realistic to get 28 with a practice score of 17

[jesus_saves]

Hey guys.....last month I took aamc 3R and got a 17 on it. I have been reviewing material since and my practice scores range from 17-21. Is it possible to get at least a 28 on the real exam? 4 days left! argh

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Kazema]

It's possible, but very unlikely. A 25 is probably a realistic possibility if you're lucky, but a 7 to 11 point jump within a month is going to be tough.

Good luck.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Hey guys.....last month I took aamc 3R and got a 17 on it. I have been reviewing material since and my practice scores range from 17-21. Is it possible to get at least a 28 on the real exam? 4 days left! argh

Try your hardest, and see how it turns out. There is no way to know how you will do.

But shooting for a 28 is a little unrealistic.

 

[Shredder]

thats dismal, 3r was easy too, theres no way youre going up 11 points by the time the test comes around. you shouldve paid more attention in classes and studied a hell of a lot harder for a longer time. why are you taking 3r this late in the game anyway? plan on retaking the real test at least once, and you may very well want to skip this weekend. i dont mean to be brusque all, but i dont intend to give false hopes. you know that any decent student should be clearing the teens by this point. if youre urm, take it, youll be fine. not trying to incite anything, just being real. but i can say with 80% confidence that 28 isnt happening.

 

[bsteves4]

thats dismal, 3r was easy too, theres no way youre going up 11 points by the time the test comes around. you shouldve paid more attention in classes and studied a hell of a lot harder for a longer time. why are you taking 3r this late in the game anyway? plan on retaking the real test at least once, and you may very well want to skip this weekend. i dont mean to be brusque all, but i dont intend to give false hopes. you know that any decent student should be clearing the teens by this point. if youre urm, take it, youll be fine. not trying to incite anything, just being real. but i can say with 80% confidence that 28 isnt happening.

you are such a ****ing dingus shredder, you shouldnt even be allowed on this website

 

[tank you]

thats dismal, 3r was easy too, theres no way youre going up 11 points by the time the test comes around. you shouldve paid more attention in classes and studied a hell of a lot harder for a longer time. why are you taking 3r this late in the game anyway? plan on retaking the real test at least once, and you may very well want to skip this weekend. i dont mean to be brusque all, but i dont intend to give false hopes. you know that any decent student should be clearing the teens by this point. if youre urm, take it, youll be fine. not trying to incite anything, just being real. but i can say with 80% confidence that 28 isnt happening.

i think u need to calm down dude. we pre-meds should stick together.
"if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all"

and for the OP, good luck, and if it doesnt work out, you can take it again in august.

 

[manfood.com]

man... I swear people like you shredder are the reason why people have terrible days, lol.

 

[iwutitan]

Good luck bsteves4, I think the MCAT is pretty unpredictable. My scores on the AAMC practices are all over the place, 3R wasn't my highest score among the AAMC either, personally I think 5R and 7R were much easier... just do your best and it is all it matters.

 

[Will Ferrell]

you are such a ****ing dingus shredder, you shouldnt even be allowed on this website

I think Shredder is giving him good advice about skipping this test date.

 

[firebird69guy]

I guess we should at least give Shredder some credit for not encouraging him to take the test to pull down the curve..

I know a few pre-meds that would do that.


But in fact, I must agree with Shredder... although I will not put it quite as blunt. OP, you should at least be getting 30s on your AAMC practice tests before you take this test.. that is, if you're going to be applying for allopathic medicine. If you are gearing towards D.O., mid to high 20s will suffice.

Take it for practice and the experience, void if you must.


Best of luck!

 

[cfdavid]

Hey guys.....last month I took aamc 3R and got a 17 on it. I have been reviewing material since and my practice scores range from 17-21. Is it possible to get at least a 28 on the real exam? 4 days left! argh

Just keep in mind that it's not a race, so to put off until August will not hurt you. Perhaps just extend your goal for med school for 1 year or something.

I've noticed that to do even reasonably well on practice tests (i haven't taken the real deal yet, so take this with a grain of salt), one must really delve into the subject matter. Yes, it's a 'thinking' test in terms of digesting unique passages and applying what you know etc., but it's really quite necessary to know the material as 'in and out' as possible.

A word of encouragement is that, if you put off until August, you will have plenty of time to study within a structured format. Given that you've taken a few practice exams, you know where your weaknesses are. So, you can spend extra time on them (which you will have if you postpone until August).

I guess the point is that you stated that you've been 'reviewing' since your first PT. However, it's best to be studying under a relatively intense, structured schedule. So, good luck with your plans. You can improve from where you are at. Much of this test is test taking skills, which you can really improve if you spend the necessary amount of time (which will be different from person to person). Also, really hit the material hard. But, that takes repetition and therefore time.

Good luck. Keep positive.

 

[Shredder]

Yeah, I was a little extreme earlier so--consider taking more time and studying, I'm sure you can raise your score a lot given time, but with your current status you shouldn't expect too much in 4 days, and it may tarnish your record if you do poorly. I wouldn't say to be getting at least 30s on practice tests as many folks aren't doing that right now, but at least 25 yes.

A good friend tells you what's best for you, not necessarily what you want to hear, and that does not always entail kindness. Sorry if I was discouraging though; I hold ppl to high standards, sometimes too high. I guess David's post is more of what I was trying to get across. 3r was really old and not too representative of current tests, so do take other more recent ones. Keep trying...Jesus, heh.

 

[kalix]

thats dismal, 3r was easy too, theres no way youre going up 11 points by the time the test comes around. you shouldve paid more attention in classes and studied a hell of a lot harder for a longer time. why are you taking 3r this late in the game anyway? plan on retaking the real test at least once, and you may very well want to skip this weekend. i dont mean to be brusque all, but i dont intend to give false hopes. you know that any decent student should be clearing the teens by this point. if youre urm, take it, youll be fine. not trying to incite anything, just being real. but i can say with 80% confidence that 28 isnt happening.

... this guy really thinks he is The Donald or something

And your response was in poor form, give the guy some hope, it's amazing what a little confidence can do on a test like this....

Visualize that 28 and achieve it!! If it doesn't work out, then take it again... and figure out your areas of weakness before doing so...

 

[izibo]

This is what I would do... shell out the money and take another AAMC practice test... perhaps 5R or 6R.

If you can break 23 or 24 then there is good hope of a 28 on exam day. If you get below a 23, then it is really unlikely (although, NOT impossible) to make such an improvement in 3 days time and I think you would be much better off studying over the summer before taking the MCAT.

Your other option would be to just take the exam, and void your scores so you can get a feel for the test.

 

[Thundrstorm]

It's very unlikely that your score would magically jump from 17 to 28. I'd say that you're better off waiting until August and studying alot in the meantime.

 

[christinejane19]

I would not take the mcat in April. I personally took the mcat 3 years ago, totally unprepared. I took one practice test before the real deal and recieved a 21. I took the real mcat and scored a 23. Now I am fumbling with whether or not to release it, and trying to come up with explanations why my scores weren't up to par. Needless to say, I am taking the mcat again on saturday, this time well-prepared (hopefully). I think it is a much more reliable plan to be prepared and confident than to hope for some really good luck. I'm sure you could improve drastically with a couple weeks of solid study time. Just think of how wisely you time would be spent studying from now till august!

Just my $ .02

Christine

 

[NikkiFSU]

I totally agree......tell me what u guys think about this
A kid I know was asking me to help him Monday night...he's testing Saturday. He told me in kaplan he had a 27 on test4 and back to 22 on test5....left his Kaplan logged in here on my comp and I noticed he was lying.....and he's gotten a solid 20-21 all along (except the diagnostic, 14). He's cramming this week, when this is not a test you study a few days for. I'm thinking I should tell him not to take it. He thinks he's going to get a 30...I think its unrealistic...and like you guys are saying, a 21 can be retaken and corrected for, but its much better to take it ONCE when you are truly ready. I was trying to help him study, he doesn't even understand Sn2 vs Sn1, protein primary secondary structure (asked me if it is A-T and C-G.....like DNA!) and doesn't even know that ATP is a nucleotide. Should I tell this kid to just take it in August? It looks like thats the general consensus in this thread if you are in a situation like that...???

 

[medicomel]

wow, at this point that kind of stuff is firmly ingrained into our heads!
i think you should tell him to hold off and extend his kaplan course til august.

 

[izibo]

wow, at this point that kind of stuff is firmly ingrained into our heads!
i think you should tell him to hold off and extend his kaplan course til august.

agreed. while taking the test more then once is not the end of the world, taking it once is far better then having to do the double and improve.

 

[Turkeyman]

I totally agree......tell me what u guys think about this
A kid I know was asking me to help him Monday night...he's testing Saturday. He told me in kaplan he had a 27 on test4 and back to 22 on test5....left his Kaplan logged in here on my comp and I noticed he was lying.....and he's gotten a solid 20-21 all along (except the diagnostic, 14). He's cramming this week, when this is not a test you study a few days for. I'm thinking I should tell him not to take it. He thinks he's going to get a 30...I think its unrealistic...and like you guys are saying, a 21 can be retaken and corrected for, but its much better to take it ONCE when you are truly ready. I was trying to help him study, he doesn't even understand Sn2 vs Sn1, protein primary secondary structure (asked me if it is A-T and C-G.....like DNA!) and doesn't even know that ATP is a nucleotide. Should I tell this kid to just take it in August? It looks like thats the general consensus in this thread if you are in a situation like that...???

A PAIRS WITH T?????? SHOOT!!!!!!1111111111111111

jk...

 

[JakeHarley]

I would seriously consider not taking the test this weekend. Yes, you are going to lose your test fee, but you are going to have to take it again anyway. Somewhere on here is a long thread where people posted their practice test scrores and their "real deal" scores...NOBODY went up or down more than a couple of points over any of their practice exams.

Given that, you are better off studying a ton until next August, maybe even taking a review course, and taking it then--hopefully getting the 28 you are wanting, and eliminating the poor score you will get this Saturday from your record.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it!

 

[criminallyinane]

If you can break 23 or 24 then there is good hope of a 28 on exam day.

No, not really. A 4-5 point jump from practice to real test just isn't realistic. Five points is more than luck, it reflects your fund of knowledge and test-taking abilities. I would give a +/-3 point range that can be assigned to luck.

 

[jon0013]

actually i would say 5 is probably the limit....had a few friends go up 5 points actually....even 34 to 39...

 

[OSUdoc08]

No, not really. A 4-5 point jump from practice to real test just isn't realistic. Five points is more than luck, it reflects your fund of knowledge and test-taking abilities. I would give a +/-3 point range that can be assigned to luck.

what about a 4 point jump from April to August MCAT without studying?

it seems to me the same thing

 

[Donvb]

If you are trying to increase your score this much on the true exam then you should be advised to not take it in April!! Wait till August and truly prepare for it, Kaplan/EXAM Crackers... Every advisor I have talked to says if you do not feel like you would be happy with your highest practice test, then don't take the test!

 

[criminallyinane]

actually i would say 5 is probably the limit....had a few friends go up 5 points actually....even 34 to 39...

Not all five point ranges are the same. The difference in raw scores between a 34 and a 39 is less than between a 23 and a 28, I am sure.

 

[45408]

A PAIRS WITH T?????? SHOOT!!!!!!1111111111111111

jk...

just think T&A

honestly, I didn't know ATP was a nucleotide (I know it's adenosine triphosphate and what it's for), and I got an 11 in BS. so.....

 

[DrBowtie]

17~10-15%ile
28~65-70%ile

I think jumping roughly 55%ile points is a bit of a stretch especially in such a short period of time.

I would definitely suggest dedicating a solid three months to prep during the summer and take in august.

 

[NikkiFSU]

LOL....neither did I. He is a lost cause for this weekend. When I was explaining primary/secondary protein structure, he was like yeah, "linear...like sp, and then secondary is like sp2" I didn't even know what to say. Boost of confidence to the others on here...people like that will be helping you ride the MCAT curve
Yeah, the kid said he got a 27 on an AAMC exam....but all the other tests were 21's (Kaplan) and so. I don't know, he insisted on taking it this weekend...I guess that unless a miracle happens, he's screwed.

A point jump that much is unrealistic. I know someone who got no higher than a 32 or so on a practice, and I think a 29 on his last full-length, and he ended up with a 37. But this kid is an exception to the rule....who is getting paid to attend columbia next year so don't bank on anything like that (like the "what is ATP" boy has been). Pretty much everyone I know has gotten the same score, give or take a point or so, as their consistant practice exams. My score on my recent full-length was the same as my MCAT score. if you want a 28....don't take the test. Start studying for the summer one. Listen to everyone on the board. There's a 99% chance that you will be taking it this summer to get a score you want to apply with. It's up to you if you want that to be your way of salvaging a poor score that you got "when you were sick" and took the MCAT, or if you want it to be the only score adcoms see.

 

[Daichi Katase]

quit ripping on people who beleive in miracles. I am hoping for a 12 point jump on the real thing. It can happen dammit!