Retaking MCAT AAMC EXAMS

[FuturePharm21]

Everyone seems to have mixed opinions about retaking the AAMCs...I took all of them last summer and now I'm deciding to take MCAT again after a not so great Jan. 2011 score.

The good thing is I rarely went over my answers, which was a big mistake...so I don't know all the answers for the tests....BUT I may remember a few things when I retake the test like have some familiarity...

Because I heard Kaplan FL are bad predictors, just practice? How about TPR?

Thanks for the input.

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[FuturePharm21]

I'm planning to take MCAT in August 2011...but I just got accepted to a 8 week summer program in biomedical/clinical research, mentoring, seminars, and shadowing. The program is June-July 2011....and the director of the program said it requires 30-40 research hours per week M-F and off on weekends. She did say they have pre-med applicants do the program in the past and they have managed to study and do the program...

What should I do? I am torn because they only select 10 students from 170 applicants yet I don't want to sacrifice my score for research...which I can do in the fall semester at my University.

Advice requested.

 

[mchoudha]

I would say you are already taking the exam in the later dates (putting you in late application cycle) anyway. I would either start studying for MCATs now! and see where you get! and take the exam in late June or the better option is postpone the exam even further and apply next cycle in the early dates so you have more chances.

Hope this helps...

 

[mchoudha]

If I were you I wouldn't use the same the exams. I am retaking my exam as well and I used new material! The point for taking the full lengths is to see if you are ready! if you are reusing the old exams you are going to see elevated scores than what they really should be.

Everyone seems to have mixed opinions about retaking the AAMCs...I took all of them last summer and now I'm deciding to take MCAT again after a not so great Jan. 2011 score.

The good thing is I rarely went over my answers, which was a big mistake...so I don't know all the answers for the tests....BUT I may remember a few things when I retake the test like have some familiarity...

Because I heard Kaplan FL are bad predictors, just practice? How about TPR?

Thanks for the input.

 

[thomasfx10]

To completely ignore those past AAMC exams would not be wise especially since you did not review your mistakes. I would retake not for the score but for review. Also combine that with Kaplan exams 1-6. I am taking them and they are not bad. They have a big curve but IMO there are harder

 

[SN2ed]

Should I retake FL X?

I don't suggest it for a few reasons. First, your score will be inflated. This alone negates the predictive power of the test. If you don't need it to gauge where you are, fine, retake them. For instance, you could simply be going over the problems again to, as others have mentioned, understand the thinking behind it. However, if you are using it as a practice FL, don't.

One of the most important aspects of a FL is that it's material you've never seen before. It forces you to quickly analyze an unknown passage, tap into your knowledge, and answer questions you've never seen. If you knew exactly what was going to be on the test, it would take away from the somewhat frantic experience of getting that weird passage. It also makes you more relaxed overall because you know what's coming. Unfortunately, you will not have the luxury of either on the test. You will have to deal with weird passages. You will have to get out of your comfort zone of knowing what's ahead.

Then, you get into the timing issues which you MUST get down before the test. When you have prior knowledge of the material, you miss the chance at gaining more experience with the clock. Too many people underestimate the effect of the timer. Again, you have to get used to it and retaking problems won't help.

Think of the whole thing like sports practice. Sure, you go over some standard plays again and again to get a feel for them. However, to practice for a real game, you have a scrimmage match or an exhibition game. The other team doesn't tell you what plays they're going to run. If they did, it would eliminate the usefulness of the scrimmage or exhibition game.

 

[Doctopus]

What works is different for everyone, but since everyone here is recommending against, let me offer a counter-example just in case OP is wired more like me:

IMO, retaking the AAMC FLs not once, not twice, but 5+ so times each was absolutely instrumental in my raising my mcat score by 5 points between two administrations. There's no doubt that the questions most like the actual MCAT you will take are those on the past practice AAMCs. AAMC 3-10 is a large, high-yield qbank then. Doing questions is the best way for me to learn the test/raise my score, so that is what I used them for.

I would actually click the solutions/explanations as I took the test so that I got immediate feedback as to whether I had worked the problem correctly. I found this feature to be very useful.

I liked the fact that when I would first take the tests I would get 70% of the questions right but that this would rise with each practice run through. Even till the very end I would miss a problem on occasion. I also sort of developed a deeper understanding of certain questions/the-solutions-to-them as I worked them for the seventh time, and I think this in turn helped me understand some of the classic question formats.

I didn't retake the verbal sections very often as I felt that retaking those sections did not improve my test-taking ability. I also repeated FLs from Kaplan (especially 1-6).

As long as you don't delude yourself into thinking you're going to get a 45 on the real thing based on your score on AAMC FL 6 on your eighth administration, reworking FLs is an excellent way to improve your score IMO.

 

[whizplusdum]

I second this, you can retake a FL, which I have been doing. It test your knowledge on knowing the material, even if you have seen the passage before, I doubt you will remember the answers. The concepts are the main key in answering any type of question. I retook a few exams, and I did not remember the answers except for 2 or 3 of them. But instead, I was able to analyze the passage and data better, not because I have taken the exam again, but because I gained a better grasp on the topic which is on the exam from countless hours of studying. Also, I have retaken Ek101, and AAMC verbal exams and to be honest, you dont really remember the passages you read. To me, when I redid these exams, it was as if I have never seen them before.

 

[gumdrops]

I retook FL's and found it very useful BUT I also reviewed the FL's thoroughly after the exam this time, analyzed my weak areas and studied those the hardest post-test. You have to do this scrupulously if you intend to raise your score by using FL's. I suspect so many of the people here who had these outstanding (33+) AAMC averages and bombed the actual exam were not properly reviewing their full-lengths. Sn2ed and Spinach both emphasize this.

Sn2ed is also absolutely right about recycling content, generally. It became useless to recycle practice passages and I stalled in my progress when I'd keep repeating the same passages in the hopes of learning the content. You learn new content by applying it in as many different situations as you can. Review every passage thoroughly but DO NOT repeat them as practice material. Keep seeking new passages.