Kaplan FL vs. AAMC FL vs. Real MCAT

[PhoenixAZ]

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I am wondering if anyone can provide some insights on how indicative the Kaplan FL scores are compared to AAMC and the real MCAT. I have been doing content review for the last 2 months or so, and have started to take Kaplan FL. I have done 5 so far, but unfortunately am unable to break the 30 mark. The highest I've gotten is 27/28. I am disheartened and discouraged right now. I am signed up to take the Jan MCAT, which is 2 months away. I plan to start doing AAMC FLs around the middle of Dec. With my inability to break the 30 mark on the Kaplan FLs so far, I am wondering if I am not yet ready to take the real MCAT in Jan. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[mr chievous]

I am wondering if anyone can provide some insights on how indicative the Kaplan FL scores are compared to AAMC and the real MCAT. I have been doing content review for the last 2 months or so, and have started to take Kaplan FL. I have done 5 so far, but unfortunately am unable to break the 30 mark. The highest I've gotten is 27/28. I am disheartened and discouraged right now. I am signed up to take the Jan MCAT, which is 2 months away. I plan to start doing AAMC FLs around the middle of Dec. With my inability to break the 30 mark on the Kaplan FLs so far, I am wondering if I am not yet ready to take the real MCAT in Jan. Any advice will be appreciated.

I've heard the difficulty of Kaplan FLs 1-6 is most indicative of the difficulty of the MCAT, even better than a few AAMCs. I wouldn't worry about scores just yet. Maybe in a month, when you're one month away from your exam.

 

[Captain Sisko]

I've heard the difficulty of Kaplan FLs 1-6 is most indicative of the difficulty of the MCAT, even better than a few AAMCs. I wouldn't worry about scores just yet. Maybe in a month, when you're one month away from your exam.

I've taken a bunch of practice exams and I found the physical sciences section in Kaplan 6 to be the hardest of all I've seen, including gold standard exams, which are generally considered to be harder than the real thing, at least for nonverbal sections. The bio was medium- hard and the verbal was easy. I'm no expert though, so you should get other opinions.

 

[hunterjumper14]

I think the verbal was easier on Kaplan... They were definitely shorter than the real thing (Kaplan teacher warned us about this, though). Also, the passages for all three sections looked longer with the screen resolution,so don't let that shake you! PS seemed about the same between Kaplan/AAMC/real test. I thought the BS on Kaplan was much easier! By the end of my studying I was scoring a 12-13 on Kaplan and thought the AAMC bio was more indicative of the number of experimental passages on the real MCAT- it felt much harder to get in the 10-12 range on the AAMCs (for me). It's weird, though... Some people swear Kaplan is harder but I thought they were much easier than the real thing!
Kaplan diagnostic: 28 (8/10/10)
Kaplan FL 1: 30 (10/10/10)
FL 2: 32 (10/9/13)
FL 3: 35 (11/12/12)

AAMC 11: 30 (10/8/12)

I also took Kaplan 4-5 and another AAMC but skipped verbal since I seemed to be dealing with a confidence problem in verbal in the weeks before the real test. On the real thing I got a 30 (10/10/10). Looking back my scores were somewhat inconsistent so I'm not sure how much weight you should give my opinion... I'd definitely use the AAMC tests to decide when your ready! I didn't use them enough and relied too heavily on Kaplan in retrospect.

 

[PhoenixAZ]

Thanks guys. Based on the response so far, it looks like Kaplan FLs are pretty indicative of the real MCAT. And this means I am in big trouble as I barely hit mid 20's and have not yet hit 30. I am very discouraged right now. It looks like I am not ready despite the past few months of study. It just made me feel like I wasted my time. What did I do wrong? What more can I do?

 

[maybemed2013]

I think you need to review content. When reviewing content do not just meomorize but understand why things happen...

I am scoring lower than you but on PR FLs and I am still taking my MCAT in Jan.

 

[Anathema]

Personally I don't think they're indicative of anything and if they are they're in people's heads. All the tests are different and they have different scalings. The question styles that are similar to the exam are obviously the AAMC materials but the WTF questions that the real one is made up of are all the Kaplan exam ones. Leave no stone unturned.