Prepping for a January retake

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clathrin413

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After spending my summer taking one summer class and studying for the MCAT, I took the August exam. Unexpectedly, my test center was extremely unorganized and had a lot of computer problems. I did not start my exam until 11am, after three hours of high stress and anxiety over potentially not being able to take the exam. I got a 513 (130/128/129/126), a few points below the lower range I got on two score predictor ranges (median of 517-518), and I'm not surprised that my Psych was low, considering I started it at about 5:00pm. My Bio score was also lower than expected.

I'm confident I can score higher, so I've decided to retake in January (I know it's a decent score, yeah yeah, /shrugs). I'm taking four classes this semester, so I don't have much time to study during the semester, but my classes are all super MCAT-relevant (chem bio, biophysical chem, adv. ochem, biostats). My plan is to lightly review all my study materials for the next two months, and then go hard for five weeks prior to January 22. I do still feel familiar/confident with the material from the summer, so I'm not sure how best to prioritize my studying, aside from spending a lot of time on Psych.

Does anyone have advice, or has anyone taken a winter retest after already prepping for an entire summer? My studying timeline is shorter than ideal, but I already did study pretty intensively for three months. Advice appreciated in advance! :)

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Predictor ranges mean nothing. My predicted score based on the AAMC FL predictor is 519, but I know I sure as hell didn't score anywhere near that. People advised you on the August thread not to retake because you are most likely going to score worse or at least see no significant improvement. I think you will end up regretting this.
 
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Guys, unless you're Canadian (and maybe even if you are, given your CARS scores are good) please don't retake 513/515. Adcoms on here have stated repeatedly that retakes of good scores are only positives if there is a big improvement the second time. If you end up with the same score that's a negative on your app. If you do worse that's really negative. And the stats on retakes aren't promising for big improvements.

Make a thread in the WAMC forum if you want to hear it from the horses' mouths.
 
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@clathrin413 what's your major, expected GPA upon applying and what do you plan to list as your extracurricular activities? You have a great MCAT score but depending on how you answer these questions, you should may not have to retake.
 
The chances of a retake hurting you are certainly higher than the chances of a retake helping you.

Only 27% of people who retook a 33-35 did 3 or more points better(which is what you need to hit to be able to justify a re-take of this sort). Pretty much all of them had the same exact mindset of you "Oh I know I can do a lot better. I just know it". And this doesn't even begin to address the stigma ADCOMs have talked about on here of having towards people retaking good scores. I would steer clear of a retake.
 
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Please do not retake. 513 and 515 are good scores, and you both did well in all 3 of the sections that adcoms are familiar with. If there is a section to have as your lowest, it is definitely psych (at least for now).
 
Thanks for the suggestions y'all, I ultimately registered for a Jan 22 exam to be on the safe side, and I'm still deciding but am leaning towards going through with the retake. For now I'm starting to review notes and am doing MCAT Questions of the Day from various lists.

I agree that 513/33 isn't a bad score, but I do feel like it's a potential issue for top-tier schools, I might as well try to improve it.
 
Thanks for the suggestions y'all, I ultimately registered for a Jan 22 exam to be on the safe side, and I'm still deciding but am leaning towards going through with the retake. For now I'm starting to review notes and am doing MCAT Questions of the Day from various lists.

I agree that 513/33 isn't a bad score, but I do feel like it's a potential issue for top-tier schools, I might as well try to improve it.


Clathrin413: As others have already stated, it is ill-advised for you to retake a 513. Nevertheless, if you insist on doing so, please do not take your preparation lightly. My advise is to do as many practice questions as you can get your hands on. Even if you already did those practice question already--do them again. Spend less of the 2 plus months that you have remaining on content (very little) and most, if not all your time on practice passages from as many sources as possible. Also dive into Khan Academy and Princeton Review for the Psychology/sociology section. Try and make sure you do all the practice passages for Psych/Soc on Khan Academy. Again, I would not retake, but if you insist, be sure to "hit" it hard with practice passages. Good Luck.
 
I will give you a slightly different perspective. We help students prepare for retakes regularly and encourage a retake IF the correct indicators and circumstances are in place. It is extremely rare for a student for whom we have encouraged a retake to not go up by at least 3 points. As has been noted, the AAMC stats on retakes can be intimidating. However, remember that these are the stats for the AVERAGE/COMMON retake student. If you BEHAVE like the average/common retake student does, you should indeed be intimidated and should NOT attempt a retake. Recently, I've personally seen several improvements from students in somewhat similar circumstances: 32 to 37, 27 to 34, 34 to 39, 35 to 40, 36 to 42, and 37 to 41. None of my personal students have attempted retakes on MCAT-2015 yet, but I don't think the general principles will differ. Here's what I think should be considered:

1. Plan on a likely same/lower score on any section with a 13+/130+. The confidence bands overlap too heavily to be confident you will increase the score. You might retake a 130 and get a 129, but your "true" performance on the retake could actually be the same or even better--that's how confidence intervals work. In your case, that CP section could go down or stay the same, so you'd have to have confidence you could more than make up for that on other sections if it were to happen. That said, it's not like you have zero control. If I were in that spot I would study equally as hard for CP as the other sections I was trying to raise further as a sort of "insurance policy" against dropping.

2. Time invested. There is always the idea that "everything went wrong" on test day and so by simply taking it again you'll go up. It does sound like you had a crazy test day, but we cannot really know what impact that had, AND it's not impossible that something stressful will happen on your next attempt (car breaks down, someone throws up on your computer station....things like that happen more than you'd think). Assuming that the simple act of taking it again will cause the score rise is a very risky approach and you are far better to assume that the original score was a relatively accurate indication of your preparedness level at the time of the original exam. If we assume that, then we need to invest a significant amount of time on the retake preparation so that you reach a definitely HIGHER level of preparation for the retake. In my experience, fast turnaround retakes are not usually successful. All of the improvements I noted above were from students who invested at least 2-3 months of additional intense study for the retake, some of them much more. If you are busy during this fall and cram for the last few weeks, I'd be scared that you won't get the outcome you hope for. If you are serious about a much better score, you need 3+ months either starting RIGHT NOW for that January exam, or by just doing the retake in April.

3. Behavior Change = Score Change. Most of the retakers in the AAMC data do NOT see significant score changes because their behavior wasn't really that different between the first and second exam. Sometimes, the retake behavior--in terms of the quality of the studying--is actually worse than the original attempt. In those cases, one should expect the score to reflect that fact. It is important to note that you WILL be weaker right this moment than you were right before the exam in some areas because you took the foot off the gas in terms of review and maintenance. So, you will have to do a serious review just to make sure you get back to your baseline. Then the real work begins. Once you are confident you are back to at least as sharp as you were before, you have to implement measurable improvements you know will have a very high likelihood of improving your performance in each section. This can be things like: spending significantly more time working problems than you did before, insisting on a much higher bar on practice test scores than you did before, significantly deepening your conceptual understanding of things you may have just memorized before, doing significantly more practice with scientific journal article-type passages, and so forth.

When I look at your score, I think the 126 in Psych-Soc is ripe for improvement. The PsS is exactly what we feared it would be...way too much memorization. But that could be a good thing for you. If you are willing to pay the price to memorize the heck out of those theories and terms. Don't neglect experimental methods or nervous system bio as these are core components of this section as well. The CAR section presents similar opportunity, but ONLY if you can effect some measurably different preparation, and the CAR section would be the hardest section to pinpoint "measurably better prep." I would insist on MUCH higher practice test scores for CAR before sitting for the retake. The BB section definitely leaves room for improvement if--and only if--you do make measurable changes. Despite the confidence bands, students I know who got a 131-132 on BB are definitely DIFFERENT than those who got a 128 or 129. So, you need to effect that kind of transformation if you want that much higher score.

Most of the students I see make big jumps go into the test feeling clearly "I am so much better prepared this time than I was last time, it's not even close." If that is how you feel, and it is backed up by measurably-different behaviors, I think the odds are very much in your favor. I cannot emphasize enough, however, that this is NOT usually the case among most students who retake the exam. Most have done a "little" extra studying, often only half-heartedly, and are hoping for some magic bullet, or "easier" exam form.

Most of all...it's your decision. Take advice like this on forums like this, or even from advisers, with a grain of salt and ultimately decide yourself. You're the one who is either going to benefit from a much better score, or bear the impact of scoring the same or lower. Good luck!
 
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