Interpreting AAMC Practice MCAT scores

[HorseOfJuly1394]

Hey folks,
I have been studying for about two months now, and I am set to take the MCAT on the 18th of July. I finally got to completing a practice AAMC exam, provided by Kaplan, this afternoon, and although my scores look okay, I am not really certain how to interpret the percentiles. Here's what I got.

Chem/Phys: 86%
CARS: 89%
Biology: 88%
Psych/Soc: 80% (I kind of skimped on this last section)

The scores are definite improvements over the practice Kaplan Full lengths that I took earlier. Does anybody know how this would look like out of 528, or is there any statistical data that one can refer me to?

Thanks guys!
Horsey

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[rraidermd]

Here is a compilation of people's scores:
compilation of scores

 

[Shreyasthegreat]

Hey dude, it looks like you're pretty set for the MCAT, based on past people's experiences with the AAMC FL and their actual exam.

I was taking a break earlier and feeling rather neurotic, so I put together a rough predictor of scores, which gives two ranges: one in which your score is likely to fall in, and one in which your score is 95% of the time going to fall in.

For anyone else reading this, I did not use any legitimate statistics to come up with this predictor, just some regression and tweaking of predictor formulas. (This means the previously stated 95% means literally nothing, except that I made the range larger so your score will probably fall in it).

I will be updating it with more scores and more scores come out, so maybe there will actually be a solid linear regression with a lot of data points, but for now, the regression is pretty weak. It's attached below for those curious.

 

[HorseOfJuly1394]

Wonderful guys. Thank you for all the statistics and help! I guess the best thing I can do now is just take 3 or four more practice exams and review a little!

 

[GrapesofRath]

The fact you got a balanced score is a very solid sign.

You can get some more realistic practice for the verbal taking old AAMC tests. It's not a bad idea to take the old AAMC bio sections as practice as well. If you can do well on these your verbal will be in solid shape and if your verbal is in solid shape I think you can do very well on this new test in general.

 

[phosphoenol]

If you'd be willing to help a brother out, what were your kaplan practice scores? I haven't done any AAMC tests, but I really need some hope that a lot of people are failing kaplan then doing well on actual mcat/aamc stuff lol.

 

[GrapesofRath]

If you'd be willing to help a brother out, what were your kaplan practice scores? I haven't done any AAMC tests, but I really need some hope that a lot of people are failing kaplan then doing well on actual mcat/aamc stuff lol.

Kaplan really doesn't resemble the current MCAT in anyway as of now. You can practice their tests for content review but there literally is no correlation between Kaplan scores and actual MCAT scores. They test different things in different ways.

 

[HorseOfJuly1394]

Hey phosphoenol.
Like GrapesofRath said, the AAMC's practice felt pretty different from the Kaplan tests. But here's what I've gotten so far.
Diagnost: 494: Chem/Phys: 122, CARS: 124, Bio/Biochem: 123, Psych/Soc: 125
Full Ex 1: 498: 125, 126, 124, 123.
Full Ex 2: 501: 125, 126, 126, 124
Full Ex 3: 504: 125, 127, 126, 126
And the AAMC scores above.
Between Kaplan Full lengths, I'd usually take two days and do section tests for each part, alongside some rudimentary review. I'll probably take three FL's more before the test day.

Best luck to y'all,
Horsey.

 

[phosphoenol]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Seems like every Kaplan test I do just demoralizes me even more lol. Even the ones I find easy I still end up failing.

 

[EverStriving]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Seems like every Kaplan test I do just demoralizes me even more lol. Even the ones I find easy I still end up failing.

I stopped using Kaplan tests after the first section I tried for just this reason. The MCAT is a reasoning test, which means maintaining confidence in your abilities is very important. Wasn't worth the stress for a little extra content review in my case.

 

[phosphoenol]

I stopped using Kaplan tests after the first section I tried for just this reason. The MCAT is a reasoning test, which means maintaining confidence in your abilities is very important. Wasn't worth the stress for a little extra content review in my case.

I'm feeling the same way EverStriving. I'm doing the FL's at this point just to build endurance and stamina, but I am gonna try to not let it get to my head. You can take two different routes - 1) let the brutal Kaplan FL's make you feel more comfortable in that the real mcat will be easier than the FL's, or 2) let it psych you out and scare the crap out of you. I started out taking route #2 lol, but I've learned my lesson. And by what I'm seeing, a those doing ~500 on Kaplan are doing great on the real thing, so I have hope .