Difficulty of Kaplan Qbank questions

[IndianVercetti]

Anyone have any experience with the kaplan qbank?

I'm using it now, and absolutely getting burned on these bio passage questions. I'm doing alright on the AAMC bio, but some of these kaplan questions are pretty challenging to say the least.

Anyone know for sure if these questions are on par with MCAT difficulty? Or should I just be using them for practice?

thanks

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[Ferocity]

I'm in the same boat as you. They're quite challenging and not very straight forward.

 

[StarryNights]

If that's the case then I think I will actually try Kaplan QBank Bio. I find the BS on AAMC tests harder than Kaplan ones. The Kaplan ones are kind of short, and sometimes just explain the disease/technique that's pretty much straight from their notebooks. I follow those passages fine and take the BS section kinda half-@ssed and still get a good score thanks to the scale. AAMC BS is definitely harder for me to follow and their experiments aren't too straight forward. Case in point: I took a Kaplan exam and scored 15 on BS one night, only to drop to a 10 on an AAMC the next. I'm pretty bad at interpreting figures and graphs, need to work on that.

 

[IndianVercetti]

If that's the case then I think I will actually try Kaplan QBank Bio. I find the BS on AAMC tests harder than Kaplan ones. The Kaplan ones are kind of short, and sometimes just explain the disease/technique that's pretty much straight from their notebooks. I follow those passages fine and take the BS section kinda half-@ssed and still get a good score thanks to the scale. AAMC BS is definitely harder for me to follow and their experiments aren't too straight forward. Case in point: I took a Kaplan exam and scored 15 on BS one night, only to drop to a 10 on an AAMC the next. I'm pretty bad at interpreting figures and graphs, need to work on that.

which kaplan did you get the 15?

 

[StarryNights]

Kaplan 5, cause all the O Chem was easy, haha. I'm getting better with O Chem but it's still a weak spot.

 

[IndianVercetti]

BUMP - does anyone have any real answers though as far as kaplan qbank difficulty? especially the bio ones??

 

[StarryNights]

Oh, and for reference, the 10 that I got for BS was on AAMC 4 so it wasn't like an extremely hard test or something but I just find AAMC bio passages straight up harder than Kaplan ones.

 

[maanya88]

BUMP - does anyone have any real answers though as far as kaplan qbank difficulty? especially the bio ones??

Yeah, I am finding the kaplan Q bank questions to be really hard compared to AAMC. Kaplan's Q bank passages seem to be really long and full of detailed information. This just seems to cause me to lose focus. I think I will just stick with their topical tests.
I still need to figure out how to bump up my score in BS though so can't really give you advice on that.
Gd lk!

 

[IndianVercetti]

lol taking these qbank questions is disheartening. I do them, feel proud that I'm able to reason about answers, then get the report, and i'm like "what??!" 1 out of 8 right....

 

[maanya88]

lol taking these qbank questions is disheartening. I do them, feel proud that I'm able to reason about answers, then get the report, and i'm like "what??!" 1 out of 8 right....

lol...true...how r u doing on AAMC BS sections though?

 

[IndianVercetti]

lol...true...how r u doing on AAMC BS sections though?

around 9; it's my weakest section. I know my material, I just have trouble integrating passage info, so I'm doing practice.

 

[maanya88]

around 9; it's my weakest section. I know my material, I just have trouble integrating passage info, so I'm doing practice.

Same here...I am getting 9s for all three sections....really don't know what to do...I guess the EK 1001 books will help
Just want to get it over with on Jan 30!

 

[IndianVercetti]

Oh, and for reference, the 10 that I got for BS was on AAMC 4 so it wasn't like an extremely hard test or something but I just find AAMC bio passages straight up harder than Kaplan ones.

lol wow, I feel pretty good now, I got a 9 on that bio section, and you're a genius.

 

[StarryNights]

lol wow, I feel pretty good now, I got a 9 on that bio section, and you're a genius.

Lol, I am so not a genius. I am about average, but hopefully average intelligence + hard work will get me to where I want. "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" 😀.

 

[exmissionary]

Thanks for your remarks on the mcat qbank. How many hours of good study time do you think the 1000 questions provide? I mean is it equivalent to about 6 or 7 full length sections on the siciences? I've got another 3 months of studying full time and don't know where I am going to get enough passages. My study plan is this...

Morning: Review my content based flashcards and add flashcards if neccesary

Take a nap

Afternoon: Study passages/questions/tests/qbank in real time and then take time to evaluate my errors.

My problem is I don't know where I will find enough sample questions. Will the Qbank keep me busy for a month (1-2 hrs of timed questions, 5 days a week)... 2 months... a week????

 

[OneTyme]

Thanks for your remarks on the mcat qbank. How many hours of good study time do you think the 1000 questions provide? I mean is it equivalent to about 6 or 7 full length sections on the siciences? I've got another 3 months of studying full time and don't know where I am going to get enough passages. My study plan is this...

Morning: Review my content based flashcards and add flashcards if neccesary

Take a nap

Afternoon: Study passages/questions/tests/qbank in real time and then take time to evaluate my errors.

My problem is I don't know where I will find enough sample questions. Will the Qbank keep me busy for a month (1-2 hrs of timed questions, 5 days a week)... 2 months... a week????

The Q bank has about 1700 questions (from what I am seeing in my subscription).... That is about 200 passages and 300 discrete questions. At say 15 mins a passage (for doing the passage and reviewing) that is 3000 minutes of study time (not including the discrete questions). That is 50 hours of practice passages or so. How long it lasts depends on how much you study.

I have been using it quite a bit. The questions seem harder than the AAMC exam but I have only taken AAMC 3 so far. I'm not a big fan of their verbal.

Hope this helps!