What About GS CBT scores VS REAL MCAT SCORES

[amwatts0322]

Ive noticed that there is a big thread of GS VS AAMC scores, why dont we start a thread about GS Vs REAL MCAT SCORES. Would anyone who practiced with GS tests post there GS scores and there REal scores. THANK YOU!!!!

[amwatts0322]

anybody????

[admin]

It's a good idea to start such a thread but remember: students only come to mcat-prep.com to prepare for the MCAT. Once they have finished, the last thing that comes to mind is revisiting an MCAT prep website!

[amwatts0322]

haha, good point!!!

[rkghosh5916]

[msamadia1231]

Hi,

I took the Sept 7 exam and received my scores today:

11,8,P,9 = 28P (PS,VR,WR,BS)

Biggest advice I can give for GS exams . . . . Don't do the GS exams until you thoroughly review your required content. The word "review" seems so superficial. I mean "really, really know your stuff" Be very comfortable talking about concepts.

Basically, just taking exams and learning from them isn't useful and seems to be a "dead-end" shortcut. Learning and applying concepts is a long path and requires lots of work. The latter will get you above a 30.

I spent 10+ months reviewing. Dr. Ferdinand has put up this thread to answer your questions while you review. He even has a section where while you are studying the review (even non GS) you can post on difficulties, plus he's a general surgeon, how neat is that, huh?

[ayushman80]

GS PS AVG: 12
GS VR AVG: 9
GS BS AVG: 10
GA Total AVG: 31

Real MCAT PS: 14
Real MCAT VR: 8
Real MCAT BS: 12
MCAT Writing: Q
MCAT Score: 34Q

My verbal is a little low, but there is no way I am going to retake this exam! If the adcoms at a school reject me just because of that VR score then I don't really wanna go there.

I also wanted to say thanks to Dr. Fernidad and the admin for being so awesome, helpful, and prompt.

[bigman225]

Kaplan Scores

Kaplan FL7
12/12/07
31
9
11
11
Kaplan FL6
12/17/07
37
12
13
12
Kaplan FL4
12/18/07
38
13
12
13



GS Scores

GS #1
12/21/07
32
11
9
12
GS #3
12/22/07
39
14
12
13
GS#2
12/24/07
35
12
10
13
GS#4
12/26/07
35
9
14
12
GS#5
12/28/07
35
12
12
11

AAMC
AAMC #9
Summer
36
13
11
12
Took CBT6,7,8 in weeks prior to exam and got 39,41,39 with scores 14-15 in the sciences and 11-13 in VR.





Also took 5-10 more GS CBT's and averaged around a 36. My laptop got stolen so I lost my .word file for keeping track of scores



Got a 14/14/14 42R on the real thing.

[tnesbit4508229]

Anybody do worse on the MCAT than on their average GS exams?

I'm just primarily concerned with verbal. The GS verbal seems too easy. My last 3 tests were 12/12/11, and I'll finish with 10 minutes left. With TPR I was always pressed for time and averaged an 8.

Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough. I'll be starting AAMC exams soon b/c my MCAT is 5/27.

[paulsmerek5356]

So I took about 4 years 'off' after undergrad and then decided to take the mcat this June and started studying in the beginning of April. It was harder than I thought! I needed a lot of review and it didn't go that well at first:

5/8 AMCAS3 28 7-12-9 (PS-VR-BS) untimed
5/10 AMCAS8 29 9-10-10 untimed
5/12 AMCAS7 26 7-11-8
5/14 AMCAS5 27 8-11-8
5/19 AMCAS9 30 10-11-9
5/25 AMCAS10 26 8-11-7

At this point I was extremely frustrated and pushed my test back to July, studied for about a month without taking any tests, then started on the gold standards (usually skipping verbal):

6/26 GS1 27 7-12-8
6/27 GS2 8-9 (PS-BS)
6/29 GS3 11-11
6/30 GS4 10-10
7/1 GS7 6-10
7/2 GS8 7-11
7/3 GS9 8-8
7/5 GS10 9 (PS)
7/6 GS5 9-9
7/8 GS6 9-10

I did about one a day in the week leading up to the test and threw in my last two AMCAS:

7/4 AMCAS4 37 12-12-13
7/9 AMCAS6 34 11-13-10

and then took the real test:

7/10 MCAT 34 11-13-10

I didn't take any course but studied a lot for this thing. My advice is to not give up and keep pushing even if you think you've hit some type of wall and will never get a good score. I found the GS tests very helpful and good practice if you have used up your AMCAS tests too quickly like I did. GS also helped me concentrate on certain difficult areas and skip things like verbal with which I didn't have a problem.

Also, I found the real mcat to be EXTREMELY hard, to the point where I tried to sign up for another date right after I took the test. I was sure I did horribly but I imagine the curve was good and everyone found it very difficult. So good luck and don't void those scores!

[bradleyjco4246]

[quote="paulsmerek5356"]Also, I found the real mcat to be EXTREMELY hard, to the point where I tried to sign up for another date right after I took the test. I was sure I did horribly but I imagine the curve was good and everyone found it very difficult. So good luck and don't void those scores![/quote]

I took my test on Sept 5th 2008. I'm should get my scores back any day. On the AAMC tests I was getting 10-13's on everything, and on the gold standard tests I was getting around 9's. I also found the real test to be light years harder than any of the practice tests I took. AAMC or GS. I'm curious to see how the curve works out, but I found the real test to be much harder than the practice ones.

[dschnell511831]

Since I jumped over here a couple times to the thread during studying, I thought I should add mine in. GoldStandard (GS) is very good for getting the timing down, but AAMC was more accurate in predicting my scores.

AAMC
#8: 35
#9: 34
#10: 34

GS: I'm just going to do cumulative for the score. 1 and 2 I burned through before I had finished my review.

#3: 33
#4: 30
#5: 32
#6: 28
#7: 33
#8: 29
#9: 26
#10: 20 (but I didn't take the verbal)

My actual MCAT (4/10/10) score was a 35 (with a horrible N for writing). The actual MCAT felt more similar to the GS in that some of the questions seemed to be out of left field, but the actual test was not as calculation heavy as GS (not even close). Hope this helps the next group.

[sdhepworth8688]

On the GS tests I averaged
9.5 on Physical Sciences
9.4 on Verbal Reasoning
11.1 on Biological Sciences
For a total of 29.9

Concurrently, on AAMC tests 6,7, and 8 I averaged
11.0 on Physical Sciences
9.3 on Verbal Reasoning
13.0 on Biological Sciences
For a total of 33.3

I took the real test and got
11 on Physical Sciences
7 on Verbal Reasoning
10 on Biological Sciences
For a total of 28

I decided to take it again. On AAMC tests 4,5,9, and 10 I averaged
12.5 on Physical Sciences
10.3 on Verbal Reasoning
12.0 on Biological Sciences
For a total of 34.8

I took the real test again and got
14 on Physical Sciences
10 on Verbal Reasoning
12 on Biological Sciences
For a total of 36

The Gold Standard tests are pretty close to the real thing. Verbal Reasoning is a little easier to finish on time. Don't substitute them for the AAMC tests. Just use the GS tests for extra practice so you don't burn through all your AAMC tests (I'm glad I still had 4 to practice on after I decided to take it again!).
The difference between my two scores?
I mostly did just sections of the test and not full length tests. So my endurance was weak.
I didn't take a break the day before my test. I was actually still cramming the morning of--STUPID!!!
I didn't sleep much the week before my test, and I woke up kind of sick the morning of the big day.
All I brought to the testing center to eat was a little Ziploc bag of craisins.

I changed all of those things for my second MCAT: I practiced full length tests (including the writing sample), I relaxed the day before and the morning of my test, I slept better, brought some good snacks to the testing center, and generally just calmed down about the whole thing. It's not the only important part of the application. Good Luck! You can do it!

[JakeUSAF042908]

Scores: BS/PS/VR
MCAT 5-1-10: 8/8/11

All GS tests were taken from Aug-Sep 10.
GS1: 9/8/11
GS2: 7/8/na
GS3: 9/9/na
GS4: 7/8/na
GS5: 9/7/na
GS6: 9/9/na
GS7: 8/6/na
GS8: 10/7/na
GS9: 6 (PS only)

GS Averages: BS: 8.5 PS: 7.5

MCAT 9-11-10: 8/10/10

So I did better on PS, which was my stronger area academically, and a little worse on BS, which was my weaker area. I wasn't surprised and didn't expect miracles. I wish I'd scored a point or two higher on BS but overall I'm satisfied that I did my best for where I'm at right now. Thanks Gold Standard.

[stefanie.g7949]

I found this thread really helpful when I was freaking out a week before taking the exam so I thought I would return the favor and help out some other people. I used Kaplan self- study and the Gold Standard and took 11 practice tests before the actual exam, spread out over about 1 month. Here are my scores:

Physical Sciences/ Verbal/ Biological Sciences, total
Kaplan FL 2- 10/9/12, 31
FL 3- 9/12/14, 35
FL 4- 9/9/12, 30
FL 5- 11/10/11, 32
AAMC 3- 10/9/13, 32
AAMC 7- 10/11/12, 33
AAMC 10- 11/11/13, 35
AAMC 11- 10/11/14, 35
Gold Standard 1- 8/10/9, 27
GS 2- 8/9/10, 27
GS 4- 8/10/11, 29

Real MCAT on 3/26/11- 12/11/12, 35

I took the gold standard exams after taking the first three AAMC tests and about 2 weeks before the actual test and totally freaked out when I saw my score. I felt like the GS physical sciences was much more math intensive than the actual test and mental math is not my strong point, also I felt the GS tests were curved much more harshly than the AAMC and actual tests. But they were definitely good to take to get those "oh crap" moments out of the way before hand. Was hoping for a 13 on BS but I definitely cant complain about my score especially since the PS was higher than I expected. Also left the test feeling like I totally failed and considered signing up for another date right away but everything turned out great and my score was definitely reflective of my performance on the AAMC practice tests. Good Luck!