Happy February! While groundhogs and giant red Hershey Kisses might be what most people associate February with, at Kaplan, it is our big practice test season! Now, year round, Kaplan offers free practice tests for students to check out their skills and plan their futures, but in February, we offer them on a much more frequent basis, and I would encourage all of your advisees to attend one whether it is for the MCAT, DAT, OAT, or PCAT!
While one of the benefits of taking a practice test for student is to see their score before their preparation begins, the real benefit is actually much deeper. There is a misconception that the practice test just provides a number, but in fact, it provides a topic-by-topic breakdown of performance, so students can see where they need to place a little more focus in their studies or in the application of the content they already know. As we know, these exams test the application of the content, so for some students this might be an enlightening insight into how to study – maybe they know the content, but need to learn to apply it. Or vice versa. Or, a mixture of the two. Either way, the practice test gives them a “free” pass to check out the test.
Also, at our practice test events, whether in person or live and online through our Classroom Anywhere environment, students spend time after the test learning the same strategies that we teach our students in our classes. So not only do they get a score, a personalized breakdown of their strengths and opportunities, they walk away with more expertise about taking the test than they came with along with the explanations for every problem they encountered.
Finally, you as an advisor, can use the practice test score along with their undergraduate performance to help better mentor them through the admissions preparation process. So please let your students know about the upcoming practice tests, whether they are on your campus or online. In addition, if you would like, you are more than welcome to come as well, but I suspect that is an offer not too many will be taking me up on! Now, like Punxsutawney Phil, I will go back into my hole and await the Spring!
