kaplan practice MCATs vs real thing?

[Pdiddy310]

To those who have taken MCATs, are the Kaplan practice MCATs generally easier or more difficult than the actual MCATs?

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[ALaczniak]

To those who have taken MCATs, are the Kaplan practice MCATs generally easier or more difficult than the actual MCATs?

Physical Sciences on Kaplan are WAY more difficult than the real thing. The computations you have to do on the real thing are much less complex and fewer than on the Kaplan test. However, I did feel that taking the Kaplan tests helped me prepare timewise for this section. I was always rushing to finish the Kaplan practice tests, but I finished the real thing with time to spare.
Verbal on Kaplan "feels" a little different than the real thing. I'd suggest doing a couple AAMC tests to understand what I'm talking about.
Biological Sciences on Kaplan, I felt, were the most similar to the real thing.

All in all, I felt like the Kaplan tests were more difficult, but a good preparation. And it is true that most people do better on the real thing than the Kaplan practice tests. I did three points better than on any of my practice tests.

 

[go lakers]

kaplan tests definitely feel harder, but the scales are rather generous. i agree with AL in that if you can get through the kaplan tests as far as timing goes, time will be less of an obstacle on the real deal

 

[BXP]

Physical Sciences on Kaplan are WAY more difficult than the real thing. The computations you have to do on the real thing are much less complex and fewer than on the Kaplan test. However, I did feel that taking the Kaplan tests helped me prepare timewise for this section. I was always rushing to finish the Kaplan practice tests, but I finished the real thing with time to spare.
Verbal on Kaplan "feels" a little different than the real thing. I'd suggest doing a couple AAMC tests to understand what I'm talking about.
Biological Sciences on Kaplan, I felt, were the most similar to the real thing.

All in all, I felt like the Kaplan tests were more difficult, but a good preparation. And it is true that most people do better on the real thing than the Kaplan practice tests. I did three points better than on any of my practice tests.

Very helpful thx!

 

[Pdiddy310]

Very helpful thx!

thx for the info! it is def. helpful!

 

[RAD11]

Physical Sciences on Kaplan are WAY more difficult than the real thing. The computations you have to do on the real thing are much less complex and fewer than on the Kaplan test.

I noticed this too. I mean I haven't been really doing stellar on my AAMC practice tests but I felt okay especially with PS since there weren't that much calculations, but when I took Kaplan, I was like WTF??? However, I must say, I got the highest PS from Kaplan FL....so go figure...I guess you're right about the easier curve but I's rather not think of it that way

 

[Schaden Freud]

To those who have taken MCATs, are the Kaplan practice MCATs generally easier or more difficult than the actual MCATs?

I thought Kaplan Physical Sciences was slightly tougher than the real thing, but Verbal Reasoning and Biological Sciences were pretty much on par. For me, Kaplan full-lengths were a very good predictor of performance on the real thing.

 

[Pdiddy310]

I thought Kaplan Physical Sciences was slightly tougher than the real thing, but Verbal Reasoning and Biological Sciences were pretty much on par. For me, Kaplan full-lengths were a very good predictor of performance on the real thing.

Now this is the kind of info that I'm talking about.

 

[BXP]

All exam prep courses give you harder ones in the start and easier ones toward the end to show you your dramatic improvement. So which Kaplan are more moderate and akin to the actual thing? (I only ask cause there are 11... and at the moment I kind of have to pick and choose) Thanks!

 

[odddodo]

I thought Kaplan Physical Sciences was slightly tougher than the real thing, but Verbal Reasoning and Biological Sciences were pretty much on par. For me, Kaplan full-lengths were a very good predictor of performance on the real thing.

That is NOT good for me...so far on the Kaplan tests I've been doing well on the physical sciences and less well on the bio and verbal... I wish it were the other way around

 

[EBI831]

i'd say kaplan physics is much harder but the scale is more forgiving so in the end its on par with the actual MCAT. the biology is spot-on. the verbal is way too easy compared to the real thing...if you are lucky you'll get what you've been scoring but most likely it will be slightly less. but kaplan tests are great practice especially if you have the explanations so you can study them and get extra info.

 

[go lakers]

the BS for kap FL 8 was loaded with ochem (4 passages?) and they were hard too, haha.

 

[Flushingfinest]

Is Kaplan Verbal Reasoning Book a good pratice or no??

 

[bluenumber6]

Is Kaplan Verbal Reasoning Book a good pratice or no??

I use to take the kaplan verbal practice tests. A question asks, what would the author be LEAST likely to agree upon? You would think, that the answer is the opposite to his beliefs. I bubbled it, but got it wrong. Turns out that kaplan's definition of "LEAST" is actually the idea where if all else fails, the the answer would be the last thing the author would agree to. The idea of something that would contradict the author would actually be something the author NEVER agrees to. WTF?!

 

[Flushingfinest]

I use to take the kaplan verbal practice tests. A question asks, what would the author be LEAST likely to agree upon? You would think, that the answer is the opposite to his beliefs. I bubbled it, but got it wrong. Turns out that kaplan's definition of "LEAST" is actually the idea where if all else fails, the the answer would be the last thing the author would agree to. The idea of something that would contradict the author would actually be something the author NEVER agrees to. WTF?!

hey thanks for response haha i also feel the same way i get those type of question wrong. my problem is thta my score rite now in Verbal is 5 and i have EK 101 book and Kaplan Verbal reasoning book. i know i should focus on EK 101 but i was thinking to take One exam from each book every day. i dont know if that's good idea or not. wat should i do? Finish EK 101 first and then pick up on kaplan?

 

[priyanka]

hey thanks for response haha i also feel the same way i get those type of question wrong. my problem is thta my score rite now in Verbal is 5 and i have EK 101 book and Kaplan Verbal reasoning book. i know i should focus on EK 101 but i was thinking to take One exam from each book every day. i dont know if that's good idea or not. wat should i do? Finish EK 101 first and then pick up on kaplan?

Kaplan Verbal is bunk. It is not like the real thing at all. I ditched Kaplan verbal and only concentrating on 101EK. Not that my VR score is spectacular yet , but doing kaplan passages just makes me get a wrong sense of what a right verbal mcat answer should be. So I d just stick to 101 and follow their advice of reviewing the passages after two days and using question stem answer choices and all that they discuss in teir VR book. From what I heard that usually gives you a good feel of the right mcat answer..

hopefully I ll move up my score Well theres no option
But Youll be fine !

 

[Januine]

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[j-med]

Would you please PM me if you have Kaplan FL#2 just the ANSWER keys?

Many many many thanks.