Practice MCAT

[Mistress S]

Hello all, I just took a practice MCAT from Kaplan offered at my school and got a 27 (13 VR, 6 PS and 8 BS, in case anyone cares). I took it cold since I wanted to find out where I stand right now before preparing, but I am wondering if anybody has experience with these and could tell me how much (if any) the practice MCAT correlates with the real thing. Obviously, at 3 hours long this was a lot less stressful than the real MCAT, but then again I do plan to actually study for the real thing. I was cautiously pleased with my performance (clearly I have a lot of science reviewing to do, but overall a 27 without any prep seems decent), but I'm not sure how seriously I should take it as an indicator of how I will really do. Anyway, was taking this test a waste of my time, or are these tests at least somewhat useful in determining where you stand?

Also, I am thinking about taking a Kaplan course, even though the thought of paying $1350 (!) so some test-prep CEO can install another hot tub in his private jet really chaps my hide.
However, I'm afraid that I'm not organized enough to study for it on my own, and since I only want to take it once I want to feel that I've prepared for it as best as I possibly can. For people who took the Kaplan course, how helpful do you think it was? Do you think you could have prepared as well on your own?

Thanks for the input!

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[relatively prime]

A 27 on your first Kaplan diagnostic is AWESOME. If you study religiously for at least 2 months before the test I'd bet you'll get a 35-40 on the real thing. I went up 16 pts from my first Kaplan diag on the real thing. But I studied... if you don't study then there's no gaurantee you'll do any better on the real thing.

P.s. You're a total freak for getting a 13 on your first kaplan verbal practice test.

 

[siempre595]

I'd totally agree. A 13 on the first Verbal is amazing. I worked forever and only made a 9 on the real thing. The other sections are easier to improvie on cause it's a lot of memorizing and learning how they present material. You're off to a great start. Good luck!

 

[isidella]

Originally posted by relatively prime


P.s. You're a total freak for getting a 13 on your first kaplan verbal practice test.

Oh yeah, the highest I have seen on a Kap diagnostic VR was an 8. Bravo, you will do very well in April!

 

[STi555]

Congrats on the 13. As most of the test is reasoning from passages I would think that with some review of the basic sciences you should be able to do well. Did you get to look at your test and see what kind of questions you were missing? This could give you an idea what to study. I didn't take a class so I can't speak to their usefulnes, but if isolate what was bringing you down on the sciences you should do great.

 

[AegisZero]

Congrats on your Verbal, but to be honest my friends (and my) diagnostic scores did not correlate very well at all where we ended up. This has to do with the fact that the Kaplan test is a halftest and has way more discrete than passage questions.

Your true base score will more or less be seen in Kaplan Test 1, and your score will just go up from there.

Good luck and congratulations.

 

[Woots32]

Hi, Kaplan instructor here.

Wow - your scores were awesome! Mucho congrats!

I took Kaplan, and my score improved 11 overall points from the diagnostic to the actual MCAT. I'm like you - I needed the structure to get me to study. I really think Kaplan has a good system that works - yeah, I'm biased, but part of the reason I wanted to teach was because I believe in their system. Well, at least most of it.

And when you look at the hundreds of thousand of dollars you'll be in debt in a few years, I'd say it's worth it to cough up some more at the beginning, if it's going to help you get into the school you want.

Good luck!

 

[latinfridley]

So Kaplan gives a 'half test'? How does that work? How is it scored? The TPR diags are the full 6 hours or whatever, so do yall think this 'half test' is a good indicator of the actual MCAT? Just curious.
BTW - congrats on the great verbal score.
the j-rod

 

[Mistress S]

Thanks for the replies so far- the general consensus seems to be that there is at least some correlation between the practice test and how you might eventually do later, so that is encouraging for me. However, I obviously have a lot of reviewing to do with the sciences; I took bio 3 years ago and gen chem 2 years ago, so I was definitely not confident about many of those questions. And o-chem I just despised anyway, although interestingly enough, I did better on the o-chem questions than the physics questions, and I aced physics just last year. Go figure. Here is what Kaplan had to say about the 13 on the verbal:

"Your score is highly competetive and you are in very good shape. But remember, you must repeat this performance on test day! Let Kaplan teach you the strategies that will help you build confidence, maintain consistency and write your own ticket to the highest ranked schools in the country!"



I have to say I got a kick out of that, the way they push their program even when you clearly don't need it and assume that the deepest desire of every pre-med student is to go to the "highest ranked schools in the country!" Oh well, I'm probably going to end up buying into their system anyway, so I guess I better shut up before I start looking like a hypocrite. I hate that I've bought into their propaganda, but I guess part of me honestly feels that if I don't take a prep course I won't be as well prepared for the test as those who have.

By an odd coincidence, I do happen to be an English major.

 

[vm26]

my kaplan diagnostic-10 8 8, full length practice exams-29, 31, 32, 34, real MCAT 10 10 12. I originally took physics/inorganic nearly 10 yrs ago and did study my a** off and only went up 6 points so I think its hard to determine how much the course/studying will help. But I think going into the real test you will have some idea of where you're at. The greatest benefit of Kaplan in my opinion is their proctored full lengths and their training library which has tons of videos, questions, and exams. Classes were only so-so, taught by MCAT takers who have scored in the 90th% and have undergone training. I believe PR actually has real professors for their classes. Good luck.

 

[DW]

you're golden. physical is the easiest of the three sections to improve imho. Just dont get cocky, work hard, and you could put yourself in the upper 30s if you want it.

13 verbal, on the FIRST diag? thats obscene

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Yeah, we have those half length MCAT's offered here at OSU for just $5! I was thinking it was a good deal, but of course I'm just a freshmen so like I would know anything.

 

[klp14]

Since you're golden on the verbal the kaplan course probably won't help you that much - for the people in my kaplan class who did well on the practice test verbal, none of us really followed their suggestions and got about the same score on the real MCAT. The physical and bio reviews were really helpful though, and would be especially good if you're afraid that you won't be able to do structured studying on your own. I went up 3 points on physical and 4 points on bio with the course.

 

[katem]

i got a 26 on the first PR (full-length) practice - 10V, 8B, 8P. like you, this was without any prep, and with a few years between me and some of my pre-med sciences.

i was glad i took the course, because i wouldn't have worked hard enough on my own - sounds like you have similar concerns, in which case i'd recommend a course even though you can get all the same info by buying a set of used kaplan or PR books.

i ultimately scored 11V, 13B, 13P, so based on my (n=1) experience, a bunch of studying should get you into a pretty high range with your score. as others have mentioned, verbal is the toughest to boost.

congrats!

katem