Practice MCAt

[silver_eyes]

hey guys,
kaplan is offering a free practice MCAt with personal feedback. its free also and is on our school campus. i already registered. should i take it or not? should i study for it?
thanks.

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[Woots32]

Depends on when you're taking the real one. If it's this coming April - I say go for it. The more you practice the fully simulated MCAT, the better you'll do on test day. But if it's farther off, or you haven't taken classes that cover the test material, you might be better off waiting. You could get a lower score, frustrate yourself, and get depressed - just because you might not have studied the material before.

If you do decide to take it - good luck!

 

[Dr JPH]

silver

If I remember correctly, you are still a few years away from applying, so I would say don't let the MCAT worry you know.

However, if you have never seen the MCAT or are just curious as to what lies ahead, then by all means sit for the mock exam (especially if it is free!).

There is no harm in preparing early for things, but again, concentrate on your grades right now and save the MCAT for later.

Also, don't let a low score (or a really low score) on the first trial run bum you out. I got rocked on my first mock MCAT and then took a Princeton Review course and did quite well on the actual test.

Practice, hard work, and a clear mind.

Best of luck!

 

[silver_eyes]

thanks u guys.

yea i havent seen the MCAT before. just wanna know what i am up against u know. i called kaplan and they were like dont study for it. it shocked me to hear that from them.

 

[Curci]

Kaplan is a little weird too. There's no such thing as a free lunch, right? So, if you do decide to take their practice exam, don't freak out if you get your results and see that you did very badly. I took two of these free practice MCATs: one in October and one in April right before I took the MCAT. I went into the first one cold, and I got a 24. I spent the intervening months in careful preparation, and I got the same score when I took the practice exam the second time. I took my "for real" MCAT the next week, and I was very happy with my score.

Bottom line: the free Kaplan exams are good to expose you to the format of the exam and the type of questions you'll see, but take the score they give you with a grain of salt. They are, after all, trying to sell their prep course to you.

 

[UCLA2000]

The "free" MCAT tests are notoriously difficult. It's part of the test prep company's marketing strategy.

They give you a very hard exam that you're sure to bomb. You freak out about how screwed you are, and you come to the conclusion that you definately "need" to take a prep course (preferrably theirs).

 

[Dr JPH]

If you think about it, studying for a practice test really isn't a good idea.

You want the test to give you an accurate idea of where you stand on things.

Again, you may not have had many of the classes that will help you with the MCAT, so remember...don't get discouraged!

 

[ussdfiant]

Silver, have you had orgo or physics yet? If not then half of the section that is scored will mean nothing to you.

 

[silver_eyes]

hi guys. yea...it seems like a marketing strategey, but oh well, i was gonna take the review before all this anyway.....the PRINCETON REVIEW review course, not kaplan.

i have had g chem, g bio, i am in physics right now and no, i havent had o chem yet...will take it this summer, but...if my science score is hella low..i obviously know why.

 

[Random Access]

Yeah, the thing is...if you're not really prepared to take the MCAT, then you're not really doing a fair assessment of yourself by taking the free test. You can learn what's on the test and what the test is like through prep materials.

 

[Street Philosopher]

free practice for the mcat. why not? unless you're easily discouraged or something silly like that, it's a good chance to get some experience with the test format and stuff.

 

[silver_eyes]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
free practice for the mcat. why not? unless you're easily discouraged or something silly like that, it's a good chance to get some experience with the test format and stuff.

thats what i think.....i mean i have seen the MCAT before....if i do bad on the sciences i know why.