January 8 MCAT Verbal Discrepancy

[swolestsurgeon]

Hey everyone, I wanted to start this thread for those of you with a huge discrepancy in your verbal section's score in comparison to what you averaged and your overall experience of the section. I personally averaged an 8-10 on my practice tests but ended up receiving a 2. I dont know if thats even possible for someone to drop 6 points in a section and feel good coming out of that section on test day. Let me know if any of you are experiencing the same issue. We need to get AAMC's attention to identify the issue and get this straight.

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[HCHopeful]

I averaged an 11 and received a 9; however, I also received a 9 in verbal on October 21st, sooooo. Who knows.

 

[swolestsurgeon]

I averaged an 11 and received a 9; however, I also received a 9 in verbal on October 21st, sooooo. Who knows.

haha im sure its all AAMC's fault. Seriously though i got 13/2/10. How can you get a 2 in a section i just dont understand, you could get more by guessing.

 

[ag9124]

haha im sure its all AAMC's fault. Seriously though i got 13/2/10. How can you get a 2 in a section i just dont understand, you could get more by guessing.

Wow, that's definitely a massive performance swing. How about calling up the office and asking if they can re-score your mcat (if still offered). I remember this was still possible a couple of years ago with the paper based exam and it was like 50$ or something. I know that the exam is now a CBT thus reducing dramatically the possibility of a scoring error but still, you might as well exhaust all resources right?

I feel your pain though. Scoring within your average would've definitely prevented you from needing to retake.

 

[Jack Westin]

@swolestsurgeon

Were you anxious during the exam? It could very well be the case of scoring error but it's rare. I've heard of students averaging 8-10 getting a 5 on the real thing, but 2 is a little extreme.

 

[Labrat07]

2 is too extreme imo. I'd call them up. Find out what's going on. Rescore....

 

[swolestsurgeon]

Wow, that's definitely a massive performance swing. How about calling up the office and asking if they can re-score your mcat (if still offered). I remember this was still possible a couple of years ago with the paper based exam and it was like 50$ or something. I know that the exam is now a CBT thus reducing dramatically the possibility of a scoring error but still, you might as well exhaust all resources right?

I feel your pain though. Scoring within your average would've definitely prevented you from needing to retake.

Yes they still offer rescoring for 60$. However they really emphasize that hey dont make mistakes in scoring. And it is an enormous drop in my score. Had it been a 5 or 6, I wouldnteven question it but a 2....I cant even apply to DO schools with this.

@swolestsurgeon

Were you anxious during the exam? It could very well be the case of scoring error but it's rare. I've heard of students averaging 8-10 getting a 5 on the real thing, but 2 is a little extreme.

I mean who isnt a little nervous? But I wasnt abnormally anxious. I finished the section with a 7-9 estimated score and I finished every question walking out of the section feeling i did well. Also how could i earn a 13 in PS wihout comprehending passages?

2 is too extreme imo. I'd call them up. Find out what's going on. Rescore....

Yep I calld them, the lady said nothing was wrong on their part. I still sent in he rescore Ill let you guys know how it goes it will be back in 2 weeks or so.

 

[denaliem0515]

haha im sure its all AAMC's fault. Seriously though i got 13/2/10. How can you get a 2 in a section i just dont understand, you could get more by guessing.

I'd call and ask for a rescore as well. You did very well in the other sections.

 

[DrButt2112]

I averaged an 11 and received a 9; however, I also received a 9 in verbal on October 21st, sooooo. Who knows.

Good post. Averaging a 9 and getting a 2 is very similar to averaging an 11 and getting a 9...

 

[Abraxas305]

I cannot be leaf

 

[HCHopeful]

Good post. Averaging a 9 and getting a 2 is very similar to averaging an 11 and getting a 9...

You, sir, need to calm down. He took the MCAT the same day as I did, so I thought I would chime in with my score. After all, simply getting the people who scored way below their average is not a good sample size.

I was not implying mine was by any means an anomaly. Thanks. K. Bye.

 

[DrButt2112]

You, sir, need to calm down. He took the MCAT the same day as I did, so I thought I would chime in with my score. After all, simply getting the people who scored way below their average is not a good sample size.

I was not implying mine was by any means an anomaly. Thanks. K. Bye.

Fair enough. I am quite calm, by the way.

 

[malamed]

I was averaging a 9-12 on practice aamc verbal sections and got a 6 on the jan 8 test..I thought verbal was going to carry my score. I did feel very rushed the whole time, but still read and answered everything.. i don't get it.

 

[swolestsurgeon]

I was averaging a 9-12 on practice aamc verbal sections and got a 6 on the jan 8 test..I thought verbal was going to carry my score. I did feel very rushed the whole time, but still read and answered everything.. i don't get it.

Yea I dont know. I really feel like it has to do with a simple computer problem (i.e. you selected an answer but it never ends up going through). And if this were the case I really hope they find an issue like this with a simple solution.

 

[exmoderpina]

Best of luck to you, OP. I was following on your story on the Jan 8th MCAT thread and it broke my heart. I hope there was some kind of error. You literally could have answered "C" for every question and gotten a 3-4, so a "2" sounds strange indeed and I agree with the rescore choice.

 

[samac]

Holy crapolla. Pretty sure someone could shut their eyes and just click randomly on the screen and score at least a 3. I really hope it works out for you, I'm rooting for you, your other scores were great!

 

[biomed27]

I too received a low score on verbal for the January 8th exam. After averaging 10-11 on AAMC practice tests, I ended up with a 6 on the real test. Nerves had nothing to do with it. I felt the exact same way as I did with the simulated practice tests. Anybody else think there is something wrong? Maybe the answer key for the January 10th exam was used since the scores were released on the same day? Or maybe we just had a bad day? I can see how a 6 is possible but seriously a 2?

 

[almostnever]

I too am very interested to see how your rescore turns out. Though my VR score is still alright (8), I normally score pretty high on VR (11-14) and was shocked to see my score. Sounds like most of us had a tough time with the Jan. 8th verbal section...

 

[becomingdoctor]

I got 14-5-12. Sent the rescoring request but surely not processed yet since my credit card is not charged.

 

[becomingdoctor]

Btw, my aamc average was 9 VR

 

[swolestsurgeon]

I too received a low score on verbal for the January 8th exam. After averaging 10-11 on AAMC practice tests, I ended up with a 6 on the real test. Nerves had nothing to do with it. I felt the exact same way as I did with the simulated practice tests. Anybody else think there is something wrong? Maybe the answer key for the January 10th exam was used since the scores were released on the same day? Or maybe we just had a bad day? I can see how a 6 is possible but seriously a 2?

I totally agree nerves werent an issue for me. I finished right at the end of the test so I didnt run out of time. I do feel like it may be a wrong key used to score some of the tests. Lets just say when i saw my score report I was devestated.

I too am very interested to see how your rescore turns out. Though my VR score is still alright (8), I normally score pretty high on VR (11-14) and was shocked to see my score. Sounds like most of us had a tough time with the Jan. 8th verbal section...

I didnt think it was a tough section though! It felt like I hit my average if not more so I dont know why it was so low.

I got 14-5-12. Sent the rescoring request but surely not processed yet since my credit card is not charged.

I sent mine in a week ago now no charge yet. Ill let you know what happens to me I get it back in 2 weeks. I think if more ppl send it in AAMC will see a bunch of January 8 rescores and maybe look more closely at the scores. Good Luck with the rescore!

 

[biomed27]

I submitted a rescore request last week as well and my credit card was charged this morning. Let's see what happens. Good luck everyone!

I highly encourage all of us who believe that an error was made to submit a rescore form to raise awareness!

 

[swolestsurgeon]

I submitted a rescore request last week as well and my credit card was charged this morning. Let's see what happens. Good luck everyone!

I highly encourage all of us who believe that an error was made to submit a rescore form to raise awareness!

Yes! Everyone who feels like theyre verbal score is way lower than what they thought they earned should submit a rescore. 60$ is a small price to pay for our future success and if AAMC sees a bunch of rescores from january 8 its bound to make them raise an eye at the issue. Good luck!

 

[jamcat]

On one of my practice AAMCs I had to stop after Verbal and was having trouble getting the test started again so just started a new one and clicked through BS and VR without answering a single question. I got a 2 on both BS and VR, literally without answering a single question.

I just can't imagine that a 2 would be accurate for somebody who tried, so I hope you get some resolution from AAMC. Good luck!

 

[becomingdoctor]

On one of my practice AAMCs I had to stop after Verbal and was having trouble getting the test started again so just started a new one and clicked through BS and VR without answering a single question. I got a 2 on both BS and VR, literally without answering a single question.

I just can't imagine that a 2 would be accurate for somebody who tried, so I hope you get some resolution from AAMC. Good luck!

I disagree. I think anything under 25% is 1 on scaled score. For VR most of the 2 need 10+ corrected answer.

 

[jamcat]

Could very well be, but I know for a fact that I got a 2 on my PS and VR practice AAMC without answering a single question, literally leaving every single question blank. And I still think a 2 is extraordinarily odd for somebody who had gotten a 9 practice average. A 7 would be disappointing, and even a 5 would be believable. Maybe even a 4. But a 2?!? That's just crazy!

 

[swolestsurgeon]

If anyone was still wondering, I got the rescore back today and no changes. Time for me to start studying the new test............

 

[samac]

If anyone was still wondering, I got the rescore back today and no changes. Time for me to start studying the new test............

I'm sorry to hear that. I was rooting for you!

 

[cafeverona]

Hey all...I found this same thing with my January 23rd test. I dropped 2 points from my average, even though I thought that was my best section. I am currently getting a rescore, but we'll see how that goes.

 

[jamcat]

That stinks! As a fellow 1/23er, I think most of our verbal scores dropped significantly. I was averaging 13s with some 14s thrown in there and an occasional disappointing 12, and I ended up getting an 11 on the real thing which is literally the lowest verbal score I had ever received! I think the 1/8ers and the 1/23ers got a bum verbal section, but c'est la vie. Good luck with your re-score!