GS-1 Test: Wow

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Silverfalcon

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I normally don't like making threads on topics that happened before, but I feel this post is worthy to discuss.

I just took my first GS-1 and here are my comments. I'm curious what others in recent period who used GS tests - both GS-1 and other ones - think about them.

PS and BS
- Length of passage is absolutely unrealistic. GS somehow thinks it's "OK" to have passages that fail to meet the correct length of the passages. I don't get it, especially when I saw two paragraph passage with two questions - really?
- Discrete questions sometimes ask some of the most unconventional things I've seen. A question about ductus arteriosus was just thrown out in the discrete. I don't have a problem with seeing something I've never read before. But, in other discrete from my practices, question stem at least tells you more to help you reason things. I got this question right mainly because of some lucky POE.
- There were some OK questions, too, but this test certainly consisted of some questions that did not seem to be MCAT questions. Like, I would look at them and think, "This isn't kind of question that MCAT would test." I also found passages to be very little helpful for questions, which is clearly not the case for AAMC tests.

VR
- Again, it seems OK to GS that not having the proper length of the passages is fine. Except 2-3 passages, other passages' lengths were off by 100 words or more. I also found the style of writing to be very different from something that MCAT tests. This applies to both the structure of argument and details.
- Questions were not good. I thought TPR asked some bad questions... Until I saw this one. Verbal questions I got wrong seemed to be because the wording was bad, or the passages seemed to not completely support the answer choices. I mean, it was to the point that I couldn't think them as the "best answer choice."

I really don't have anything positive to say. This test was just not MCAT at all - and I don't consider this as a learning tool. Anyone wants to give feedback?

P.S. I forgot to mention Writing Samples. I chose to do them with official AAMC prompts, which were not available in this GS-1. Writing samples are not even that important for medical school, but I figured it was a lot better to use the ones that AAMC said that it may use (and provides on its website).
 
I took the PS and BS sections of this yesterday and it pissed me the eff off

I hate how I had to review my test right then, I wanted to go smoothly into BS after PS but couldn't bc I had to review right after. Also, i never got a score...It just kept saying "Please wait...your score is being calculated" I just had to take the #right/#total.

I prob won't use these much, just to take random section tests if I feel like I need extra practice.
 
I've taken 1-4 so far and I must say, these are NOT reflective of what's on AAMC (so real MCAT?)

However, these are good practice to improve on your weak areas. Like any other prep company's FLs, take these as practice and learn from the mistakes, instead of taking it as real-simulated MCAT experience.
 
It is true that once you "End Test" you must wait until your score is calculated before closing the window. This procedure take 10 seconds or less with a high speed connection.

Once your test has been corrected, you are given 3 choices: continue with the exam (which permits you to start the next section); reveal your score (which permits you to see your raw score and your scaled score); or, see Explanations (which of course allows you to see all your answers, mistakes and explanations/discussions threads for every question/video links).

Once your test it corrected, it is saved with your scores in your personal History section. In fact, when you review tests that you have done in the past (using the History section), even your highlighting and crossing out is saved so you can review your mistakes and infer what you were thinking at the time of the test.

We did a word count on the average of all our passages and it is within the range that the AAMC states on their website. Not all our passages are in the range but the overall average is accurate.

We don't have any passages with 2 questions. However some passages, just like the real MCAT, may have 1 or 2 questions in the group which may be based on a graph or table that is separate from the passage but continues the same topic or theme as the passage.

I'm not quite sure what was meant regarding Writing Sample prompts "which were not available in this GS-1" but we have quality prompts for each test as well as corrected Writing Samples in our Forum in order to see good/bad corrected essays.

As alluded to, we have a discussion thread for each of the more than 2000 questions that we have online and we encourage posts either just to learn, or, to challenge the validity of a question with members of our team that have successfully taken the MCAT.
 
We did a word count on the average of all our passages and it is within the range that the AAMC states on their website. Not all our passages are in the range but the overall average is accurate.

From MCAT Essentials 2010: The test consists of seven passages, each of which is about 600 words long, taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Note that the official MCAT says that for Verbal, each, not average, is about 600 words long. You may say that the average of 600 works out, but really, for the test taker, the noticeable length difference in passages can mess up the timing and therefore, produce unrealistic experiences for practices. Length is important for each passage especially because of the harsh curve presented in Verbal section of MCAT.

We don't have any passages with 2 questions. However some passages, just like the real MCAT, may have 1 or 2 questions in the group which may be based on a graph or table that is separate from the passage but continues the same topic or theme as the passage.

This is false. Look at GS-1, Passage 2 in Biological Science sections. There are clearly just two questions about sweat glands. And since GS supposedly repeats its contents (or at least they used to), who knows if there isn't any other case like this?

I'm not quite sure what was meant regarding Writing Sample prompts "which were not available in this GS-1" but we have quality prompts for each test as well as corrected Writing Samples in our Forum in order to see good/bad corrected essays.

From AAMC Writing Sample Prompt page: Topics selected for use in MCAT exams will be similar or identical to those in this list. The significance of this line is that if one is going to prepare for Writing section at all, he/she should stick to the ones in that list (that list is very long) because the chance is, he/she will not likely to go through even majority of them anyway. Practicing with prompts not in that list seems to be less effective - no matter how good GS prompts may be.

As alluded to, we have a discussion thread for each of the more than 2000 questions that we have online and we encourage posts either just to learn, or, to challenge the validity of a question with members of our team that have successfully taken the MCAT.

You know, there was another thing I wanted to bring about the discussion board. The comparison between GS and AAMC CBT that frequently becomes brought up is outdated. I've yet to see an entire thread where people post their recent scores on CBT (as in late 2008 to present) because I recall how GS CBT underwent changes recently. It would be nice (and realistic) if people can see the helpfulness of GS tests because right now, they all seem to be just diagnostics - a.k.a. inaccurate test results.
 
I have taken many GS tests and 1 AAMC test

For the PS and BS sections most of the questions seemed to be independent of the passage. This is not like the AAMC. There is also a lot of repeat questions between different tests.

For the VR, the highligting tool is a mess and it is very aggravating trying to use it. Also, most of the questions are found in the story rather than analytically found.

Sometimes when you display a test they will show up funny. One box can be at the right and the other at the left. One box can be a the top and another at the bottom.

All and all, i guess they are good practice tests for the real thing. I just wouldn't use them as a primary source before taking the test.
 
I have taken many GS tests and 1 AAMC test

For the PS and BS sections most of the questions seemed to be independent of the passage. This is not like the AAMC. There is also a lot of repeat questions between different tests.

For the VR, the highligting tool is a mess and it is very aggravating trying to use it. Also, most of the questions are found in the story rather than analytically found.

Sometimes when you display a test they will show up funny. One box can be at the right and the other at the left. One box can be a the top and another at the bottom.

All and all, i guess they are good practice tests for the real thing. I just wouldn't use them as a primary source before taking the test.



I had a very similar experience with the GS CBt. There were some passages on which it wouldn't let me highlight and then on the rest it will highlight the entire thing and won't let me undo it 😡
And yes, the boxes went crazy on my first exam. I missed at least 5 questions because the questions would be hiding somewhere in between the boxes and I was unable to see anything except for the first sentence or so of those questions.
 
Note that the official MCAT says that for Verbal, each, not average, is about 600 words long. You may say that the average of 600 works out, but really, for the test taker, the noticeable length difference in passages can mess up the timing and therefore, produce unrealistic experiences for practices. Length is important for each passage especially because of the harsh curve presented in Verbal section of MCAT.

Most people say that GS verbal does not have questions which accurately reflect the actual test, but a lot of people also complain about the length of some of the official verbal passages. It may be good practice for you.
 
GS is not that bad. I went in hearing somewhat negative things about it so I was skeptical, but after a few practice tests I got the hang of their style. It may not be like the actual mcat style, but its just more practice material..the only tests that resembles the actual MCAT are aamcs.

GS Physical ranges from easy no brainers to questions that just make you want to recreate the scene from office space. They are usually calculation heavy, and they tend to have a lot of repeats. However, I still got a good amount of practice out of them.

GS Verbal.........eh, kind of weak. I found myself finishing sometimes with 15 mins left and would still get a 12 on the section. I'm almost 100 percent sure that will not happen on the real mcat. What they lack is questions which really make you think about the passage and the author. They tend to have easy questions where all you do is look back at the passage and you get in 5 secs. Not saying these don't appear on the real mcat, but..not as frequent. Usually the real mcat will have questions where you have to do a lot of infering and make good guesses, not " Out of the following which does the author not like " and you back and you see " I like this this and this "

GS Bio I thought was pretty good. Some pretty random questions at times but doable. I feel like their bio correlates a lot with aamc practice tests.

Overall, I feel like I got a good amount of the 9 GS tests I took ( I didnt take 7 since I've heard it gives people nightmares.)


Also if anyone's curious
GS 1 - 31
GS 2 - 25
GS 3 - 27
GS 4 - 28
GS 5 - 31
GS 6 - 32
GS 8 - 31
GS 9 - 32
GS 10 - 35
 
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