verbal curve?

[Dulcina]

So I felt like I did amazingly on verbal, and didn't get the best score. I did a little research, and came up with this:


"You don't have to be perfect to do well. For instance, on the AAMC's Practice Test II, you could get as many as four questions wrong in Verbal Reasoning, 21 in Physical Sciences, and 16 in Biological Sciences and still score in the 80th percentile. To score in the 90th percentile, you could get as many as two wrong in Verbal Reasoning, 16 in Physical Sciences, and 11 in Biological Sciences. Even students who receive perfect scaled scores usually get a handful of questions wrong."

from http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=0...8&page=excerpt

So...I know that the 90th percentile is between an 11 and 12 (closer to 11) for the July 13th mcat.

I looked at my kaplan practices with the best verbal scores, and they are...
11--12 wrong
11--11 wrong
11--10 wrong
12--8 wrong
12---9 wrong
14--9 wrong

seems very weird. is that website wrong, or what's going on. just trying to figure out what happened.

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[LadyLightning20]

AAMC exams are easier and have a tougher curve, Kaplan exams are harder but you can miss a lot more and get the same scaled score.

 

[Dulcina]

ahhh that makes a lot of sense, thanks.

do you have practice aamc's with 2-3 wrong, getting an 11?

 

[studdoc314]

Did you take the afternoon test?

I took it and I thought it was unbelievably easy.

Then I got my score back and got an 8....

I have no doubt that this is due to the curve and my preparation from Kaplan...this is lower than even the very first MCAT I ever took for practice....I was so used to hard passages, not used to easy ass passages like on this test. I'm sure that I prob got 5 or 7 wrong as I usually do on Kaplan, but instead of an 11 I end up with an 8....

So, now I have to take the test again, wondering what is great verbal prep? I hear Examkrackers is good? I bought Kaplan's 45, see if that helps.

 

[gman33]

I liked the Examkrackers 101 Passages verbal book. I did about half the book getting ready for the test and I think it helped a lot.

 

[glycocalyx]

For anyone who has already taken the MCAT this year, would you say the verbal passages were longer than the ones on practice AAMCs?

 

[misterex]

I took it on Aug 16th and I honestly have no idea where this rumor started. The passages, in my opinion, are NOT longer. The interface possibly makes it seem longer, but that's about it.

 

[chad5871]

Here's the average scale from AAMC practice tests:

Scaled Raw
15 40-40
14 39-39
13 37-38
12 36-36
11 33-35
10 30-32
09 28-29
08 25-27
07 23-24
06 20-22
05 18-19
04 15-17
03 13-14
02 09-12
01 00-08

According to AAMC's website, an 11 in verbal will place you between 82.6 and 94.1 percentile. So to get ~90th percentile, you can miss anywhere from 5-7 questions.

 

[littlealex]

Well an 82 TO 91%tile is hardly 90th percentile. If yo uwant a solid ~90, don't miss more than 4 and go for the 12.

Don't fall to a 10. My May test, a 10 was 69.1-82.5%tile =(

 

[Dulcina]

Did you take the afternoon test?

I took it and I thought it was unbelievably easy.

Then I got my score back and got an 8....

yeah, I took the afternoon test. I also thought it was very easy. Walked out of there so happy with verbal.

as for length, i felt like they were the same length, and the writing was EASY to read. damn the curve

 

[Dulcina]

Here's the average scale from AAMC practice tests:


According to AAMC's website, an 11 in verbal will place you between 82.6 and 91.4 percentile. So to get ~90th percentile, you can miss anywhere from 5-7 questions.

I'm showing an 11 as 82.6-94.1, so avg is 88.35, which isnt too far from 90

 

[chad5871]

I'm showing an 11 as 82.6-94.1, so avg is 88.35, which isnt too far from 90

Oops, yeah I posted it backwards. I swear I'm not dyslexic! I'll change it right away...

 

[Nowaythisnameis]

Did you take the afternoon test?

I took it and I thought it was unbelievably easy.

Then I got my score back and got an 8....

I have no doubt that this is due to the curve and my preparation from Kaplan...this is lower than even the very first MCAT I ever took for practice....I was so used to hard passages, not used to easy ass passages like on this test. I'm sure that I prob got 5 or 7 wrong as I usually do on Kaplan, but instead of an 11 I end up with an 8....

So, now I have to take the test again, wondering what is great verbal prep? I hear Examkrackers is good? I bought Kaplan's 45, see if that helps.

i think missing 5 to 7 is an 11. not an 8. are u sure?

 

[drizzt3117]

I told you this on the other thread but the curve for verbal is super steep. I walked out of verbal (on a paper/pencil test) thinking I got every question right and got a 13 (which was 98-99.8% on my administration) which means both 14 and 15 were 99.9% percentile. That means the people who got 14 and 15 must have gotten one wrong or everything right, pretty much. I think quite a few people get essentially every question right on verbal but not very many actually get 100% which makes the curve very difficult at the top.

98-99.8% is about 99% which means that out of N=30600 about 300 people got a 13, and only 30 people were in the 14-15 range. Crazy.

 

[Dulcina]

I told you this on the other thread but the curve for verbal is super steep. I walked out of verbal (on a paper/pencil test) thinking I got every question right and got a 13 (which was 98-99.8% on my administration) which means both 14 and 15 were 99.9% percentile. That means the people who got 14 and 15 must have gotten one wrong or everything right, pretty much. I think quite a few people get essentially every question right on verbal but not very many actually get 100% which makes the curve very difficult at the top.

98-99.8% is about 99% which means that out of N=30600 about 300 people got a 13, and only 30 people were in the 14-15 range. Crazy.

wow, that *is* crazy. thanks for the numbers, gives me a sense of how steep it is! i'm still a little sad about my verbal score, but it seems like its what i deserved.

 

[studdoc314]

i think missing 5 to 7 is an 11. not an 8. are u sure?

normally it is an 11, but our verbal section was so easy that they curved it like so

glad to kno other people felt like this too (Dulcina)

I mean..kind of...more like misery likes company

So I will check out Examkrackers, thanks!!

 

[Dulcina]

So... AAMC got back to me with a lame answer...they gave me this link http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/start.htm

has some interesting data, but doesnt answer the question i was asking