Poor practice VR, but good score on the real MCAT?

[osumc2014]

Did anyone perform poorly on your practice tests for Verbal and got a much better score on the real thing? I feel like verbal is so hit and miss, sometimes I'll do well and sometimes I won't.

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[chad5871]

This is an MCAT topic, so I'm going to move it to the MCAT Discussions forum where you should receive some helpful responses.

As for me, my Verbal scores ranged from 9-11. Most of my practice verbals before the test were 11. I ended up with a 10 on the real deal.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

I think my ability in verbal was pressure dependent...

To elaborate:
During practice, I didn't take it as seriously as I kept hitting 8s, 9s, and occasionally a 10.
But during my last two administrations of the MCAT, I hit an 11 and a 10, respectively.

I believe the experience of taking the actual MCAT influenced my ability to focus a little better for this section.

 

[funkymunkytoes]

I was averaging 9s on my practice tests--I hit as low as a 7 and as high as a 12. I got a 10 on the real deal. It's not the greatest, but I was very very very happy with it.

 

[SN2ed]

It depends on the person, but you should NEVER bet on scoring better than your practice scores. Most people score within +/-2 points of the practice test scores. If you're banking on a miracle, don't. Delay your test. You're FAR more likely to do -2 points from your practice test than +2.

 

[MaximusD]

Took the MCAT in 06. My last practice exam with Kaplan was a 10 and on the real thing I got a 13. I think the test-day made a big difference. I also read a socio text book between PS and VR sections, which I had never done before.

 

[Meetchy]

8-9 on 7 practice tests. 11 on the real deal.

 

[osumc2014]

Took the MCAT in 06. My last practice exam with Kaplan was a 10 and on the real thing I got a 13. I think the test-day made a big difference. I also read a socio text book between PS and VR sections, which I had never done before.

you read a humanities textbook in between? that sounds like a good idea

 

[MaximusD]

you read a humanities textbook in between? that sounds like a good idea

I had never finished the verbal section without putting guesses down prior to test-day. The first couple of passages had taken me much longer because I had to initially switch mental gears. By reading in between PS and VR, the first couple of passages took me half the time... no, really... and I ended up with 5-10 minutes at the end of the section to go back over and re-read questions and chill. I'm not sure if it was just a psychological thing or if it's legit, but it was a Kaplan suggestion that I had never taken seriously.

 

[Revilla]

I had never finished the verbal section without putting guesses down prior to test-day. The first couple of passages had taken me much longer because I had to initially switch mental gears. By reading in between PS and VR, the first couple of passages took me half the time... no, really... and I ended up with 5-10 minutes at the end of the section to go back over and re-read questions and chill. I'm not sure if it was just a psychological thing or if it's legit, but it was a Kaplan suggestion that I had never taken seriously.

I thought you weren't allowed to "study" during breaks. Wouldn't picking up a textbook look like studying to the proctors? Or did you just use a novel or something?

 

[MaximusD]

I thought you weren't allowed to "study" during breaks. Wouldn't picking up a textbook look like studying to the proctors? Or did you just use a novel or something?

That might have changed since I took it. We were allowed to do whatever the hell we wanted, if I recall correctly.

 

[futuredoctor10]

That might have changed since I took it. We were allowed to do whatever the hell we wanted, if I recall correctly.

That, and some test center proctors do not care if you read stuff in between probably.
I'd just ask the test center you go to what their policy is.

 

[luxaeterna]

I never got over a 10 on any practice test (maybe 11 once...maybe), but I got a 13 on the real thing. And I finished the VR in 48 minutes, while I never finished more than a minute or two early on the practice tests. I was just extra-ordinarily focused on test day!

 

[BlueElmo]

My real test score was on par with my practice test scores. I always got 10 or 11, with one 12 (I was lucky), on the AAMC and EK tests. And I got a 10 on the real deal. So, yeah consistent for me.

 

[229141]

As a rule of thumb- all the kids I know (only 5 kids) who took mcat all got EXACTLY 2 points lower than their test avgs

37 to 35
34 to 32
33 to 31
30 to 28
and I think the other guy was 31 to 29.

If you wanna play it safe..subtract 2 from your practice average..AKA if you want to get that 30+ you wanna make sure you can avg 32 on practice tests IMO

 

[229141]

I never got over a 10 on any practice test (maybe 11 once...maybe), but I got a 13 on the real thing. And I finished the VR in 48 minutes, while I never finished more than a minute or two early on the practice tests. I was just extra-ordinarily focused on test day!

Oh god that must have felt so amazing LOL!!! I hate verbal and always get 10 it seems, with the occasion 11 and one 9.

 

[luxaeterna]

Oh god that must have felt so amazing LOL!!! I hate verbal and always get 10 it seems, with the occasion 11 and one 9.

Haha, it was pretty great, but my PS and BS score dropped about 1 and 2 points respectively from my test average, so it all evened out, lol.

 

[Nasem]

at least some of you are getting 9s and 10s on your practice verbal... I am not even getting 6, mostly 5s... Yep if anything stops me from getting into medical school, its going to be my verbal

 

[229141]

at least some of you are getting 9s and 10s on your practice verbal... I am not even getting 6, mostly 5s... Yep if anything stops me from getting into medical school, its going to be my verbal

Stupid section IMO. There's enough reading comprehension in the sciences. Just put another science section lol. I hate how verbal boosts the scores of people who suck at science but were like art majors. Its like wow you can get a 13 verbal but get 7's on the science...wtf.

 

[JA Prufrock]

Stupid section IMO. There's enough reading comprehension in the sciences. Just put another science section lol. I hate how verbal boosts the scores of people who suck at science but were like art majors. Its like wow you can get a 13 verbal but get 7's on the science...wtf.

not necessarily. I understand the rationale behind having a verbal section, since a good deal of medical school, as well as medicine in general, is reading and analyzing. I'm not great at verbal either, but I can at least understand why it's there. There's certainly more irrelevant things on the test (physics).

 

[Nasem]

not necessarily. I understand the rationale behind having a verbal section, since a good deal of medical school, as well as medicine in general, is reading and analyzing. I'm not great at verbal either, but I can at least understand why it's there. There's certainly more irrelevant things on the test (physics).

I understand what your saying, but I can read a biochemistry passage or anything biology related MUCH better than I can read about Immanuel Kant's 600+ word passage followed by some ridiculously irrelevant-to-medicine questions that ONLY pertain to how the author's thoughts are organized to convince us of whatever the hell he or she were trying to say.... I am sorry, but reading humanities, arts, histories and such proves nothing of what kind of a clinician I am going to become....

I am not complaining about why the verbal is there, I am just complaining with the thought process that went into thier heads when they said "hmmm, how do we weed out more students? I KNOW, LETS TAKE A BUNCH OF SCIENTIFIC-MINDED FOLKS AND MAKE THEM READ NON-SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE...." Sorry I am having a bad practice day with verbal today

 

[WashMe]

I scored as low as 9 on my practice tests and as high as 13. I scored 13 on the real deal, but it was just my day. Don't count on pulling out a miracle. I was +3.25 points overall compared to my practice test average (32, 37, 37, 37 = 35.75 avg) and I think that was really lucky.

 

[JA Prufrock]

I understand what your saying, but I can read a biochemistry passage or anything biology related MUCH better than I can read about Immanuel Kant's 600+ word passage followed by some ridiculously irrelevant-to-medicine questions that ONLY pertain to how the author's thoughts are organized to convince us of whatever the hell he or she were trying to say.... I am sorry, but reading humanities, arts, histories and such proves nothing of what kind of a clinician I am going to become....

I am not complaining about why the verbal is there, I am just complaining with the thought process that went into thier heads when they said "hmmm, how do we weed out more students? I KNOW, LETS TAKE A BUNCH OF SCIENTIFIC-MINDED FOLKS AND MAKE THEM READ NON-SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE...." Sorry I am having a bad practice day with verbal today

point taken, if they wanted to make it more medicine-relevant they could make a verbal section that is purely composed of scientific writing. I guess making us read humanities fits nicely with the "well-roundedness" kool-aid they've been serving.