When did you start seeing improvements?

[Mr. Z]

Just wondering when you guys started seeing improvements in your practice exam scores? Was it after the first test? 2nd? 3rd??? I've taken two practice exams with the same mediocre results twice in a row, I'm getting worried. Need to know if there is some type of "aha" moment were you finally "get" the exam and your scores improve, or is it more of a gradual thing, perhaps it doesn't happen at all?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lola]

don't know the answer to your questions, but check this out.
kaplan diag: 26
kaplan #1: 27
kaplan #2: 25!!!!!
...it's not looking so good
hopefully when all the formulas and reactions are committed to memory we will start seeing improvement??

 

[CoffeeCat]

great question, I'm very interested in peoples' comments

 

[Mr. Z]

Originally posted by lola
don't know the answer to your questions, but check this out.
kaplan diag: 26
kaplan #1: 27
kaplan #2: 25!!!!!
...it's not looking so good
hopefully when all the formulas and reactions are committed to memory we will start seeing improvement??

Just know that you're not alone. I scored 27-28 on my first exam AAMC III, then busted a 26 on the 2nd which was non aamc (after two weeks of hard studying in my weakest area )

When i first started studying and I envisioned what shape i would be in at this point, I was thinking "yeah, I be fluctuating up and down somewhere around the low 30's". There was always the mental imagery of me in a smoking jacket, toking on a pipe discussing the finer points of mcat taking skills and wondering if maybe they should make it a little more challenging !!, you know, to weed out the undesirables. Now flash forward to 4 weeks out, you see me with ragged clothing and a maniacal look in my eyes, wondering out loud if i have the full complement of chromosomes, as my verbal score seems to indicates that i don't.

I feel like i have a clock strapped to my back, all i can hear is it ticking away and still no improvements to be had

sorry, just had to vent

 

[dpy]

i also don't know the answer to your question, but here are my scores...

kaplan 1: 31
kaplan 2: 29
kaplan 3: 35
berkeley review 2: 34
berkeley review 3: 32
aamc 4: 32
aamc 5: 32
real mcat: 31

 

[ermonty]

Hey all,
Continue to think positive, you will see improvements. I've taken 8 full lengths now (Kaplan and TPR) (started taking 1/week the last week of may), and I've got 5 more to go. I started out making 27s~29s, and now I'm making 30s-34s (with the exception of an upper level kaplan - I made a 26 - that test was so hard I was literally laughing as I took the test cuase is was so rediculously difficult). It took about 1 month (~4 practice tests) for me to make the jump to the low thirties. I think the key to verbal is practice - practice - practice. As far as physical and biological, you have got to know the material first, the rest is just putting 2&2 together when you take the test. My biggest challenge is keeping up the pace on verbal. I always start out pacing my self good, but when I get about half way through the section, I start forgetting about time and spend too much time trying to figure out difficult questions - instead of just answering and keep on moving. But I'm sure on test day I'll be too hyped up to lollygag. Anyways...

LISTEN UP ALL SDNers TAKING THE AUGUST '02 MCAT - - - WE'RE GONNA CRUSH THIS TEST AND GET INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL!

 

[missbonnie]

HEy-

I took the april mcat and these were my aamc diag scores:

3 - 25 (9v,7p,9b)
2 - 29 (10,8,11)
4 - 32 (11,10,11)
5 - 36 (12,12,12)
6 -34 (10,12,12)

the first 3 tests were approx. 2 weeks apart, the last 3 were the 3 weeks before mcat.

real thing: 34 (10,12,12)

 

[Chronotropic]

I took my first FULL practice test last firday

AAMC III 9V 9P 8B

Not too worried 4 weeks is plenty of time.

One thing though is have you guys been looking over the questions you missed? For instance in physical sciences I missed 5 questions from a passage dealing with circuits which I have yet to review. Those 5 questions would of bumped me up to a 10. Same thing for verbal. I was 1 question away from a 10. I missed 6 questions from ONE passage (something about Li and being nice to people). Now if I didn't zone out on that passage I would of at least managed to get 1 more question right. As for BS I'm only half way through reviewing orgo chem. That and for bio I didn't memorise alot of things I should have. Given all that it would of also raised my score by a pt maybee.

My point is don't think of these tests as an indicator of how you will do. Instead think of them as a way to find your weak points.
Now that I know what I did wrong I can go back and fix it. If I score a 26 again on the next test then great I'll be able to find more of my weaknesses. Now if I was scoring around a 21 I would be worried.

Just keep working hard and taking practice tests. If your scoring around a 27 now then your 3 pts above the national average as is. If you continue to find your weak points then you should have an easy 30 come Augest.

 

[Mr. Z]

danswu, nice post. What do you think about starting up a thread for dissecting aamc III ? might be worthwhile.

 

[Bevo]

i'll give mine.

My first kaplan diag last october I got a 10 (5v, 4ps, 1 bs )
kaplan diag for class 18 (straight 6s)
kp #1 21 (7v, 8ps, 6bs)
kp #2 20 (7v, 7ps, 6bs)
kp #3 23 (7v, 8ps, 8 bs)
aamc #2 26 (9v, 8 ps, 9bs)


Ive made improvements in verbal and biology. Every test Ive seen the number right go up with very little change in my scores.

with aamc #2 I got 89% right in the verbal section and got a 9.
Looking at the score distribution I think the top possible score was a 12. While the other kaplan verbal sections I got around 6-70% right each time and got almost the same score. Gets confusing and frustrating :|


But at least I can see that my time spent studying hasnt been in vain.

For me I try to learn the materials as best I can before I spent time working problems and applying those concepts.


I know people who are the kaplan center doing their problems over and over but really aren't learning the material.

 

[nero]

i don't think there is an ahhhhhh moment....you just have to study and practice........my scores jump around.......here they are

kap diag ----26 (5, 11, 10)
kaplan #1---- 33 (9, 11, 13)
PR 483 --------35 (10,13,12)
PR 482 --------29 (6,12,11)
Kaplan #2 -----33 (8,12,13)
PR 481 ----------29 (6,11,12)

as you can see my verbal is between 6-10 and my scores overall are from 29-35........i just try to practice like crazy and some days are betyter than otehrs.........some minor things that i've found to be really important.

1. get plenty of rest the night before a practice test
2. wake up atleast an hour adn half before you plan on beginning the test
3. read a lillte bit to get your mind going, and do 1, maybe 2 verbal passages from another source...........
4. stretch your muscles
5. don't drink caffeine
6. bring a pain reliever, in case you get a head ache
7. REMEMBER, SOME DAYS ARE GOOD AND SOME ARE BAD, IF YOU KEEP PRACTICING, YOU'LL GET A GOOD DAY COME AUGUST 17.

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY

nero

 

[Blitzkrieg]

well,

I peaked out at the test.


Diag for Kaplan: 18
Kaplan #1: 26
Kaplan #2-#4: 29
AAMC III: 31
AAMCIV: 34
AAMCV: 31 (one wk before test)

Kaplan #5: 30 (one wk before test)

April 2002: 35Q
April 2001, before kaplan: 26M

Ah, the good ole MCAT days. The review course combined with long drives, eating out, and getting rid of stress practically made me broke..but I would do it again =D..hmm..maybe not.

Practice..I did a good 3-4,000 practice problems, including 9 full length tests.

About 2 weeks before the test, I was sitting in the med school library, working on kaplan 6..doing the VR section..when I lost it. I blanked out...tired as heck.

Well...I was burning out. DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.

I immediately closed the book, drove back home (1.5 hours), and proceeded to play video games/have fun for the next four days. This was also right before my final exams for the semester, which were hard as @)%(@#, but I came out alright: 3.75 GPA.

Those 4 days gave me back sanity, and I proceeded to study a bit more, until a week before the test, when I didnt study at all.

So, moral? Work hard, you'll keep improving. Don't give up, but also dont burn out. Have fun. Kick ass.

w3rd

 

[dr kevin40]

whatup yall

its kinda hard to say when i started seeing score improvement

diagnostic (1st test ever), which was PR: got 36

then i was hovering around 36 for a lot of tests, bout 4 or 5...alll PR tests

this was REALLY FRUSTRATING ME, b/c I felt i was reviewing a lot of **** and more importantly, i felt i was supposed to be doing better.

THEN all of a sudden, my score jumped to like 38 for a test..

then for the last 4 tests i took (2 of which were AAMC, I got above 40...the highest being a 42) i was feeling pretty confident at that point, b/c i thought the difficulty of the mcat would mirror aamc tests.

now on the real one I took the first time, i got a 36. i was hella disappinted b/c it seemed like for all the studying i did, i improved 0 pts. =(

now i was in a jam yall cuz everyone said that's a pretty good score, but i felt like i scored below what i could've. i sucked it up and signed up pfor the last april one. i didn't really study at all, just reviewed a little bit starting a month b4 and also went w/ friends to the kaplan library. (they wre nice for letting me tag along and kaplan too for not regulating on my ass)

well, i took the test feeling more confident...not like i learned a lot more in terms of material, but i just said "i'm gonna gonna tear u up" and i ended up with a 40. 11/14/15. so definitely u shouldn't worry if ur scores rn't improving just yet...wait til u take the aamc, but remember attitude is really importnat too

 

[Mr. Z]

the thing about being a wise ass is that you have to be somewhat believable. If there is any truth to the above post then that is pretty amazing, congrats.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

I had a general upward trend, with the exception of Kaplan 6-9, which I took before 1-5. The best I did was a 35 on Kaplan #3
The worst I did was a 20 on Kaplan diag, and a 20 on one of the Kaplan 6-9, I can't remember which.

The closest to my real score was aamc #3: 12v 10p 11b
april 2002: 13v 9p 11b

 

[dr kevin40]

geez mr.z, y r ppl here sooo cynical. i was trying to help u out my posting my exp. i was being totally honest. gosh.

 

[DW]

Originally posted by dr kevin40
geez mr.z, y r ppl here sooo cynical. i was trying to help u out my posting my exp. i was being totally honest. gosh.

ha ha. its all good, dr K, its just a lot of very intelligent premeds have to build up to the score they get, and (not trying to take away from your score at all, all my congrats man) a lot of people here would not give a flying f*ck if they got a 36 as opposed to a 40. Were are you looking to go with those scores? MD/PhD maybe?

 

[Mr. Z]

no direct offense intended to you 40. It's just that a score of 36 probably puts you into the 90 percentiles across the board. Retaking with that high of score could at best result in a net gain of a few percentile points. So, not only would it be silly to retake it with those scores, it would also be virtually meaningless to the admissions process, that's why i find it hard to believe. But, like I said, if those really are your scores, congratulations, you are smart indeed.

 

[dr kevin40]

mr. z, a lot of ppl thought i was crazy to retake..putting myself thru unnecessary stress but honestly i really didn't look at it like that. i was disappointed that i scored the same on that real aug test as the very first time i took a practice test. i thought my studying during summer had gone to waste a little, so i just looked at it as an opportunity to see if i can do better, to review some old concepts, and really just to spend a day solving some puzzles. taht's really how i viewed my mcats the 2nd time round which put a lot less pressure. but coming from diff persepective, i don't thik a 40 is the same as a 36.


dw, thanks. i'm not realy looking to do md/phd. i debated it. i've done quite a bit of reserach, but the extra years of time commitment kinda puts me off. i really like to have fun and i don't think spending extra yrs in school will be that fun.

 

[DW]

Originally posted by dr kevin40
i was disappointed that i scored the same on that real aug test as the very first time i took a practice test.

I can almost see what you're saying. I did well on the april, but I scored 2 points lower on any verbal diag I had taken, and waaaay in the back of my mind I said I could have scored higher, and who wouldn't want to see how well they could ULTIMATELY do? In my case another go round wasn't really feasible, since I have neither money nor time to waste these days.
That must be frustrating though to stay at one score for that long. But at least you didn't have to go through the slow painful progression from a 19 to a 35 (and, thats still not even a 36, mister smarty pants!!)

 

[Chronotropic]

danswu, nice post. What do you think about starting up a thread for dissecting aamc III ? might be worthwhile.

LOL yeah that probably would be a good idea. But I don't actually have test III with me. I checked it out from my school library (1 day checkout) took it then returned it. I do have tests IV-VI and once I get those done I think I'll start a dissecting thread.

and how do you guys get the quotes in bold print.

 

[dr kevin40]

DW

did i read it right, what u put as ur occupation?

 

[DW]

Originally posted by dr kevin40
DW

did i read it right, what u put as ur occupation?

the CDC thing is for personal edification, but this applying to medical school thing has to get paid for somehow

 

[mws99]

I took AAMC VI the Saturday before the MCAT and my real score was 5 points higher, so anything is possible (4 points was in verbal alone).

 

[dr kevin40]

DW

cool! where r u thinking of applying for schools? i hope u don't misinterpret this as me trying to kick my game. i'm just curious =)

 

[JimmyD]

Kick your game? My god....

 

[ga07]

as i mentioned before, i started out with a 22 on my first practice test. i progressed as such:

princeton #1: 25 (9,8,8)
princeton #2: 31 (10,10,11)
princeton #3: 34 (10,13,11)
aamc practice VI: 36 (12,12,12)
real thing: 37 (11,11,15)

so it can be done. good luck on the 17th to all of you still sweating it out. congrats to dr kevin40 on his phenomenal score. however, i doubt there were 39 other dr kevin's on this board...

my unsolicited mcat tips:

1.) get a good night's sleep: DON'T CRAM!
2.) arrive early; you don't want any added stress
3.) try not to think about how important the test is
4.) f=ma
5.) have something fun planned for that night (get crazy)

 

[Dr. Dodger Dog]

haha... I can verify Dr. K's insanity. Although people thought he was pretty crazy taking it again after gettin a 36, I totally supported him just because I knew his potential.

As for the topic at hand, I did much better after my first diagnostic. I think my attitude was a lot better for the second one... thinking more positively and more confidently. And for verbal, I really just did a lot of practice to improve speed and accuracy after that first diagnostic.

PR #1- 26 (7/8/11)
PR #2- 33 (11/12/10)
PR #3- 33 (10/12/11)
AAMC IV- 38 (11/13/14)
AAMC V- 42 (12/15/15)
Real MCAT- 40S (11/14/15)

As you can see, my scores in the various sections did go up and down as is to be expected. On any given day, you can do quite a bit better or worse... so stay positive and keep on workin your butt off!

 

[dr kevin40]

Originally posted by Dr. Dodger Dog
haha... I can verify Dr. K's insanity. Although people thought he was pretty crazy taking it again after gettin a 36, I totally supported him just because I knew his potential.

yup. he sure did! u my dawwwg. =)
and we ended up getting the same score yall! haha

dodgerdog, i gotta say the club scene here ain't that good. its only 2 and i'm home already cuz i was bored outta my mind