Kaplan Diagnostic

[OnMyWayThere]

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I just took my Kaplan diagnostic... honestly, I guessed on 95% of the questions and 4% of the ones I knew were from Verbal.

I am done with Physics and G-Chem... but had NO clue as to how to answer those questions. Is this normal? I have ALOT of studying to do before August.!!! but I'm still worried that this diag. experience was not normal although the administrator said it's normal (probably a sales tactic since it was a free test - for non registered students and they were trying to get people to sign up)

😡 😡

 

[Grumpy Bear]

Nah, it's normal... I defintiely remember feeling that way. And even if you're a little behind, you have PLENTY of time. The key is finding a happy medium between nonchalance and paralyzing fear 😉. Let your fear motivate you to study your ass off (*when* the time comes -- don't burn yourself out now for heavens sake), but never let it make you feel like you're not capable of doing well come test day. Just set yourself up with a loose schedule where you slowly build up the science knowledge you're lacking/forgetting. Do some serious work on your own between now and when the Kaplan people start marketing for the August test cycle. Take the free diag again and let your improvement motivate you!
Good Luck!!

 

[rgporter]

Originally posted by OnMyWayThere
I just took my Kaplan diagnostic... honestly, I guessed on 95% of the questions and 4% of the ones I knew were from Verbal.

I am done with Physics and G-Chem... but had NO clue as to how to answer those questions. Is this normal? I have ALOT of studying to do before August.!!! but I'm still worried that this diag. experience was not normal although the administrator said it's normal (probably a sales tactic since it was a free test - for non registered students and they were trying to get people to sign up)

😡 😡

Hmmmm. Here is my 0.02.
Kaplan is based on intimidation.
Their tests focus on medical trivia.
The real MCAT is more reading comprehension, and concept comprehension.

The AMCAS tests available for $80 online predicted my score better than the Kaplan diagnostic tests I took. The kaplan tests, as you might guess, predicted I would do much worse than I actually did. Their diagnostic was off by 6 points.
I wouldn't buy what kaplan is selling. I think they have a rigorous study program which is occasionally succesful, but they are there to make money, not improve your score.
It's like a religion among premeds that you need to take one of these courses. Instead of that I would suggest the following course:
1. Buy the 4 old MCATs from AMCAS.
2. Focus on the subjects where you performed poorly, AMCAS online will grade your test and break it down.
3. This one is the most important I think. READ ALOT OF BOOKS! I don't mean text books either. Read whatever you enjoy; sci-fi, horror, mystery, etc. Read often enough to increase your reading spead and comprehension.

In the end I think it would help you more if you took a course that taught speed reading and reading comprehension, instead of kaplan.

 

[PianoGirl04]

Don't worry about the diagnostic...it's simply designed to show you where your strengths and weaknesses are so you know what to work on. Remember, you'll have the entire year to learn how to answer these types of questions. Take it with a grain of salt...my diagnostic score was 14 points lower than my actual MCAT score, for example!