How much more difficult are later AAMC tests compared to AAMC 3/4?

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

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I have finished AAMC 3 and 4 scoring a 31 on both, which worries me a bit because apparently later AAMC's are more difficult and the MCAT is even more difficult. I feel like I'm capable of doing better than a 31 because my content knowledge, but for some reason some of the questions throw me off. On both exams I've been 1-2 questions away from a 32-33, even though my verbal doesn't seem to want to budge from the 10 mark. Thoughts?

 

[Jloyay]

I scored a 33 on 3 and 37 on 4 but for 5 and 8 I got 32 and 33 respectively. They're harder, but I also studied a bit more between doing 3/4 and 5/8.

 

[PanRoasted]

I honestly don't think there is almost any perceivable difference in difficulty .... maybe a bit more pure organic in BS but that's it.

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[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

I scored a 33 on 3 and 37 on 4 but for 5 and 8 I got 32 and 33 respectively. They're harder, but I also studied a bit more between doing 3/4 and 5/8.

How did your actual MCAT compare to your practice tests?

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I've done all the AAMCs except for 11 and I'd say there isn't much of a difference in difficulty to be honest. Maybe the only difference I noticed is that the lower tests have more pure knowledge BS questions than the later ones. My scores have generally gone up as I take the later tests too, but that's definitely a result of more studying than the tests getting easier. I wouldn't worry too much.

If you haven't already take the self-assessments and figure out what you need to focus on.

 

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

I've done all the AAMCs except for 11 and I'd say there isn't much of a difference in difficulty to be honest. Maybe the only difference I noticed is that the lower tests have more pure knowledge BS questions than the later ones. My scores have generally gone up as I take the later tests too, but that's definitely a result of more studying than the tests getting easier. I wouldn't worry too much.

If you haven't already take the self-assessments and figure out what you need to focus on.

After having reviewed it's pretty evident that the vast majority of the questions I missed were not because of lack of knowledge but because of stupid mistakes/misreading of questions. Without the pressure of time I was able to go back and answer correctly each of the problems I missed without looking at the solutions, with the exception of the few questions I misread. This is frustrating because it's not as if I run out of time either, I generally finish with close to 10 min left per section or more. I'm hoping my scores will increase as I better acclimate to the AAMC CBT style

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

After having reviewed it's pretty evident that the vast majority of the questions I missed were not because of lack of knowledge but because of stupid mistakes/misreading of questions. Without the pressure of time I was able to go back and answer correctly each of the problems I missed without looking at the solutions, with the exception of the few questions I misread. This is frustrating because it's not as if I run out of time either, I generally finish with close to 10 min left per section or more. I'm hoping my scores will increase as I better acclimate to the AAMC CBT style

Just continue to do practice passages and FLs. I took me forever to quash those same errors you mentioned, but in my recent tests I finally seem to have eliminated most of them and my score jumped a good bit as a result. Something that really helped me was to slow down and continuously refer back to the passage. This means my timing is tighter now since I'm not sprinting through passages and finishing with 20 minutes to spare, but having less time to go back and check answers but with less of a need to is better than having so much time you don't know what to do with it and skimming over the questions you made stupid mistakes on.

 

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

Just continue to do practice passages and FLs. I took me forever to quash those same errors you mentioned, but in my recent tests I finally seem to have eliminated most of them and my score jumped a good bit as a result. Something that really helped me was to slow down and continuously refer back to the passage. This means my timing is tighter now since I'm not sprinting through passages and finishing with 20 minutes to spare, but having less time to go back and check answers but with less of a need to is better than having so much time you don't know what to do with it and skimming over the questions you made stupid mistakes on.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I noticed that I often would mark questions and come back to them later on, but I would have to reintroduce the whole idea of the question again. I think it's better to spend more time initially and finish with less time. I have about 3 weeks left and the rest of the AAMC tests, so hopefully I see an increase by my test date. I also have 3 TBR tests I can use if I find the time.

 

[niblet]

I'm up through AAMC 9 and thus far have found the whole "increasing difficulty" thing to be overstated, if not a complete myth. As a caveat, though, the two I've yet to take (10 &11) are supposed to be the "hardest" and "most like the real thing", so we'll see.

Don't worry too much. I would imagine it's much more common for your score to raise than to lower.

 

[QuantumFlame]

I'm up through AAMC 9 and thus far have found the whole "increasing difficulty" thing to be overstated, if not a complete myth. As a caveat, though, the two I've yet to take (10 &11) are supposed to be the "hardest" and "most like the real thing", so we'll see.

Don't worry too much. I would imagine it's much more common for your score to raise than to lower.

Same...I took AAMC10 a few days ago and scored exactly as I have been for 4-9. I felt like the PS got a bit harder, but other than that no big difference.

I'm taking 11 Monday, and I'll update this then.
Good luck!