How many FL's should someone take before the MCAT?

[Sarahka74]

I understand the importance of taking and reviewing practice exams but is there a recommendation as to how many FL's someone should take before the MCAT?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MCAT-MVP]

I am sure you will you get different opinions from different people about this question, but I can give you my recommendation.

After you have done a good job at reviewing the MCAT content I would recommend that you take about 2 or 3 practice test. Once you do that go over the exam for all of the questions, even the questions you get right. The reason is that you can sometimes pick up hints for questions in the explanations. Then I would review the content for the questions you got wrong.

After you review the exam and content take another 3-4 exams and repeat this process all over again and do a few free standing questions after you review a particular topic. Most MCAT books have this at the end of a section.

In total I would say take about 8-10, but the more the better. Just make sure you review all the questions once you finished, which is more important than just taking a practice test because you never know what kind of question you will get on the actual MCAT. Ultimately you want to score somewhere near your target score on a practice test.

Definitely make sure you do the AAMC practice test, because those are the best representation of how the actual MCAT will be.

Hope this help! Good luck with the MCAT. 🙂

 

[ZPakEffect]

The answer is to take as many as you need to achieve the score you want. If your target score is 510, then take enough practice tests until you are consistently scoring 513+ on your practice tests.

 

[novak123]

Just something to keep in mind - I wrote 10 exams in my last month and I was thoroughly burnt by the time the real thing came around. I regret that very much as I feel like it hampered my performance on the real thing. Make sure that you spread your exams out enough to ensure this doesn't happen to you.

 

[Abraxas305]

It really depends on the person. I personally took about 10 FL's before taking the real one. I took the first 7 of them every 10 days while half-way done with my content review. Took me 2 days to thoroughly (2 four-hour sessions to review). Last 3 exams I took 2 weeks leading to the exam, with my last week free of any exams and doing just passage practice and reinforcement of concepts.
On the other hand, I know someone that took the old MCAT who did 25 practice FL's. Ironically, that person scored a 25 on the real exam.
So the point is, depends on your study habits and depends on how well you review and post-game your strategy in tackling the next FL's.


Either that or you are going to have to take 60 practice FL's to reach dat target 528 score lulz

 

[Doctor Dream]

Agree with pretty much everything here. I think generally the more the better, but it's good to spread them out throughout your studying.

The answer is to take as many as you need to achieve the score you want. If your target score is 510, then take enough practice tests until you are consistently scoring 513+ on your practice tests.

Disagree with this though. Pretty much all the practice exams out now are really deflated, as shown time and time again by test takers on SDN. If you consistently score above 513 on practice exams, you could realistically expect 520+ on the real deal. I personally never scored above 503 on a TPR or Kaplan exam. Ended up scoring over 513 on the real thing. Point being, most practice exams are REALLY deflated, and it's unrealistic to consistently score above 513 on practice exams.

 

[TheGuru789]

Do as many practice problems as possible, but they don't all have to be FL length form. If you can get down your timing, # of FL's is irrelevant IMO.

 

[StudyLater]

I took dos.

510.