My MCAT Struggle - constructive comments only!

[mcatstruggle]

Hello - opening up about my MCAT struggle and journey hoping someone in my position can give pointers. Please keep comments constructive.

I've always had a struggle with the MCAT. My previous score was a 496 and while taking practice tests this time around, I was barely hitting the 502 range. While I don't know my score for the July test yet, I'm sure I didn't even hit the 500-mark. My goal for this post is to get advice on how to better take this test. From everything I read, and from my experience with practice tests -- I don't seem to have a problem with content; it's my reasoning skills that need work. I'm missing information that I should have been able to reason out from the passage information. Most of the posts I read are advice on how to score higher, 509+. But I don't see any posts on getting around 505. I hope this post reaches someone who struggled to get to this point.

I know these numbers are lower than the majority of what medical students are trying to aim for, so please keep any, negative, non-helpful comments to yourself. If you have any constructive criticism or advice on how to approach my studying for the MCAT please comment or send me a DM!

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[Kpw101]

In my opinion, any scores in the low 500s still is evident of some content gaps. The way you should be studying for the MCAT is to really understand the big picture of all you study and not focus on the minute details. If your content knowledge is solid, I don't see why you shouldn't be scoring at least a 505 on the real deal unless you have poor test taking skills. My advice to you is the next practice exam you take mark which questions you got wrong just because of test taking skills and mark which questions you got wrong because of lack of content knowledge. This way you'll identify what the problem is and you can take the necessary steps to improve upon it.

 

[Buzzin]

you are going to hit a few plateaus but we need some more information. What practice tests are you taking? What does your study routine look like? when do you plan on taking the MCAT?

 

[mcatstruggle]

you are going to hit a few plateaus but we need some more information. What practice tests are you taking? What does your study routine look like? when do you plan on taking the MCAT?

I took the exam early July. I was using mostly AAMC & PR exams.