Regarding kaplan exams

[hopefulod07]

Are the kaplan exams more precise and difficult than the actual oat. I'm talking about the kaplan exams you take when you take the course. Are the questions on the oat whether it be for biology or organic, are they general. Like for example will you need to know what gibberelins is

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[Schroder79]

Are the kaplan exams more precise and difficult than the actual oat. I'm talking about the kaplan exams you take when you take the course. Are the questions on the oat whether it be for biology or organic, are they general. Like for example will you need to know what gibberelins is

I took the Kaplan course before I took the OAT and I think that it was really helpful. As far as the questions go, I thought they were very similar in nature. I didn't notice the questions being much harder. In all fairness, the Kaplan should be a review though, of what classes you took in undergrad. I found that in spite of Kaplans review, I did about as well in the different parts of the OAT as I did in my undergrad courses. Don't let it kill you studying though because a good night's sleep really helped out. You'll do fine don't worry.

 

[scvcstar]

Are the kaplan exams more precise and difficult than the actual oat. I'm talking about the kaplan exams you take when you take the course. Are the questions on the oat whether it be for biology or organic, are they general. Like for example will you need to know what gibberelins is

Check out some of the recent posts comparing Kaplan and the real thing...I wrote a particularly long post that actually answers your questions in bloody detail.

The real test can be both relatively detailed and general. I would know plant stuff, yes. You don't need to go into gory detail...think AP Biology style. In fact, AP Biology prep books by any company would really help you in studying, and I've been recommending that to a lot of my friends. The topics covered are the same, even.

Be aware that Kaplan has several exams...I think the ones you're thinking of are the Diagnostic, Midterm, and Final. I felt that they were slightly representative, but I wouldn't depend on it greatly...you need to look at other styles of testwriting, such as TopScore, OAT Achiever, and Princeton Review. Each has its own style, and the more practice you get, the better.

Kaplan also has 3 online exams that are meant to mimic the real test environment (it does an ok job of it, there are slight differences)...I thought those were good practice too. And of course, you should do all the individual subject tests too...yeah all 40+ of them.

And beware of math. You're worrying about biology, but you should make sure you're constantly studying all subjects. General chemistry has the most unforgiving scoring...keep that in mind!

Kaplan is neither harder nor easier than the real OAT. If you look at the posts I made recently...I averaged something like 360 AA and 360 TS on Kaplan practice exams (the online OATs, I did even worse on the paper tests). I got 380 AA and 400 TS on the real thing. Don't let that deceive you into thinking the real OAT is easier...I thought it was pretty darn hard. I just think that the curve was a little more lenient than Kaplan's curve. That's just speculation, but study hard as if the real thing is harder than Kaplan.