Hi! I have taken Kaplan full length 1-5 and thought I was getting close to my target score, but then I took AAMC #7 this week and my score went down by 6! I heard how AAMC was easier but curve was harsh, but I was still shocked.
So, does this mean we are supposed to get much higher raw score with AAMC than Kaplan? (But I felt the difficulty of verbal was not much different between AAMC and Kaplan…) Would it be better to wait to take a real MCAT until I get good scores with both AAMC and Kaplan?
Can anyone share experience/advice? - Thank you
I rode that same roller coaster but don’t remember my raw scores. There are a lot of variables that lead to your final score, maybe it was just a bad day? I vaguely remember thinking I should’ve done better than my low score reflected on some of the tests. Work through more AAMC to get an average score. I think I was trending downward before I stopped doing the whole FL and just broke them down into sections to test/study. My real MCAT was the opposite of how I felt after AAMC practice tests. Thought I bombed it but ended up with a decent score.
Kennymac–Yes, getting prepared for MCAT has been like a roller coaster ride! Thank you for that perspective. I have not had much drama in life for a long time fortunately 
so I forgot what it is like. I will try more AAMC and see how I do. I’m registered for 5/22 MCAT but probably will void the score as it seems I need more AAMC practice.
Every test is different. In some ways, the Kaplan tests were more similar to my actual test than were the AAMC tests. I felt alright going into the test despite my slow downward trend. After the real thing, I was very close to clicking void. I did a poor job managing time on the sections, guessed on more than if care to admit, and already had plans to register for my retake as soon as I got to my car (which I did with a test I could still cancel when my scores came out). Curiosity got the best of me, so I didn’t void and did well enough to cancel my retake.
I figure you’ve already paid for the score, you might as well see it. Maybe you’re luckier than you thought and you would have just wasted that time, money, and luck. If it’s bad, your next one can only show a solid improvement to the adcoms. You wouldn’t be the first person admitted to school with multiple scores…
wow…congratulations on your good decision! I will go there with an open mind. I guess we should trust our gut feeling, and like you said if you feel ready, most likely you are. Probably, I will take another AAMC and Kaplan this weekend and will give it a go if I feel okay. Thank you.
From my experience, the AAMC tests were an excellent predictor of my actual score. The 4 AAMC tests I took just prior to taking the real thing, I got the same overall score that I did on the real thing. I didn’t take any Kaplan exams, but the Princeton review ones I took were 4-5 points lower on average than the AAMC ones.