When should I start taking practice (FL) tests?

[manchika]

My exam is on April 4th.... I have not taken one FL test yet to even know where I stand... MY friend who already got a good score in MCAT suggested I start taking it atleast once every week to see my progress. He suggested I get TPR or Gold Standard tests and do them in the initial weeks (meaning right now) and when I get closer start doing AAMC FL tests

What do you suggest? I am getting very nervous now....I do not feel confident with content but I am not sure either....

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Captain Sisko]

My exam is on April 4th.... I have not taken one FL test yet to even know where I stand... MY friend who already got a good score in MCAT suggested I start taking it atleast once every week to see my progress. He suggested I get TPR or Gold Standard tests and do them in the initial weeks (meaning right now) and when I get closer start doing AAMC FL tests

What do you suggest? I am getting very nervous now....I do not feel confident with content but I am not sure either....

The majority of people on here will tell you to get all of your content review done before taking any exams. This prevents you from "wasting" practice material.

I take the standing that practice makes perfect and you should start taking them around the middle of your review to see how your studying is paying off. I began full lengths during content review, and am now in the middle of a marathon's worth of practice tests. The early ones did give me an idea of what I needed to think about when going over the review, but I'll concede that the review books themselves, namely tbr, do a good job simulating mcat style questions. For me, anyway, I thought its helpful but I haven't taken the real deal yet so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Definitely get some more content review done. Like at least half.

Up to you. I have all ten gs exams and the science sections are great practice. The verbal is not. Maybe tpr will be better.

 

[SN2ed]

It's best to wait until after you finish your content review. However, this does not mean you will have no measure to gauge where you are or that you will be neglecting passage practice. You should take tons of timed practice passages during your content review and utilize those to assess your performance while gaining experience and not actual FLs.

 

[Back 5]

I'm taking the Princeton Review course. They want us to take aamc 10 this weekend after our first week of classes. I am choosing not to follow their instructions and will forfeit my guarantee as a result. I have completed their initial diagnostic results and did poorly (except for verbal). Should I still take a FL this weekend as they want us to, or commence to study hard for a bit, do my homework and passages and think about FL in Feb or March?

I plan on sitting for the test 4/26.

 

[Captain Sisko]

I'm taking the Princeton Review course. They want us to take aamc 10 this weekend after our first week of classes. I am choosing not to follow their instructions and will forfeit my guarantee as a result. I have completed their initial diagnostic results and did poorly (except for verbal). Should I still take a FL this weekend as they want us to, or commence to study hard for a bit, do my homework and passages and think about FL in Feb or March?

I plan on sitting for the test 4/26.

If you did poorly on your diagnostic your "guarantee" is worthless. Prep companies make their diagnostics difficult to scare people into buying their product, and when they score higher on their (easier) actual exam they can claim an improvement. It's up to you. But if you haven't done much in terms of content review I'd probably skip the FL.

 

[Back 5]

The guarantee includes if you just don't feel ready and don't take or void the MCAT, right? Why not just open the exam, randomly click answers for 10 minutes and submit it? That way you haven't used up an important AAMC practice exam, but you also still are eligible to repeat the course if needed.

I have to take AAMC 10 in order to keep my guarantee. I told them it's silly to throw away such an important diagnostic when I haven't studied yet. I asked if I could replace AAMC 10 with AAMC 1 and they said no.

If I don't do well on the MCAT, repeating this course isn't going to help. I would have done poorly because I didn't study enough.

So, my underlying question is: Do I take a FL now, only a week into studying, or do I wait until I have enough content review before starting them? I have plenty of practice passages to do. The TPRHL science workbook is HUGE.

 

[Back 5]

Yep, perfectly. Thanks.