Should I retake my practice AAMC FLs?

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UMPanther

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I took the May 28th MCAT and didn't do as well as I know I can so I'm retaking Aug. 25th. I'm starting to take FLs again this week, but am wondering if I should retake the ones I already did which are all the AAMCs(3-10)? If not, I do have access to TPR FLs, but I know that these are not as similar to the AAMCs and the actual.

Any thoughts/advice is appreciated!

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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 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.
 
I have the same problem, I am also retaking. What other practice tests are there to do besides the AAMC tests which are good indicators of how your are doing. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
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 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.

so SN2ed would you recommend I use my TPR diagnostics/FLs to prep even though the general concensus is TPR is harder than the usual? And then maybe the last week/week and half do an AAMC or two?

Thanks for the advice!:)
 
Agreed. Don't use it for practice per se, use it to make sure you've corrected your mistakes. If you're doing it to make sure you understand the stuff you've missed, by all means go ahead.

And I recommend doing TPR. You want "harder." You want to have a sense of confidence going into the real thing. And also, more often than not, the real thing is MUCH harder than the practice exams.
 
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