Quick Question about AAMC

[SM8806]

I've been browsing this forum for a bit, and one thing I keep reading about is how different the real exam is compared to the AAMC practice exams.

However, the AAMC website says this:

Are the Practice Tests as hard as the real MCAT exam?

They are real MCAT exams! The items comprising these tests were pulled from the same item pool that is used to create the current MCAT. Any perceived differences in difficulty between these MCAT Practice Tests reflects normally occurring variations across tests. Any perceived differences in difficulty between these MCAT Practice Tests reflects normally occurring variations across tests. It's important to note that the conditions under which you take the practice tests may be simulated but not perfectly matched-your level of preparation, anxiety, how you feel that the testing environment on test day may influence your scores. So differences between your practice test scores and real scores are not common.

So...is the AAMC lying to me? Do you think they should re-evaluate this statement?


Thanks.

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[TwoPaddles]

I've been browsing this forum for a bit, and one thing I keep reading about is how different the real exam is compared to the AAMC practice exams.

However, the AAMC website says this:




So...is the AAMC lying to me? Do you think they should re-evaluate this statement?


Thanks.

i THINK they are one of those old paper-version exams. However, they are getting outdated since the majority of the test takers who have used AAMC said that the exam they took were way harder than the AAMC's.
But then they end up scoring around their AAMC average, which is interesting

 

[Pons Asinorum]

But then they end up scoring around their AAMC average, which is interesting

This.
Funny how when the polls go up on here, the results are that people are right at their last-three exam average. But when they're posting in the exam-date threads right after the exam, the real AAMC was the hardest thing ever, an order of magnitude harder than AAMC 10. If you do adequate content review, and your AAMC practice exam scores are right where you want to be, you're good to go.

 

[shiite7]

This.
Funny how when the polls go up on here, the results are that people are right at their last-three exam average. But when they're posting in the exam-date threads right after the exam, the real AAMC was the hardest thing ever, an order of magnitude harder than AAMC 10. If you do adequate content review, and your AAMC practice exam scores are right where you want to be, you're good to go.

I took my real MCAT about a week ago, took all of the AAMC practice tests (#3-10), and didn't think the real MCAT was significantly harder than the AAMC tests. I think people either simply exaggerate or are under-prepared. I think the key is to do as many full-length exams as possible.

 

[centraldogma]

So...is the AAMC lying to me? Do you think they should re-evaluate this statement?

I was really worried about this too...I heard from a lot of people throughout the summer that the verbal was a lot longer, ochem was ridiculously difficult, etc.

I just took the 9/9 mcat. For practice, I took all the AAMCs except #8 and felt the real test was very similar, which was awesome. I also had TPR materials and EK verbal passages book.

Hope that helps. Even if it is difficult, it will be reflected by the curve and your score should (hopefully) be similar to your practice ones.

 

[TwoPaddles]

This.
Funny how when the polls go up on here, the results are that people are right at their last-three exam average. But when they're posting in the exam-date threads right after the exam, the real AAMC was the hardest thing ever, an order of magnitude harder than AAMC 10. If you do adequate content review, and your AAMC practice exam scores are right where you want to be, you're good to go.

yeah I guess the last 3 exams are the most accurate representation of the real deal

 

[LostInStudy]

I felt that AAMC and the real deal were in line. Of course the real exam felt a little bit harder but not to the point that people portray on this forum. If you study properly and take everything under exam conditions then there's a good chance you'll score fairly close to you average.

Hope this helps,

-LIS

 

[aerodoc]

I think it depends on the real MCAT test, as you can see just from these responses, people had varying takes on how difficult the test was. In my personal experience, (aug. 20th 2010 test) the real MCAT was SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult than any of the practice tests, at least in the PS and BS sections. VR I thought was about where the practice tests were.

As one example, look at the AAMC practice test 10: There are very very few "difficult" questions, however the curve makes up for that. When I took the real thing, I felt like nearly ALL the questions were "difficult". In this way, some of the practice tests in no way reflected my actual experience come test day.

I ended up scoring on the real MCAT exactly my AAMC practice average, so whether it is more or less difficult or not, I think it is a safe bet to assume that as long as you take the practice tests under accurate, timed conditions, they should be relatively indicative of what your real MCAT will be regardless of the difficulty level.

Hope that helps!