What was your strategy? What do you think made the difference in your strategy that led you to reach the 37+ mark?
For those who got 37+ on the MCAT? Do you need to be a genius or hardworking?
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Have you seen the past threads on the topic? Here are the first two that popped up:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=265530
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=604852
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=265530
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=604852
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I'd say anyone with at least average intelligence can get a 37+ if they work hard enough.
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The second one isn't too old. It started in 09, but it went until 11. There have been numerous other threads on the same topic that have been made more recently.
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A combination of the two is nice to have, but you don't need genius-level intelligence to do well on the MCAT. Hard work is definitely necessary, as are good critical thinking skills (so you do need to have intelligence, but not Nobel prize-winning astrophysicist intelligence).
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My feel is that it is a combination of the two. However, hard work is 99% of it. :
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I totally disagree with this... I know people with way above "average" intelligence who just couldn't grasp the verbal reasoning.
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They both help obviously but if you are not lucky you won't get 37+. Let's say your weakness is in organic chemistry but you're pretty good in the rest of bio stuff. If you get a single ochem passage on the test day, all is well. But if you get three you're screwed. Same applies for PS too. Say you are weak in optics and you get a passage on it. Boom. There goes at least 2 points off your PS. So I think luck >>> all
God, this thread reminds me how much I hate the mcat. I am so glad I am done with it
God, this thread reminds me how much I hate the mcat. I am so glad I am done with it
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I take offense at your statement, and I bet other high scorers like Nick and Q would as well.
I was always highly confident of my answers on my practice tests and the real thing, and I never scored as low as a 37 on any practice AAMC test. Luck might account for a question or two, but even then two wrong would lower your score to a 43, not 37. Some of us really do have a mastery of the entire mcat sciences topic list, and can read a passage quickly yet grasp what it is trying to say.
I attribute my MCAT success to a lot of dedicated work, a prior career of strict logical thinking, taking all the prereqs in the 12 months before the test, and my employment as a tutor in the mcat science subjects. Edison said genius is 1% insiration and 99% perspiration. Luck played a very small role.
I was always highly confident of my answers on my practice tests and the real thing, and I never scored as low as a 37 on any practice AAMC test. Luck might account for a question or two, but even then two wrong would lower your score to a 43, not 37. Some of us really do have a mastery of the entire mcat sciences topic list, and can read a passage quickly yet grasp what it is trying to say.
I attribute my MCAT success to a lot of dedicated work, a prior career of strict logical thinking, taking all the prereqs in the 12 months before the test, and my employment as a tutor in the mcat science subjects. Edison said genius is 1% insiration and 99% perspiration. Luck played a very small role.
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I stand by my original statement. Had they worked harder, they could've gotten a better score on VR. People with "way above average" intelligence should be able to develop reading comprehension skills.
If they are ESL, that's another story. However, I know three ESL students and they got a 10, 11, and 12 on VR.
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It is a lot of hardwork; I'd study about 3 hours a day for several months before I took the MCAT.
You do have to have a decent mind as well, since there is a lot of content on the MCAT. The biggest stumbling block, after content, is the VR section. Practice, practice, practice is the only way to make a big bump in that section. It also just clicks for a lot of people, and it can be tough to articulate success in that section. In PS/BS, I knew the content, grasped the passages and was able to work through each problem logically and I scored a 12/14 respectively. On VR, no matter how much review/practice/strategy I used, I never wavered from an 11 on the practice tests and ended up with an 11 on the actual test. I still couldn't tell you how to do well on the VR because, to me, the right answer sticks out 90% of the time.
You do have to have a decent mind as well, since there is a lot of content on the MCAT. The biggest stumbling block, after content, is the VR section. Practice, practice, practice is the only way to make a big bump in that section. It also just clicks for a lot of people, and it can be tough to articulate success in that section. In PS/BS, I knew the content, grasped the passages and was able to work through each problem logically and I scored a 12/14 respectively. On VR, no matter how much review/practice/strategy I used, I never wavered from an 11 on the practice tests and ended up with an 11 on the actual test. I still couldn't tell you how to do well on the VR because, to me, the right answer sticks out 90% of the time.
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