Section bank score as predictor?

[coquito2]

I just took AAMC FL 1 couple days ago and bombed it. It was my first practice test and I had no idea how these questions/passages would be. I got 122/123/127/123. This was very discouraging to me and so I took the time to review each incorrect answer, reason the way they did, and hit any content I missed. I did this for the Psych/Soc yesterday and then went to the Section Bank and attempted it. I didn't know if you could pause the SB and still have your work saved so I gave myself 2.5 hours to finish the 100 questions.
I received a 60%. Is redoing this SB a good way to bump up that 123?
What percentage should I be aiming for in B/B SB? C/P?
Any other advice?

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[pms_testosterone]

The section banks are not predictive of your MCAT score. But you should definitely re-do them, review them and make sure you understand why the right answers are right.

Also, if you're having trouble figuring out if you have knowledge gaps vs. comprehension/test-taking problems, what I did was take the SB closed book then open book, and compared the scores.

 

[Shotapp]

what I did was take the SB closed book then open book, and compared the scores.

Open book? What book? Are you talking about high yield notes you took during your content review?

 

[pms_testosterone]

Open book as in I allowed myself to look at any resources I had (including the Internet) while answering the questions.
A low score when taking the SB open book = problems with comprehension or poor test-taking strategy.

 

[coquito2]

I think I'll try doing that. When I reviewed the test, the ones I got wrong were definitely content that I simply could not recall. After hitting that content review (for both correct and incorrect questions), I think I'm in a better place now that section. I'm working on C/P for the next two days. I plan to take AAMC FL 2 by the end of next week.

Should I try to review more content before I attempt B/B SB? I'm trying to hit C/P hard before FL 2. CARS too.

 

[pms_testosterone]

I would save the B/B SB until you've completed your B/B content review, yes.

 

[coquito2]

Thanks! I'll do that before attempting FL 2 .

 

[mariposas905]

when is your exam?

 

[coquito2]

06/02. After reviewing C/P in FL 1, I missed so much content that I did not review. I've since then hit content hard and will finish C/P SB today.

 

[coquito2]

I just finished C/P SB and got 50% open-notebook. Honestly, I relied heavy on notes/kaplan for the first 3 passages since I had never seen that material in my pre-reqs courses. Is this a really bad score?

 

[pms_testosterone]

Yeah, that's a little low.
It suggests both your content and your comprehension of the passages are weak.

C/P was also my weak point and I had to spend more than a month on its content review. YouTube videos helped me to visualize a lot of the concepts. Doing practice questions as you cover each individual topic may also help.

 

[coquito2]

Yeah, that's a little low.
It suggests both your content and your comprehension of the passages are weak.

C/P was also my weak point and I had to spend more than a month on its content review. YouTube videos helped me to visualize a lot of the concepts. Doing practice questions as you cover each individual topic may also help.

Okay. I believe I can still improve, though. I think I would have done better on FL 1 after doing SB. The full-length questions were so much more basic.

 

[BlueComet]

You should improve, I got 514 on my first AAMC FL, and then two days later got 513 on the 2nd one, then i did all section bank problems, reviewed all FL exams and got a 518 yesterday on the 3rd one. My exam is saturday so that was my last practice exam. I felt reviewing the section bank made the exam fairly easy, but I was already fairly prepared and my main hurdle was understanding the graphs/DNA experiments. If youre doing that bad, id suggest reviewing content some more. Good luck.

 

[coquito2]

You should improve, I got 514 on my first AAMC FL, and then two days later got 513 on the 2nd one, then i did all section bank problems, reviewed all FL exams and got a 518 yesterday on the 3rd one. My exam is saturday so that was my last practice exam. I felt reviewing the section bank made the exam fairly easy, but I was already fairly prepared and my main hurdle was understanding the graphs/DNA experiments. If youre doing that bad, id suggest reviewing content some more. Good luck.

Thanks for the encouragement! When I reviewed FL 1, I missed most content-based questions.

My lowest percentile on the SB was exactly that-reading complex figures. I felt like the C/P SB figures were way more elusive. Some were straightforward, but a lot were not. I will review it tomorrow. And like you said, reviewing everything is probably half of the learning process and makes something less intimidating the second time around. Good luck on the MCAT!

 

[BlueComet]

Honestly, forget about the scores for the SB, dont use them to gauge your preparedness. From what i can tell, they are basically the hardest problems on the MCAT given all at once, if you can get a 75% on the SB then i think youre doing very good. Just remember to go over every single practice exam and every single question on all the SB, that will help you improve your score.

 

[coquito2]

Honestly, forget about the scores for the SB, dont use them to gauge your preparedness. From what i can tell, they are basically the hardest problems on the MCAT given all at once, if you can get a 75% on the SB then i think youre doing very good. Just remember to go over every single practice exam and every single question on all the SB, that will help you improve your score.

Will do! Thanks so much.

 

[coquito2]

@BlueComet I just took NS 1 today and made a 504 (125/125/127/127). I felt like NS 1 was pretty different from FL 1. I have not done the SB for B/B yet but will do probably after reviewing the exam tomorrow. I am afraid of taking FL 2 next week now due to fears of my score decreasing instead of going up since I've already put in a lot of effort. Is FL 2 comparable in difficulty to FL 1?

 

[OchemOficionado]

Dudeeeee, can I be brutally honest with you? If so read below.





WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING YOUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE?! (Your AMMC FLs) I don’t know what possessed you to take one BEFORE your 3rd party FLs, BEFORE the AAMC SBs let alone BEFORE content review!!! You’re all over the place. And yes 50% on any AAMC material is terribleeeee, ESPECIALLY if you’re using your review books while doing problems! What the hell? You can’t even count it as you getting it right if you didn’t rely solely on yourself.

Anyway, AAMC SBs have been predictive of MCAT scores in that people that are getting 80% or more right usually have very decent scores.

And by the way NS #1 is the easiest FL out there and I think AAMC FL 2 was easier than AAMC FL 1 if that helps.

Also, AAMC Q packs are great for those with weak content knowledge. In my opinion, you really should have ended up there at some point after some content review and did Q packs to SB to 3rd party FL to AAMC FL.

Please push your test date back until you are continually getting FLs score at your goal score. And please don’t waste your AAMC FL 2 now when you clearly aren’t ready to take it. Finish your content review and do the SB first. AAMC FLs is the most predictive material available of your MCAT score. Why squander it when you haven’t exhausted your content review and other practice resources first? These exams should be close to the last things you do before your MCAT. FL and then review it and let it guide your studying. It doesn’t make sense to take it, not know anything on it and have to start from scratch with content review. That just leaves you with one less score predictor at the end of the day.

 

[coquito2]

Dudeeeee, can I be brutally honest with you? If so read below.

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WASTING YOUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE?! (Your AMMC FLs) I don’t know what possessed you to take one BEFORE your 3rd party FLs, BEFORE the AAMC SBs let alone BEFORE content review!!! You’re all over the place. And yes 50% on any AAMC material is terribleeeee, ESPECIALLY if you’re using your review books while doing problems! What the hell? You can’t even count it as you getting it right if you didn’t rely solely on yourself.

Anyway, AAMC SBs have been predictive of MCAT scores in that people that are getting 80% or more right usually have very decent scores.

And by the way NS #1 is the easiest FL out there and I think AAMC FL 2 was easier than AAMC FL 1 if that helps.

Please push your test date back until you are continually getting FLs score at your goal score. And please don’t waste your AAMC FL 2 now when you clearly aren’t ready to take it. Finish your content review and do the SB first. Geez. AAMC FLs is the most predictive material available of your MCAT score. Why squander it when you haven’t exhausted your content review and other practice resources first? These exams should be close to the last things you do before your MCAT. FL and then review it and let it guide your studying. It doesn’t make sense to take it, not know anything on it and have to start from scratch. That just leaves you with one less score predictor at the end of the day.

LOL can you chill for a sec and not yell? I am not all over the place. I did the kaplan set. I just started tests a bit too late because maybe I was finishing up undergrad and was very busy? Also, I don;t know what your deal is with haaaviiing to ELONGATE and be soo eexpressive about stuff that you're just assuming about me.

 

[OchemOficionado]

LOL can you chill for a sec and not yell? I am not all over the place. I did the kaplan set. I just started tests a bit too late because maybe I was finishing up undergrad and was very busy? Also, I don;t know what your deal is with haaaviiing to ELONGATE and be soo eexpressive about stuff that you're just assuming about me.

I’m always expressive 🙂 And I edited my response while you were typing, sorry. Your study plan just really floored me and I couldn’t stop adding to my comment, lol.

Any way, it seems all over the place to me. AAMC FL to content review to section bank while using your notes to NS FL to next AAMC 2 and then B/B content review and then B/B section bank? Like, whattttttt? I’m not assuming anything about you, I’m literally responding to what has been typed in this thread. It all just looks haphazard to me and like you’re setting yourself up for 1. Failure and 2. having no gauge of what range you’re scoring in. For instance, can you assume your AAMC FL score is at all predictive of your real score being that you didn’t finish C/P content review or C/P section bank before the exam? You definitely can’t retake it and count that score as predictive either. Now you’re down an AAMC exam and you’re about to take #2 when you aren’t ready.

 

[coquito2]

Doing the section for P/S literally helped me answer 40/59 on NS 1 and raise my score 4 points. Everything improved. I also feel that Biochem section in NS 1 was harder than in FL 1. To each their own and I think you should respect that. Even more, I followed the advice of another poster here, who told me to do the C/P with my notes. Right now, I am better at reasoning within the text and am filling in the gaps with gen chem content one day at a time- as that's my weakest subject ever.
With that said, I've come to realize that everyone just works very differently and people who told me that I would absolutely fail my Biochem sections time and time again this semester were obviously very wrong. I have had a lot negativity thrown at me these past months, people telling me I wouldn't do well on my MCAT. I can definitely do this, but not with the attitude of your likes.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Doing the section for P/S literally helped me answer 40/59 on NS 1 and raise my score 4 points. Everything improved. I also feel that Biochem section in NS 1 was harder than in FL 1. To each their own and I think you should respect that. Even more, I followed the advice of another poster here, who told me to do the C/P with my notes. Right now, I am better at reasoning within the text and am filling in the gaps with gen chem content one day at a time- as that's my weakest subject ever.
With that said, I've come to realize that everyone just works very differently and people who told me that I would absoluterly fail my Biochem sections time and time again this semester were obviously very wrong. I have had a lot negativity thrown at mt these past month, telling me I wouldn't do well on my MCAT. I can definitiely do this, but not with the attitude of your likes.

Yes, definitely to each their own. I’m just sharing my opinion on this public post and I ASKED if I could be brutally honest and for you not to read further if you would be upset by it. Sharing something you don’t like doesn’t make it negativity. I’m giving you constructive criticism as I’m trying to help you, not discourage you. Can you definitely do this! But you need to be strategic in your prep, hence my entire point.

Again, you can’t compare a NS exam to actual AAMC material. I’m sure you’re learning things, but don’t trust the confidence boost you feel going from about 495 on AAMC 1 to 504 on a 3rd party. You can say you improved when your AAMC FLs have that jump.

My point about doing AAMC material open book is that you can’t rely on the subsequent percentage right. YOU didn’t really get 50% right, you knew less actually and that’s a clear sign that you need to hold off on your most precious materials.

Again, push back your exam until you are 100% ready. There is no rush. If you choose to go forward and test in two weeks you will regret it. I have yet to hear of a single person that goes from 495 to 509+ in 3 weeks.

 

[Shotapp]

I agree with @OchemOficionado

Not very smart to use an AAMC FL before finishing content review. Most people use third party FLs first to work on timing/endurance and to target weak areas in content knowledge...