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Orlandoc

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I'm two weeks out from my test, and I've completed the C/P section bank as well as the P/S section bank with the following scores:

C/P: 76%
P/S: 72%

I know the section banks are made to be tougher (although I've heard the actual exam is headed in the direction of section bank difficulty). Is this about where I want my scores to be this close to test day? Aiming for a 508+.

How did your section bank scores compare to your actual exam score?

Thanks in advance.

I've challenged all of my students to work through the SB with the goal of being above 80%. That's super hard for some, but many have made it into that 80% range and all those students have scored 515+, some in the 520-528 range. I've also had a few in the 70-75% range that landed in the low teens. I'd say you are in a great place, but don't take the pedal off the metal quite yet. Many students would kill for those scores, but if you have those abilities, time to finish strong and ensure you get a 520+!
 
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I've challenged all of my students to work through the SB with the goal of being above 80%. That's super hard for some, but many have made it into that 80% range and all those students have scored 515+, some in the 520-528 range. I've also had a few in the 70-75% range that landed in the low teens. I'd say you are in a great place, but don't take the pedal off the metal quite yet. Many students would kill for those scores, but if you have those abilities, time to finish strong and ensure you get a 520+!

Does this mean you have your students repeat the section banks until they are scoring in the 80s?
 
Does this mean you have your students repeat the section banks until they are scoring in the 80s?
Yes. And I can usually get a feel for student trajectory based on that somewhat-randomly-selected-yet-surprisingly-effective 80% benchmark. But it need not be 80% immediately. I have students do only 1-3 passages at a time, stop, review, re-evaluate, work on trends, then do another 1-3. That gives you the opp. to improve, whereas you can't do much if you take the entire thing all at once and say "crap, I got only 52% correct." I've had multiple students who ended up 515+ who started at 50-60% on SB, because they were willing to log the work to learn how to do those experimental/acronym passages without being intimidated; whereas others want to just dismiss SB and Altius FLEs as "too hard/not representative" and hold onto the hope that on test day they'll only see a couple SB-like passages. If you can do SB, you can do test-day MCAT. Also, I've never had a student who could do the harder experimental passages but couldn't hack it when they get an easier Q-Pack-like passage. The opposite happens all the time; "I can do the Q-Pack stuff, hope I don't get much exp/acronym/signaling passage on test day..." you can either be prepared or be praying for luck on test day.
 
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If they are repeating them though at what point are they just memorizing the answers. I know for me once I see an answer it's tough for me to forget the problem and if I see it again I just put the answer that I remember


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I'm two weeks out from my test, and I've completed the C/P section bank as well as the P/S section bank with the following scores:

C/P: 76%
P/S: 72%
Edit:
Also completed B/B: 67%

I know the section banks are made to be tougher (although I've heard the actual exam is headed in the direction of section bank difficulty). Is this about where I want my scores to be this close to test day? Aiming for a 508+.

How did your section bank scores compare to your actual exam score?

Thanks in advance.

This may be of use to you:


You can *correlate* what you got to what it's projected to be on the actual exam. Consensus is that anywhere above 70% is good. Anywhere above 80% you're golden.
 
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Yes. And I can usually get a feel for student trajectory based on that somewhat-randomly-selected-yet-surprisingly-effective 80% benchmark. But it need not be 80% immediately. I have students do only 1-3 passages at a time, stop, review, re-evaluate, work on trends, then do another 1-3. That gives you the opp. to improve, whereas you can't do much if you take the entire thing all at once and say "crap, I got only 52% correct." I've had multiple students who ended up 515+ who started at 50-60% on SB, because they were willing to log the work to learn how to do those experimental/acronym passages without being intimidated; whereas others want to just dismiss SB and Altius FLEs as "too hard/not representative" and hold onto the hope that on test day they'll only see a couple SB-like passages. If you can do SB, you can do test-day MCAT. Also, I've never had a student who could do the harder experimental passages but couldn't hack it when they get an easier Q-Pack-like passage. The opposite happens all the time; "I can do the Q-Pack stuff, hope I don't get much exp/acronym/signaling passage on test day..." you can either be prepared or be praying for luck on test day.
Do you have them take these passages timed?
 
If they are repeating them though at what point are they just memorizing the answers. I know for me once I see an answer it's tough for me to forget the problem and if I see it again I just put the answer that I remember


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They aren't really repeating them. THey are doing them in small segments, 2-3 passages at a time. Then they review the results with me and we go through their logic, their stress level, I have them talk through out loud how they were thinking about each answer. That helps me see where they are missing the boat and we implement new strategies for the next set of 2-3. Then, at the very end, near their exam, I have them take the entire SB in one sitting.
 
Do you have them take these passages timed?

If they are a well-above-average student I have them do timed from the beginning b/c I figure they can handle it. If they are WAY intimidated by SB/Altius level passages then I have them do some passage untimed at first just so they can a) get used to the skills and steps necessary, and b) so they can gain confidence. If you go very slowly and use the right strategies, you can usually do even the very hardest passages, which helps you see that they are actually "fair" and "doable"--you just have to work on doing them a little faster.
 
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They aren't really repeating them. THey are doing them in small segments, 2-3 passages at a time. Then they review the results with me and we go through their logic, their stress level, I have them talk through out loud how they were thinking about each answer. That helps me see where they are missing the boat and we implement new strategies for the next set of 2-3. Then, at the very end, near their exam, I have them take the entire SB in one sitting.

This is a very insightful post, so first and foremost thank you for sharing.

Having said that, what you just described is, in fact, "repeating the passages" lol


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