How Accurate are AAMC, Next Step, Kaplan, and Princeton on the MCAT test?
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MCAT students have a lot of questions about MCAT practice exams.I understand the confusion.Many of my students will take different exams within a few days and get different scores that are far apart from each other.All students want to know if they are ready, and what their progress is looking like.
I decided to review the accuracy of the most common exams.A review of UWorld is included in the summary of the reviews.There is a link to the study plan at the bottom.
The 4 MCAT full lengths offered by the AAMC are an accurate and useful exam.The most representative and accurate exams are offered by the AAMC.You can expect your score to be close to what you would have scored on the test.
I advise my students to save the 4 paid exams until the end of their study periods because they are highly valuable.It is important to identify other exams which can be used with a limited number of tests available.
Kaplan, the author of one of the most popular MCAT content review book sets, offers 4 free practice exams when you purchase their books, along with several other paid exams.Their exams are not as good as their books are.The sections are more difficult than the real thing, and you can expect your score to be 6-7 points lower than it would be on an AAMC test.
The tests tend to ask about more detailed concepts than the real MCAT.Some obscure and complicated formulas can be found in the chemistry and physics section.The Sociology theories tested by AAMC are not included in the Psychology and Sociology section.I recommend taking the 4 free tests as your first exams, but not paying for any additional Kaplan resources.
If you purchase their book set, they will give you 4 free practice exams, which is a popular resource for content review.It is possible to debate whether the Kaplan or Princeton Review books are better, but Kaplan's practice exams are definitely better.
You can expect your score to be at least 10 points higher on the real test, because the exams are so hard.There are extraneous details and complicated concepts that don't show up on the real thing.If you take any exams written by Princeton Review, be sure to keep this in mind.If your score is lower than you had hoped, don't get discouraged!If you are looking for free resources that will test your recall of the content, I would not recommend taking these exams.
Up to 10 practice exams are offered by Blueprint.The exams are more representative than either Kaplan or Princeton Review.Some of the CARS passages are different from the typical AAMC style.The science passages are representative of how difficult the actual MCAT is.
You can expect your score on the exam to be a couple points lower than the real thing.The array of content tested on these exams is similar to the real MCAT, and the difficult level is also quite similar.After finishing your free resources, such as the Kaplan tests, I would recommend purchasing a few of these exams and using them, but before using the AAMC tests.
The MCAT on test day has over 2,000 practice questions in an online format.Although you won't get a scaled MCAT score through UWorld, the questions are representative of the real deal.The content on UWorld is very similar to what the AAMC tests.
The answer explanations are an excellent review of the content and concepts in the passages and questions.UWorld will help you get acclimatized to the style of MCAT questioning while allowing you to develop a deeper understanding of content and become better at applying your knowledge.