Is improving 2-3 pts per week good or bad for practice exams?

[sully677]

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I improved 3 pts a week after my first one, and two the next. Should I expect to see bigger gains? I got a 19 on the TPR diagnostic but I am aiming for a mid thirty on the real deal.

 

[Flapjacks]

Was the 19 a 3pt improvement from a 16?

Improvement comes from timing and understanding the test better (deciding best answers, how to read the paragraphs, tactics etc.).

If you got a 19pts after content review, then all I can say is that you need to content review and understand concepts better.


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[sully677]

No. I got a 19 to begin with.

TPR 1 19
TPR 2 22
TPR 3 24

Each a week in between.

 

[Drexon]

Congrats on the improvement =)
I think you're doing fine. Everyone improves at their own pace. Starting from a 19 is pretty low. The gains and improvements made thus far are probably due to familiarity with the test, stamina, and knowledge of concepts gained during your week off. However you will hit a plateau at some point pretty soon. It's at that moment that you really need to go over your tests and understand what's preventing you from moving forward ( is it concepts ? understanding questions ? didn't memorize XYZ formula ) . Once you understand what you're lacking and you improve on what you're lacking then you'll be able to make further gains.
Who knows you might not even have a plateau effect if you study correctly and keep learning.
Just keep it up and you'll be fine =)

 

[sully677]

Congrats on the improvement =)
I think you're doing fine. Everyone improves at their own pace. Starting from a 19 is pretty low. The gains and improvements made thus far are probably due to familiarity with the test, stamina, and knowledge of concepts gained during your week off. However you will hit a plateau at some point pretty soon. It's at that moment that you really need to go over your tests and understand what's preventing you from moving forward ( is it concepts ? understanding questions ? didn't memorize XYZ formula ) . Once you understand what you're lacking and you improve on what you're lacking then you'll be able to make further gains.
Who knows you might not even have a plateau effect if you study correctly and keep learning.
Just keep it up and you'll be fine =)

Well I am not even halfway done with content review yet so I think that has a large effect so I hope I don't hit a plateau!

 

[JP2740]

I got a 24 on the first one, and a 21 on the second one. try to explain that one lol.

 

[DaTruMD]

I got a 24 on the first one, and a 21 on the second one. try to explain that one lol.

Yeah, I got something similar to that but not that low. Still though, it is so demoralizing. FML. 🙁

 

[HyperSpank]

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to complete your content review first, and then take FLs? It seems like you're just 'wasting' the FLs in a sense because you'll have already seen all of the passages. IMO, these things should be used like a commodity because if you do decide to retake a FL for some reason, it wouldn't be an accurate gauge of performance. Doing content review first would not only give you a more accurate diagnostic but you would also be 'saving' those FLs for actual test-like situations...you wouldn't go into the real MCAT with 'less than half' of the content reviewed, would you?

 

[sully677]

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to complete your content review first, and then take FLs? It seems like you're just 'wasting' the FLs in a sense because you'll have already seen all of the passages. IMO, these things should be used like a commodity because if you do decide to retake a FL for some reason, it wouldn't be an accurate gauge of performance. Doing content review first would not only give you a more accurate diagnostic but you would also be 'saving' those FLs for actual test-like situations...you wouldn't go into the real MCAT with 'less than half' of the content reviewed, would you?

Well TPR recommends taking them with the class. It has helped me to get in the mindset of taking the tests and being familiar with the test flow and such. I'm not a great standardize test taker so I feel like this is helping me too.

 

[bigballer27]

Well TPR recommends taking them with the class. It has helped me to get in the mindset of taking the tests and being familiar with the test flow and such. I'm not a great standardize test taker so I feel like this is helping me too.

i have to agree. if you save all of your tests for the end, you will have no sense on how to improve your content review as you go along.
i also feel that taking tests helps motivate you more when u see u do bad, or good sometimes

someone who has like 6-7 months may think to do all content, then tests then content to do the things they missed, but i only have til april lol

 

[HyperSpank]

i have to agree. if you save all of your tests for the end, you will have no sense on how to improve your content review as you go along.
i also feel that taking tests helps motivate you more when u see u do bad, or good sometimes

someone who has like 6-7 months may think to do all content, then tests then content to do the things they missed, but i only have til april lol

I guess that makes sense, too. I took the EK course and even though the syllabus said to take the tests along with the course, our instructor told us to finish content review first, take a FL, review what you missed, take another test, review, test, review, etc. It just seemed more logical to do it that way because that's how I learned to study for my UG courses as well (If the professor gave practice tests.)

But then again, I wasn't on a time-crunch like you two. Best of luck to both of you!

Again, though, I would recommend trying to save a few of those FLs till the end of your content review...it would be a lot more accurate in predicting your scores. You might even see greater increases in your scores because you've covered more material.

 

[Drexon]

I personally think that the reason why these prep companies suggest you take some full lengths during the course is to make you believe that you really are improving. Let me clarify.. First test companies make you take a diagnostic. Usually if you haven't prepped or ill prepared for the test you'll probably do bad (note i said usually because there are those unusual circumstances ). So you take the course whether it be Kaplan, TPR , or TBR etc. As you go through the course you're constantly learning new material, relearning old material, and you're learning test taking strategies.

The full lengths that you take during your course is to show to you that you really are improving. That's the bottom line .. at least what i think. Plus it's also a type of coverage for the test companies to show you that you've improved since your diagnostic so you can't say that the companies aren't "prepping" you for your test.

I don't get it when people say you're "wasting" a full length because you haven't finished the course or reviewing the material. The test companies ( i can speak for Kaplan and TPR ) give you lots of practice full lengths ( kaplan has 20 and i think TPR gave out 16-20 i dont remember ) so taking 3-5 practice tests during your course isn't too bad because you've still got a lot left over !
Best of luck studying

 

[HyperSpank]

I personally think that the reason why these prep companies suggest you take some full lengths during the course is to make you believe that you really are improving. Let me clarify.. First test companies make you take a diagnostic. Usually if you haven't prepped or ill prepared for the test you'll probably do bad (note i said usually because there are those unusual circumstances ). So you take the course whether it be Kaplan, TPR , or TBR etc. As you go through the course you're constantly learning new material, relearning old material, and you're learning test taking strategies.

The full lengths that you take during your course is to show to you that you really are improving. That's the bottom line .. at least what i think. Plus it's also a type of coverage for the test companies to show you that you've improved since your diagnostic so you can't say that the companies aren't "prepping" you for your test.

I don't get it when people say you're "wasting" a full length because you haven't finished the course or reviewing the material. The test companies ( i can speak for Kaplan and TPR ) give you lots of practice full lengths ( kaplan has 20 and i think TPR gave out 16-20 i dont remember ) so taking 3-5 practice tests during your course isn't too bad because you've still got a lot left over !
Best of luck studying

I guess my feelings towards 'wasting' FLs comes from the course structure that I took...EK doesn't (or at least didn't when I took it) make they're own FLs and thus used the AAMC tests to gauge our performance (I also think that back then these were a little more accurate to the real deal).
If you have a ton of FLs that you feel accurately portray the test, then by all means, take as many as you can. Just remember to not burn yourself out! 😛