So the scale for the real mcat must be way more generous.

[411309]

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Whenever you do an AAMC practice test you assume there are no experimental and the score you get is the score you get. However for the real thing there are probably a few each section? So for arguments sake, lets assume for the BS that two questions are experimental and that the bs is harder than aamc 11 so it has an easier scale by around two questions.

In that case, a 10 would be 32 right and a 9 would be 29 right. Since experimental questions don't count against you, it means they would have to adjust the scale to where they didn't. Or I guess if you miss an experimental then instead of having 32/52 right for example, youd have 33/52 right because it doesnt count which essentially means the same thing I just said.

Overall this would mean the real mcat is around a one point difference from aamc 11 so getting an 8 on aamc 11 is the same amount as questions as getting a 9 on the real deal basically.

Of course this is all just speculation and could be way off. But I say this because 1.) people always say they bombed it right after and end up surprising themselves. How many people walk out saying, "oh that was easy, got a 12". And my first experience in 2010 when I had no idea what I was doing...theres no way I got more than 20 right and still somehow got a 6 on bio. Unless I was an amazing christmas treeer lol.

food for thought.

 

[PreMedOrDead]

 

[411309]

the month wait is making me loco.

 

[jHustle]

I think you are underestimating the number of people who don't post their scores. If you look at these MCAT threads from the start, pay attention to how many people actually stick through and post their scores. There's been so many times where I see a poster at the beginning of the thread, only to search their post history and realize they never posted their score, but are still browsing. A lot of the times people do in fact do worse, and as you've probably seen, the majority of people that post their scores are 30+. I can bet that tons of people did as bad as they felt when they came out, you just don't see many of them posting about it.

With all that said, I hope you're right

 

[docmayer]

I believe I had 2 experimental on my MCAT, and wow, they were absolutely brutal...

 

[cinamin]

Whenever you do an AAMC practice test you assume there are no experimental and the score you get is the score you get. However for the real thing there are probably a few each section? So for arguments sake, lets assume for the BS that two questions are experimental and that the bs is harder than aamc 11 so it has an easier scale by around two questions.

In that case, a 10 would be 32 right and a 9 would be 29 right. Since experimental questions don't count against you, it means they would have to adjust the scale to where they didn't. Or I guess if you miss an experimental then instead of having 32/52 right for example, youd have 33/52 right because it doesnt count which essentially means the same thing I just said.

Overall this would mean the real mcat is around a one point difference from aamc 11 so getting an 8 on aamc 11 is the same amount as questions as getting a 9 on the real deal basically.

Of course this is all just speculation and could be way off. But I say this because 1.) people always say they bombed it right after and end up surprising themselves. How many people walk out saying, "oh that was easy, got a 12". And my first experience in 2010 when I had no idea what I was doing...theres no way I got more than 20 right and still somehow got a 6 on bio. Unless I was an amazing christmas treeer lol.

food for thought.

So your theory is that the real MCAT curve is more generous than AAMC 11 by 1-2 points? What if the exp. questions don't count at all and say bio is out of 50 rather than 52.. could 32 really translate to a 10? I certainly hope so

 

[c5r4c5542]

so theoretically you could miss 20 questions, get 32 correct and that's a 10?

 

[411309]

yes my theory is it's more generous by around 1 point for the sciences. if the experimental questions don't count, i'm guessing if you miss them than instead of 32/52 right youd actually have 34/52 right because they're only used for data collection.

but this is all just a guess; and i hope this guess is accurate.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I think you are underestimating the number of people who don't post their scores. If you look at these MCAT threads from the start, pay attention to how many people actually stick through and post their scores. There's been so many times where I see a poster at the beginning of the thread, only to search their post history and realize they never posted their score, but are still browsing. A lot of the times people do in fact do worse, and as you've probably seen, the majority of people that post their scores are 30+. I can bet that tons of people did as bad as they felt when they came out, you just don't see many of them posting about it.

With all that said, I hope you're right

You'll also notice there are a lot of people in those threads who, before the test, are scoring mostly in the high 20s on their practice tests. This is to be expected since the average MCAT score is 25. Thing is, no one is going to come onto this site to brag about their 28M, so all that's left are the people who were getting 30s to 40s on their practice exams and, unsurprisingly, got the same score on the real thing.

There are a couple threads on this site with polls that asked people how their practice AAMC scores matched up to their real scores, the distribution is strikingly normal, which is to say that roughly half of people get what their average AAMC score was +/- 1 point, a small but respectable number of people get +/- 2 points lower/higher than their practice score, and then a small minority get extreme differences.

That said, I had two friends who took the test last year. One had an average of 33 on his practice tests and got a 31. The other had an average of 35 and also got a 31. So make no mistake, large score drops can and do happen (but if the polls are to believed then they're just as common as large score increases).

 

[TheShaker]

You'll also notice there are a lot of people in those threads who, before the test, are scoring mostly in the high 20s on their practice tests. This is to be expected since the average MCAT score is 25. Thing is, no one is going to come onto this site to brag about their 28M, so all that's left are the people who were getting 30s to 40s on their practice exams and, unsurprisingly, got the same score on the real thing.

There are a couple threads on this site with polls that asked people how their practice AAMC scores matched up to their real scores, the distribution is strikingly normal, which is to say that roughly half of people get what their average AAMC score was +/- 1 point, a small but respectable number of people get +/- 2 points lower/higher than their practice score, and then a small minority get extreme differences.

That said, I had two friends who took the test last year. One had an average of 33 on his practice tests and got a 31. The other had an average of 35 and also got a 31. So make no mistake, large score drops can and do happen (but if the polls are to believed then they're just as common as large score increases).

TLDR: This process will never make sense for anybody. 🤣

 

[PreMedOrDead]

How about since we pay $240 we get our $240 worth.
You get 3 shots at the MCAT, and your average score on the three is your total 😉