To Those Who Have Taken The Mcat

[mj1878]

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Just a few questions for you---

1)Which practice tests do you think are harder: AAMC(online) or KAPLAN(from their books)
2)Which practice tests do you think are the most indicative of the actual MCAT
3)If you could have prepared harder in one area(perhaps by going lighter in another) what would it have been?

Thanks to all!

 

[OnMyWayThere]

Just a few questions for you---

1)Which practice tests do you think are harder: AAMC(online) or KAPLAN(from their books)
2)Which practice tests do you think are the most indicative of the actual MCAT
3)If you could have prepared harder in one area(perhaps by going lighter in another) what would it have been?

Thanks to all!

1.) AAMC 7, AAMC 6
2.) AAMC 7
3.) MUCH MORE GENETICS, LESS OCHEM

 

[hotlikebutter]

i took the MCAT twice and am taking the it again next sat. i found the aamc 4r 5r and 6r really easy and not a good indicator. I think i got 35 or higher on all three AAMC ones, and as you might have guessed, didnt get that score on the real ones. The Kaplan ones are too easy too in my mind. And the Princeton Review and Exam Crakers ones are insanely hard. I keep getting 21's on them. this probably didnt help, my suggestion is take tests, good or bad. you can learn something from each of them is what Im trying to say. Just dont let the really hard ones break your confidence, since you will most likely not encounter them on the real mcat. Good Luck!

 

[DD214_DOC]

All of the AAMC exams are old MCATs. I don't think it can get any more "indicative" than that.

The "real" one probably just seemed more difficult because it was the real one.

 

[stoic]

I found the Kaplan practice test to have a somewhat different focus than the actual MCAT. Kaplan was more focused on factoids and minutia that you needed to know to in order to answer the questions; the actual test was much more problem solving based - meaning that you could often reason the answer.

I know very few people (though I do know some) for whom practice test were good indicators of actual test performance.

Definatly bust your ass learning genetics. I had three genetics passages and my background in the field paid big off big time. Other things that came up for me and friends were basic respatory and cardiovascular physiology.

Good luck,
S.

 

[mj1878]

Thanks for the advice, all. It's just that on the one hand, I don't want to falsely elevate my confidence in my abilities(which would really cause major stress on test day, when I'm looking at the questions and thinking,"where are all the easy questions?"), but on the other hand I know that confidence is a big asset going into the test. I guess I'm just trying to balance just the right amount of motivating stress and panic stress(if it is indeed possible to accomplish such a thing!).

 

[Amy B]

For me Kaplan was always harder.

On the aamc, I scored one point away from what I scored on the real MCAT I took.

Good luck to all taking the MCAT in a few days from now.

 

[JohnDO]

1) Probably the Kaplan tests, which seem to be designed to test you over what they've taught you. They also seem to focus more on minutia, and involve a lot more memorization of equations and laws.

2) AAMC 7

3) I definitely would have prepared better for general chemistry. It's been three years since I've taken the course, so I didn't remember it as well. I brushed up on it a little bit, but I continually had problems with it.

To be honest, I didn't even study organic chemistry. At all. I was taking organic 2 in the spring semester, and I heard there was very little organic on the exam. I can remember maybe 8 questions regarding organic chemistry, and most of them were very simple (what type of reaction is this: SN1, SN2, E1, E2, etc.) There was only one predict the product, and only one fill in the reagents. It was simple stuff. Focus on molecular genetics and general chemistry, as well as basic physics laws.

There were some interesting questions regarding waves (the infamous sound wave/water wave model). Blasted waves! Don't neglect them!

 

[BooneDoc]

Just make sure you study every day! I wish I had taken it more seriously. I'm fine with my score, but know I should've done better.