Princeton Review A-D, Please help

[Premed315U]

I am getting very concerned because I just did Verbal on Test A and got a 7!! and Physicial sciences and got a 9. This is my break and I'm getting ready for biological.

Somewhere, I heard that A-D are harder than the real thing, but how much harder? Also, in what way are they harder? The type of material, or the way the questions are asked, or that too many of the answer choices could be plausible?

It says in the scoring conversion in the A-D book that the sciences are more difficult than the real thing. Is the verbal more difficult too? Yikes, I'm so scared about verbal because I haven't been able to get higher than a 9 on any practices. I read fast, finish in time (with 1 minute to spare), but seem to pick the wrong answer a lot :-( Any advice?

Thank you.

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[UCLA2000]

A-D are non representative of the MCAT and virtually useless. The exam questions aren't asked in the same way that the MCAT asks them. The same topics are reviewed but in different ways. The scoring itself is much more stringent than on the actual MCAT.

Take Kaplan's exams...look at Berkeley's and Columbia's...Flowers has some decent stuff....

TPR stuff is amazingly difficult. The best thing out there is the AAMC exam set.

Make sure to know those inside and out.

Don't pay any attention to the scores that you get on those exams. The only score that counts is the one that you get on the actual MCAT. My scores ranged from a 25-31 two weeks before the MCAT. I got a 33 on the MCAT.

 

[dukeblue01]

As a TPR instructor, I can honestly tell you that Practice Test A-D are very hard. 'A' is a little harder than the real thing, while B-D approach ridiculousness (not a word). The sciences are harder because they ask you to know too much information, and they are difficult passages. The scoring table is accurate if the test was easier. The verbal is pretty close though. Keep on working with verbal, it was my toughest, and took up the majority of my time in preparation. Good Luck.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Verbal is pretty reasonable for me so far. I did verbals for A & B, and it's around the same as the April '01 exam. Bio questions are lame... they ask for too much outside information. I frequently miss like half of the answers! Basically, don't take the A-D if you have a weak stomach, because it will ruin your psyche if you don't take it knowing that it's much much harder than the real thing. (science sections)

 

[Doctora Foxy]

I took Kaplan and I found their tests to be much harder than the AMCAS practice tests (I took III thru V, I think)...I did much better on the AMCAS tests....on the real thing I did in between, due to nervousness

The review courses try to train you to be able to tackle anything...I find this method very discouraging when studying, however

 

[Premed315U]

I got a 6 on Bio (along with 7 on verbal and 9 on physical sciences). Even though you say it's harder, I'm still so scared now. A 22 is so bad, and I'm so worried that I'm never going to improve. Especially since people say verbal is equivalent to the real thing. I've been studying for 5 weeks now, and my high has been 32 on Kaplan bookstore tests and AAMC I and 31 on AAMC II. I've gotten high 20s too on other tests. I'm not sure if I'm improving, because these tests range is difficulty. I'm particularly concerned about verbal. I'm so stressed. Ahh

 

[moo]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Premed315U:
•I got a 6 on Bio (along with 7 on verbal and 9 on physical sciences). Even though you say it's harder, I'm still so scared now. A 22 is so bad, and I'm so worried that I'm never going to improve. Especially since people say verbal is equivalent to the real thing. I've been studying for 5 weeks now, and my high has been 32 on Kaplan bookstore tests and AAMC I and 31 on AAMC II. I've gotten high 20s too on other tests. I'm not sure if I'm improving, because these tests range is difficulty. I'm particularly concerned about verbal. I'm so stressed. Ahh•••••Don't do the TPR Practice tests! I never got above an 8 even on their "diagnostic tests" on BS, but I managed to pull a 12 on the BS on the real thing... and the diagnostics are supposed to be way easier than Tests A-D.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Premed...did I mention that I got a fifteen on my first practice test? Yes, a 15!!!! In 5 weeks there is no way you could have read through the review books, so keep up the studying and you'll gradually see improvements. I didn't start getting 10s on the practices until right before the MCAT. Also, regarding the AMCAS tests, the first few are pretty old, so keep that in mind....amcas has changed their questions since 1990

 

[Mutterkuchen]

You have to remember that TPR and Kaplan are businesses out to make money. They have to make the diagnostic tests hard, so that you will score well on the real test. If you got a 15 on the diagnostic and a 33 on the real thing, you are going to tell your friends (and post on newgroups) how much the course helped your score. Difficult diagnostic tests are good for future business.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

JBJ..I know that's why they are harder......and BTW I did not got a 33 on the real thing, yet I did much worse on the diagnostic than my peers and I just wanted to show that it's still early to expect vast improvements.....many people in my MCAT course got the same scores on the real thing as their practice tests..the difficulty of the practice tests I think may adjust for nervousness on test day, so that the grades average out the same

 

[bomback]

Premed,
Don't even bother taking the practice A-D tests. Not only are they useless but they will kill your confidence. Stick the actually tests princeton review gives you. The verbal section on the Princeton review tests are graded harder than the actual MCAT so don't get bugged down on it. Also, the only tests that I found to be representative of the actual MCAT were AMCAS test III and IV. Goodluck!