Feasibility of hitting my range (from AAMC results)

[trs494]

Hello all!

I'm rather new to this site so if I'm breaking any thread rules please let me know.

I have just taken my unscored AAMC full length today and here are my percentage scores:

PS: 75%
CARS: 89%
BS: 78%
Psych: 81%

I looked up what the estimated score would be for this and it was around a 515 which was well above the goal that I want to hit (510-515 range)

I also took a bunch of Kaplan full length tests and scored around 505 on most (highest was a 507)

Do you think that it is feasible to hit my goal range on test day? I am just a little worried about the spread... Although I have been hitting in the midrange 500's on Kaplan, I have heard they tailor their scores down a bit.

Last quick question.. I have 1 week until my scheduled test day (August 5th) and P/S is pretty consistently my lowest score... Should I just hit a bunch of practice passages before test day, go over more content based stuff, or mix and match? I think at this point it might be more beneficial to spend time recognizing what my most common wrong answer pathologies are in my worst subjects, but I wanted to know what you guys do in the week leading up to test day!

Thank you in advance!

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[Roayer]

127/130/127/128 so about a 512 is more likely. Either way I think you are pretty close to hitting your score and your kaplan scores are pretty high. Keep it up! I would do practice passages in your weak areas. I did that before my retake and boy did it pay off since I got passages on those exact areas.

 

[Eleithyia]

Agreed--do what you can about your weak areas, don't run any mental marathons (like a ton of practice exams) in the last week.

I want to make sure to point out that Kaplan has to create their own questions and test scoring system--they don't have access to AAMC's--and they definitely tend to lowball it a little, since they have a guarantee where you can take their class over for free if your real score isn't improved from the diagnostic test they have you take when you start the class. It's normal for most test prep company scores to fall a little below AAMC-based scores. They'd much rather have a ton of reviews saying that everyone did so much better than they expected than a ton of complaints about how their practice exams gave people a false sense of confidence

 

[trs494]

127/130/127/128 so about a 512 is more likely. Either way I think you are pretty close to hitting your score and your kaplan scores are pretty high. Keep it up! I would do practice passages in your weak areas. I did that before my retake and boy did it pay off since I got passages on those exact areas.

Thanks for the advice! Would you recommend Khan for P/S to kind of simulate the experimental aspect? I've done all of the section bank and official guide questions for P/S already... and the other banks that AAMC provides seem pretty conceptual and not really very heavy in experimental methods.

 

[trs494]

Agreed--do what you can about your weak areas, don't run any mental marathons (like a ton of practice exams) in the last week.

I want to make sure to point out that Kaplan has to create their own questions and test scoring system--they don't have access to AAMC's--and they definitely tend to lowball it a little, since they have a guarantee where you can take their class over for free if your real score isn't improved from the diagnostic test they have you take when you start the class. It's normal for most test prep company scores to fall a little below AAMC-based scores. They'd much rather have a ton of reviews saying that everyone did so much better than they expected than a ton of complaints about how their practice exams gave people a false sense of confidence

thanks for the insight!!

 

[Roayer]

Thanks for the advice! Would you recommend Khan for P/S to kind of simulate the experimental aspect? I've done all of the section bank and official guide questions for P/S already... and the other banks that AAMC provides seem pretty conceptual and not really very heavy in experimental methods.

Did you do the Section Banks for CP and BB because those are super experimental heavy and a MUST do. I'm assuming you mean PS (Psych/Soc right?). I'd do Examkrackers for experimental/data interpretation type problems. They were very good for all the science sections, I would buy and do them. EK4>EK3>EK1/EK2

 

[trs494]

Did you do the Section Banks for CP and BB because those are super experimental heavy and a MUST do. I'm assuming you mean PS (Psych/Soc right?). I'd do Examkrackers for experimental/data interpretation type problems. They were very good for all the science sections, I would buy and do them. EK4>EK3>EK1/EK2

Oh sorry no I meant Chem/Phys, my bad! but what is CP and BB? I have done all of the Kaplan stuff and most of the AAMC stuff that is available from their site. I've also done some of the Chem/Phys Khan stuff, is the EK full length chem/phys content pretty accurate in terms of experimental/data interpretation?

 

[trs494]

Did you do the Section Banks for CP and BB because those are super experimental heavy and a MUST do. I'm assuming you mean PS (Psych/Soc right?). I'd do Examkrackers for experimental/data interpretation type problems. They were very good for all the science sections, I would buy and do them. EK4>EK3>EK1/EK2

oh I see what you're saying, you're talking about the AAMC chem phys and bio/biochem.. but yes i have done all of those section bank questions for both areas!

 

[Roayer]

Oh sorry no I meant Chem/Phys, my bad! but what is CP and BB? I have done all of the Kaplan stuff and most of the AAMC stuff that is available from their site. I've also done some of the Chem/Phys Khan stuff, is the EK full length chem/phys content pretty accurate in terms of experimental/data interpretation?

EK stuff was pretty accurate for the Biochemistry stuff. If your weakness is experimental/data interpretation than EK will really help you out. Just going to warn you that their first 3 C/Ps are extremely difficult. I took them after my first MCAT (I got a 129 in CP) and my % correct was 66, 62, 74 for them. I did a lot better on EK4 because it was most representative but the first 3 were nasty difficult. Great practice though for your weak areas I highly recommend. If you need work on General Chemistry/Physics I might just do passages from TPR in your specific weak discipline. I did that for thermodynamics and electrostatics and it paid off.

 

[trs494]

EK stuff was pretty accurate for the Biochemistry stuff. If your weakness is experimental/data interpretation than EK will really help you out. Just going to warn you that their first 3 C/Ps are extremely difficult. I took them after my first MCAT (I got a 129 in CP) and my % correct was 66, 62, 74 for them. I did a lot better on EK4 because it was most representative but the first 3 were nasty difficult. Great practice though for your weak areas I highly recommend. If you need work on General Chemistry/Physics I might just do passages from TPR in your specific weak discipline. I did that for thermodynamics and electrostatics and it paid off.

sounds great, thanks for your help!