Freaking Out

[Pre Opt Student]

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I just did my second achiever test and am FREAKING OUT! My test is Wednesday and all along of been scoring borderline with kaplan and the first achiever test --- scores around 300/310 AA/TS...but I just did the 2nd achiever test and had NO CLUE what was going on half the time...and I stopped after Natural Sciences cuz I couldnt even handle it!

I had 23 mins to finish orgo because the chemistry and biology took SO long! I didnt want to look at my scores but I did and I got Bio 270, Chem 270 and orgo 320...TS 290...This was a ridiculous test and i dont even know what to think anymore..

 

[kkoch]

Just finished my test this afternoon. In the days prior to my test, I, like you, was freaking out. Here is how my Achiever scored compaired with my actual test scores.

Achiever avg./actual OAT
QR: 350/390
RC: 360/350
Bio: 280/340
GC: 330/370
OC: 310/380
Phy: 300/360
TS: 310/370
AA: 320/370

In short, the Achiever and Kaplan practice exams were tougher than the actual test. Trust me, you will see score increase in most areas (except maybe RC). I think you will be fine. Keep studying and don't give up!

 

[Pre Opt Student]

Your achiever scores are still pretty solid though..despite the difficulty..maybe I should be pushing my test back.

 

[afasano]

Your achiever scores are still pretty solid though..despite the difficulty..maybe I should be pushing my test

personally,i dont think you should push it back...
ya be fine!!!

gl.

 

[kkoch]

Make sure you manage your time well. Be aware of this as you take your practice tests so you can make sure you don't leave questions unanswered. It is easy to spend to much time on the QR, GC, and Phy. sections. Make sure you are watching the clock! I really don't think you should push it back. Even if you don't get the scores you want, you can always retake.

 

[zyg0te]

Just finished my test this afternoon. In the days prior to my test, I, like you, was freaking out. Here is how my Achiever scored compaired with my actual test scores.

Achiever avg./actual OAT
QR: 350/390
RC: 360/350
Bio: 280/340
GC: 330/370
OC: 310/380
Phy: 300/360
TS: 310/370
AA: 320/370

In short, the Achiever and Kaplan practice exams were tougher than the actual test. Trust me, you will see score increase in most areas (except maybe RC). I think you will be fine. Keep studying and don't give up!

Wow, congrats on the good scores! What method did you use for the RC section?

 

[kkoch]

Wow, congrats on the good scores! What method did you use for the RC section?

First off let me say that reading is certainly not my strong point. I have always read slowly and my mind wonders easily. The method I used was to quickly skim the article (maybe 3 min.), trying to make mental notes of basic locations of different information. I then would go to the questions and search back through the article if I needed to. Some questions were pretty wordy and I would take my best guess and mark it without wasting time searching for the answer. Then, time permitting I would go back over them at the end. OAT Achiever (if you have it) is great practice for the RC section of the actual test because the format is almost identical and the questions and article difficulty are similar.

 

[zyg0te]

Thanks!

I learned "the kaplan method" but It does not seem helpful at all. I am trying to fine tune what method to use come test day.

 

[opt4325]

congrats on the scores! did you take the opted exam? if so, what were your scores?

 

[blysssful]

Thanks!

I learned "the kaplan method" but It does not seem helpful at all. I am trying to fine tune what method to use come test day.

The whole roadmapping thing takes up WAY too much time in my opinion. I tried it for the kaplan "midterm" exam I took and I got a 320, mostly because I ran out of time towards the end.

I took my kaplan "final" yesterday, and I completely changed the way that I did the reading comprehension and I got a 360. I literally haven't done ANY practice tests for reading in the meantime, and the score difference was simply based on the different strategies (and of course the potential differences in the difficulty of the tests). Basically what I did was skimmed the article-- and I'm talking taking under a minute for this, and made a "mental roadmap", then I went straight to the questions. For the questions that I needed to take more time to answer, I left those and returned to them once I was done with the rest of the questions for that passage.

This method works out well for me because when I leave the more difficult questions for last, I've spent some time reading the passage just through answering the other questions, and sometimes I could just answer the questions right away when I went back to them. It's especially good if you're good at scanning for specific words.

 

[kkoch]

congrats on the scores! did you take the opted exam? if so, what were your scores?

No, I never took the opted test. I took three Achiever tests and I did some additional sections from Kaplan.

 

[itek2OD]

the achiever test is _much_ harder than the acutal test. i'm using kaplan _and_ oat achiever now, and i believe achiever is more difficult than kaplan. you're running 500m so 400m is a breeze. you can overprepare, or you can prepare to do just okay.

 

[opt4325]

i'm not using the achiever. i just have the kaplan review book and recently purchased topscore. do you guys think its good enough to go by as far as testing myself?

 

[Jay12]

It should be sufficient.........but if you find yourself wanting more test prep material, it would not hurt to get some additional material....but remember $$$$$$$

Good Luck👍