Got the prep Materials. do i take a practice test first?

[drholiday]

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Hey So I bought the Exam Krackers complete study guide. And I have been reading posts on what people have done. But I am confused as to where to do all the practices tests, which ones and how many are free, and when to take them.

I went to the Exam Krackers study 10 week program and it says the very first thing to do was take a free full length MCAT exam?

Do I take this without studying before? Is the point of it just to get my brain working and then to see how I study? I mean what if I score like a 10 overall? That would mean my weak points are in every area which would make sense because I haven't studied anything yet?

What are the links to the free ones?
Doesn't Kaplan offer free tests too? But I hear AAMC has the best ones
How many free ones are offered and from how many sites?

I guess the easiest thing to do would be to send me some links with your replies. Thanks alot

 

[QofQuimica]

Hey So I bought the Exam Krackers complete study guide. And I have been reading posts on what people have done. But I am confused as to where to do all the practices tests, which ones and how many are free, and when to take them.

I went to the Exam Krackers study 10 week program and it says the very first thing to do was take a free full length MCAT exam?

Do I take this without studying before? Is the point of it just to get my brain working and then to see how I study? I mean what if I score like a 10 overall? That would mean my weak points are in every area which would make sense because I haven't studied anything yet?

What are the links to the free ones?
Doesn't Kaplan offer free tests too? But I hear AAMC has the best ones
How many free ones are offered and from how many sites?

I guess the easiest thing to do would be to send me some links with your replies. Thanks alot

There is one free practice test each on line on the Kaplan, TPR, and AAMC websites. (There may be some others also.) Take any one of those before you start studying. That is your diagnostic or baseline. It will give you some idea of your strengths and weaknesses. When you start studying focus on your weaker areas first. In another month or so, take a second exam and repeat this process.

My advice is to buy the most recent AAMC exams. I believe they sell them in packs of three still. Get the most recent three and use those in the last few weeks before you take the real test. I know it seems like a lot of money to a college student, but believe me, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to what you are going to spend in med school. Compared to the Steps, the MCAT is a real bargain. 🙄

to you. 🙂

 

[fenguin]

Hey So I bought the Exam Krackers complete study guide. And I have been reading posts on what people have done. But I am confused as to where to do all the practices tests, which ones and how many are free, and when to take them.

I went to the Exam Krackers study 10 week program and it says the very first thing to do was take a free full length MCAT exam?

Do I take this without studying before? Is the point of it just to get my brain working and then to see how I study? I mean what if I score like a 10 overall? That would mean my weak points are in every area which would make sense because I haven't studied anything yet?

What are the links to the free ones?
Doesn't Kaplan offer free tests too? But I hear AAMC has the best ones
How many free ones are offered and from how many sites?

I guess the easiest thing to do would be to send me some links with your replies. Thanks alot

Definitely take a practice exam first, even if you don't know anything - it really helps later on with your confidence when you've seen how much you've improved. 😉

Plus, you need to study with the objective of being able to answer the passage-based questions on the MCAT, and so actually knowing the types of questions on the MCAT will help you study effectively.

 

[SN2ed]

I'll just copy and paste some of what I've already wrote then talk about i some more.

+As many have mentioned diags are completely worthless. They are in no way representative of the real test. The Kaplan one I took was much tougher, scaled differently, different number of questions, different format, missing the writing section, different timing, and it wasn't on the computer. Diags don't even tell you your weaknesses since they are so different from the real thing.+ All diags tell you is that you aren't ready to take the test yet. Well is that honestly a surprise? It's not like you have been studying for the real thing months before you took this. It tells you what you already know, you have to actually study for the MCAT. Shock! What a surprise! You can't take the MCAT without studying first. Diags are meant to demean you to get you to study more and so that they can keep their promise of raising your score x amount of points. Take a practice test after you've done some studying, then you'll be able to accurately access your progress.

Now let's say this isn't Kaplan's diag or another diag, but one of their actual practice tests. In that case, it should be structured the same so cut out the stuff in between the + signs. Even a practice test doesn't accurately tell you your weaknesses, though it may be in a similar format to the MCAT. To describe my reason for this I'll give an example. Let's say you're really good at physics, but you haven't taken a course in awhile. At the same time you're bad at bio, but you just finished a course. On the practice test you're bio would probably be higher because it's fresher. That said, once you start studying, your physics skills will have the rust taken off of them and you'll start seeing huge gains. Unfortunately, since your practice test said your physics was bad, you've been focusing on that instead of bio, your real weakness. Sure this isn't a good example, but hopefully it gets my point across.

I think you should hold off on any practice tests until after a month of studying. Then during the second month take two tests. Finally, in the third month, take as many as possible. While I think you should hold off on practice tests, you SHOULD do as many practice problems/passages as humanly possible. Practicing problems is very important (imo the most important part of studying for the MCAT). Save the practice tests for later.

 

[0Complications]

Hey So I bought the Exam Krackers complete study guide. And I have been reading posts on what people have done. But I am confused as to where to do all the practices tests, which ones and how many are free, and when to take them.

I went to the Exam Krackers study 10 week program and it says the very first thing to do was take a free full length MCAT exam?

Do I take this without studying before? Is the point of it just to get my brain working and then to see how I study? I mean what if I score like a 10 overall? That would mean my weak points are in every area which would make sense because I haven't studied anything yet?

What are the links to the free ones?
Doesn't Kaplan offer free tests too? But I hear AAMC has the best ones
How many free ones are offered and from how many sites?

I guess the easiest thing to do would be to send me some links with your replies. Thanks alot

I would definitely take a practice first. I would save the free AAMC #3 exam for later.

Here is a link to a free diagnostic exam from Princeton Review:

http://www.princetonreview.com/medi...PAGE=614&TYPE=MCAT-PRACTICE-TEST&adcode=41848

 

[drholiday]

I would definitely take a practice first. I would save the free AAMC #3 exam for later.

Here is a link to a free diagnostic exam from Princeton Review:

http://www.princetonreview.com/medi...PAGE=614&TYPE=MCAT-PRACTICE-TEST&adcode=41848

Thanks alot. I will take the advice and check out the Kaplan and Princeton reviews practice test first. It seems that AAMC tests are the best so I will certainly save that one for later.
I went to Kaplan's website and tried to do the biological test question and I had no idea what they were talking about. I took biology 4-4.5 years ago and as a freshman things didn't sink in as well. But hey at least I will know what to study.

Is the Verbal or Biological Section the hardest?

 

[0Complications]

Thanks alot. I will take the advice and check out the Kaplan and Princeton reviews practice test first. It seems that AAMC tests are the best so I will certainly save that one for later.
I went to Kaplan's website and tried to do the biological test question and I had no idea what they were talking about. I took biology 4-4.5 years ago and as a freshman things didn't sink in as well. But hey at least I will know what to study.

Is the Verbal or Biological Section the hardest?

It all depends on who you talk to. You'll know your own strengths and weaknesses soon enough. 😉