how much did your final score go up from your first practice test?

[pablum]

For those who have taken the MCAT, I'm curious to know how your actual MCAT score differed from your first AAMC practice test? I know each person's experience is going to vary, but I'd like to get an idea of how much I can improve. I've been studying for about 2 weeks and although I haven't reviewed all of the material, I really wanted to get an idea of what the test is actually like (some of the study materials can be overly dense). I got a 26 (7 PS - the bane of my existence, 9 VR, 10BS), and am hoping - from others' experiences - that a large increase is realistic. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[peripherin]

Score improvement is largely dependent on the amount of effort you spend reviewing the content and your test taking abilities.

First AAMC/Kaplan test: 25
AAMC practice tests 1-2 weeks before the actual exam: 33-36
Actual MCAT: 38

 

[TheMightyBoosh]

Yea assessing yourself without finishing content review first is pretty pointless.

 

[JSU]

Score improvement is largely dependent on the amount of effort you spend reviewing the content and your test taking abilities.

First AAMC/Kaplan test: 25
AAMC practice tests 1-2 weeks before the actual exam: 33-36
Actual MCAT: 38

Thats truly awsome, good for you!

 

[Enoko]

Don't waste practice tests until you have gone through all the material at least once. It will do more harm then good. For example you might take 2 practice tests and by chance neither of the tests had amino acid questions on them, but they both had Thermo-Chem questions that you did bad on.

Now when you actually study the material you will spend extra time on the Thermo-Chem section because subconsciously you know how hard it was when you took the practice tests, but then when you get to the Amino Acid section you will skim it more and not feel like studying it as much because you have yet to see a question on it.


Anyway, once you do go through all the material at least once take a practice test. My first practice test was the free CBT 3, and I got a 31. People say that test is a lot easier then the real MCAT though. I studied for 4 more weeks and then scored a 31 on the real MCAT.

 

[loua0731]

How many practice tests do you have access to? I took TPR, so I had 8 AAMC tests and approx 10 TPR exams. I kindof disagree about not taking practice tests until you've finished studying. I think taking practice exams periodically is a good way to gauge your progress and get you used to the exam format, working under the time crunch, etc.

I took a TPR exam before I even started studying, and got a 23.

Then after two months of class, I took another, and got a 30.
Few weeks after that, I got a 29.

Then I took a break from tests from awhile and did some heavy studying. Towards the end of my studying, I only took AAMCs:

AAMC 4: 29
AAMC 6: 36
AAMC 7: 35
AAMC 8: 31
AAMC 9: 36
AAMC 10: 35

I haven't gotten my MCAT scores back yet, but from the start of my studying to the end, my score jumped 12-13 points. So it's definitely possible to make a considerable increase in your score. 🙂

 

[UrsusHorribilis]

My first AAMC was actually the exact average of my AAMCs and I went down 2 points on the real thing. That being said, I was mostly done with content when I started the practice exams...the amount of work I did between starting practices and the test was a lot lower than the amount I did between starting to study and starting practice tests.