Examkrackers Full Length (MCAT 2015)?

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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So EK released full length practice exams. For those of you guys who have tried them, what did you think?

I've tackled the very beginning of the PS section. I'm finding it to be very challenging for some reason; I'm not sure if it's because I'm feeling a bit off today or if it's because I legitimately don't know my stuff, but I'm getting a lot wrong (you can choose to check if your answer is right/wrong right away).

Let me know your guys' thoughts on the test, and I'll post some of my thoughts as I finish it up.

Edit: Finished up my test and posted results down the page. Please post your results as well in comparison to AAMC/Kaplan/TPR/whatever so we can get a better understanding of the score correlation.
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Sir.SavaLottaLife said:
I feel like thats pretty fair on a multiple choice test, however I do agree with you in my experience with EK. I wouldn't pick that particular question as an example, but I know what you mean. In their 101 passages and 1001 Q's book they do a lot of the like. Like they'll put the right answer for any logical/coherent person and then make up an off-the-wall reason for why one of the other choices is correct and fail to acceptably address why the other answer was wrong, like "its wrong because we say so".

I do have to disagree with mcatjelly somewhat; true "trick questions" on the MCAT are extremely few and far between. Generally, I feel like the MCAT adds degrees of difficulty by disguising relatively logical/agreed upon questions on fair/broad concepts by asking the question in a weird way. And once you crack the code to the question, the answer is clear, or you just don't know that particular piece of material and/or you made a mistake. They also love making inferences from the passage.

I've came to the conclusion that EK tries too hard to mimic the ambiguity of the MCAT. After all, it is one of their selling points but IMHO too many of their questions are up for interpretation. However, I do plan on using one of their FL's because I've heard they are most representative of the new MCAT and I believe it. TPR (and likely other companies) dropped the ball and seemingly through a bunch of old material into the new format. Lacking the inference and experimental emphasis of the new exam as well as the medical context to almost everything.
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Yeah that wasn't exactly the best example.. It was more of a heat of the moment thing because I was in the middle of reviewing my exam haha. I kept thinking to myself, "How in the heck am I getting these simple questions wrong when I know the material???" Then of course I see that I fell for one of their tricks.

I agree with you in the fact that EK's passages are very similar to the AAMC ones I have seen so far. How accurate they are to the real thing remains to be seen since I don't take it for another week.
 
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Sir.SavaLottaLife said:
I feel like thats pretty fair on a multiple choice test, however I do agree with you in my experience with EK. I wouldn't pick that particular question as an example, but I know what you mean. In their 101 passages and 1001 Q's book they do a lot of the like. Like they'll put the right answer for any logical/coherent person and then make up an off-the-wall reason for why one of the other choices is correct and fail to acceptably address why the other answer was wrong, like "its wrong because we say so".

I do have to disagree with mcatjelly somewhat; true "trick questions" on the MCAT are extremely few and far between. Generally, I feel like the MCAT adds degrees of difficulty by disguising relatively logical/agreed upon questions on fair/broad concepts by asking the question in a weird way. And once you crack the code to the question, the answer is clear, or you just don't know that particular piece of material and/or you made a mistake. They also love making inferences from the passage.

I've came to the conclusion that EK tries too hard to mimic the ambiguity of the MCAT. After all, it is one of their selling points but IMHO too many of their questions are up for interpretation. However, I do plan on using one of their FL's because I've heard they are most representative of the new MCAT and I believe it. TPR (and likely other companies) dropped the ball and seemingly through a bunch of old material into the new format. Lacking the inference and experimental emphasis of the new exam as well as the medical context to almost everything.
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I think this "medical context" thing is way overblown, at least from the AAMC material I have seen. There have been many passages among the 45 new MCAT passages the AAMC has released that are straightforward info about science. Look at the AAMC official guide, the passage about hard water in pipes and soaps. There is ZERO medical context to that passage. I agree the MCAT seems to be trying to integrate all the sciences into a more medical context, but there are still a good 30% of passages that just do not do that. I have also heard similar from friends who have sat for the exam already. Quite a few have reported that several passages just threw out random experiments or procedures to simply illustrate a concept. The AAMC has also released over 100 passages in their science Q packs, most of which have NO medical context. these the AAMC has chosen to officially represent study material for the new MCAT.

This seems to me that a mix of practice will be best for the new MCAT. Don't get so taken in by the new "medical context to everything all the time" vibe that seems to persist on SDN. For sure the exam is a bit different, but to be honest, from what I have seen it's not that different.

I didn't like EK's ambiguity and random logic, that's why I don't trust their CARS much. They do this in the sciences too but much less so in my experience. I would rank EK > NextStep >TPR > Kaplan for full lengths.
 
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DesitnationMD said:
I think this "medical context" thing is way overblown, at least from the AAMC material I have seen. There have been many passages among the 45 new MCAT passages the AAMC has released that are straightforward info about science. Look at the AAMC official guide, the passage about hard water in pipes and soaps. There is ZERO medical context to that passage. I agree the MCAT seems to be trying to integrate all the sciences into a more medical context, but there are still a good 30% of passages that just do not do that. I have also heard similar from friends who have sat for the exam already. Quite a few have reported that several passages just threw out random experiments or procedures to simply illustrate a concept. The AAMC has also released over 100 passages in their science Q packs, most of which have NO medical context. these the AAMC has chosen to officially represent study material for the new MCAT.

This seems to me that a mix of practice will be best for the new MCAT. Don't get so taken in by the new "medical context to everything all the time" vibe that seems to persist on SDN. For sure the exam is a bit different, but to be honest, from what I have seen it's not that different.

I didn't like EK's ambiguity and random logic, that's why I don't trust their CARS much. They do this in the sciences too but much less so in my experience. I would rank EK > NextStep >TPR > Kaplan for full lengths.
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I meant to say biological/biomedical, and I was referring more to the emphasis, not exactly "almost everything" as I stated it. I agree that a lot of things have no medical or even biological context but in taking the new AAMC stuff, you get a feel that they are making an effort to have biomedical relevance. The main one is physics. I haven't seen a physics question that doesn't have biological or medical context in some way shape or form.

On the other hand, in TPR's FLs that I've taken, they do not make this emphasis and there were only like 1-2 experimental passages in the bio/bc section. And this was ultimately trying to make.

The question packs are just recycled questions from old exams. I believe they were chosen in relevance more in terms of subject matter rather than representativeness.
 
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In the new EK FLs, do the physical sciences sections have biochemistry integrated into it (like the real thing)?
 
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EK 1 77% overall
EK 2 83% overall
EK 3 82% overall

In general they seem to have much vaguer answer choices than AAMC materials, but the tables and graphs are good practice. CARS in particular doesn't seem representative.

Has anyone who took these gotten their percentile ranges from the real thing yet?
 
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There is only one AAMC practice test out now. Rumor has it another one (with actual scoring) is coming out this fall. EK has 3 exams available, but, like AAMC, they currently only give you your percent correct, not your percentile rank or scaled score. I'm not sure if they are planning on changing their exams to include percentiles/scaled scores once AAMC releases their scale, but they probably will at some point.

ILOVEMED123 said:
Yikes Aamc only has one?
How many does EK have available? Also does EK give you your percentile rank and score similar to the way the new MCAT will?
Click to expand...
 
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I wouldn't bet on percentile scores for a good deal of time. Not this year, anyway. That would require a lot of data which they're still acquiring. For now, it looks like people who score ~70% overall (aamc and EK) have been doing well or really well.
 
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alkaidius said:
*accidental doublepost* forum laaaaaag >.<
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So a 70% overall on the Aamc/EK correlates to a good score on the new MCAT? Does anyone know around what a 70% correlates to in terms of old MCAT numbers? Is that a 30?
I just don't see a point in doing full lengths if I don't even know what the final score means
 
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dyrggp.jpg

Okay so this is the best I was able to find. This is from only ONE of the old exams. Personally, I feel like 78% (a 10 on this image's PS section) is a little high. I remember some of them had lower requirements closer to 70%.
 
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alkaidius said:
dyrggp.jpg

Okay so this is the best I was able to find. This is from only ONE of the old exams. Personally, I feel like 78% (a 10 on this image's PS section) is a little high. I remember some of them had lower requirements closer to 70%.
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The image didn't show up...
ok, so basically a 70% overall on these practice tests translates into a good score
 
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Also, has anyone bought the AAMC CARS books?
Do these books contain FL tests or just practice sections for the CARS section?
 
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ILOVEMED123 said:
Also, has anyone bought the AAMC CARS books?
Do these books contain FL tests or just practice sections for the CARS section?
Click to expand...
Just practice passages. New CARS is 90 minutes long and contains 53 questions; the AAMC CARS practice is 120 questions, so by default it's not a full length test or 2 full length tests. Additionally, they do not market it as such. They market it as a question packet.
 
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Is someone able to explain Question 1 (chem/phys) on EK practice test 3? The explanation is confusing me even more.
 
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If anyone has taken the real test, can you compare the test to the EK tests. Currently, I have taken EK 1 and EK 2 and my scores are round the mid 50s.
 
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Just took EK 3 and scored 65% :(

How representative are the EK FLs?? Should I consider delaying my exam date (my exam is on august 21)???

any advice appreciated thx!!
 
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FauxBlue said:
Just took EK 3 and scored 65% :(

How representative are the EK FLs?? Should I consider delaying my exam date (my exam is on august 21)???

any advice appreciated thx!!
Click to expand...

So far I've tried NS FL's and EK 1 & 2. In my opinion EK is better represents what I feel like will be on the actual AAMC test (a lot more data analysis/interpretation) but I found their exam very difficult. I scored better on the diagnostic test than the EK, so I wouldn't worry too much
 
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First time post on this after reading about all the EK FLs.

I've been taking TPR FL's and was wondering if you could share some insight on the scores.

TPR Course Test 1- 500 (124/124/125/127)
TPR Course Test 2- 501 (124/125/126/126)
TPR Course Test 3- 501 (124/126/125/126)
TPR Course Test 4- 501 (126/125/125/125)
TPR Course Test 5- 502 (125/126/124/127)

Does anyone know how the TPR FL's compare to the actual exam? Also, should I be one or two EK FL's to take? Still haven't taken the AAMC Official Guide or FL. Test date is August 21 and am hoping to get 510 or higher. Thanks!
 
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Aakash Trivedi said:
First time post on this after reading about all the EK FLs.

I've been taking TPR FL's and was wondering if you could share some insight on the scores.

TPR Course Test 1- 500 (124/124/125/127)
TPR Course Test 2- 501 (124/125/126/126)
TPR Course Test 3- 501 (124/126/125/126)
TPR Course Test 4- 501 (126/125/125/125)
TPR Course Test 5- 502 (125/126/124/127)

Does anyone know how the TPR FL's compare to the actual exam? Also, should I be one or two EK FL's to take? Still haven't taken the AAMC Official Guide or FL. Test date is August 21 and am hoping to get 510 or higher. Thanks!
Click to expand...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...percentiles-and-practice-exam-scores.1143965/

This spreadsheet should help you.
 
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Hey guys, just took EK FL 1 and am freaking out about my scores.

I am taking the August 22 exam, so I have about a month left, but currently:

I took the official guide as a half length about 2 weeks ago: B/BC: 60% (took this section 1 month ago), P/C: 80%, CARS: 93%, P/S: 73%, Overall: 77%

EK 1:
B/BC: 51% (finished with about 1 minute left)
P/C: 63% (finished with 2 min left)
CARS: 70% (finished with 14 min left)
P/S: 68% (finished with 28 min left)

Can you guys (especially @mcatjelly ) offer any advice on how I can improve? I am shooting for a 515-520 and was really disheartened by these EK scores, especially since I score 77% on the Official Guide sections about 2 weeks ago.
 
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Shreyasthegreat said:
Hey guys, just took EK FL 1 and am freaking out about my scores.

I am taking the August 22 exam, so I have about a month left, but currently:

I took the official guide as a half length about 2 weeks ago: B/BC: 60% (took this section 1 month ago), P/C: 80%, CARS: 93%, P/S: 73%, Overall: 77%

EK 1:
B/BC: 51% (finished with about 1 minute left)
P/C: 63% (finished with 2 min left)
CARS: 70% (finished with 14 min left)
P/S: 68% (finished with 28 min left)

Can you guys (especially @mcatjelly ) offer any advice on how I can improve? I am shooting for a 515-520 and was really disheartened by these EK scores, especially since I score 77% on the Official Guide sections about 2 weeks ago.
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EK is a bit harder harder than the real test IMO. Take the AAMC practice test and the scores on there are probably closer to your real score.

I scored EK Test 1: 506 125/126/128/127 61%/76%/75%/76% and EK Test 2: 510 126/126/127/131 71%/76%/73%/92% (I approximated scores from percentiles), and then scored AAMC Sample Test: 514 128/128/128/130 76%/87%/85%/90%.

On the June 20 real exam, I scored 519 (127/132/129/131). I think if you can manage to score low 70%s overall on EK tests, you'll be fine. With a month left, that is definitely possible.
 
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jordan222 said:
EK is a bit harder harder than the real test IMO. Take the AAMC practice test and the scores on there are probably closer to your real score.

I scored EK Test 1: 506 125/126/128/127 61%/76%/75%/76% and EK Test 2: 510 126/126/127/131 71%/76%/73%/92% (I approximated scores from percentiles), and then scored AAMC Sample Test: 514 128/128/128/130 76%/87%/85%/90%.

On the June 20 real exam, I scored 519 (127/132/129/131). I think if you can manage to score low 70%s overall on EK tests, you'll be fine. With a month left, that is definitely possible.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your response! You improved quite a bit from your EK test 1 to EK test 2, and I was wondering, what did you do to improve so much? For me, it seems like content is a minor part of my problem, it's just the more difficult interpretation questions I seem to get wrong due to misreading and stuff like that, but I guess that just gets better with practice?
 
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Honestly very little. I took them a week apart, both in the last few weeks before my exam. The only thing I did in between was take two other practice exams. I think for me EK1 was just harder than EK2. Part of the frustration of using non-AAMC material is that it not only has less external validity, but also less internal validity. I think trying not to dwell on scores from a particular practice test is healthy, though I totally respect how hard it is to actually let scores go when you spend so much time studying. The key is just continual practice and taking lots of practice exams to get your endurance up.
 
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jordan222 said:
Honestly very little. I took them a week apart, both in the last few weeks before my exam. The only thing I did in between was take two other practice exams. I think for me EK1 was just harder than EK2. Part of the frustration of using non-AAMC material is that it not only has less external validity, but also less internal validity. I think trying not to dwell on scores from a particular practice test is healthy, though I totally respect how hard it is to actually let scores go when you spend so much time studying. The key is just continual practice and taking lots of practice exams to get your endurance up.
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Great insight. Pre-meds can learn much from your comments. A practice test score is never the end all be all, AAMC or otherwise. If you got a good score would you stop studying? Nope. Does a bad score mean its all over? Nope.

Especially with the newness of the 2015 MCAT, scaled scores mean much less than they ever have (even the AAMC has no official scale on their practice test). No matter what company you use, I would focus on the % correct. The consensus seems to be 70+% correct, consistently, bodes well for your actual test day experience.

I would add, that just testing alone isn't that valuable. I bet @jordan222 did some review and analysis in the week between EK 1 and EK 2. That is where improvement come from. That is how you go from a 506 to a 519. It won't happen by osmosis, or just through repetition without reflection and learning from each practice test, good or bad. If you see a consistent mistake or low score, then its time to examine your stratgey and/or knowledge base, but 1 good or bad score is not a trend.

I know its hard to hear but yes, you will have tough exams/low scores in med school too. Even the most brilliant kids in my class had bad days/weeks. I was lucky to get out of my histology shelf alive. It happens. You will also most likely lose patients during your 3rd/4th year. Like a bad test score you need to be able to learn from it and let go. Don't rest on laurels, and don't dwell on mistakes. Learn from them, come up with a treatment, and move forward with the prescribed change. This attitude starts with your MCAT prep. The test is not easy, but its beatable. The key to success is persistence.

Good Luck!
 
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jordan222 said:
Honestly very little. I took them a week apart, both in the last few weeks before my exam. The only thing I did in between was take two other practice exams. I think for me EK1 was just harder than EK2. Part of the frustration of using non-AAMC material is that it not only has less external validity, but also less internal validity. I think trying not to dwell on scores from a particular practice test is healthy, though I totally respect how hard it is to actually let scores go when you spend so much time studying. The key is just continual practice and taking lots of practice exams to get your endurance up.
Click to expand...

Did you take any TPR FL's? Looking for a comparison with that company. I've taken 5 of those and am gonna take EK 2 tomorrow.
 
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Aakash Trivedi said:
Did you take any TPR FL's? Looking for a comparison with that company. I've taken 5 of those and am gonna take EK 2 tomorrow.
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Yes I took the 4 free tests accompanying purchase of a TPR textbook. I took them early on and scored 505-509 on all of them. I took the EK tests about 1-2 months later when I was more prepared and scored similarly. I liked them both and probably prefer EK for study material, although with the timing in my case it is hard to directly compare.
 
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jordan222 said:
Yes I took the 4 free tests accompanying purchase of a TPR textbook. I took them early on and scored 505-509 on all of them. I took the EK tests about 1-2 months later when I was more prepared and scored similarly. I liked them both and probably prefer EK for study material, although with the timing in my case it is hard to directly compare.
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Thanks f0r the insight! I've gone from a 500 to a 502 on the TPR Exams and am gonna take EK 1 tomorrow and then EK 2 probably the upcoming Monday. I'm looking to get around a 510+ so hopefully that's possible. Still have to take the AAMC Official Guide and the AAMC FL.
 
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Should i use the free TPR exams that came with my 2015 mcat book purchase or pay for one or two EK exams? whats worth it?
 
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Even though EK exams are hard as ****, they're better prep for the new MCAT compared to TPR. Forsure. Took EK 1 today and got schooled. Two days ago I took TPR 4 and got a 502. Tomorrow I'm buying EK 2,3, and 4. It's game time until Jan. 21st! Nothing but FL and FL analysis from here on out
 
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mohsain12 said:
Tests are way harder than the AAMC, I got about 55% right while compared to 69% right on the AAMC sample test early in my studying.
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I just took my first exam crackers FL test and I got a 47. I know that the score is subpar compared to majority of people but hopefully I will get better. I have four more left. Can you tell me how you did on the MCAT and did you find the exam crackers test to be a good representative of the MCAT? Thanks in advanced.
 
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yeah the EK exams are tougher than the real thing. how car out from your test date are you? 1 month out you're fine, 2 weeks out 47% means you are in trouble.

can you provide more info?
 
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Scores across my four EK tests:

EK Test 1: 69%
Chemical (37/59)
CARS (39/53)
Bio (38/59)
Psych (45/59)

EK Test 2: 69%
Chemical (31/59) - Ouch
CARS (35/53)
Bio (43/59)
Psych (49/59)

EK Test 3: 70%
Chemical (42/59)
CARS (34/53)
Biological (38/59)
Psych (47/59)

EK Test 4: 68%
Chemical (49/59)
CARS (29/53) - Knew I bombed it, was just totally out of it
Bio (34/59)
Psych (45/59)

I write on Aug 25th - are these scores okay?

I'm considering purchasing NextStep exams for my next set of tests.

Any advice/feedback would be appreciated (especially regarding CARS) :)
 
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ethanol93 said:
Scores across my four EK tests:

EK Test 1: 69%
Chemical (37/59)
CARS (39/53)
Bio (38/59)
Psych (45/59)

EK Test 2: 69%
Chemical (31/59) - Ouch
CARS (35/53)
Bio (43/59)
Psych (49/59)

EK Test 3: 70%
Chemical (42/59)
CARS (34/53)
Biological (38/59)
Psych (47/59)

EK Test 4: 68%
Chemical (49/59)
CARS (29/53) - Knew I bombed it, was just totally out of it
Bio (34/59)
Psych (45/59)

I write on Aug 25th - are these scores okay?

I'm considering purchasing NextStep exams for my next set of tests.

Any advice/feedback would be appreciated (especially regarding CARS) :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I think you are at least at the 510+ range from those scores, probably around a 515. 70% seems to be pretty good and EK4's CARS is supposed to be weird. I thought EK's CARS was pretty tough overall. Also I bombed EK2 C/P, I thought the NS tests I took were pretty good as well. What score are you shooting for? From what I saw on the reddit MCAT excel everyone who got 75%+ on EK tended to do really well on the real MCAT. You are pretty close so I'm sure with some more practice and making sure you learn from your mistakes you will do extremely. well.
 
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