TheBookWorm Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Has that happened with anyone else? I have improved my scores on the EK tests after much practice. However, on the past 3 AAMC tests that I have done, I have been stuck at 8, the same score I got when I wrote the test last year. I don't know why I am not able to improve on AAMC despite of practice and improvement on TPR and EKs. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to target AAMC passages more specifically? I have one month to go before the exam. I feel like AAMC passages have more vague, more confusing answer choices and it becomes harder for me to eliminate and pick an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarletstarlet Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 yeah this happened to me... and then I wrote the actual MCAT and now I want to cry lol. I don't know how I did.... the topics were brutal. IMO, EK did not prepare me well enough... maybe its just the topics I was dealt, but I was so at ease going in and now I'm sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTJ Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 I noticed during practice that the style of questions between EK and AAMC were really different. Can't really put my finger on it, but the feeling I got was that EK would try to trip you up with petty technicalities, whereas the AAMC questions are more conceptual, general, more about critical comprehension. I feel like TPR does more of that, but they are more challenging in my opinion. Skarlet, are you talking about yesterday's sitting? I felt verbal was better than most AAMCs except for the last passage. But physics is what I'm worried about - I'm still trying to figure out what was going on in that first passage :S (not to hijack TBW's thread..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 yeah this happened to me... and then I wrote the actual MCAT and now I want to cry lol. I don't know how I did.... the topics were brutal. IMO, EK did not prepare me well enough... maybe its just the topics I was dealt, but I was so at ease going in and now I'm sad. Was it tougher than AAMC practice test 11? I hope not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarletstarlet Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 I noticed during practice that the style of questions between EK and AAMC were really different. Can't really put my finger on it, but the feeling I got was that EK would try to trip you up with petty technicalities, whereas the AAMC questions are more conceptual, general, more about critical comprehension. I feel like TPR does more of that, but they are more challenging in my opinion. Skarlet, are you talking about yesterday's sitting? I felt verbal was better than most AAMCs except for the last passage. But physics is what I'm worried about - I'm still trying to figure out what was going on in that first passage :S (not to hijack TBW's thread..) JTJ - Yes. I only did the verbal portion of the test because I am only applying to McMaster (long story, but I don't have the pre-req's for any other school). I felt the topics were very strange. For instance, I wasn't expecting them to be so scientific... I remember most of the EK ones were about artsy/historical topics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio9 Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 I wrote my MCAT on July 6th as well. And DAMN that was literally the hardest test, not just for verbal. The science stuff was definitely much harder than it should've been. (I've written the MCAT once before and it was much easier). I'm starting to think that no matter how much you prepare its all about how lucky you get on test day. I dont feel like I improved my grade at all. Hopefully by some magic I still did well =( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarletstarlet Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Where did you guys write? I was in North York on Rimrock...a lot of the people seemed really freaked out after the break (during which I waltzed off because I was done everything that mattered). I will be writing again if need be, I hope a spot opens up before September.... I tried to register for another to see what dates are available but all it says is my registration of July 6th has come and past (or something like that). It won't let me choose another date yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTJ Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I wrote in Mississauga - we also had the giant, unattended ziploc bags. I talked to one person after Verbal and he said he thought the physics was harder than his exam last year, and that the Verbal was harder. You can sign up for another test 48 hrs after your test, so you should be able to do so tomorrow! I think I might wait until I get my score back before trying to book the next one, in case I'm pleasantly surprised. I totally agree with the degree of luck involved with an exam that covers so much material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaKirbster Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I noticed during practice that the style of questions between EK and AAMC were really different. Can't really put my finger on it, but the feeling I got was that EK would try to trip you up with petty technicalities, whereas the AAMC questions are more conceptual, general, more about critical comprehension. ^This. I thought EK was great at first, then I took a break from it while I did all the AAMC tests, scoring half 10's and half 11's (and just today a 12 on AAMC 11). I had a few EK left so I did some and I found what ^he^ said to be quite true. I've done two and got a 9 and 10. I feel like while I do them, I feel really confident and think its super easy, but then I mark it and I get like 15 wrong... when I look over the answers I see many EK questions that seem to try and trick you, much more-so than AAMC. At least with AAMC, I know when I don't know a question, and the ones I know are right turn out to be correct, unlike EK. Regarding people talking about luck with test difficulty on the actual day... I think you're right in regard to you're lucky if they test the subjects you're strong on. But if your particular test is just hard in general, it doesn't necessarily mean you scored low - likely everyone else found it hard as well and you need a lower raw score to get a good scaled score. Addendum: I still think EK is good practice, if nothing else to get a feel for passage lengths, topics, and timings. And some of the questions aren't bad haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio9 Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I would completely agree that EK is good practice because it seems like the hardest part of verbal (at least at first) is getting down the timing -> being able to read the passage quick enough but retain enough info so that you can answer questions without having to go back. And with 101 passages of practice that should definitely be enough if you take them seriously and try to figure out ways on improving after doing a few passages. I wrote in Calgary. No zip-lock bags (although I had them when I wrote last year) we just had random boxes to put our stuff in. Yea the physics was definitely out there and the organic chem passages required a lot more work than one had time for imo. With regards to what DaKirbster said about the raw score scaling - does anyone know on what kind of bell curve we are marked? Specifically, is it only in comparison to people who have written that same test on that day? Or do we get compared to anyone who has ever got that passage (I guess this assumes that over the years MCAT passages get reused, which I dont know if that happens either)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaKirbster Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 ^From what I understand, its mostly from people who have done the same question in the past - the difficulty of the question is rated based on how many people answered it correctly, and then that's somehow converted into the scaled score. I'm not sure if the raw score of other people who take it the same day are taken into account... I would imagine it is to some extent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarletstarlet Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Regarding people talking about luck with test difficulty on the actual day... I think you're right in regard to you're lucky if they test the subjects you're strong on. But if your particular test is just hard in general, it doesn't necessarily mean you scored low - likely everyone else found it hard as well and you need a lower raw score to get a good scaled score. So, what you are saying is that its still possible that I scored well even if my raw score sucks? You are my new hope. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio9 Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 ^From what I understand, its mostly from people who have done the same question in the past - the difficulty of the question is rated based on how many people answered it correctly, and then that's somehow converted into the scaled score. I'm not sure if the raw score of other people who take it the same day are taken into account... I would imagine it is to some extent. This makes sense to me but then what comes to mind is context. If some people got those passages with other harder or easier passages in the test beforehand it could conceivably affect their performance on the passage in question right? Also the amount of time one has to do the passage could be more on other tests if the rest of the passages in that test were easy. TBH I'm sure in the end it balances out with so many people taking it in so many different scenarios and I'm just being overly analytical about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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