Practice MCATs vs. real thing

[connie95]

Is it possible to get 34-36 range MCAT scores on your practice tests but then score waaaay lower on the actual thing (like 27-28?) Has this ever happened to anyone?

I'm just trying to figure out how much the AAMC, Kaplan, EK practice tests correlate with the actual exam...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ZeaL6]

i had a 31 average and scored 27, so I guess its possible. Most people are +/- 2 from AAMC average

 

[Ace-Co-A]

I got the score that I averaged on practice tests. Range was +/- 3, give or take.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Yes you could have a bad test/day and score much lower than usual. That is what retakes are for though! Don't sweat it too much

 

[darkjedi]

Only the AAMC scores should taken seriously. For most people, their real MCAT tends to fall within +/- 2 points of their practice AAMC MCAT averages. Ideally, they should be taken in as close to test conditions as possible.

 

[Mad Jack]

Scored 34-36 on the AAMC practice tests, actual was a 35.

 

[Reckoner]

I was bummed at first that I scored three points lower than my AAMC average. It was still only a point lower than my lowest AAMC score, though. I agree that those are the most accurate predictors of real performance

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

Just one other example of score being pretty close to the AAMC practice tests. I scored my AAMC average in the bio and verbal sections of my real MCAT and matched my lowest AAMC physics section on the real thing.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I would agree on the +/- 3 thing and I will give some advice.
So I did like 12 practice tests been AAMC and princeton review. First one I got like a 17 on and then by the last 4 or so I think I was at like: 30, 31, 32, 31. At this point I was still a couple of weeks away from taking the real thing. I kept taking some more practice tests so basically my average was about 31.

Took the real deal, felt relatively similar except for the physics which seems ungodly harder, ended up getting a 28.

Two takeaways:
If you are studying 30-40 hours a week, dont study past like 3 months, I think I was at 14 weeks and it was way too much.
Make sure you can find the hardest physics stuff to study. Princeton review had some challenging questions but on the real deal it wasnt like A challenging question, it was like you have to answer a chain of 3 or 4 to answer the problem fully; think final question on your final exam of your physics class, one that has a lot of parts and thought.

Overall I would still say you will most likely get +/- 2 on each section. Section wise I did very close to my practice tests, just basically 1 point lower on each section.

***Also dont freak out if you think that it is killing you while you are taking it. They curve the test based on who takes that test that day (which is why it takes so long to get your score back). So chances are if you think a particular problem is destroying you, chances are its destroying nearly everyone there.
I got 10 on my practice tests for phys/chem on like every single test. The entire time on the real thing I thought that this section was absolutely killing me, ended up with a 9. So yea, just food for thought.

 

[Psai]

AAMC scores are a decent indication but I was averaging around a 32 on those and got a 37 on the real deal. It depends on what your test emphasizes and what you're good at.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

AAMC scores are a decent indication but I was averaging around a 32 on those and got a 37 on the real deal. It depends on what your test emphasizes and what you're good at.

Yea this ^
doesnt happen often. Even looking at this thread the majority is doing a couple of points lower. Be prepared for that. Only like 0.01% of you should be planning on just randomly busting out a 35+ when you are averaging a low 30s. Each point over like 32 is VERY hard to get.

 

[boomshaketheroom]

I got a 35 and Kaplan practice tests were right on (33, 34, 36), but Princeton Review tests destroyed me for some reason (27, 25). I'm still not sure why there was such a huge discrepancy.