the AAMC practice exams

[SuperSaiyan3]

so I was looking around the forum and I noticed that a lot of people possess the practice exams (i think 3 -10?)

so my question is:
- did you guys buy them? aren't they like 35$ PER test? how could you possible afford so much material?
- is there a way to get them for free online somewhere...?

truth is, i'm poor. i can't afford to spend so much money for practice and all i have to work with is my kaplan test prep book. they contain 4 practice tests but how they compare to the AAMC practice exams? i hear that they are reallly good for preparation...

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[Longshanks]

so I was looking around the forum and I noticed that a lot of people possess the practice exams (i think 3 -10?)

so my question is:
- did you guys buy them? aren't they like 35$ PER test? how could you possible afford so much material?
- is there a way to get them for free online somewhere...?

truth is, i'm poor. i can't afford to spend so much money for practice and all i have to work with is my kaplan test prep book. they contain 4 practice tests but how they compare to the AAMC practice exams? i hear that they are reallly good for preparation...

Some of the review courses people take here include the AAMC tests, "free of charge" but I'm sure that price is inside the tuition of the review course.

The Kaplan tests are slightly different from the AAMC ones. Some say they are more difficult, and the passages are longer. This would make it better preparation for how tests have been the past year or two according to post-test responses here. However, the AAMC scores still tend to correlate strongly with actualy test score, for most members here. Kaplan verbal is somewhat weak. It has far too many detailed questions and this is the major different between Kaplan and AAMC practice FLs/real MCAT. There will be very few detail questions, and even Kaplan says this, yet for some odd reason their VR sections contain half detail questions. That just won't happen on the real test, so the Kaplan VR sections tend to be easier and people score much higher on Kaplan VR compared to AAMC VR. Just as a personal example, I consisently scored 13-14 on Kaplan VR while on AAMC I ranged 11-14, but almost every single practice test I took was an 11. Some people here have suggested picking up the EK 101 verbal passages book, to make up for Kaplan's poor verbal prep.

 

[SuperSaiyan3]

Some of the review courses people take here include the AAMC tests, "free of charge" but I'm sure that price is inside the tuition of the review course.

The Kaplan tests are slightly different from the AAMC ones. Some say they are more difficult, and the passages are longer. This would make it better preparation for how tests have been the past year or two according to post-test responses here. However, the AAMC scores still tend to correlate strongly with actualy test score, for most members here. Kaplan verbal is somewhat weak. It has far too many detailed questions and this is the major different between Kaplan and AAMC practice FLs/real MCAT. There will be very few detail questions, and even Kaplan says this, yet for some odd reason their VR sections contain half detail questions. That just won't happen on the real test, so the Kaplan VR sections tend to be easier and people score much higher on Kaplan VR compared to AAMC VR. Just as a personal example, I consisently scored 13-14 on Kaplan VR while on AAMC I ranged 11-14, but almost every single practice test I took was an 11. Some people here have suggested picking up the EK 101 verbal passages book, to make up for Kaplan's poor verbal prep.

hey thanks longshanks.
ya i alraedy managed to snag EK 101 verbal passages and gonna plow through those babies soon enough.

But do you know of a way you can perhaps get the AAMC practice exams from other sources? do people sell them?

 

[Marcus Brody]

You can't get them for cheap or free. And you'd be at a huge disadvantage not buying them. It's sad but true. $350, btw, is also fairly cheap as far as app expenses go...

 

[Longshanks]

hey thanks longshanks.
ya i alraedy managed to snag EK 101 verbal passages and gonna plow through those babies soon enough.

But do you know of a way you can perhaps get the AAMC practice exams from other sources? do people sell them?

No, I think they come straight from the AAMC. Unless someone gave you their Kaplan password. But, that technically would be a breach of their user agreement, so be aware.

 

[Marcus Brody]

Virtually no one sells them 'cause AAMC watermarks your full name on every page.

 

[SuperSaiyan3]

so all these "DOWNLOAD FREE AAMC PRACTICE TESTS" online are scams?

ohhhhhhh geez.

 

[loveoforganic]

Invest in at least one of the AAMC tests so that you can get a feel for CBT.

 

[sportsfreak]

do u guys know if like AAMC test 8 is harder then 7 which is harder then 6 and so forth, or if they are all supposed to be at same level?
and are they actually equivalent to how hard the actual MCAT is?

Also, I have my test on June 18th, and i have been studying by reading my brother's books from 3 years ago, but i also plan on doing practice tests, so I was wondering what are the best practice tests to do? is going with the AAMC ones the best way to go about it?

 

[rockaction]

Best ones to do are 8, 9, and 10, as the consensus here seems to be.

 

[sportsfreak]

are the scores that people get on the AAMC practice test comparable to actual exam scores?
Also, while I only did practice exam 3 so far, but it seems like the exam didn't concentrate on naming molecules (for orgo), while my book spends a lot of time on naming...is this truly the case?

 

[sportsfreak]

also thanks for the reply rockaction

 

[nyc5614]

On AMCAS website, they state that they can provide financial help for students who can't afford to take the MCAT - maybe at least you can save some $$$ on the cost of the exam if you have to shell out money for some of the practice tests?

 

[nyc5614]

Additionally, you can do the 'trial' tests offered by the test prep companies like Kaplan and Princeton Review for some extra practice.

Currently, if you buy the "Official Guide to the MCAT Exam" from AMCAS, they give you an AAMC (CBT) practice test for free; the guide is $45, but it contains info about taking the exam along with (essentially) another practice test as they provide passages for all of the sections.

You may also want to check out the library to see if there are any practice exams in any test prep books that they might carry. Obviously, they will be paper-based, but it's better than nothing.