Took my first Practice AAMC CBT

[expressions]

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So yesterday, I took my first practice mcat ever, AAMC CBT #4, and did horribly! (below the 20's,lets be honest). I don't know what went wrong. I found myself having 8-10 mins left over on each section so maybe I was moving to swiftly?? Also I have not really began to hardcore study yet, and I begin my examkrackers course this weekend so that could be a cause(am i making up excuses here?idk). Many things on the test seemed familiar, but I just forgot what it was. What are your thoughts??

More info on me:
I am a public health major, bio minor with a 3.8gpa. I am a junior and plan to take the MCAT in june. I am also currently finishing up my physics and orgo prereqs.

 

[sinombre]

Look at the answers and see where you went wrong. The best part about the practice tests is that you can check your work after and work on correcting your mistakes.

Also, what were your subsection scores? A score less than 20 implies you have some serious content review to do, especially considering you had so much time left over.

 

[latebutterflu]

Some advice that I wish I had had - the AAMC practice tests are really valuable. Try not to take them until you've completed more of your studying so you can take them under test-taking conditions and get a more realistic idea of where you stand.

 

[sinombre]

Some advice that I wish I had had - the AAMC practice tests are really valuable. Try not to take them until you've completed more of your studying so you can take them under test-taking conditions and get a more realistic idea of where you stand.

I agree with this. Make sure you do sufficient content review before taking the majority of the official practice tests.

 

[Ismet]

Your mistake was taking a practice test before actually studying for the MCAT. Kaplan makes you take a slightly shorter diagnostic MCAT before you start the classes (mainly as a baseline for their money-back guarantee), but you really shouldn't waste an AAMC practice test as a diagnostic. I started studying for my May 2011 MCAT in January 2011 and didn't take a real practice test until end of March, when most of the preliminary content review was done. Everyone has a different system, but IMO it's a waste of practice tests to take them before you know the content well.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

So you haven't even finished your pre-reqs yet? Congrats on wasting $30 and one of the best practice tests out there. Your score on a practice test means nothing if you aren't already done with content review.

 

[Tots]

Moved to the MCAT forum. The appropriate place to have this discussion.

 

[expressions]

So you haven't even finished your pre-reqs yet? Congrats on wasting $30 and one of the best practice tests out there. Your score on a practice test means nothing if you aren't already done with content review.

1.I didn't spend any money for the test.
2. I know many people who have taken the test and done well while finishing the prereqs concurrently
3. Congrats on being an *******

 

[expressions]

Thanks to everyone who gave me great feedback and in a nice way. There are many douchebags on this forum and I don't understand how you can try to go in the medical profession without compassion and respect for others, even if only online.

 

[mcloaf]

3. Congrats on being an *******

Whoa there, cowboy.

 

[Gauss44]

Some advice that I wish I had had - the AAMC practice tests are really valuable. Try not to take them until you've completed more of your studying so you can take them under test-taking conditions and get a more realistic idea of where you stand.

Yeah, don't take another AAMC test until you know pretty much everything in the Examkrackers books. I say Examkrackers because they teach the bare minimum you need to know for MCAT. Once you have reviewed thoroughly and think you might be ready for the real thing, take another AAMC test.

It's not that bad that you took one though. Now you know roughly what kinds of questions are on the real test. Just don't burn through them all.

 

[entitledpremed]

Hey, as a foreign Australian student studying for the GAMSAT by using MCAT practice exams (they're cheaper and very similar to the GAMSAT exams), may I say that from what I have seen the exam is really not that difficult. I think there's a tendency for Americans (possibly a cultural thing) to over-suscribe to the notion that classes=knowledge=good mcat score. But I truly think this is not the case.

As a third year chemistry major I have only taken one semester of calc-physics, one semester of organic chemistry (different course structure), and two humanities courses. We only have 3 years of college, so we miss out on a lot of the classes that you guys take (especially humanities courses), and often our colleges aren't upto the same standards as yours. From this knowledge you would think I'd be well out of my depth in the MCAT. Well I did about a week of review and then started sitting practice exams under the proper conditions. My scores for the 3 exams that I have sitten in chronological order (7R, 8R, and 9 from memory) are 32, 35, 34. I accept that the real exam is harder, but you can't deny that those scores are in the competitive region. Also I think it is worth mentioning that when I do my review there's very few questions that I get wrong from a lack of knowledge.

My point is that the exam is pretty much just a reasoning exam cloaked in the language of science. From my point of view, attempting to fine tune your reasoning skills and intuition would be much more beneficial than 'content review'. Anyways, good luck!

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Hey, as a foreign Australian student studying for the GAMSAT by using MCAT practice exams (they're cheaper and very similar to the GAMSAT exams), may I say that from what I have seen the exam is really not that difficult. I think there's a tendency for Americans (possibly a cultural thing) to over-suscribe to the notion that classes=knowledge=good mcat score. But I truly think this is not the case.

As a third year chemistry major I have only taken one semester of calc-physics, one semester of organic chemistry (different course structure), and two humanities courses. We only have 3 years of college, so we miss out on a lot of the classes that you guys take (especially humanities courses), and often our colleges aren't upto the same standards as yours. From this knowledge you would think I'd be well out of my depth in the MCAT. Well I did about a week of review and then started sitting practice exams under the proper conditions. My scores for the 3 exams that I have sitten in chronological order (7R, 8R, and 9 from memory) are 32, 35, 34. I accept that the real exam is harder, but you can't deny that those scores are in the competitive region. Also I think it is worth mentioning that when I do my review there's very few questions that I get wrong from a lack of knowledge.

My point is that the exam is pretty much just a reasoning exam cloaked in the language of science. From my point of view, attempting to fine tune your reasoning skills and intuition would be much more beneficial than 'content review'. Anyways, good luck!

I agree with you on that... I know someone who thought he was gonna destroy the mcat and his whole reasoning was that person has a 3.3 GPA and he got a 29... Therefore, I should be able to get at least 33+ with my 3.7. I told him correlating GPA with MCAT can be somewhat misleading...To make the story short, that guy is heading to ROSS now. He took the mcat 3 times and his highest score was a 22.

 

[MedWonk]

So yesterday, I took my first practice mcat ever, AAMC CBT #4, and did horribly! (below the 20's,lets be honest). I don't know what went wrong. I found myself having 8-10 mins left over on each section so maybe I was moving to swiftly?? Also I have not really began to hardcore study yet, and I begin my examkrackers course this weekend so that could be a cause(am i making up excuses here?idk). Many things on the test seemed familiar, but I just forgot what it was. What are your thoughts??

More info on me:
I am a public health major, bio minor with a 3.8gpa. I am a junior and plan to take the MCAT in june. I am also currently finishing up my physics and orgo prereqs.

Considering you haven't studied, I would take that score with a grain of salt. Don't waste anymore practice tests. They're worthless if you haven't put in a considerable amount of time studying. At the very least get through 2/3 of you review before checking to see where you are. Ideally, you should leave them for after review 2 to 4 weeks before the test.

 

[Roxas]

1.I didn't spend any money for the test.
2. I know many people who have taken the test and done well while finishing the prereqs concurrently
3. Congrats on being an *******

You may have not liked how OCD said it, but he has a point. It is all advice for how to give you the best chances at doing well on the test. Some people can take the MCAT without all their prereqs and do well, but these people are the exception and not the rule. The rest of us need to do everything we can to stack the odds in our favor by finishing content review before using practice tests, and saving the best tests for last. There are far too many people that post on SDN asking about which other practice tests are accurate because they used up all the AAMCs and need to retake. It is also worth mentioning that OCD is one of the best MCAT scorers on this forum, so we would all be wise to listen. Good luck man 🙂

 

[SPTtoMD]

Have you done any prep work (TPR, TBR, EK, etc)? Although content review and having prerequisite courses fresh in your mind is advantageous, it won't guarantee a high MCAT score. (The opposite is also true-- just because it's been years since your last physics or gen chem course does not mean you aren't capable of relearning the relevant material.) The MCAT is less memorizing and regurgitation as it is about critical thinking and applying prior knowledge to new situations.

Plus, do not be discouraged. This was your very first time taking any practice test, and not everyone gets a high score their first time. Do some more content review and invest in some study books before taking any more AAMC FL's. AAMC also offers a diagnostic to help you pinpoint exactly what subjects you need to study in greater depth. It all costs a pretty penny but is worth getting a higher score in the end, and it helps you improve your test-taking strategy and think like someone who wrote the test questions. Do save the rest of the practice tests for after your content review and take them closer to test day.

 

[darklabel]

1.I didn't spend any money for the test.
2. I know many people who have taken the test and done well while finishing the prereqs concurrently
3. Congrats on being an *******

Don't worry, #3 is usually the easiest and should be a diagnostic.

Use this as your baseline score. Wait until after a good amount of review before looking at the tests.

 

[Captain Sisko]

So you haven't even finished your pre-reqs yet? Congrats on wasting $30 and one of the best practice tests out there. Your score on a practice test means nothing if you aren't already done with content review.

say, why is aamc 4 particularly good? is there a listing somewhere of how well each aamc correlates to the real thing? i was under the impression that the newer aamcs like 9, 10, and 11 were the best. or did you mean that the aamcs in general are the best?

 

[mcloaf]

say, why is aamc 4 particularly good? is there a listing somewhere of how well each aamc correlates to the real thing? i was under the impression that the newer aamcs like 9, 10, and 11 were the best. or did you mean that the aamcs in general are the best?

I'd assume he meant the AAMC exams generally. The later ones are still the better ones.