Question about Questions

[xDNA]

Hey SDN,

I've seen a few people on here, r/MCAT, and r/Premed say or insinuate that the AAMC Section Banks are better than the AAMC Qpacks. Why is this the general consensus?

If so, is uWORLD better than AAMC Qpacks? or Are the Qpacks pretty low-yield all around?

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[Princeton Medical Student]

Q packs are easier, but still provide a decent insight into content and are representative of the things you will see on the actual test. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not using all available AAMC material, as well as UWorld.

 

[caterwaiter]

I did not use any UWorld material, so I can't speak to it. I found the AAMC Qbanks representative of content, but easier than test material. I found the AAMC Section Banks to be very representative of both the content and difficulty of the actual test. I agree with the above poster--use ALL of the AAMC material you have access to.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hey SDN,

I've seen a few people on here, r/MCAT, and r/Premed say or insinuate that the AAMC Section Banks are better than the AAMC Qpacks. Why is this the general consensus?

If so, is uWORLD better than AAMC Qpacks? or Are the Qpacks pretty low-yield all around?

UWorld is great, mostly for its awesome explanations, but AAMC everything is the gold standard, since they create the material and the test. Section Banks are representative of what's on the actual test, so in many ways they are like unscored additional FLs. Q-Packs are actual questions from the old version of the test, so they are less relevant, and easier, than other AAMC material. Even so, they are still AAMC material, and will expose you to content the creator of the test thought important enough to include in the Q-Pack.

I see the term "low yield" thrown around a lot, especially on reddit. I also see a lot of people bitch after an exam about all the low yield questions they missed. Low yield only comes into play if you are pressed for time and just cannot cover everything. It is not a concept compatible with actually maximizing your score. Lots of low yield material is tested on each exam. The problem is that there is so much of it that the only way to effectively tackle it is with time. Yes, Q-Packs are low yield compared to Section Banks and FLs. Do you really want to skip them?

 

[Blueprint Med School]

The QPacks will test your knowledge of content- the type of questions found in the QPacks are pretty superficial in that if you know the science, you know the answer (except for CARS). The section banks require more higher level thinking and you really need to be able to understand and apply the science content in order to answer the questions. This is a lot more like the kind of questions you will see on the actual MCAT, so the section banks are good for that reason.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[xDNA]

Wow, Thanks everyone for your insight. I definitely think completing ALL AAMC material is ideal based off what everyone is saying.

I'm currently using BLUEPRINT online MCAT prep and they created a study guide for me up until my anticipated MCAT test date. In the study guide it included AAMC FLs and Section banks, but not the Qpacks. Following everyone's advice, I included all the Qpack questions into my study guide as well.