Kaplan FL's are useless!

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

What is wrong with these exams (particularly PS>BS)? I feel like I'm guessing half the answers (which I basically was b/c i scored not much better than 50-60% in raw scores) and yet it still translates into 30+ scores!!
My point is this -- the curves are so ridiculously generous that in my opinion they are not helping my studying... I guess some people find you learn better from a hard test than an easy one, but IMO you need to have a fair chance at the questions in order to find your real weaknesses.

Anyway just needed to rant a little. I dont know whether to be happy about my score or mad that I got practically every second question wrong.

p.s. I started skipping Kaplan verbal altogether, but that is a whole other can of worms.... For the last week I'm staying the hell away from Kaplan.

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[RPedigo]

What is wrong with these exams (particularly PS>BS)? I feel like I'm guessing half the answers (which I basically was b/c i scored not much better than 50-60% in raw scores) and yet it still translates into 30+ scores!!
My point is this -- the curves are so ridiculously generous that in my opinion they are not helping my studying... I guess some people find you learn better from a hard test than an easy one, but IMO you need to have a fair chance at the questions in order to find your real weaknesses.

Anyway just needed to rant a little. I dont know whether to be happy about my score or mad that I got practically every second question wrong.

p.s. I started skipping Kaplan verbal altogether, but that is a whole other can of worms.... For the last week I'm staying the hell away from Kaplan.

Agreed. My friend took a Kaplan diagnostic cold without studying ever and got a 42. Then he took a Princeton diagnostic and got a 26. Go figure.

 

[go lakers]

use them as study tools (instead of gagues to see how you're doing). use them to make the AAMC exams and hopefully the real exam feel like a breeze.

 

[IckeyShuffle]

i get the same scores on aamc as i do on kaplan. Take it for what it is. Outside of AAMC, what better practice are you gonna get? I cant imagine EK or TPR being that much better.

 

[MJB]

My scores on the Kaplan and the AAMC have not been too far apart...

 

[silverpen]

use them as study tools (instead of gagues to see how you're doing). use them to make the AAMC exams and hopefully the real exam feel like a breeze.

Hey everyone,
So here's the deal: there's 1 week left and I'd like to improve my scores as much as possible. I've done about 5 of the Kaplan Full Length Exams but I'm not sure If I should keep doing these or if I should start doing only AAMC exams - perhaps a medly of the two? With 7 days left, I'd like to do at least 3 more full lengths.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to proceed?

Which Exams should I use (Kaplan's or the AAMC's, and which ones)?

Should I concentrate on sections or more so on Full Lengths?

Any advice - particularly from people who've done both - will be greatly appreciated!

 

[EBI831]

i get tired of everyone bashing kaplan...although i've had my problems with it, i find it highly unfair to say that its worthless. i score the exact same thing on kaplans and aamc's . kaplan may be harder(in physics) but the scale corrects for it. also, how did you score 30+ by missing half that's missing 39 or so questions in phys and bio and in my conversion scales you can only miss about 25 to get a 10 (although i do recall one earlier full length that missing 35 was a 10). so if your beef is with the scale take the later full lengths and then if you miss half(because they are in fact harder), you'll be more confident about the 8 or 9 it'll translate to. like an earlier poster said, apart from AAMC, i think kaplan is the best.

 

[Erina]

i always found kaplan exams to be really hard, but after taking the real thing, i was thankful for that. the real MCAT seemed to be so much better, especially the PS, and that was a real confidence booster--something i definitely needed that day.

 

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

My scores on the Kaplan and the AAMC have not been too far apart...

I never said the scores are far apart... I said the RAW scores and the conversions are waaayyy different.

Anyway it's just my opinion, maybe if you do a lot of Kaplans then the real thing will seem easier.... but all I'm saying is I dont think I learn much about my abilities on an exam when I have to guess so much...
Everyone studies their own way I guess I just wanted to get a feel for how people were finding these tests.

 

[JustAdocInBox]

I will tell you right now, Kaplan's Verbal practice is useless. I went from making solid 11s on Kaplan's tests to 8 and 9 on AAMC. With respect to the other sections, I would say they are pretty effective. Its true they are much harder, but i've found that going back and looking over the tests, you come to realize that they were very manegable. Its by going over the tests that you obtain the knowledge and apply it to other tests. But yes, I will have to say that I have gotten dicked over by kaplan verbal. Becuase this was my weak area, I prepared so much for it using kaplan's material (15+ practice tests). It turns out I only got better at taking kaplan's tests because I applied Kaplan's startegies. I just went out and bout EK and i'm going to try to correct this madness before saturday.

 

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

lol yeah stay away from kaplan verbal. TPR may have crazy strategies but their practice tests are very similar to AAMC in my opinion (I know many ppl will tell you differently)... but anyway at least they dont boost your score so you dont realize u have a problem until the real thing rolls around!

 

[Homer Simpson]

Yeah, Kaplan VR sucks. Their questions are straightforward reading comprehension stuff whereas the real AAMC questions are much vaguer. I was getting 13's and 14's on Kaplan practice tests and only made an 11 on the actual test. I never got that low of a score, not even on the diagnostic. And Kaplan PS sections are way too hard. The real PS passages are easier, but the curve isn't as nice either.