Those who performed better on the real exam than practice

[Gonzo12164]

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I just wanted to start this thread to spread the word on what helped to make you perform better on the real exam than the practice. I personally felt that the real AAMC practice exams were VERY good and were a good judgement of how well I was going to do. However, I did, for some reason, perform the best I've ever did on the real exams. I had form AT. I was averaging 11-12's on the practice BS section, but was mainly hitting 11's(those few extra problems to get that 12 was just sooooo hard to do). I ended up with a 12 on the real exam. Now on the PS section I was always averaging 12-13's but more on the 12 side. I ended up with a 14!!! This was the biggest shocker for me. I think what helped me was being VERY calm during the exam. I almost felt too calm and at times tried to sike myself up. Even after doing horribly in the verbal section and comtemplating about voiding the exam during the lunch break, I tried to stay focused and still was able to finish the BS pretty strong. So....what helped you do well?

 

[2112_rush]

Red bull...I think red bull helped alot

 

[QofQuimica]

I also did better in PS and VR on the real test than on my practice tests. (I took the five full-length practice MCATs that are part of the Kaplan course.) I think a lot of what helped me was that the Kaplan PS sections in particular were ridiculously hard, much harder than the real test. It seemed that the Kaplan VR passages weren't really harder, but they were longer. So relatively, I had significantly more time to spend answering questions on the real test.

 

[Em1]

I took AAMC practice tests and scored my highest in PS and 2 point better than my highest in BS. Things that helped: LOTS of sleep the entire week before the test, not doing anything but relaxing the day before, being ultra prepared in terms of what to bring and where to go, and most importantly BEING CONFIDENT. I went into it with the attitude "I've prepared very well and I'm gonna kick the mcat's butt!" There was no second-guessing, no being nervous, just excited and a little anxious to get it over with.

Hope this helps.

 

[Scewby Doo 1973]

i got sick during the physical science section, and lost roughly 7 minutes running to the restroom. despite this, i got an 11, even though i only performed okay (9 to 10) on the practice tests. i think there were two reasons for this. one was that form BG was extraordinarily difficult, so many many people screwed up worse than i. the other was that when i returned to the room to finish the exam, i fought like there was no tomorrow...i know this sounds melodramatic, but i went absolutely crazy (in terms of the exam, not behavior haha) and i went through all the questions like a bat out of hell, leaving no sections empty (the "skip-one-section" strategy is highly questionable--try to do all questions).

good luck.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

I did way better on the real MCAT compared to my last practice test (aamc 8), going from a 30 to a 34. I really can't pin it down to any one thing. The biggest jump was in verbal (practice:avg 9, real: 11) and I flat-out guessed for the last 4 questions in that section. I credit the improved verbal performance to the EK 101 book, which are the best imitation of the real thing IMHO, and self confidence. After initially having the jitters during the first part of PS, I was calm through the rest of the exam.
Whatever you do, don't panic on the real thing, especially in verbal. I think that the curves for the practicce exams somewhat approximate the real one, but there are those 'experimental' passages that might affect the curve. Plus, there may be fluctuations in the actual curve based on everyone else's performance. If you keep your focus where a lot of others may panic, that might explain it. And a bit of luck doesn't hurt either. Those are just my guesses to explain the improvements.

 

[yudalicious]

I credit my higher score to the thousands more that took the test and made the scale relatively "easier" for me.

 

[SearsTower]

I thought the real thing was my best performance but it turned out to be my worst.

 

[richarms]

It all depends on how you react to pressure. With every practice exam, deep down you're thinking "It's OK, this is only practice". Your mind may occationally drift to your girlfriend, or the paper due in class next week, or on how you can't wait for the new Narnia movie to come out.

On test day, every single neuron in your brain is dedicated to the paper in front of you, which either causes you to concentrate harder or to freeze in a panic. The good thing is, the more practice exams you take, the greater chance that you will experience the former rather than the latter of those two options.