your first MCAT

[Mansoor]

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How did you guys do on your first practice MCAT compared to your actual MCAT. I just took my first verbal (haven't finished the sciences yet to do the whole thing) and got a 10. I still have 2 years to study, so i am hoping to bring that up as high as i can. I just want to see the correlation on improvement that is possible.

 

[scootad.]

I got a 20 on my Kaplan diagnostic and a 31 on the actual MCAT 2.5 months later.

 

[Mansoor]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by scootad.:
•I got a 20 on my Kaplan diagnostic and a 31 on the actual MCAT 2.5 months later.•••••Damn that is ausome improvement, although i think some of it might be attributed to not taking the first diagnostic as seriously as the actual MCAT. I could definitely see myself, or anyone else, doing that.

 

[scootad.]

Actually I tried hard on the diagnostic. I just worked my @ss off for the next couple of months.
The MCAT isn't the type of exam most people can take cold.

 

[missbonnie]

Got a 25 (9V 7P 9B) on my first diag (aamc 3) 10 weeks before the MCAT, got 34 (10V 12P 12B) on the april 2002 mcat.

-bonnie

 

[Cougarblue]

I scored a 28 on my Kaplan diagnostic (8V, 10PS, 10BS), and somehow managed to pull a 35 (12V, 10PS, 13BS) on the real deal. Curse the stinking physical sciences section, and all physics questions in general.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

I got a 20 as well on the Kaplan diagnostic
(5v 7p 8b) and got a 33 (13 9 11) April 2002!
There is definite room for improvement for anyone who works hard.

 

[Resident Alien]

I believe your scores are deliberately made lower on your diags.

diag, 25
real, 33

 

[BUmiken12]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Resident Alien:
•I believe your scores are deliberately made lower on your diags.

diag, 25
real, 33•••••I second that motion...
diag, 22
real, 33Q (10V, 11PS, 12BS)

 

[LittleMD]

I got an 18 (3v, 8ps, 7bs) on my first TPR diag.
I got a 32 (10v, 10ps, 12bs) on the real thing.

 

[Mansoor]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by LittleMD:
•I got an 18 (3v, 8ps, 7bs) on my first TPR diag.
I got a 32 (10v, 10ps, 12bs) on the real thing.•••••LittleMD, you are pretty little for getting a 3 on verbal. you'd have to get 45 out of 65 wrong. You could guess every one and get a 3. Kind of funny. Wonderful improvement though. Thats what studying is for!

 

[Dr Chooch]

I went from a 24 (7,7,10) on my Kaplan diagnostic before studying anything to a 37 (10,14,13) on the real thing in Aug 2001. You still have plenty of time to study, so try not to worry about it for at least another year or so. Enjoy life for now! :wink:

 

[ckent]

I got a 21 on my first diagnostic, 19 on my second. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> I ended up getting a 36 on my actual test though, higher then what I had ever scored on those diagnostics.

 

[relatively prime]

1st diag.: 18
real: 34

In my opinion, only the AAMC practice tests 3-6 mean anything. If you add ~2 pts to Kaplan and PR tests... then they're good too predictors too.

Wait a minute... you're starting to study 2 years before you take it!! Are you insane!? 🙂 j/k But seriously, I don't think there's any advantage to what you're doing. You should concentrate on your gpa and your ECs right now. You don't want to waste time studying for the MCAT at this point... you need to get good grades and research/clinical/volunteer experience. I believe the best time to start studying for the MCAT is about 3 months before the test. I admire your ambition, though.
If you really have to start now, then I suggest you start reading good magazines and newspapers(like the Economist and Atlanic Monthly).... practice your reading comprehension.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Wow, I have the lowest diagnostic score. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

15 on both Kaplan and Princeton diagnostics
(5,5,5 and 6,4,5)

27 on the real thing (9,9,9)

 

[Vin Scully]

Diag: 22 (don't remember the split)
real: 40-42 (13-15, 14, 13)

Lot's o' studying, but more importantly I think, just familiar with the test format.

 

[TommyGunn04]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by ckent:
•I got a 21 on my first diagnostic, 19 on my second. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> I ended up getting a 36 on my actual test though, higher then what I had ever scored on those diagnostics.•••••I second that ckent! My diagnostic score was somewhere in the low 20's, and I never scored higher than a 31 on any of Kaplan's full-length exams/AAMC exams. But I ended up with a 36 on the April 2001 MCAT! I told Kaplan's computer that I was aiming for a 35, and it spit out something that basically said something like, "given your diagnostic score, you might want to rethink (lower) your goal." Don't worry too much about the diagnostic; your score WILL go up! 🙂

 

[Mansoor]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by relatively prime:
•1st diag.: 18
real: 34

In my opinion, only the AAMC practice tests 3-6 mean anything. If you add ~2 pts to Kaplan and PR tests... then they're good too predictors too.

Wait a minute... you're starting to study 2 years before you take it!! Are you insane!? 🙂 j/k But seriously, I don't think there's any advantage to what you're doing. You should concentrate on your gpa and your ECs right now. You don't want to waste time studying for the MCAT at this point... you need to get good grades and research/clinical/volunteer experience. I believe the best time to start studying for the MCAT is about 3 months before the test. I admire your ambition, though.
If you really have to start now, then I suggest you start reading good magazines and newspapers(like the Economist and Atlanic Monthly).... practice your reading comprehension.•••••Well, i am only just studying verbal. It's summer now, and i have a bit more free time than during the year. I just plan to do maybe 1 practice verbal every weekend or other weekend... and i have been reading all sorts of books and magazines that i can get my hands on (although i must say that the passages on the MCATS were the hardest/most boring readings i ever did except for research abstracts that i don't understand). I figure it can't hurt having better reading comprehension skills in general, completely besides the MCAT. If you are going to develop them, why not do it earlier than later?

 

[randomlogik]

I never really was able to comprehend what my diag scores meant. I started out with a 27 on the first princeton diag (10,7,10), but then I dropped down to a 24 on the second one. Personally, I think the first one was a fluke, because after that it slowly crept back up to the 28-29 mark on my last diag. I got a 31 (10,10,11) on the real thing. Its all a mystery to me...

 

[The Fly]

My score went from high teens to mid thirties from the time of my first diagnostic (where I totally panicked after getting the score) to the actual exam. I got a 34 on the last AAMC exam I took before the test and that was pretty much on the money for my actual score. . .

 

[PADoc2be]

I have a friend that teaches SAT courses for Kaplan, and she said that all of Kaplan's diagnostic tests (including the MCATs) are basically made to be more difficult so to encourage the students to study harder and take the course seriously (and, I'm sure, to make Kaplan look good). 🙄 I didn't take a Kaplan prep course but I had a 30 on the first practice test I took and a 34 (11V, 11P, 12B) on the real thing. Good luck to you!

 

[Jumpu]

I took Kaplan and got a 25 on the diagnostic (8-9-9). On this latest april MCAT I got 33 (10-11-12). I'm pretty happy with it!

 

[DW]

Princeton first diag 9V, 8B, 6P O WS
23O
Real thing 10V (which i was kinda disappointed by since i had been regularly in the 11-13 range)
12P, 13B, R WS
total 35R

 

[relatively prime]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Mansoor:
•Well, i am only just studying verbal. It's summer now, and i have a bit more free time than during the year. I just plan to do maybe 1 practice verbal every weekend or other weekend... and i have been reading all sorts of books and magazines that i can get my hands on (although i must say that the passages on the MCATS were the hardest/most boring readings i ever did except for research abstracts that i don't understand). I figure it can't hurt having better reading comprehension skills in general, completely besides the MCAT. If you are going to develop them, why not do it earlier than later?•••••Yeah... that's what I said. You can always work on your reading comprehension... it's never too soon for that. 🙂 But make sure you save some un-read verbal practice passages for the few weeks before the test... that's when you'll need them most.

 

[Mr. H]

Kaplan diagnostic I had 6-7-8 on the real thing I got a 11-10-R-12. Just work hard at it, and you'll be finE!

 

[jot]

the best i ever did on a kaplan test was a 31-32, but did substantially better on the real thing; i found aamcV and VI to be right on the mark. however, bio is harder than those tests (aamc) at least on my form. goodluck.
-jot