NS scores not correlating with AAMC

[mach13]

Wanted to see if others have had a similar experience to mine and what they've done to address it.

I've thus far spent 5 months studying for the MCAT. For the first 4 months, I exclusively used Kaplan and AAMC materials. The Kaplan exams were not very helpful (averaging about 504-505). When I took the unscored AAMC after 4 months of studying, I had relatively low C/P and B/B scores and decided to delay my test date by a month and switch to NS exams. After taking NS 1-4 and doing relatively well (509, 513, 505 and 508 (in that order)), I took the scored AAMC FL1 yesterday and got a 506 (126/126/127/127). I'm aiming for at least a 513, so was pretty disappointed with the score (particularly since my NS average score was better).

Has anyone had a similar experience? Trying to figure out what I should do next. Was planning on taking the 6/1 exam, but now I think I should spend another couple weeks to take more practice tests.

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[Spectar]

Wanted to see if others have had a similar experience to mine and what they've done to address it.

I've thus far spent 5 months studying for the MCAT. For the first 4 months, I exclusively used Kaplan and AAMC materials. The Kaplan exams were not very helpful (averaging about 504-505). When I took the unscored AAMC after 4 months of studying, I had relatively low C/P and B/B scores and decided to delay my test date by a month and switch to NS exams. After taking NS 1-4 and doing relatively well (509, 513, 505 and 508 (in that order)), I took the scored AAMC FL1 yesterday and got a 506 (126/126/127/127). I'm aiming for at least a 513, so was pretty disappointed with the score (particularly since my NS average score was better).

Has anyone had a similar experience? Trying to figure out what I should do next. Was planning on taking the 6/1 exam, but now I think I should spend another couple weeks to take more practice tests.

It seems like you are strong in some topics and not strong in others. How was your spread for the kaplan and NS exams? Do you see a trend where you get certain types of problems wrong? Are you doing something different when you take these exams?

If your goal is a 513 and you havent scored that on the aamc I would probably delay a few weeks.

 

[mach13]

For the NS exams, I would get 126-128 on C/P, 125-130 on CARS, 127-128 on B/B and 129/128 on P/S. (The CARS score was very variable, as I thought NS CARS was a little weird and had some questions I thought were just wrong. I started getting a little overconfident in CARS and stopped practicing for the last couple weeks (other than during the FLs I took weekly), so I could spend more time on C/P and B/B. I suspect that has something to do with my low CARS score for the AAMC FL1.)

For Kaplan, it was all over the place (I took about 9 of the Kaplan tests), but generally 126 on C/P, 126-128 on CARS, 126-127 on B/B and 126 on P/S.

The one thing I noticed when taking the AAMC scored FL is that it felt a LOT easier than NS, which counterintuitively worked against me. I started second guessing several questions ("They can't be asking anything that simple!") and overthinking others. I was surprised at how simple and straightforward most of the questions in the C/P section were when I reviewed it this morning. Not exactly sure what happened, but think it could just be a lack of confidence.

I have the set of TBR books and the EK101 books, which I've used on and off in the past. I think I'll start doing a full 59 question section of B/B or C/P every day, along with a CARS section. I'm planning to take the AAMC FL 2 in a week, so hopefully will have a better outcome then.

Would be interested to hear any other strategies that worked for others.

 

[mach13]

Also, in terms of the types of problems I got wrong, I can't say there's a general trend. I did notice that I was short on time because I spent too much time overthinking problems and rushed to finish each passage in the 8-minute period I'm giving myself for each passage. The questions at the end of the passages therefore tend to be the ones I get wrong.

One person mentioned reading journal articles to speed up reading science passages on the MCAT. I'll try giving that a shot as well.

 

[Spectar]

Also, in terms of the types of problems I got wrong, I can't say there's a general trend. I did notice that I was short on time because I spent too much time overthinking problems and rushed to finish each passage in the 8-minute period I'm giving myself for each passage. The questions at the end of the passages therefore tend to be the ones I get wrong.

One person mentioned reading journal articles to speed up reading science passages on the MCAT. I'll try giving that a shot as well.

You remind me of myself. A-1 over-thinker/hyper-analyzer over here. I would try to not hyper-analyze. I also took the kaplan full lengths (the first 6) and did really well on those. The problem was that they teach you the wrong way. Every other question is a trick question and by the time you get to the AAMC you end up hyperanalyzing the hell out of the problems. I would try and relax and not overthink things, take the full length 2 from aamc and reevaluate. I had to constantly remind myself during the actual test to not hyperanalyze.

Also in terms of strategies, I would throw the Kaplan strategies (especially cars) out of the door. Kaplan is great for content but not for strategies at all. Examkrackers strategies are wayyyyy better imho. For example the day I switched from kaplan's cars strategy of writing the main idea for every passage down to examkrackers strategy of "thinking about the general idea and applying it" my CARS score went up 2 points and I could finally finish on time. Work on those EK101 books, I regret not doing those.