Review Scores vs Real Thing

[Olsen]

Hey everyone. First, good luck to each and every one of you. Let's hope we all get to meet each other face to face at a school a year from now!

Has anyone taken a review course (Princeton, Kaplan etc..) and received their MCAT scores? If so, I am interested in your score on the last diagnostic (the "real" one) versus your scores on the actual MCAT. Reply if you have any info!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[scootad.]

I took Kaplan as a prep course.

I thought Kaplan helped me tremendously as far as reviewing the material and getting used to taking such an exhausting test.
But I realized that the Physical Sciences section on the Kaplan tests were much more difficult than on the actual MCAT and the Biological Sciences section on the Kaplan practice tests were much easier than on the actual MCAT. Weird, because in the Kaplan practice tests I always did much better in the Biological Sciences section than the Physical Sciences section (I'd get 12s as opposed to 9s) while on the actual MCAT the opposite occured. I got a 12 on the Physical Sciences section and a 10 on the Biological Sciences. Kaplan should really look into rectifying this.

 

[jmejia1]

Hey I used a couple Kaplan and Hyperlearning tests, as well as AAMC test II and V. The hyperlearning tests A-D are much harder than the real thing (except for VR: at least for my form the verbal from these tests were on par) Also the scale conversions for these tests predict a lower score. These other tests were better predictors:
Kaplan Test II: 7VR 11PS 11BS
AAMC Test II: 5VR 11PS 11BS
AAMC Test V: 7VR 9PS 10BS
April MCAT: 6VR 10PS 11BS

Pretty much my score was an average of first three tests above. Many think AAMC test II is outdated, but I felt it was good practice nonetheless.

 

[AltruismINC]

Well I posted this before, but I'll help this thread grow:

REA Practice Test I: 14V, 11PS, 13BS
AAMC Practice Test I: 14V, 14PS, 12BS
AAMC Practice Test III: 10-11V, >12PS, >12BS
April 2001 MCAT: 10V, 11PS, 13BS

Verbal always seem to be lower on the real thing cause you have the initial nervousness after serveral anxious hours of waiting in your test room. At home, I would obviously never be nervous. Maybe you need to trick yourself into thinking that this practice test will determine your future, and maybe you'll score more accurately.

 

[Jamier2]

I went to a locally offered non-national (not Princeton or Kaplan) course and used Columbia Review materials. My scores (that I still remember):

AAMC III 10-11V, 10-11P, 8-9BS
Spring '01 11VR, 11PS, 10BS

I thought AAMC III was an excellent representation of the difficulty of my MCAT.

 

[fishtolive]

I wient to princeton rev. and here's my #'s...
diag 481-17
2-23
3-24
4-28
aamc 2-32
aamc 5-29

april 2001-32 Q

it was a steady climb the whole way.

 

[Luminox]

I took kaplan. All my scores were within 32 to 34 - every single one. Mostly the variance was in the VR - i always seemed to get 12PS and 11BS somehow. On the real thing I hit a 35R - 9VR, 14PS and 12BS. Hope this helps. I really don't think anything was indicative of the verbal, but the aamc items (4 and 5) were good.

take care!

lumi

 

[Jalopycat]

Well, I'm not too happy with my real scores compared to my Kaplan scores. I scored 2 points lower on the verbal. Kaplan's verbal did not compare to the real thing. Other than that, I do believe it helped. However, instead of going to Kaplan again, I'm going to order the AAMC practice tests and work on retaking in a couple of months ~sigh~

 

[Luminox]

Jalopy - what did you make if you don't mind my asking? I had the same - my VR was usually 10 or 11 on the kaplan stuff and i got a 9 in april. I can't say i'm too surprised - just a little pissed.

take care

lumi

Originally posted by Jalopycat:
•Well, I'm not too happy with my real scores compared to my Kaplan scores. I scored 2 points lower on the verbal. Kaplan's verbal did not compare to the real thing. Other than that, I do believe it helped. However, instead of going to Kaplan again, I'm going to order the AAMC practice tests and work on retaking in a couple of months ~sigh~•

 

[pre-hawkdoc]

I took TPR:
Diag 1: 19
Diag 2: better (ie. i don't remember)
Diag 3: better
Diag 4: better
Diag 5 (AAMC V): 31
April MCAT: 33
I thought the AAMC V was much easier than the real deal, as did a friend of mine who also increased 2 points, so who knows. Bottom line: I'd take TPR again in a second.

 

[scootad.]

I also did worse on the Verbal in the real MCAT than on the practice tests. On the Kaplan practices I'd frequently get 11s and 12s even the odd 13, but on the real MCAT I got a 9 on the verbal. I know that I was especially nervous and that affected my performance on the real MCAT verbal, plus the proctor started the test earlier than I expected and that threw me off.

 

[Luminox]

What happened?? Weren't you in the room or did he not say he was going to start the test? I can't see how that could throw you off, but then again, i don't know the whole story.

take care!

lumi

Originally posted by scootad.:
•I also did worse on the Verbal in the real MCAT than on the practice tests. On the Kaplan practices I'd frequently get 11s and 12s even the odd 13, but on the real MCAT I got a 9 on the verbal. I know that I was especially nervous and that affected my performance on the real MCAT verbal, plus the proctor started the test earlier than I expected and that threw me off.•

 

[punkin2]

I took the Kaplan prep.

Diagnostic: 29 v11 p9 b9
Full length 1: 30 v11 p10 b9
Full length 2: 31 v10 p10 b11
Full length 3: 33 v12 p10 b11
Full length 4: 33 v11 p12 b10
Full length 5: 30 v11 p10 b9

Real thing: 34 v11 p12 b11

The scores I got seemed consistent, but the difficulty didn't. Physical sciences seemed easier, verbal seemed harder.

 

[scootad.]

Hi. Well during all my practice full lengths they started verbal at 9:00 AM. So I expected the real MCAT would start at the top of the hour also. But we had finished all the registration paperwork by 8:45 and I mistakenly thought they would give us the extra 15 minutes to relax and ready ourselves, but the proctor decided we should start right then, and I was a little bit thrown off. And nervous.

 

[Spang]

Here they are:

(VR,PS,BS)
Diagnostic: 9,6,8
Kaplan #1: 8,8,11
Kaplan #2: 9,10,9
Kaplan #3: 10,10,10
Kaplan #4: 11,10,10

AAMC III: = 11,10,9
AAMC IV:= 32
AAMV V: 33

April 21, 2001 11VR, 10PS, 10BS

 

[rxfudd]

Kaplan Avg (from the commercial prepbook and workbook) = 8VR 9PS 9BS

AAMC #3 = 8VR 12PS 9BS
AAMC #4 = 9VR 13PS 9BS

Real Thing = A disappointing 7VR 9PS 10BS

Don't ask me what happened - going to try the Kaplan course and give it another go.

 

[ILoveThaiFood]

Took Kaplan and thought their materials were really good. Also, my instructor was excellent- taught us all sorts of useful strategies.

VR, PS, BS
Diagnostic: 10, 6, 7 (low scores b/c took basic sci classes 3+ years ago)
Kaplan 1: 11, 10, 11
Kaplan 2: 11, 10, 11
Kaplan 3: 11, 11, 12
Kaplan 4: 10, 10, 10
AAMC IV: 9, 11, 12
AAMC III: 10, 11, 12

Aug 1999 real thing: 11, 10, 11

 

[Jamier2]

Originally posted by ILoveThaiFood:
•AAMC III: 10, 11, 12

Aug 1999 real thing: 11, 10, 11•

Yet another who scored within 1 point of AAMC III. I've noticed this a lot.

 

[Olsen]

Well,

Now that I have my scores in I can offer my two cents.

AMC Practice Test V 39
MCAT 37-T

I DEFINITELY thought the practice test was WAY EASIER than the real thing, I guess the curve helped out a bit. I think I choked a bit.

 

[CRS]

Howdy. Relieved to have them in and thought I'd contribute my improvement between Nov 2000 and April 21, 2001. I took the Princeton Review.

Diag 481 7 BS 4 PS 5 VR
Diag 482 8 BS 6 PS 5 VR
Diag 483 8 BS 10 PS 6 VR
Diag 484 9 BS 9 PS 7 VR
AAMC V 12 BS 10 PS 9 VR

MCAT 11 BS 10 PS 10 VR and a "P".

Best o' luck to all and Gig 'em.

 

[ewells]

I took more commercial practice tests than I could imagine and usually scored in the low thirties. These were tests by Kaplan, ARCO and Columbia. For these tests, my highest Verbal was a 10 (usually 8's and 9's), and my science scores were between 10-12

Practice MCAT III.
V-11 PS-11 BS-12
Real MCAT
V-11 PS-13 BS-13

Like elle, I had to check and double check my scores. I thought there was a mistake.

 

[autumnchai]

My actual MCAT score was 7 points higher than any of my practice tests so if you are bumming about Kaplan or Princeton Review (or AAMC) practice exams, don't stress. Just keep familiarizing yourself with the format and focus on the specific areas of physics, physio, etc. that you seemed to have the most trouble on. Anything is possible

 

[cm7b5]

I was pretty consistent:

Second to last Kap 35
Last Kap 36
AAMC IV 11V 12 or 13P 12 or 13B
AAMC V 12-13, 12-13, 12-13
April 2001 10V 13P 13B R