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The Summary

Uworld

Summary: Very Highly Recommended
We very highly recommend the 90-Day UWorld MCAT Question Bank package as a resource for your MCAT prep. We bestow this prestigious ranking on the  UWorld MCAT Question Bank because of the answer explanations that are provided to every question. Unlike the AAMC Practice Exams (Reviewed Here), UWorld provides detailed explanations for both correct and incorrect answers - including visual diagrams with step-by-step walkthroughs. These explanations allow you to learn from your mistakes - a key to MCAT success.

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UWorld Claims That You Will Reach Your Target Score, We Very Highly Recommend Their 90-Day Trial Package.

The Review

Students need high-quality and highly representative MCAT passages and MCAT practice questions to properly prepare for exam day. Passages of this nature are the gold standard of MCAT test prep; however, they are very hard to come by. The MCAT Question Bank published by UWorld provides relatively high-quality and highly representative MCAT passages. That being said, what truly sets UWorld passages apart are their answer explanations. Every questions in the UWorld Question Bank is accompanied by a perfectly detailed answer explanation, which explains both the correct and incorrect answer options.  re the absolute highest quality and most highly representative third-party practice available for students. You can access the UWorld Question Bank for 90-days for $200. Although this will place a dent in your wallet, it is worth it if you need more practice than just the AAMC Bundle. That being said, if you cannot purchase both the AAMC Bundle and UWorld, you should purchase the AAMC Bundle before UWorld.  

Pros:

There are many benefits to UWorld MCAT Practice Questions, we have listed the primary pros below:

1. Answer Explanations: As we discussed in our review of the AAMC Bundle, 


2. It is hard to find MCAT practice exams that mimic the actual exam you will see on test day. The AAMC Practice Exams (Exam 1, Exam 2, Exam 3) are hands down the best representation of what you will see on test day as they provide you with a score that is accurately scaled and questions and passages that match the difficulty level of your exam day. 
3. User Interface: The AAMC has published the AAMC Bundle so that is may be affordable for all individuals. According to Karen Mitchell, senior director of the admissions testing service at the AAMC, ""For students who have economic need, they get a free official guide, they get a free self-assessment package and then we have a free practice test that's available to everyone." All of these benefits may not still be available to students, but the mission of the AAMC is still intact. The AAMC Bundle is designed to help students on a budget prepare for their MCAT. 
4. Similarity: At Sean Studies, we teach students how to make what we call "replica notecards." These are notecards of the exact questions from the AAMC Bundle (including the four answer options) with detailed explanations on the back of the card. These notecards are tremendously beneficial to students during review. When students review these notecards on a dedicated schedule, they are able to familiarize themselves with actually AAMC MCAT test questions. In addition to this, writing detailed answer explanations for AAMC Practice test question is very challenging because the AAMC does not provide great explanations (see "CONS" section below for more details).

Cons

Although there are many benefits to the  AAMC Bundle there are also several challenges that come with using the AAMC MCAT Practice test material. 

1. Answer Explanations: The AAMC Practice test, Question Packs, and Sections Banks are notoriously terrible - their explanations are unsubstantiated and provide very little opportunity for learning. We have spoken directly to AAMC representative about the AAMC practice material answer explanations, or lack their of, and we were told that the poor answer explanations are are rooted in how questions are sourced. The questions in the AAMC Bundle are sourced from old MCAT exams and other AAMC resources, they were not designed for individuals to learn from, rather they explanations were written as simple indicators to mark which question was correct. For this reason, the explanations provided by the AAMC are not effective for learning. We recommend that you search the internet, your online MCAT overview, and your MCAT text books to learn the reasons why the correct answer is correct and the incorrect answers are incorrect. If you find that you are struggling with this, please reach out to Sean Studies Tutors for help with understanding the material.
2. User Interface: Recently, the AAMC has changed the user interface of both the AAMC Question Packs (Question Pack)  and Section Banks (Section Bank). To be frank, this change is extremely disappointing for most students. Before the change, the Question Packs (Question Pack)  and Section Banks (Section Bank) had a user interface that was consistent with what you would see on test day. This meant that your passage would be on the left side of your screen and the questions on the right side of the screen. In addition to this, you would be able to highlight and cross-out the text as you saw fit. After the changes, the AAMC has changed all of this, essentially eliminating any user interface representation of the your test. Luckily, the AAMC MCAT practice test still have all of these features and there interface seamlessly represents what you will see on test day. After talking with AAMC representatives, we have come to the conclusion that changing the Question Packs (Question Pack)  and Section Banks (Section Bank) user interface was a good move as it allows (or forces) premedical students to learn how to be adaptable to new environments, albeit digital ones. 
3. Limited Number Of Practice Questions: Unfortunately, the AAMC Bundle only consist of about 1500 questions. This may seem like a lot, but for any student studying for the MCAT for more than 3 months, we very highly recommend they do more questions to gain more MCAT practice test experience. After all, completing and reviewing MCAT practice test is the single most important way any student can successfully prepare for their MCAT exam. 

When to use this resources

The AAMC Bundle is the single most important resource you can use when prepare for your MCAT exam. For this reason, we recommend that you complete portions of the Question Packs (Question Pack)  and Section Banks (Section Bank) weekly during the last three months of your MCAT prep and complete the AAMC Practice Exams (Exam 1, Exam 2, Exam 3) in the last month of your MCAT studying. In addition to this, we recommend that you complete the Section Banks (Section Bank) twice before you exam to ensure that you are comfortable with the passage reasoning and logic required on the MCAT.  For more detailed information about when to complete the AAMC Bundle and how to learn from your mistakes, contact Sean Studies Tutors for help. 

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