what did you get on your first full length practice MCAT vs the actual test?

[ronaldo23]

and what was the gap in between of studying?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Evergrey]

I'll let you know in five months. 🙂

 

[Ogenki]

If your first practice test was from one of those free ones prep courses gave out, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think they intentionally pick nasty exams to panic you to paying for the course.

I got a 15 on the one Kaplan administered at my college as a free MCAT practice, trolling for students. A month later, without any studying I took one of the former real exams and almost DOUBLED my score. After a few months of light studying, I took another former exam the night before the real thing and did a bit better. And I improved slightly from that for the real thing (adrenaline helped me focus I guess.)

I'm not saying the courses aren't good, should go for them if you feel you need them, just my suspicions on my first practice exam.

 

[spyderracing32]

28 on my first practice test, 36 on my first practice test post studying, 36 on the real deal. Was averaging 38s on the aamc tests, but caught a nasty verbal passage and supposedly one of the tougher bio sections.

 

[iheartmpls]

22 on my first practice, 39 on my last practice, 34 on the one that counts.

 

[medseek1]

It means nothing and Kaplan in general tends to be more forgiving. AAMC tests are more indicative of the real test. Even though I felt that the real test was harder than AAMC practices, I scored in the same range of my practice tests. Kaplan tests 1-10 are very forgiving and you can end up with a score in 40s despite getting several questions wrong. My biggest advice would be to keep your head cool and pace your self through out the test and if a question or passage seems hard, take a best guess and move on and revisit at the end if you have time.
As far as my diagnostic goes, I scored a 35 on Kaplan and 36 on the real one. I actually got 2 points lower on my real verbal than the diagnostic.

 

[funkymunkytoes]

24 on Kaplan's diagnostic.

4 months of studying with man more Kaplan tests and AAMC tests.

35 on the real deal.

 

[Jolie South]

Moving this thread to MCAT discussions.

 

[variablistic]

28 kaplan diagnostic, 31-36 on about 7 practice tests, 35 on the real deal.

 

[DrBrizzle]

26 on first AAMC. 26-33 total range. 31 on the real deal

 

[jpnmed]

19 on the first Princeton Review full length practice exam in January. Four months later in April I got a 34 on the real deal.

 

[millepora]

It means nothing and Kaplan in general tends to be more forgiving. AAMC tests are more indicative of the real test. Even though I felt that the real test was harder than AAMC practices, I scored in the same range of my practice tests. Kaplan tests 1-10 are very forgiving and you can end up with a score in 40s despite getting several questions wrong. My biggest advice would be to keep your head cool and pace your self through out the test and if a question or passage seems hard, take a best guess and move on and revisit at the end if you have time.
As far as my diagnostic goes, I scored a 35 on Kaplan and 36 on the real one. I actually got 2 points lower on my real verbal than the diagnostic.

That curve is pretty insane, but I have noticed that the Kaplan tests seem to be a little harder than the aamc tests.

 

[Sonyfan08]

19 on the first Princeton Review full length practice exam in January. Four months later in April I got a 34 on the real deal.

How did you study for the MCAT? What was your strategy?

 

[WashMe]

32 on my first full-length practice test, 39 on the real thing after 3 weeks of studying and 3 additional practice tests.

 

[jpnmed]

How did you study for the MCAT? What was your strategy?

I attended all the TPR classes and followed their weekly/biweekly schedule of taking a full-length practice test. In addition, I did a lot of practice passages and stand alone problems, especially in the areas where I needed more practice. I think one of my keys to success was taking a number of full length practice tests both by TPR and the AAMC. It may look like I had a huge jump from my first diagnostic to my actual test. However, the TPR tests seemed consistently harder to me. I often scored 30+ on my AAMC tests shortly after scoring 19 on my first diagnostic.

 

[8mile]

37 on first AAMC, 32 on real deal.😡

Granted, that 37 was more of a fluke than real.

 

[sindadel]

mid-20s on my "diagnostic" - taken about 4 weeks into the 10 week studying period

33-ish on my two full-length practice exams - taken 2 weeks and 1 week before MCAT

36 on the real thing

I got lucky on my real MCAT and definitely entered a test-taking zone where I am just a little smarter. I took the practice exams at home on hot days and I was a bit distracted by lawnmowers and heat.

 

[minhaj]

25 on first diagnostic test 36 on the real thing

 

[MDman87]

19 on first practice test, but I'm up to 29 now 🙂. And I'm not taking the test til May

 

[PremedIowa]

I scored 9 points higher on my actual vs. first practice.