Free Kaplan MCAT pre-test worth it?

[DougFlutie]

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Kaplan is offering free MCAT tests (I'm assuming they are the condensed version) pretty soon around these parts. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them as far as scoring, similarity, and usefullness. I kind of think it's a bit too soon to start worrying about it, but if it's a free diagnostic, it probably can't hurt. Thoughts?

 

[NRAI2001]

Why did people vote no?

 

[cosmicstarr]

I would think any practice is good practice.

 

[disheveled_dave]

I would think any practice is good practice.

I have nothing to back this up with, but keep in mind that Kaplan is a business. Any practice test that they give you that can make you think you need to enroll in the class means more business for them.

 

[shantster]

Kaplan is offering free MCAT tests (I'm assuming they are the condensed version) pretty soon around these parts. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them as far as scoring, similarity, and usefullness. I kind of think it's a bit too soon to start worrying about it, but if it's a free diagnostic, it probably can't hurt. Thoughts?

They came to our campus this year already. I took it and found it be a good thing to use. If you do the same thing that we did, then it's only about 3 hours long since they only give you one 10 minute break, cut out to writing section, and have a little more than half of the PS, VR, and BS sections. They did this as an attempt to get people to take their class, and from what I understand from a friend that started taking the class last weekend, it was the same test that they do as their diagnostic.

Personally, I found it beneficial just as a way to get myself to realize that I do need to start studying sometime (you realize that a lot more when you have something tangible in front of you to look at). They also gave you the answers (no descriptions) and you get to keep the book with the questions. The score sheet also came with a break down of how well you did in each topic for the different sections. Granted there's only a few questions of each kind asked so it's not a very accurate depiction of how well you know each topic, but it's again something tangible to get you to start studying.

And, again, it's free. I don't think I would have paid for it since I would rather just take a full-length to see where I was since that would be more accurate, but since I didn't have to pay for it, it was worth it.

 

[shantster]

I have nothing to back this up with, but keep in mind that Kaplan is a business. Any practice test that they give you that can make you think you need to enroll in the class means more business for them.

At first I thought that they would make the test to be artificially hard to get us to all freak out about it, but I didn't think it overall was that bad. Obviously, I would like to improve my score before the actual MCAT and this was done without studying, but for the most part I felt that I understood what the questions were asking.

 

[modelslashactor]

A word of caution: I don't think Kaplan scales their scores very well. I took TPR practice, missed a bunch of questions, and got a 29, felt not too shabby. When I took the Kaplan sample I got around 85% right and got a 37 (WTF?)

Now I am superconfused, but I am more inclined to believe TPR. Hopefully they're the wrong ones, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[disheveled_dave]

At first I thought that they would make the test to be artificially hard to get us to all freak out about it, but I didn't think it overall was that bad. Obviously, I would like to improve my score before the actual MCAT and this was done without studying, but for the most part I felt that I understood what the questions were asking.

Yeah, I took the Kaplan course w/o ever taking one of the free tests, so I don't know what they are really like. It's just something that I would consider doing if I was running a test-prep company

 

[NRAI2001]

Yeah, I took the Kaplan course w/o ever taking one of the free tests, so I don't know what they are really like. It's just something that I would consider doing if I was running a test-prep company

Your evil

 

[shantster]

Yeah, I took the Kaplan course w/o ever taking one of the free tests, so I don't know what they are really like. It's just something that I would consider doing if I was running a test-prep company

Of course. And then you could advertise it by showing that people increased from a 15 on their first diagnostic to 35 just because they took your course! 🙄

 

[disheveled_dave]

Of course. And then you could advertise it by showing that people increased from a 15 on their first diagnostic to 35 just because they took your course! 🙄

In other news, Dave's Test Prep is now open for business, we will be offering a free practice exam next weekend...

I have many friends in the business major, guess it's rubbing off

 

[dbhvt]

It is free. The only cost is your time, and it is worth that. I would advise not paying a lot of attention to the score (one way or the other). That being said, the experience of sitting down and doing MCAT style questions in a proctored format early on helped me get focused.