New section bank vs prep tests

[GCS-15]

Hey everyone,

I've been using TPR to study for the mcat and have been doing okay on the practice tests. (507,502,506,510,511,506). I started the section bank questions today and dang....did anyone else think they were really hard?! The format is COMPLETELY different than what TPR uses and the passages are so different.

Anyone else in the same boat? I don't know if it's just me or it's a common theme.

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[NextStepTutor_3]

If you've been doing most or all of your prep with one company so far, it's not unusual to have some trouble transitioning to other materials. All of the companies out there at least try to mimic the AAMC (at least, I would hope), but practice exams naturally have different "feels" to them. That's why someone doing awesome on Kaplan tests (for example) might see their score drop when they try to take a TPR one.

All that aside, you mentioned two things: format and difficulty. As far as format goes, DEFINITELY try to get used to the way the section bank is presented. The online AAMC materials are the best reflection of the actual test, and the way the section bank is presented is no different from the way their practice full-lengths are (with the exception of the # of passages, of course). So, if the format alone is throwing you off, you need to practice with these materials until it no longer does. You can always buy other AAMC materials to help with this as well - for example, the Qpacks are largely taken from old AAMC tests and are thus not as highly regarded, but even they would help you get accustomed to the format of the exam.

As for difficulty, you're not wrong - the section banks are objectively harder than the Qpacks or official guide questions (in my opinion, but I think most people agree on this). They tend to require a good amount of higher-level reasoning and have a solid number of Qs that rely on graph / figure interpretation. But that makes them even better practice! Good luck

 

[GCS-15]

If you've been doing most or all of your prep with one company so far, it's not unusual to have some trouble transitioning to other materials. All of the companies out there at least try to mimic the AAMC (at least, I would hope), but practice exams naturally have different "feels" to them. That's why someone doing awesome on Kaplan tests (for example) might see their score drop when they try to take a TPR one.

All that aside, you mentioned two things: format and difficulty. As far as format goes, DEFINITELY try to get used to the way the section bank is presented. The online AAMC materials are the best reflection of the actual test, and the way the section bank is presented is no different from the way their practice full-lengths are (with the exception of the # of passages, of course). So, if the format alone is throwing you off, you need to practice with these materials until it no longer does. You can always buy other AAMC materials to help with this as well - for example, the Qpacks are largely taken from old AAMC tests and are thus not as highly regarded, but even they would help you get accustomed to the format of the exam.

As for difficulty, you're not wrong - the section banks are objectively harder than the Qpacks or official guide questions (in my opinion, but I think most people agree on this). They tend to require a good amount of higher-level reasoning and have a solid number of Qs that rely on graph / figure interpretation. But that makes them even better practice! Good luck

Thanks for the advice!

 

[yeezuswest]

Adding on to the advice above, I've found that actually reading journal articles has helped me prep for the style of questions that the section banks (and I assume the real test) would ask. At the end of each passage, you can see the source material for that particular passage, and more often than not it tends to be some sort of academic journal. For example, to prepare for the C/P section, I've been going over content but also trying to squeeze in one or two journal articles from the American Chemical Society per day (my school's library provides free electronic access to most academic journals) and I've noticed that many of the articles are MCAT-worthy in terms of their content and overall tone. Hope this helps.