The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

[vsantav]

Registration opens up sometime today so I thought I'd go ahead and make this thread. Anyone else taking it in August?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[geronimo11]

Trying to figure out a schedule that works for me for the last 18 days or so for the test. I think I'm just gonna focus on AAMC stuff and use TPR/Khan to supplement my studying. Hoping to be done with the AAMC FL 10 days before my exam. Then spend the rest of the time reviewing it/reviewing content bootcamp style.

On the side note, took a light day today. Was invited to hang out with friends tonight but I'm not sure if I can go without feeling guilty about not studying ahah. Especially since we are within 3 weeks now 😕 (August 5th-6th test takers).

Saame here. The guilt is just too much to handle

Seriously, the guilt. I just want to be able to read a book for pure pleasure or catch up on a tv show or with friend and not feel guilty for it and think "wow what am I doing having fun when I should be studying, I don't deserve this yet"

 

[MarsDominus]

My progress in CARS. Not much improvement in my last 48 passages.

a

 

[TheAnonymous]

I think you're good man haha, at least I hope so (for me also 😛). I'm not sure how the diagnostic is, but I just did Next Step FL 1 and got 513 (129/126/130/128) and you did better than me on the TPR Complete 1 (507:126/126/128/127). Just keep working at it and I'm sure you'll get the score you want 🙂

Thanks dude. And congrats, 513 is fantastic! I was planning on purchasing NS full lengths but with people saying they copied AAMC, I'm not sure if I should. But I did like their diagnostic exam (way better than TPR complete test 1 imo). I will give kaplan a try next week.

 

[tturchi51]

Ok so who is going to be my new best friend and summarize what everyone said about the july mcat???

 

[itsallgood92]

Thanks dude. And congrats, 513 is fantastic! I was planning on purchasing NS full lengths but with people saying they copied AAMC, I'm not sure if I should. But I did like their diagnostic exam (way better than TPR complete test 1 imo). I will give kaplan a try next week.

did NS update their scales? and yeah I heard there were a lot of repeat/similar passages from AAMC. I'm scoring similar to you on TPR 508-511, so I'm curious about next step as well. Should I just scrap the rest of my TPR and Kaplan exams and get 3 NS?

I'd stay away from Kaplan if you can. I've done like 6 of their exams, and they are terrible. I'd go with something else if you have other options.

 

[geronimo11]

did NS update their scales? and yeah I heard there were a lot of repeat/similar passages from AAMC. I'm scoring similar to you on TPR 508-511, so I'm curious about next step as well. Should I just scrap the rest of my TPR and Kaplan exams and get 3 NS?

I'd stay away from Kaplan if you can. I've done like 6 of their exams, and they are terrible. I'd go with something else if you have other options.

I've been reading up on NS exams and a lot of people are saying NS 4 & 5 are better than 1-3 and more representative of the real thing, with more experimental based passages and stuff. So if you buy NS, I'd suggest getting those (unless you have to buy them in order or something).

 

[Hatfield0429]

What about EK tests? Do you guys know which are the better ones among their four tests? I want to just use two of theirs.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

What about EK tests? Do you guys know which are the better ones among their four tests? I want to just use two of theirs.

#4 was released just last month, which means they were probably able to make it after the April and May administrations (so I'm guessing it's more like the real thing). From what I've read 3 is the hardest. The benefit of doing #1 or #2 is that more people have taken those so you can compare yourself more easily to how SDN users were tracking before their scores.

 

[JustADreamer3]

Thanks dude. And congrats, 513 is fantastic! I was planning on purchasing NS full lengths but with people saying they copied AAMC, I'm not sure if I should. But I did like their diagnostic exam (way better than TPR complete test 1 imo). I will give kaplan a try next week.

Thanks man haha, I'm happy I've improved from my first few FLs (Princeton Demo - 500, Kaplan 1 - 497)! Yeah I heard that Next Step copied, from what I understand they have changed most stuff except their 5th FL?? I can't really tell if I'm actually doing AAMC copied stuff (as I am saving it for later), but I like that Next Step is more experimental based (from their diagnostic and S/P books although I wish I just got the FLs since I don't have much time to do them), but their test is definitely so much longer. Kaplan is definitely weird but I thought they were ok, Princeton I don't know, I never really got the hang of their test haha, I felt the Complete Test were less experimentally based than the Review Test and Demo. I'm gonna do Berkeley FL 1 tomorrow, so we will see how that goes...

 

[JustADreamer3]

did NS update their scales? and yeah I heard there were a lot of repeat/similar passages from AAMC. I'm scoring similar to you on TPR 508-511, so I'm curious about next step as well. Should I just scrap the rest of my TPR and Kaplan exams and get 3 NS?

I'd stay away from Kaplan if you can. I've done like 6 of their exams, and they are terrible. I'd go with something else if you have other options.

I like their Test better than Kaplan/Princeton (maybe because I scored higher hahahaha), I heard EK is the best, I'm gonna do Berkeley tomorrow, so I'll tell you guys how that goes!

 

[Hatfield0429]

#4 was released just last month, which means they were probably able to make it after the April and May administrations (so I'm guessing it's more like the real thing). From what I've read 3 is the hardest. The benefit of doing #1 or #2 is that more people have taken those so you can compare yourself more easily to how SDN users were tracking before their scores.

Thanks for the info

 

[itsallgood92]

I like their Test better than Kaplan/Princeton (maybe because I scored higher hahahaha), I think EK is the best, I'm gonna do Berkeley tomorrow, so I'll tell you guys how that goes!

Haha well at this point, I'm just looking for a confidence boost, so I'll definitely check those out!

 

[lmladdno84]

did NS update their scales? and yeah I heard there were a lot of repeat/similar passages from AAMC. I'm scoring similar to you on TPR 508-511, so I'm curious about next step as well. Should I just scrap the rest of my TPR and Kaplan exams and get 3 NS?

I'd stay away from Kaplan if you can. I've done like 6 of their exams, and they are terrible. I'd go with something else if you have other options.

Just curious, what's so terrible about the Kaplan FLs?

 

[moesman777]

Just curious, what's so terrible about the Kaplan FLs?

I think they're a bit more difficult and cover some topics that are specific to their books, but not found in others. They're good for working on pace/endurance. I've taken mostly Kaplan FL's but just recently started doing TPR and like them way better.

 

[itsallgood92]

Just curious, what's so terrible about the Kaplan FLs?

I was just getting frustrated with their exams. Lots of grammatical errors, subjective logic at times, and just not really representative. I mostly just used them for learning content and timing, but aside from that I'd probably just go with something else. TPR is a tad better, but not by much. I feel like a lot of their sections have barely any analysis and felt like doing a bunch of discrete questions. For example, on my last TPR I scored a 126/124/131/127=508 (complete 2) and before that a 127/127/129/127=511 (course 5)...so going into the official guide questions I thought I was going to crush it...but I didn't because the style of the exam was just completely different and definitely required more analysis/sifting through more technical jargon. Overall, I just felt like Kaplan just tests specific details in their book sometimes, and is just not something you'll see on test day. The same thing can be said about TPR, but at least their logic isn't completely off/questionable, where as sometimes I feel like Kaplan just completely rushed developing their exams just to say they had 11 full lengths. If you haven't taken the official guides, I'd take those and you'll see what I mean.

 

[TheAnonymous]

Thanks man haha, I'm happy I've improved from my first few FLs (Princeton Demo - 500, Kaplan 1 - 497)! Yeah I heard that Next Step copied, from what I understand they have changed most stuff except their 5th FL?? I can't really tell if I'm actually doing AAMC copied stuff (as I am saving it for later), but I like that Next Step is more experimental based (from their diagnostic and S/P books although I wish I just got the FLs since I don't have much time to do them), but their test is definitely so much longer. Kaplan is definitely weird but I thought they were ok, Princeton I don't know, I never really got the hang of their test haha, I felt the Complete Test were less experimentally based than the Review Test and Demo. I'm gonna do Berkeley FL 1 tomorrow, so we will see how that goes...

Good luck ! I'm assuming you can only get access to Berkeley if you enrol into their classes so I won't be comparing my score with you 😛

Hope it all goes well. I will send you a msg and be in touch that way

 

[TheAnonymous]

I was just getting frustrated with their exams. Lots of grammatical errors, subjective logic at times, and just not really representative. I mostly just used them for learning content and timing, but aside from that I'd probably just go with something else. TPR is a tad better, but not by much. I feel like a lot of their sections have barely any analysis and felt like doing a bunch of discrete questions. For example, on my last TPR I scored a 126/124/131/127=508 (complete 2) and before that a 127/127/129/127=511 (course 5)...so going into the official guide questions I thought I was going to crush it...but I didn't because the style of the exam was just completely different and definitely required more analysis/sifting through more technical jargon. Overall, I just felt like Kaplan just tests specific details in their book sometimes, and is just not something you'll see on test day. The same thing can be said about TPR, but at least their logic isn't completely off/questionable, where as sometimes I feel like Kaplan just completely rushed developing their exams just to say they had 11 full lengths. If you haven't taken the official guides, I'd take those and you'll see what I mean.

Have you tried taking any NS full lengths? I took TPR complete test 1 and I agree with you - that test did not require any critical thinking or experiment analysis (hopefully that is not the case with the rest of them). I will probably get NS full lengths as well as the EKs for the exact same reasons you brought up.

 

[JustADreamer3]

Good luck ! I'm assuming you can only get access to Berkeley if you enrol into their classes so I won't be comparing my score with you 😛

Hope it all goes well. I will send you a msg and be in touch that way

No no, you can get 3 of them off their website, there hasn't been much feed back on them but I heard their C/P and Bio are decent but CARS and P/S aren't so great haha, we will see...

 

[TheAnonymous]

No no, you can get 3 of them off their website, there hasn't been much feed back on them but I heard their C/P and Bio are decent but CARS and P/S aren't so great haha, we will see...

I will check them out then. Best of luck. Shoot me a msg when you are done haha

 

[itsallgood92]

Have you tried taking any NS full lengths? I took TPR complete test 1 and I agree with you - that test did not require any critical thinking or experiment analysis (hopefully that is not the case with the rest of them). I will probably get NS full lengths as well as the EKs for the exact same reasons you brought up.

When is your test date? Mine is aug 22nd, so I'm trying to gauge what I can feasibly do with the remaining time. I want to say I'll be able to take 6+ more exams, but I also don't want to burn out and waste any more money than I already have. I haven't taken any of the NS exams, but I'll probably take the half-length to get a better idea if I end up investing in more FLs

 

[moesman777]

When is your test date? Mine is aug 22nd, so I'm trying to gauge what I can feasibly do with the remaining time. I want to say I'll be able to take 6+ more exams, but I also don't want to burn out and waste any more money than I already have. I haven't taken any of the NS exams, but I'll probably take the half-length to get a better idea if I end up investing in more FLs

I'm taking Aug 21, and plan on doing 4 more FLs (1 per week because I can only do on weekends because of work) including the official AAMC FL as my last one. During the weekdays I'm going to do content review in the morning for an hour and in the afternoons do non-FL practice passages like the NS Verbal and Psych books and EK 30-minute end of lecture exams. I'm also gonna use weekday nights to finish up the AAMC question packs. Flashcards and KA passages during the day at work breaks as well. 6 tests is about one every 5 days, which is alot but manageable if you stay on schedule.

 

[justlisten234]

What have you guys found to be the best practice passages, besides AAMC, to get a feel for the experimental question types?

 

[Dreamstoo]

I'm taking Aug 21, and plan on doing 4 more FLs (1 per week because I can only do on weekends because of work) including the official AAMC FL as my last one. During the weekdays I'm going to do content review in the morning for an hour and in the afternoons do non-FL practice passages like the NS Verbal and Psych books and EK 30-minute end of lecture exams. I'm also gonna use weekday nights to finish up the AAMC question packs. Flashcards and KA passages during the day at work breaks as well. 6 tests is about one every 5 days, which is alot but manageable if you stay on schedule.

Personally I feel one exam a week is the best way to go. I personally don't get how certain people do 2-3 tests a week. It's too exhausting and in my opinion can cause an early burn out. I have 2.5 weeks and I'm taking an Official Guide half length, AAMC FL, and (maybe) TPR FL 2 although I consider this a supplemental exam if I have the time to get to it. I also want to get through my old Self Assessment and some old AAMC exams. Already took 6 TPR tests and I was relatively happy with my range on my last 3 TPR exams and I don't feel like wasting more time on them since they are considered to be a lot harder than the real MCAT by like 70% and like 30% not representative of the real MCAT based off of the reddit reviewers.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Have you tried taking any NS full lengths? I took TPR complete test 1 and I agree with you - that test did not require any critical thinking or experiment analysis (hopefully that is not the case with the rest of them). I will probably get NS full lengths as well as the EKs for the exact same reasons you brought up.

TPR Course Test 5 had an heavy experimental bio/biochem section but it lacked a lot of biochem and was mostly physio. That exam in general felt the most experimental based/critical thinking out of all the TPR tests I took. Also was my highest score on all of them.

 

[itsallgood92]

I'm taking Aug 21, and plan on doing 4 more FLs (1 per week because I can only do on weekends because of work) including the official AAMC FL as my last one. During the weekdays I'm going to do content review in the morning for an hour and in the afternoons do non-FL practice passages like the NS Verbal and Psych books and EK 30-minute end of lecture exams. I'm also gonna use weekday nights to finish up the AAMC question packs. Flashcards and KA passages during the day at work breaks as well. 6 tests is about one every 5 days, which is alot but manageable if you stay on schedule.

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Originally I was planning to do all the KA passages, but when one of the Chem/phys ones started asking me to evaluate a fourior transformation with relevance to a sin graph on an ECG...well I immediately gave up. Their bio and psych/soc seemed alright though, so I might just stick with that, do the q-packs, and take the AAMC FL last like you said.

 

[blahblahpremeds]

Hey guys. Did anyone attempt the Kaplan528 exam? I'll be taking that later this week. Just curious as to how it compares with other exams.

 

[itsallgood92]

Personally I feel one exam a week is the best way to go. I personally don't get how certain people do 2-3 tests a week. It's too exhausting and in my opinion can cause an early burn out. I have 2.5 weeks and I'm taking an Official Guide half length, AAMC FL, and (maybe) TPR FL 2 although I consider this a supplemental exam if I have the time to get to it. I also want to get through my old Self Assessment and some old AAMC exams. Already took 6 TPR tests and I was relatively happy with my range on my last 3 TPR exams and I don't feel like wasting more time on them since they are considered to be a lot harder than the real MCAT by like 70% and like 30% not representative of the real MCAT based off of the reddit reviewers.

I honestly agree with this. I've taken around 14 FL's already and was doing 2-3 a week and I burned out hard, got sick, and had to take this entire last week off to recover. You think maybe I should just chill...take 2 more TPR exams, finish the question packs, and take the AAMC FL and call it quits? I was considering maybe buying 3 Next step exams, but I feel like if I buy those I'll have to force myself to actually do them since I'll be shelling another 100 bucks for more FLs.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I honestly agree with this. I've taken around 14 FL's already and was doing 2-3 a week and I burned out hard, got sick, and had to take this entire last week off to recover. You think maybe I should just chill...take 2 more TPR exams, finish the question packs, and take the AAMC FL and call it quits? I was considering maybe buying 3 Next step exams, but I feel like if I buy those I'll have to force myself to actually do them since I'll be shelling another 100 bucks for more FLs.

Are you actually finding the TPR exams helpful? How many have you taken? I took 6 TPR exams and I was happy with how my last 3 turned out to be 6-7 points better than my first 3. I don't feel they are representative and if I do plan to take another TPR FL it would be 5-7 days out of my real test based on my set schedule. I would hate to see a poor score that close to the test date even if it's TPR. So for now I'm aiming to do the AAMC Q pack/Official guide half length/AAMC FL and just maybe another TPR exam depends on how I feel 7-10 days before the test.

 

[itsallgood92]

Are you actually finding the TPR exams helpful? How many have you taken? I took 6 TPR exams and I was happy with how my last 3 turned out to be 6-7 points better than my first 3. I don't feel they are representative and if I do plan to take another TPR FL it would be 5-7 days out of my real test based on my set schedule. I would hate to see a poor score that close to the test date even if it's TPR. So for now I'm aiming to do the AAMC Q pack/Official guide half length/AAMC FL and just maybe another TPR exam depends on how I feel 7-10 days before the test.

Honestly, after doing the official guide not so much because I felt they were completely different. This is what I've done so far though (didn't include a few Kaplan FLs since they were done as section exams)

Was planning to take TPR complete 1 and 3 if I end up going that route, but still have all the q-packs, KA passages and AAMC FL left.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Honestly, after doing the official guide not so much because I felt they were completely different. This is what I've done so far though (didn't include a few Kaplan FLs since they were done as section exams)

View attachment 194138

Was planning to take TPR complete 1 and 3 if I end up going that route, but still have all the q-packs, KA passages and AAMC FL left.

You're doing way better than I am overall on TPR tests. I have a 497 average over 6 tests and ~500 on the last 3. I personally felt TPR Course test 3 was the hardest one I personally encountered. Although I think I just had a bad day.

 

[itsallgood92]

You're doing way better than I am overall on TPR tests. I have a 497 average over 6 tests and ~500 on the last 3. I personally felt TPR Course test 3 was the hardest one I personally encountered. Although I think I just had a bad day.

Nah course test 3 was definitely the hardest especially the chem/phys. Been having trouble with CARS though...I definitely feel like it's just gonna be a situational thing on test day and I'm either gonna do okay or just completely fail it lol. I've been really concerned because people on here have been saying that the official guide CARS was pretty easy in comparison to the real thing, so I guess I'll have to keep working on that.

 

[moesman777]

How do the course/complete/review tests for TPR differ? I've only done completes so far

 

[Dreamstoo]

How do the course/complete/review tests for TPR differ? I've only done completes so far

Some of the course tests had really heavy physio bio sections with minimal biochem. Besides that, the rest of the sections felt similar. Haven't done review tests though.

 

[TheAnonymous]

TPR Course Test 5 had an heavy experimental bio/biochem section but it lacked a lot of biochem and was mostly physio. That exam in general felt the most experimental based/critical thinking out of all the TPR tests I took. Also was my highest score on all of them.

Thanks man, I will definitely try to do those. Any thoughts about the Demo one? I'm planning to write 5-6 of TPR's full lengths + 4 EK and maybe if I can throw in NS as well. That's at least the plan lol

 

[Dreamstoo]

How long does it take to review the Official Guide half length after taking it? I was thinking of placing 3-4 days between it and the AAMC FL. It usually takes me 2 days for a TPR exam for reference.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Thanks man, I will definitely try to do those. Any thoughts about the Demo one? I'm planning to write 5-6 of TPR's full lengths + 4 EK and maybe if I can throw in NS as well. That's at least the plan lol

Didn't take the demo tests. Just TPR Course Tests 1-5 and Complete Test 1. My plan was to take 5-7 TPR FLs from the start (took 6, may add a 7th test a week before my test depending on how things go) then the AAMC FL and Official guide (still have to do these).

 

[TheAnonymous]

Didn't take the demo tests. Just TPR Course Tests 1-5 and Complete Test 1. My plan was to take 5-7 TPR FLs from the start (took 6, may add a 7th test a week before my test depending on how things go) then the AAMC FL and Official guide (still have to do these).

Sounds like a great plan! I will have to incorporate AAMC materials into my schedule for sure.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Anyone else feeling a little burnt out?

 

[LakridsA]

Anyone else feeling a little burnt out?

Yes very...I took a full length last Monday and have been seriously slacking hard on my studying since then. Taking another full length tomorrow though

 

[Dreamstoo]

Yes very...I took a full length last Monday and have been seriously slacking hard on my studying since then. Taking another full length tomorrow though

Ahah, I took one Tuesday. I had the official guide set up as a half length. Deciding tonight if I'm doing it tomorrow or Tuesday. Planning to do the AAMC FL next Sunday though.

 

[LakridsA]

Ahah, I took one Tuesday. I had the official guide set up as a half length. Deciding tonight if I'm doing it tomorrow or Tuesday. Planning to do the AAMC FL next Sunday though.

You're taking the mcat in early August right?

 

[Dreamstoo]

You're taking the mcat in early August right?

Yeah, you?

 

[NinaSimone13]

How similar are the next prep CARS passages to the real exam? I've been doing well on the EK passages but I took the diagnostic exam for next prep and my score went down.

 

[LakridsA]

Yeah, you?

Good luck! August 22nd for me

 

[justlisten234]

You're doing way better than I am overall on TPR tests. I have a 497 average over 6 tests and ~500 on the last 3. I personally felt TPR Course test 3 was the hardest one I personally encountered. Although I think I just had a bad day.

I also scored 3 points lower on that one than I had been averaging.

 

[Dreamstoo]

I also scored 3 points lower on that one than I had been averaging.

I remember going to a barbecue after that exam and having a few drinks, I needed it. It was 4 points lower than 2 tests I took within 5 weeks prior to that one. That exam took the longest to really go through. Although there were 3-4 questions in C/P that I thought made me go like "really? I can never imagine AAMC asking such a question with such obscure answer choices"

 

[itsallgood92]

well this is a joke...just started doing the q-packs, and it looks like AAMC pretty much just reused passages from CBTS 3-11 for the old exam.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

well this is a joke...just started doing the q-packs, and it looks like AAMC pretty much just reused passages from CBTS 3-11 for the old exam.

Which sucks but I try to think of it as, they picked these particular questions for a reason. I'm making sure I thoroughly know these topics.

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

What have you guys found to be the best practice passages, besides AAMC, to get a feel for the experimental question types?

I feel like the Khan Academy practice passages have good experimental passages. And hey, they're free! 🙂

 

[ethiopiasurgeon]

well this is a joke...just started doing the q-packs, and it looks like AAMC pretty much just reused passages from CBTS 3-11 for the old exam.

Yup I realized that too.