Guide to Approaching AAMC MCAT Questions - HubSpot

Guide to ApproachingAAMC MCAT Questions

By Ken Tao, Director of MCAT Tutoring, MedSchoolCoach

1

This guide explains how you should use AAMC practice materials for your MCAT studying,

including which tests to use and when, how to best use questions in different study periods,

and what order you should take the practice tests in.

Introduction

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Absolutely! These are all questions from previous MCAT exams. As such, students should be

following the AAMC timing:

The questions unfortunately do not come in exact sets of 59 or 53. To determine the number

of minutes for each set of questions, for Science questions, take the number of questions

and multiply by 95 minutes, then divide by 59 questions. For CARS, take the number of

questions and multiply by 90 minutes, then divide by 53 questions.

How should students use the AAMC practice materials?

Should students time themselves while completing these questions?

Ÿ 90 minutes/53 questions for the CARS section

For example, if a student is going to complete 61 questions in the Physics question pack,

they should set a timer for (61*95)/59 = 98 minutes.

How should students emulate test-taking conditions?

Ÿ Wake up early – Rise at 7AM every morning (or whenever you plan on getting up on test

day.) Start practice questions at 8AM. Do your best to get your brain used to working on

practice questions at the same time of the day you'll be taking the MCAT. This can be

tough if a student is working full-time or has classes. In these situations, the student

may have no choice but to complete the questions when they have time. On practice test

days, there should be no exceptions.

AAMC materials can be classified as practice passages/questions and full-length practice

tests. There are six practice tests: one is a half-length, and the other five are full-length.

Students should pick six dates on their calendar to complete these practice tests. Between

these practice tests, students will complete the other AAMC practice passages/questions.

All practice questions come from previous MCAT exams. Students should follow these

best practices:

Ÿ 95 minutes/59 questions for the science sections

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Ÿ Time yourself – See previous question: “Should students time themselves while

completing these questions?”

Ÿ Have the right tools – Get a computer mouse. When you take the MCAT, you won't be

using a laptop, so you also won't be using a trackpad. It's a minor difference, but students

should get used to using a mouse because it is a different experience.

Ÿ Take breaks – On practice test days, follow exact timing for breaks (e.g., after

Chem/Phys, take a 10-minute break). Don't give yourself extra time (e.g., take a 1-hour

lunch break instead of 30 minutes). There are students that even make themselves the

same sandwich to eat on practice test days as what they are going to have on test day!

Exam taking can be easier if you're comfortable with your routine.






Ÿ Practice Tests:

Ÿ AAMC Sample Test – This is the first full-length practice test released by the

AAMC. Unfortunately, this test does not provide students a scaled score

(e.g., it will say that you got X questions correct, but not provide a score

between 118-132).

Ÿ AAMC Practice Exams 2 – Full-length practice test with scaled scores.



They are not all the same. Below is a list of all the released AAMC questions, and

descriptions for each:

Ÿ AAMC Practice Exam 1 – Full-length practice test with scaled scores.

Students that have not taken the MCAT yet will take this as a diagnostic test

to establish their baseline score. They will have to retake this test when they get

to Phase 2: Targeted Review of their studies. The second time they take the test,

their score won't be as meaningful, but it's still good practice. Also, rarely will a

student get a perfect score the second time they take the test, so it's

interesting for the student to see what questions they are still missing.

Ÿ AAMC Official Guide Questions – This is technically not a full-length exam.

This item has 30 questions for each of the four sections of the exam and is

effectively a half-length exam. We treat this as the first practice test students

will take (asides from AAMC Practice Test 1 as the diagnostic exam if they have

not taken the MCAT before). It's a nice way to start off practice tests without

doing a full-length.


Is there a difference between all the AAMC questions,

or are they all the same?





After completing the question packs, students will likely miss a larger

percentage of the questions with the section banks. This will concern some

students, but they should know this is normal. It's also good for them to know

that they will see questions on the MCAT at the level of difficulty as the section

banks, but their entire exam will not be that hard. They will get easy

questions/passages as well.

Ÿ AAMC Section Banks: This item has 100 questions for each of the three science

sections of the exam (i.e., Chem/Phys, Bio/Biochem, Psych/Soc). Similar to the

question packs, students should break the section banks into two halves of

about 50 questions. The questions in the section banks are particularly hard.

Ÿ Practice Passages

The section banks do not include any CARS questions, so it's good for students

to keep some CARS questions to complete later. These question packs come in

sets of 120 questions. That would take over three hours for students to

complete, and we do not want students to do three hours of physics in a row, as

that is not what they will have do on the MCAT. Instead, they will break each of

the question packs into two halves and complete approximately 60 questions

at a time. This is great because it's about the length of a section of the exam.

Ÿ AAMC Question Packs (Biology Volume 1 and 2, CARS Volume 1 and 2, Physics, Chemistry:

These are among the first questions that the AAMC released for students to

prepare for the MCAT when the exam changed in 2015. Unfortunately, they are all

recycled questions from the practice exams for the old MCAT. As a result, there

are few biochemistry questions and zero psychology or sociology questions.

The passage style is also different from what students have been seeing on the

current exam. However, the content in these questions are still relevant for the

current exam and are still questions that students need to complete. Students

will complete all of these questions before moving on to the section banks. The

only exception is with the CARS Volume 2 question pack.






How much time should students give themselves to complete the AAMC

practice questions (AKA Phase 2: Targeted Review)?

How much time students need to complete these questions depend on the student's

schedule. We generally recommend 5-7 weeks. At seven weeks, it's approximately 20 hours

of studying, which is reasonable for busy pre-medical students. Five weeks is also doable.

Four weeks starts to become stressful, and anything less is not recommended. We've

included a table below to illustrate.

There is a total of 2,290 AAMC practice questions. Following AAMC pacing, this would take

about 138 hours to complete. However, students will also need to spend time to review the

questions and solutions. This will take at least as much time as it takes to complete the

questions and often more time. At a minimum, students can expect to spend 138 hours

completing and reviewing the AAMC questions.






Number of Questions

Type of Questions

AAMC Minutes

Review Minutes

Total Minutes

Question Packs:

Biology 1 120 Science 193 193 386

Biology 2 120 Science 193 193 386

Chemistry 120 Science 193 193 386

Physics 120 Science 193 193 386

CARS 1 120 CARS 204 204 408

CARS 2 120 CARS 204 204 408

Section Bank:

Chem/Phys 100 Science 161 161 322

Bio/Biochem 100 Science 161 161 322

Psych/Soc 100 Science 161 161 322

Official Guide Questions

120 Test 225 225 450

Sample Test 230 Test 450 450 900

Practice Exam 1 230 Test 450 450 900




Total Minutes 2,290 4,138 4,138 8,276

Total Hours 69 69 138

AAMC Practice Questions Study Time







Students will pick six dates to complete the practice tests and will use the rest of the days

to complete the question packs and section banks. The good news for students is that

we've already put together the optimal order to complete the questions:

What order should students complete AAMC questions?






7-Week Schedule Example

1/1/2019 Tue Biology QP 1A and Chemistry QP 1A

1/2/2019 Wed Review Day

1/3/2019 Thu CARS QP 1A and Biology QP 1B

1/4/2019 Fri Review Day

1/5/2019 Sat Review Day

1/6/2019 Sun Physics QP 1A and CARS QP 1B

WEEK 1

1/7/2019 Mon Review Day

1/12/2019 Sat Chemistry QP 1B and Physics QP 1B

1/8/2019 Tue Biology QP 2A

1/13/2019 Sun Review Day



1/10/2019 Thu Mini Test 120 Official Guide Questions

WEEK 2


1/15/2019 Tue AAMC Sample Test


1/17/2019 Thu Review Day


1/19/2019 Sat Biology QP 2B


WEEK 3







1/23/2019 Wed Psych/Soc Section Bank A and CARS

QP 2A

1/26/2019 Sat AAMC Practice Test



1/21/2019 Mon Chem/Phys Section Bank A and

Bio/Biochem Section Bank A

1/22/2019 Tue Review Day

WEEK 4


2/1/2019 Fri Psych/Soc Section Bank B and CARS

QP 2B



1/30/2019 Wed Chem/Phys Section Bank B and

Bio/Biochem Section Bank B



WEEK 5





2/5/2019 Tue AAMC Practice Test



2/9/2019 Sat AAMC Practice Test




WEEK 6




2/13/2019 Wed AAMC Practice Exam 4


2/17/2019 Sun Rest Day

2/18/2019 Mon Test Day


WEEK 7






Question Numbers Number of Questions Number of Minutes

Assignment Order

Biology QP 1A 1-59 59 95

Chemistry QP 1A 1-59 59 95

CARS QP 1A 1-60 60 102

Biology QP 1B 60-120 61 98

Physics QP 1A 1-61 61 98

CARS QP 1B 61-120 60 102

Biology QP 2A 1-60 60 97

Official Guide Questions Half-Length Practice Test:

48 minutes for Chem/Phys, Bio/Biochem, and Psych/Soc; 51 minutes for CARS

Chemistry QP 1B 60-120 61 98

Physics QP 1B 62-120 59 95

AAMC Sample Test Full Length Practice Test

Biology QP 2B 61-120 60 97

Chem/Phys Section Bank A 1-50 50 81

Bio/Biochem Section Bank A 1-51 51 82

Psych/Soc Section Bank A 1-50 50 81

CARS QP 2A 1-60 60 102

AAMC Practice Exam 1 Full Length Practice Test

Chem/Phys Section Bank B 51-100 50 81

Bio/Biochem Section Bank B 52-100 49 79

Psych/Soc Section Bank B 51-100 50 81

CARS QP 2B 61-120 60 102



AAMC Practice Exam 4 FL Practice Test

Timing for AAMC Practice Items






Ÿ 51 minutes for the CARS section – (30*90)/59

Ÿ 48 minutes for each of the three science sections – (30*95)/59

The Official Guide Questions do not present the sections of the exam in the correct

order of the MCAT. This is not a big deal for their first practice test, but is something

students should be aware of.

Practice Test Instructions

Ÿ For all practice tests, students should try their best to simulate test day conditions.

This includes following all the correct timing for the sections and breaks.

Ÿ For the Official Guide Questions, which is effectively a half test, the timing is

different. Students should give themselves:






NOTES






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Guide to Approaching AAMC MCAT Questions - HubSpot

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