your first practice mcat score

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whoknows87

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wondering what were your scores first time you took a FL Practice MCAT I assume most people take a shot at AAMC #3 some after doing content review and some just take a stab at it cold before seriously studying for the test, it would be helpful to indicate
- The score
- did content review or none
- recent graduate or 1-2-3... years after
 
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Score:18
Level of preparedness: little to none. I was still in the middle of taking physics, and I had not started studying at all. I took it more as a baseline test.
Actual MCAT score: 25, after about a month of studying. Retaking this Friday, pretty sure my nerves got the best of me since I was averaging high 20s to low 30s on practice exams.

Hope this helps 🙂
 
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31
Finished content review a week prior (spent the intervening week quickly reviewing)
Graduated exactly one year prior but was 4 years out of gen chem and intro bio, 3 out of orgo, and 1 out of physics

FWIW my average on AAMC 8-11 was 37, with a high of 39 on AAMC 11. I'll know what my real score is in 11 days. Found the whole test pretty easy and it played almost exclusively to my strengths, so I'm hoping for something on the higher end of my average, if not even above it.
 
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36 on AAMC 3 after completing content review as suggested in SN2ed's schedule.
3rd year undergrad, had never taken physics.
 
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20 TPR's free diag. test - prior to content review.
I had thought that there was a guessing penalty on the mcat.
36 AAMC11 right after content review.
 
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I took AAMC 3 and scored embarrassingly low in PS and BS and high in verbal before content review and before taking physics, ochem and genetics. I had no idea what the test was like and just wanted to get a feel for the types of problems.
 
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-30 on AAMC 3 about a little over a month ago. Totally didn't finish the last verbal passage because I didn't bother to pause and thought the timer was inconsequential.
- Finished most of content review, except for "population" genetics and optics
- going to be a 3rd year
 
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25 on an AAMC diagnostic two weeks ago (did not begin studying yet). I also haven't taken Phys II/Ochem II yet. Plan on taking this Spring in the hopes of a 35+. I got an 11 on the Verbal so at least I can rest easy focusing more on the more conceptual facets of Bio/Phys/Chem.
 
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I spent this summer studying one chapter out of kaplan per day, and then spent a week reviewing it all, 3 days on all the flashcards, 1 day studying the equations sheet, and today my first timed practice test.

On the Kaplan MCAT 7th Ed. practice tests, I got a 13 on the physical sciences, a 12 in the bio, and I haven't taken the verbal (and I'm not going to) on the first practice test.

I'm going to take the next practice test tomorrow. The next day I'm scheduled to take the MCAT.

Let's hope that this Kaplan book is an accurate reflection of the actual test.
 
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28 on first practice MCAT, no studying, no orgo, 1/3 of bio

35 on real MCAT with 5 months of studying, 2/3 of orgo, and finished bio
 
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First Practice: AAMC #3 - 26
Level of prep: No MCAT studying yet, only had 1/2 physics and 1/2 OChem
Real Test: 34Q, studied for 4 months after diagnostic
 
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29 on aamc 3 with zero studying and 1/2 organic
7 years out of undergrad, and about 11 years from anything involving general chemistry. I think I got 95% of the physics questions right but only 50% of the chem, lol guess I figured out what to study!
 
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First FL: AAMC3 after only studying only half of physics and bio, and none of gen chem or orgo. 25 (7/10/8)

Now averaging about 34 (~11/~12/~11) on AAMC tests, real thing on the 11th.

I'm a senior applying next cycle, have taken all prereqs except gen chem 2, which my advisor said I wouldn't need (I'm pretty sure she was misinformed).
 
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areserine said:
First FL: AAMC3 after only studying only half of physics and bio, and none of gen chem or orgo. 25 (7/10/8)

Now averaging about 34 (~10/~13/~11) on AAMC tests, real thing on the 11th.

I'm a senior applying next cycle, have taken all prereqs except gen chem 2, which my advisor said I wouldn't need (I'm pretty sure she was misinformed).
Click to expand...

same as me but different average breakdown
 
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AAMC3: 36 I had finished content review. I see no point in diagnostic exams pre content review except to dampen the spirits of the average student and maybe stroke the ego of a well above average student.

Real MCAT: 35P
 
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Very first? 15.

I took a free kaplan test as a second semester sophomore who hadn't had only completed Gen Chem 1 & 2 and Bio 1. My breakdown was like 5/8/2 if memory serves.
 
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V5RED said:
AAMC3: 36 I had finished content review. I see no point in diagnostic exams pre content review except to dampen the spirits of the average student and maybe stroke the ego of a well above average student.

Real MCAT: 35P
Click to expand...

Nice job on the high score!

Not sure if I agree with your point though. I'd say taking my diagnostic gave me a good idea of what the questions and passages were like so I knew what to think about as I was finishing my prerequisites. Knowing what the exam is like way ahead of time eliminated a lot of the mystery so I was able to get ready and study appropriately.

You obviously did great without taking it, and I haven't begun studying in earnest but I feel quite a bit better going into the process now that I know where I stand.
 
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First FL was AAMC #3 and I got a 30 on it and that was last summer when I was planning on taking it in January. Studied for about a month but only studied about 2 hours a day, not a serious effort. Took it January but wasn't ready at all and ended up voiding my exam.

Studied again this summer from the end of May til my exam on August 4th. Did 2.5 weeks of content review with TBR and TPRH Bio to start and then I took my first FL of the summer.

First FL of this Summer was AAMC #7 and I got a 33 and it was after the 2.5 weeks of content review.

Then did every practice question from TBR, EK 1001's and 101, and the AAMC Self Assessments for the next 2 months with AAMC practice tests thrown in every week or 2 and I re-did all the questions I got wrong about a month after I got them wrong. Studied 6 days a week from about 10am - 7/8ish pm on weekdays and about 10-4 on Saturdays (eventually did work on Sundays too towards the end)

On the real exam, I ended up getting a 39S (14/11/14). I'm a senior applying in the next cycle
 
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neilpryde, congratulations!

I know you're saying you were motivated to do well, but you basically say you spent 4,300 hours within <10 weeks. That's 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, plus 6 hours a week (=66 hours a week) for ~65 days? No phone calls? Exercise? Eating? Breaks? No FB, Twitter? Other work you're trying to fit in? How much of your time was actual intense, quiet studying? Your schedule sounds very driven, but I'm skeptical that you really did THAT much studying.
 
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Lucky Louie said:
neilpryde, congratulations!

I know you're saying you were motivated to do well, but you basically say you spent 4,300 hours within <10 weeks. That's 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, plus 6 hours a week (=66 hours a week) for ~65 days? No phone calls? Exercise? Eating? Breaks? No FB, Twitter? Other work you're trying to fit in? How much of your time was actual intense, quiet studying? Your schedule sounds very driven, but I'm skeptical that you really did THAT much studying.
Click to expand...

Haha don't get me wrong, I took about an hour to hour and a half lunch break along with a short break every couple of hours otherwise I would get pretty bad headaches. I would usually get up around 7:30 and go running about 2-3 miles or go lift about 5 times a week and would sometimes just go sprinting at night to tire myself out so I would get a good nights rest.

I would get to the library around 9:30 and get FB and other stuff out of the way until around 10, when I would buckle down. Also used Self Control for Mac to prevent me from going on those sites haha. I also made an excel spreadsheet of which questions I needed to do each day in order to finish in time. I'm typically unorganized and knew I had to get organized if I was gonna have a shot of keeping pace.

Trust me, this was not an easy schedule to stick to, especially when all this was the first summer when all my friends were 21 so we could go to bars without having to use fakes lol so I was definitely tempted to stay out late, but I really thought that the pay off with a good MCAT score would be worth the sacrifice.
 
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first mcat was kaplan diagnostic: 19...no review, just cold.

AAMC average: 33-35

waiting on my actual scores...
 
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http://imgur.com/IoDDI

This is after the summer of my third year of college. I took a BUNCH of upper division bio classes that year, 1 genetics course, 3 neurobiology courses, 1 human physiology, and 2 immunology courses, as well as 4 honors sections that were solely reading scientific literature. I also took my last quarter of physics in spring, right before I started studying for the MCAT. This gave me a really good background to study for the MCAT and the honors sections helped me figure out some of the denser passages.

Took the first test cold, second test after a full content review, but experienced my largest score increase after attempting the 5 AAMC diagnostics. 35 to 39 for Kaplan 3. I didn't really do much VR practice until after I took Kaplan 6, and managed to pull my VR average from around a 9 to an 11. I'd say I averaged about 5-6 hours of real nose in the books studying, 6-7 days a week.

I get my score on Tuesday! We´ll see how well these correlations work out! I´m really hoping for a 38+

EDIT Got my scores back, killed the science sections, but did a bit worse on VR than I was hoping for. VR: 9 PS: 14 BS: 15 for 38. So, I managed to hit my overall goal, although dipped below 10 on VR.
 
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UCSultanPepper said:
http://imgur.com/IoDDI

This is after the summer of my third year of college. I took a BUNCH of upper division bio classes that year, 1 genetics course, 3 neurobiology courses, 1 human physiology, and 2 immunology courses, as well as 4 honors sections that were solely reading scientific literature. I also took my last quarter of physics in spring, right before I started studying for the MCAT. This gave me a really good background to study for the MCAT and the honors sections helped me figure out some of the denser passages.

Took the first test cold, second test after a full content review, but experienced my largest score increase after attempting the 5 AAMC diagnostics. 35 to 39 for Kaplan 3. I didn't really do much VR practice until after I took Kaplan 6, and managed to pull my VR average from around a 9 to an 11. I'd say I averaged about 5-6 hours of real nose in the books studying, 6-7 days a week.

I get my score on Tuesday! We´ll see how well these correlations work out! I´m really hoping for a 38+
Click to expand...

finished content review in 8 days? Dayum
 
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The first couple weeks I was doing more like 10-12 hours a day, and the last couple weeks I really wasn't studying that much, aside from taking FLs and reviewing them. I read through about half of each kaplan subject book a day.
 
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UCSultanPepper said:
The first couple weeks I was doing more like 10-12 hours a day, and the last couple weeks I really wasn't studying that much, aside from taking FLs and reviewing them. I read through about half of each kaplan subject book a day.
Click to expand...

that's damn impressive 👍 good luck, I'm sure you killed it.
 
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Took a diagnostic test having never seen an MCAT-type question before and was unpleasantly surprised. Got a 28 (I forget the distribution). Did a ton of content review (esp. for physics, which I completely forgot) and did AAMC practice tests 7-11 over the course of ~2 months...ultimately shot up 12 points, so anything is possible!

Moral of the story is that diagnostic exams don't really mean anything if you take them cold (besides shocking you into hardcore studying), so don't be discouraged whatsoever. For the most part, I think taking the AAMCs after quality content review (like actually knowing your ****) is the best predictor of what you're going to get on the actual MCAT exam (despite it feeling so much harder than the practice exams). I scored within 2 points of my average, and this was the case for most of the people I talked to!
 
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I didn't take AAMC 3 until I had gone through all of the material, as I wanted the score to be fairly indicative of what my real score would be so that I didn't waste an AAMC full-length. I took it probably 3 weeks before my test date, got a 40, and was very happy. I had been out of undergrad for 2 years when I took the MCAT.
 
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My current plan is to start studying for the MCAT next June (2013). I might have an opportunity to take a full-length practice MCAT scored by Kaplan in late November.

Can anyone comment on whether this would be worthwhile as a diagnostic test or not since I have never studied for the MCAT, but completed my pre-reqs from 2007-2011? Would I be wasting a practice exam by doing this Kaplan test before any studying? I'm worried about wasting future practice material that could be more beneficial after I start my content review.
 
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milosavljevic said:
My current plan is to start studying for the MCAT next June (2013). I might have an opportunity to take a full-length practice MCAT scored by Kaplan in late November.

Can anyone comment on whether this would be worthwhile as a diagnostic test or not since I have never studied for the MCAT, but completed my pre-reqs from 2007-2011? Would I be wasting a practice exam by doing this Kaplan test before any studying? I'm worried about wasting future practice material that could be more beneficial after I start my content review.
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Diagnostic tests are pointless. Obviously you're not going to score well if you haven't finished, much less started, content review before taking a practice test. You don't need a diagnostic test to tell you that you'll actually need to study for the MCAT. It doesn't even matter how high it is when you start out; there are people who start out with 23s and end up with 41s, and there are people who start out with 23s and end up with 23s.
 
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I've only taken one full length and that was the first taste of mcat I had. Have not taken organics and obvs wasn't fresh. On emcat I got a 12. Lol. I can't wait to start studying
 
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milosavljevic said:
My current plan is to start studying for the MCAT next June (2013). I might have an opportunity to take a full-length practice MCAT scored by Kaplan in late November.

Can anyone comment on whether this would be worthwhile as a diagnostic test or not since I have never studied for the MCAT, but completed my pre-reqs from 2007-2011? Would I be wasting a practice exam by doing this Kaplan test before any studying? I'm worried about wasting future practice material that could be more beneficial after I start my content review.
Click to expand...

I think a bigger worry is that it may freak you out unnecessarily if you get a low pre-studying score (I believe that's the purpose of some of these test prep companies' "diagnostic" exams). I think you should study the material first, because otherwise, how can a practice really gauge your performance?
 
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Took free kaplan test junior year and got a 31.

Waited till end of juinor year, studied for three weeks and got a 32. big difference three weeks of studying makes lol
 
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Got a 33 on a Kaplan full-length before starting any studying. Was 1 year after completion of a research-based MSc.

Real thing: 39R a couple months later.
 
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1st Practice test: AAMC-3 before content review, before taking physics II, any O-chem, and before physiology (my bio class did not cover any system)- Got a 24

1st practice test after doing content review- AAMC-3 (never reviewed after the first one)- 33

Last practice test: AAMC-11- 38

MCAT score: 34
 
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After a brief content review I took aamc 9 (is that even one of the available tests?) and I got a 5/10/6....21 woo woo

Studied and took the test four months later and got a 32 (11/11/10)

Note: I distinctly remember staring out the window observing the landscapers during my first practice test....as time passed I stopped sitting near the windows and my distractions dramatically decreased.
 
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After SN2ed's content review: 32 (AAMC 3)

AAMC Average: 35 (range 32-40 -- I mention this because I don't know how indicative my average is of anything)

Real Deal: 35R
 
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First AAMC- #3 - 34

This was after roughly 2 months of content review and doing problems from BR (did a modified Sn2ed schedule).

Real Mcat: 40R
Avg AAMC #3-11: 37

I took MCAT the fall after graduation, but was 2-3 years removed from bio/physics/ochem/chem and I didn't take any upper division courses from those subjects. I studied content for 2 months (w/ problems) and then only did the AAMC tests for the last month. I had no job/volunteer/classes during the 3 months and studied about 3-5 hrs a day 7 days a week.
 
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