September 2015 MCAT Thread

Boost your MCAT score by 12 points or more.
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DAF16

DAF16

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Registration for the September MCAT opens up soon, so I thought I would make the thread.
Who else will be taking the test in September?
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WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
I couldn't stop shaking for three minutes...

C/P 129 - 93
CARS 127 - 81
B/B 128 - 87
P/S 130 - 97
Total 514 - 91

AAMC FL Scores
C/P 66%
CARS 87%
B/B 63%
P/S 81%

Like a lot of people, I'm a little disappointed/dumbfounded by CARS and would love another point or two there, but I am so so happy overall. The comparison chart says a 514 is close to a 32 or 33, and my top school's average is 34. If they don't like me hopefully it's not because of my MCAT. After 5 years my MCAT journey has come, I think, to an end.

To everyone unhappy with their scores and still wants to be a doctor: Keep fighting. I got a 25 in 2011 and a 27 this past January. It's so hard, but you CAN come back from a disappointing score.
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Haha we basically have the same score but with B/B and P/S reversed! Congrats!!
 
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C/P - 127 (79%)
CARS - 127 (81%)
B/B - 129 (93%)
P/S - 128 (86%)
Total - 511 (85%)

I was expecting a 512+ based on my FL predictions, telling myself I'd retake for sure if I scored below a 510. I have a 3.75 (3.75 BCPM as well) in Mechanical Engineering at Rice. I'm published for some of my research, was a Varsity athlete for a year (walked on as a sophomore, left to focus on academics), president of a club, am a tour guide, and volunteer. Should I take my score and run? Retake? Shooting for Baylor.
 
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Well…looks like I'll be retaking. Congrats to everyone who did well :) Very happy for you all. I don't know if i can conquer this beast another time. God help me.
 
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El-Rami said:
I think you're fine. 125 is closest to an 8, and 126 is like a 9. I don't think you are that imbalanced.
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JDWannabe said:
If you scored that well in 3 sections, you shouldn't be complaining. Especially since it's way past 80th percentile.
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I'm happy! But with that happiness comes a feeling in my stomach that says "hey. why don't you look at your CARS score one more time"

I got a 94% on the cars on the AAMC FL and pretty high % on the Question Packs so this was just unexpected I guess haha

But thank you. I will take my score and just own it -- then find other ways to use my time that will somewhat "redeem" the imbalance.
 
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The depression that this test has brought into my life is absolutely crippling. May God be with me, as I tackle it again. And devote another 3 months to studying in a dark dark room all alone.
 
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Dolly96 said:
I wish I didn't check. I wish I never got excited over my predicted scores. I never thought I would do so terribly especially with my Kaplan scores being around 500. I am so heart broken.
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I scored around 500 on my Kaplan's as well, and getting my score back on the 27th.
Hang in there! Worse comes to worst, re-take it in January and kick butt :)
 
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128 on CARS is ok right? It translates 9 I think, which is disappointing, but my overall is high enough that I think I would be a complete fool to retake it.

If CARS wasn't uniformly my highest section on practices I wouldn't even be thinking about this.
 
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jimmypod said:
I'm happy! But with that happiness comes a feeling in my stomach that says "hey. why don't you look at your CARS score one more time"

I got a 94% on the cars on the AAMC FL and pretty high % on the Question Packs so this was just unexpected I guess haha

But thank you. I will take my score and just own it -- then find other ways to use my time that will somewhat "redeem" the imbalance.
Click to expand...

I scored very high on the CARS for AAMC FL (91% very first time I took it, 98% week before test when I thought I forgot everything) and fairly decent on AAMC Q Packs (77-85%), so this subscore PISSES me off. Realistically I was expecting a 10 as that is most consistent with my TPR and Kaplan FLs as well as AAMC Qpacks and OG, and there is always a 2 point (+/-) range for each subscore no matter what. However, scoring at the very BOTTOM of this range for verbal annoys the living hell out of me.

Granted, I did NOT study for CARS aside from the practice sections and FLs, so in a way this is my own fault. However, verbal has always been a strong suit for me (e.g., >90 percentile on ACT) and 98% of questions correct on AAMC FL, so I mistakenly thought practice was not necessary. Boy was I ****ing wrong.
 
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Wow my hands are shaking right now...

520 (132/129/129/130)

Thank you so much SDN for keeping me sane during my studies. Good luck to everyone else receiving their socres today too.
 
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ChrisMack390 said:
128 on CARS is ok right? It translates 9 I think, which is disappointing, but my overall is high enough that I think I would be a complete fool to retake it.

If CARS wasn't uniformly my highest section on practices I wouldn't even be thinking about this.
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Bro, that is like an 11 almost... I'm pretty sure anyway.
 
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TheGuru789 said:
Score: 515 (93%)
Breakdown:
C/P: 131
CARS: 129
B/B: 131
P/S: 124

AAMC FL: 85%, 91%, 98%, 90%

Pretty stoked! Studied for 4 months during the summer, pretty much doing nothing else. Obviously, I would like to have higher P/S, but eh, just happy this is a competitive overall score. Let me know if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to help! Good luck everyone, and shutout to @mcatjelly for all the helpful advice and materials.
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Hey! Great job! I got very similar scores. The decision I have right now is whether or not I should retake to try and increase my P/S score. Are you considering that at all? Or are you going to stick with the score you have? (because overall it's very competitive!)
 
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medgirl1993 said:
The depression that this test has brought into my life is absolutely crippling. May God be with me, as I tackle it again. And devote another 3 months to studying in a dark dark room all alone.
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I have taken it 3 times and many people have taken it even more than that. You must stay determined! Do not let yourself get depressed, just refine your study habits, keep doing practice tests, and stay confident. You will get the score you desire. Chin up!
 
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Score: 514
C/P: 127
CARS: 130
B/B: 126
P/S: 131

AAMC FL: 71%, 91%, 75%, 73% (about a week before the real thing)

So thrilled with my score. I knew my hard sciences would be lacking but I'm OK with where they are. Psychology major with two semesters in a Psy.D. program before withdrawing to apply to medical schools. Good luck to everyone else getting their scores back today.
 
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Rabu4 said:
I have taken it 3 times and many people have taken it even more than that. You must stay determined! Do not let yourself get depressed, just refine your study habits, keep doing practice tests, and stay confident. You will get the score you desire. Chin up!
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How did you do better the third time around?
 
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C/P: 129
CARS: 126
B/S: 130
P/S: 127
Total: 512

I know I should be happy by this score..but that CARS score has me worried. I'm a Canadian looking to get in to any MD school in Canada or the US. I have decent volunteering, very good research with 1-2 pubs and 3.8 cGPA 3.78 sGPA (3.92 OMSAS). Anybody have any advice? Should I retake because of CARS?
edit: I am IP for UBC.
 
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got a 506..127 127 126 126 was the breakdown. It was exactly my AAMC fl..thats weird. I guess it was the best i could do for the time that I had, I'm not sure if its worth doing again, although a higher score would definitely be ideal. What do you guys think? I'm canadian, they usually dont care about how many times you write the mcat as long as theyre looking at the most recent score. I'm thinkin of practising more verbal and psych and chem and bio of course, and if i see an improvement in my score by a larger margin (Esp in the 2nd aamc FL they release) then i might register for and take the mcat next early summer. I'm a 3.9 GPA student at university so i dont think its a lack of intellect, it might be that i just need more practice. TheMCAT is a test of not just intellect, but also technique and accuracy under a fast paced timed test
 
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Score: 500
C/P: 125
CARS: 123 (wow)
B/B: 126
P/S: 126

AAMC FL: (2 weeks prior to exam)
C/P: 53%
CARS: 72%
B/B: 69%
P/S: 75%

Predictor: had me 500 - 511 with expected score of 505.

All I wanted was a 503, but now this gives me a chance to fix my mistakes and achieve an even higher score. I will retake in Jan and this time with a vengeance.
 
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novak123 said:
C/P: 129
CARS: 126
B/S: 130
P/S: 127
Total: 512

I know I should be happy by this score..but that CARS score has me worried. I'm a Canadian looking to get in to any MD school in Canada or the US. I have decent volunteering, very good research with 1-2 pubs and 3.8 cGPA 3.78 sGPA (3.92 OMSAS). Anybody have any advice? Should I retake because of CARS?
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I feel you. If you're looking at McMaster, and don't mind applying again another year if you dont get in for next year then I'd give it a shot because a 512 is really good in terms of applying to other schools as well. If you feel you can significantly improve your cars score then retake it.
 
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howlcat said:
I feel you. If you're looking at McMaster, and don't mind applying again another year if you dont get in for next year then I'd give it a shot because a 512 is really good in terms of applying to other schools as well. If you feel you can significantly improve your cars score then retake it.
Click to expand...
I live in BC so that would be my preferred school but don't mind going to McMaster. Thanks for the advice! Best of luck to you.
 
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129/123/129/125

Going to have to re-take for CARS (don't meet cut-off).
Just a Q: how do I bounce back from this defeat? All my friends who took the test killed it and they're probably going to be off to medical school next year while I am sitting by myself and studying for this test again; I will essentially be a year behind all of them. It makes me feel inferior to them and my confidence is at an all-time low...
 
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novak123 said:
C/P: 129
CARS: 126
B/S: 130
P/S: 127
Total: 512

I know I should be happy by this score..but that CARS score has me worried. I'm a Canadian looking to get in to any MD school in Canada or the US. I have decent volunteering, very good research with 1-2 pubs and 3.8 cGPA 3.78 sGPA (3.92 OMSAS). Anybody have any advice? Should I retake because of CARS?
edit: I am IP for UBC.
Click to expand...
I don't think UBC weighs to heavily on the MCAT, they just want to see you meet their cutoffs, so you may want to email admissions on this. The cutoffs may even be lower for IP. Great score btw!
 
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I hope my score is good enough for GWU SOM. thats my goal. My breakdown was 128, 126, 129, 128. Cars held me back a bit. But a 511 is what, a 32 or 31? I'm happy. I'll take it. It isn't super duper, its probably 85th or 86th percentile. But its competitive for MD schools. I should be fine.
 
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howlcat said:
got a 506..127 127 126 126 was the breakdown. It was exactly my AAMC fl..thats weird. I guess it was the best i could do for the time that I had, I'm not sure if its worth doing again, although a higher score would definitely be ideal. What do you guys think? I'm canadian, they usually dont care about how many times you write the mcat as long as theyre looking at the most recent score. I'm thinkin of practising more verbal and psych and chem and bio of course, and if i see an improvement in my score by a larger margin (Esp in the 2nd aamc FL they release) then i might register for and take the mcat next early summer. I'm a 3.9 GPA student at university so i dont think its a lack of intellect, it might be that i just need more practice. TheMCAT is a test of not just intellect, but also technique and accuracy under a fast paced timed test
Click to expand...

It's more than that, too. I have found more than anything it is a critical thinking test first and a knowledge-based test second. I have very strong academic stats and my initial undertaking of the MCAT utterly obliterated me and my confidence.
 
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Score: 521
CP: 129
CARS: 132
BB: 131
PS: 129

AAMC FL taken 3 days before exam:
Overall: 89.5%
CP: 88%
CARS: 94%
BB: 83%
PS: 93%

OG taken 4 days before exam:
Overall: 89%
CP: 90%
CARS: 93%
BB: 83%
PS: 90%

ayyyyyyyyyyyyy lmao
 
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It is interesting how I supposedly got 97th percentile and yet over half of the people here did about the same or better than I did. Does SDN really only sample from the top 3% of test takers?
 
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Nope. Common sense says that only decent scorers are comfortable posting. I cringe to think what I scored, but will post regardless.
 
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JDWannabe said:
Nope. Common sense says that only decent scorers are comfortable posting. I cringe to think what I scored, but will post regardless.
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I'm not sure that is "common sense" considering it is a completely anonymous message board and plenty of people post on SDN with low stats all the time.
 
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trustme12 said:
I got a 500 is it good enough for d.o? I have a 3.7 sgpa, 3.1 cgpa
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According to MD-school admissions committee: AAMC tells schools that 500 is the score that indicates a student can get through med school & pass all step exams. It's basically the minimum acceptable score (as per AAMC).
 
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Ok I have been accepted to a DO school without my Sept mcat score. My previous scores are <23/500. I got 496 this time.
You need to show that you really care for their mission. If you have good extracurricular activities and a good GPA then you may get in despite having a low mcat score.
Good Luck everyone!
 
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Christian7 said:
Kinda seems like September as a whole beasted the MCAT thus far.
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It does seem that way. I was freaked out after the 9/3 group posted because they seemed to do well, so I thought the 9/11-9/12 group was destined for disappointment. Kind of like how May scores were ridiculously good, and June testers seemed really thrown.
 
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Canadian here:
C/P - 129
CARS - 124
B/B - 129
P/S - 128

Very disappointed about the CARS score, but happy about the rest of my scores (even though they're irrelevant for Ontario due to the poor CARS score). I just pray that I can bring my CARS up with a retake, ideally, I'd like a 128 in CARS, but I doubt I'll be able to make that jump, just hoping for a 125 next year...
 
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novak123 said:
C/P: 129
CARS: 126
B/S: 130
P/S: 127
Total: 512

I know I should be happy by this score..but that CARS score has me worried. I'm a Canadian looking to get in to any MD school in Canada or the US. I have decent volunteering, very good research with 1-2 pubs and 3.8 cGPA 3.78 sGPA (3.92 OMSAS). Anybody have any advice? Should I retake because of CARS?
edit: I am IP for UBC.
Click to expand...

Those are very good scores, but like you said, CARS is everything in Ontario...with your CARS score, the only extra school you can apply to is UofT.
 
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These scores for the most part are amazing. Congrats everyone. Any tips on what materials were most helpful for a person taking it January? Been doing all TBR passages, Khan academy passages, and will do AAMC material starting mid-November. How were the Khan Academy passages and TBR compared to the real thing? Any comments would be appreciated and once again congrats!
 
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