Weird MCAT Practice Test. Is this realistic?

[MDwannabe09]

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I took a free Kaplan practice MCAT earlier today and thought the test seemed really odd. The verbal reasoning seemed ridiculously easy, the physical sciences science was really heavy on formula recall, (for physics questions), and the bio section was basically half ochem/half physiology. I only got a 24, (8/8/8), but I haven't studied at all and know basically zero physiology. Even though I've heard they purposely make their tests hard to try to get people to enroll, it's still kind of alarming.

My question is.....is there generally a good amount of physiology on the bio section? Not just general passages containing physiological related themes, but actual memory intensive straight up physio questions. I know the AAMC outline includes some topics, but I'm still curious as they also include various ochem topics, which seem to appear in the bio section in a lesser percentage. I'm going to be taking physiology after my MCAT, (due to prereq requirements and scheduling), so should I start teaching myself physio now for the test? I feel like I have a solid general bio, (like in genetics/biochem), and ochem foundation, but all the weird physiology passages in the test scared me!

Is a 24 an ok starting point to improve into the mid-30's with studying? I haven't taken an AAMC full lengths yet, but plan on it around Thanksgiving...

 

[Gauss44]

I took a free Kaplan practice MCAT earlier today and thought the test seemed really odd. The verbal reasoning seemed ridiculously easy, the physical sciences science was really heavy on formula recall, (for physics questions), and the bio section was basically half ochem/half physiology. I only got a 24, (8/8/8), but I haven't studied at all and know basically zero physiology. Even though I've heard they purposely make their tests hard to try to get people to enroll, it's still kind of alarming.

My question is.....is there generally a good amount of physiology on the bio section? Not just general passages containing physiological related themes, but actual memory intensive straight up physio questions. I know the AAMC outline includes some topics, but I'm still curious as they also include various ochem topics, which seem to appear in the bio section in a lesser percentage. I'm going to be taking physiology after my MCAT, (due to prereq requirements and scheduling), so should I start teaching myself physio now for the test? I feel like I have a solid general bio, (like in genetics/biochem), and ochem foundation, but all the weird physiology passages in the test scared me!

Is a 24 an ok starting point to improve into the mid-30's with studying? I haven't taken an AAMC full lengths yet, but plan on it around Thanksgiving...

AAMC has a free test, practice test 3. Why don' t you compare?

Turning a 24 into a 30 is doable (I know someone who did it.) but you will have to study a lot. He took lots of practice tests and went over every single wrong answer.

 

[BABSstudent]

I recommend saving the aamc test #3 until you study a little more.

And physiology can be on the MCAT, so study it. Just buy a review book and go over it. You should be fine.

As for the Kaplan test, I got a 17 initially and my second MCAT was a 32


Sent from my iPod using SDN Mobile app. Please excuse the typos.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Diagnostic tests mean nothing. There's no telling how much you'll improve after you've actually studied. If you're upset about a 24 on a diagnostic before you've studied anything...what were you expecting? A 30? Were you actually thinking you wouldn't have to study at all for the test?

Anyway, yes, the MCAT has plenty of physiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry on it. Few of them are straight up regurgitation questions though. The vast majority of the MCAT emphasizes critical thinking over memory recall. You'll still need to know your stuff backwards and forwards though.

I wouldn't worry about it. I never bothered with a diagnostic test, but I'm sure all my scores would have been abysmally low before I started studying considering I remembered nothing from gen chem or orgo, and knew very little of what was covered by biology (only bio classes I took in college were intro bio, evolution, and a bunch of neuro classes, so all the genetics, molecular bio, physiology, anatomy, and biochemistry on the test was new to me). I still managed to get a 39 on the real thing. Having a background in these subjects does make studying easier/faster, but that doesn't mean you're screwed if you haven't taken them. It just means you have to study more, that's it.

 

[maybemed2013]

Can I get some feedback on my practice test. I took PR 1 and got a 6 Ps / 5 vr/7 BS.

 

[Suluki]

I never bothered with a diagnostic test, but I'm sure all my scores would have been abysmally low before I started studying considering I remembered nothing from gen chem or orgo, and knew very little of what was covered by biology (only bio classes I took in college were intro bio, evolution, and a bunch of neuro classes, so all the genetics, molecular bio, physiology, anatomy, and biochemistry on the test was new to me).

Same! I never bothered with a diagnostic. I knew it would be terrible and I knew I had a lot more work ahead of me. I didn't take one until I was well into my studying.
Anyways, I wouldn't worry about a diagnostic at all. Personally, I suspect I would've scored around a 20 without studying (and I got 38 on the real deal).
So don't stress it!

 

[Spinach Dip]

You should be ready for anything. Figure out what your weak subjects are, and study those.

When you feel you have no weak subjects, then you will be truly ready.

 

[ok_record]

2.5 weeks before my real test i got a 24 on AAMC 3 and didn't do any WS practice until the day before the test date. I ended up with a 33S on the real thing.

It's definitely doable.

 

[zipnogg]

It is difficult to judge what a test is going to look like. They have such a large pool of questions that to try to prepare for which types of questions will be on your particular MCAT is extremely tough. 24 (with 8-8-8 spread) is a good score. Study as broadly as you can and try to get 9 or above in each category.

Good luck with everything.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

24 is a great starting point without studying. I started with a 27 diagnostic and ended up with a 40 for reference. The diagnostic is "useless" in the sense that it can't tell you where you'll end up, but I really like to use it as a baseline. If you are able to score 8's on PhysicalSci/Bio sections that focused on formula's/concepts you weren't very familiar with, I am confident that you will score well once you start kicking it into high gear 😎.