean a thing...
I believe I had like 14 (combined) on my first one...🙁
I got 32 on the real thing.. and English is my second language...

to me, MCAT was totally different from any other tests...
I literally had to earn every point...
However, it is always true that more you study better you get...

Tried to study as much as you can... after all it could be the most important test of your life...
keep up the studying.. and be positive..
Seriously... if I can do it.. you can!
As long as you don't give up... you will do fine...
 
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Marjan Islam said:
Hey guys, I'm in the Kaplan Program for the MCAT and just wanted to know how you guys fared with the studying (in general, just not people who are in the Kaplan course):

How big of a difference was your score from the FIRST practice test you ever took of the MCAT, and the final score you got on the actual MCAT (after all the studying, 20 or however many practice tests you took, etc.)?

I'm asking this because I got a 20 on my first practice diagnostic test, before I really studied or did any of the questions "mcat-style." I'm doing the course now, and am going to be taking the first FULL-LENGTH test (the diagnostic was half the length I believe) fairly soon and just wondering what the score jump trends are? And... should I be worried at all? =(

Thanks for all the input! 🙂
Click to expand...

Don't focus on points, focus on percentiles. I only increased 10 points, but that represented a increase of 50 percentile points.
 
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The diagnostics are usually bad for most people. Most people don't pay attention in those classes and are essentially re-learning material--that's the reason for companies having 10pt guarantees, etc. I know many people who had 18 diagnostics and ended up with very high scores.

I personally didn't take my first diag until I did an initial review of the material (light review). At that time I took AAMC3 and got a 31. I then did my actual hardcore review of the material for a while and got my scores up to 36,36,35,36 for AAMC 5,4,8,10. On the actual MCAT day I pulled a 33 <-- happy its good enough to get me into most schools, but slightly dissappointed because that makes a big difference come interview season 🙁.

I know one guy personally who got an 18 on his diag, took the MCAT once and wasn't happy, then took it again and got a 38. He studied for about a year, but he got a huge score. Amazingly, he completed a year of medical school only to drop out. 😱
 
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The feedback's definitely making me feel better, I'm so intimidated by this beast of an exam, lol.

That's crazy about the kid who dropped out! Maybe he went to a too-crazy-tough med school. With a score like that, he probably made it to one of them.
 
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5 points. But I was guessing so much on my diagnostic and my first full-length practice test.
 
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The Kaplan diagnostic is much harder than the actual MCAT; they want you to score poorly so they can live up to their guarantee (10+ increase from the diagnostic, I think they're the ones who do that?) and also sucker pre-meds into buying their courses. Take AAMC 3, it's the free one on e-mcat... it's a little bit easier than the real thing, but in the realm of possibility. I scored a 29 on #3 and wound up with a 35 on test day.
 
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First test ever: B 10, V 9, P 3 = 22
Real test: B 13, V 11, P 12 = 36

Time in between: 9 months
 
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2 pt increase from first ever diagnostic to the first time I took the exam for real.

6 pt increase from first diagnostic ever to the second time I took the exam for real.
 
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I got a 24 on my first full-length practice, read the Kaplan book on my own, and ended up with a 30 on test day.

Interesting tidbit: I made a 22 on the last practice test I took (two days before the real thing)!
 
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I took Princeton Review, and on my first practice I got a 21, and ended up with a 32 on the real thing. All practices were full length diags.

Also, if this helps, I dropped to an 18 on my 2nd diag, so there's a lot of fluctuation. Just keep taking the diags, and make it as similar to the real experience as you can. Good luck
 
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The first diag I remember taking was the free deal from Kaplan, came back w/ a 24. Went through 1/4 of an "exam krackers 1001 Q's" chem book and made a 30 while screwing around at work.

Took a TPR course over the summer, studied my ***** off, and managed a whopping 33. To be fair I hit 2 35's and a 37 on my aamc practices, so I might've been having a bad day. Who knows...

Anyway, don't let a Kaplan/TPR diag keep you down. They're totally sandbagging you...
 
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I took AAMC 3 just to see what i would get without studying, I got a 30. A few months later I took the TPR course and on their diagnostic I got a 20. Real thing I got a 33.
 
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I got a 37 on AAMC3 and then I studied my balls off for the next six months. I got a 37 when I took the real thing.
 
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18 on the free kaplan Diagnostic
24 on AAMC 3 CBT online

32Q on the real deal-about==> 3 months (summer) of hardcore studying

I actually capped out on the sciences pretty quickly, it was the verbal I had trouble with during the whole course of my study
 
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tricky question...
my first practice test was AAMC3 and I got a 27
next I took a Kaplan test (about three weeks later) and scored something like 24.
Two months later on the MCAT scored 32.
 
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I also am curious about this. I just took the Kaplan diagnostic: 6 PS :scared:, 9 BS, and 12 VR. I guess my weaknesses in physics were confirmed....I've never taken a test with so much guessing!!
 
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I just took the Kaplan diagnostic test - completely cold, no studying, and i got a 26 🙁 - 9PS 8VR 9BS. Is it possible to even get above a 30 with this??? I thought the verbal was the easiest section and did so poorly. so nervous now any advice?
 
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delicatefew24 said:
I just took the Kaplan diagnostic test - completely cold, no studying, and i got a 26 🙁 - 9PS 8VR 9BS. Is it possible to even get above a 30 with this??? I thought the verbal was the easiest section and did so poorly. so nervous now any advice?
Click to expand...

Have you read ANY other post in this topic?
 
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delicatefew24 said:
I just took the Kaplan diagnostic test - completely cold, no studying, and i got a 26 🙁 - 9PS 8VR 9BS. Is it possible to even get above a 30 with this??? I thought the verbal was the easiest section and did so poorly. so nervous now any advice?
Click to expand...

I took a free practice diag they offered a few weeks ago with no studying/preparation and got a 7/7/7 = 21.

I am not really caring about this score after everything I've heard in this thread and with the knowledge that Kaplan "wants you to do bad" on the first diag so you pay to take the class.
 
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I ended up taking AAMC 10 as my diag. I scored a 8/7/9 and then on AAMC 11 taken a week before my MCAT I got a 10/8/9...woo-hoo 3 point improvement. I feel like the companies really just try to trick you by making the supposed diagnostic harder than the real MCAT. Then again, I'm still awating my real MCAT score.
 
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