The Official August 2015 MCAT Thread

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how have people done on NextStep 4? I got a 127/126/127/127 and not sure what to make of it. I take August 5. They changed the score scales, so looking at what mcatjelly & xenith made is unhelpful because those scores are before nextstep changed the scales.

also...might as well just post them all
Next Step 1: 506 - 125/126/128/127
next step 2: 504 - 127/125/127/125
Next step 3: 505 - 127/125/127/126
Next step 4: 507 - 127/126/127/127
 
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PhysM said:
How are people coming up with scores for the OG? I thought it was just 30 questions per section? I haven't done it yet so I'm curious.
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30 Qs in each section. Bio is first. C/P second. Psych/Soc third. CARs fourth. I thought it was easier than the FL by quite a bit.
 
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I bombed EK 3 with 63% overall:

C/P 47.5% (28/53)
CARS 60.4% (32/53)
BIO 79.7% (47/59)
P/S 64.4% (38/59)

I thought the EK C/P was much harder than TPR and TBR (averaged 126-127 in both), although I also got 63% on the OG C/P (71% overall on OG). English is my third language, so I'm pretty happy with 60.4% on EK CARS although I still want to improve. Below 50% is just really concerning!

Thoughts?
 
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Just did EK 4 yesterday. Good gawd my CARS score took a nosedive!

Overall: 161/230 (70%)
C/P: 47/59 (80%)
CARS: 27/53 (51%) yikes!
Bio: 41/59 (69%)
Psyc: 46/59 (78%)

Not really that happy with bio either, gotta step it up for this last week!
 
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Wow... just went through that AAMC FL B/Biochem section quickly. I changed 6-8 questions after answering it initially. Second guesses killed me. I'm sure I'll find more dumb mistakes tomorrow.
 
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PhysM said:
Oh, so you're just converting your percentile out of the 30 in each section, to what it would be if it was a real FL?
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Yes, for that I did conversions using AAMC tentative scale by mcatjelly and got around a 125/125/125/130-131.
On the AAMC FL, I got a 125/126/123/126. Although, I realized I second guessed myself just right now out of a 125 on B/Biochem.
 
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Hey August test takers, I took my MCAT on July 18th and I wanted to share just a bit of information that I KNOW helped save my butt on the b/bc section (it felt too easy, honestly). I made sure to know my lab techniques and know them well. I had great familiarity with Amino Acids, but I made SURE I knew the ins and outs of the properties and charge characteristics. Lastly (as far as high yield), I made sure to know meiosis and mitosis and the major differences in prokaryote and eukaryote organisms. I felt like these helped me immensely on the MCAT and I would HEAVILY stress using Khan Academy for these subjects. I was enrolled in the Kaplan "Self-paced" class; I finished every homework assignment and reading sections and I still felt like Khan Academy was the ultimate clarification tool.

These are not steps to live by, but I certainly hope they can help some of you future MCAT test takers.

Best of luck!
 
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One other thought/suggestion: my biochem professor (greatest prof ever. seriously.) told us: if we can draw it, we know it. I draw all pathways, molecules, etc. samples below:

clonal selection.JPG
Antibody diagram.JPG
 
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@Dreamstoo sorry to hear you aren't at the point you want to be. If you have any questions regarding the practice FL or stratagems to tackle the question feel free to PM me.
 
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Hey guys, I did the half of the Official CARS Question Pack Vol 1 and it showed that I got 30 questions right out of the 54 that I did. However, when I went to look at the correct responses, it shows that I have selected the correct response for every question. Did anyone else have the same problem?
 
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CanadianHere said:
Hey guys, I did the half of the Official CARS Question Pack Vol 1 and it showed that I got 30 questions right out of the 54 that I did. However, when I went to look at the correct responses, it shows that I have selected the correct response for every question. Did anyone else have the same problem?
Click to expand...

Don't click on the 30/54 mark, click on the CARS Q-pack mark, when you click on the 30/54 mark it only shows you what you got right, not ALL the questions
 
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Dreamstoo said:
Well today was kind of a downer. Decided to review the exam tomorrow with a fresh mind and take the rest of the night off.

Took the AAMC FL at 8am (took all the rest of my FLs around 11am, splashed cold water on my face cause I'm not a morning person and slept for 9 hours, fatigue wasn't a big issue).

AAMC FL

C/P: 39/59 (66%) --> I actually thought it was slightly easier than OG C/P
CARS: 37/53 (70%) --> not surprised, not too great but decently happy with it.
Bio: 29/59 (49%) --> seriously felt like I was reading Chinese at times. Got so lost in some of the way questions were worded. Really threw me off....I think it's time to use those TBR books I got from a friend.
Psych: 39/59 (66%) --> I think I just had a bad day, but I'm decently happy with this.

Based on mcatjelly's scale, I got a 126 in both Psych/Soc and CARs. 122-123 (on the cusp basically) in Bio (I also wasted a ton of time on the first two passages but I also felt I wasn't comfortable with the section as a whole). 125 in C/P although I was apparently 1 more right from a 126. Altogether, I got around a 499-500 (25 on the old scale). This would be a retake for me on the real test because of Bio. I want around 506 on the real test although I would take a 503+ with a 125+ in each section.

I was originally planned out for August 6th. Over the next two nights, I may reconsider it. Oh well, at least I know where I stand.

I would say I averaged a 503 on the OG and AAMC FL. 125 in C/P, 123-124 in Bio, 125-126 in CARs, and a 128 in Psych/Soc for a total of about 501 to a 503 which is basically the 25-27 range on the old scale.
Click to expand...
Did you feel nervous during the test? I feel like nerves can get in the way when reading passages. The passages in C/S and B/B did seem challenging at times, but I didn't let that trip me up since the questions weren't as bad.
 
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federer875 said:
Did you feel nervous during the test? I feel like nerves can get in the way when reading passages. The passages in C/S and B/B did seem challenging at times, but I didn't let that trip me up since the questions weren't as bad.
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I didn't think C/P was too bad. I got really tricked up at the beginning of B/B on the first few passages. Spent 20 minutes on the first 11 questions. I had to rush after that for awhile to keep pace.
 
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Ad2b said:
Kaplan = add 15 points to your final FL score ... per everything I've read on here, reddit, other premed sites and even, Kaplan instructors themselves. (I wrote to one of mine in private and asked; was told that I should add 15 onto FL score to get better estimate of where I'm at)

What I would do?

Each question you get wrong, write it down, what the theme was, make a notecard of it and then watch Khan video of it.

Each question you get correct, write it down, what the them was, watch Khan video of it.
Click to expand...

I have a very hard time believing the 15 point thing. I sure hope so though!
 
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My friend took the Kaplan course for the old MCAT and averaged 28-30 on all the practice tests. They said similar things to her: if you're scoring 27+ on Kaplan tests, you should be able to get a 30+ on the real test...

She got a 26... Kaplan is pretty infamous for claiming those guarantees.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
My friend took the Kaplan course for the old MCAT and averaged 28-30 on all the practice tests. They said similar things to her: if you're scoring 27+ on Kaplan tests, you should be able to get a 30+ on the real test...

She got a 26... Kaplan is pretty infamous for claiming those guarantees.
Click to expand...

I hear you. She could have gotten really nervous on the test as well. In addition, it is noted that for the older MCAT test, Kaplan has stated they got the practice tests and scoring in alignment with real thing. I believe the company is still tweaking the harsh grading and real/current MCAT. Based upon the private emails swapped with my instructors and evidentiary (albeit biased) SDN data, I think it is still very reasonable to expect a large disparity between Kaplan MCAT practice tests and real deal.

I could be wrong and setting myself up for a huge disappointment. 🙂
 
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Ad2b said:
I hear you. She could have gotten really nervous on the test as well. In addition, it is noted that for the older MCAT test, Kaplan has stated they got the practice tests and scoring in alignment with real thing. I believe the company is still tweaking the harsh grading and real/current MCAT. Based upon the private emails swapped with my instructors and evidentiary (albeit biased) SDN data, I think it is still very reasonable to expect a large disparity between Kaplan MCAT practice tests and real deal.

I could be wrong and setting myself up for a huge disappointment. 🙂
Click to expand...

Hey, it works for some people for sure. Some people I know in undergrad took Kaplan for the DAT/MCAT and did well (32+ for MCAT/20-22+ for DAT).

She's not a nervous test taker from what I remember (have had a lot of classes with this person) but I don't think she really cares about her MCAT score now ahah. She's matriculating in a few months.
 
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Alright so I took the AAMC FL today and got:

C/P: 86.44%
CARS: 64%
B/B: 83%
P/S: 85%
Total: 80%

Honestly...Feeling pretty ehh about my performance. That CARS score is just really concerning especially since it seems like people who have scored in the 515+ range according to this compilation http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...tice-exam-scores.1143965/page-5#post-16739414 seem to possess a pretty solid CARS ability and scored at least a 80% on the AAMC FL. Does anyone have any advice?? At this point, I feel like CARS is just a huge crapshoot for me and I'll do anything to somehow pull off a 127 on the real deal. Still have the AAMC CARS packs, so I'm planning to hit those hard and probably just go on a Khan academy vid marathon to bump up those sciences a little higher since I can't seem to get that CARS score to budge.

Also if anyone is interested, I've attached my final FL spreadsheet if you wanna compare. I did around 12-15 FLs/diags, so hopefully it'll give some of you some insight. TPR's been weirdly on point with my AAMC scores, but I still think you should take their FL's with a grain of salt since they are pretty different from each other in terms of style, wording, and level of critical thinking. Additionally, Idk who said the AAMC FL was easier than the OG, but I definitely felt they were on par with each other except the AAMC FL had some easier questions at times. Overall, made some pretty dumb mistakes and probably should have scored a little higher in all the sciences. Conversely, thought I did well in verbal, then ended up completely bombing it. Go figure.
 

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I have about 7 more practice tests scheduled before the actual test on Aug 22nd. Is that too much? I'm doing about 2 a week. I'm going to do 3 more EK, 3 more Kaplan and the AAMC test. Of course this is ideal but I feel like I should sub a day to just do passages. Thoughts?

I know I still have a long way to go but anyone else starting to notice how fast test day is approaching? I try not to think about it but then time just goes faster!
 
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itsallgood92 said:
Alright so I took the AAMC FL today and got:

C/P: 86.44%
CARS: 64%
B/B: 83%
P/S: 85%
Total: 80%

Honestly...Feeling pretty ehh about my performance. That CARS score is just really concerning especially since it seems like people who have scored in the 515+ range according to this compilation http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...tice-exam-scores.1143965/page-5#post-16739414 seem to possess a pretty solid CARS ability and scored at least a 85% on the AAMC FL. Does anyone have any advice?? At this point, I feel like CARS is just a huge crapshoot for me at this point and I'll do anything to somehow pull off a 127 on the real deal. Still have the AAMC CARS packs, so I'm planning to hit those hard and probably just go on a Khan academy vid marathon to bump up those sciences a little higher since I can't seem to get that CARS score to budge.

Also if anyone is interested, I've attached my final FL spreadsheet if you wanna compare. I did around 12-15 FLs/diags, so hopefully it'll give some of you some insight. TPR's been weirdly on point with my AAMC scores, but I still think you should take their FL's with a grain of salt since they are pretty different from each other in terms of style, wording, and level of critical thinking. Additionally, Idk who said the AAMC FL was easier than the OG, but I definitely felt they were on par with each other except the AAMC FL had some easier questions at times. Overall, made some pretty dumb mistakes and probably should have scored a little higher in all the sciences. Conversely, thought I did well in verbal, then ended up completely bombing it. Go figure.
Click to expand...

I think you should be solid if you can just focus on your CARS just a bit. I know how you feel, it's a real struggle over here too. The only thing that can help now is reviewing everything and stay confident. I find too find myself wavering now I realize how close the test is but I just have to remind myself.
 
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Profound said:
I think you should be solid if you can just focus on your CARS just a bit. I know how you feel, it's a real struggle over here too. The only thing that can help now is reviewing everything and stay confident. I find too find myself wavering now I realize how close the test is but I just have to remind myself.
Click to expand...

haha I know what you mean. I was originally scheduled for the 22nd of aug, but changed my date to aug 6th and immediately had a anxiety attack after coming to the realization that I have to take this exam next thursday. Pretty happy I changed it though. Honestly I feel like the extra three weeks would do me more harm than good. Been at this for like 5 months now, so at this point I think I just gotta go in and get this exam over with
 
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itsallgood92 said:
haha I know what you mean. I was originally scheduled for the 22nd of aug, but changed my date to aug 6th and immediately had a anxiety attack after coming to the realization that I have to take this exam next thursday. Pretty happy I changed it though. Honestly I feel like the extra three weeks would do me more harm than good. Been at this for like 5 months now, so at this point I think I just gotta go in and get this exam over with
Click to expand...

Keep at it. I know you'll kill it.
 
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lmladdno84 said:
I have a very hard time believing the 15 point thing. I sure hope so though!
Click to expand...

I think I've gotten too complacent assuming my actual score is going tobe much higher than what i've been getting on TPR tests too. I've been scoring pretty high on them, 511-514, but I jus ttook the aamc FL and it's about the same range. Now i'm actually freaking out that i'm going to get this score (which isn't bad at all, but my gpa is shiiiiit so I really have to do well)

C/P 69%
CARS 86%
B/B 81%
P/S 86%
 
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malterpol said:
I think I've gotten too complacent assuming my actual score is going tobe much higher than what i've been getting on TPR tests too. I've been scoring pretty high on them, 511-514, but I jus ttook the aamc FL and it's about the same range. Now i'm actually freaking out that i'm going to get this score (which isn't bad at all, but my gpa is shiiiiit so I really have to do well)

C/P 69%
CARS 86%
B/B 81%
P/S 86%
Click to expand...

I literally feel the same way. Been scoring 508-511 on my last TPR's and I expected the AAMC score to skyrocket through the roof but nahhh. I'm also hoping for at least a 515+ given my gpa, so it sounds like were in similar situations.
 
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itsallgood92 said:
I literally feel the same way. Been scoring 508-511 on my last TPR's and I expected the AAMC score to skyrocket through the roof but nahhh. I'm also hoping for at least a 515+ given my gpa, so it sounds like were in similar situations.
Click to expand...

And it's only a week left so i don't know how much cramming I can do to raise my score. at this point, it's really just relaxing and reviewing as much as possibe. HOpefully the trend on the spreadsheet holds and we both kill it
Either way i'm going to be drunk as **** when the score comes out lol
 
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Looking at some of these scores on the AAMC FL make me feel crappy about how mine turned out today =/. 63% overall.
 
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itsallgood92 said:
Alright so I took the AAMC FL today and got:

C/P: 86.44%
CARS: 64%
B/B: 83%
P/S: 85%
Total: 80%

Honestly...Feeling pretty ehh about my performance. That CARS score is just really concerning especially since it seems like people who have scored in the 515+ range according to this compilation http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...tice-exam-scores.1143965/page-5#post-16739414 seem to possess a pretty solid CARS ability and scored at least a 80% on the AAMC FL. Does anyone have any advice?? At this point, I feel like CARS is just a huge crapshoot for me and I'll do anything to somehow pull off a 127 on the real deal. Still have the AAMC CARS packs, so I'm planning to hit those hard and probably just go on a Khan academy vid marathon to bump up those sciences a little higher since I can't seem to get that CARS score to budge.

Also if anyone is interested, I've attached my final FL spreadsheet if you wanna compare. I did around 12-15 FLs/diags, so hopefully it'll give some of you some insight. TPR's been weirdly on point with my AAMC scores, but I still think you should take their FL's with a grain of salt since they are pretty different from each other in terms of style, wording, and level of critical thinking. Additionally, Idk who said the AAMC FL was easier than the OG, but I definitely felt they were on par with each other except the AAMC FL had some easier questions at times. Overall, made some pretty dumb mistakes and probably should have scored a little higher in all the sciences. Conversely, thought I did well in verbal, then ended up completely bombing it. Go figure.
Click to expand...

That C/P score though is SOLID. I got an 83% on C/P and a 91% on CARs. Have you tried the EK method? I was stuck at scoring 80% and then I adopted their method and I have been consistently at 90%. The Kaplan outlining thing wasn't helpful to me. Here's to hoping we all get 515+. Then we can post on those other threads like the April/May/June people "Okay so I got a 525 on my MCAT here is how YOU can TOO!". On a real note, I do appreciate those posts, they have given me ideas.
 
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money117 said:
Just did EK 4 yesterday. Good gawd my CARS score took a nosedive!

Overall: 161/230 (70%)
C/P: 47/59 (80%)
CARS: 27/53 (51%) yikes!
Bio: 41/59 (69%)
Psyc: 46/59 (78%)

Not really that happy with bio either, gotta step it up for this last week!
Click to expand...
How are you studying for C/P and Psych? I just took EK 3 and got a 47.5% on C/P and 64.4% on Psych (63% overall).
 
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Hi everyone! I'm taking the August 22 exam and I'm in the TBR in-person course. I just finished taking the "half-length" exam made from the Official Guide questions:

C/P: 87% (26/30)
CARS: 87% (26/30)
B/B: 80% (24/30)
P/S: 77% (23/30)

I know I need to focus more on B/B and P/S; I haven't taken Psych or Soc, so I should probably go through the TPR book again, and supplement with KA. As for Bio, I just need more practice with the research-heavy passages. Does anyone have tips for scoring very high in Psych?

Also, is there a reliable way to convert/project from the official guide questions to a scaled score yet, or is it too early to tell?
 
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lostnconfused said:
TBR has a biochemistry book out??
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Yes! It's the first of our new books. We decided to wait until after April, 2015 to put out books for the current MCAT. After a great deal of hashing things out behind the scenes, we are slowly going to release our new versions of the books over the next four to six months.
 
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FutureSurgical said:
TBR goes into great detail and I have been taking notes, but this takes way too long.
Click to expand...

Taking notes on the text section of most any book is likely to be futile, but taking notes while reviewing passages and questions is very helpful. Make sure to take notes on not only the material, but the types of questions you struggle with. It's as much about getting better at working through questions as it is about reviewing content.
 
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clathrin413 said:
Hi everyone! I'm taking the August 22 exam and I'm in the TBR in-person course. I just finished taking the "half-length" exam made from the Official Guide questions:

C/P: 87% (26/30)
CARS: 87% (26/30)
B/B: 80% (24/30)
P/S: 77% (23/30)
Click to expand...

Impressive scores on the Ph/Ch and CARS. Bi/BC and Ps/So are within striking distance of some great numbers. In four weeks, you could very well be in the 28/30 zone in all four sections. Have you finished the lectures yet?

Best of luck.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
Looking at some of these scores on the AAMC FL make me feel crappy about how mine turned out today =/. 63% overall.
Click to expand...
Don't worry about everyone else! Stay focused on your goal. It's different from other people's goals, and that's okay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Dreamstoo said:
Dude your AAMC FL translated to a 520. You're good.
Click to expand...

As much as I semi believe in the predictive power of the AAMC FL as a test-taker from last year I don't believe in it too rigidly. I was averaging 10's and 11's on the old verbal section in every practice test I did. But when I did the MCAT twice last year (Canadian schools don't really care how many times you take the MCAT unless it starts to get REALLY ludicrous) I got a 9 on the verbal section both times. BS/PS were on par with my practice tests...but not verbal...so I don't know...here's hoping 🙂

As for your FL score, just take a critical look at your reasoning. As others have said the MCAT is a reasoning-based test that utilizes concepts learned in pre-med courses/pre-med books. If you didn't arrive at an answer you wanted to - ask why! You said you second guessed yourself on quite a few questions in Biochem so go back and see what made you second guess it. I've found that more than 80% of the time my original answer in all sections (when I may have decided to change to a different answer) - including CARS - is generally the right answer because your initial assessment uses the most logical and sound reasoning possible to arrive at an answer that should be expect of other people like yourself. Convoluted trains of thought and focus on minuscule but largely irrelevant details can make an obvious answer seem wrong.
 
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I asked this already but no one answered...Should we take the AAMC full-length closer to our actual exam date? (Save it for last among the Kaplan and TPR full-lengths)
 
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zzzetrigan said:
As much as I semi believe in the predictive power of the AAMC FL as a test-taker from last year I don't believe in it too rigidly. I was averaging 10's and 11's on the old verbal section in every practice test I did. But when I did the MCAT twice last year (Canadian schools don't really care how many times you take the MCAT unless it starts to get REALLY ludicrous) I got a 9 on the verbal section both times. BS/PS were on par with my practice tests...but not verbal...so I don't know...here's hoping 🙂

As for your FL score, just take a critical look at your reasoning. As others have said the MCAT is a reasoning-based test that utilizes concepts learned in pre-med courses/pre-med books. If you didn't arrive at an answer you wanted to - ask why! You said you second guessed yourself on quite a few questions in Biochem so go back and see what made you second guess it. I've found that more than 80% of the time my original answer in all sections (when I may have decided to change to a different answer) - including CARS - is generally the right answer because your initial assessment uses the most logical and sound reasoning possible to arrive at an answer that should be expect of other people like yourself. Convoluted trains of thought and focus on minuscule but largely irrelevant details can make an obvious answer seem wrong.
Click to expand...

It fluctuates I agree. There is a person my friend knows who was averaging a 25-26 on their AAMC FLs and ended up getting a 34 on their real test with like a 9 in verbal. Talk about getting lucky. Apparently the person logged in and out a few times to make sure it was real. They were originally aiming for just a 25-27 but got surprised with that score lol. But usually most people I know score within +/- 2 points of their score.

Although I do know a few individuals who bombed AAMC 11 and did better on their real test than that individual exam.
 
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Mandee8767 said:
I asked this already but no one answered...Should we take the AAMC full-length closer to our actual exam date? (Save it for last among the Kaplan and TPR full-lengths)
Click to expand...

If you want a semi-general predictor of your scoring potential, then yes save it for last (maybe 10-14 days out), so you can at least review your weak areas/unfamiliar topics before the real deal
 
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Hey everyone, I've taken a bunch of TPR exams already and have been averaging between 500-505 with a steady upward trend. Just took the Guide questions as a Half-Length this and did alright but not as well as I wanted to:

P/C: 63%
B/B: 66%
P/S: 80%
CARS: 90%
Overall: 74.75%

I personally felt like the science sections were a LOT more Biochem/Mol Bio oriented than all the TPR I've taken 7 so far (5 Course Exams and 2 Complete), but this was expected lol.
Gonna review all my answers in depth this afternoon and am planning on taking the AAMC full length on Thursday with testing conditions (1 week before the real thing).

Just wondering, how does the AAMC Full length compare to the Guide questions if you have already taken both? (Figure this doesn't mean too much in regards to the actual exam difficulty or scoring but I'm curious if they're pretty similar in difficulty).

Thanks!
 
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