- Joined
- Sep 12, 2015
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 1
Hello,
I've been lurking on SDN for a while now, but this is my first post!
(apologies in advance for wall o' text to follow)
I sat in 8/6 MCAT and thankfully did better than I thought (compared to how I felt during/after the exam lol).
Phys/Chem : 132 (100%)
CARS : 129 (93%)
Bio/Biochem : 127 (77%)
Psych/Soc: 128 (86%)
1. I dind't expect my Bio/Biochem score to be much lower than other sections. On the AAMC practice test, all sections were 80/81% (89% for CARS).
I would think Bio/Biochem would be one of the most important sections since it is most applicable to medicine after all (although I've gotten conflicting information about which sections are most important).
Is my relatively low Bio/Biochem score a legitimate concern? Does it weaken my application or how my overall MCAT score is seen?
2. I know 95th percentile is only average at schools like U of M (Michigan resident here), and not competitive at other top schools.
I could retake in January, so I will have 4 months to prepare. I do have a full course load this semester, however, so I can't study as intensely as during summer.
On one hand, I've read pretty much every thread here asking similar questions and I get the feeling that I probably shouldn't worry about my bio/biochem section and just apply with what I got.
On the other hand, I think I may have a shot at improving my score significantly (5+ points) because I didn't study much the first time (studied for 2 months, 1 month of that actually serious: only read Kaplan CARS and Psych/Soc books in their entirety + a few chapters of other sections, 3 full-length practice tests (2 Kaplan, 1 AAMC) the week before the actual test).
I'm really conflicted about what to do, so I'm hoping to get some good advice from the SDN community.
Should I retake or is it a waste of time? Why or why not?
Would adcoms think favorably if I got 99th percentile the second time or would not care enough to justify the effort?
I've been lurking on SDN for a while now, but this is my first post!
(apologies in advance for wall o' text to follow)
I sat in 8/6 MCAT and thankfully did better than I thought (compared to how I felt during/after the exam lol).
Phys/Chem : 132 (100%)
CARS : 129 (93%)
Bio/Biochem : 127 (77%)
Psych/Soc: 128 (86%)
1. I dind't expect my Bio/Biochem score to be much lower than other sections. On the AAMC practice test, all sections were 80/81% (89% for CARS).
I would think Bio/Biochem would be one of the most important sections since it is most applicable to medicine after all (although I've gotten conflicting information about which sections are most important).
Is my relatively low Bio/Biochem score a legitimate concern? Does it weaken my application or how my overall MCAT score is seen?
2. I know 95th percentile is only average at schools like U of M (Michigan resident here), and not competitive at other top schools.
I could retake in January, so I will have 4 months to prepare. I do have a full course load this semester, however, so I can't study as intensely as during summer.
On one hand, I've read pretty much every thread here asking similar questions and I get the feeling that I probably shouldn't worry about my bio/biochem section and just apply with what I got.
On the other hand, I think I may have a shot at improving my score significantly (5+ points) because I didn't study much the first time (studied for 2 months, 1 month of that actually serious: only read Kaplan CARS and Psych/Soc books in their entirety + a few chapters of other sections, 3 full-length practice tests (2 Kaplan, 1 AAMC) the week before the actual test).
I'm really conflicted about what to do, so I'm hoping to get some good advice from the SDN community.
Should I retake or is it a waste of time? Why or why not?
Would adcoms think favorably if I got 99th percentile the second time or would not care enough to justify the effort?