IMPORTANT QUESTION => Aug. MCAT

[BrownSugar84]

I studied all summer for the Aug. MCAT...I took Kaplan......I took about 10 full-lengths before the real thing. I was getting 30-34's on Kaplan's tests...and 34-36 on AAMC tests. My score on the real thing did not reflect this at all....phys-8, v-9, b-10 wr-Q......I did not understand how this could have happened at all because I was getting 10-12 in physical...and kaplan physical is harder than AAMC physical. I obviously have to retake this test in April. What should I do differently in terms of preparation......I am aiming for above 32...I know I can get it.....should I get different materials in addition to my Kaplan stuff? Somebody help me!!!!

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[evajaclynn]

I studied all summer for the Aug. MCAT...I took Kaplan......I took about 10 full-lengths before the real thing. I was getting 30-34's on Kaplan's tests...and 34-36 on AAMC tests. My score on the real thing did not reflect this at all....phys-8, v-9, b-10 wr-Q......I did not understand how this could have happened at all because I was getting 10-12 in physical...and kaplan physical is harder than AAMC physical. I obviously have to retake this test in April. What should I do differently in terms of preparation......I am aiming for above 32...I know I can get it.....should I get different materials in addition to my Kaplan stuff? Somebody help me!!!!

I also ended up with a 27Q and took 7 practice tests with a range of scores above this. I'm still applying and think I have a decent shot even with this scores. I don't know what went wrong, but sometimes I think that the tests are the luck of the draw. Maybe a section comes up that you are well prepared for, versus a section that you struggle with. I think that you prepared well - were you nervous? Did the test seem exceptionally hard? Maybe you overstudied and already reached your peak. Examcrackers offers good, condensed study material. Maybe that would help.

 

[me3]

I agree with eva that sometimes you get sections you are good at and sometimes not. Also, the other thing you have to keep in mind and that is not factored into your practice tests is the anxiety/stress/nervousness factor for the real thing. I was getting consistent 31's on my practice tests and ended up with a 31 on the real thing (although i thought I did worse than that and the score distribution was out of whack). If you were getting 30+ on your practice tests I would definitely say to retake it because those are real indicators. And don't lose confidence.

 

[kornnata]

same thing here.. I got 30 to 34 on practice tests, but only 30 on the real thing. It's not a big drop but still not my best. I think the science topic on the MCAT is broader now which make it harder to prepare using the test prep. If you hit the topic that you are comfortable with, it's very likely you will get 11 or 12. My verbal is consistent though. With 9 or 10 on practice and I got 9 on real MCAT.

 

[hardyharhar]

I studied all summer for the Aug. MCAT...I took Kaplan......I took about 10 full-lengths before the real thing. I was getting 30-34's on Kaplan's tests...and 34-36 on AAMC tests. My score on the real thing did not reflect this at all....phys-8, v-9, b-10 wr-Q......I did not understand how this could have happened at all because I was getting 10-12 in physical...and kaplan physical is harder than AAMC physical. I obviously have to retake this test in April. What should I do differently in terms of preparation......I am aiming for above 32...I know I can get it.....should I get different materials in addition to my Kaplan stuff? Somebody help me!!!!

Hi BrownSugar,

I improved 6 points from this april to this august by using a lot of different practice tests from a lot of different test prep companies. I was able to obtain practice material from Princeton Review - which I highly recommend for its extensive Biological Sciences review - in addition to the Kaplan materials, and also think about getting ExamKracker's verbal prep. They get you thinking about verbal in a whole new way. I was practicing mostly verbal from June 04 to Aug 04, with a little bit of science scattered in to maintain what I had achieved in that arena in April. Also scope out the place you'll be testing next April and try to get a seat in the front/back or wherever if you have some weird compunction about this, as I did. You have six months - think about it as six months to get your score up to a 40. Shoot high, practice hard, be prepared to gain weight and look forward to going back to your normal self after the exam.
You sound smart and conscientious, so I know you will be able to get your high score.

 

[Apparition]

From what I remember reading on SDN after previous MCAT scores were released, pretty much everyone got scores within their practice range. After this test, so many people scored so much lower than their practice tests predicted that it's almost strange. People who averaged 11-12 on PS, got 7s and 8s.

Does anyone know how aamc enters the scores into the database. Is it all derived from scantron sheets via some kind of a computerized system or do the people actually enter data into the computer? If it's the latter (though I doubt it), it's virtually impossible for every one of those scores to be entered correctly.

 

[evajaclynn]

From what I remember reading on SDN after previous MCAT scores were released, pretty much everyone got scores within their practice range. After this test, so many people scored so much lower than their practice tests predicted that it's almost strange. People who averaged 11-12 on PS, got 7s and 8s.

Does anyone know how aamc enters the scores into the database. Is it all derived from scantron sheets via some kind of a computerized system or do the people actually enter data into the computer? If it's the latter (though I doubt it), it's virtually impossible for every one of those scores to be entered correctly.

I don't know for sure how they score it, but I got 2 points lower in each section than I did normally (on both KAPLAN and AAMC tests). Oh well, maybe I just had a bad day. Hoping that I can still get in somewhere!

 

[schoolgirl]

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[ElKapitan]

It sucks! The truth is people are studying harder than ever now and these differences in scores are only because people get tests with ringers on them etc. I noticed two points lower in both sciences and 4 lower in verbal. This has not much to do with me, but it has to do with the strength of people taking your test! Statistics do not always work for you. If you take it again and have a larger concentration of people that are less prepared you could also see better scores than your practice tests. Which does happen, but people regretfully focus on the rest who saw lower results.

Not to be a wiener, but I think the tests are usually about the same degree of difficulty. I don't think people are getting smarter or studying harder, but that it is a statistical anomaly that some people did poorly. There were a lot of people that were very prepared but still had to guess on several questions ( be it educated or random guessing). A few people probably got all of their educated guesses wrong. Basically, some people had $hitty luck. This is why I feel that the MCAT is Bull$hit.

What if you know 90% of the things that would be on the BS section, and they ask the other 10%. What if you are a bad test taker? What if you are awesome at actually doing things, as in research, but have trouble with written tests? Some will say AdCom look into these questions I just postulated, but I don't think they do. I am sure they get a stiffy when they see a perfect score and disgust at a low 20. What do you guys think.

 

[fahimaz7]

The test is such a variable. Granted, some people bust out 38s all day and make a 39 on any real mcat. But, for the most part.. Most people fluctuate depending on the material and the passages.

Don't feel bad.

32 was the highest I had in Kaplan. 30 on the real thing w/ a 9 in PS. Am I mad? Eh, not really.

scott

 

[nicholonious]

I studied all summer for the Aug. MCAT...I took Kaplan......I took about 10 full-lengths before the real thing. I was getting 30-34's on Kaplan's tests...and 34-36 on AAMC tests. My score on the real thing did not reflect this at all....phys-8, v-9, b-10 wr-Q......I did not understand how this could have happened at all because I was getting 10-12 in physical...and kaplan physical is harder than AAMC physical. I obviously have to retake this test in April. What should I do differently in terms of preparation......I am aiming for above 32...I know I can get it.....should I get different materials in addition to my Kaplan stuff? Somebody help me!!!!

I was in the same shoes as you, except for a small difference. I took summer kaplan, took many of the practice tests, but did NOT take the august kaplan feeling though my scores were not adequent to med school standards. Anyways, I'm redoing Kaplan with their 'higher score guarentee" offer with the change of purely using their resources and not necessarily their classroom instruction. Maybe you can take advantage of that, get more practice, and hopefully have the preparation that secures your ideal score.

By the way,
word of mouth is that AMCAS makes more difficult questions in most of its sections for APRIL tests vs. AUGUST tests due to the notion that students during the summer have more free time to study and will most likely out perform a student currently studying in undergrad during the spring. Again, this is not fact, just heard it through the grapevine.

Best of luck on your next MCAT if you plan to take it!

 

[palminator2003]

I studied all summer for the Aug. MCAT...I took Kaplan......I took about 10 full-lengths before the real thing. I was getting 30-34's on Kaplan's tests...and 34-36 on AAMC tests. My score on the real thing did not reflect this at all....phys-8, v-9, b-10 wr-Q......I did not understand how this could have happened at all because I was getting 10-12 in physical...and kaplan physical is harder than AAMC physical. I obviously have to retake this test in April. What should I do differently in terms of preparation......I am aiming for above 32...I know I can get it.....should I get different materials in addition to my Kaplan stuff? Somebody help me!!!!

Could you be a little more specific about how you studied during the summer? Taking the 10 full lengths and the AAMC's are definitely good things, but how did you review the material? Also, did you study/sleep the day before the exam?

 

[myodana]

From what I remember reading on SDN after previous MCAT scores were released, pretty much everyone got scores within their practice range. After this test, so many people scored so much lower than their practice tests predicted that it's almost strange. People who averaged 11-12 on PS, got 7s and 8s.

isn't there also some data about how the average for the august MCAT is usually lower? (i thought it had something to do with people taking the august test as their second mcat, hoping to improve, but then not improving, while in april more people take it once, are happy with their score and don't take it again...)