To Those Who Have Taken The Mcat

[mj1878]

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!
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[josehernandez94]

I took the MCAT in April '03 and took the two-month Kaplan course directly preceeding it.

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. The Kaplan practice tests are much harder than the AAMC tests, especially the physical sciences.

2. AAMC tests are probably more in line with actual MCATs, although I'm glad I took all the Kaplan ones because it was nice when the real MCAT seemed that much easier.

3. I actually feel that I divied up my time pretty well for each section. In retrospect, I wouldn't really reallocate how I spent my time. I guess the only thing was that the real MCAT verbal was much harder than anything I'd seen on the Kaplan or AAMC practice tests. That said, I still did just about as well on the real one as I'd been doing on the practice ones.

 

[ColoMD]

1) Kaplan is indeed much harder, but its intended to be that way. Kaplan's verbal might be a little lighter than the AAMC version though.
2) Probably AAMC's versions, although the formatting and topics covered are pretty much identical.
3) Having been a molecularr biology major, I would have spent less time on the biological sciences and more time on the other areas. But not a lot. MCAT biology is somewhat different from many biology programs at undergrad schools.

 

[Bono]

I took the MCAT in April '03 and took the two-month Kaplan course directly preceeding it.

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. The Kaplan practice tests are much harder than the AAMC tests, especially the physical sciences.

2. AAMC tests are probably more in line with actual MCATs, although I'm glad I took all the Kaplan ones because it was nice when the real MCAT seemed that much easier.

3. I actually feel that I divied up my time pretty well for each section. In retrospect, I wouldn't really reallocate how I spent my time. I guess the only thing was that the real MCAT verbal was much harder than anything I'd seen on the Kaplan or AAMC practice tests. That said, I still did just about as well on the real one as I'd been doing on the practice ones.

I agree.....sometimes the Kaplan physical and biological sciences were much more detailed than the actual MCAT. The MCAT (at least when i took it in Aug 02) had broader questions that tested general concepts. I also found the verbal to be much harder on the actual MCAT.

 

[Iffy premed]

I took the MCAT in April '03 and took the two-month Kaplan course directly preceeding it.

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. The Kaplan practice tests are much harder than the AAMC tests, especially the physical sciences.

2. AAMC tests are probably more in line with actual MCATs, although I'm glad I took all the Kaplan ones because it was nice when the real MCAT seemed that much easier.

I agree. I taught Kaplan, and they do make their questions harder with more convoluted logic. I feel the real MCAT is more straight forward
AAMC test 4,5,6 are pretty good indicators
AAMC test 1,2,3 are way too easy

 

[menemotxi]

I agree. I taught Kaplan, and they do make their questions harder with more convoluted logic. I feel the real MCAT is more straight forward
AAMC test 4,5,6 are pretty good indicators
AAMC test 1,2,3 are way too easy

I completely agree about the convoluted logic. For me, the Kaplan verbal was way different in terms of the framing of the questions. And the real MCAT's physical sciences was a breeze compared to the Kaplan stuff.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Moving to mcat forum.

 

[stinkycheese]

Kaplan tests are harder.

AAMC predicted my score almost perfectly (but my real score went up a few points).

I would have spent less time on biology and more on phys and gen chem, but I wouldn't spend more time on organic since it hardly shows up. Also, having gone in with such a solid biology preparation really helped me get through that last section with confidence. Most people taking the MCAT are good at bio which is intimidating; you need to know your **** to stack up. But don't overdo it, since its mostly reading comp and some basic understanding/memorization of concepts, systems, and hormones/enzymes. I think PS is the section that stands for the most improvement upon practice and study; VR is certainly another section that can be improved upon with practice, but I also think that for some people, there is just a set point after which you won't improve much on VR and your time is best spent elsewhere. I didn't study at all for VR because I knew I was consistently getting 10-11's on practices. That was a wise move for me because I could pull up my PS score. A lot depends on your own strenghts and weaknesses, but my general advice is don't overdo the bio, and definitely study the PS.