How representative is Khan academy vs AAMC question packs?

[Endoxifen]

I've been studying for the MCAT in May and I'm about to start taking AAMC practice tests. Up to this point, however, I've been doing review with EK, Khan academy, and the AAMC practice materials. I've found that the Khan academy chapter questions are challenging, while the AAMC question packs have been almost comically easy. Both were developed by the AAMC, so I'm surprised by how different they seem. Has anyone else noticed this trend? For those who used both, which seemed more representative of the MCAT's difficulty?

Thank you!

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[TheBiologist]

The AAMC materials. One of the passages on my real MCAT was was word for word the same as one that appeared on an old AAMC practice test I took.

The AAMC made the materials in conjunction with Khan, so I'd say they are both very representative.

I never did the "question packs" by the AAMC, I only did their Official practice test (which I would do if I were you once you have done all your studying). My score was within 2 points of my real MCAT score

 

[AVSS HDS CSM]

In my experience, AAMC material was the closest to the real thing. Khan was ok, but not as similar. They are both definitely way better than any of the prep companies, those other ones are so not like the real test that they're only good for endurance training lol! In my opinion anyhow...

 

[Endoxifen]

In my experience, AAMC material was the closest to the real thing. Khan was ok, but not as similar. They are both definitely way better than any of the prep companies, those other ones are so not like the real test that they're only good for endurance training lol! In my opinion anyhow...

It's really the disparity in difficulty which I find strange. I'm scoring an average of 70% correct on the Khan material, but about 98% on the question packs. In that respect, the Khan materials are much more useful because I'm really learning things that I didn't know before.

 

[AVSS HDS CSM]

It's really the disparity in difficulty which I find strange. I'm scoring an average of 70% correct on the Khan material, but about 98% on the question packs. In that respect, the Khan materials are much more useful because I'm really learning things that I didn't know before.

I hear that, it's good to learn new things. But my scores on the AAMC stuff were much closer to my actual MCAT than any other prep score was. Just saying, if it helps. maybe different for different people. Honestly, the point of the MCAT is to get a good score, and the point of your undergrad is to learn new things.....

 

[Siromas]

I've been studying for the MCAT in May and I'm about to start taking AAMC practice tests. Up to this point, however, I've been doing review with EK, Khan academy, and the AAMC practice materials. I've found that the Khan academy chapter questions are challenging, while the AAMC question packs have been almost comically easy. Both were developed by the AAMC, so I'm surprised by how different they seem. Has anyone else noticed this trend? For those who used both, which seemed more representative of the MCAT's difficulty?

Thank you!

Careful, OP. Question Packs were made for the old exam (when the score was out of 45). The section banks are for the new exam, and are more representative of what you'll see on test day.

 

[Endoxifen]

Is the old MCAT really so different? I’m suprised they changed the entire exam philosophy.

Careful, OP. Question Packs were made for the old exam (when the score was out of 45). The section banks are for the new exam, and are more representative of what you'll see on test day.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

AAMC Questions packs are more for content knowledge than anything. So they should only be used to make sure there are no gaps in your content. Section bank and Khan mimic the experimental nature of the exam. Section bank questions are also representative of the hardest questions you''ll see on test day. I have heard rave reviews of the bio and psych khan passages. C/P khan are apparently to convoluted, and CARS khan is a little easier than the real thing apparently

 

[Endoxifen]

AAMC Questions packs are more for content knowledge than anything. So they should only be used to make sure there are no gaps in your content. Section bank and Khan mimic the experimental nature of the exam. Section bank questions are also representative of the hardest questions you''ll see on test day. I have heard rave reviews of the bio and psych khan passages. C/P khan are apparently to convoluted, and CARS khan is a little easier than the real thing apparently

Maybe that’s my problem. I’m only using Khan for C/P because they are my weakest sections. Khan problems for everything else have been no problem, but the physics and chem is a serious pain. Do you know if the Khan physics and chem is representative and just hard or are they off the mark?

 

[Chromium Surfer]

@aldol16 has a Phd in Orgo IIRC and even he said the questions were off. But maybe he can speak more to that because I have yet to attempt them haha.

 

[UIGuy2022]

Maybe that’s my problem. I’m only using Khan for C/P because they are my weakest sections. Khan problems for everything else have been no problem, but the physics and chem is a serious pain. Do you know if the Khan physics and chem is representative and just hard or are they off the mark?

I found the Khan Academy MCAT section banks very useful for practicing passage based questions. I personally used all of them besides CARS and made ANKI Cards for any topics I found were high yield. I specifically looked for similarities between the AAMC exams and KA. You'll start to notice trends. FWIW, I found many similar prompts on the C/P. IMO, definitely worth your time rather than utilizing TPR or Kaplan Q Banks...

 

[aldol16]

So if Khan Academy hasn't changed the C/P practice section substantially since I last looked at it (years ago now), then it's still ****. The C/P back then was terrible because it had really bad concepts that you wouldn't see on the exam. It also had passages that were just super hard to understand if you're not a physicist or chemist in that specific subfield - that's something the MCAT would never do. It might present a passage on an obscure topic, but it'll usually provide you with enough information to figure out what's going on. They're not trying to test whether you know about a specific subfield of physics but rather whether you can apply broad, unifying principles to specific passages.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

^^^^

This worries me. I have been planning to make KA a major part of my preparation, but now I'm not so sure. Anyone else have any opinions about how representative then KA materials are for C/P and B/B?

 

[curvesetter]

I thought the KA questions were pretty bad (this was back in 2015, im not sure if they updated it since then). AAMC is king! I've never found flaws in the logic among AAMC material.