How representative is Kaplans Diagnostic MCAT?

[bonez318ti]

They mentioned that their grading scale for their diagnostic is statistically significant because they've had alot of people sit for it.. but without more information, even that is almost useless.. (ie: are the people who sat for it all just taking it for the first time as the diag? is this test the one that they give for free as the 'free MCAT' to get you to take the course?)

so my question is.. how representative is the grade from the diag? Do people usually tend to score lower/higher (3 or 4+)/way higher (8+) than it on the real MCAT?

I realize its really a loaded question since going into the course, people likely haven't done any prepareation and studying.. and probably may not even take the diagnostic all that seriously... but just curious as to what other people have experienced..

if you've already taken the MCAT, and taken the diag, care to share what was the point improvement?

also for those of you who've taken it, how does the diag compare to the real MCAT? is it harder? easier? I took the diag this weekend and it didn't seem too bad at all. Not to say it was easy.. but I was expecting something that would completely blow me away.. and assumed it would be way harder than the real MCAT so that they they are less likely to have to pay up on their 'higher score' money back guarantee.

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[dca_55]

I'd also be interested to hear what people think about this. I also just took the Kaplan diagnostic and was pretty pleased with how I did, considering I didn't review the basic sciences (other than orgo which I just finished this semester). I heard from someone that prepped with Kaplan for the April 04 test, that the real thing was much more difficult than all of the Kaplan materials/previous MCAT's he took there. Do other people that took the course for the April exam feel the same? I heard they are making the MCAT more difficult because too many people are scoring high with all of the prep courses out there, and I'm worried that the Kaplan materials haven't adjusted for that yet.

 

[N-toxicologist]

I took Princeton myself, but their diags were considerably harder than a real MCAT. I know this b/c we were flat out told they were. I've heard similar reports about Kaplan, but never from an official Kaplan rep, just speculation among some people who took Kaplan. But here's something to consider: they tell you there's an average of 10 point improvement, right? (any prep course). So consider the first diag pretty hard, combined with the lack of preparation and instruction/ experience. It makes sense that the last test would be considerably easier than the first so you see that kind of improvement. Plus, that "free" diag is meant to make you believe you need their course. I think it's safe to say the first test is probably harder. After you've prepared some, spring for the AAMC tests, if they're not already offered in your course. My improvement over the course was 22 to 32. We'll see what the real MCAT has to say about it...

I don't know if this helped either of you at all, but that's my 2 cents

 

[freesolo]

i just took the kap diagnostic too on sat, am i nuts or was there alot of time? like 5 min left over on each section.

 

[Cerbernator]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=113240&highlight=opinion+test+makers

 

[OTheHorror]

i think the Kaplan Diagnostic vs. Real Thing should be a sticky thread...

I think people do about 5-13 points higher on the real thing....

 

[Cerbernator]

i think the Kaplan Diagnostic vs. Real Thing should be a sticky thread...

I think people do about 5-13 points higher on the real thing....

Actually, Kaplan tests tend to be a poor indicator because real test scores seem to go either way (i searched through posts when i was taking the MCAT and many people score lower on the real thing). As I've said in many threads, I think Kraplan makes the absolute worst tests because they are nothing at all like the real thing. My advice would be to buy the aamc tests for an indication of where you are at and the TPR A-D tests to practice the hard probs.

 

[willthatsall]

Yeah, of course people do better on the real thing because they haven't prepared much when they take the diagnostic. I wonder if the main difference is preparation or if the Diagnostic is markedly harder than the regular one. From what people say it sounds as if the PS on the diagnostic is somewhat harder/longer calculations than the real thing. Other than that I haven't seen a general consensus on VR or BS. Also, Kaplan claims their scale is statistically accurate because they use data from all the people who have taken the class before. Someone was asking if the people they get the data from are taking it at the end of the class or at the beginning of the class because obviously that would make a difference in the scale. They must be using data from people who take it after they have prepared because I think the average score is in the teens to low 20's which is lower than the score you would expect if the exam was scaled according to people with similar preparation. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not. What I mean is if you score a 30 on the MCAT, that is about an 80th percentile on the real MCAT, but on the diagnostic a 30 probably puts you above the 90th percentile for that test. If the diagnostic was scaled according to people who were at a similar low level of preparation, a 30 on the diagnostic would be roughly equal to a 30 on the MCAT.

 

[Taty]

well I don't think it much representative. My diagnostic discouraged me from taking April test ( I got 16 or 17) . I scored 32 on the last kaplan test with 14,9,9...and decided to use my high score quarantee and take real test in august. The thing is that I am comp sci major and I dont know biology very good I hope to study for it during the summer.

 

[jeanie523]

Since I don't have my scores back, I can't speak from personal experience, but my brother took the Kaplan course and his scores on both were EXACTLY the same. When the test was only 2 weeks away, he went in everyday and took a mock test (scored between 36-41). He peaked a week before the test and scored a 39 on the last mock test (this was his score on the real thing).

I'm not sure if he's a special case, but my point is that I think it's really hard to make accurate generalizations on Kaplans (or any other prep course) full-lengths. Everyone's different in the way they handle tests, what they know already, have different strengths and weaknesses...so to say that one set of practice tests are definitely not worth doing is kind of jumping the gun, isn't it? Knowing the required topics cold is just that: knowing them cold. So applying this knowledge to questions that are similar to the real thing (although some at varying degrees), I think, is still good practice.

I respect everyone's opinion on this forum (as we are all going through the same experiences and it's nice to see where your peers stand on issues), so I want to believe that we consider each others advice/opinions/comments with some amount of perspective (especially including mine).

Just a thought....

 

[freesolo]

made a 22 on the diagnostic. Horrible on BS, but i havent had any organic.
I killed the verbal though 13! yay.

 

[jammin06]

taken two kaplan diagnostics so far, one freshman year (just for kicks and giggles) and one about 3 weeks ago at the end of my sophomore year. Scored a 15 (BVP: 4,5,6) the first time and a 24 (BVP: 5,9,10) the second time. yea, gonna need to work on bio hardcore. We'll see how my score looks after the PR diagnostic that i take on june 5th. man, how much does it suck that my parent's 30th wedding anniversary is on aug. 14. I wanna do something nice for them, but stupid amcas...gotta go and mess everything up.

 

[TheFlash]

I went up 15 points from my diagnostic score in the low 20's. How much you increase is going to be solely up to you and how much effort you put into your studies. Remember, practice makes perfect!

 

[stoic]

It's my understanding that there isn't a really good answer to this question. It seems that everyone does about 10+ points better on the real thing than on the initial diagnostic.

As for the full length practice MCAT's, I have heard many people say different things. Some people do better than the practice MCAT, some do the same, and some do worse (from the people I've talked to it seems about 1/3 of people fall into each catagory). I've talked to many many people about this and from that I gather that no one has any ****ing idea how you will do on the kaplan full lenght compared to the real test.

My .02

Dave

 

[rgporter]

so my question is.. how representative is the grade from the diag? Do people usually tend to score lower/higher (3 or 4+)/way higher (8+) than it on the real MCAT?
if you've already taken the MCAT, and taken the diag, care to share what was the point improvement?
also for those of you who've taken it, how does the diag compare to the real MCAT? is it harder? easier? I took the diag this weekend and it didn't seem too bad at all. Not to say it was easy.. but I was expecting something that would completely blow me away.. and assumed it would be way harder than the real MCAT so that they they are less likely to have to pay up on their 'higher score' money back guarantee.

I scored 6 points higher on the MCAT than I did on the free administration of one of Kaplans full length diagnostics at my school.

AMCAS online tests however nailed my score in phys and bio sciences right on every time. The only discrepancy was in the verbal section where I scored two points higher on the real thing (probably because I was more careful).

The diagnostic is definitely harder but in a nonrepresentative way. They stress questions where you have to have memorized some minute detail. Whereas on the real MCAT the answer to the question is almost always right in the passage if you read well enough to pick it out.

P.S. this is my opinion only and does not reflect the postion of the management of SDN.

 

[LUBDUBB]

I just took april mcat, but I'll try to shed some light.

I've done the kaplan initial diagnostic, 3 kaplan full lengths, TPR A-D, and 3 AAMC exams (4r-6r).

Kaplan DIAG:
The Kaplan diag is a bunch of crap - the verbal is wayy to easy, and the sciences are not as challenging as the real deal. IMHO, the exam is not similar to the actual mcat. However, it does give you a feel of where you stand.

Kaplan Full Lengths:

Vary greatly in difficulty and in scoring curve - On two exams I missed the exact same number of questions for each section, but the total scores differed by 3 points. Some full lengths are damnn hard, meaning you can't even finish, some are dirty easy. Definately worth doing because it gives you a good science background.

TPR A-D:
Pretty tough exams, scoring is pretty rough too...However, IMO, as far as the sciences, the actual mcat was similar to these exams. These exams are tough, but so is the real deal.

AAMC:

4R- PS is way easy, VR is on par with the real deal, BS is pretty good too.

5R - PS is way easy, VR and BS on target again.

6R - This exam felt right compared to all the other practice exams. But the real deal is much harder overall. My timing on the real thing was identical to 6R.

Overall, the kaplan diag served as a starting point for me. I started at a 23 on the diag, and had a linear progression over the course of my practice exams. I will give you a better idea when the scores come out.

~Lubdubb

 

[bigbassinbob]

Just thought I'd throw in my experience with the practice tests: I scored a 21 on the kaplan diag, 30 on the real thing.

 

[ken37]

Don't they purposely make the Kaplan Diag a lot harder than an actual MCAT, just to make you feel like you've improved by taking their course? That's what I've heard friends who took it, as well as others on this board say.

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Kaplan diagnostic is made 10x harder OR ELSE THEY WOULD HAVE HALF THE CUSTOMERS.

I took a diag, got a 12 total. I took an AMCAS a few weeks later and got a 24.

Don't let'm fool ya... it's a marketing strategy (aka deceiving).

 

[ASDIC]

i think kaplan is crap. they werent similar to the actual deal...none of them were.

 

[gls5377]

I think I went from a 21 diagnostic to roughly 29-30 on the final practice exams. Will see about the one that counts.

 

[Medikit]

Kaplan Tests...

In some ways the verbal section is easier on the Kaplan, however sometimes I just can't agree with their answers, I think they have a greater tendency to ask ambiguous questions. Ambiguous questions are hard to answer but in a different way than a difficult verbal question on the MCAT.

The bio was pretty close, but the obscure questions Kaplan asks tend to be something they covered in their big Kaplan book, whereas the obscure questions on the MCAT are not always in that book.

The PS is pretty close, but sometimes their answers are wrong.