Is it true that Kaplan's PS tests are...

[karakhanyan]

... a lot harder than the MCAT itself?
I remember reading it somewhere in here, but would like to know what you guys think of it.

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[RichardParkr]

that was my experience, but i don't know that it turns out that way for everyone.

 

[passion4atcg]

yes! I believe the Kaplan PS was TOO hard. I would get frustrated and discouraged instead of getting practice. Also, it was so hard that I didn't know how to do easy questions on the mcat because I thought there was something else to it. Kaplan VR and BS sections were great practice. But, my advice, stay away from PS.

 

[gujuDoc]

... a lot harder than the MCAT itself?
I remember reading it somewhere in here, but would like to know what you guys think of it.

I've heard that the Kaplan PS sections involve more calculations then the real deal often does. Also, the one or two Kaplan tests I took last summer were slightly more difficult then the real deal for me as well. But I believe that test prep companies make their tests a bit harder for a few reasons of which the main one is that they feel if they prepare you for the hardest stuff then you'll do better when you get in the actual test because they use the harder stuff just to get you thinking and to drill the concepts down.

 

[Orthodoc40]

They involve way more calculations and memorization of formulas than you would EVER need on the actual test. That's what made them "more difficult". EK is a better measure of the real thing.

 

[wutwinb]

... a lot harder than the MCAT itself?
I remember reading it somewhere in here, but would like to know what you guys think of it.

the Kaplan PS question were a lot more passage based, whereas on the MCAT, you could answer a lot of the questions based on prior knowledge. when i was taking the AAMC practice tests, the PS section seemed easier than Kaplan, but the January MCAT PS was harder than expected

 

[Richter915]

They involve way more calculations and memorization of formulas than you would EVER need on the actual test. That's what made them "more difficult". EK is a better measure of the real thing.

exactly what my kaplan professor says. They're much more rigorous when it comes to equations and applications whereas the actual PS seems to put less emphasis on equations and far mroe on application and understanding what all 500000000+ equations you have to memorize mean.

 

[killinsound]

exactly what my kaplan professor says. They're much more rigorous when it comes to equations and applications whereas the actual PS seems to put less emphasis on equations and far mroe on application and understanding what all 500000000+ equations you have to memorize mean.

not only that, i think kaplan's passages take a lot more critical thinking to figure out. The links between concepts are less apparent than the AAMC.

 

[cg77]

The actual MCAT PS's (April 06 and Jan 07) seemed a bit harder for me compared to Kaplan-though I've always disliked PS period. Walking out of the 07 MCAT, I felt that PS was my worse section, but it ended up being my highest PS score ever (including practice tests and past MCAT). So keep in mind that (as Kaplan claims) the PS is often the most generously "curved" section.

 

[Mark84]

Many people complain about how tough the passages are, but in my opinion it is excellent prep. I worked hard to finally land 12s on the kaplan physical science sections and now when I take the aamc physical science sections its a cakewalk. Kaplans sections are definitely harder but to me at least, it only makes the aamc sections a lot easier. I would rather walk in prepared for the worst.