How to pick the right MCAT practice test?

Introduction

In the end, the greatest MCAT practice test is determined by your own goals, learning style, schedule, and money. When looking for an MCAT practice exam, keep the following points in mind:

Budget

How much money do you have to spend on a practice test?

Timeline

How much time do you have to prepare for the MCAT? If you don’t have much time, in-person, more intensive training may be the best option.

Learning style

How much time do you have to prepare for the MCAT? If you don’t have much time, in-person, more intensive training may be the best option.

Guarantee

You’ll want to safeguard your investment in case you don’t do as well as you expected. It’s a good idea to pick a course that has a score and a money-back guarantee.

How to study for the MCAT with a full-length practice length?

One of the most common mistakes students make is underestimating the value of going through their full-length practice examinations. It is far more vital to reflect on your full-length tests than it is to just take them; nevertheless, if you do not combine it with appropriate revision, you may be wasting your time learning new information.

You will not pass the MCAT if you merely memorize facts, formulae, and details from prep material. You must comprehend the fundamental topic concepts and apply them appropriately to the exam material in order to get a competitive MCAT score.

Each full-length test you take will show you where your deficiencies are, such as subject or strategy gaps. You should have a road plan to help you through this process and offer you useful information about your flaws. You must consistently achieve a score that is close to or higher than your target score. Your map will show you where your problems are. Content or approach are frequently the source of problems. The eventual aim is to enhance your score as you continue to fill in the holes in your content and approach.

AAMC Practice Exams

The AAMC practice tests are without a doubt the gold standard and the practice examinations that every MCAT student should begin with. Because the MCAT authors created these examinations, it is critical that you complete them. One significant disadvantage is the scarcity of AAMC tests. The four full-length tests will be available in early 2020, according to AAMC. Every student should go through these in great depth, making sure they know everything there is to know about each issue. AAMC also offers a free sample test, but you’ll need to purchase their examinations if you want a comprehensive score report and explanations.

MedSchoolCoach MCAT Practice Exams

The examinations offered by MedSchoolCoach are among the most recent on the market. Some students are still not utilizing them as often as other examinations since they are so new, but they have an outstanding MCAT and medical school record. They were built to the greatest standards in order to closely resemble the MCAT. To get started, they provide a free MCAT half-length practice test, and their practice exam simulator is identical to the one used by the AAMC. The questions are a little more difficult than those on the official AAMC exam, but they capture the idea of how MCAT passages are structured.

Blueprint

When the MCAT changed in 2015, NextStep began producing excellent practice examinations, which are still valid today. (In 2019, NextStep and Blueprint merged.) They have excellent science explanations and substance. Others have expressed their dissatisfaction with the spoken segment, stating that it “feels confusing and crowded to me.” Blueprint is prone to obsessing over the tiniest of things that shouldn’t even matter.” Blueprint provides MCAT practice test bundles of 4, 6, and 10 questions, with the option of choosing standard-length MCAT practice exams or the shorter version. Their 10-exam package costs $249 and includes flashcards. Blueprint’s data analyses, like those of MedSchoolCoach, are quite useful.

Princeton Review/Kaplan

Because their courses are so popular, the two mega-MCAT players are placed together here because their practice examinations are among the most popular. Kaplan also offers a free 3.5-hour online MCAT practice exam that includes a complete score report, improvement suggestions, and in-depth explanations of each question and its right answer. Princeton Review also provides a free MCAT practice exam (as do most firms these days) as well as a total of eight full-length MCAT practice examinations. These examinations are acceptable for preparation in general, although some students believe they should not be first-line and that scores are inflated depending on when they are taken in the course.

Conclusion

MCAT practice examinations are unquestionably significant in any student’s study routine, so choosing the correct ones is critical. Exams from the American Association of Medical Colleges are required and should be supplemented with some of the information listed above. One of the most essential things to remember is to provide ample time for material revision when taking the tests. Every question and comprehensive answer explanation is an opportunity to prepare for a topic that you may encounter on test day! It’s also critical that the program accurately simulates the exam so you feel at ease on test day.