Rank the Full Length exams

[JP2740]

How would you rank the various full length exams? I think I saw SN2ed do this once, but can't find his post. Thanks.

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[JP2740]

First off, don't buy MCAT Achiever. The only reason why it got votes last time was due to some reps from the company.

Here's last month's thread on the same topic: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=661832

In terms of easily accessible tests (tests that are available to non-class MCAT studiers), BR and Gold Standard are your best bets. BR is generally regarded as better, but they're quite expensive. On the other hand, GS is much cheaper and one's average is usually about -2 due to the tough science sections. Both BR and GS are not known for good verbal.

When considering all four, unlike MCAT prep books, I don't think the agreement on practice test ranking is that strong. Most tend to agree that the later AAMC tests are the best, but beyond that, there isn't much of a consensus. There's even an argument to be made that the AAMCs are only really good for verbal since there are more accurate CBTs in regards to the sciences.

1. AAMC #7-10
2. Kaplan #1-6
3. BR #1-7/GS #1-10
4. AAMC #3-6
5. TPR
6. Kaplan #7-10

The reason why TPR tests are so low is because the opinions are too mixed to gain a good read.

This is what I was referring to. Any more thoughts?

 

[NYR56]

I'm taking the MCAT this Friday so I'll have a better idea of what matches the real thing then but for now, here's what I think. I didn't notice much of a difference systematically between the earlier and late AAMC tests but the general consensus seems to be that they are the best for predicting your score. I've taken 6 of the AAMC tests so far and the biggest variance I felt was with verbal. I tried 1 PS section on Kaplan and it felt totally off. The math they required was pretty absurd for an MCAT as were some of the questions. That said, practicing on harder science sections can't hurt as long as you keep in mind they are different.

 

[tcushman]

I'm interested if the reason people gauge AAMC 7-10 to be the best indicators of score because those are the AAMC practice tests people tend to take closest to the test, so logically their scores are likely to be better. I know that my scores have gone 26, 29, 29, 30, 30, 31, 32 from AAMC 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 7, 8 respectively.

 

[NYR56]

That's a good point actually. I've taken them out of order so far (4, 8, 5, 7, 9, 3); 4 and 8 were my lowest so far and I attribute that mostly to getting used to the exam and a little extra reviewing of few topics I felt weak on.

My science scores have been relatively consistent but my verbal has bounced between 10-14. As soon as I finish the section I can pretty much tell what I got and it's really only based on how hard the passages are. A few exams have had passages where I barely got anything out of them once I finished reading and naturally I didn't do that well on those questions. Hopefully I'll get lucky on the real MCAT but I don't think there's much else left to do.

 

[tcushman]

I'm kind of the opposite. The worse I think I've done on the test, the better I've done. But at the same time, I thought that 8 was the hardest (my most recent test) and 7 was the 2nd hardest (2nd most recent test), yet I still improved my overall score on each. I can't tell if it's a combination of the tests being slightly more difficult than the earlier AAMC's and me improving my content knowledge or what. Hopefully it's that the tests are harder but I'm gradually improving anyway.

 

[NYR56]

That's funny you picked those 2 exams, I got my lowest and highest verbal score on them respectively. I imagine it has a lot to do with personal interests too. People complain about the boring woodworking passage but I actually enjoyed it while I absolutely can't stand the art passages. I try to take as much interest as possible and that seems to help but unfortunately I can't always do that. Anyway, you probably are improving. I've definitely gotten better with practice and my EK verbal scores have gone up slightly (although I simply don't agree with some of their answers). I've learned to look for key words in the answer choices that ever so slightly conflict with the passage that I never would have noticed before.

 

[tcushman]

After my 2nd practice test I haven't been able to stray from an 11 on verbal until AAMC 8, which I got a 13, although I found the passages to be a little more abstract and boring. The arts passages are my least favorite too, by far. I've heard a good portion of people mention that their scores are dependent upon how interesting the passage is, which is probably a result of people being more "active" in their reading when the topic is interesting. Hopefully you'll be in the zone test day that the topic of the passage doesn't matter.

 

[NYR56]

Well that's a good sign you did better on the boring passages. I've realized the best way to read the passages is just as if I'm voluntarily reading a newspaper article. I was trying to concentrate too hard initially and it just worked against me. It feels like it's just going to come down to luck on the day of the test. There seems to be a decent amount of variability in the tests so I'm curious how much different my score would be depending on which particular test I got. Of course, if everything goes as planned, I'll never be able to compare and I won't have to open these books again after Friday (or for tutoring).

 

[J ROD]

All I can say is the sciences were more like Kaplan than AAMC to me.....both times I took it.

 

[theparty]

is this book "Kaplan MCAT practice tests" kaplan test numbers 7-10? i'm guessing it is based on the fact it's 4 of them and for that low price, without anyone mentioning it as far as i've read...

http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-MCAT-P...40&sr=8-1&keywords=kaplan+mcat+practice+tests

 

[inasensegone]

is this book "Kaplan MCAT practice tests" kaplan test numbers 7-10? i'm guessing it is based on the fact it's 4 of them and for that low price, without anyone mentioning it as far as i've read...

http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-MCAT-Practice-Tests/dp/1609789482/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396643440&sr=8-1&keywords=kaplan mcat practice tests

I don't know what numbers these are... but I bought this book one day as an impulse buy at a bookstore. The book only has 2 tests in it, but you can access 2 more as CBT's if you sign up online. They ask for a word that is found in the book in order to sign up for the 2 computer tests (as a sort of verification that you purchased the book).

 

[theparty]

what did you think of the exams? for the price it seems like a decent deal (assuming it's really 3 exams + the 1 that's free online anyways)

 

[inasensegone]

what did you think of the exams? for the price it seems like a decent deal (assuming it's really 3 exams + the 1 that's free online anyways)

To be honest, I only did the biology portion of 1 exam. I simply have more material than I do study time.

However, from that single biological sciences section, I can definitely say that the answer explanations are some of the best I've seen. They are much better than TPR, way better than AAMC's, and a million times better than EK's. I would say Berkeley Review has similar quality answer explanations.

As for the content, I felt that the majority of the passages had a similar feel to the AAMC tests, except for one passage. It was an organic chem passage and I'm pretty sure that no AAMC test is going to have a passage that required as much time as that one did. I can't imagine an organic chem passage like that being in any way useful to indicate an ability to do well in medical school. Anyway, seeing as how the book is like 30$ and you can find TPRH science workbook used for ~50$, I would try to go with the latter if money is an issue. TPRH SW has more material and you can test specific areas rather than full length tests. This can help you strengthen your weaknesses.

 

[inasensegone]

Accidental duplicate post.

 

[madmuttal]

For prediction purposes: AAMC 7-11> 3-5

For practice purposes: Kaplan 6-9 Both Sciences good > Kaplan 1-5 Both sciences good> Kaplan 10-11 only BS and TBR 1-5 PS only good..

 

[Gauss44]

Best to worst IMO:

1. AAMC CBTS (The ranking of these depends on which real MCAT you get. Real MCAT tests have variation as you can see in the test date specific threads.)
2. AAMC R versions, the old tests
3. TPR CBTs
4. EK (ignoring their politically incorrect vr passage in, uh right, saying where would be a spoiler)
5. GS
6. Kaplan (difficult to measure since Kaplan tests get easier throughout the Kaplan course, per most people's opinion)
7. TPR A-D old tests
8. Columbia Review
9. ARCO/Petersens
(Not ranked TBR, since I haven't used it yet.)

I recommend saving AAMC tests to estimate what your score will be on the real thing, and not using up AAMC tests too quickly. I also recommend alternating between different brands of non-AAMC tests as none of them are exactly like the AAMC ones, and they all have their nuances.

Key:
CBT is computer based test
TPR is The Princeton Review
EK is Examkrackers
GS is Gold Standard

 

[dudewheresmymd]

For prediction purposes: AAMC 7-11> 3-5

For practice purposes: Kaplan 6-9 Both Sciences good > Kaplan 1-5 Both sciences good> Kaplan 10-11 only BS and TBR 1-5 PS only good..

can you comment on TBR BS sections? Are the TBR CBTs worth doing as full exams? I only did the GS PS sections